How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water (13)

Fine. Come in. I’ll get you a Kleenex, el flaco said. Can’t be crying out here. I don’t want you to make the building sad.

I took small steps. I knew I was inside Fernando’s house, even if I recognized nothing. In the sala there was no sofá, only big pillows in the floor around the table with the shape of an egg. Little lights around the windows. A radio in the corner.

El flaco cleaned the floor in the hallway and then went from one end of the room to the other like a bird trapped inside the apartment. He looked at me cry until I could breathe again.

All this was my grandmother’s, he said. She died on that chair and left the apartment and everything in it to me. I’ll make you café. OK?

In the apartment I saw a big photo of Walter Mercado. The photo remind me how every night, all of us, ángela, Fernando, Lulú, and I would wait to listen to Walter’s horoscopes.

To be different is a gift, it said under Walter’s face.

And what Walter says is siempre correct but to be raro like el flaco is not a gift—it’s a life of suffering. You understand what I say?

Of course you don’t. You are American. Anyway, I asked his name and when he said, Alexis … Ay, Dios mío, out of all the names he could say—do you know Alexis is the protector of all humanity?

The café came fast. Alexis moved in the kitchen like he had never been in it before. Three jars of adobos and no sugar in the cabinets.

I asked him, Do you know where my Fernando is?

Sorry, Mami, he said, I hope you can drink café like that.

I pointed to the photo of Walter Mercado. I am a Capricorn, I said.

My grandmother was a Capricorn!

She must have been a great woman. Capricorn is the best sign. We are loyal and we never give up, I said. You can tell that to Fernando.

Then I asked, What is your sign? And he said, I am a Pisces, like Walter.

Could you believe it? He is a Pisces. And everybody knows Pisces is full of corazón.

When I finished drinking the coffee, I asked if Fernando talked about me.

He misses your cooking, Alexis said.

Of course he does. I am the best cook in Washington Heights.

He laughed. And then I laughed—I tell you, I felt this relief in the chest.

Then Alexis looked to me very serious and said, Listen to me, if you come here again, Fernando will leave. I don’t want him to leave. Do you understand?

I took another sip because I didn’t understand—am I so terrible that he have to run away from me?

I don’t know why, maybe it was Walter Mercado that gave me the message, but I trusted what El flaco Alexis the Pisces was saying to me. So I told him I will stay away under one condition: if something happened to Fernando he must contact me immediately. I left him my address and phone number.

The next day, I put my electric bill in Fernando’s name and made the process to put his name on the lease of the apartment. If something happens to me, Dios no lo quiera, I can do this for him. I also ordered him delivery from his favorite Dominican restaurant: pernil with white rice and tostones with garlic on the side. The note said, Fernando, te quiero. Tu mamá.

He didn’t call to say thank you.

But at least then I knew he had something to eat, that he was not a homeless, and that he had the protection of a Pisces.

I know, I know. I talked a lot today, and not about the jobs. More yuca than mangoes. But I promise that I will go to the interview you made for me and do everything you say in these papers.




GENTRIFIED, RENT-STABILIZED BUILDING

Little Dominican Republic/Washington Heights

A block away from the train station

Low-performing school zip code

Neighborhood scout report: Most dangerous area to live in Website: www.rentinnyc.org

Email address: [email protected]

Date: October 2007





RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS


OF TENANTS AND LANDLORDS

UNDER THE RENT STABILIZATION LAW

Previous Legal Regulated Rent: one-third below market.


Lease Start Date: Sometime in Fall 1982

Lease End Date: Sometime in Fall 2010

Lease Dated: Renewed every two years

Guidelines





Increases for Renewal


The owner is entitled to increase the rent when the lease is over, but only within the percentage set by law. That’s the benefit of being in a rent-stabilized building. It’s not like the owner can raise the rent three times more. If they try to, and they might, report them.

You have the right to choose between a one-year lease or a two-year lease. The percentage for a two-year lease is higher than the one-year lease. The advantage of a two-year lease is that your rent won’t go up again in one year. The disadvantage is if you move before the lease is over, you will lose your security deposit.





Appliances


Tenant agrees not to install, operate or place in the Apartment Unit any freezer, stove, cooking device, air-conditioning unit, clothes dryer, washing machine, nor any other major appliance not otherwise provided or authorized in writing by Landlord.





Succession Rights


In the event your mother or father dies or leaves to Dominican Republic, because they are one of the lucky ones who were able to buy a house and return back home, the family member who lived with them in the apartment as a primary residence for at least two years immediately prior to them leaving has the right to renew the lease.