On Monday morning I drifted back into my routine/rut. I walked, I delivered papers,I kept the computer on almost all the time. Even in the cold I rode my bike at least a mile or two.

The time until Christmas passed slowly. It was my first Christmas 'Off Line', job wise that is. I got invited to three Christmas parties by Mary. I told her to pick one and I would go.

"Then I want you to come to my dad's party. I know he would like to wish you a merry Christmas."

"It's the one I would have chosen. I think I would rather spend time with him and your friends than the bar association's Christmas dinner."


Molly and Misty wanted to have a party as well, so I said. "Sure. same rules as before. Keep it inside and the noise down to a roar."

I planned to exchange gifts with the three women in my life on Christmas day. Dog was in line for a new chew toy from me. Molly and Misty had a sweater for him. I just knew he would never wear It no matter how cool they thought it was. Mary bought him a fancy new dog bed. The bed would stay at her house she informed me. So it was more her present to herself, I suppose. It was obvious that Mary intended to have Dog whenever I was out of town. Yet another thread in her tapestry.

"So you do own a tie," Mary commented when I showed up at her door the Saturday night before Christmas which was also the night of the Christmas party.

"Three actually, they are left overs from my shameful cop days."

"It's good that you have the right attitude going into a crowd of drunken lawyers. They will probably want to challenge you to a duel."

"Egg nog cups at thirty paces no doubt."

"No doubt," she agreed.

"How about we leave before they get too drunk?"

"If we do that, what are we going to do for the rest of the evening?"

"You choose, anything to get away from a bunch of drunken lawyers," I replied.

"Boy are you going to regret that." I doubted it, but I did try to look worried.

We left the party at before midnight with Mary slightly drunk but not mean or loud. What alcohol did was made her adventurous. For about three hours she kept me as busy as a porno star. It was interesting, but also tiring. I decided that, exotic sex was over rated.

Mary fell asleep about three AM and I slipped out quietly. Dog had been in his new present from me. chain link kennel. when I left for the party. He would be happy to be in the house, I knew. It was possible that he barked most of the time I was gone. It was also probable that if he did, the girls took him into their house.

When I finally made it home, I opened my door to find that Dog had been brought in by someone. I let him out on his front cable to empty his bladder. Afterward we crawled into bed. "Did the girls let you into the house?" Since he didn't answer, I assumed that they had. I would probably find something Dog had chewed, which he shouldn't have, in the morning.

Molly came to see me on new years day. "My Abba, I wanted to let you know that Misty and I will be moving at the end of the month. I am working now and I found a bigger place. I really am going to miss you." She was almost in tears.

"Well if you need anything just let me know. I can honestly say that I am going to miss you two as well." I wasn't close to tears but I did feel down a little. The two girls had been my models as well as tenants. Of course I hated the thought of looking for new tenants. I was like most guys my age, I just didn't like change.

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I put the word out that I was going to looking for a new tenant. Renting half a duplex with the owner living next door would be a hard sell to some people. For others it might be a selling point. Either way it was to be a factor in renting the other half of my home.

I put the word out to the city employees via the city web site. They had an online bulletin board so it was easy to reach all the employees of the city at once. I didn't expect much, but still it was a start. The local newspaper would be my last resort. The kids, as I thought of Molly and Misty, put the word out around the community college as well. I decided to give the word of mouth and my bulletin board post a chance before I did anything else. That being my decision, I promptly forgot about renting the other half of my home.

Dog was in his chew everything stage so I tried to keep valuable out of his reach. I spanked him for getting too close to the power cords and valuables, otherwise I just redirected him to his chew toys. I had dogs before, so I knew that it was inevitable that he ruin a certain amount of my clothing and furniture.

I put him in his kennel at least once a day for an hour or so. I never removed him when he whined or barked excessively. I would wait till he was tired barking or whining, then bring him into the house. He spent every night in the house with me. As the dog man had predicted Dog became my best friend.

Dog got left behind, when I served papers. I had absolutely no intention of ever leaving him in the car even for a few minutes. Half the time when I got home Misty or Molly had Dog in their house. I didn't mind but I doubted that it would have mattered a lot even if I did.

The girls started to move on the last weekend in January. It was a sad time for us all but they did need more room. Misty would be graduating from the community college in the spring and starting to job hunt soon after. She might or might not work close enough for them to continue their friendship, but that was something I just didn't care about. I had enjoyed having them as tenants, but over the years I had learned when they go, they are gone. So I turned my attention to finding a new tenant.

I had done all that I could do except begin public advertising. I was very reluctant to go public. I decided to give the feelers I put out until at least the middle of February before I went public. In the meantime I attended every function of the local museum. They sponsored historic days in their thee house village. The buildings were old enough to be used either as colonial or civil war era backdrops for displays.

The museum went from a couple of times a month displays in the summer to one ever two months in the winter. Usually they were about holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas. There was only one display in March and it was cold as the devil. It was one of those Colonial things. I got there early enough to shoot pictures of them setting up with my 35mm camera. I switched to the big camera for the portraits of the actors.

I spent most of my spare time the next week working on the images. Turning one into a poster and the others into note cards, and post cards. I did learn something from the Christmas show at the Armory, I made only two tear sheets of each. One of them I cut up for product and one went into my master catalogue.

I was in the middle of cloning out some modern day background from the museum show, when I got the call,. "John this is Edward Macon from the Carthage Police Crime lab."

I placed him immediately. "Eddie, that sounds real good, except I know you are the crime lab. What the hell can I do for you."

"You are just as personable as always, ain't changed a bit."

"Why would I change, this works fine for me."

"I was calling about your apartment for rent."

"Sorry Eddie, it's part of my duplex and I don't rent to cops."

"It ain't for me. It's for my daughter."

"Why does she need a place?" If she was too old to live at home, she was old enough to find her own place. If daddy was footing the bill, I wanted no part of it.

"She is driving me nuts. She is working part time and going to the community college. She needs to get a place of her own."

"So she pisses you off?"

"Yeah, but I'm not ready to give up on her completely. I want to know she is safe. I figure you are not going to let too much crap go one next door to you."

"You got that right. But Eddie, you know those guys who killed Charlie may come here."

"They ain't never gonna get bail. I did check."

"True but they claim they are connected. When it gets closer to the trial somebody might want to keep them quiet enough to come for me."

"Abba, believe it or not, you ain't the only one who can read odds. I figure she is as safe with you as she would be with some drug dealer living next door." He paused and I tried to think of some excuse not to rent to his daughter. "So how much?"

"Five hundred and it includes water and heat, but I have to meet her and she has to sign a six month lease."

"How about I sign it?" he asked.

"Absolutely not, I will not rent to a cop. The place is in her name and she pays the rent or forget it."

"Alright John, I will have her call you after school and set up a time to meet. The place is available immediately isn't it."

"She can move in as soon as her check for a grand clears."
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