The Lodger Ch 01

The taxi pulled up to the house, and the passenger, a rather slight male in his very early twenties, saw that it was an enmeshed castle of geometric three-dimensional shapes, but not so enmenshed as to be unliveable, or so he hoped. As he disembarked, the passenger, Phillip Ahern, note a look of wry bemusement on the taxi driver's face. Phillip had no idea why he should have such a smile, and wondered if the driver was having a private joke at Phillip's expense. Even if he was, Phillip didn't really care what a chubby, middle-aged man, in a job where the pay was completely proportional to where he drove, thought about him or his location, so he allowed the old man his private joke. Somethhing about the house, perhaps... He was at the front door now, and the taxi was gone, as Phillip had a nasty thought creep into his head.

He checked the advertisement from the local newspaper again, just to make sure this was the right address. 'Three co-owners, wishing to have fourth wheel to make a complete car...' There was no mistake, this was the place. It seemed very... large, and of blatant post-modernist design. Probably out of his price range, but as he'd made the journey from his old apartment to this post-modernist palace, he decided he might as well ask.

Waiting no more than a minute after ringing the bell, Phillip was greeted by an unusually tall woman of Oriental descent, clad in a voluminous ensemble of jumper and sweat pants. "Hello! You're here for the room, right? Excellent! Come in, come in!" He was herded inside, whilst this Oriental giantess, whom Phillip reasoned couldn't be more than 25 (and was actually very beautiful to boot, although her size was unusual for a woman of her racial history), spoke the usual polite things polite people say.

"Where are my manners? My name is Su-Ling, there are two others living here, Amanda and Namita, they'll be back shortly, just gone out to get some things for dinner. Meanwhile, why don't you tell me about yourself?" After being seated in a modestly luxurious kitchenette, Phillip went through the last 8 months of his life.

"Well, I've just finished college, and I have a likely job prospect in an accountant's office. I had been living in a group bedsit, but I just found that too claustrophobic, pretty much no-one liked me there, and were always saying stuff about me, even to my face..."

He continued in this spiel for a while longer, detailing how he'd more or less drifted from one place to another, and how he'd had to move out over some storm in a teacup. He'd realised about halfway through that he was making himself sound like a sociopath with no way of paying for his room and board, so he tried to emphasise his blamelessness in all these unfortunate incidents, how others had taken offence at his taking a highly restrained umbrage at their choices of hedonistic delights, taking little heed of what might happen to them if they continued. Su-Ling replied that she understood perfectly, she was somewhat sensitive to the self-destructive nature of youth when she was that age too.

"'That age'? You only look about 5 years older than me." Phillip suddenly understood just what a completely back-handed compliment that comment was, and would have apologised, were it not for the fact that Su-Ling was clearly amused with this, giggling quite beautifully, rocking with polite mirth. "Five? Nearer fifteen I'm afraid. That's right, you're going to be living with an old maid, three in fact. It's sweet of you to say that though. I think I'm going to like you very much indeed." Then, in a highly unusual tone of voice, "I think we all are"

Phillip was about to say that he didn't see her as an old maid in the slightest, then it dawned on him; "I-I've got the apartment?" "If you want it." "But this is such a lovely neighbourhood, I don't think I could afford the rent." "Oh, that! We can discuss payment at the end of the month, but I think for such a polite young man as yourself, it won't be expensive."

Her tone was becoming rather flirtatious, and Phillip was beginning to feel slightly uncomfortable next to this gentle Oriental giantess, when he heard a car pull up. Su-Ling practically squealed "Oh! The others are here! I'll introduce you!"

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To be continued in Part 2, where Numita and Amanda are introduced, and things get... rather interesting. Votes and comments (of the coherent kind preferably ;)) are appreciated, particularly if you feel I can improve in some way. Remember, we're all new writers at some point, so be nice!