Vampires…real and imagined.

I admit it, I’ve gotten hooked on Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series of books. What can I say, ever since Angel stole my heart on Buffy I’ve had a soft spot for ‘good’ vampires torn between love and blood lust. This series is no exception. Sure, it may have been originally written for teenagers, but Harry Potter was a kids book too right? So it’s not so weird I was drawn into this fantasy world as well. I was always a sucker for a fantasy. Heck, I even fell for the ‘white picket fence’ one once. Oh, and then there was the “I’m going to leave her for you” fantasy. See? I told you. Sucker. Back to the vampires. The ones I’ve been reading about and yes, saw on the big screen last night are stuff of imagination. But don’t let that fool you, there are real life vampires. And they are scarier and more insidious than the ones found between the pages of a book.

Take my former landlord as an example. He told me I’d been an excellent tenant. He praised how little he paid in heating fuel due to my diligence at keeping the thermostat set at a reasonable temp and throwing on a sweater when I felt a bit chilly. My parents and I vaccuumed, scrubbed and cleaned the day I moved my stuff out of the apartment. He even told me the place was in good shape…until today when he sent an itemized list of things giving him a reason to keep my security deposit. Burn holes in the carpet due to smoking? Umm no. No smoking in my apartment, never, ever. Scratches on the kitchen floor? Sure, caused by chairs being pushed and pulled up to a table. Normal wear and tear. Leaving the place dirty?? Now you’re insulting me and my Mom, who helped me clean the place those last few days. Was I surprised. Hell no. He was angry that I gave my one month notice in the fall, stating that he’d have a hard time renting the place. I knew he’d come up with reasons to ‘have’ to keep the security deposit. It just ticks me off that I tried so hard to do everything the right way and still ended up getting screwed out of that damned security deposit. Oh and did he fail to recall that my son broke his back in April due to the collapse of an outside staircase that HE was supposed to maintain? You’d think he wouldn’t want to do anything to piss me off right?

Don’t think vampires are real? Go find my former landlord…his fangs are most definitely showing.