The Golden Ticket
"Whoa--hold on!" the young lady stammered as she looked down at the clipboard where her finger was pressed tightly against the paper. "You're not Michelle Rodgers," she said in a stern tone. "No I'm not," the young man adamantly replied, "My first name is not Michelle, my first name is Rodgers with an S." Before the girl could object further he continued. "My last name is Michel, it rhymes with nickel," he advised her, "My name is Rodgers Helmut Michel... It's German?" "But this isn't a coed dorm!" she exclaimed.
* * *
Rodgers Helmut Michel didn't care for his parents too much. To begin with, he did not like being named Rodgers. It was his mother's maiden name and she insisted on giving it to him. Then there was Helmut given to him by his father who was in large part German. "Well, my first name could have been worse if mom had not won-out," he often thought. At least she had done that for him.
At some point in the fifth grade he adopted the nickname "Mick," short for Michel. He got tired of explaining his odd name and of the teasing that always came with it. He was not sure if he got teased more about Rodgers or Helmut. Every now and then someone would call him "Michelle," but the older he got, the less and less that happened.
Mick joined the U.S. Army right after high school because it was a quick way of extricating himself from his family and a means to earn more money for college. He was bright and ambitious and had always wanted to continue his education after high school, so he worked various jobs at night and during the weekends to save as much as he could for his anticipated future. During a high school economics class, he participated in a mentoring program that taught young adults about the stock market and the many avenues of personal investing. He was paired-up with an advisor who spoke to Mick's parents and convinced them to open a custodial account for their son. Using money Mick earned while working at a grocery store during high school, they made some small investments on his behalf which did very well and it helped him boost his savings for college by the time he was ready to apply.
After six years in the service, between having saved his pay, the military tuition assistance he qualified for, and his own savings and investments, Mick had enough money saved to comfortably cover the costs of a four-year undergraduate degree. Although he had learned to be quite the capable investor, a career in that field did not appeal to him at all. Instead, he applied to several schools with good electronic engineering programs and was accepted by most of them. He decided on one in Colorado which had offered him an attractive tuition assistance package and had a female to male student body ratio of 60/40. It also happened to be far from his parents' home located on the east coast.
* * *
Today was "move-in day" when everyone living on school campus moved their belongings into their dorm rooms before the start of the fall semester, but there was a little problem with Mick's room assignment. Someone in the housing office had not taken the time to read his name on the application properly and mistakenly assigned Michelle Rodgers to an all-girls dorm.
The young lady with the clipboard looked perturbed. "Sure you didn't make an intentional mistake on your housing application?" she said accusingly. "Excuse me?" Mick replied with an indignant tone. "Well I can't let you move your things into the dorm because you don't belong here," she said. "You are going to have to go over and speak with someone at the housing office in the administration building and get a new housing assignment," she told him further. Like the girl, Mick was now annoyed as well.
"Can I help you?" a nice woman behind the counter asked as Mick entered the housing office. She could tell by the look on his face that he had a problem. "My name is Mick, I mean... my name is Rodgers Michel, and it seems a mistake has been made with my dorm assignment." The nice woman listened to his story and laughed, assuring Mick that they would figure it out somehow. She said she wanted to go find his paperwork and talk to the housing coordinator.
About five minutes later the lady returned with another older woman with glasses who immediately extended her hand to shake Mick's. "Hi, I'm Susan Jacobs the housing coordinator," she said congenially. "Julia was filling me in on your issue and we've looked over your paperwork and apparently someone misread your name on the application and gave you the wrong housing assignment thinking you were female," Miss Jacobs informed him before saying further, "The problem is, at the moment I don't really have any other place to put you."
Miss Jacobs began to explain that student housing this year was a real challenge for the university. One of larger dormitories was undergoing some badly needed renovations which was not on schedule and many students had been moved into off-campus housing for the year, but because Mick was a freshman and was not exempt, he was required to live on campus in a residence hall.
"Susan, don't forget," Julia interjected, "All the girls assigned to Bradley Hall were overflow from requested coed assignments." She noted that, "None of them requested same-sex accommodations. Technically, Bradley is a coed dorm." Julia looked at Susan for a moment before turning to Mick. "Well, I have no other place to put you now anyway," she told him before asking, "Would you have any issues with being housed there temporarily?"
Mick stood there dumbfounded coming to grips with his incredible good fortune. For the first time in his life he thanked his parents for his awful name. Realizing that he was blankly staring at Miss Jacobs with his mouth agape he quickly composed himself and stammered, "N-n-no, that would be, that's... that's fine... sure."
Miss Jacobs smirked slightly and turned to Julia. "Take him back down to Bradley. There are two rooms with no one assigned to them. Get him settled in one. I will call facilities management and get them down there to make one of the lavatories on his floor a men's only bathroom." Mick tried not to smile too much as he thanked Susan for her assistance. As he left with Julia to return to Bradley Hall, Miss Jacobs told him while still smirking, "Good luck."
Back at Bradley Hall, Julia introduced Mick to Marlena, the resident assistant for the dorm. As Julia explained the situation, Marlena nodded agreeingly and welcomed him. Marlena had dark skin, dark hair and dark eyes and was dressed in a form-fitting tank top with khaki shorts. The reality of his situation began to really sink in at that moment and he felt like he had hit the lottery for the mega-jackpot. "If even a quarter of residents are nearly as good looking as this girl..." he thought to himself.
As Mick brought his belongings through the doors and up the stairs to his room, his presence drew many curious looks and hushed whispers from the girls. More than one stopped to ask, "So are you living here? In this dorm?" Each girl was more gorgeous than the next and all of them seemed very friendly and relatively unfazed when they learned of their unexpected dorm mate, although the same could not be said for some of the parents.
Mick started to settle into his new accommodations on the second floor of Bradley Hall. With the help of a twenty-dollar bill he convinced the facilities manager into removing one dresser and desk each from his room as he would be the only occupant and it would give him more space. "Do you want me to take out one of the beds?" the man asked him. Mick told the gentleman not to as he wanted to push them together and make one, large bed.
Having moved what little he had brought with him into the room, Mick grabbed his keys and headed out to do some shopping. His first stop was a nearby Bed, Bath and Beyond where he purchased a kit to secure the two twin XL mattresses together effectively creating a king-sized mattress. He grabbed a few king sheets sets, a blanket, a mattress pad, pillows, some bath towels and cloths, a coffee maker, and several other assorted items. Mick's next destination was Best Buy where he bought a mini-refrigerator and 42" flat-screen TV. Fortunately they offered next day free delivery as he was not sure how he would fit the fridge into his car.
On his way out of the store he spotted a discount furniture emporium on the other side of the shopping plaza. Knowing he had room to spare with the removal of the furniture, Mick thought maybe a small couch or love seat might be a nice to have to sit and study on, or watch his new television from. It did not take long for him to find something that suited his needs in the scratch and dent section along with a coffee table, and the delivery charge seemed relatively reasonable.
Mick knew that besides having no roommate to contend with, all of the comforts his room would now offer were going to be greatly advantageous when it came to the many guests he hoped he might get to entertain. However, he had an even more valuable ace in the hole, one he never even thought of until it presented itself.