We moved to Kansas City in August 2007. I got to the apartment complex about 2 hours before JB did - he was driving the moving truck. I walked into the leasing office of the place that JB picked out to get a key and to sign the lease. He told me that the place had just gone through a multi-million dollar renovation. Well, this is true - but... well, I'll keep going.
Walking into the leasing office I met Ricky. Ricky was a male cross-dresser. The funny thing is that JB and I could tell which Ricky looked better as - a female or a male. He/She was able to pull off both. Ricky walked me to our new apartment and showed me around. The biggest problem with the place was simply that the parking lot looked like it hadn't been paved in several years. But - we were told - that would be changing. I think that the day we moved in the place looked better than we were ever going to see it again. We were the only white couple to be found in our building.
Not long into our stay there we started giving our friends the grand tour. Our apartment was in a dorm-style building. The wall on the bottom floor was filled with large shoulder and body sized holes in the wall. At shoulder height there was a blood streak that went the entire length of the hall. The stairwell was home to hair extensions, condoms, trash, and many other things. So much for the renovation. Our apartment itself was actually nice, you just had to forget everything else. The place wasn't all bad.
John and I had free entertainment several nights a month consisting of sitting on our balcony watching the police officers chase down people, break up domestic violence, deal with people shooting out the front door, and many other things. It was our idea of a neighborhood block party. One night we had 18 police cars in the parking lot. Great entertainment! Of course - most of our neighbors were also watching, but many of them also felt the need to give advice to the perps.
One night JB was house sitting for some friends of ours. He told me that if there was anything I needed call him. I woke up at 3:17am to shots being fired. I called JB in a panic. He asked me if I wanted him to come home - and I told him that was a horrible idea because I didn't want him to be caught in the cross-hairs. The next morning it was pouring down rain. I went outside to my car so I could help a friend move. When I got into the car I noticed that the dashboard was covered in water. I looked up and saw a bullet hole in the middle of my windshield. I called JB and told him that I had discovered what had been shot the night before.
Fourth of July the year that we lived there was one of the worst holidays I've experienced. Our next door neighbors decided it would be fun to shoot off M40s INSIDE the building right in front of our door....at 2AM. Our apartment filled with smoke and alarms were going off everywhere. This doesn't account for what was going on outside too. You'd think that you moved to the middle of a war zone. Like the wonderful husband that he is - JB made me comfort food at 2:30am and put on Singing in the Rain for me to watch to settle down. God bless him!
Finally after a year we moved out. No harm but a dent that remained in our trunk from where the bullet tried to escape the car - and many many stories. While we were moving out my purse was stolen from inside our apartment while we were carrying boxes up and down the stairs. Yes Apartments, I will miss you too!
oh gosh! i think everyone who goes to seminary from far, far away has a horror story. we too, found an apartment before actually getting to kc. when we drove up and saw it, i didn't even go in. rollie said he would check it out. ten minutes later he was back, we drove out of the parking lot, and went apartment hunting in a different part of the city. thankfully! or my story might have had a similar ending to yours!! i'm glad you both survived!
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