I
guess I knew who Frodo was back then, but I didn't think I'd see her
naked, taking a bath in one of those old-time porcelain bathtubs with
bear claws.
But
there she was, Frodo, a naked girl who could have fallen out of a
Botticelli painting.
The
kitchen was right next to the bathroom.
All
present in the apartment were as usual in the kitchen, waiting to
eat, or preparing food, so we saw Frodo, and she saw us, with no
shame or complaint.
She
wasn't doing that much bathing.
Just
sitting.
Soaking
up the moment.
Richie
was the name of her boyfriend.
He
looked like a big mouse.
He
had a long nose.
And
like a mouse, he had whiskers that made him look like a mouse.
He
even had a squeaky voice.
I
couldn't figure out what Frodo saw in him.
Oh
well, one doesn't always know what makes humans do what they do.
The
main activity of Richie was growing his pot plants. I mean, I don't
think he did anything else.
Well,
he smoked cigarettes. And he complained all the time that there
wasn't anything to eat. He never bought food, but he sure could eat
the food of others.
Frodo
and Richie were just one more scene from within the Boulder Bohemian
apartment on Pearl Street where I lived off and on for a number of
years.
The
building had allegedly once been a brothel,
and
the apartment where I lived was once in a flood, and under water.
There
were quite a few floods in Boulder. The
following years refer to the major floods in Boulder County’s
recorded past as noted in Boulder’s Floods and Flood Management:
Past & Present, City of Boulder 2016:
1844,
Month unknown
1864,
May and June
1876,
May
1894,
May
1897,
June
1909,
July
1914,
June
One
day Frodo and Richie left, going somewhere else.
IT'S
ABOUT RENEWABLE RESOURCES AND THE NAKED GIRL IN THE BEAR CLAW FOOT
BATHTUB