1. Home to Contradictions, 2. Six Degrees from Home, 3. Welcome Back to My Therapy,
4. Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Intent, 5. Power of You, 6. One Split Second,
7. Marvelous Mistakes, 8. I made a choice to make a change, 9. Connections to the Farm,
10. Back to the Farm, 11. It's a small world after all, 12 Fair Weather Friends,
13. Ghost of Roommates Past, 14. You can never go to far, 15. Glamorous Life,
16. Double Standards, 17. Lazy? No Exhausted, 18. Crossroads of Life and Death, 19. One Last Time, 20. When Worlds Collide I, 21. When Worlds Collide II, 22. When Worlds Collide III 23. The Unwanted New World, 24. Means the Old World Must Go, 25. So Where was God in all this? 26. Where did you get that from?, 27. The Reason for My Season, 28. Was Always a Little Rascal, 29. Pictures and Quotes of the Little Rascal and final chapter 30. Closing in Contradictions. ~Use these links to read in order (some chapters have songs, new added content, pictures or all:) Volume 2 >>>>>
You know good intentions really do pave the way to hell. I think I've laid enough bricks to know this and we are Ants Marching down the street. After Shirley left it was a very surreal time and when the next 2 roommates after Scott didn't work out then it was time to make some serious decisions. Like what I am going to do to make some extra money because I had to buy another car soon. Things at the law firm where still deteriorating and I had a nervous feeling not just about my future there but the future of the whole firm. So I called Bonnie's mom who was still a PI and serving papers and asked if I could help? She said sure, there was plenty of work to do, so I met with her to get the details of what I needed to do. The application process required ALL of my job information for the last 10 years and since I was 26 then, that meant about 25 or so odd jobs since I was 16. Boy that was a chore trying to chart out where, when and who. Mostly her clients were trying to serve a lot of dead beat parents and most of them lived in some of the worst hoods in the area. Great! Also you don't get paid if you don't serve the paper and she didn't pay mileage at all so the pay was not that great but it would get me in the door. I learned how to flick those docs through a closing door at the speed of light! I was cussed out and chased a few times but nothing really too bad. I spent a lot of time in my car then for both jobs and that was just the beginning. I asked her about Bonnie and learned that she hadn't spoke to her since she had to repo her car which caused another rift in the family. I felt comfortable enough to go ahead with the work because Bonnie didn't seem to be an issue for either of us.
Sometime later I was walking outside to leave and saw a moving truck with Daisy emptying the contents and carrying the stuff to the unit just 1 door down from me. Last I had seen her was with Bonnie and this was the last place I'd thought I'd see her again! I mean I picked this place because no one I knew lived around here and now that was out the door! She said hey in a smart ass way and just kept on unloading her stuff. I left but I have to admit I was pretty upset about this and learned a little later that the place Daisy was renting was owned by a lady who went to the Old Folks Bar which is how she found it because Daisy now worked at this bar. Later still I asked her if she had seen Bonnie and learned they had parted ways as well. It seems that she had also outlived her usefulness to Bonnie which was something I had experienced myself so we both thought each other a little suspect... to say the least. But over the next few months things settled down and so I didn't worry too much about it. As I look back now I think because I asked about Bonnie twice then the universe felt obliged to provide and answer.
Well by this time Christmas 1998 was coming up shortly and I got really busy with things as most of us do around that time. In November I bought the Honda and now I have a 5 year car payment added to the mortgage. Just swell. Again as I was leaving the house I saw Bonnie sitting on Daisy's front steps in her classic multicolored bathrobe that you couldn't miss. I did a double take and she too said hey in a smart ass way. I sighed, shook my head and continued on. Absolutely unbelievable! I know I don't have the greatest luck in the world but this was turning out to be my worst year ever so far in the new location. I still saw her over the month but ignored her as much as possible because I didn't want to go through this again. Twice was enough but she had other plans.
