Zinovy Vayman
Haibun for the Condominium

     Our venerable apartment building was erected in Boston almost a hundred years ago. It’s got
gothic veneer brickwork, parquet floors, flintstone stairs and a leaky water system.

     After more than five management companies were fired for grand rip-offs, we hired yet
another company.

     Their motto was MAINTAINING YOUR INVESTMENT IS OUR BUSINESS.

     It didn’t take them long to start milking our account.

     You see, the offices of the company are located in a quaint suburban town. It is not cheap to
live there.

     So one day the architects(!) located in the same town drove to our building and perhaps
enjoyed the design of their predecessors educated in the XIX century.


                                                    end of summer
                                                    from a discarded foil
                                                    scent of a soy sauce


     The architects produced a modest but elegant sketch of the building.

     They also wrote a couple of pages describing the aging of our back porches and some period
details of the sheet metal which they for some obscure reason called stucco.

     Never mind that these details were easy to reach and touch.

     And they received from our carte-blanched management company a hefty check in the
amount of $6,000 after they wrote a cover letter calling our Director of Operations simply
“Matt”.

     The architects greatly affected the future of our 18 Owners in one dimension only.

     Everyone contributed $300 for the suburban architects’ outing in the inner city and the couple
of hours of inspiration in a well-appointed office.

     Except Mr. Segall whom I saw recently at the prayers.

     He coughed up a mere $600. He owns two apartments in our building only and closed his
dental practice recently to run his invisible fiefdom.


                                                    spring thunder!
                                                    navel gazing
                                                    resumed


     Our reserve account was lovingly amended by the certified public accountant{CPA} Matt.


                                                    Cinderella building
                                                    CPA talks about
                                                    tear openings in brickwork

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