The College Boys are moving out. They've only been my balconymates for about three months, and they currently hold the record for the quickest turn around in balconymates I've had since I moved in. I should go give them a certificate, or a gold star, or a fruit basket. Boys like fruit, right?

The College Boys moved in about the end of September, which means they've lived here a grand total of 98 days, clearly making them the winner. Trendy Couple moved in a week after I moved in, and moved out about six months later. Imaginary Couple (so named because I never saw them, ever, mearly heard about them from other neighbors) lived there for about seven months and With-Two-Kids lived across the way from me for about eight months.

The bowl across the way sat empty for the rest of the time, which I have to say, I enjoyed purely because it meant that nobody came upstairs on this end of the building but me.

The College Boys are the first balconymates I've had since I've lived here that I've actually seen move out, all the rest must have moved out in the dead of night or when I wasn't home, because one day they were just gone. I gotta tell you Figs, it creeped me out a little. I'm pretty observant, so when a whole bowlfull of people and stuff vanishes without me noticing, I start to think maybe I feel into a John Saul novel.

What's really funny about this whole moving thing, however, is just a couple days ago I had a conversation with The Fishmonger about The College Boys and if they still lived there, because I hadn't seen them in over a week (I should say here, that actually I hadn't heard them in over a week) and I was told they did, and I casually mentioned that I thought they were going to move out, and was told that they weren't. Very firmly, in fact.

Now they're moving out in a huge rush, including banging their furniture on my bowl door trying to wrestle it down the stairs, dropping stuff off the balcony, and yelling at each other. Why? Because rent is due today, and they're trying to move out so they don't have to pay January's rent. Naughty, naughty boys. I bet they didn't even give notice either.

G'bye College Boys! I will miss your drunken rages, your fights through the front door, and your clamoring up and down the stairs at all hours of the night like a herd of cattle. I wish you the best.