1/7/06 Friday
It’s 3:27 AM. I just got up after a restless night. The high speed wireless connection seems to be down. Cherie’s dial up wasn’t working either so I am running Spydoctor on it right now. It still won’t connect.
Yesterday was a rough day in general with only a few exceptions. Any day that is hard on me is hard on Cherie so it was hard on her. She thought she had messed up when she left a message with the VA lady so worried herself to death all day at work.
Fred called and after asking how I was feeling said Barb wanted me to take her to cash her check. I said I could and called Wayne because I was to take him to cash his check. I told him I was on the way over. Barb had called me and I said I would be coming so be ready.
I picked Wayne up first and went to get Barb. Pulling up I saw the same guy out front with his blue car on his cell phone as always. I am sure he is selling dope. He was heading for Barb’s door and looked up questioningly when we honked the horn. I pointed at her apartment so he understood we were here to pick her up. Basil came to the door and said something to the guy. He came up to my window and said someone had just taken Barb to the doctor. I said “fine” and headed out. I got Wayne to the bank and when he asked of he could buy me something to eat for running around I said no but would appreciate some gas money.
Getting the documentation to prove I was not in jail was like looking for a booth in a busy circus with no signs. I first went to a Clerk of Courts office I had used in the past and after explaining I needed to prove I wasn’t in jail she said this was a civil Clerk of Courts and I needed to go to the one upstairs.
Upstairs is a main one and is also where you go to pay fines and tickets. There was a long line so I got in it and waited patiently. Just when I got up to the counter my phone rang. There are signs all over restricting cell phone usage in the court house. It was Barb and she said “I guess I missed you. You can come back now”. I said “No, I can’t. Got to go” and hung up. Explaining to the clerk why I was there she got a puzzled look on her face that I would see allot of this day. After talking to her and learning this was not the right place I asked her advice where to go. She suggested the courthouse where my trial had been so I headed there.
As soon as I got in the car the phone rang again. It was no surprise to see it was Fred so I answered, knowing what I would hear. “Barb said you won’t take her to cash her check” Fred said. I said “No Fred, I was there and Basil told me she went to the doctor”. This turned into a debate as Fred repeated the story he had been fed by Barb. “She was there. She was at Dixie’s helping her carry in groceries and she just didn’t see you” he started with. I told him again what Basil said and Fred says “She said you had some guy in the car with you”. I told him it was Wayne who also needed to cash a check and who used the same bank. I pointed out “If she didn’t see me how did she know I had someone in the car?” Fred had no answer to that so asked “Can you go get her now?”. “No Fred. I’m not going back to get her” I told him and when he got into the “why not” thing I explained I had talked to her and told her I was on the way but she wasn’t there or at least wouldn’t come out. Then I explained I was still going through the administrative jungle and didn’t know when I would be done. He kept pressing so I let him know in no uncertain terms that I would not just run around at her whim. “Fred, I’m not her nigger. I bust my ass for her and took her to Trilby despite being sicker than a dog. I talked to her when I was on the way so she knew I was coming. This won’t work. If she’s not ready I’m not going to be running over there for nothing”. He asked if I could take her tomorrow. I wasn’t going to but decided to do so for him so said “yes I will”.
Fred said he would call her and let her know and called back just when I found a parking spot at the courthouse. I went through the security which was exceptionally thorough. They even had me pull up my pant legs to check my socks. Finding the criminal Clerk of Courts office I again went through the task of explaining why I was there. Upon telling her that the VA said I was still in jail and had been since January 2003 she and another girl started laughing. She apologized, saying she wasn’t laughing at me but at the VA’s stupidity. Pulling me up in the computer she said she could print up a document showing I had completed probation but I said that wouldn’t work. “I have to prove I not physically in jail” I told her. “Couldn’t they figure that out when they talked to you on the phone?” she asked. “No. If it’s not on paper they won’t believe it” was my reply. She printed up the entire court docket going back to 2001 when this all started. I told her it needed to be certified as I didn’t want to take any chances of not having all my i’s dotted and t’s crossed with these paper pushers.
