End of One, Beginning of Another (part 13)

1974, continued..

A very sweet reader had asked me, upon reading part 12, "So. Were they mice?"

Mice. Umm, no. My actual response was, "Haha! I wish."

https://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/3099800070/

Then, 'Ding!' A new message: "So, what were they?" I had tried not to be too graphic about the 'nighttime visitants'  in my post, but began to suspect that I not been graphic enough. You will need to read part 12 and make your own decision on that (April 3). 

"Men. They were men." Enough said. The nighttime 'visitants' were men, calling on my roommate. And things had not been very easy, and now I was finding another spot.

I think probably many college students run into situations like this. Two roommates. Different opinions on the morality stuff. No more quiet nights. More like, nights shut into one's room, trying to study (I hope I'm not being too graphic).

No, it isn't easy.

So she and I met again, in the kitchen of the house on 10th Street. I had left it three days before - just long enough to find another living situation and gather my courage. 

My roommate was very nice, and very smart. In fact? a great student. Our two lives had never really meshed but we had made friends and gone from September to April without major catastrophe. But the situation had become a sort of dividing line between us. 

And so we talked honestly, which is just about the best thing you can do when life is messy. At some point during the honesty, the latest young man arrived, and we heard the footsteps as he ascended to our apartment. She and I looked at each other. "Should we tell him why I'm moving out?" I whispered.

"Yes, we'd better. He has been wondering where you went."

So we did. More honesty, and more explanations. The surprising thing is that both of them asked me why I would ever choose not to live the way they were living. They hadn't known another way, they said. This new way was shared, and when I left they were looking at me in a new way. Not convinced, but - thoughtful.

In the end, I took my things and my bicycle (after a tearful goodbye to the gracious landlords - "We wish you would stay!" they grieved), and was ushered into the new abode. Coed Cottage! Right on the campus, a place filled with young women who did not think a Sorority would quite fit them. They were sweet. They were open. They became my friends!

It's easy to despair, when nights are long and confusing. But then something new comes, and you can be the happier for it.

In the meantime, it was bliss to be in a place where no one - neither mice nor men - would be coming up the back stairs after dark.

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonythemisfit/3099800070/">Tony Fischer Photography</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>