埃爾莎·林奇/Elas Lyunch
I was never very neat. Later in life I learned to attribute this flaw to my creative genius, saying that my bouts of disorganization were simply the flip side of my unique gifts and talents. Yet, when I arrived at college, I hadn't come up with any impressive reasons for my big messes. They just were—and my roommate didn't seem to appreciate their contribution to my bright future.
I'm not sure why they stuck us together. I don't think they could have possibly picked two more different people to room together. Kim was extremely organized. She labeled everything and each item she owned had its place. She even had one of those cute little pencil holders—and used it! Mine had become a collection spot for bits and pieces of paper, odds and ends. I think one pen may have found its way into the pencil holder but I certainly didn't put it there.
Kim and I fed off each other. She got neater and I got messier. She would complain about my dirty clothes, I would complain about Lysol headaches. She would nudge my clothing over to one side and I would lay one of my books on her uncluttered desk.
It came to a head one fateful October evening. Kim came into the room and had some kind of fit because one of my shoes had found its way (inexplicably) beneath her bed. I didn't know what was so significant about that shoe but it infuriated her! She picked it up, tossed it toward my side of the room and managed to knock my lamp onto the floor. The light bulb shattered, covering the layer of clothes I had been planning to fold that very night. I leapt off the bed in horror and immediately started yelling about her insensitivity and rudeness. She yelled back similar frustrations and we each ended up pushing toward the door to be the first to slam our way out of the room.
I'm sure we wouldn't have lasted a day or two longer in that room. Probably not even a night, if it hadn't been for the phone call she received. I was sitting on my bed, fuming. She was sitting on hers, fuming. It was later in the evening and the room was so thick with unspoken expletives that I don't even know why we had both returned to each other's company.