Day CLVll

 Lifes A Bitch Sometimes

     I dropped by one day, just before he left, there was a going out of business sign on the window, and he was smoking inside the store.

     “Wat up man, ya smoking inside?

     “Oh mon, da moderfocker Sam, he shafted me.”

     “Whaa at I thought youse guys wuz such pals, man!”

     “Oi think he got jealous of me sto, mon….and he just raised da freaking rent so much, I can’t afford ta stays ere. I’m just having a going out of business sale.”

     “Youse guys couldn’t work it out?

     “No mon, he believes Oi be getting rich hea, and he pretty much wants a piece of it. Really mon, Oi just making a living, a good living, but it was still just a living, mon. Oi not getting rich or nuting, mon.”

    "Wow...watta mofo!!!"

     “Ta be honest Oi don’t know, maybe Oi go back ta Jamaica, mon.”

     “Ya kidding!”

     “No mon, as soon as diz place empty, Oi be gone!”

     He wasn’t kidding, but Sam didn’t believe him, and he just put him out of business. If he had renegotiated his lease before the renovations, maybe he would still be there. It seems to me the landlord wanted to be his silent partner, and methinks most retail landlords are like that. The store could only produce but so much. Eventually Rich filed for bankruptcy, and moved back to Jamaica. The landlord was stuck with an empty store for a few months, but he eventually rented it to somebody else. Funny thing, he only got a few bucks more than what Rich was paying. I found out because the folks who took it, weren’t selling the same high end stuff as Rich. They became a customer, and they confided in me. Life’s a bitch sometimes, and it makes us smokers- if we let it.