Approximately a week or so before Christmas I left for work and there was a card under the windshield that was from her. I read it after I got to work and she said she was sorry for everything and we needed to talk... soon. I think she even called me at work but I didn't talk to her because I knew where she lived now... so no point in wasting my time there with it. After I got home that evening I decided to get it over with and clear the air so maybe I could go on and get some peace. As usual she was very charming and clever with her stories about how difficult she had it and her and Daisy were not getting along too. She explained how things shook out the last time with them and the only reason she moved in with her was because she needed something... a ride to the bar they both worked at... something along those lines. She also told me my ex Willie had been a regular customer at the bar and even got thrown out one night when he head butted the owner. Nice! She was desperate to move out and wanted to move in with me... of course. I told her no I wasn't going through this again because you use people and when you are done, you just throw them away. Thanks... but no thanks.
I also told her I was working for her mother and the conflicts were not something I wanted to be in the middle of. She promised there would be no problems with that and then took me over to Daisy's to see her tiny room that she was in. Her son was now a teenager and she really wanted to have room for him to come and visit as he too was living at her moms. Trey was living with my mom still so I felt I understood where she was coming from on that. She was persistent and had a pocket full of cash she said she made from working at the bar. Well I relented and let her move in. It probably took less than 2 hours to move what little stuff she had over to my place and she seemed thrilled. After we finished I noticed a lot of the stuff she brought over was my stuff, that I hadn't seen since we lived together the last time. Humph... if that ain't a sign I don't know what is! That year she decorated the house so well that the Griswolds would have been proud. It was great until I got that $250 power bill in January which caused me to have a cow. I told her mom about the arrangement and she told me to be careful. So the next few months I walked that Tightrope between mother and daughter but it went okay... for a while. But as usual things come to a head and go boom!
Bonnie was dating a man who had just recently left his wife of 20 years. They had been on cruises together with Daisy too and had a whirlwind romance. We'll call him Clyde # 4 and this one was from New York! Well things must have cooled off at some point so she was trying to get his attention back and one night set the wall on fire from a candle which caused them to bust the waterbed...somehow. That is the night I refer to as the fire and the flood. It took forever to clean the mess up but we managed. She was Livin' La Vida Loca. Later when Clyde #4 married another lady then continued to see Bonnie I thought she was crazy to stay but she did and turned on the charm even more. That's when I learned what the other women do when they want to be noticed by the wife, from leaving their hair in the bed to spraying the cologne so strong that it stays in the sheets. I was fascinated by this train wreck that I was watching but had no power to stop the collision from happening. Bonnie and I went out to the bars some and one night she got hammered and after we got home started to get sick. I literally caught the first one in my hand... ewwww. I spent the rest of the night holding her head off the toilet and keeping cool rags on her head.
Around this time is when I had the brilliant idea to send a letter to Marvelous when he was in prison because it had been over 5 years since I had been with anyone and I was kinda lonely. Again I thought I could resolve the situation before I could move on. Wrong! Bonnie had started to work for another near by bar and grill but only managed to stay there for a few months at the most. Again I started to see the signs that things were headed in the direction of disaster but I kept quiet for a while. When I had bumped a pole in the car she knew someone from the bar that would help get the dents out and saved me a good bit of dough. I was hoping she would come to her senses about Clyde but that didn't seem to be happening. She was my friend but I felt the vibe that she was Addicted to Love and being with a man was more important than any friendship and I got sad.
But things happened pretty quickly after that with Marvelous as you have read and before I knew it we were together again. Shortly after that I got fired from the law firm because I wouldn't kiss this one attorney's butt... one more time. The law firm then closed it's doors by that Christmas and I knew there was more to that story but what do you do? I talked to Bonnie's mom about it and took on more work with her and eventually got my associates licenses to start. Unfortunately I couldn't pay my bills on that salary no matter how hard I worked. It also made it harder for me when she went on vacation for a week and left another lady in charge. I had stopped by to pick up some paperwork and this lady with another one was ransacking her office. They stated they were reorganizing it but I could tell something fishy was going on, but had no way of contacting the boss. When she came back the boss asked what did I know about what happened and I told her the little I knew. Those ladies cleaned out her contact list and much other valuable information. I knew I had to do something then so I went to another PI firm which was also located in the law firms building and asked for their numbers. I knew this firm was there but just hadn't been ready to seek out all the information and see if they were hiring... until now.
