The Grumpy Neighbor Wants the Size 22 Girl Upstairs, and the Walls Are Thin novel · Chapter 20 of 24

Chapter 20: The Walkthrough

By nine fifty on Saturday there were forty-one people in the stairwell.

I watched them from my landing, because I had nothing else to do with my hands.

Shannon stood on the second step in a gold headscarf with her arms folded.

Six women from Grace Methodist held hymnals on the third, fourth and fifth, in their church coats, humming.

Four off-duty firefighters from Engine 21 leaned on the railing in jeans, eating donuts, and the rookie sat on the bottom step with his bad leg stretched across it.

Loretta sat in a kitchen chair at the foot of the stairs with her cane across her knees.

At ten o'clock the front door opened, and the gray suit stepped in.

Chandler came behind him with the folder.

"After you," Chandler said, and then he saw the stairs, and his smile caught.

"Is there an event?"

"It's my house," said Loretta. "I invited a few friends. A man should see what he's buying."

The man in the suit looked at the choir.

The choir looked back and hummed a little louder.

"Mrs. Honeycutt," he said carefully. "I was told the building would be vacant and ready to view."

"Who told you?"

He glanced at Chandler.

"I'm sure it's a misunderstanding," Chandler said. "Aunt Loretta gets confused."

"I'm one hundred," said Loretta, calmly, "and I'm not confused."

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