(Part 5) <br /> <br />The Landlord <br /> <br />Hard to find an apartment <br />on a budget in L.A., <br />but Maria chose Echo Park... <br /> <br />'Your favorite song writer Tom Waits <br />has a house there.' <br />So did a quarter of a million Hispanics. <br />Coach knew the way Maria thought... <br /> <br />But the rent was right and <br />the neighborhood was... <br />the rent was right. <br /> <br />The landlord was black... <br />grey hair sticking up like a cockatiel... <br />a middle age man with an <br />amazingly strong grip <br />yet body turning soft... <br />tatoos, scars, <br />long ago reminders <br />of his early youth in gangs... <br />'have a beer with me' <br /> <br />...and so they sat... <br />the landlord telling brutal tales of <br />South Central L.A., <br />Coach telling tales of <br />East Central..........Iowa. <br /> <br />A six pack later <br />the sun sinking over the smog <br />covered mountains lighting <br />up the sky like a kid gone <br />wrong with crayons... <br /> <br />'White boy, no offense... <br />but this town is going to eat you alive.' <br /> <br />Coach quiet, softly polite... <br />'I don't think I'll let that happen.' <br /> <br />Landlord rears back <br />with gut shaking belly laughs... <br />'White boy, that's exactly what I'm talking about.' <br /> <br />(To be Cont.)<br /><br />Coach Roth<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/paradise-part-5-the-landlord/
