The Young Landlords

In this section, several of the major characters discover that their dreams will not come true or that their ideals are unachievable. Pender, the adult who works as the teens’ accountant and representative, helps them to understand the complexity of their building’s economic problems. At a called meeting of the Action Group, Pender informs the teens that the tenement’s margin of profit, even in a best-case scenario, is hopelessly small. If they were astute businesspeople, he informs them, they would most likely get rid of the property. Pender’s sober assessment is an important corrective to the teens’ unrealistic dreams of quickly transforming The Joint into a luxurious and profitable property, but their idealism is also important. Rather than offloading the building onto another unscrupulous landlord like the building’s previous owner, they refuse to abandon the building’s tenants. The Joint will never make them rich, but through The Virtues of Patience and Compromise, they can make it a better place to live.

Members of the Action Group experience the quashing of their personal dreams in this section as well. Dean experiments with the idea that he can protect his head with an energy shield that will allow him to psychically demand that Kenobi leave the complex. When Kenobi is unmoved by Dean’s effort, and Dean retreats to the rental office, the others quiz him about the failure of the shield. Dean remarks, “The shield was there […] Only it was just around my mind. I was afraid he was going to kick my rear end” (74). Equally disenchanted is Bubba, who believes he can make himself wealthy by becoming a numbers runner like the Captain. After a debacle that sees Bubba swallow and then vomit the sheet of paper he needed to set up his numbers’ quiz, he marches out of the Captain’s office without saying a word. These defeats show the futility of seeking easy solutions, and they are thus necessary setbacks in a coming-of-age story that will end with the teens learning The Virtues of Patience and Compromise.

Next to suffer disappointment are Paul and Gloria. Unlike Dean and Bubba, these two primary characters are not dreaming of their own powers or aggrandizement. Rather, what motivates them are their ideals—which are about to suffer serious blows. The issue has to do with Ella Fox, a tenant who is a single mom who gives away her money to her erstwhile boyfriend and thus cannot pay her rent. For Paul and Gloria, the issue seems clear. Paul believes that their business will not survive if they do not evict tenants who cannot pay. Gloria believes that the whole reason the Action Group ended up with The Joint was to help people like Ella. In their discussions about the issue, each recognizes that their ideals alone are insufficient to handle the complexity of the situation. Paul realizes that simply discarding Ella makes the Action Group no better than Harley. Gloria realizes that the complex will quickly go under if they do not maintain income from all their tenants, regardless of their personal struggles. The solution is to fundamentally reimagine The Joint’s purpose—rather than a money-making enterprise, it is a community resource that can only survive if all its stakeholders work together. Though they haven’t yet figured out the logistics of keeping the building financially afloat, this shift in vision is an important lesson in The Power of Community.