A creative writing piece by Darcy van der Kooy (Year 9 student).
Our family owns a rental property. It had been vacant for a while at the start of 2020, but we weren’t worried. We knew we’d get an offer soon. Then COVID hit. The world was in total disarray. Who knew how long it would take for the house to be occupied? We couldn’t have the house sitting there, uselessly. So, we took whoever we could get. The first offer we got was an unemployed couple. We instantly agreed even though we were uneasy about them.
Before long, they stopped paying rent. But because of the pandemic, we couldn’t evict them. The government had placed a moratorium (a temporary law) which made it illegal to evict tenants. I lost thousands of dollars. When we finally did manage to evict them, we went to visit the house.
I stepped out of my car and onto the pavement. I crept in through the splintered door, hearing the scuttling of mice amongst the rubbish littered around the floor. The smell of mould penetrated my nose as I tiptoed further in. I looked at the couch that was once bright and clean, which now lay grubby and torn. I cautiously peered into the kitchen and gagged. There was decomposing food on the tables. The countertop was chipped and grimy. Sweaty clothing was strewn around the room. The glass window was shattered. I was totally overwhelmed with how much work had to be done before it was suitable for life.
“Hello? Is this 1800 GOT JUNK?”
“Yes, this is us. How can we help?” A male vole replied.
“Um, we have a rental property that got trashed. Would you mind coming and cleaning up?”
“We’ll come and take a look; we’ll be there in 20 minutes.”
We headed to the house and the junk company arrived. A tall man jumped out of the dump truck and took a look around. His boots were stomping through the house. I could see his head shaking. He came back out.
“This is a big job. Be about…” he paused. “Eleven thousand to remove.”
“E-eleven thousand?” I could barely believe my ears.
“Yep.” He shrugged apologetically.
I thought about all the money I was losing in this situation. Was it worth it just to clean up the rubbish? Should I do it?
“Ok thanks. We’ll take it.” I replied.
“Alright, we’ll be back in a day with our cleaning supplies.”
The next day everything was cleared away. I was thousands of dollars in debt, and I didn’t know what to do.
I took a walk around the house, and it was gutted. There was no mouldy furniture, no bits of glass, no rotted food. They did a good job at least. It was clean, empty, and bare. We needed to buy new furniture and renovate it, but we were low on money. I talked to my insurance company about getting even a fraction of the money back to pay for the renovation. In the end, I did what I had to do, and spent what I had to spend.
“It’s beautiful!” My friend said as she walked through the house. There was barely a trace of the first and grime that once covered it. The counter tops were polished, and I could almost see my reflection in them. The new matching wooden chairs and tables were set nearly in the kitchen. There was no rubbish lining the halls, no mice scuttling in the walls. it smelled clean and fresh. It looked as though nothing had ever happened to it.
“I love it!” she cried. Once she and her husband moved in, they would have a fresh start, a new beginning.
Now whenever I drive past it, I think about the journey it took to get to this point. While sometimes I wish it never happened, it was a valuable lesson in that it made me trust more in God’s timing, rather than my own.
