Mika spent the afternoon looking for a furnished apartment that he could afford—and would be willing to live in, because the two were not necessarily congruent. He wasn’t too picky about the neighborhood, but he really wanted an apartment where he wasn’t either sharing space with cockroaches or needing earplugs to block out the noise of a neighbor’s TV or loud music.
He was about to give up and head back to the motel but decided to take a look at one more. According to the rental website, it was one of six in an older house that had been broken up into apartments. The woman who greeted him when he rang the bell was of indeterminate age, and very scrawny, with a beaklike nose. All that was counteracted by her welcoming smile. She introduced herself as Ms. Grant before taking him up to the
