FINALLY! Got My Bail Money Back

Have I gone into this before?

I don’t remember…

Back when Chief got arrested last year, I had to put up 3000.00 for bail. That’s 10% of 30,000.00 for those of you who have no experience in these things. Up until then, I didn’t either but you learn as you go in these kinds of situations.

Luckily, I live in an area where every one of my customers have been arrested at one time or another for one thing or another so yknow.. I got a lot of street lawyer advise.

So back then.. one of my customers was a woman that lived in the second floor apartment next door. She had two young girls and even though I wasn’t to thrilled with the THINGS she did .. I did like her. She’s basically a good person.

When she found out that Chief got arrested, she gave me the most important piece of advice I had ever received. Well, pertaining to your mate being arrested that is.

She said that when I paid the bail .. I needed to put it in my name.

I had only had half of what I needed and Chief’s brother Sarge was able to give me 1000.00 and his dad was able to give me 500.00. I had given them my word that I would pay them back especially when I found out that Sarge had borrowed the money from someone he knew.

I was told that I wouldn’t be able to get the bail money back until after his case was over.. which was in July.

And then the phone calls started. I called the number on the bail receipt but it had been disconnected. I called the number listed on the internet as was told that I wasn’t going to be able to get the money until after his probation was over.

NOTE: I’m not going to go into the whole store again. It’s all under the TRAVESTY category if you want to read it but he did NOT do what he was arrested for and for the simple fact that we could not afford a good lawyer.. or even one who wasn’t used to have innocent clients, he pleaded no contest.. which I think is basically like pleading guilty.. because HE just wanted to get it over with so we can get on with our lives. He initially wanted it to go to trial but he didn’t have any confidence in the lawyer and like I said, he just wanted it over with. A decision that I DID NOT AGREE WITH.

I kept on getting different and conflicting information .. yes, I would get it back because I wasn’t part of the case.. no, I wasn’t getting it back because we had the same address.. yes, you had to wait.. no, you didn’t have to wait. I couldn’t get a straight answer from anyone and every phone number I called just made things more muddied and confused.

Hamster meet wheel.

So fast forward to last week. Or rewind to last week :: depends on your perspective ::

I had mentioned before that Weed was starting to get his life together and in doing so, he has been working in the shop to pay off his fines. Trying to find an address to mail the check to was just as confusing so I figured I would just drive up to the courthouse and pay it in person.

So last Tuesday afternoon, me and Bird drive out there and between the traffic and finding a place to park, I didn’t walk into the lobby of the courthouse until ten of four.

I ask the person at the information desk where I needed to go and he tells me that it was too late to pay on anything since they stop collecting money at a quarter to four since they close at four.

Great.

So we drive all the way back and I made plans to drive out early the following day.

Bird was kind enough to let me keep her truck over night because I wasn’t comfortable driving my van with a potentially messed up transmission out to where State Troopers congregated on every corner. She has a huge Durango and even though I can DRIVE anything.. I’m not so good with PARKING everything I drive!!

So when I drove out myself the next day, I had to drive around and around and around until I could find a parking space that I could park in only to find out that I didn’t have any quarters so I had to drive around and around and around again until I found a parking space that I could park in at a meter that took dimes and nickles.

Yes.. they exist.

Yes.. they’re not close to the court house

Yes.. I fell to my knees and praised the cell phone gods who were thoughtful enough to include a GPS in my phone.

So I make my way to the courthouse and when I get to the lobby, I ask the information guy where I needed to go to put money on the fine.

He told me to go down the long hall until I can’t go anymore.. make a right.. go down that hall until I can’t go anymore… then make another right and go down the steps.. there will be a sign outside the entrance to the finance department and as soon as I go in, the payment window will be on my immediate right.

I SWEAR that’s what he told me. I’m actually really good with directions and remembering them so I’m positive it was HIM and not ME that got me lost. Especially since there wasn’t a right turn off the second hallway I went down.

So I wind up getting lost in the freakin’ courthouse because.. yknow.. you never run into anyone that works there when you’re lost .. only when you’re trying to sneak into a closed court hearing .. another story for another time.. but as I’m roaming around like a mouse in a maze, I happen to pass an office with a little sign in the window that said BAIL OFFICE.

