[每天读一点英文：那些给我勇气的句子]：our kind landlord

Twofriends and I moved into a house off campus when I was a junior at IowaState University. We were all a bit afraid of our landlord, a gruffmiddle aged man who was "all business" when we signed the lease. Hegave us a lecture about paying the rent on time and maintaining thehouse and appliances.We weren't really supposed to, but during the fall semester, myhousemates and I threw a party. We sent invitations to many friends andtold everyone that we knew to come to our house on Friday night. Wedrew a large crowd and everyone had a great time. The last guests leftin the wee hours of the morning. Exhausted, we decided to sleep in andclean the house and yard the next morning.Well, you guessed it! We were awakened about 7:00 a.m. by our landlord,who was knocking on the door. Sheepishly, we let him in, expecting toincur his wrath. Instead, he picked up a party invitation that had beenlaying on the sidewalk and asked, "Why didn't you girls invite me?" Hecame into the house, made a minor repair, and spent a few minuteshelping us pick up trash from the yard. We weren't quite sure what tomake of our unexpected luck, but we were thrilled that our landlord hadbeen so understanding.A few months later, I made a mathematical error while balancing mycheckbook and my bank soon notified me that I had bounced a check. Iwas mortified when I discovered that it was my rent check and that Ihad to notify my landlord. I figured that he viewed my housemates and Ias irresponsible after the party incident and this would prove himright. I was certain that he would evict me. Somehow, I mustered thecourage to call him and explained what had happened. He said, "I have adaughter about your age, and the same thing happened to her once. Wouldyou like to wait until next month and send a double payment then?" I'venever forgotten our landlord's kindness and understanding. He alsotaught me an important lesson about not judging a book by its cover.I'm proud to say that I have not bounced a check since (though I havethrown a few more parties)!