Nov 1, 2023 - Oct 31, 2024 third place winner by Robert Feder

No Angels Involved

The tenant in the last rent controlled apartment in the building was Miss Elizabeth, a 98 year old widow and retired social worker. My boss said I had to do something I really didn’t want to do. He said If you turn a few levers on the oven one way instead of another, the carbon dioxide goes in and not out. She wouldn’t last long. It wouldn’t hurt her.

Have I done some not so wonderful things? Yes, I’m not proud of everything I have done, but you do what you need to in this world. But killing 98 year old former social workers who spent their careers getting kids off the streets-that’s beyond not proud of it.

One person she saved from the streets didn’t exactly turn out to be a candidate for sainthood. Don Jose, our local mob boss, is not a candidate for anything except for the meanest SOB around.

I asked to see him at his club. I told him about Miss Elizabeth.

That evening, the landlord had a terrible accident, falling down the stairs four times. When he got out of the hospital, Don Jose asked me to do him a favor and ask (not tell) the landlord if I should have everything broken in Miss Elizabeth’s apartment fixed; Don said it might help the landlord fall down the stairs less. The landlord was not as dumb as he looked and after some grumbling, agreed to have everything in Miss Elizabeth's apartment fixed.

Miss Elizabeth said as many things as needed to be fixed in her apartment she would never give in and never give up living by herself in her “palace “. She thought the repairs were done by some kind of angel.

Angels had nothing to do with it.

The tenant in the last rent controlled apartment in the building was Miss Elizabeth, a 98 year old widow and retired social worker. My boss said I had to do something I really didn’t want to do. He said If you turn a few levers on the oven one way instead of another, the carbon dioxide goes in and not out. She wouldn’t last long. It wouldn’t hurt her.

Have I done some not so wonderful things? Yes, I’m not proud of everything I have done, but you do what you need to in this world. But killing 98 year old former social workers who spent their careers getting kids off the streets-that’s beyond not proud of it.

One person she saved from the streets didn’t exactly turn out to be a candidate for sainthood. Don Jose, our local mob boss, is not a candidate for anything except for the meanest SOB around.

I asked to see him at his club. I told him about Miss Elizabeth.

That evening, the landlord had a terrible accident, falling down the stairs four times. When he got out of the hospital, Don Jose asked me to do him a favor and ask (not tell) the landlord if I should have everything broken in Miss Elizabeth’s apartment fixed; Don said it might help the landlord fall down the stairs less. The landlord was not as dumb as he looked and after some grumbling, agreed to have everything in Miss Elizabeth's apartment fixed.

Miss Elizabeth said as many things as needed to be fixed in her apartment she would never give in and never give up living by herself in her “palace “. She thought the repairs were done by some kind of angel.

Angels had nothing to do with it.