Heh.

Hmm.

I wonder.

Just so happens that I’ve been carrying around the bail receipt in my wallet for the past year and if they can give me some information on that, that will be cool. They’ll probably even be able to direct me to the payment window.

So I go in and there’s this really nice woman behind the counter. I tell her that I’m lost but just happened to have a bail receipt on me so yknow.. two birds one stone.

She takes the receipt.. looks at it.. and then says, “.. I’ll have so-and-so check for you.”. So she passes the receipt along and I wait. And wait. And wait.

It’s a weird feeling being in a courthouse. At least, I feel weird being in a courthouse. I get all … reserved or something. Like if I pissed somebody off with my impatience, I’d get arrested.

But then.. all the state troopers congregate on the street corners looking for wayward parkers so I don’t know what the hell my issue is.

Some time passes and then So-And-So comes to the counter and asks for my driver’s license. I give it to her. She makes a copy. Brings paper work over to me and tells me to sign it. When I do, I notice that there’s a 2100.00 check attached.

ME: Is this a real check?

HER: Um. yes.

ME: Like a real check that I can deposit today?

HER: Didn’t you ever get a check before?

ME: Um.. As a matter of fact NOT FOR BAIL, NO.

And then I sucked her attitude up just in case she decided to take the check back or tattle to the 90 year old court clerk that had wondered in.

So I get my check.. all giddy and happy because now I can pay back Sarge and Chief’s dad and still have some extra to squirrel away in my Get-Up-And-Go fund.

They gave me directions to the payment window.. I paid on Weed’s fine.. and away I went.

I called Chief’s Dad and told him to meet me at the shop because I was going to give him a check and a check for Sarge to pay them back for the loan.

It was a good feeling.. especially because I think they didn’t think they were getting  back.

Something Wicked This Way Comes

… I can feel it

… Way down deep in my solar plexus

And even though one might say that I’m just being paranoid, I don’t think I am.

Yes, things are finally.. FINALLY.. going good. The shop turned a higher profit this month.. The kids are going back to school next week and they’re getting better at doing the things that they’re suppose to do. Of course, taking away the PS3 and computer access when they fuck up helps but all in all I really don’t have too much to complain about.

Heh.. well, hell I do but not something that’s getting in the way of everything else.

But here’s the thing…

Tonight Chief was later then usual getting home from the shop. When he DID get home, he had walked instead of taking the truck and stopping by the Dunkin’ Donuts drive thru. Highly unusual for him because he can’t get through the night without coffee and since our “real” coffee maker :: read as the one that you put on the stove to perc :: melted because he forget that it was perking away and he would rather DIE then drink auto-drip :: which really doesn’t make sense because like Dunkin’ Donuts doesn’t auto-drip? :: he always stops on the way home from work.

So I asked him about it and he just shrugged it off and said that he felt like walking… but I knew that that really wasn’t the case. I figured he didn’t want to say anything because Spaz was seated at the dining room table so I went into the kitchen and sure enough, he followed.

He told me that he walked home because there were two cop cars passing in front of the store as he was getting ready to leave… Now rewind a little because for the last few days, I’ve been noticing that the police are driving down my block way more then usual. There are only something like 4 cop cars in my borough so to see them as often as I have is kind of strange.

He told me that last night when he drove home he saw one car circling the block from the left and the other circling the block on the right and got the feeling that they were wanting to catch him driving.

Last week or so, he got a notification in the mail from the state that his driver’s license has been suspended because of the outcome of his court case and he believes that the police department has just received their copy. This is a small borough and because of the shop.. because of his arrest..  because of the crack whore.. because of Weed.. it’s not like they don’t know who he is.

He seems to think that they’re just waiting to catch him driving and so they’re driving around the store at closing.. and the house during the time he would usually arrive home.

It felt like there was an elephant on my chest and the only think I could say was “…. why can’t they just leave us alone.”

