Well, I spent the summer of '71 running around Medina and Cuyahoga counties, hitting every party I could. Quite honestly, most of the summer was a blur. (A large stash of Donna's Maui/Ohio weed helped there.) Chrissy and I put more miles on that VW van of hers than we thought it could take.

I'd been accepted at Cleveland State, not a big accomplishment, but I like the place. I'd always liked Cleveland. The thing I wasn't too thrilled about was living in the dorms.

Max helped me out there. As a "graduation gift", he arranged a lease on an apartment in Lakewood, a suburb just west of Cleveland. The were two cool places to live around Cleveland then, Lakewood on the West Side and Conventry on the East Side. Max paid the rent up front, August 1, 1971 to September 1, 1972.

He also promised me $200 a month as long as I kept passing grades.

This would be alright.

The place was an old Victorian house that had been cut up into one bedroom apartments. It belonged to a friend of a friend of Max. It was the same place he and Yvette lived in when I was born. Most of the other tenants were young married couples.

As fall came along, Nancy went off to Ohio State. Donna's parents sent her back to Hawaii after they finally discovered the weed in the corn field (fortunately for me that wasn't until AFTER she gave me a pound of the stuff).

And Chrissy came to Cleveland State.

You could almost call her my roommate. She had a dorm room, but she had real trouble making it back to the dorm before curfew. She was always being locked out. Chrissy was always sleeping on my couch.

For some reason, Chrissy's being around intrigued one of my neighbors. Her name was Loni Stevens. She and her husband Todd lived on the same floor. They were in their late twenties. I think he was a Phys Ed teacher, at least during the day. He tended bar a few nights a week. Loni was a nurse at Lakewood hospital and seemed to work a rotating shift.

After I'd been living there a few weeks, she came over to introduce herself. We had tea and talked. She told me about herself and Todd. I told her about growing up with Max. It was all very nice and neighborly.

She came back about a week later, it was early in the morning. Chrissy had spent the night and rushed off to an 8:00 a.m. class. Loni came over with some coffee and doughnuts. I'd just woke up and was stumbling around in a robe and a pair of jeans. She started talking about things at the hospital as I was just trying to wake up and focus.

"So, was that girl your girlfriend? She's very pretty."

"What? Oh, Chrissy? Chrissy's just an old friend."

"Really? A close friend?"

"Well, yeah."

"Do you have lots of close friends like her?"

"Some. Most of them aren't up here though."

"Oh."

It seemed like a rather strange conversation just because she kept smiling and looking straight into my eyes. We drank our coffee and she said she had to go to work.

It was after she left that I noticed Chrissy's bra was still lying on the couch.

Loni stopped by every day that week. Chrissy, on the other hand, had a project she was working on and managed to get back to her dorm on time all that week.

I saw Chrissy between classes that Friday and told her about Loni and her visits and about the bra. She laughed and told me to be careful.

Sunday night, Chrissy showed up about 11 p.m. She was trashed and wasn't very quiet. It took a while to settle her down. That night I let her sleep in the bed and I took the couch.

Bright and early the next morning, Loni showed up with coffee, a newspaper, and some Danish.

While she and I were talking, Chrissy came out of the bedroom wearing my robe. She had this dreamy, stoned expression on her face. She gave me a big long hug and said "I'm going back to bed" and turn around.

As she got near the bedroom door, she reached into the robe pocket, pulled something out and threw it at me. "Don't forget you owe me new ones."

Her panties landed next to the Danish.

Loni just kept smiling.

Later that day I found a note slipped under the door. Loni was inviting me over for dinner the next evening. Free food is free food, so I figured sure. I'd get to meet Todd. I'd been wondering what he was like.

So, the next evening I got cleaned up, put on a clean pair of jeans, found a shirt that wasn't too ratty and headed down to the Stevens' apartment.

Loni answered the door. She seemed to be very happy to see me. She was wearing a short dress and a little more makeup than I was used to seeing her in. I could just detect a hint of perfume.

She offered me a glass of wine and told me to have a seat in the living room. Dinner would be ready in a little while.

It was a nice apartment, nice furniture. She had James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James" playing on the stereo. Over the fireplace was an 8 by 10 of her and Todd. It looked like a wedding picture.

It was at about this point it dawned on me that Todd wasn't there.

Loni came into the living room and sat next to me on the couch. I said something like "You look very nice."

"Thank you. Oh, I bought a new perfume today. Can you smell it?" and with that she sort of leaned over towards me, offering her neck. "Come on, take a sniff. Tell me if you like it."

I wasn't sure what to do, so I leaned over to sniff. As I did, she dropped her hand to my leg.

"It's very nice."

She smiled, rubbed my leg, and said. "I thought you'd like it."

"Uh, yes. It's a nice smell."

And just about then I heard keys and the door knob jiggle.

Loni jumped up and practically ran for the door.

From the kitchen I could hear:

"Honey, I thought you were working tonight."

"Yeah, there was some problem with the electricity. Charlie had to shut down tonight. You cooking something?"

"You hungry? Why don't you get cleaned up? It's almost ready."

Loni stepped back towards the living room and motioned me towards the front door.

I'm not stupid. I headed out. Todd didn't see me on his way to the bathroom.

"Maybe later this week." Loni whispered as I got into the hall. And then she gave me a quick kiss.

Todd's not a little guy. I could tell that from the wedding picture. I didn't like this. They only lived down the hall.

That night, when Chrissy showed up, locked out of the dorm again, I told her the story. She made all the expected cracks about boinking the neighbor lady.

I wasn't sure what to do about this situation. Maybe I was just dense. Maybe it was because I was still a virgin. I don't know. But I remember I could sleep very well that night. I didn't get up until after noon.

I didn't see Loni that day, or the next few days. Finally, I saw her in the hall. She smiled and waved and headed straight into her apartment.

She never stopped over for breakfast again. I never got that re-invitation for dinner.

I did meet Todd eventually. It was that winter. I helped him dig his car out of a snow drift. We had a few beers together.

Chrissy swears she didn't have anything to do with Loni not showing up again, but I've always had my doubts about that.