Shortly into the new year Sam sat me down and told me the news that I had feared ever since he had returned from Germany. His new girlfriend was moving to Amsterdam with her daughter and they were moving into sam’s place. This obviously meant that I had to leave and the only place available at such short notice was a room back over at T-Bone’s place. He was happy to let me come back as that meant more money for him. He would charge me 200 a month and it would just be him and me. I knew I would have to start looking for a new place as T-Bone’s drunken antics were sure to drive me bonkers. The first month was fairly mild by his standards but when the second month came he brought home a drunk more belligerent than him that changed everything. She was a Swedish lady named Helena and she was the most fucked up person I had ever met. She was drunk all the time and moaned constantly about how she had lost her child to the father. He had won custody because she was such a fuck-up and instead of cleaning her act up to try to get her back, she became even more of a fuck-up. It didn’t help matters that the walls between rooms were nothing more than curtains hung over various junk that T-Bone had found on the street. Helena would come home every night completely wasted and decide to cook something in the kitchen which was right next to my bed. I would wake up most nights when she would do this and most nights it didn’t bother me that much as I would just roll up a joint and fall back to sleep. However I had 2 days that I had to get up early for shifts at the pool hall and I asked her to not do any cooking on those nights. She said she wouldn’t but she would get so wasted that she would forget her own name much less what night it was or that she had agreed not to cook on it. So it didn’t take long before she did it again, this time ny anger was more pronounced. I went out to the kitchen and told her to stop cooking and have some chips or a sandwich but not any cooking. I went back to my room and heard her mumbling about me not being the boss and then I heard the pan start sizzling again. This time I was not gonna try to reason with a drunk, I just went out to the kitchen, grabbed the pan and threw it out the window. She started screaming at me but when I turned with fire in my eyes, she shut her trap and went to her room. She passed out shortly after and by the morning had no recollection of what had happened. I knew that she would not stop and that I had to get out of there before I ended up going insane myself. I once again put out the feelers to try and find something else.
A few days later I was talking to a guy who had just moved to Amsterdam with his girlfriend and they were looking for a place as well. They had been staying in hostels and had found a 2 bedroom place out in the southeast but needed someone for the other room. I felt very reluctant to say yes as the southeast was generally known as the ghetto in town and was a long way from either job. Also moving in with a couple was not a very appealing option, especially being as young as they were ( about 20 years old ). As I weighed the variables it was easy to decide that I would leave the drunks and move in with the young couple, nothing could be worse than the drunk house. One week later I was moving into the new place with my new room-mates, Perti and Marilyn. They came from Estonia and were there to find a better life, at least Marilyn was. Perti was a party animal at heart and although he tried, he could not escape his nature. Since the lease was in their name, they felt that they should make the rules for the place. I told them no problem just don’t make rules for my room. They had decided that they would stop doing all drugs including cannabis and I would have to smoke only in my room. That was cool with me but for Perti it would be torture. He didn’t really want to quit but did it for love or lust or something like that but having me smoking away in the next room made him obsess about smoking. I could see his frustration growing with each day and with it his intolerance, he would snap at me or Marilyn about little things and I would kindly remind him when he got too rude that we could go outside and discuss it. Which would reel him in a bit but he would only turn it more towards Marilyn, a fact that didn’t bother me that much because she was a bit of a snotty bitch herself. They began fighting all the time and I knew things were heading for another move and soon. I was beaten to the punch when sometime during the second month, Perti came to me and said they were moving out at the end of the month and that I would have to find something else. This time I already had my sights on something new. One of the bosses at the pool hall, Etienne, had been renting his solar room to a fellow employee and he had just found a place of his own. I told Etienne of my dilemma and without hesitation he said | could have the room and for only 100 a month. A few days later, I was on the move again.
Etienne’s place was awesome! It was in a great neighborhood just outside the center, walking distance to either job. He had the 3rd floor in a 4 story building with the 4th floor being storage rooms. My room was the biggest of all the storage rooms with a big picture window that overlooked the back courtyard. I would have to go down one flight to use the kitchen or the bathroom but could do it anytime day or night. The other tenants in the building were young and hip so there would be no worries about legal issues as it was not really legal to let someone stay in the storage room. Just outside my door was a common doorway that led out onto the roof and a nice little area for sitting in the sun or having a barbecue, Miss Kitty would use it to explore the world from four stories up. Etienne had a cat of his own that was not so friendly to people or other animals so Miss Kitty would have to stay on the 4th floor, the only problem was Etienne had a cat door to let his cat go up to the roof as well so there were occasional run-ins. Maybe his cat was jealous but one day it went out and decided not to come back, we speculated that someone had starting feeding her and she had just stayed there. This was great for Miss Kitty as she now had the run of both floors and loved it. The cat did return one day but she just hissed at Etienne and ran off never to be seen again. One day as I was giving Etienne the rent money he tells me he has a deal for me, If I keep the place clean then I can stay rent-free. Etienne was one of the biggest slobs I had ever met but free-rent in Amsterdam was unheard of and cleaning an apartment would be easy peasy. One thing that was a big change for me was that Etienne didn’t watch television and as such didn’t have cable. I’d had a T.V. for most of my life and it was hard to break that addiction, but once I did, life became much clearer. He did have an internet connection so getting a computer would be a top priority. I was in regular contact with my mother and when she told me that my brother had just gotten a new laptop, I saw a chance to maybe get my first computer. I had decided to forgive my brother years ago and we had been in contact occasionally over those years. When I asked him what he would do with the old one he said I could have it if I wanted and I gave him my address to send it to. A week later it showed up and I was instantly online daily, wondering how I ever did without it and realizing how limited the T.V. was. I had the feeling that I had finally made it to the 21st century.
A Continuing Story About Life on The Run