I can’t understand with all the bullshit that goes on in this town, they have a bullseye on his back. It’s like they are pissed off because they weren’t able to get that big headline they were looking for when they arrested him and because they know that HE knows that they lied, they’re looking for something to throw on him.

NOTE: For those who haven’t read about that whole ordeal with him being arrested, read the posts under the TRAVESTY category

Chief seems to think that they’ll move on to other people to harrass in a few weeks and everything will be back to normal and until then, he’s just going to not drive.

But I’m not so sure.

I’m worried because I’m still PTS-ing over what happened in January. If they can lie and get away with everything then, what are they going to do next? There’s no one to give me answers. There’s no one who I trust to tell me the truth about what’s really going on. And to be perfectly honest, I’m scared of getting sucked into all this.

I’m trying to think of every damn base to cover.. to anticipate what they might do and it’s making me crazy.

Of course, it’s 2:15am and he’s snoring away while my mind can’t stop racing.

I’m making mental check lists of things that I want to get done tomorrow.. like make sure this house doesn’t have one spec of dust or puddle of dog piss anywhere in case they decide to “revisit” the living conditions that are on record from January.

I need to change the burned out bulb on my rear brake light so that they don’t have a reason to stop my car when I’m driving it.

I need to cover the cracked lens with that red transparent tape so that they don’t have a reason to stop mycar when I’m driving it.

I need to fucking insure both the car and the truck. I don’t normally drive without insurance but since I was laid off and wasn’t really driving much anymore, I wanted to catch up on some outstanding bills so I let the policies lapse.

I need to tell him that I don’t think it’s such a good idea for Weed to keep coming around the store. That’s going to be a hard one to convince him to do because of that whole “father/son” thing going on but I get goose flesh everytime he walks in… and because I know he still does what he does, I don’t want him anywhere near me or Chief…

I already told him that I don’t think it’s a good idea that he carries anything on him… they may not be able to stop a person for just walking down the street without cause but again, I don’t trust them to not think of SOMETHING to stop him for.

I’m going to have to get dog’s licenses and start putting the older one on a leash, even though I am not required to have her on a leash if she’s on my property but God forbid if she takes a step on the pavement… are they going to swoop down on us?

I know this sounds ridiculous… that maybe I am being overly cautious at best.. paranoid at worst but if you lived through what I lived through then I think you’d be able to see my point.

The other thing I’m worried about is that if.. for some unknown reason.. he does get arrested again, there’s no one to turn to for bail.

I was talking to my father-in-law one day last week and he was telling me that he doesn’t like the idea of Weed always coming around the store. I told him I didn’t either and he said that he was afraid that Weed was going to get Chief in trouble again and if he did then “.. there wasn’t going to be anyone to bail him out again.”

I got the message loud and clear and I can’t say that I blame him. If Chief isn’t going to take any precautions to protect himself from the trouble that Weed causes, then why would they bail him out again?

I’m just waiting for other shoe to drop now. Because it is. I know it.

Let The Phone Calls Begin

Forgot to mention this yesterday because I was so kephlempt over the whole windshield wiper debalicle but at around 630pm or so, the phone rang in the store.

I was in the back getting zen by playing a round of COD so Chief answered the phone.

He comes in the back and I joking asked if it was our infamous customer G who asks “.. what time are you open to?” every single time he calls regardless of whether it is day, night or afternoon.

G usually doesn’t get off the bar stool much so I can see where his confusions may lie.

At any rate, Chief said it wasn’t G.. it was Weed. Calling collect from the country prison. Apparently, since he didn’t have bail posted, they moved him out to county.

Not that ANY jail / prison :: I really don’t know the difference :: is a picnic but this particular one has a bad reputation.

Hmm.. wonder how tough Weed is going to be WITHOUT being all strung out on Percs!

Anyway.. the whole collect call thing.

They have a system regarding the phones. The person on the OUTSIDE needs to set up an account with this company out in Cali and deposit money into it that’s linked to your phone number.

When the inmate dials your phone number from INSIDE.. the number maps through this system and bumps up against your account. If there are available funds, the call goes through. If there aren’t available funds OR if you didn’t open an account then you get a message that whoever is trying to make a collect call but you really can’t do anything about it because you don’t have an account.

