Five's Company

14: Approximate number of days the house went without dishwashing soap due to a systemic breakdown: Jorge, scheduled for shopping duty, was house-sitting for a friend and unaware of the shortage.

1: Spats that have occurred via e-mail over someone making a mess in a recently cleaned bathroom.

1: Times Joe has gotten mad at Elizabeth and Susie for making too much noise late at night.

1: Showers shared by five people.

House Roles

Park Road is the type of street where couples sit on the stoops of their three-story brick houses. Living in this neighborhood has allowed Joe, Teresa, Jorge, Elizabeth and Susie to inhabit this world in a way that living in an apartment would not. "Living in this house," says Joe, "makes us belong to the neighborhood."

Living in this house has also made them belong to each other. Jorge, his housemates have decided, is the Dad of Park Road. He does the chore chart and manages the family's finances. Teresa, who worries about keeping doors locked and who talked the group out of buying a puppy, is "Mom," and Elizabeth, who wanted the dog to begin with and who pelted a visitor with a Super Soaker the first time she visited, might be the resident 14-year-old. Joe, decides Elizabeth, is "the grandfather who never raises his voice, so you want to work really hard to please him, because if he did get angry, that would be awful." Adds Teresa, "He's like Gandhi."

This is the type of conversation that happens at Park Road, on a rare night when all five housemates manage to get together. They also might talk about Susie's recent trip to Japan, Teresa's new promotion, Jorge's house-sitting gig, and the art of grilling out:

"There are a lot of crusties on the grill!"

"Uh, that's a bad thing."

"Really? It's not, like, flavor?"

"No, it's like, dirt."

" Hey, won't these skewer things burn up on the grill?"

" Maybe soak them in water?"

"Good call."

When do people learn to grill, after all? In college, they're still eating cafeteria food. So grilling is learned in group houses, as is the importance of regularly cleaning out a refrigerator.

As is how to become the grown-ups in a family.

The residents of Park Road wouldn't put it this way, though. They moved into the house because they sort of thought it would be nice to have someone to come home to. Because, says Susie, it's nice to walk in the foyer and see all those bicycles. They're not even friends, really. They hang out from time to time, but they have their own social spheres, seeing one another only at the beginning or end of the day.

If you ask them what benefits they get from living in a group house, this is what they'll tell you:

If one of them came home and the house had flooded, they could call Joe, and he would know what to do.

Jorge is a good listener, and he always gets the utility bills in on time.

Teresa gives the group a social conscience, sending e-mails to the other four that prompt long and hilarious debates, which devolve into Jorge criticizing Joe's punctuation.

Elizabeth deals with the landlord, when the landlord needs to be dealt with.

"I guess that this house is sort of like a microcosm of what it's like to live and work with other people," says Susie. "You're all invested in this space. You're learning about human interaction and human nature. Is that cheesy?"

A pause. The other housemates consider Susie's statement.

Joe breaks the silence:

"I just like the cheap rent."

But Joe decided the cheap rent was not enough to keep him on Park Road. He just left the group house for a two-bedroom apartment in Alexandria, and the next stage of life.