Kangaroo Kronicles 22 – Ruby

By

Stu Silver / “Uncle Zally” Zalman Velvel

____________________________

 

Eight weeks ago I wrote my blog from a mountaintop in Israel, a large mug of hot tea beside my writing machine.

 

I was NOT at the Kangaroo Convenience Store in Ocala, Florida (the namesake of this blog) with a super-large cup of Peruvian coffee at my side.

 

At that time, I had a dream. Where it came from, I humbly believe, is where all dreams originate, from The Power that created us. At the time, I felt quite close to that Power, because of where I was. I am fairly certain this dream did not originate from me. I am not that creative.

 

In this dream, we created mobile home parks that were not only affordable, but offered a simple, fulfilling lifestyle where people couldn’t wait to move into the neighborhood, and didn’t want to ever leave.

 

I borrowed from the “I Have a Dream” speech of Martin Luther King, changing some of his words to apply to housing, but keeping his intention:

 

“And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream …

I have a dream that people will one day live in a place where they will not be judged by the price of their home, but by the content of their life and their true character.”

 

If you read my book, Mobiile Home Wealth Part 2, you know that :

 

“When you own a mobile home park, you are the Mayor of your own little town.”

 

When you are the mayor, you have the authority to create a neighborhood in your mobile home park that will be elevated from strictly affordable housing, to a town that people can’t wait to move into, and never want to leave.

 

How?

 

I did not give the answer to “How?” in my previous blog. I only said we were going to going to explore that dream together. I then sent the blog out, and was proud of its content.

 

When I reread that blog the next day, I thought I had lost my mind, like many do in the Holy Land, because of the mystical forces that surround it. How could I send off such a thing? I assumed I would receive a rash of feedback, one way or the other (mostly the other.)

 

Instead, nothing happened. I waited eight weeks for someone to ask me to continue with the dream, or take a long walk off a short pier. There was no response either way.

 

So in the meantime, I chose what I believed would be a more interesting topic, how to get rich with mobile home parks. My readership climbed, but your Uncle Zally’s heart dropped. Wasn’t anyone interested in the dream?

 

Also in the meantime, in two of our parks, we held a general meeting of the residents. At that meeting, we formed a steering committee composed of the people who cared the most about their neighborhood and were willing to volunteer to help on any of five different sub-committees to improve it, and have fun together, also.

 

I promise I will detail what is happening on the road to the dream, which is both surprising and heartwarming, in the weeks ahead. For now, I want to stay with the puzzling title of this blog, Ruby.

 

“Who the heck is Ruby?” you may ask.

 

Ruby is a resident in one of our parks. She called me a little more than a week ago, complaining her toilet would not flush because the park’s sewer lines were clogged. She said she also called a month ago, but no one came and cleared the lines.

 

The park Ruby lives in is a land lease community, which meant Ruby owned her mobile home, which meant she was responsible for her own repairs and maintenance on it. That is one of the main benefits for investors who own a land lease community. If Ruby’s own toilet, or plumbing lines, were clogged up, it was her problem, not mine. However, if the main sewer lines of the park were clogged, it was our responsibility.

 

I put Ruby on hold and called Handyman Howard. I asked if he got the call a month back to check Ruby’s plumbing lines. He said he did, and he was sure the problem was not the main sewer lines in the park, because he tested them and they were clear. The problem was Ruby’s plumbing in her own trailer. That was clogged up.

 

I put Handyman Howard on hold, and took Ruby off hold. I explained it was her problem, and she had to fix it on her own.

 

She started crying.

 

During my conversation with Ruby, I sensed there was something helpless about her. In a soothing voice, I asked her to calm down, and when she did, I explained because she was so nice, and even though I didn’t have to, I would send my handyman to fix her problem. She thanked me profusely, and then hung up.

 

I sent Handyman Howard over to Ruby’s, instructing him to help her the best he could. Howard was strangely quiet, and in a whisper, he said he would go over there.

 

A half hour later, Handyman Howard called me. Now he was crying.

 

He said he would do just about anything for me, but this was one thing he would not do. He said when he went into Ruby’s trailer, he could not breathe because of the smell, and he wanted no part of it. I could fire him if I wanted, even though, he reminded me, he’s been with me 16 years, and never refused any task before.

Now Handyman Howard is one amazing walking, talking Roto Rooter man. When it comes to doing dirty, filthy, nasty jobs, he’s braver than Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin put together. Howard has a collection of things he has taken from clogged sewer lines, clogged toilets, and clogged septic tanks, things like toy soldiers, dolls, a man’s electric shaver, and even a pillow. Yes, that’s right! We had a tenant who flushed a whole pillow down the toilet. Don’t ask me how he did it, but he did.

 

So perhaps you can understand that any plumbing problem that made Handyman Howard cry, and refuse to solve, even at the risk of losing his job, was something to be reckoned with. I jumped in my car and drove over. When I got there, I met Ruby who was clearly “meshuginah” (a Yiddish word that sounds just like it means.)

 

When I went inside her mobile home, I understood why Handyman Howard balked. I am not going to describe what I saw, in the interest of good taste. Just imagine what a small mobile home would look like if the toilet did not work for over a month, and the owner refused to use any toilet but her own, regardless of whether her own toilet flushed or not. Also imagine what it would like if the owner refused to throw anything out.

 

Crazy Gersh and two of my other handymen proceeded to clean up the mess that was there. Gershy cleared Ruby’s plumbing lines, toilet, and bathtub. The reason her toilet was stuffed up was she was using paper towels instead of toilet tissue. Once again, you can use your imagination to figure out what was in her bathtub, and why it was clogged up.

 

At times, Ruby argued with us about throwing out bags of garbage, which to her, were bags of treasure. Finally I told her that if she did not stop getting in our way, we would call the Department of Children and Family Services, and when they saw the way she was living, she would be shut away in a state facility. That quieted her down. If you have even been in a state funded facility that cares for people who cannot care for themselves, you will understand why Ruby backed down and let us help her.

 

Why did I start out my dream with this episode about Ruby?

 

Because the first step to creating a place where “people will NOT be judged by the price of their home, but by the content of their life and their true character,” is:

 

Start with people caring about each other, and themselves.

It was time for someone to start caring about Ruby, yours truly included.

 

Now please stay tuned to the rest of the dream, which you will enjoy, I promise you.

 

Cheers, mate!

 

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