The greatest (Marquette) Summer was now getting started. It wouldn’t be running at full speed until I had my own place in June so for the meantime I was subletting a spot in an apartment on Kilbourn Avenue (two blocks north of campus and over 20 east from Jeffrey Dahmer’s murder pad). I couldn’t believe my luck on its location too. Moving in a couple weeks would be a relative breeze while the price was relatively cheap.
As for the two roommates I briefly had, all I can remember of them was one being from Neenah, WI. I usually think of the town whenever I see a manhole cover despite seeing many manufactured in India.
I don’t remember the details of why they needed a third roommate. We barely associated but were on friendly terms until I discovered their cruelty to animals near the end of the month. It didn’t matter. The whole arrangement was convenient for everyone involved so I kept my mouth shut.
The only downside was my room being in the back of the apartment near the litter box for the poor, brain-damaged kitten Mickey these two didn’t take very good care of. Again, I figured it didn’t matter due to the situation being temporary. I was probably more paranoid of being burglarized because it was a frequent problem the previous year. If something happened, my room would be looted first due to its location.
Well, the apartment did get broken into while one roommate and I were home, sleeping in our respective quarters. What made this common occurrence in downtown Milwaukee unusual were the intruders and their intent. Normally, the burglars plaguing (in the Eighties) Marquette students tend to be the urban-poor residents who live at least several blocks north of the school and they steal electronics to fence because in their rationalizations, all college kids can afford it.
This uninvited duo were a couple of Marquette students (based upon their clothes) and they woke me when they were entering my room. Initially I was more puzzled than scared or pissed. One of them said hello and then they left, closing the door behind them. While clearing the mental cobwebs I deduced these guys were guests from some impromptu gathering the other roommate was having. However my theory got discredited quickly: the sun was up, I wasn’t very tired and I got a good look at my alarm clock…six in the morning! Irked I rolled out of bed to tell the roommate how this was uncool. Before I was dressed enough to confront anybody, I heard the back door open and slam closed. Now I got worried so I rushed out to see they were gone and the roommate was appearing from his room equally confused. I said “I thought you knew those guys.” He replied that he figured they were my friends.
I can’t remember which came next. Noticing the trail of blood on the floor which ran across the hallway or hearing the altercation the “burglars” were having while Milwaukee’s finest put them in a squad car in cuffs.
We did receive an explanation from one officer once things settled down.
Our visitors were fellow students fleeing from a party because one of them got drunk, punched out a window (hence the bleeding all over the floor) and some of the shattered glass injured another party attendee’s eye. Somebody called the cops. These two idiots fled the scene. One recognized the apartment (he did know the Neenah roommate) so they used the place to hide until they thought the heat was off.
A pretty foolish pair of dudes thinking they could outwit Milwaukee’s police department. Busting students was something they excelled at since they were ineffective at stopping real crimes, namely the one time they failed to catch Jeffrey Dahmer, handed to them on a silver platter.
At least the Summer only got better after that day.