**Something Interesting in the Works**--for my Creative Non-Fiction Independent Study:The room was always vacant, a lieu of possibility that came from indecision and led to storage of soccer equipment and an old prom dress. Smaller in proportion, empty of prospects, this room made it possible for me to have my own bathroom and a guest room when need be. It is on the side of the apartment building that doesn't catch that much light with a view of the mud pit that looked as though a finger slid right through it, creating a stream that raged during rainstorms and flowed steadily between humidity; the Ganges. It was left open a lot, partly because I neglected to close it but mostly because when it was locked up by the master key, I fetched this master key and unlocked it myself. Party at Anisa's: Sleep in "The Room." Store extra crap: "The Room." Friend needs a nap: "The Room." At the peak of its convenience, sometime around Thanksgiving, someone was put there randomly. I cursed the university's residence life office, the hand that slid me my salary.[It's a trying thing when you live with people who you can't live with.]I found that the person being put into the room is someone I had previously spoken to. I was watching a cooking show in September when a knock came. I opened the door to a strawberry blonde curly-haired girl.
"Hey, can I look a the vacant room?" She asks, looking past my shoulder, then noticing the television show, added, "Oh man I love Food Network!"
Had there been no mention of the Food Network, I do think there would have been a problem.
"Sure," I say, half amused but half wanting to not show her because I wanted to keep The Room. She shuffles over through the kitchen to The Room and peeks in.
"It's small. But I guess it would do if I moved in...since you know, it's better than having a room full of people who hate you and are trying to kill you with their cat," the girl said, non-chalantly in an almost playful way. "I am deathly allergic to cats. They can kill me. I'm Melissa."
I introduce myself, and add that I am a resident advisor as well. Most people who I told didn't want to live with an RA, out of paranoia or something. But Melissa seemed more interested in this fact.
"Hey, can you come with me to see the other rooms in this building? I don't want to go alone and then all of these people will think I'm some sort of freak."
I hesitate, but put on my shoes. We proceed to walk the hallways knocking on doors, Melissa chatting the whole time, mostly about food and how she used to be a "fat kid." I was charmed.
"You know what the best thing in the world is?" She chimes, almost bouncing erect, curls about her face.
"What? Cheesecake?"
"No," she almost whispers. "You know those pudding pops? The ones that Bill Cosby made everyone buy? Well the best thing in the world is that thin layer of ice that's coating it. It cracks when you lick it!" Well that sold it. I told her that if she doesn't find another place to stay, that she could move in with us.
She didn't move in with us that September. She chose another room and stayed there until October. She didn't get along with her new room mates either. The rumor was that she did not get along with her room mates because they were black and so it was believed to be a race issue. In mid-October, there was another knock at my door. Melissa stood there and looked at me apologetically.
"Hey. Here I am again."
"Hey, what's up?" I saw the white check-out slip in her hand.
"Well, my new room mates suck so I'm just going to go home and commute."
"Where do you live?" I ask.
"Rockmart," she said, almost embarassingly.
"That's like...an hour and a half away! Why don't you just move in here?"
"It's okay, I don't mind. I just hate dorm living anyways."
I didn't mention the rumor; in fact I forgot about it at first. There seemed to be nothing racist about this girl and she didn't act strange around me.
I ended up checking her out of the room, talking with she and her dad the entire time. I tried to convince them that she should just move in with me instead of the commute, and that they wouldn't get any refunds as it was.
to be cont...