#605 This is a Stupid Title

Wednesday, March 15, 2006

The dumpster arrived today. I was also supposed to get tubes put in the garden cart tires, so the flippin' things won't twist under a heavy load, lose their air, and fall off, but the tubes didn't come in until late, so I get to have that done tomorrow morning. Then I start tossing! Everything that I haven't used or appreciated in the past two years, or can't think of a specific use for within the next two years, is going! (Um, except books. Books, I need to think harder about.) I'm not going to open all those boxes from Jay's old office. They're going out unopened.

I hope we don't have rain for a while. Today we had "gee, is that snow?" showers. It was about 38 degrees, but the wind was so stiff and cold that my ears fell off while I was showing the man where to put the dumpster.

Neighbor Anna stopped by early this morning, before I was dressed. She's in big trouble. Her husband has cleaned out the accounts and she has no money. She hasn't been able to stay anywhere for more than two nights because he calls all night long wherever she's staying, and after two sleepless nights and a dose of fear her friends ask her to leave. I asked how does he know where she's staying, and she said he calls all of her friends all night. Seems like that should be actionable....

He has a lawyer. I told her she needed one, but she said she has no money and would need a translator.

She got involved with some church group that made her give up the restraining order, telling her that they couldn't help the two of them get back together as long as she had the order against him, and as soon as she gave up the order, that's when he came back to the house and threw her out, and now the church folks have for some reason backed off and won't help her.

I don't completely understand. Her accent gets very thick when she gets emotional.

She says she's been trying to find a job, but - nothing. She wanted me to hire her for something, anything, but I have nothing she could do. And I'm not going to give her anything, either, because now I'm wondering if that's why she first appeared on my doorstep to begin with - because she saw this coming. She says he does this every five years or so, and they'd always gotten back together before. I asked if he beats her, and she said yes, there are hospital records from the last time.

So, I looked up some phone numbers today, and I'll call around tomorrow and see what social services and legal aid might be available, and see if I can help that way. I really really really don't want to get in the middle of this. Anyone who knows anything about my early life should understand why not. But for the exact same reason, I feel really bad for her.

Now, where did I put that Voodoo doll?