MILLIE ROSE EVICTIONS- 13 DAYS OF EVICTIONS DAY 7

“I want whatever you have to do to be done to stop Cookie Smiles from selling the Chambers’ properties,” Millie ordered someone over the phone. “Whatever you have to do, do you hear me?”

She clicked her cell phone to end the call. At first, she placed the phone on her desk and then realized it was not her usual phone that she carried. ?Millie reached down to a drawer on the bottom left-hand side, unlocked it, and then placed the phone in the bottom of the drawer in small lockbox. She locked the small lockbox. She then locked the drawer and immediately placed the key deep within her bosom.?

“Sarah and Cole!!!” She called two of her assistants from the file room to her office. Get in here!”

Sarah and Cole appeared at the door to her office.

“Cole, I need you to find out how Ruth Howard is doing at Charity Hospital,” Millier ordered.? “Find out where she is and carry her some flowers, specifically from Millie Rose and Associates. I want them to be the nicest arrangement of flowers you can get for $100. No. Make it $200. Do that today!”

Cole turned and walked into the outer office, giving a thumbs-up signal to Millie as he left.

Millie looked at Sarah. “Get me an appointment to show the Chambers’ 3 multi-family properties. Cookie Smiles is not going to sell those properties if I can help it!”

“Who are you going to show the properties to, Miss Millie?” Sarah asked.

“Does it matter?” Millie answered brashly. “Myself, is that okay with you?”

“Yes, Miss Millie,” Sarah answered embarrassingly. “What time would you like to schedule the showings?”

“ASAP!” Millie answered. “And you are going with me!”

“Yes, Miss Millie,” Sarah rushed out of the office immediately rushing to get her cell phone to set up the appointment.

“Lenny!” Millie shouted towards the front office for her office administrator. “Cancel my appointments for this afternoon, I am going to pay a visit to some tenants.”

“Yes, Miss Millie,” Lenny shouted back. “Would you like me to check on anyone’s availability so you don’t show up in vain?”

“No, I’ll chance it,” She replied. “Just clear my schedule, you won’t see me until tomorrow.”

“Yes, Miss Millie!"

An hour later-

Millie and Sarah arrived on NW Lauradale Drive. It faced the levee bordering the Mississippi River completing the broad side of a triangular block in the Algiers Pointe. All 3 properties faced the levee clearing just enough room before the next city block that could have obstructed the beautiful view of the second-floor balconies of each of the four plexes. With that lack of obstruction, each unit was able to have an extraordinary view of the New Orleans Parish skyline. It was one of the selling points that had caught Millie Rose’s attention.

“Drive around the block first,” Millie instructed Sarah as she initially slowed down before approaching the front of the 3 properties. “I want to make sure that there are no likes of Mr. Tate and Cookie Smiles trasping around here.”

Sarah completed the drive around the block. She pulled up across the street from the 2-story white shotgun-styled homes and parked along the bottom of the levee. Kids were sitting on the stoops of each set of units. Cars were parked across the once-green lawn of the properties, all seeming to be in some stage of disrepair as they sat on cinderblocks and broken auto jacks. Someone had placed a basketball goal on the sidewalk in front of the middle of the 3 properties.

“When I get these properties,” Millie said out loud, oblivious as Sarah sat behind the steering wheel. “I am not going to allow my tenants to park their broken-down cars on my lawn. I am going to provide them reserve parking and none of this parking broken-down, stolen cars on the riverfront.”

“How do you know the cars were stolen?” Asked Sarah.

Millie turned and looked at Sarah. Sarah turned and looked out of the driver’s window. Sarah got out of the driver’s side without asking any more questions.

“Before we go to these properties,” Millie began getting her wheelchair ready for the lift, while Sarah operated the lift with the remote in her hand. “I need to tell you something, and it’s for your very own good. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, mam,” Sarah answered in a child-like voice.

As the van sat idling on the far side of the street, Millie thought it was time for Sarah to be schooled on how Millie Rose and Associates operated. For Millie, Sarah was either going to hang around, or cut bait and run. Non-compete agreement notwithstanding.

But to Millie, if Sarah was going to hang around, she needed to learn now, or she was going to ruin everything with her sweet innocent approach to doing everything. For Millie, this is war, and there are going to be casualties. Sarah could very well be one of those casualties or one of Millie’s heroes.

“All of these properties are occupied,” Millie began. “3 fourplexes, 12 units, 12 families. Each unit brings in $1500.00 a month per property, or $6000.”

“These 3 properties altogether, Sarah,” Millie continued. “Bring in $18,000 monthly. And for a year, that’s---,”

“216,000!” Sarah interrupted.

Millie looked at her slightly surprised at her eagerness to impress her with her knowledge, and aggravated at being interrupted.

“That’s right,” Millie agreed. “But $216,000 a year is far less than what these properties should be bringing in. “They’re on the goddamned Mississippi River for God’s sake!”

“Yes, mam,”

“The aim for me, Sarah,” Millie continued. “Is to get these properties before Cookie Smiles and Mrs. Chambers’ dumbass-daughter sell them to that Dallas asshole investor, Mr. Tate.”

“How are we going to do that?” ?Sarah asked intently. "Judging by the pending signs on the FOR SALE signs, they are already gone!"

“Today, Sarah,” Millie signaled her to lower the ramp. “We’re going to set off an eviction war, and we are going to make a preemptive strike, Millie Rose style. The tenants were told that the new owners needed them to all stay and that there would be no changes in monthly rents for two years. That's about to change. Are you with me?”

“Sure,” Sarah answered quickly. “What do I need to do?”

After both women were on the sidewalk, Millie handed Sarah a stack of flyers. “Just put these on the doors of the units. Don’t knock on any doors. Don’t answer any questions.”

Sarah looked down at the flyers. She read them and then looked at Millie. “These should work.”

“Damn right, they’ll work,” Millie assured her. “Now get to work. If anyone has any questions, tell them to call the number at the bottom of the flyer.”

An hour later, Sarah returned to the van. Millie was down the block talking to customers at a sidewalk café across from the levee. ?She waved to Millie as she stood by the van.

“DO YOU WANT ME TO BRING THE VAN DOWN THERE?” Sarah shouted to Millie down the street.

“NO!” Millie shouted back. “DON’T YOU SEE I HAVE WHEELS!” Millie laughed as she turned her wheelchair around to come back to the van. She could be seen shaking hands with the customers and waving farewell as her wheelchair rocked along the cobblestoned sidewalk.

“How did it go?” Millie asked as Sarah remotely operated the doors and lift on the van. “Did they ask you any questions?”

“A few people tried to get my phone number, but many didn’t seem concerned about the flyer,” Joked Sarah. “I hope it works for you.”

“I don’t need ‘hope’,” Millie quickly responded. “I didn’t get this far on ‘hope’ Sarah. I got this far taking chances that few people are willing to take.”

After a few minutes, the van pulled off after the two women loaded up and drove eastward along the levee of the Mississippi River. As they reached the next intersection, some of the flyers could be seen on the ground, as several had already been discarded by the tenants.

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