It was a bitter sweet feeling, when I woke up early on a Saturday morning in late November of last year. I knew this was to be my last time with roommates. I knew that I will be in a place where I could learn about myself, take my writing to a new level, and grow. Besides, I could be butt-naked and enjoy my girlfriend without the added pressure of other people to worry about.

Damn, this door represents so, so much.

Move-In Day – Uhaul stops, my friend and I get out, I look around and smile with excitement. I see an older gentleman of 50 or so, who, is watering his plants. He looks puzzled and confused, he doesn’t make much eye-contact, but is aware of my presence. I go up the stairs, I have this smile on my face, I go to greet him – and the fucker shafts me. He looks me dead in my face and proceeds to water his plants…

2 Days Later – Afterwork I’m eager to get back home. I was ready to shout to the world that I was living by myself. I get off the bus, I walk 4 minutes or so to my apartment, and instantly am greeted with more neighbors. Another older guy of 50 or much older said his name, where he lived, welcomed me to the apartment and neighborhood…mentioned something briefly about his partner. I saw other people from time to time during that first day. I didn’t think much about it…

A month later – My girlfriend and I are chilling at my place for the weekend. We have a great day and we end it with some great loud sex in my bedroom. We wonder if my neighbors heard us, we don’t care, hell, I was in my own place and volume wasn’t on my list of worry…

Days later after loud sex – My two neighbors mention to me that both of them could hear us having sex. One guy mentions that I was nailing her good. The other guy mentioned that the walls are paper-thin. I was proud of my prowess and knew they were cool with me. We continue to have loud sex…

2 Months after – I had a long day at work, I have a late dinner, it’s time for sleep. I lay in the bed and try to read a book – that doesn’t work. I lay there, I then hear somebody from the other apartment (behind my bedpost). I heard ‘huffing and puffing’, of what sounded like one of my neighbors, I couldn’t make out which one. They were at it for a couple of minutes. There was a pause. Then I heard the other, with his  own unique ‘huffing and puffing’ enunciation. Then that was it. I was done for and couldn’t get back to sleep. That was the first and knew it wasn’t to be the last time I heard my neighbors giving it to each other. My girlfriend and me stopped having loud sex…

2 Ladies – My complex is cozy, there is 6-7 apartments in all. Mostly, everyone is male, but their are two ladies. I didn’t notice them going in and out of each others apartment. I would see a short older lady of 60 in the afternoon and an average size woman of 60 in the morning walking her dogs. Both amicable women, but I knew that they were more than friends…

Boy Body-Call – I was washing my clothes one afternoon and noticed a black guy of 20 something on a bike, waiting at the foot of the stairs. I didn’t make much of it, so I continued to do what I was doing. Then saw my neighbor from the far end of the apartments smile and wave at me, and ushers his friend to his place. I don’t think they were talking long…

Jogging Around the Neighborhood – I had been running for sometime to lose the fat that I accumulated in California. I usually run in different areas of the neighborhood, to change the scenery up. I take a route I’ve never taken before. I see people chillin and cars driving at a calm pace. I look at the houses and dream of owning one. I see a couple of rainbow flags. I am on the main strip of the neighborhood, I see people living their diurnal lives, I see the same type of flags in store-fronts, and noticed the same colored flags 30 feet in the air. It was as if the flags showed the boundaries of the neighborhood…

Living where I live has taught me that people are people. No matter what their sexual orientation, they do what everyone else does. They wake up with hopes and dreams and desires to conquer the world, or don’t give a shit about being a Joan of Arc of changing it. They eat the same foods we crave. They sit on a toilet and take a shit like we do. They are not this alien life form from another planet, who, doesn’t know how to operate in the world.

I am going to continue to see what I learn from this place, it might inspire another essay or a short story of some stature.