February 25, 2002 | 10:53 AM

7H) ### Thurston Street

A week or so later Ronnie moves in. He hardly has any stuff, and it takes him all of 15 minutes to get himself situated.

John and I have procured for him some used furniture at no cost�a cheap metal bed from John�s parent�s basement, a miniature dresser left behind by Madeline. He is grateful and embarrassed. He is thrilled to have his own room, as he has been sleeping on his mother�s futon for the last three month in her tiny studio apartment.

I don�t know Ronnie very well at all, but I have a soft spot in my heart for him. He appears to be so lost and sad. I know certain details of his life�that he was deaf until the age of four. That his mother was a religious nut and he was forced to waste several years of his childhood in a Jesus cult, most of his days spent building a church with the other cult members, his mother finally deciding to leave when it was revealed the whole thing was a sham to make money. I know that his father committed suicide before he was born, and that he recently broke up with his longtime girlfriend. I know that he is very smart but works at low-level jobs because he has no confidence. Each of these facts is a penknife jabbed in my heart. I want to help Ronnie. Or more accurately, what I want is to save him.

Ronnie is broke from having to come up with the down payment on the apartment. We buy him some beers and smoke him up. We make him dinner. He thanks John and me over and over and he promises to make it up to us.

Nonsense. I�m doing this because I want to. Don�t worry about it.

It feels marvelous to help Ronnie. After all, only a year and a half ago I had been destitute and lucky enough to be on the receiving end of kindness. Now it is my turn to share.

Within the first day or two of Ronnie moving in, we have a �roommate meeting� about what we want the apartment to be like. It is mostly John and I doing the talking. We tell Ronnie that all we want is for things to be chill. We are cool with just about everything but drama. As long as rent and bills are paid on time and nobody flips out, we are happy. John and I are both frank about how much we hate confrontation and will do just about anything to keep the peace. Ronnie tells us he is the same way.

I am so excited for Penny to arrive I can hardly sit still. I miss her so much it�s killing me. I miss having a super close female friend. I miss painting someone else�s toenails and cooking Kraft macaroni and cheese while drinking Red Dog. I miss reading tarot cards and discussing psychic dreams. I miss hearing all her crazy stories, like the one where she pulled a gun on her dad when he beat her one to many times, and how she won a local Beauty Pageant when she was 16. Penny is one of the funniest, most charming, most hilarious, most bizarre girls I have ever met. She has a long lanky body and eyes like sea foam and soon she will be here. Soon we will be roommates again, and this time there will be no crazy Alex to muck everything up.

The night before Penny is supposed to arrive she calls me.

Hey... I can�t make it tomorrow.

Gasp.

Pause.

What? You�re not coming? You�re not living with us?

She giggles.

No no. Of course I�m coming. I�m just going to be a week late.

Well, what�s the delay all about?

Again she giggles. She is busting at the seams with some exciting new story.

I met a boy!

Pause.

Oh really? Um... that�s nice.

Anna, he is sooooooo nice. His name is James and he is the greatest guy. We met playing pool and we just clicked. Isn�t that amazing?

I have no idea where this is going. She met a boy? So what. She�s supposed to be moving all the way to Boston for chrissakes. Who cares if she met a boy. I want her to get the hell here, dammit.

So...

Well, James and I are going to drive up to Boston together but we�re gonna take like a week to do it�we�re gonna go to Washington DC and New Orleans and all other kinds of places. It�s going to be awesome.

pause

Um. Where is James staying?

What do you mean?

I mean in Boston. Where is he staying?

Pause

Oh, he�s going to stay with us. I mean if that�s ok with you. I mean, with everyone. You know John and... um what�s his name?

Ronnie. His name is Ronnie

Pause

For how long?

Hmm?

How long is James staying with us?

Oh. Not long at all. Like a couple of days.

Oh. Oh yeah. That�s totally cool.

Pause.

Yeah. And then hopefully he�s going to move up here eventually.

I am floored. I am completely taken aback. My voice goes flat.

Really.

Yes. Isn�t it exciting? We are so in love.

When did you meet this guy?

Like two weeks ago. But that doesn�t matter. Sometimes you just know.

(Oh. You mean like with Alex? Is that what you mean? Like you just know someone is totally insane? Or you just know that you don�t want your roommate�s boyfriend fucking up your life yet again? )

Bad Vibes Alert. Sirens whirring. Red lights flashing.

Gee Penny.. I don�t know what to say.

You seem pissed or upset or something.

No no. No I�m fine. It�s just...

Just what?

Penny, I don�t want another roommate, you know what I mean? We�ll already have four people living in an apartment meant for three people. I�m going to sound like a huge asshole saying this but I don�t want some guy over here like 24-7 who I don�t even know, who when you really think about it, you don�t even know that well either.

Penny laughs.

Omygod don�t even worry about it. He�ll only be here for like three days. And if he moves to Boston, he�ll have his own apartment. It won�t be like that at all.

Her reassurance makes me feel much better.

I hang up the phone and I go into the living room to break the news to Ronnie and John. They both look at me with uncertain eyes.

So... she�s bringing some redneck with her? He�s only gonna be here a few days, right?

Of course. Just for a couple days

Little did we know.

Stay tuned for Part the Twenty-Fifth...

And if you�re just tuning in to the story of all the apartment�s I�ve ever lived in while in Boston (AKA Searching For Home in All the Wrong Places), why not read THE WHOLE DAMNED SAGA

In other news, I had a fabulous time in Vermont with my family. It was my sister�s first weekend back at college. Her school does this thing between semesters where you do an independent study project for like five weeks. Next year, she will probably do it in Boston and stay with me and John is our (keep yer fingers crossed people) fabulous new one bedroom apartment (she can sleep in the living room.) I love my sister soooooo much and it would be grand to have her stay with me for a bit.

So yeah... great weekend. My mom was lovely. Got to hang with both sisters (aged 9 and 19 respectively). Unfortunately my brother couldn�t make it. He is a junior in high school and had way too much work to do. He is looking into going to Boston University or Northeastern which would make me so happy as he�d be in Boston and I could spend more time with him.

That�s all for now.