Chapter 1

As soon as Allison walked in, I knew we were going to be friends. First off, she was wearing a t-shirt with Edgar Allan Poe on it, which told me she had good taste in books. Second off, she looked me in the eye while I was going over the rules to the place, which told me she had respect for service workers. And third off, she was driving her own U-Haul instead of hiring a moving company, which told me she was an independent spirit. Or maybe she was just cheap? Either way, we had a lot in common right off the bat.

Once we got the registration done, I showed her to her locker and offered to help unload her truck. That’s not technically part of the job, but when I get a good vibe off someone like I did with Allison, I usually volunteer. It gets pretty slow around here, especially at night, so I’m always grateful for a chance to get out from behind the desk for a little exercise and some small talk.

Almost everyone who rents one of our storage lockers is in some kind of transitional period in their lives – they’ve just moved to town or they’re downsizing apartments or moving in with (or away from) a romantic partner. I like to ask a few basic questions while we do the paperwork, take an interest in whatever their situation happens to be and before you know it, you’ve got a nice foundation for a friendship.

That’s actually a big reason why I took the job at Hold-It in the first place, to meet people. I’ve moved around a lot in my life and even though I’ve never been out of the country, I always felt like I was speaking a different language than everybody else. But since I first got to the Big City last month, I’ve been making friends like never before. I guess that’s why everybody moves here…it’s a great place for people who can’t quite make it work anywhere else. We’re all square pegs, so we end up fitting together pretty well.

My first week at Hold-It, a guy named Owen showed up with a bunch of those Rubbermaid tubs, an exercise bike, and a twin mattress with a boxspring. I set him up with a 5×10 near the elevators, and we got to talking – turns out his girlfriend had dumped him and he was going to be couch surfing for the foreseeable future. Like most people, I’ve had my share of heartbreak and I told him so. We forged a real bond that night, and now we hang out all the time.

Or take Mrs. Sweeney. She told me to call her Florence, but I have a thing where I can’t call elderly people by their first names…it just doesn’t seem respectful. Anyway, she had lived in a rent-controlled apartment uptown with her husband for 54 years. 54 years together, can you believe that? Then a few months ago, he passed away from esophageal cancer. Their son didn’t want her living alone in the apartment, so he was moving her to an assisted living facility around the corner from Hold-It. The new place was a lot smaller than her apartment, but she wasn’t ready to let all her things go just yet. Now my life hasn’t exactly been a Hallmark movie, but I do get nostalgic sometimes so I know how she felt. And guess what? Now a nice old lady who thought she was going to be alone for the rest of her life has a brand new friend at her local self storage place. Everybody wins! And since she’s close by, I still visit Mrs. Sweeney and she’s always glad to see me.

While we were getting her boxes unloaded, Allison told me that she had moved here for a new job as a paralegal. The firm was providing her with temporary furnished housing to give her time to find an apartment (no mean feat in the Big City) so she was going to stash most of her belongings in one of our lockers while she looked. From there, we got to talking about books and movies and music, and it turned out we like almost all the same stuff. She even laughed at my jokes, which was when I knew for sure that we were going to be friends.

So as you can imagine, I was pretty concerned when Allison’s sister Claire came by a few days later asking if I’d seen her. I told her that I hadn’t, not since the day we moved her stuff in. I tried to reassure her that Allison was probably just tied up with her new job and apartment hunting…never mind all the other exciting stuff the Big City has to offer newcomers. But Claire was adamant. Apparently nobody had heard from Allison, and that was really out of character for her. And what’s more, Hold-It was coming up as the current location on her “Find my Phone” thing.

I told Claire she was welcome to look around, but that I wasn’t allowed to open a locker for anyone who’s not on the rental agreement. It’s a privacy issue and I could lose my job, which would put me right back at square one as far as meeting new people. I know it seems like an unconventional way to make friends, but it’s really been working for me. And who knows how accurate those phone trackers even are, anyway?

Claire was getting pretty distressed at this point. She even started crying, which has always been tough for me to take. I can’t handle it when people start to make a scene in public, it feels like the whole world is staring right at you. So I ended up taking her to 337 just to keep her from having a full meltdown. Crazy, right? After everything I just told you about privacy. But she was getting so wound up…I mean, what would you do?

I unlocked the unit, but there was nothing inside but a bunch of boxes. We looked in every corner, but no iPhone. I apologized to Claire again, took her number, and told her that I’d call the next time I saw Allison.

I didn’t feel great lying to her, but as a representative of Hold-It Self Storage, my responsibility is to the customer. It’s sad, but sometimes people come to the Big City to get away from their so-called “family” and “friends.” I would hate to be the person who’s just trying to help but ends up landing one of our customers back in an unwanted or even abusive situation.

I mentioned it to Alison later that night and just as I predicted, she freaked out. And I don’t blame her. Family stuff can be pretty touchy, and it can really mess you up, take it from me. Hey, I guess that’s another thing Alison and I have in common.

I decided to give her a minute to cool down while I searched the rest of 237 for her phone. I guess we were vibing so much when she moved in, I forgot to pop out the SIM card and toss it in the river. Pretty careless, I admit. It’s the kind of stupid mistake that can cost you a friendship.

Anyway, lesson learned and no harm done, unless you count Alison going ballistic when I left with her phone. It’s crazy how attached we get to our devices nowadays…she was NOT happy. I thought she was going to chew right through her gag.

Why did Claire have to show up like that? Why couldn’t she have stayed in Houston and minded her own business? And why now? Right when I was starting to get comfortable here, it’s already time to leave again. I’ve never been much for goodbyes, but I knew I couldn’t just take off without seeing my other friends one last time.

I stopped by Owen’s place first (413). He was pretty upset when I told him the news. I could see it in his eyes and in the way he was struggling with the bindings on his wrists, way more frantic than usual. Guys like us aren’t great with our emotions, but it was obvious that he hated to see me go.

Of course I had to check in on Mrs. Sweeney too, but when I got to 604, she was resting. I tried to wake her up, but no dice. She was dead asleep, so I just gave her a hug. It was such a sad moment, and I tried to cry, I really did. But nothing happened, so I just tip-toed out and clicked the padlock shut behind me.

After I strangled Claire, I sat down at the desk in her hotel room to catch my breath and do some thinking. I’m really going to miss this place. I’m going to miss these people. But there is a silver lining, something important I learned during my time here in the Big City. Every other place I’ve lived, I felt like I had to lock myself away, hide all my boxes and baggage in some dark little room where they wouldn’t trip me up all the time.

But now I’m finally ready to kick that door open and just be me. Because it’s really not about where you live, it’s about how. And now that I’m living as my full and authentic self, I know that no matter where I land next, I’ll be able to blend right in with no trouble at all. It sucks to leave a brand new friend like Allison behind, but I know that deep down, she understands. And besides, there are plenty of other new friendships out there just waiting for me.