It is early 2014 and business is going well. After a lousy location (bad neighbourhood, crawling with mice etc.) I took a gamble and rented out an A-location. The rent is high, although for the amount of space I'm getting it is actually reasonable. I did haggle very well. One of the spaces cannot be locked and I am getting that for free. As I've got nothing of value there I don't mind one bit. A whopping 25% off yay! Nonetheless, it is still a lot of money and I need a matching amount of customers. Luckily, the energy I put into getting them was not in vain and my gamble is paying off.
One day I notice that I'm missing a chair from the free space. The building is large and there are quite a number of other businesses here. Could be anyone. But if it doesn't happen again, who cares? A week later a tall and slender lady walks in to meet me. Her name sound to me like MILF. I cannot help it; I've got a creative mind. Okay, okay, a dirty mind. Anyhow, she looks nice. Too bad my girlfriend is mono. See! Not very creative here am I? Good at accepting my position, but not inclined to do something about it, even though I'd very much like that. The optimist in me says this is part of being in love.
It is common practice to introduce yourself to everyone and besides, most of them want Internet and I'm the one to go to. It is a beautiful win/win for everyone. Get a fast connection and share it. Everyone pays a fraction of the costs of a regular Internet connection and this is a fast one. The building has network sockets all over and I've got the key to the server room. So a switch and a Bitcoin miner of mine are there. Hardly anyone knows about Bitcoin and I think I'm the only one ever in there anyway. So it's all good. Very cheap Internet and free Bitcoins, or actually, about one in a year. I bought a small miner because at the time I didn't know I'd get to run it for free.
So miss MILF tells me about herself and her atelier. She makes handbags. I have no clue about those things, but am very surprised at what high prices she sells them. Sure, she can explain that they are handmade and she uses the best quality fabrics. Still, I doubt if I would ever pay that much if I was a woman. For some reason, it does remind me to up the prices of all ice cream 10 cents. As she is talking, I cannot help it but to think that bags are more of a hobby to her than an actual rent-paying job. But then again, I'm not much better off. Before she leaves she apologizes for borrowing a chair of mine and promises to return it shortly.
The way she told me is a little frightening to me. My first impression is that she is very self-centered. A known pitfall for me is that I do things for other people without requiring anything in return. This gets abused and I make a mental note to avoid her. A few days later I find the missing chair back where it is supposed to be. I am cleaning today and decide to first use this chair to reach to the top of the windows and clean it afterwards. After all, I do not know what she did with it. But whilst cleaning the windows, the chair gives and I fall on the floor. Luckily, I'm not hurt. I can tell that the chair was patched up, but structurally it isn't safe any more. Probably okay to sit on, but let's not take any risks. So I throw it out.
In the months that follow I occasionally meet miss MILF. Turns out that she is pregnant, but broke up with her boyfriend and is planning to raise her child all by herself. She tells me that he is a bad person and doesn't deserve to even see his child. That seems harsh to me, but I decide not to enquire about it. We talk a lot, about children, pregnancy and the likes. Turns out we talk to each other amazingly well. Sure our shared interest about children helps, but it's more than that. With most people I 'get stuck' after a while, which is no problem at all mind you. This usually ends up in playing board games, which seems win/win to me. It provides a very pleasant break in which conversation can grow back. With her though, we just keep on talking. It's nice!
Then the bad news hits. The location is being sold and the new owner has different plans with it. So we all need to move out. As luck has it, I quickly find another place and it's rent-free. Sure, it needs a lot of work. Yes, it is temporary. But it is also quite large. It spans three addresses and I could use help with it financially. As it needs work and isn't isolated, the actual total running costs are probably about equal as what I'm currently paying. But if I share it, costs go down and thus profits go up. So I ask around in the location and find three people with an atelier. Miss MILF is one of them.
A while later we all move. I arrange a truck to get everything across, along with people to lift and shift. We all move, except for miss MILF. She has an exposition and will join us afterwards. As she has not much to move, she will do so by herself. About two months later, she lets me know that she found another place and will be moving there instead. This seems in line with my first impression. I kept her room free and by now, all the others from the previous location have found something else. So this sucks. But I want to focus on the choirs at hand and make this place work.
She invites me to the baby shower of her daughter. I accept. So a few months later I'm at her apartment. It is a busy place. A lot of people and I know absolutely no-one except her of-course. After a minute or so she asks me if I want to hold her daughter. Well d'oh! She puts her in my arms and I just stand there, all happy. Such a beautiful little piece of happiness in my arms. I stand there serene and wait for miss MILF to take her back, hoping that this will take some time. And as luck has it, she is talking a lot. Time passes as if this little girl brought her own spacetime bubble onto this world. To me it could have lasted longer, but to others I held her a full hour. Which means in normal time I held her at least half an hour. All that time, the little princess smiled at me and I smiled back...