I remember being at Bonnie's moms house one evening with both of them and she was showing me a few old photos of her mom. I was surprised to see her with Lew from the farm way back in the day and both of them were surprised I knew him. Another connection I found out was that a cousin of mine had lived right down the road from them when they were younger and was well known to both families! This cousin was the one who tripped me as a child at one of the family reunions and later his brother (also my cousin) moved one street up from me. Then even later Lew moved right across the street from him and that's when I found out that Marvelous had been in prison with Lew and my cousin! This world had shrank to the size of a golf ball as far as I was concerned so apparently I didn't go far enough.
By this time it was close to Christmas 1999 and we all made it though the holiday's okay and even Marvelous, Bonnie and I went to the beach for New Years 2000. While down there we ran into Misty the girl I went to high school with and as I have said before, my friends rarely like each other. I used the think that they were so different from each other but now think they were more alike than anything else. That's when things went south pretty quickly because Bonnie swore she saw Marvelous kissing some chick that night and I was stuck because both of them were skilled liars. With all the stress of working for her mom and living with her I made the decision to tell her it was time to move on. I was really sad that our friendship was over as well as exhausted but I needed a break from the constant drama and was lucky enough to get the new job at the PI firm by the end of January. I started off working 80 hour work weeks because this one case was 8 am to 8 pm 6 or 7 days a week and then we had all of our regular work. While I worked that long never ending case we sat in the clubhouse parking lot to watch for the person to go by and that's when I noticed my ex sister in laws husband Curly working at it. Later I would see Daisy and her brother Luke off and on, which is when I learned that the money Bonnie had when she moved in was stolen from them. Bonnie had talked just as much junk about me to them as she talked about them. Much later though Luke would introduce me to a friend that I would have for life.
Art at The Carillon Building Photo Courtesy of Native Charlottean Group Facebook.
15. Glamorous Life >>>>>
4. Lying, Cheating, Stealing and Intent, 5. Power of You, 6. One Split Second,
7. Marvelous Mistakes, 8. I made a choice to make a change, 9. Connections to the Farm,
10. Back to the Farm, 11. It's a small world after all, 12 Fair Weather Friends,
13. Ghost of Roommates Past, 14. You can never go to far, 15. Glamorous Life,
16. Double Standards, 17. Lazy? No Exhausted, 18. Crossroads of Life and Death, 19. One Last Time, 20. When Worlds Collide I, 21. When Worlds Collide II, 22. When Worlds Collide III 23. The Unwanted New World, 24. Means the Old World Must Go, 25. So Where was God in all this? 26. Where did you get that from?, 27. The Reason for My Season, 28. Was Always a Little Rascal, 29. Pictures and Quotes of the Little Rascal and final chapter 30. Closing in Contradictions. ~Use these links to read in order (some chapters have songs, new added content, pictures or all:) Volume 2 >>>>>
You know good intentions really do pave the way to hell. I think I've laid enough bricks to know this and we are Ants Marching down the street. After Shirley left it was a very surreal time and when the next 2 roommates after Scott didn't work out then it was time to make some serious decisions. Like what I am going to do to make some extra money because I had to buy another car soon. Things at the law firm where still deteriorating and I had a nervous feeling not just about my future there but the future of the whole firm. So I called Bonnie's mom who was still a PI and serving papers and asked if I could help? She said sure, there was plenty of work to do, so I met with her to get the details of what I needed to do. The application process required ALL of my job information for the last 10 years and since I was 26 then, that meant about 25 or so odd jobs since I was 16. Boy that was a chore trying to chart out where, when and who. Mostly her clients were trying to serve a lot of dead beat parents and most of them lived in some of the worst hoods in the area. Great! Also you don't get paid if you don't serve the paper and she didn't pay mileage at all so the pay was not that great but it would get me in the door. I learned how to flick those docs through a closing door at the speed of light! I was cussed out and chased a few times but nothing really too bad. I spent a lot of time in my car then for both jobs and that was just the beginning. I asked her about Bonnie and learned that she hadn't spoke to her since she had to repo her car which caused another rift in the family. I felt comfortable enough to go ahead with the work because Bonnie didn't seem to be an issue for either of us.
