Dicky Bird's Nest : Margarite's New Apartment

This is the fictional story that continues with Maragarite an English teacher at Tinley Park High School. This is the premise of our VIRTUAL August Sale Event: "It's Cool in Schoolville" Link here:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1688801117943313/

Margarite pulled into the parking lot of her apartment complex. She just spent the most wonderful 6 weeks in northern Wisconsin surrounded by trees and lakes. Now all she saw was cement and buildings. She decided that she would do her best to bring a bit of the natural world into her tiny apartment.

She hardly was even in the door when she heard Mrs. Klein's voice, "Margarite, honey, I have something to tell you," Margarite turned and maybe for the first time noticed just what a tiny woman she was. "Hello Mrs. Klein, what can I do for you?" "I'm sorry to bother you so quickly, dear, but I wanted to tell you that Mr. Johnson in apartment 2 passed away while you were gone." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," Margarite said. "Well, honey, that means his apartment, on the first floor, with the corner widow views is available. I have been holding it to ask you first." "Oh, my goodness," Margarite said, she was so excited that she didn't even process that Mr. Johnson had passed on. "YES, I'll take it!" "Thank you Mrs. Klein for holding it for me. Oh, and please give Mr. Johnson's family my condolences." "Well, the apartment is clean and ready for you to move in anytime dear," Mrs. Klein said. "Come down in the morning and get the keys." "Oh, thank you, Mrs. Klein, this is exactly the type if change I needed."

She wasted little time in grabbing a notebook and wring down all the things she needed to do to make her new apartment feel more like the little cottage that stole her heart. "Oh, Margarite" she told herself, "you must stick to a budget." She now has an extra bedroom and more living space to fill. Her head was full of dreams, however her eyes where heavy, even though she was too excited to sleep.

"Here are the keys, when your apartment is empty, please let me know" Mrs. Klein told Margarite. "Also, you can paint and decorate all you would like." This made Margarite so happy. As she opened the door to the new apartment, she happen to think of all the times she walked passed this side of the building. She always saw Mr. Johnson sitting in his window. He would smile and wave to all the residents as they passed. "I can see why, he loved sitting here. I want to carry on his waving tradition." She couldn't help but think of the friendly community of Three Lakes, how welcoming they were and the connection in the community. She felt bad now, thinking then, that she did not have that here in Tinley Park. But, she did, it was Mr. Johnson. He was welcoming and greeting residents in his own way. She was already arranging that room in her mind to accomodate a seat by the window.

With her notebook full of plans, she headed out to go shopping. As she passed Mrs. Klein's door, it was open a crack so she peeked in. "Hello, Mrs. Klein?" "I'm in here honey, come on in." Mrs. Klein was busy cooking and the smells were amzaing. She shared with her all the ideas she had. Mrs. Klein said, "you know, over the years, we stored all kinds of items that were left over in an apartment in that old garage out back. When Mr. Klein was alive, he was a bit of a pack rat and hardly threw anything away. Would you like to go and see if you could find something you could use?" Maragarite could hardly believe it, "oh, that would be wonderful," she said. "Well, with Mr. Klein not being around, it has become a bit of a mess out there. If you could help me by cleaning and sorting it out, you can have whatever you want in there." "It's a deal," Maragarite said as Mrs. Klein handed her the keys to the garage.

As she opened the door, her nose was it hit with the the smell of sweet cigar that still lingered in the air. Mr. Klein must have enjoyed hours tinkering out here. She stumbled to find the light switch, it was too dark for her eyes to adjust. Once the light was on, she could hardly believe all the treasures that lay before her. Sure, it was a bit of a dusty mess and there was alot of trash, but she was so intrigued by each piece and the story it held. She wasted little time shuffling and sorting that she lost track of the day. "Honey, are you still in there?" she heard Mrs. Klein ask. "I am" she said. As Mrs. Klein came into the garage she could see all of Margarite's progress. "You know, Mrs. Klein, I may not be the only one who would like these pieces. Would you mind if I fixed a few of the extras up and sold them?" "Oh, if I thought someone could us this old stuff Mr. Klein stored all these years, it sure would make me happy. But, I think you've done enough for today, I made us some dinner, do you like chicken stew?" As Margarite locked the door behind, she said "I surely do and that sounds wonderful!"