FLAMINGO HOUSE

FLAMINGO HOUSE
by Rainbow Joe

(A true story. Only character names and the place name have been
changed.)

Seeing as the recession has bowled Adam for a duck he places the remnants of his life under one arm and shamefully struts from the field. Yes, Adam is homeless. He has to find a new home. And as he can’t risk chancing one of those places where he is liable to have his door kicked in, he decides to spend 75% of his paltry pension on a shared room in an up market SRS.
He chose Flamingo House.

Twilight reigns and winter is a bastard as Adam escapes the taxi’s cigarette smoke to haul the remnants of his life through the door. Once inside he’s pleasantly surprised to see a modern red brick decor with assorted Chinese ornaments hanging from doorways and walls. Prominent paintings abound. With the quick introduction and a sign in by an Indian woman over, she says, “You eat in dining Room then up walkway to Room, breakfast at seven.” Adam trudges into a sizable dining room and devours a simple but nourishing meal.

Though Adam is big and strong he struggles to haul his shoddy red and white bag up the long winding walkway to his room. Once inside the room a short skinny bloke pokes his messy grey haired head around the bathroom door. He points at a bed near a wall. ‘That’s yours.’ Then he disappears. ‘Must be night staff,’ Adam thinks.

Considering day wore Adam down instantly welcomes him. Dawn breaks and Adam surfaces. Meandering down the walkway, Adam parks himself in line for breakfast. He feels as though he is a priest in a brothel. Not a sole speaks to him except a tall thickset elderly man who punches his palm with his mammoth sized fist. “If you don’t like Americans you’ll get this!’ Adam laughs. “Bugger off mate I was in Vietnam!’ The man quickly changes his tune and throws out his hand. “Sorry mate, my name is Eric.”Later Adam learns the scrawny man from the night before is Stan, a resident.

Stan had gone down earlier and informed Eric and Eric’s elderly mate, Bill, that Adam had kicked Stan's dog, Libby. Well Adam would do nothing of the sort. He is an animal lover. Eric’s love for Libby exceeds his love for life itself. Today Adam and Eric are mates, and Adam thinks of Bill as his second father.

With the ice broken, Adam is swamped by residents eager to shake his hand. One cheeky little bugger stands out. “Gidday Adam I’m Mickey” Adam takes a liking to this sixty-four year old intellectually disabled man who bombards him with his girlfriend stories. But Adams cannot know that during the coming eighteen months, Stan manages to turn Adam’s life into a living hell, so much so that Adam tries to kill him.

It all begins with Adam believing that Stan really is ‘The Man.’ “What do ya drink Stan?”“Anything mate,” is Stan’s reply. As Adam has a few dollars up his sleeve he doesn’t mine. “I’ll shout ya a bottle of port Stan.”
Yes Adam likes to be liked. Stan occupies the shared room next door. They also share a common bathroom without locks on doors allowing them free access to both of their bedrooms.

Stan who is in his forties usually decks himself out in a black Harley Davison shirt, blue jeans, a belt with a Harley Davison buckle with a bunch of keys dangling from his belt, and Nike runners. Later Adam hears Stan lifts designer clothes and runners. He gives a pair of jeans and runners to Mickey for his paltry $10 pocket money and tells him to parade around in them. “Look what Stan gave me,” yells an excited Mickey. Then Stan takes them back. Stan does the same to Mickey with other assorted items.

Stan often attempts to impress Adam with his life stories. His words mean nothing to fifty nine year old Adam, who has been to hell and back. As Adam hears the residents speaking highly of Stan, he decides to play the game.

Day begins at 6.30 with Mickey Jettisoning his bed in the small space he shares with Eric. Dirty or clean, Mickey’s old clothes pile up on a chair. Mickey takes his pick from the pile. As Breakfast is at 7 am, at 6.30, Mickey wakes up his lofty mate Bob. Stan has appeared downstairs with his old dog, Libby to whisper in Eric's and his old mate Bill’s ears. Eric loves Libby more than life. The residents adore Libby too. Stan parades Libby until she goes to the seventy plus old cook and scoffs down her breakfast then scampers back upstairs/

Adam had been stuck with four roommates during the first year. The first nearly drove Adam nuts by adjusting his TV and only getting static. The second pulled a flick knife on Adam. The third attempted suicide because Stan encouraged him to borrow $500 from CentreLink then Stan seized it. As for number four, Stan had whispered in his ear. Next thing the man leaps into the room accusing Adam of breaking his guitar and stealing his pills.