Sometime later I was walking outside to leave and saw a moving truck with Daisy emptying the contents and carrying the stuff to the unit just 1 door down from me. Last I had seen her was with Bonnie and this was the last place I'd thought I'd see her again! I mean I picked this place because no one I knew lived around here and now that was out the door! She said hey in a smart ass way and just kept on unloading her stuff. I left but I have to admit I was pretty upset about this and learned a little later that the place Daisy was renting was owned by a lady who went to the Old Folks Bar which is how she found it because Daisy now worked at this bar. Later still I asked her if she had seen Bonnie and learned they had parted ways as well. It seems that she had also outlived her usefulness to Bonnie which was something I had experienced myself so we both thought each other a little suspect... to say the least. But over the next few months things settled down and so I didn't worry too much about it. As I look back now I think because I asked about Bonnie twice then the universe felt obliged to provide and answer.
Well by this time Christmas 1998 was coming up shortly and I got really busy with things as most of us do around that time. In November I bought the Honda and now I have a 5 year car payment added to the mortgage. Just swell. Again as I was leaving the house I saw Bonnie sitting on Daisy's front steps in her classic multicolored bathrobe that you couldn't miss. I did a double take and she too said hey in a smart ass way. I sighed, shook my head and continued on. Absolutely unbelievable! I know I don't have the greatest luck in the world but this was turning out to be my worst year ever so far in the new location. I still saw her over the month but ignored her as much as possible because I didn't want to go through this again. Twice was enough but she had other plans.
Approximately a week or so before Christmas I left for work and there was a card under the windshield that was from her. I read it after I got to work and she said she was sorry for everything and we needed to talk... soon. I think she even called me at work but I didn't talk to her because I knew where she lived now... so no point in wasting my time there with it. After I got home that evening I decided to get it over with and clear the air so maybe I could go on and get some peace. As usual she was very charming and clever with her stories about how difficult she had it and her and Daisy were not getting along too. She explained how things shook out the last time with them and the only reason she moved in with her was because she needed something... a ride to the bar they both worked at... something along those lines. She also told me my ex Willie had been a regular customer at the bar and even got thrown out one night when he head butted the owner. Nice! She was desperate to move out and wanted to move in with me... of course. I told her no I wasn't going through this again because you use people and when you are done, you just throw them away. Thanks... but no thanks.
I also told her I was working for her mother and the conflicts were not something I wanted to be in the middle of. She promised there would be no problems with that and then took me over to Daisy's to see her tiny room that she was in. Her son was now a teenager and she really wanted to have room for him to come and visit as he too was living at her moms. Trey was living with my mom still so I felt I understood where she was coming from on that. She was persistent and had a pocket full of cash she said she made from working at the bar. Well I relented and let her move in. It probably took less than 2 hours to move what little stuff she had over to my place and she seemed thrilled. After we finished I noticed a lot of the stuff she brought over was my stuff, that I hadn't seen since we lived together the last time. Humph... if that ain't a sign I don't know what is! That year she decorated the house so well that the Griswolds would have been proud. It was great until I got that $250 power bill in January which caused me to have a cow. I told her mom about the arrangement and she told me to be careful. So the next few months I walked that Tightrope between mother and daughter but it went okay... for a while. But as usual things come to a head and go boom!
