It was the spring of 1998. I was a student at Bellmore University in Nashville, a promising interior design major. I always wanted to be a decorator as early as I could remember. Now here I was, 21-years-old and in college on my way to living out my dreams. I had just finished my junior year and was looking forward to going home for the summer but a few days before I was to leave, I was summoned to the Dean’s office to clear up a discrepancy with my senior year dorm payments. “I’m sorry Miss. Garvey, but you just didn’t get your dorm fees in on time! You are three days late on your payments. This is unacceptable!”, Dean Halper sternly said to me.

Cold and unfeeling, Edna Halper, the female dean of my alma-mater stood and spoke in scolding fashion. She was an old crone, looking a lot older than her years and really oozed with up-tight conservatism. She was about fifty-something, possibly mid-fifties, dressed in a dark blue business skirt and jacket set, with her shoulder-length light-grey hair almost white pinned back and swirled behind her head into an old-fashioned bun. The plain dark skirt that she wore ended just below her knees, covering most of her slightly varicose-veined legs that were covered the rest of the way by greyish-white support hose. Her black patent-leather shoes were high-heeled but the utilitarian type, suited mostly for walking than for fashion. On the bridge of her nose she wore those old lady reading glasses that women of her age wore secured in place by a long golden chain fastened to the gold necklace around her neck. As always, she looked very intimidating.

“But Dean Halper, I didn’t have the money then. I only just got my Father’s check in the mail the yesterday.” I said. “you’ve got to believe me!” It was true. For some reason, I hadn’t received my Father’s check until it was way too late. I flicked my eyelashes in hopes of gaining a little bit of sympathy, but to her credit the old lady didn’t budge from her scolding tone. “That’s just not my problem Miss. Garvey. You’ve been at this university for three whole years now, and you know very well that we expect and always expect prompt payments. Why, even if I wanted to bend the rules and allow you to stay, which I do not, I wouldn’t have a place to put you now anyway. You are too late and there simply just isn’t any more vacancies for the new year.”, said the old witch as she wagged her boney finger at me only inches from my much younger and prettier face.

And what a pretty young face it was. My full name is Carole Jean Garvey, and I stand a tall 5’7” but was only a paper thin 113 lbs., which back then made me kind of waifish in appearance. Living in the dorm was something that I grew to rather enjoy over the first three years of college. I had a lot of friends and didn’t want to leave those comforts of my life. Standing there dressed in a cute looking lavender colored summer dress, my emotions overcame me, and I began to cry. I was now out a place to live and didn’t know what I was going to do. Dean Halper stood firm with her arms folded and a scowl on her face glaring at me as I bawled in front of her uncontrollably. Finally, she offered a little bit of sympathy.

“Now, now Miss. Garvey, there is no use in crying. These things happen, but there is a valuable lesson to be learned here. One that you should take with you from this day forward. As a young adult you must learn about the importance of promptness. The world is a very cold and unfair place and you must prepare yourself to accept its consequences when you make an error. You must also learn to honor your commitments, no matter how uncomfortable that they may be. Now, please remove yourself, and your belongings from your dorm room by the end of the week.” I continued to cry uncontrollably into my hands. “But Dean Halper, I don’t know where I’m going to live next year. How could you be so cruel? Where am I supposed to go?”

I was laying it on thick sensing that I had warmed her a bit, but I was wrong. The old crone just shook her head at me, put her wrinkled and pointy nose in the air and coldly turned around in silence and left the office. I could hear her heavy heels clicking loudly down the hallway floor like a well-choreographed tap dance. I continued to cry because I really didn’t know what I was going to do. Where WAS I going to live? This was a terrible thing to happen and right before my final year. I knew that I couldn’t call my parents. My Father would hit the roof if he found out how incompetent I was. Even though it wasn’t my fault my parents would still blame me. They were that strict.

I grew up in a perpetually god-fearing family in rural Ohio that was socially behind the reasonings of time. My Father was a minister and he would be livid at this unfortunate news and would verbally scold me just like he always had when I would do something wrong as a young girl. It didn’t matter how miniscule the infraction, I was always subjected to long sermons from his lips, and it would be ten times worse if he were to learn of this terrible error. My mother wouldn’t save me either. Dutiful and sub-servient, my mother wouldn’t dream of crossing or questioning my Father’s scolding, no matter how wrong he was. Never mind that in this instance I was virtually and categorially innocent.

It’s not my fault that the mailman hadn’t delivered the funds for my dorm fees in promptness. I didn’t control the post office. Why didn’t my parents send the money earlier so it would get here in plenty of time? No, I definitively could not call home and reveal this problem to my parents. I had to figure this all out for myself. After returning to me dorm room and spending the next few hours in silence with tears in my eyes thinking about my conundrum, I eventually decided to go to bed. I didn’t sleep very well during that night though. To compound things, I was all alone because my dormmate Teri had already departed and gone home to Memphis for the summer. Maybe that was a good thing though, because it helped me think a little clearer just being there alone and afraid.