Irregardless of having a bad back, Stan races around doing the washing and hanging the washing out, and then parks his bum outside, smokes until the proprietor arrives. When she does, he scurries over to her to sprout his version of the previous night events. Finally he hits the sack to rest his bad back. Meanwhile Mickey sits in front of the main TV until leaving to attend a group.

Night arrives and the proprietor departs. Stan the man rules. The more booze he consumes the more boisterous he becomes. Stan and Mickey are inseparable. Stan goes out front with Mickey. And Full of abuse Stan spews it out to anybody passing. Late at night Stan takes Mickey and Libby for a walk. On one occasion Mickey returns with a badly distorted hand. Mickey had fallen over. Stan’s excuse for not helping him is he was too busy protecting Mickey.

Nearly every night Stan enters Adam’s rooms for a chat, which ends up by Adam ‘lending’ him $5 for a long neck bottle. Bill likes his port so much that he sometimes drinks two bottles daily. Stan’s bad back doesn’t stop him from running to the bottle shop. When Stan has lifted booze from nearly every booze shop in the area, he is banned from them. His solution is to delegate the booze buying to Mickey. Sometimes he sends Mickey out late in his PJ’s to buy booze.

Mickey spends most of the evening sitting on Stan’s bed watching TV. Adam later hears Stan rehearsing dialogue with Mickey can provide alibis for Stan.

One day a friend of Adam’s sends Mickey to the shop with a fifty dollar note. Mickey is to buy himself an ice-cream. Next thing Mickey comes rushing in yelling, “I’ve lost the money!” Adam and his friend dash outside to hunt for it, Stan who is sitting smoking offers to help. Months later Mickey says Stan had taken the $50

Adam sits peacefully on the toilet when the door opens. He reaches over to close it. Next morning silence prevails. Stan had told everybody Adam deliberately slammed the toilet door on his face. Adam gives Mickey $5 in coins and tells him to wait until he changes to take Mickey to McDonalds. Adam returns and says. “Come on Mickey!’ There’s no response. Mickey is perched beside Stan. Adam is angry. ‘You c..t Stan, you f..king c..t, you took his money! Mickey says he spent it during the five minutes Adam is away.

Adam’s friend loans Stan $100. ‘Stan says, “Here hold my wallet for security.” Adam witnesses his friend dropping the wallet in a box. Next morning the friend bellows, “The wallet has gone!” Adam chases Stan until he returns the $100. Stan’s while glaring Adam, “Someone who knew it was there must have knocked it off and I got the $100 of me mate to pay you back.” Adam was the only other person to know where the wallet was. Adam went to toilet during the night. Stan lay on floor. Adam rang 000 and noticed Stan’s wallet on a chain. Later Adam confronts Stan about seeing his wallet. Stan says, "me mate makes them.".

Adam dines in own room and on numerous occasions spies Stan entering rooms with a master key. Jewellery, TV’s, DVD players walk out the door and into the hock shop 200 metres down the road. Adam speaks up but is not believed.

Stan enters Adam’s room one night and says, ‘I wanna borrow yer DVD player. ‘No f..king way!’ Adam yells. Instead Stan borrows Eric’s and sells it to Doris, an alcoholic who only has months to live. When Stan is told Doris has died, he laughs because he owes her money.

Stan and Bill are mates. Bill trusts Stan to pay his accounts with Bill’s MasterCard. Stan managed to pocket $1500 from an ATM until he is caught. Bill left Flamingo House without the money.

Stan gives makes Libby sick by giving her pills. ‘Can you spare $5 to take her to vet?’ He asks the residents. They all hand it over..

Eighteen months past and proprietor finally gives Stan his marching orders. The stench of Marijuana fills Adam’s room “Cut it out Stan!” “I don’t smoke that shit you fat c..t!” When Stan's sober He's a coward. To find courage he runs to get his bottle of port. All day long Stan follows Adam and calls him a fat ‘c..t!’ Adam knows if he hits Stan first, Adam is wrong..

That night Adam, who was a nurse and has seen more than his share of blood and guts, takes his mind back Vietnam. He grabs a stanley knife and a torch. Silently he opens Stan’s door to slit Stan’s throat. When the door opens he spots Mickey sitting on Stan’s bed. Adam’s mind leaves Vietnam.
Flamingo House is at peace now. Today the proprietor and the residents are happy. Mickey is Adams roommate and Adam is waiting on a commission flat.

The End