‘Young Woman’s Guide’ Lesson 3: How to Spot a Grifter
Jim and Jane* were, according to their Couchsurfing reviews, a nice septuagenarian-ish couple in Central Minnesota who enjoyed taking in travelers. They had a passion for travel, you see, and loved the give-and-take nature of the Couchsurfing community. They heard such interesting stories, and stayed, themselves, with such interesting people.
*Names changed for reasons that will shortly become obvious
Even if I hadn’t been constrained by budget and choice of host (there weren’t a whole lot of them in the area), I wouldn’t have thought twice about staying with Jim and Jane. An elderly couple who thought my project sounded fascinating? What could go wrong?
The first thing I noticed was the smell. Like someone had left a Thanksgiving dinner untouched on the table for a few weeks, overlaid with mildew and cat piss. (I never saw any evidence of a cat, or any animals other than the mosquitoes and moths hovering in every room.) And unlike with most smells, this was not one your body grew accustomed to — by my third and final night, I was gagging every time I entered the house.
The second thing I noticed was that this was essentially a hoarder house. Perhaps not bad enough, yet, to warrant being featured on an episode of Hoarders, but approaching candidacy.
