Chapter Five - Cookie and Wookiee
Adam pulls up in front of our house right at 9:00am and I am out on the front porch waiting for him. He boots Mrs. Fullerton's car down the 401 until we get to Johnstown and then heads north up to Ottawa.
An hour and a bit later, we are driving by the Experimental Farm on Prince of Wales Drive and about to head onto Carling Avenue and Bronson on our way over to Argyle Avenue, where Dad made an appointment with the rental agent to look at this bachelor apartment we've come to see.
We pull up in front of the apartment building on Argyle and park on the opposite side of the street, facing the building. It's a red brick house similar in size and architectural style to most of the other houses on the street. At one time it must have been a single family home. Three stories tall with balconies facing the street and a central door on the front façade, it's obviously a walk-up building with lots of stairs. Hopefully, the apartment we have to look at is either on the first or second floor. The prospect of carrying my bike and dragging laundry and groceries up multiple flights of stairs is not exactly thrilling. The lady who is to show us the apartment is waiting for us out on the covered front porch by the front door.
"Hello. Which one of you is Aaron Christie?" she asks.
I reach out to shake her hand and say, "Hello, I'm Aaron and this is my friend, Adam Blanchard from Brockville. Thanks for meeting us to see the apartment."
"I'm Jennifer, the leasing agent for the landlord. Your Father explained to me on the phone when he called that you're starting classes at Algonquin, close by in the fall. You'll find this place a little on the small side. It's really just one big room with a kitchen alcove and a bathroom. The rent is $225.00 a month, with a first and last month deposit and post-dated cheques for the first year. Also, we don't normally rent to students, so we'll be needing a security deposit of $250.00 for any damages that may be incurred for the time you live here. Is that going to be a problem?"
"No. That sounds OK to me," I say.
"Well then, let's go in and have a look and you can let me know what you think. I've had one person already looking at the place, so if you are interested, you'll have to let me know before you leave."
"OK, can we see the place then, please?"
"Yes, of course. Follow me."
"As you can see, it's on the first floor to the right just as you come in the door. This place has new locks on the door and has just been painted. The landlord bought the building a few years ago and with the exception of this place on the first floor, it's fully rented out. There are no laundry facilities in the building. There is a laundromat three blocks down on Elgin, beside Al's Steak House. The hardwood floors have just been refinished. This used to be the parlour or living room back when this was still a single family house. The fireplace is decorative and not functional. You have a big window facing out onto Argyle Street. And, as you can see the place is heated with a hot water radiator just under the window over there. The bathroom has new wallpaper that I actually put up for the landlord. It has an original sink and claw foot bathtub that came from another room when the place was converted into apartments. You've got the IGA store for groceries just over on Isabella Street and you're close to the Voyageur Colonial bus station, just up four blocks on Catherine. Heat and hydro are included in the rent. Phone and cable are extra. Do you have any questions for me?"
"Ummm. No. Too bad the fireplace is painted over. I bet there is some beautiful oak underneath that paint," I say.
"It has at least four coats of paint on it and would have needed too much work to strip it down to the original wood and stain it again," she says.
"It's beautiful though."
"Tell you what...if you want to put the effort into refinishing it while you are here, then I don't think the landlord would have a problem with that at all," she says and slowly starts to warm up to me.
I keep looking at that fireplace, imagining those scrolled side pieces, turned columns, and moldings with that original beveled glass overmantel mirror stripped down and refinished with a golden stain to match the hardwood flooring.
"Well...the kitchen is really small and there is only that little alcove for clothes by the front door and those hanging hooks between it and the kitchen. I really like the place though and the location is good. If I were to take it, would you take a deposit now by cheque and when would I be able to have keys to move into the place?"
"Once the cheque clears and you give me the security deposit and post-dated cheques, then I can hand you over the keys."
"OK...Adam, I don't think I'm going to find anything cheaper, closer or better this close to the start of the semester. What do you think about the place?"
"Aaron, it looks good to me. That bathtub is really big," he says, and gives me a sly little smile.
"The kitchen is smaller even than my place back in Brockville. But you'll have the cafeteria at school and there are lots of restaurants along Elgin Street. It's your decision, Aaron," says Adam.
"Can I give you a cheque now then, Jennifer? My Mom gave me a blank cheque before we left this morning. I can fill out the amount for first and last month and the security deposit. I really like the place."
"Sounds good to me," she says.
"I have to be up in Ottawa on August 22nd to meet with the Department Head and get myself oriented to find my way around the school. Can I pick up keys for the place at the same time? I think I'll want to move in around Labor Day, so I'll be ready for school to start."
"What are you going to be studying in school, Aaron?" she asks me.
"Interior Design," I say.
"Well then...I'll certainly know who to come to whenever the landlord wants to do something around here. Just remember though, that you can't paint or do anything that's going to alter the place unless you ask permission first or you'll lose your security deposit."
"Thanks for coming along with me, Adam. What did you really think about the place, now that I've rented it?"
"Well, cookie...that kitchen is smaller than a closet. And as for closets...well, there are none. And the ceilings in the place are at least twelve feet high. If you aren't planning on doing more than making coffee and having toast in that kitchen...there is like, no counter in there at all. And if that hot water radiator in the main room heats the place, so you don't freeze to death in the winter, then it should be OK."
"Aaron, I saw you looking and thinking about that fireplace. Don't do the landlord's work for him, cookie. It looks just fine, painted the way it is now. You'll have more important things to do with your time outta' school than taking on something like that...like taking nice, long, hot bubble baths in that old-fashioned tub with me!" says Adam, with a suggestive laugh."
"Now let's hop in the car and head over to the Campus, 'cause I wanna' see how far it is from here and just exactly where you're gonna' be going for classes. After that, we're gonna' come back here and take a walk down Elgin Street. Then you can buy me dinner, since I'm such a nice guy for bringing you up here today baby...hah...hah...hah!"
The St. Pat's Campus of Algonquin College faces directly onto the Rideau Canal along a roadway that is called the Queen Elizabeth Driveway. It used to be the railroad tracks coming along that side of the Canal in to Union Station, right across from the Chateau Laurier Hotel, until the National Capital Commission and City of Ottawa ripped up the tracks and beautified the entire length of the Canal to promote tourism. It is quite beautiful now. St. Pat's was purchased by Algonquin College and is an "H"- shaped, four-story red brick, vaguely Tudor-style building that resembles many high schools built in the same period of time. It reminds me of Brockville Collegiate, where I went to high school. I keeping thinking to myself, "I sure hope the time I spend here is going to be better than when I was at BCI..."
"I'll have to be up here again on August 22nd to meet the Department Head and show her my portfolio, Adam. At least now I know how to get here from Argyle Street."
"That was the general idea there, Aaron. Looks like the place is locked up tight for the summer though, so I guess we won't be doing any walking around inside. Too bad...I wanted to see what it looked like beforehand with ya'."
"Maybe when I come up to meet Camilla 'whatshername' on the 22nd," I say.
"Depends on when I have to work, babe...we'll see. I'd like to though."
We head back to the car and hop in. Adam heads north on the Driveway and turns left over the Pretoria Avenue Bridge that spans the Canal. Then he follows the road to the right where it becomes Elgin Street.
