Exercise #9 - A House and a Scent

Back to the No Experience Necessary Writer's Course exercises.

Write a piece that contains a house and a scent.

I was a Realtor for about 2 years back in 2003-2004. It was an interesting change from being a teacher. I would sit at my desk and listen to the silence, appreciative that the bathroom was only a few steps away and available whenever I wished. Things now went according to my own schedule, I could come into the office if I wanted to, or not. I could go to the Realtor's house tour on Tuesdays if I wanted, or not.
All of this "or not" business helped out a lot when I was recovering from chemo, but I actually did not like all of the freedom. I was used to having to be at the school at a certain time with a room full of kids fully dependent on my being present and prepared. I was also used to starting at a specific time and ending at a specific time.
Not so as a realtor. I could start each day whenever, but if I wanted to make any money, I had to be very available. If I had a buyer interested in looking at homes, I had to be able to meet him during lunch to show the house, or during a weekend day or evening to show newly listed homes. If I did not make myself available, the house could sell and my buyer could miss out on that particular opportunity. If I had a house listed and another realtor brought a prospective buyer through and wanted to present an offer, I had to be available at the fax machine to get the offer, take it to my sellers and get a response, maybe within a day. What if I was about to eat dinner with the family, or go to an evening movie? If I got a call, whatever it was might have to be dropped.
Older, more experienced realtors have assistants or partners to help them manage their time and requirements, but a new realtor does not. I hated being at others' beck and call. I would hear my cell phone ring and have no idea what would await. Would a buyer have a question for me about a problem during an inspection? Wonder what would happen if the house were to burn down before they were contractual owners? Would it be a seller wondering why it was taking so long to sell her house? What type of advertising I was doing to move things along? When I would be planning an open house?
Open Houses in Columbus Ohio usually happened on Sunday from 2-4. So that I would not be alone at the open house, I had heard stories of realtors being lured into basements or upstairs rooms and being assaulted, I would usually bring my husband or mother along to keep me company.
After church my dear husband and I would stop at Chipotle or Baja Fresh or Skyline Chili and get a quick bite to eat on the way to the house. I would feel bad because his favorite time of the week was to have family dinner at his parent's house on Sunday afternoons and this week it would have to be forgone again. Then we would stop at some strategic corners near the house and place up the Open House signs. His idea was to put up some balloons on the signs, purchased from the dollar store.
We would open the house and I would stick a pie tin with a cinnamon stick and a little water, in the oven, and turn it to warm. As the cinnamon began to overpower the scent of either the inhabitants of the home or its musty emptyness, we would wait.