There are alot of things wrong with this system.. in fact, the first time Weed was arrested Chief went on a tangent about how all the inmates families should file a class action suit against this company and the state because there had to be some kind of rights being trampled on in regard to the families.

First of all, you can’t map the account to a cell phone. Only a lan line.

It’s one phone number per account so if you wanted to list your home phone number AND your work number you would have to open two seperate accounts each with a 50.00 minimum.

Only certain phone carriers will allow you to do this. So if you have something like MagicJack or Cavallier or something you can forget about it.

Oh.. and when you cancel the account? Forget about getting the balance of your account refunded. We’re STILL waiting for the 60.00 they owe us.

Chief’s point last year was that having to go through the whole family member being in jail is hard enough … and in some cases, already causes a financial impact on the family.. suppose you didn’t have a LAN line.. suppose you didn’t have a credit card to open an account with? Suppose you didn’t have the 50.00 minimum to open the account?

And I guess their stance is, “.. hey.. if your loved one didn’t break the law.. get caught.. and wind up here you wouldn’t have these problems.”

At any rate .. getting back to last night.

Chief tells me that it was Weed calling collect. He reminds me about the whole phone thing that I just explained and said that he wasn’t going to set up another account. Been there, done that, still owed money he said.

I just shrugged. Not to sound insenitive but I was in the middle of a really, really good round of COD. I was kicking virtual soldier butt!

Fast foward about another half hour :: maybe less :: and the phone rings again. I asked him if I should answer and he said, ” Go ahead. It’s probably Weed again and it won’t go through anyway.”

So I answered and sure enough, the autotron voice said:

You have received a collect call from [Weed saying his name} an inmate at [prison name]. If you would like to accept the call, press 1.

So just for the hell of it, I pressed 1

The autotron message said:

You do not have an account which would allow this call to be completed. To open an account, please dial 1-800-***-**** or if your completely disgusted and feel as thought the person on the other end is a complete fuck up who wouldn’t know the proper way to live if it bit them on the ass, please hang up.

Okay. so that part is made up.

I have to admit.. cause it’s all about honesty here.. when I heard Weed say his name, I felt a little pang in my heart. He sounded young.. and well, I won’t say naive or scared… but desperate. Maybe that’s the right word. He sounded desperate.

I can see now why parents give in all the time and understand why they have a hard time seeing what is so obvious to everyone else… because as much as I do not have to be emotionally or parentally attached to him.. I am.

I flashed back to the first time he as arrested. He was still involved with the Goth Girl and her mother, The Saint.

The Saint was / is a social worker for the state so that just made her know everything about everything. A fact that she would tell you :: by vocal tone :: all the time.

She condoned her daughter’s drug use and drinking because she was under the false assumption that being her daughter’s FRIEND was much more important then being her daughter’s MOTHER. Sort of like the Crack Whore but with a job.

I think The Saint believed that Chief and I were a bunch of low-lives who didn’t provide anything for Weed. How many times did she tell me that “the poor kid” didn’t have a jacket so she had to give him one and HOW MANY TIMES did I have to tell her that he has four jackets hanging on the front porch, he’s just too damn stupid to grab one as he waslked out the door?

The Saint issued another canonization on herself when she got Weed a job.

Let’s back track here.. although The Saint works for the state, her and her husband also park cars at the local sports arenas. They’re the annoying people wearing yellow vests waving orange flags and batons at you when you try to park in a lot.

Anyway.. they had their daughter working with them and so.. because Weed wanted to be around the daughter.. started working with them also.

But yknow.. The Saint took credit for getting him a job where Chief and I just allowed him to be a bum. She didn’t want to hear that Chief had been on Weed’s ass since he dropped out of high school :: with two months left to go.. idiot! :: because it was always about what SHE was doing and how SHE was putting him on the straight and narrow.

She could never accept the connection that it was HER daughter.. who she smoked pot with and condoned her behaviour.. that led Weed down the road he’s on now.

