I moved to San Francisco just after the 1989 earthquake. I found an apartment in Noe Valley with 3 bedrooms, 1 bathroom and a backyard with blackberry bushes. My roommates were two longtime SF denizens. Susan was an aspiring romance novelist from Maryland. John taught photography at San Francisco State.
We all became friends, cooking dinner together most nights. Then Susan told us she was moving back east for a teaching job. John and I placed an ad for a new roommate and conducted interviews. Most of the applicants were shifty and malodorous. We settled on a woman from Alabama named Addison. She told us she worked as a cruise director making her appealing. This meant she’d be gone for months at a time and could afford her share of the rent.