Script Kiddies

Chapter 15

"Rent is due on the first," Mr. Shippner said. "If I don't have it under my door by midnight, it's another hundred bucks. If I don't have it by the third, I'll call the cops, and have you thrown out."

The old man left a trail of cigarette smoke as he waddled down the hall. Haley tried to hold her breath as she and Hector followed, but any physical activity was a struggle. Even though it was noon, the hallway was dark, the only light coming in through small windows in the doors at the end of the hall.

"Do these lights work?" Haley asked, looking up at the dingy fly-filled shades.

"Yeah."

"How do we turn them on?" Hector said.

"You don't," Mr. Shippner said. "I will when it's dark."

"Are you sure we can't keep staying with your mom?" Haley whispered. "If we put a crib next to the couch ..."

Hector shook his head.

"Mom has to be up too early as it is. You want to keep her up all night?"

"This'll be you," Mr. Shippner said. He flipped through a dozen keys on a ring before finding the right one and unlocking the door.

The studio was more of a bedroom with a converted mini kitchen. The carpet was brown and had several stains where the bed should have been. There were two windows above the stains, but the sunlight was filtered by the iron bars across them. Even through Shippner's fresh secondhand smoke, Haley could smell the musty ghosts of thousands of its predecessors.

"Quiet hours are from ten to seven," Mr. Shippner said, eyeing Haley's belly. "First complaint gets a warning, second is a fifty-dollar fine."

Haley placed her hands on her bump.

"Anything else we should know?" Haley asked.

"No drugs or parties," Shippner said. He looked at Hector. "I smell anything and you're out."

"You won't," Hector said.

Shippner snorted, then took another drag on his cigarette. "First two months are up front."

Haley pulled out the last of the Kells' hush money and the overly generous wedding present Noel had given them and handed it over.

Shippner counted the bills carefully before stuffing them in the back of his faded jeans. He nodded to the kitchen counter, and Haley saw two keys sitting there.

It only took two trips for Hector's truck to carry all their belonging from his mom's apartment. And even though Haley couldn't do much more than roll a suitcase down the hall without needing a break, Dana, Drew and Davy drove down to help.

Once the boys had Noel's beat-up pull-out sofa in the bedroom, an old crib from Drew's parent's, and a rocking chair with a green stain they'd picked out of the dumpster, Haley and Dana started unpacking the few boxes they had.

"I think Noel gave us everything but one or two plates," Haley said as they pulled dish after dish out. "I feel bad taking all her stuff."

"That's what mothers are supposed to do," Dana said.

Suddenly, Haley winced as the baby kicked.

"Speaking of which," Dana said, "how are you feeling?"

Haley took several deep breaths and gently pushed on her stomach to reposition the baby.

"That it's a good thing Hector wants a soccer player."

"That bad?"

"It's really not," Haley admitted. "Though having to pee all the time sucks."