Now, it looked like Joe was going to lose his home. A perspective buyer made a firm offer on the house. Joe and Connie accepted the offer with the proviso that they had to fix a long list of problems found by the buyers’ inspector. Overwhelmed, Joe called his new divorce class teacher, Adam, for help. As it turned out Adam was an exceptional handyman and he, Joe and Connie soon put a checkmark after each problem until the list was complete. To Joe’s astonishment, Adam accepted no money and even offered Joe a room in his house. With a nowhere else to go, Joe accepted Adam’s offer not realizing what he was getting himself into. Everything in Joe’s life was about to change.
About two weeks before Joe moved out of his old house he called Adam to see if his room was ready. Joe had acquired a lot of stuff the last 18 years and wanted to make sure there was room for it.
“Are you sure my room will be ready in two weeks?” Joe asked concerned.
“No problem Joe, your room is ready and there’s plenty of storage space in a spare room. By the way, it looks like we’re going to have another roommate. He’s actually unpacking his stuff now.” Joe could hear some mumbling in the background. “His name is John and he’s a real nice guy.”
“Wait a minute Adam, I thought I was the only one moving in with you,” Joe said now very concerned.
“Yeah yeah, I know I’d told you that, but John was in a bind and had nowhere else to go, so I had to help him out. C’mon Joe, I’m sure you can relate to that.”
“Do you know anything about this guy?”
“Yeah I used to work with him about two years ago, like I said, he’s a real nice guy,” Adam said in an unconvincing tone.
Now, Joe was having serious doubts about moving in with a complete stranger. He thought about just finding an apartment but Adam offered a room for only $300 a month. The cheapest apartment he could find on the Eastside of Seattle was for $650 a month. He couldn’t turn down Adam’s offer. Also, there was the uncertainty of living alone for the first time in his life. Joe had no problem with his own company but felt it would be much better if he did not isolate himself from the rest of the world. And he was a little scared of being alone.
When Joe arrived with his ex-wife, with the moving van full, he noticed Adam wasn’t home. Joe walked through the open garage door to the room where Adam said he had cleared out for his stuff. Someone, apparently his new roommate, John, opened the door adjacent to the garage. When Joe walked through the door he noticed the room that was supposed to be empty was full of John’s stuff. He was furious! “Where in the hell is Adam?!” Joe said up in arms.
“He’s getting his haircut,” John said with a slight New York accent. John was a man in his early thirties who was also balding, except with a classic Italian look: thick dark eyelashes, black hair and a knack for getting into trouble. Actually he had just been released from the state penitentiary, something Adam had neglected to tell Joe, for grand theft auto and drug possession. In the three months they lived together Joe could not keep track of all the times John had stolen from him. Little things like Joe’s food and even a pair of his socks. Joe had no patience for criminals, especially thieves and liars, and John was both.