The next morning, I woke up, dressed, and went down to the street to get a newspaper from the machine in front of the school. I sat in the lobby on one of the couches looking through the classifieds trying to find someplace to live. No luck. There were very few vacancies and nothing even close to my price range, which was basically the check from my parents. It was then that I looked up from the newspaper and saw a yellow colored ad tacked to the cork board across the lobby. It read ‘CONDO ROOMMATE NEEDED’ in big red bold letters. Funny that I hadn’t seen that advertisement before. I had walked by that cork board daily and had to turn towards the elevator with it in my face all the time. I think those big red letters would have surely flashed at me at least once before. There’s no way that it was there before today. In fact, I don’t think I had seen it on the way outside to get the newspaper either, but I was distraught so who really knows. ‘It must be brand new’, I thought. And if it’s new then there’s a great chance that the vacancy hadn’t been filled yet. I jumped to my feet and sprinted across the lobby like a gazelle.

After looking carefully around for anyone that would scold me, I took the paper from the pin board and read it completely right there: ‘CONDO ROOMMATE NEEDED’ 2-bedroom condo with all utilities paid – one-year lease, payment upfront – no security deposits – five roommates – call Lynn Caldwell of Longview Condominiums at 555-1862 between the hours of 9am and 1pm to schedule a visit for a meeting. All inquiries subjected to an evaluation for proper acceptance. All lease terms are binding and subject to litigation on defaults. Convenient bus terminals close by. First come first serve.

Could this be true? The little white, red, and black inked ad was a godsend. I again scanned the lobby for witnesses then quickly folded the paper and put it in my pocket and ran upstairs to my dorm room like a thief in the night. I called the number and after a brief back and forth conversation, I scheduled an appointment for a meeting for later that very afternoon. Happy with my good fortune, I smiled broadly as I cleaned my dorm to the best of my abilities. I then changed my dress to something a little more conservative. Didn’t want these people to think I was a slut. I made a pot of coffee and then waited for my meeting with Miss. Caldwell.

A little before 3pm there was a knock at my dorm room door. When I opened it, a beautifully tanned brunette wearing a tight white sweater and short white skirt outfit in very high black heels was standing there smiling at me. She introduced herself as Lynn Caldwell, representative for Longview Condos & Associates. She was a little older than me (25-years-old) but a lot younger than I had expected her to be. She was an alumnus from the same college that I was. A promising young lawyer, svelte and radiant and while shorter than me she was a bit thicker in size, her legs and arms and midsection all thicker, and she had sizable round bosoms. I smiled and welcomed her into my dorm room, and we sat down. After some pleasantries we sat and talked over the possibilities of my moving into their condos.

“Well Carole, you seem to meet the appearance qualifications that we are looking for. You see, Longview Condos is very exclusive, and we don’t let just ‘anyone’ reside within our community. Only a certain type of student is acceptable.” I smiled, “Gee, I’m glad I made the cut then. Boy, if I didn’t find your advertisement, I’m not sure where I was going to live in my senior year.” I was giddy. It was the first time in my life that I had done anything for myself without the help of my parents. My pride was exuding out from my pores in beams of sunshine. Those beams were quickly darkened by Miss. Caldwell’s next words which reined my excitement in a bit.

“Take it easy Miss. Garvey, you haven’t completely secured anything yet. I think now would be a good time to go over some things, and what is required of you as a new partner in our six-party group. First off, you will be responsible for your own meals and laundry, and because you are replacing Amy, our last roommate, there will be a list of housework duties that you are expected to accomplish daily that she used to do.” “You mean like dishes and dusting and stuff?” “Yes. And of course, there are other requirements that will be on your list and are non-negotiable. Things that you may or may not like but albeit will be required to do. The condo park has a total of 24 units. As time goes on, some of your time might entail duties within the other units too. We are a tight knit group, and we expect those who join our group to go along with the rules that we have put into place. It’s more of a community than you would expect it to be.”

Noticing Lynn’s stern tone, I stopped smiling and made myself more serious. “Well, that’s understandable. If I get this opportunity, I hope that I can help out in any way manageable.” She laughed, “Manageable? Cute. Miss. Garvey once you sign this lease things are no longer ‘manageable’, they are like I’ve said before, non-negotiable. I don’t want to scare you. It really is a nice place to live. And the people are top notch. But all of that is possible because we keep to the condo rules. Now excuse me a few minutes while I set this all up. You might take these moments to decide on whether you really want to live with us within our strict environment.”

Lynn reached into her purse and pulled out a packet of papers that looked to be about 10 pages long.