Condominium Read Free

say.”
    “Get the file on Four-C.”
    Mrs. Higbee went over to a file cabinet. She wore pale faded jeans, tighter than anything except the very best skin. Howard Elbright tried not to stare at her breasts wobbling unrestrained under her yellow T-shirt.
    She brought Higbee the file. Higbee sat at the larger desk and waved Elbright into the visitor’s chair. “Got that list? He’s got a list, Lorrie. How about that?”
    Elbright took it out of his wallet and unfolded it and read aloud, slowly and carefully. “The water which comes out of the hot faucets is quite warm, but not hot. The rain comes in under the sliding glass doors in the living room and the front bedroom. There seem to be two refrigerator shelves missing. The compressor on the air conditioner makes a loud yelping noise. The shower door will not close completely. The hot and cold controls on the sink in the smaller bathroom are reversed. The bathtub in the larger bathroom is badly chipped. The interior of one closet was never painted. Two wall plugs seem to be dead. There is a sizable crack in the balcony railing outside the living room.”
    “Is that all?”
    “Thus far.”
    “Thus far? Okay, now do you remember coming into this office the day you arrived?”
    “I do.”
    “What happened?”
    “Happened? You … gave me the keys and a stack of literature.”
    “You’re leaving out the most important part. Right in front of me and Lorrie you signed this here. You’ll find a copy of it in with the literature, right?”
    Howard Elbright had difficulty with the fine print. He read it with a growing dismay. He had certified that the apartment was acceptable to him in all respects, that all work had been completed, and the builder and the developer were relieved of any responsibility whatsoever for incomplete or unsatisfactory work or equipment.
    “You said it was a formality,” he said accusingly.
    “That’s what it is. A formal binding agreement. You don’t believe me, see a lawyer. What you should have done, you should have taken a day or two to check it out, right?”
    “My furniture was here. In the truck.”
    “You could have put it in storage. Anyway, I’ll tell you what I can do for you, Elmore. I think I can get you those missing shelves with no problem. I think I got some in storage we didn’t know where they went. About the air conditioner, you got the warranty papers on it, and the address of where it come from, and you can handle it yourself. Matter of fact, you can handle any of this stuff on your list yourself, getting a plumber, an electrician, a painter, whatever. Or you can let me go ahead. You let me do it, and it will be Gulfway’s cost plus ten percent. What my advice would be, you let me handle it because Gulfway can get some crew from the builder that put up this place, and you ought to do better even with the ten percent than when you go outside by yourself, not being acquainted locally. The way it works, you let me do it, it will come through on your monthly billing in addition to the management fee and the land lease and recreation lease and so on.”
    “But either way, I have to pay for every one of these things?”
    “There’s no way I can give you any free gifts, Elmore.”
    “Elbright. Please. Mr. Elbright. Think up a word association to help you remember. I was not very bright to sign that damned agreement. Bright. Elbright.”
    “That’s pretty good, Mr. Elbright. Isn’t that pretty good, Lorrie?”
    “Fan … tastic,” she said in a dead voice.
    “I won’t forget it again ever,” Higbee said. “I’ve got an almost perfect memory.”
    “Ha,” said Lorrie.
    “You want me to take care of the list?”
    Howard folded it and put it back in his wallet. “I’ll let you know.”
    “Suit yourself. To me it’s just another nuisance, but that’s what I’m here for, right?”
    Howard thought he could hear Higbee laughing after the door was closed. As he walked toward the elevators his ears got warm