Let’s get one thing straight. Weed’s decisions are his. He has to own them. I’m only saying that Goth Girl was the one who introduced him to the world he’s now involved him. Up until her.. he may have smoked pot.. may have indulged in alcohol but nothing that interferred with school or the core base of friends he had had since childhood.

Anyway.. when Weed first got arrested he called Goth Girl :: who was a junior in high school at the time :: who called The Saint who called me at work. This was around 12:30. He got arrested at 4am.

NOTE: When Chief woke up again to get me and the kids up, B-Rad was coming out of Weed’s room and he asked Chief where Weed was. Chief was like, “… your the one that slept with him” and B-RAD said that the last thing he knew was that Weed went out to go get coffee at the convenience store at the end of our block and then he left.

What actually did happen was that Weed left the house at 4 am with no shoes .. intending I think to go to the convenience store .. but decided to rob stuff from cars first where someone saw him and called the police.

Anyway.. so to go off another ramp there.. but the whole thing is that when Weed was arrested the first time and we had to go through this whole phone service bull crap, the only number that Weed was calling was Goth Girl’s.

We had just had our phone number changed about 3 days before so I can’t blame him for not remembering that and we didn’t have the shop then.

Chief was desperate to talk to him. I kept asking Goth Girl to set up an account but The Saint wouldn’t let her.

I called The Saint.. maybe after the 2 or 3rd day that we found out about the phone thing.. and asked her bluntly whether or not she was going to set up the service. She called me back with a major.. major attitude :: I don’t do well with people having major attitudes as I tend to get on myself :: when I was on the drive home from work.

She said that she was ABSOLUTELY NOT going to do it.. it was interferring with her daughter’s school and she was not going to have her kid’s life screwed up because of this.

So the drugs and alcohol and binging and black outs and hard core partying doesn’t affect her school work, right?

She didn’t like that .. she began to relay EVERYTHING she has done for Weed.. culminating with “… and you didn’t even bail him out”.

That was it. I feel SO SORRY for the animals at the zoo because I was stuck at the obscenely long red light in front of it when I went off. I’m actually surprised that I didn’t bust my windshield.

I could tell you verbatim but I think you kind of get the gist of all my pent up frustration with this woman. I finished up by saying that SHE was keeping Chief from his son and that with everything she’s so ready to say “LOOK AT WHAT I DID” for.. she isn’t willing to do the ONE THING that only SHE COULD DO.

I hung up on her because I really didn’t want to hear anything from her at that point. But I called Chief literally in tears from being so angry… my voice horse from yelling so loud.

He was just as enraged. HE called her up.. got her answering machine and left her a scathing message that ended with him calling her the same foul 4 letter word that flashed letter by letter in a scene from the movie ATONEMENT.

Goth Girl wrote him a letter :: she who calls her mother a bitch :: and included our phone number.. we set up the service nad eventually Chief got to talk to Weed.

I don’t think either of us knew just how deep he was involved with his new world. And I know that Chief thought that this was going to wake him up. Chief faught so hard to get him into rehab and not sentenced to jail … faught so hard to get this removed from his record once he completed rehab and the community service and stuff he was going to get.

Did Weed appreciate that? Nope.

Did he he do nothing but bitch and complain about being in rehab and wished he was actually back in jail? Yep.

Talk about a smack in the face.

And even though Chief knows that rehab doesn’t work unless you want it.. and Weed clearly didn’t.. he still held on to that hope that Weed would come of this realizing what he had done.. what he put his father through.. and where it was leading him.

Nope.

The day he wa released from rehab, Chief picked him up and on the way back to the house Chief told Weed that this was his last shot. Chief wasn’t going to bail him out or go to bat for him anymore. If he wanted to hang with the same crew and get into the same kind of trouble then he wasn’t going to help him again.

So far, he’s stuck to it.

Third Time’s The Charm: Weed Gets Arrested AGAIN

.. so here we go.

Even though the shop is closed on Sundays, Chief and I still had to go to the wholesalers and give the store a good scrub down. It’s turning into a routine but I have a phobia about the cleanliness of stores selling food so it’s really not a big deal.

