AUTUMN... now the changes (Part 143h)

AUTUMN... now the changes (Part 143h)

Approaching my car I could see something under the wiper blade. It was only a short distance to the diner and it was somewhat ironic in that it was where Moira's car had “died”. I didn’t see her by her car so went inside. She was sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee. She smiled and pointed to the coffee and made a comment that it was what kept her going. To start things off I questioned her about the performance of the car. That brought forth a laugh and the comment that all she knew about performance was that if she put the key in the ignition and the car started it was good. Typical female!

My concern had been, and still was, where she’d go after vacating her house. I got right to the subject and was relieved to hear her say that she thought she had lined up a place to rent just down the street from her house. That sounded good because it would mean she wouldn’t have to disrupt the kids and their schooling. BUT... she went on to say that it was a mobile home. I knew, immediately, where she was talking about.
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A little discourse here...

I’ve thought about writing a short story about some of the ‘characters’ that I had to deal with in my banking career... but haven’t done it yet. However, if I were to do it the primary one would be the owner of the mobile home park that the unit that Moira was talking about renting was located. Anita A. was a very large woman (6’ tall, about 250lbs) who had come to the USA right before WWII from Germany along with her husband Hubert who, when you looked at him standing next to her, appeared to be half her size. She was a very domineering and demanding person to just about anybody she dealt with. She had selected the bank as her primary depository before I started working there and had, as I found out, basically ‘run over’ my predecessor with her demands. The first time I had to wait on her she demanded that I do a currency exchange (German marks for dollars) that I knew we weren’t supposed to do as a savings, not commercial, bank. She had a hissy fit but I wouldn’t back down. Hobie happened along and managed to very tactfully back me up and yet, at the same time, calm her down. His action saved her as a customer for the bank but saddled me with her from there on... and it was a wild ride. I can tell you she was, by far, the most obnoxious customer I ever had to deal with. I won’t bore you with any of it but the point of writing about it here is that I got to know a lot more about her and her mobile home park. With the chance that Moira might be a resident I felt I had to give ‘full disclosure’ to her.
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I didn’t waste much time getting to the core of my concern. I told Moira about the way the woman treated the residents of her park and how there were some civil law suits pending against her for mistreatment of them. She had a ‘goldmine’ because of her location. It was located just minutes away from the Air Force base in an area that didn’t have much in the way of year round rental homes (mostly Summer cottages). Originally, it was located on the base property and when the US sold off some of it when they were downsizing and closing bases, the township allowed it to remain. It was the only mobile home park located in the township and all efforts to create new ones had been thwarted. She had told me that of the 50+ units in the park about 80% were affiliated with the air base.

Moira, in hearing me tell of the situation, looked depressed. I fully expected to see tears but none came. She composed herself after a few deep breaths and then looked at me and asked if I had any ideas. I wasn’t prepared to offer ideas when we first started talking so took a few deep breaths myself. The talk of mobile homes made me think of the park where Elle and I lived when we first moved back to the area. It was just down the road, not even a mile away. I asked Moira if she’d seen the sign for it as she had to drive past it twice a day. She shook her head and asked why I wanted to know. In just a few seconds my mind had put something together to suggest to Moira.

I’d driven though my old park just a few weeks before and had been surprised by a number of things, mainly that there were quite a few empty spaces. Another thing was that the sales lot seemed to have a plethora of previously owned units in it. Not that Moira could afford to buy one but possibly she could rent one. I had no idea if it was possible but suggested that we take a ride to the place and just take a look. Since it was on her way home I persuaded her to follow me. Pulling in, I made a point of slowing down to take a quick count of the used homes and came up with at least six. I stopped and let her get in my car and then proceeded to drive her through the park showing her both of my old units. I didn’t say much other than to point them out hoping she’d make an observation, but she didn’t. I’d been looking for For Rent signs but didn’t see any. By then I was getting concerned about the time so sort of forced the issue wanting to know if she could see herself and her kids living in a mobile home park like the one I’d just shown her. Looking straight ahead I heard her mumble something about not being able to afford to live there. I was then getting a bit exasperated and asked what her mortgage payment for her house was. When she said it was $100 a month I told her that I was positive rent would be less than that and she wouldn’t have to pay property taxes. That got her attention. I told her to think about it and I'd call the guys who owned the park to see if they knew of something available. With that said she smiled and got out. As I drove away I questioned my sanity for getting so involved.


To be continued...