“First I just need a question answered. Who is responsible for the Bottoms? It’s a disgrace.”
Peanut sighed. “Yes, ma’am, it is. Except for the few houses that were deeded over to the renters recently by their landlord at his passing, all of the others are owned by a different absentee landlord. And before you ask, I will tell you that we have tried to contact him for years without success about the deterioration of his property and the hardship it’s caused for the people living there.”
“So, nobody helps them just because they don’t own their places?” Cathy asked.
Peanut was silent a moment. “I never looked at it like that, but it appears to be the case, doesn’t it?”
Cathy let that comment lie on his conscience and asked another question. “Do you have contact information for the absentee landlord?”
“I know his name and how to contact him, but I can’t guarantee he’ll ever respond to your letter.”
“I don’t intend to write to him. I was thinking about calling.”
“Ah…not sure I have that info, but I know who might. Let me do some checking around and get back to you.”
“Yes, sir, and thank you for your help.”
“If I may ask…what do you have up your sleeve?” he asked.
“Not sure yet. I need more info before I make that decision.”
“Okay, that’s fair, and for the record, it’s not sir…it’s Peanut. As aggravating as it is, that’s my name.”
Cathy grinned. “Peanut it is, and I’ll be waiting for your call.”
She busied herself making a sandwich, and then answered a text from Duke that made her laugh.
Just checking in. Are you still alive?
Really funny, Dude…uh, I mean Duke. Yes, I’m still alive.
He sent a smiley face and a LOL, which made her smile.
A short while later, she got a text from Peanut with a name, address, and phone number.
“Hmmm, R.L. Meiner with a Brooklyn address. How in the world did someone from New York wind up owning land in Blessings? But there’s a phone number. So, here goes nothing,” she said.
She sat down and made the call, listened to a multitude of rings and then a robotic voicemail.
“Well…good grief if this is all I have to work with,” Cathy muttered, and left a brief message. “Mr. Meiner, I’m Cathy Terry from Blessings, Georgia, and I want to discuss the deterioration of the property you own here. The tenants are suffering from your lack of attention. I know slum lords are a thing where you live, but not here. I would like to discuss the possibility of buying the properties from you. Please call me at your earliest convenience. Winter is coming, and some of your tenants do not have heat. Not because they’re too poor but because nothing has been repaired in so long that the appliances they have don’t work.” Then she left her address and the phone number she was calling from, and hung up.
She didn’t know what might come from this, but she also knew someone who might be willing to wave another flag on behalf of those suffering such hardship. She scrolled through her small list of contacts until she got to Mavis Webb at the Tribune.
Mavis answered on the second ring, and Cathy started talking.
“Hi, Mavis. It’s me, Cathy. I might have the next big story for you if you’re interested.”
“Then get your butt down here to the Tribune and we’ll talk,” Mavis said.
Cathy giggled. “I’ll be there in ten,” she said, then grabbed her jacket and her purse with the bullet hole and took off out the door.
Mavis was waiting for her when she walked in. “Want a cup of coffee?” she asked.
“No, I’m good,” Cathy said.
Mavis led the way to her office, then closed the door behind them.
“Sit, and tell me what’s going on.”
“Have you ever been to the Bottoms?” Cathy asked.
Mavis frowned. “Isn’t that what they call those little houses on the other side of those old railroad tracks?”
“Yes. But did you know they’re owned by an absentee landlord who has ignored requests for years to address the situation there? I took a woman and her two babies home from the Crown today, and there wasn’t any heat in the house. She had electricity, but no heat, and I saw an electric heater on the wall. She said it hadn’t worked in two years and the landlord refused to fix it. She said she’s been using a donated space heater from Salvation Army that she