Anyway.. so we’re at the store and the phone rings. This is about 9am. This is like the 4th or 5th Sunday that we haven’t been openned so the majority of our customers know we’re closed so I asked Chief if he was going to answer it.

He shrugged and did.

It was Weed.

I only heard Chief’s side of the conversation so it wasn’t until he hung up that he told me that Weed had been arrested and he was at the borough’s holding cell.

I asked him what he got arrested for and he said that Weed told him he “.. wasn’t doing anything. Just walking behind the school.”

Mind you.. this kid has a reputation so even though it’s not UNUSUAL for the police to approach him, there wouldn’t be a reason to haul him in if all he was doing was “walking behind the school.”

Chief told him that he wasn’t coming clean but Weed held onto his story. So Chief said that if that’s all it was then there was nothing to worry about, right?

But he told him he’d call the Crack Whore anyway.

He calls her but either the phone was turned off or she was too wasted to hear it because all he got was her voice mail.

He doesn’t leave a message.. but then that’s a trait that they all seem to have.. Weed also, apparently, because if he called her number and left a message then he wouldn’t have had to call Chief, right?

Chief said that he was whiny and sobby and asked me if I wanted to take a ride up there.

I was like, “Where?” .. thinking that I somehow missed another conversation he was having that WASN’T about Weed being arrested.

He said up to the jail and I was like “FUCK NO” .. using the same tone I would use if someone offered an all expense paid sex change operation.

As soon as the words hit the air, I realized that it sounded a little harsher then I intend so I told him that if he wanted to go.. if he thought that that was the best thing to do then I’d stay at the store and take care of what needed to be taken care of and he can go up there.

He said, “Nope. You’re right. Let him sit in there.”

NOTE: Just for the record let me state that even though everything that Weed has done for the last year has caused us nothing but grief and suffering and complications, I can understand the “father” side of Chief wanting to go to the jail.

So we get down to business and about a half hour later the phone rings again.. and it’s Weed. Again.

This time Chief is alot firmer with telling him that he isn’t going to do anything to help him out of the situation he was in. Especially since Weed told him that he was being held on 20,000.oo bail.

20,000.00 is a WHOLE HELL of A LOT of money for just walking on school property, dontcha’ think?

He told him that he needed to sit in there and hopefully learn a lesson.. it’s not like he’s going to lose a job or anything! .. because obviously continuing to do what he’s doing and hanging around who he’s hanging around isn’t getting him very far.

When he came back into the kitchen and told me about the phone call, I told him that I didn’t want him to think that I didn’t have a heart for this kid.. I do.. but I also told him that again, I believe that people get away with what other’s overlook.

The Crack Whore was able to come up with a grand that last time he was arrested :: in March :: but like Chief said, he doubts she’ll be able to come up with another two thousand. The wells have all been tapped and the best thing FOR him would be to LEAVE him.

He’s not a kid anymore.. he just turned 2o.. and if he keeps getting  bailed then he isn’t learning the lesson and he’ll just keep doing what he’s been doing which is going to lead into something a lot worse.

Chief knew where I was coming from and agreed with me.

I said to him, “… funny what a wave can do.”

He looked at me weird and I told him that last week sometime he saw Weed on the corner. Weed waved and Chief waved back. Innocent, right?

Next think you know is Weed’s popping up at the store wanting to take a shower at our house and then he calls when he gets arrested again.

Chief made a noise out of his throat and went back to doing what he was doing.

Earlier in the evening, I checked online to see if there was any public record posted about Weed’s arrest.

NOTE: In our state, you can look up arrest records and court dockets and stuff online.

I didn’t know whether or not there would be something because it’s a Sunday but sure enough there was.

Wanna know what Weed REALLY did go get arrested?

• Intent to sell
• Possession of Marijuana
• Possession of Drug Paraphanelia
• Criminal Trespassing
• Corruption of a Minor

Just you’re usual walk in the park, huh?

The Crack Whore never did call… so either she doesn’t know about it OR she’s still to fucked up to dial the phone. Forget about text messaging.. most of the time she’s so blitz she needs three hints to spell her three-lettered name.

