Alice Part 2

I went to my mom and asked her for the plane fare. She didn't even ask me for details. I said I had a place to stay and told her how much the plane fare was and when it took off and she went to the bank and got me the money. I have never been so devastated in my life. It was if she had been waiting for this day my whole life.

I took my last paycheck and bought a carton of cigarettes and a bottle of vodka and packed my bag. I flew standby on Alice's flight and got bumped to Miami instead of Ft Lauderdale. I also got a free ride from Miami to Ft Lauderdale. It took Three hours because the shuttle was also dropping people off at bus stations and homes. I had no idea till months later that Miami was only 40 minutes away.

Alice finally came to pick me up around 7 and we went to check out my new garage apartment. It was dark and we were tired and a little drunk having made use of my bottle of Vodka. We went to open the door and it was inhabited by 20 or so 3 inch long lizards. I almost shit myself. I had never even seen a lizard. We decided maybe this was a chore better tackled in the daylight and we went directly to the Elephant Walk a bar nearby. I only mention the name because I can remember it.

It astounds me how fresh that evening remains in my mind. I remember the airport. I remember how warm and green Miami was after leaving Baltimore. I remember the bus ride and the neighborhoods. I remember how glad I was to be there and how it felt like such an adventure. I remember those Damn lizards. I remember the grass in the yard of the house and the tall holly trees. The overgrown hibiscus and oddly enough the old fashioned clothes drying rack. The driveway with the grass growing in the open spaces where the concrete had cracked. the black mailbox and the frosted glass of the Florida room. I remember Alice's Jeep and how great it felt to ride around with the top off in the warm evenings. So many memories of that place. Its more real to me than my home growing up.

When I was in High School I met this girl through my boyfriend Will. I was really jealous of her, she was tall and blonde and skinny and rich. Very soon after I met her I realized that she was just as sweet and funloving as a person could be. She drank a lot and did a lot of drugs but it was the 70's and everyone did, don't let people tell you otherwise.

She was going through a really rough time. she had just moved to Maryland. She was a Navy Brat. Her parents were splitting up. Her Dad was with another woman and made no real attempts to hide it. He was a self indulgent, shallow and self serving kind of guy. His mother had him late in life and he was the golden boy of the family. Naval Academy then the Seals. He never got used to putting others before himself so the kids grew up without feeling as if they had any real value. He and their mom always put dad first. Their mom was obsessed with him. She was so involved in trying to make the marriage work that making her family work was a distant second. The Kids were window dressing really. Their reality was much different than the picture they portrayed. They had the toys but they were virtually orphans. They leaned on each other a lot. I never met siblings who were so close. Having grown up hating my siblings this was a very confusing situation. The Wallace kids were all born within 5 years of each other. To this day I am not sure who is the oldest and what the birth order is. All I know is that Kim is younger than Alice, but not by much.

When we were almost 19 she went to school in Boca Raton. Her dad felt I was a good influence on her and his mother had just inherited a house down there with a garage apartment and basically offered me free room and board as well as assistance in getting into the college if I would try and keep her out of trouble. Going nowhere in my own life I jumped at the chance.
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