and about the condo

I finally got in to see my prospective condo last week, a couple of weeks after the fire in the building. To my relief, the unit itself was not much damaged (which is what they had told me, but you know how it is, you want to see for yourself); one window boarded, a damaged door that will need to be replaced. Since I am perhaps a tad oversensitive to smells, I was doubly relieved not to smell the slightest bit of smoke in the unit, which I had been worried about. They are clearly still working on the common areas, as one hall needs painting and they've taken up the carpet on the stairs, but the other hall is clean, and even the basement looked good, and not as if water had been standing in it for any length of time. The boarded-up windows are not a good look, and the construction dumpster in the parking area doesn't fill me with delight, but it could have been a lot worse.

Of course, my biggest question is about Firestarter himself, and if the owner is planning to let him back in. (One of the weird things about this whole process is the "he said-she said" way information is passed along, via lawyers and especially realtors. I guess I read too many mysteries, and have watched too much Law & Order, but it feels like hearsay, you know? I don't talk to the owner: her people talk to my people. I have people...weird.) (Not to knock my realtor at all, by the way: he's a good friend as well as a good realtor, and has been very easy to work with.) Anyway, I am told that Firestarter is still in the hospital, so who knows when he'll be out again (or if, apparently; I didn't realize he was so seriously injured). He is a tenant, not an owner (the owner is converting to condos gradually, and his unit hadn't been done yet), so I'd prefer to hear that he will not be returning. I do know that things, bad things, can happen anytime to anyone, but still. Knowing that he's done it once, how could I rest easy? How could I leave my fur-babies next door to him? Not to mention everything I own. No, I'd be much happier having construction next door. I'm feeling pretty strongly about that. I wonder what the other people in the building think?

No wonder I've been having headaches more than usual lately. Let's see, do I risk moving in next to a pyromaniac, or do I give up on this condo, with all the work that's been done to get here, and start at the beginning again? Time to buy stock in Excedrin. (Oh, wait, I usually buy the store brand. Never mind.) Anyway, I'm going to ask my doctor to refer me to a headache specialist: this is getting ridiculous. I want one of those preventive medicines that you just take every day, and get fewer headaches. Does it really work? Could it really be that simple? Or am I dreaming? If I am, don't wake me!