Grand

  There was a waiting period, while my new apartment was being readied.  A friend from church volunteered to pay for two weeks at the Grand Motel on Two Notch Road.  I actually went to school with the owner of the motel.  The Grand was not a four-star motel.  Maybe a two-star.  But, it had a bed, a bath, and a TV.  It also had wi-fi, so all was right with the world. 

 The trick to staying at the Grand was to keep to yourself and not talk to strangers.  There was stuff going on it the neighborhood that I had become used to living on the street like drug deals and prostitutes.  I could also eat in the room, so I would hike up the street to Food Lion to get groceries.  It was the same store where I shopped, when I was working before moving to Greenville, so I felt at home.

 There was a very questionable motel across the street from Food Lion.  One day, I saw an old man pull up to that motel, and a woman got in the car.  I watched as they drove off and parked around the corner.  A few minutes later, she got out of the car and he drove off.  That was the neighborhood.

 There was a McDonalds nearby and a KFC.  The bus stop was right outside the motel.  When I would take the bus to town, it went by another questionable motel.  The other guys on the bus pointed out a short girl with white hair walking on the sidewalk.  They told me her name was "Snowball".  She mostly worked nights at that other motel.  

 My new apartment was going to be near Columbia College.  I couldn't wait to move in.