Bonnie was dating a man who had just recently left his wife of 20 years. They had been on cruises together with Daisy too and had a whirlwind romance. We'll call him Clyde # 4 and this one was from New York! Well things must have cooled off at some point so she was trying to get his attention back and one night set the wall on fire from a candle which caused them to bust the waterbed...somehow. That is the night I refer to as the fire and the flood. It took forever to clean the mess up but we managed. She was Livin' La Vida Loca. Later when Clyde #4 married another lady then continued to see Bonnie I thought she was crazy to stay but she did and turned on the charm even more. That's when I learned what the other women do when they want to be noticed by the wife, from leaving their hair in the bed to spraying the cologne so strong that it stays in the sheets. I was fascinated by this train wreck that I was watching but had no power to stop the collision from happening. Bonnie and I went out to the bars some and one night she got hammered and after we got home started to get sick. I literally caught the first one in my hand... ewwww. I spent the rest of the night holding her head off the toilet and keeping cool rags on her head.
Around this time is when I had the brilliant idea to send a letter to Marvelous when he was in prison because it had been over 5 years since I had been with anyone and I was kinda lonely. Again I thought I could resolve the situation before I could move on. Wrong! Bonnie had started to work for another near by bar and grill but only managed to stay there for a few months at the most. Again I started to see the signs that things were headed in the direction of disaster but I kept quiet for a while. When I had bumped a pole in the car she knew someone from the bar that would help get the dents out and saved me a good bit of dough. I was hoping she would come to her senses about Clyde but that didn't seem to be happening. She was my friend but I felt the vibe that she was Addicted to Love and being with a man was more important than any friendship and I got sad.
But things happened pretty quickly after that with Marvelous as you have read and before I knew it we were together again. Shortly after that I got fired from the law firm because I wouldn't kiss this one attorney's butt... one more time. The law firm then closed it's doors by that Christmas and I knew there was more to that story but what do you do? I talked to Bonnie's mom about it and took on more work with her and eventually got my associates licenses to start. Unfortunately I couldn't pay my bills on that salary no matter how hard I worked. It also made it harder for me when she went on vacation for a week and left another lady in charge. I had stopped by to pick up some paperwork and this lady with another one was ransacking her office. They stated they were reorganizing it but I could tell something fishy was going on, but had no way of contacting the boss. When she came back the boss asked what did I know about what happened and I told her the little I knew. Those ladies cleaned out her contact list and much other valuable information. I knew I had to do something then so I went to another PI firm which was also located in the law firms building and asked for their numbers. I knew this firm was there but just hadn't been ready to seek out all the information and see if they were hiring... until now.
I remember being at Bonnie's moms house one evening with both of them and she was showing me a few old photos of her mom. I was surprised to see her with Lew from the farm way back in the day and both of them were surprised I knew him. Another connection I found out was that a cousin of mine had lived right down the road from them when they were younger and was well known to both families! This cousin was the one who tripped me as a child at one of the family reunions and later his brother (also my cousin) moved one street up from me. Then even later Lew moved right across the street from him and that's when I found out that Marvelous had been in prison with Lew and my cousin! This world had shrank to the size of a golf ball as far as I was concerned so apparently I didn't go far enough.
By this time it was close to Christmas 1999 and we all made it though the holiday's okay and even Marvelous, Bonnie and I went to the beach for New Years 2000. While down there we ran into Misty the girl I went to high school with and as I have said before, my friends rarely like each other. I used the think that they were so different from each other but now think they were more alike than anything else. That's when things went south pretty quickly because Bonnie swore she saw Marvelous kissing some chick that night and I was stuck because both of them were skilled liars. With all the stress of working for her mom and living with her I made the decision to tell her it was time to move on. I was really sad that our friendship was over as well as exhausted but I needed a break from the constant drama and was lucky enough to get the new job at the PI firm by the end of January. I started off working 80 hour work weeks because this one case was 8 am to 8 pm 6 or 7 days a week and then we had all of our regular work. While I worked that long never ending case we sat in the clubhouse parking lot to watch for the person to go by and that's when I noticed my ex sister in laws husband Curly working at it. Later I would see Daisy and her brother Luke off and on, which is when I learned that the money Bonnie had when she moved in was stolen from them. Bonnie had talked just as much junk about me to them as she talked about them. Much later though Luke would introduce me to a friend that I would have for life.
Art at The Carillon Building Photo Courtesy of Native Charlottean Group Facebook.
15. Glamorous Life >>>>>
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