Tales of a tenant is a series written by photographer Anthony Maddaloni who has lived in Austin over 30 years in various spaces around town. His stories recount lived experiences around life as a renter. Names of characters have been changed.
My duplex was in a nice part of west Austin. It was part of a cluster of old duplexes probably built in the 40s or 50s. The only remaining reminder of that time was a very old run down laundry mat that seemed very out of place. The unit was OK. A little small, bad central air and I could hear everything my neighbor was doing through the paper thin walls.
Her name was Terry, a schoolteacher. She was in her late 40s and had cats – a lot of cats. She seemed to lead an uneventful life and kept to herself, a peaceful neighbor.
I had lived there about two years when, one day as I was picking up the mail and removing a splinter from my thumb. I first saw Terry’s boyfriend getting out of her old Honda. He was a little chunky and boyish-looking, about Terry's age. My first thought was that they looked like a good couple. Terry came around the truck and introduced us before walking away like a proud mama with her babies following her—kind of weird but also kind of cute.
“Anthony, this is Dave,” she said.
Over the next six months, I witnessed some of the strangest and fastest transformations of human beings I have ever seen.
I pulled up into the driveway and Dave was talking outside of the duplex on his cell phone. He looked about 40 pounds lighter and was very pale. He had on a pair of luxury alligator leather boots and seemed very animated, talking with his hands and shouting.
He asked if I wanted to get a beer. My gut was saying no. I was feeling like the offer was more than a beer so I declined.
I noticed more people living in the duplex and all of them gave off a very unfriendly vibe. One always had a pistol in a holster on his hip and watched me like a hawk as I came and went from the duplex.
About two weeks later, I saw Terry sitting inside her car talking to herself at first. I thought she might have somebody on speakerphone but as I got closer, I could hear she was talking to herself – interrogating herself.
"Terry, why did you go to the jailhouse penpal website?"
"I went there because I'm lonely and Mom kept asking me why I was single."
Her tone got louder and angrier as she went on.
I felt really bad for her. I got his name off a piece of mail and did an internet search on him and sure enough he was just released after serving 16 years for manslaughter.
Multiple cars parked in the driveway became a new norm. Their interiors were removed and I saw packages sewn into the seats before putting the car back together.
One day Terry and Dave knocked on my door asking for food. I didn’t have much, but I had eggs. I boiled them a dozen eggs in about 10 minutes . They came back over with the eggs and told me that the eggs were bad – that there was some kind of spirit inside the eggs and I gave them those eggs on purpose. The eggs were left at the door.
Afraid, I went to the police who told me the best move was to just leave and find a better place to live. My landlord admitted she was very afraid of these people too.
Arguments and loud screams would be heard through the thin walls. I couldn't tell how many were living there anymore. I had an ongoing fear that one would break through the paper thin walls.
One of the funniest things was that the meth heads actually listed the place on air B and B and this clueless hipster couple showed up one weekend thinking they scored a great little ATX bungalow for the weekend they left very quickly.
One day I came home and saw about 3 police cars and a coroner van in front of the duplex. I slowly came up the walkway with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
I asked one of the cops what had happened and he asked if I lived there and i said ‘yes I do.”
“One of your neighbors has overdosed on drugs and expired,” the cop said. I found out shortly that it was Dave.
A few weeks later a big green dumpster appeared in the driveway and a couple of workers began cleaning out Terry and Dave’s side of the duplex. I never saw Terry, but the only clues that she was still around was her cats. I could hear her calling out to them very late at night.
I saw Terry a few years ago at HEB.
“I am sorry for the person I became when I was your neighbor,” she quickly walked away.
That was the last time I saw her.