"I don't have any friends here either."
"What about me and the rest of your family?"
"I can still visit. I'll be two towns over, not dead."
His mom still wasn't on board when he left but she seemed more at ease. He had just enough money for some groceries and rent for an apartment but first he had to find one. He bought a newspaper from a corner newsstand near the bus depot and sat down outside of a deli and opened the paper to the classifieds.
"Would you like anything, sir?" a waitress asked him.
He hadn't thought of purchasing anything but since he was taking up one of this establishment's tables, he figured he should get something. "Uh, just some coffee?" he guessed on what they had.
"Cream and sugar?"
"Please," he smiled at her.
Anthony went back to his paper and began looking at ads for apartment rentals. He took a pen out of his pocket and circled half a dozen that looked good and were within walking distance of where he was. He drank two cups of coffee, paid the waitress, leaving a decent tip and began heading to the apartments that he had circled. The first was a large tenement building a couple blocks away. It was an imposing twelve-story brick building but didn't impress Anthony with its dirty apartments, numerous maintenance issues, and many shady people hanging around. He liked that it was cheap but it wasn't worth all the problems that he saw with it.
The next two were in smaller apartment buildings. They were both a step up from the tenement but that was about it. Again, they were cheap and he actually left considering them. The fourth and fifth were more of what Anthony was looking for but they ended up being more expensive than what was listed in the paper. Anthony tried to haggle for the second one but it didn't work. The sixth and final one was a large house divided into three units. The bottom floor housed two units and then there was the upstairs unit. The second downstairs unit was for rent. It was next to a married couple, clearly married for far too long, who could be heard shouted through the wall.
"The Belchers are good neighbors but they can get a little loud. These walls can seem a tad thin," the landlord said.
"Who lives upstairs. Are they loud?" Anthony was skeptical about moving in here even though the unit was nice, it was cheap, and he liked the neighborhood.
"It's two girls, going to the teaching college," the landlord said. "The Belchers or any of the other tenants have never complained about them." Anthony and the landlord heard talking outside the window. They turned and saw two girls walking past. "Oh, that's them now."
The landlord went over the window and quickly threw it open. "Hi, Mr. Dinsmore. Showing the downstairs unit?" one of the girls asked as they got to the door to their unit.
"Yes, to Mr. Breyer. This is Diana and Janet. They live in the upstairs unit."
Anthony looked at the window at the two girls. Both were older than him by five or seven years but they were both very attractive. Diana had shoulder-length mousy brown hair, big green eyes, and her face was covered with freckles. Janet had long blonde hair, brilliantly bright blue eyes, and shiny pale skin. He smiled stupidly at them and gave them a small wave. They waved back and giggled at each other before vanishing into the stairway to their unit. Anthony could hear them walk up the stairs that ran along the living room wall.
"They seem quiet enough," Anthony said, wondering which one he would inevitably date.
"Are you going to take the unit?"
"Yeah, I think I will take it. I like the converted house and the neighborhood, and I think it's just right to start a new life. It's time to meet new people and have new adventures and figure out what I'm on this Earth to do. It's a new start for me and I look forward to whatever may happen from now on."
"Mm-hmm. So you want the apartment?"
"Yes."
"Will that be cash or check?"
"Cash."
