As I sit down to write this I have a very anxious feeling in my stomach. I think it's more anticipation of letting someone other than myself, my wife and her bazillions of facebook friends know about this.
I called my landlord about the smell...
He called back around 10:30pm the same night and said he'd be by in the afternoon of the next day. He didn't seem over-enthusiastic about visiting for a phantom smell, but then I suppose I wouldn't be either. So when he shows up he's all business... He knocks, I open, and after a brief "How-do-you-do-there" we're on our way outside.
I would assume, that as a landlord you'd at least want to peek into your new tenants place to make sure they weren't hoodlums/crackheads/guidos etc... This guy didn't give a fuck. He didn't even so much as peek inside my door before he had me outside talking about how he can't smell because he's broken his nose so many times before. This story turns into, "I used to play semi-pro football" as we walk to the back, and (as I'm sure you guys know by now) I'm hardly impressed. If this guy played football, he was a fucking kicker in the first place, but I'm a little more concerned that I'm going to go to the basement to become the next smell.
I explain to the guy that the basement door is covered in flies, he seems to ignore me, AND the flies as he opens the doors. I was kind of expecting a huge wave of flies to come out... but not so much. As it turns out I have to duck my head a bunch to even get down into this basement, but as I walk in I definitely smell rotting something.
The landlord asks me where I think the problem is...
WTF?
I'm like... "You tell me sir...."
Mind you, I was in this basement a week ago since I had to turn off the lights that I assume the 30 year old visiting son had left on, doing god knows what down there. I'm not a basement type of guy, as I scream like a fucking schoolgirl at the sight of even the smallest spider. Pretty much any bug besides a firefly or ladybug freaks me the fuck out. For that reason, I didn't stay long past pulling some strings to turn the lights off.
For some reason, the landlord can't get the lights to turn on... He actually goes
"He didn't replace these?
::incoherent mumble::
So at this point, I can already smell the corpse. I might not know where it is buried under all the shit that these strange people have down there (I'll tell you more about that freakshow later) but I smell it.
He claims he doesn't.
He actually leads me farther into the back where I can clearly see a basement window that teeming with flies. Near the window is a fuckin old rusty fridge with a note on it (Again, I shit you not) that says "Don't unplug -Bill Landlord". Next to that is a little roped off area with what seems to be some un-built shitty fiberboard shelving. I assume I'll find an animal carcass or something underneath this shit since the flies seem to have congregated in this one area.
There's nothing...
Then I look at the refrigerator.
I want to tell you guys, this isn't some stainless steel, adjacent doors, temp control fridge. This isn't a Frigidaire meat locker, although if it had been, this whole problem might have been averted. I think it says on the box that a Frigidaire controls corpse odor.
I'm talking a fridge that is not only a shitty 60's-70's color, but the age has rusted the door from the bottom up. It appears that moisture has grown UP from the bottom of this fridge and walked across the door.
The second I look at this fucking ice-box, I know it's the problem. It's as if the flies were leading us away from the source.
Mind you this fucking guy is still claiming he doesn't smell shit. That must be one fuck of an old football injury. He's still lifting pieces of fiberboard, and OH YEAH... He tried to tell me that all the flies on the fucking window were on the outside. EITHER FUCKING WAY, that shit is weird, sir.
This guy actually tells me to open the freezer.. I don't know why, but he did. At this point, I'm on Scooby-Doo status, kind of like the idiots in a horror movie that seem to be in investigate mode when they should be running the fuck out... So I open it.
Slowly, and at a distance. I have never been so aware of my surroundings. The exit, what I can jump over, where I can run/hide, what weapons are around me, how the doors close once I get outside... It's at the front of my mind that the door to get out has a low ceiling and if I run too fast I could literally knock myself the fuck out just by standing up a little too much. You'd be surprised at the shit that a human mind can comprehend in such a short time when you think you might be in danger...
There wasn't much in the fridge area. Not that I chose to look too hard. There wasn't a dead hooker stuffed in there, so I was somewhat relieved. Thinking back on it now, a
good killer wouldn't keep a hooker in the main cooling area of a fridge anyhow... unless you planned on thawing the broad out for further use.
Sorry... got sidetracked gg.