I’m sure it’ll be blazing tomorrow… I’m sure Chief is going to get an earful for not helping his son.. so much that he’ll turn the phone off.

What SHE doesn’t get is that he IS helping his son.. she isn’t.

I’ll keep you posted.

UPDATE PART 5 – Bail and Release

Saturday started off with me going to the wholesale place. I really didn’t want to spend any money but knew that if I didn’t there wouldn’t be anything to really sell to make money. I kept it as lean as possible but still spent about 90.00.

Weed.. who had been given community service and who NEVER went to community service.. decided that on THIS Saturday, he wanted to go to community service. Jerk off.

But I took him… opened up the store and did the best I could to do things the way Chief does them.

It’s funny, I’m with him every weekend opening up but never realized just how much he did until I had to do it myself.. and remember what to do. The ins and outs.. how many rolls to put aside.. how to cook the bacon so it was just right enough for breakfast sandwiches. I was slow.. but he would have been proud of me and thankfully, I have really good customers’ that understood the situation.

By around 3 o’clock, I had all the bail money. I texted the lawyer to ask how I post it because no one at the police station would tell me and the courts were closed on Sunday.

While I was waiting for him to answer, the phone rang around 5 and it was Chief. I couldn’t believe it. I was so happy to hear from him that I sat on the floor under the slicers and started to cry. He told me what I needed to do with the bail money. That I had to drive up to the county prison after 8 that night and post it and he would be released.

So at 8, me and Bubba made the trip up. It took us about an hour and a half to get there. I knew where it was from when Weed was released and knew that you just basically sat in the parking lot until the prison guards told you want you needed do do.

We sat from 9pm until 12:45am. It wasn’t until then that the guard van had me follow them to the office building where they escorted me to the bail office and I posted bail. Then they escorted me back to the parking lot until around 4:30 when he was finally released.

I couldn’t believe that he was in front of me. I didn’t realize how much I had missed him and how much… even with all the bullshit that’s been going on.. that I loved him.

Understandably, all he wanted to do was smoke a cigarette and have a cup of coffee. He wouldn’t let go of my hand.

We stopped at a convenience store, got coffee and then because he hadn’t eaten anything real since Thursday, we stopped at an all night McDonald’s and had the best burgers we ever had in our lives.

It was on the ride that I found out that he hadn’t seen the warrant. I told him what was in it.. what it said.. who they were basing their summations on. We both knew Weed was somehow involved..

He said that all the uniformed officers were really nice.. that THEY knew he didn’t have anything to with what they were saying.. he said that the guards were really nice and that one of them actually let him use his cell phone. That he tried to gegt a hold of me but he didn’t remember the cell phone number correctly so he called his father. He said that while he was in the holding cell, the head detective came in to talk to him and he told him that he doesn’t sell pot, he smokes it. He asked who he bought from and he told them Harry. The detective came back with Harry’s picture and Chief id’d him. He said he knew Harry had had something to do with it.. that he was the only one hanging around the store that knew that Chief smoked AND he was asshole buddies with Weed AND with Eric, the guy who robbed our house.

It all fit..

The two anonymous informants with the same story COULD NOT be anyone other then Harry and his girlfriend Christine.

Chief reiterated that he didn’t want Weed anywhere near him. I told him that I made sure both Weed and the crack whore knew that.

Funny thing is, once Chief was released from jail and Weed had to stay at the crack whore’s, she completely changed her story and said that Chief WAS doing what they were accusing him of. She even went so far to say that “.. it even says so in the warrant.. that he admitted it to the police.”

Kids: see what drugs and a lack of education does to you?

That’s not what the warrant said.. and she knows it.

When we finally got home, I continued to fill him in on what was going on and whatever. He said that he hated the way they separated us. That one minute we were together and the next I was gone. That he was so worried about me and how I was handling things because he knew that he was okay but knew that I had no clue what was going on.

While he was in the hospital, they told him that he had on-set diabetes.. that he had a lung infection.. that he had high blood pressure and gave him a lot of prescription for a lot of things.

I can’t describe the feeling I had having him home but I also knew that this isn’t something that was going to go away.