09 03 2026 Tales From A Tenant

By Anthony Maddaloni

Tales of a tenant is a series written by photographer Anthony Maddaloni who has lived in Austin over 30 years in various spaces around town. His stories recount lived experiences around life as a renter. Names of characters have been changed.

My duplex was in a nice part of west Austin. It was part of a cluster of old duplexes probably built in the 40s or 50s. The only remaining reminder of that time was a very old run down laundry mat that seemed very out of place. The unit was OK. A little small, bad central air and I could hear everything my neighbor was doing through the paper thin walls.

Her name was Terry, a schoolteacher. She was in her late 40s and had cats – a lot of cats. She seemed to lead an uneventful life and kept to herself, a peaceful neighbor.

I had lived there about two years when, one day as I was picking up the mail and removing a splinter from my thumb. I first saw Terry’s boyfriend getting out of her old Honda. He was a little chunky and boyish-looking, about Terry's age. My first thought was that they looked like a good couple. Terry came around the truck and introduced us before walking away like a proud mama with her babies following her—kind of weird but also kind of cute.

“Anthony, this is Dave,” she said.

Over the next six months, I witnessed some of the strangest and fastest transformations of human beings I have ever seen.

I pulled up into the driveway and Dave was talking outside of the duplex on his cell phone. He looked about 40 pounds lighter and was very pale. He had on a pair of luxury alligator leather boots and seemed very animated, talking with his hands and shouting.

He asked if I wanted to get a beer. My gut was saying no. I was feeling like the offer was more than a beer so I declined.

I noticed more people living in the duplex and all of them gave off a very unfriendly vibe. One always had a pistol in a holster on his hip and watched me like a hawk as I came and went from the duplex.

About two weeks later, I saw Terry sitting inside her car talking to herself at first. I thought she might have somebody on speakerphone but as I got closer, I could hear she was talking to herself – interrogating herself.

"Terry, why did you go to the jailhouse penpal website?"

"I went there because I'm lonely and Mom kept asking me why I was single."

Her tone got louder and angrier as she went on.

I felt really bad for her. I got his name off a piece of mail and did an internet search on him and sure enough he was just released after serving 16 years for manslaughter.

Multiple cars parked in the driveway became a new norm. Their interiors were removed and I saw packages sewn into the seats before putting the car back together.

One day Terry and Dave knocked on my door asking for food. I didn’t have much, but I had eggs. I boiled them a dozen eggs in about 10 minutes . They came back over with the eggs and told me that the eggs were bad – that there was some kind of spirit inside the eggs and I gave them those eggs on purpose. The eggs were left at the door.

Afraid, I went to the police who told me the best move was to just leave and find a better place to live. My landlord admitted she was very afraid of these people too.

Those days were some of the most stressful of my life here in Austin. Arguments and loud screams would be heard through the thin walls. I couldn't tell how many were living there anymore. I had an ongoing fear that one would break through the paper thin walls.

One of the funniest things was that the meth heads actually listed the place on air B and B and this clueless hipster couple showed up one weekend thinking they scored a great little ATX bungalow for the weekend they left very quickly.

One day I came home and saw about 3 police cars and a coroner van in front of the duplex. I slowly came up the walkway with a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I asked one of the cops what had happened and he asked if I lived there and i said ‘yes I do.”

“One of your neighbors has overdosed on drugs and expired,” the cop said. I found out shortly that it was Dave.

A few weeks later a big green dumpster appeared in the driveway and a couple of workers began cleaning out Terry and Dave’s side of the duplex. I never saw Terry, but the only clues that she was still around was her cats. I could hear her calling out to them very late at night.

I saw terry a few years ago at HEB.

“I am sorry for the person I became when I was your neighbor,” she quickly walked away.

That was the last time I saw her.