The Man Upstairs

A Fictional Series

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JACK ROGERS, UNIT 104

I’ve been at Fourth and Main for a year and a half now. I love living here because it’s so close to the college. Plus my parents are paying the rent, so… hey… I can’t complain. 

It’s not a bad place, really. It just needs a little TLC. I’m studying real estate right now, and I’d love to buy it someday. I bet it’s a real cash cow! 

Larry is always complaining about it. He claims the building was one of L.A.’s finest back in the day, before the “newer tenants” destroyed it. Yeah. He’s full of shit. 

Sure the pipes are a little noisy, and the walls are thin, but isn’t that pretty standard for these places? And it isn’t because of the new tenants, that’s for sure. The place is just old, like Larry! 

Like he should talk, anyway. I’ve gone into the laundry room after him and there’s lint in the dryer, and softener sheets all over the floor – right next to the trash can! Sheesh. 

I mean, how hard is it to hit the basket? Didn’t you ever play basketball Larry? Probably not. He doesn’t seem like the athletic type.

Luckily I’m in one of the units in the back, off of the carport, so I don’t have to go by his apartment much – except when I get my mail. And, of course, he always opens his door and looks out when I walk by, like he’s the hall police or something. 

Then he goes on and on about the degradation of society. And the building. I don’t think I’d buy the place unless the owner got rid of Larry first. 

I feel sorry for Carla. She has to live next to him. Poor thing. I’ll tell you one thing though… that girl is one hot tamale! 

She’s one of those curvy Latino girls, like Jennifer Lopez. Too bad she’s got so much baggage. I’m not talking about the baby, either. 

I think her boyfriend used to beat her because she’s had bruises on her a few times. I’ve never seen him at the building, but I saw the two of them out once, at a little dive bar down the street. That guy had some serious muscle.

That was before the baby though. I think she stopped seeing him after Lucita was born because she never goes out anymore. It’s a good thing, too.

I don’t think she’s much older than me, either. Maybe 29? That’s like what…  a 5 year difference? Yeah, I could deal with that. Besides, you know what they say about older women…

Speaking of older people, Stan said he saw the new guy who’s moving in and he looks older than Larry. Yikes. How is that even possible? But Stan’s high half of the time, so who knows.

Seriously, though, Stan’s the man. If you ever want to know anything… about anyone… you need to talk to Stan. 

TO BE CONTINUED

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I’m having a lot of fun writing this, but I’m sorry that the segments aren’t a little more exciting. In the other series I tried to have a ‘moral to the story’ or some meaningful ending, but I’m just not in a place in this story where I could do that very well.

Anyway, I decided today that I’d keep the illustrations simpler, and then I got carried away with Jack. In the future I think I’m going to go back to some kind of line art. These images take way too long and they’re not even artsy or memorable… haha! Oh well.

So… I started some talk from Jack that was a bit too ageist, but I took it out because I don’t want anyone else in the building to be as annoying as Larry. Poor Larry. Ha-ha! When I was onto the ageism thoughts I looked for some humor on the internet and I found this funny one – so I thought I would share that here, to conclude my ramblings…

My mind is like my internet browser. 19 tabs open, 3 of them are frozen, and I have no idea where the music is coming from.

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One last thought. I’m looking forward to adding Stan to the mix because I think he’ll be entertaining. If I can catch him on a good day – when he’s not too stoned.

That’s about all for now. Thank you so much for reading or browsing, I hope you enjoyed!