L.A. Success Read Online Free PDF Page B

me for?” I
asked.
    “I'm going to be away for several
months. I don't know exactly how long. With all the stress from these changes,
I need to get away for a while. Ignacio does a lot of business in Spain, so he
suggested that I take up temporary residence in his apartment in Ibiza. He's
arranged his schedule so that he'll be with me there a couple of weeks every
month. While I'm gone, I need you to take care of my house. Come by in the
evenings and turn one light on somewhere so that it looks like I'm home. The
difficult part will be Manolete. I'm not sure how he'll do on his own. Plus,
he'll need to be taken out three times a day, at least once for exercise, or
else I'm worried he'll destroy my place. The ideal situation would be for you
to take him with you most of the time—assuming you're a dog person?”
    “Oh yeah. I'm great with dogs. They
think I'm one of them.”
    “I get that impression,” he said.
“You can even hang out here if you want. Watch a movie, relax in the yard,
whatever. That'll really make it look like someone is at home. Plus, every
couple of weeks I'll need you to start up my cars and let them idle for a few
minutes. Will all that fit into your schedule?”
    “Oh yeah,” I said. “I live less than
two miles from here, plus I have a lot more time now that I've become a
landlord. My job does itself.” I was hoping that last part didn't sound as
pervy to him as it did to me.
    “Great. I'll get your contact
information so I can check in with you from Spain.”
    He gave me a piece of paper and I
wrote down my phone number.
    “So, how much were you thinking?” I
asked.
    “Oh, yes. Sorry. I'll send you a
check every month for...” and here he told me an amount about as much as Tommy
was paying me for rent. “Is that okay?”
    “That works.”
    He started taking me on a tour of
the house. He showed me where he kept all the food and products for Ballsack. I
didn't understand why the dog had so much stuff, but I nodded a lot like
everything was cool. He pointed to a toothbrush and explained something I
didn't pay attention to. I'd never brushed dog teeth in my life and I wasn't
going to start now. But I knew dogs were supposed to have dog shampoo, and I didn't
see any here.
    “What kind of shampoo do I use on
the dog?” I asked.
    “I have an account at Pet Co. You'll
have to take him there for grooming.”
    I guessed he was lazy or something,
but me, I wouldn't mind washing and combing him myself. Like that, he wouldn't
shed all over my couch when I brought him home.
    He told me I'd be starting next
week. I zoned out through the rest of what he said. I followed him silently
around the house as he pointed to stuff and explained things. I think he
realized I wasn't paying attention anymore, because he started nodding yes and
pointing to some places and then shook his head no and pointed to others. One
of the places he shook no to was his bedroom. The other was the basement. Okay,
I understood. Don't go in those places.
    All this being social was zapping
the energy out of me.
    “All right Dennis. Thanks again for
letting me take care of your stuff. I've got to run and look after one of my
renters now. We'll be in touch. And you,” I said, giving that crazy giant poodle's
afro a tussle, “see you next week.”
    “I'll leave you some instructions
and contact numbers on the coffee table,” he said.
    Dennis and I shook hands. He gave me
a set of keys and then I was off.

 
    10
    When I got back to my place, I went
straight to my bedroom. I felt like taking a nap, and since I had no pressure
about my immediate financial future, I figured I'd fall asleep fast. I took off
my clothes and was giving myself a good scratching when my hand arrived near my
belly button. I reached into it, plucked out a little wad of lint and looked at
it. This stuff was strange because it was bluish. I hadn't been wearing
anything but Arnold shirts for some time, and they were white. How did this
blue lint get into