With that done she suggested I go to the jail where I could get the actual record of what days I was in jail and the dates of release. The jail is just a few blocks so I walked over. Once again the clerks were incredulous of the VA’s lack of plain old common sense. When she went in search of someone to sign the certification a captain walked up. I talked to him about my son, who is a deputy sheriff and works at the jail. I told him Bruce was in Iraq and had left just before Christmas. The clerk brought my papers so I excused myself and left. On the way out I saw a few of the guards who presided over the medical dorm I was housed in during my stays at this cross bar hotel. I only recognized one but several recognized me.
It was now 2:45 and I am finally done running the administrative maze so I called Allen to see if he was up. He didn’t sound good and said he was just getting up. He wasn’t keen on me coming over and sounded like he was again going through withdrawals or the intense pain he suffers and was definitely highly depressed.
Well, I’m downtown and close to the East side so I called Eileen to make sure it would be OK to come over and visit. Her son Bobby answered and gave the phone to Glen (her husband). He said she was at the store and would return shortly and I was welcome to come over. We had a good visit and my former employee Terry was there also. He had a T-shirt on that said Rehab is for Quitters. I liked that and presume it indicates he is trying to deal with some problems. Eileen is doing well considering to the medical hardships she is dealing with. It was a good day for her.

10:16 - I had gone back to bed about 4:30 and got some sleep. Had lots of dreams and they have changed in nature from before. They were just plain weird and sometimes sexual in nature. In one I am in some kind of boarding house and go to take a shower, having no shampoo I use whoevers soap was there. One end of the shower faced an open courtyard and there were people coming out with the women exposing their breasts. Then I notice that end of the shower was just open with no wall and I am exposed to all. A girl in a bikini walked into the shower with me. As she put her arms around me she said she needed help. We walked out she said that Cherie and I are a good looking couple and that we are obviously in love.
In another dream I was parking Fred’s car but it didn’t stop and drifted over a three foot drop. The front tires went over the edge and then the car was teetering as it balanced on the same edge. With a bang it went all the way over, the front end hitting first and then the back scraping off the edge. Coming to a rest I got out to survey the damage, which wasn’t to bad. Then I woke up and had another coughing fit, hacking up more fluid. In the other dreams I was angry.
Cherie was not to happy this morning. Yesterday was hard on her.
I am not feeling good. Still coughing up lots of stuff. I showered and had a bowl of the bean soup I made for breakfast. I will take Fred to the store and we will pick up Barb to cash her check as well as cash in cans. I will tell her in no uncertain terms that I will not tolerate the shenanigans of yesterday, especially being lied to.
Barb did not appreciate at all my confrontation. I started by asking her what happened and she tried to play it off. As she did I let her know I didn’t appreciate being lied to. Fred didn’t say anything during this exchange. I asked Barb why Basil said she was at the doctors. “Basil didn’t say that. It was Bob who lives next door” she protested. “Barb I watched the dope man go to the door and Basil came and talked to him. He then came to the car and told me that” I let her know. My reference to the “dope man” really got her going and she said he wasn’t a dope man. He just visits next door allot. I told her that I wasn’t born yesterday and no one stays outside in the cold on his cell phone day after day with people driving up to talk to him. Then I told her about seeing the girl hitting a crack pipe right after he had left her car and drove off. “You didn’t see that. I didn’t see anyone smoking crack” she started and then tried to talk over me without stopping till I told her to shut up and listen. “Barb, don’t call me a liar. I saw what I saw” I then let her know that I would not drive out to help her if she continued to do this. “If I am coming out to get you, you better be there” I let her know. That was the end of it. I am pretty sure she was getting high because she didn’t call me on the day in question till over an hour later.
That’s pretty much it for today. The Distillery has turned of their Wy Fy high speed internet access I have been using for free. I called but the moron who answered was clueless. Without that publishing this to the blog will be difficult. Went on the net with Cherie’s computer that has dial up to see what I could find for high speed internet but our area is not wired for DSL yet. Odds are it won’t be for quite some time. I’ve gotten quite spoiled with the connection I had. Dial up really sucks in comparison.
Cherie is still coughing. I am doing much better. Our neighbor, Ahmed, brought some more Lebanese sweets. He is really a nice guy despite his extreme Sunni Moslem beliefs. I talked to him for a while. I think I will make him something in return for his niceness. You know, return good with good. It will have to conform to his strict dietary requirements. I asked him about that and it is pretty much a Kosher diet. I was surprised when he said he won’t use shortening or eat anything it was used to make.