(image from Google maps)
This is a cheat, but there's a (hopefully) good story here. I actually never lived in this house, although I technically paid to live here, or at least to keep my stuff here. After the woman I called my girlfriend moved out of the apartments I discussed a week ago, we decided that it was best, since her parents had forbidden her to date me, & since they visited her regularly, that she live by herself & I find a place too. I answered a "roommate wanted" ad in the Student Union & met a nice woman who lived her, I think with her boyfriend, but maybe just her. It was one half of a duplex & the room was lovely, facing the east so it was sunny in the mornings. It was the room on the corner, there. I remember it mainly as a place where all my stuff sat in boxes. For months.
Because I never really moved in. My "girlfriend" found another place & I was there all the time. I am not sure when this happened - my brain thinks it was late 1990 but it might have been early 1991 - but I do think the woman who lived in the duplex probably thought it was a pretty good deal, since I was never there but I was paying for the room. The perfect roommate! I wish I could remember her name. She was quite nice, & someone with whom in different circumstances I might have become friends.
This is the story that I remember from that place in which I never lived. I came by to get something - probably an album, since all my records were in that room I never slept in - & the woman & her boyfriend were there, & a little miserable. It seems that they had gone to Astroworld the previous weekend. I had never been but I loved roller coasters so I wanted to know how it went. She told me that there was some set-up they had where you could have your picture taken as you were going up or going down at some point during a particular roller coaster ride. The camera was obvious. They knew where it was. Well. The woman decided when the time came for the picture, to flash it. She lifted her shirt when the picture was snapped. She & her boyfriend thought that was hilarious.
The authorities at Astroworld did not. The pair were not only taken aside & escorted from the park for this indiscretion, the management company called the law. She was arrested for indecent exposure & would have to appear in court. At the time I visited, the two were fretting about possible fines - which they couldn't afford - not to mention a lawyer - which they really couldn't afford. I remember needing to take off but standing in the doorway listening & wishing there were something I could do.
The situation wasn't resolved after I finally bit the bullet & moved out, realizing I'd never stay there. But I did run into her on campus probably a year later & she was able to pay a small fine & do community service. I did cheekily ask her if she'd do it again & she looked horrified. She said she never wanted to go through anything like that ever again.
Two by the ways: in about four years I would move into a small four-plex across the street from this house & since I've been naming these by the streets I lived on, I figured I didn't want to have to say the street name twice. Also, I didn't really live here! I just paid to live here.
& also - look how pretty that is! That picture was taken in June 2019. I think I forgot how green Austin could get!
No comments:
Post a Comment