Well, I certainly had an interesting evening yesterday. We still
don't have our car back, but Greg was able to get a ride from one of
our church members and he went to the courthouse to see what he could
find out about Chris. Imagine the surprise when it was learned that
he had been released on personal recognizance again. This made no
sense because he has no money and drug dealing is a felony!
Well, Greg called to let me know and, about an hour later, Chris
called me himself. He wanted to know if he could come by to pick up
a few things. I told him that he would have to call back after I had
had a chance to talk it over with Greg. We decided to let him
come. He walked from Bangor, about seven miles because we couldn't
have given him a ride anyway. He ended up walking through a down
pour. When he arrived, I had him take a shower first because he
stank. Then, Greg and I did a lot of praying about how to handle
things. He ended up having to empty his pockets because everything
was soaking wet and we actually got to see the court summons. Guess
what, the only reason that he was picked up was because he didn't
show up in court to face the charges about stealing his x roommate's
computer. It had nothing to do with drugs. Chris claims that the
scales and baggies belonged to Nicki's brother's friend. I have no
idea why, after the police saw everything in Nicki's house, that
Nicki's parents claimed belong to Chris, that he wasn't charged with
anything to do with drugs. WE have no clue what is going on.
Chris stayed the night. We let him sleep on the couch, but we
didn't let him use the computer. He did use the phone, I tapped the
call and, sure enough, he called Nicki. I was ready to call the
police, if he was working out something illegal. They are still
thick, so that's another lie. Evidently, Nicki's parents have put
out a one year restraining order against Chris so that wil make it a
bit harder for the two to meet, but it was quite obvious, from the
conversation, that it isn't over between them, despite what Chris led
us to believe.
Chris swears that he hasn't been dealing drugs, but we told him
that we just don't know what the truth is. We explained that he was
allowed to stay for the night because he is our son, not because he
has repented. We talked a lot, in fact, about the prodigal son and
how his attitude was that of repentance and wanting to
change. chris admitted that, despite his homelessness, he's having
too much fun partying to change so we just told him flat out, that's
why you can't move back home. He asked if I would still hold my
ground if he were to apply for general assistance again. The general
asistance office has a policy of calling the parents of adults
between the ages of 18--25 to see if there is anything the family can
do to help financially. When they called last time, I told them that
Chris was more than welcome to move back home, if he were willing to
follow the rules. I told Chris that I'd still say the same again, so
he probably won't bother applying.
Now, Chris is oficially homeless. Even the homeless shelter won't
take him in. He left this morning. We gave him an old bike that we
may never see again, but we don't care about it, so that's okay. He
was a bit miffed that we didn't give him a better one, but we told
him that he had already lost two bikes, not to mention everything
else that he left with nine months ago. We stayed pretty firm and he
respected it.
Part of me is so angry that I could scream. Part of me wants to
grab him and just shake him and part of me wants to be nice. I will
say this, I"m glad that he left without incident. Last night, I must
have sat up for about a half hour, making sure that he was sleeping
before I laid down myself. I'm so grateful to God that this part of
my life is over and I don't want to go back to it.
Kathy
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