Dirty Neighbor(10)

“Do you remember that neighbor I was telling you about?”

“The one who has orgies, and is always having parties?”

“Yes. I went to one of his parties this weekend.”

“You rebel you.” Anna stood up, removing her mask from her face. They were completely covered in white suits as they cleared away a house that had once been inhabited by addicts. She heard the police in the other room also going through some of the chaos that surrounded them. This kind of work was dangerous, and they had to make sure their bodies were protected from possible needles and drugs. The gloves they wore were thick, but they had to keep their attention on the work. “I don’t know how anyone can live here.”

“They didn’t exactly live here. They survived here, doping up, and moving on.”

Elisha stood up, pushing her mask into her hair, and turning in a circle. They each had a path cleared from the doorway to the center of the room.

“This is going to take a long time to actually clean up,” Anna said.

“Hey, ladies, how are you doing?” Carl, one of the police officers, asked.

“This is awful. How has this been overlooked for so long?” she asked.

“Shit like this is always overlooked. It costs the government every single year to clean up a dump like this. You think it’s about taking out the trash, but there’s also the re-housing of the people we find inside. Most of the time, they’re going to do time for possession with intent to distribute.”

Elisha’s cell phone started to ring, and she apologized, pulling it out of the back of her jeans pocket.

She made her way out of the house, toward the fresh air.

“Hello,” she said.

“Hi, is this Elisha?”

“It certainly is. Can I ask who is calling?” She removed the mask from her head and took some deep breaths. The smell of urine, decay, and even worse, feces covered the house.

“It’s Danny. We met at Brant’s house party this weekend.”

“Danny, hey, what can I do for you?”

“I was hoping you’d be willing to take the job of cleaning that venue I was telling you about?”

“I was supposed to call you, right?”

“I looked your name up on the internet, and found you that way.”

Elisha couldn’t help but smile. Having a website had been Anna’s idea. “Excellent. I’ll have to come around and give you a quote, and to make sure we can actually clean the place that you’ve picked.” She’d been called to places to clean up that were not even stable enough for people to be inside, with crumbling walls and other such things.

“I’m free this afternoon.”

Elisha bit her lip. She wanted to go and look at the artwork that Brant had on offer. Part of her wanted to go ahead and do more business, but she didn’t want to go. They were a good business. This was the first time she wasn’t jumping at the opportunity to meet a new client.

“I’m not free. How about Tuesday morning?” she asked.

“Sure. I look forward to meeting you again.”

“You, too.”

She hung up the phone, and pocketed her cell.

“We can’t do anymore,” Anna said.

Turning around, she saw her friend was already stripping out of her work gear.

“What?”

“It’s too bad that the cops can’t risk our lives. We’re an independent company they contract. There’s too much of a hazard to let us continue.”

“I’m really sorry, ladies, but I can’t risk it,” Carl said, coming out.

“What are you going to do?” Elisha asked.

“Clear away most of the mess. There’s a company that handles places like this, and takes special care to remove needles.” Carl shrugged. “I wish there weren’t companies out there for this shit, but there are.”

“When you’re done, you’ll give us a call, right?” she asked.

“You’ll be the first person we call.” Carl nodded at them, before turning around and going back in the house.

“Wow, we’re free for the rest of the day, unless you’ve got another job?” Anna asked.

“Nah, you go on. There’s somewhere I want to be anyway.”

“A date?”

“Not a date. Not really.”

Anna chuckled. “You don’t need to worry about anything. Call me if a job comes up. I’m going to bake some cupcakes for the kids to decorate when they get home.”

She watched Anna strip out of the white suit and make her way toward the car. Elisha glanced down at her body, and cringed. She wore the white suit with a pair of old, bleach-stained jeans. The shirt was also cut along the bottom. For jobs like this she didn’t like wearing her nice clothing as it would only get worse.