M2's Drinking Problem

On the way back to work after lunch, Mindy made the compulsory turn into Sonic Drive-In for cokes. From the backseat, M2 said "I wonder if I can get a free coke today, too?"

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Mindy started laughing, so I knew I had missed something good.

The day before, Jennifer came to see M2. M2 has been working with her for months. Years, even. Jennifer is a victim of incest. Her father is in prison for raping her. As happens to so many throw away children, the only relief she could find was in drugs.

Jennifer grew up and got into trouble. Eventually she was sentenced to a SAFPF (drug prison). When she got out she was doing good. She finally understood that M2 was her advocate, her confidant and pretty much the only person in her life that thought she was a worthwhile human being.

She tried.

Life was ok for a while, but then pressures started to build. She was back in the same old neighborhood with the same old people. They treated her like an addict and told her that was all she could ever be. She started to believe them and began to act like an addict.

She relapsed.

M2 tried to get her back on track. It worked for a while. But yesterday, Jennifer showed up at the office with pupils the size of dinner plates. She admitted using $400 of crack the night before. M2 asked her how she got the $400 and Jennifer said the drug dealer gave her credit. M2 laughed.

Drug dealers are not known for such altruistic customer service.

M2 asked if she'd had to earn the credit on her back. Jennifer didn't really know - she couldn't remember. She had burns on most of her fingers - some of them severe - from the crack pipe. She admitted she was still so high she couldn't feel the pain. But she knew they would hurt like hell as soon as the high was gone.

M2 took her car keys. Jennifer was in no condition to drive. We are not allowed to transport defendants but Jennifer had not one to call for a ride. M2 took Mindy along as a witness/co-conspirator and they drove Jennifer home. Home, where hopefully she would stay until M2 could get an arrest warrant issued for her.

On the way back to the office, M2 whipped her car into Sonic. She careened into a drive-up space and jammed the speaker button.

"Welcome to Sonic! May I take your order?"

M2 leaned out of her car window and yelled at the disembodied voice, "I need a free Dr. Pepper!"

"Excuse me ma'am?"

"I've had a really terrible day - even though its only 11:00 in the morning - and I NEED A FREE DR. PEPPER!"

"Um...one moment ma'am."

By this time, Mindy was hunched down into the seat, hoping not to be recognized. All the Sonic employees crowded around the window of the building, trying to see the crazy lady. They were laughing wildly.

Obviously they'd never seen "Falling Down".

A new voice crackled out of the speaker - evidently belonging to the manager. "May I help you, ma'am?"

"Listen - I have had a terrible day. People keep telling me they are getting all their marijuana and cocaine for free, so I ought to at least be able to get a free Dr. Pepper!"

"Well, ma'am, we'd be happy to give you a free medium Dr. Pepper," the manager said brightly.

"Lady, you don't understand how bad my day has been! I gotta have at least have a LARGE Dr. Pepper!"

Mindy told me this story as we waited on our cokes at Sonic. I was laughing so hard I was crying. M2 sat in the back seat, ginning sort of evil-y.

I asked M2 if they gave her the large Dr. Pepper.

"Hell, yeah!" M2 said, then sighed. "But I paid 'em for it anyway."

Joe Sobers Up

Today M2 and Mindy were reminiscing about Joe. Joe had a good attorney and with a terrific bit of luck and managed to get probation for his third felony DWI. Most people go to prison for the second, much less the third. He started out on Mindy's caseload, but soon ended up with M2. He was not happy about that at all. Joe thought M2 had it in for him and was just looking for an excuse to send him to prison.

Within the first month, M2 had evidence that Joe had been drinking again. She confronted him but he refused to admit it. M2 called Mindy into the office and told her, in front of Joe, what she knew. Mindy sat down next to Joe and gave him a soulful look.

"Now Joe, we know you've been drinking - look at me Joe - so why don't you just come clean and fess up?"

Joe gave in and spilled his guts.

Since he admitted what was going on, M2 sent him to in-patient treatment rather than putting him back in jail. M2 had learned about his drinking from his current wife, who was fed up with the situation and Joe's excuses.

Joe got out of treatment on a Friday morning and came in to meet with M2. He requested a travel permit to go to with his mother to visit his sister in Dallas over the weekend. He neglected to mention that his sister was a bar tender. So, of course, if he wanted to spend time with her over the weekend, he was going to have to go to the bar.

Joe, in addition to being married to a woman who was fed up with his alcoholism, had an ex-wife. The ex hated Joe's guts because he was always years behind on child support payments.

On Saturday, in Dallas, Joe - the alcoholic - went to the bar to visit his sister. Guess who else picked that particular gin joint? On that particular evening? In Dallas? His ex-wife, of course.

It didn't take her long to rat Joe out to M2. M2 practically had a warrant waiting for him by the time he got back home. After he sat in jail for a few weeks, all the interested parties showed up for a court hearing. Judge KindlyOldMan heard the case.

Judge Kindly OldMan is retired now. He was an old school gentleman and an elder in the Church of Christ. He was also an excellent punster who never really had anything bad to say about anyone. He was a good man, but also notoriously soft-hearted and frustratingly willing to believe a sob story.

M2 testified that she wanted Joe to go to a SAFPF - a prison-based substance abuse treatment program. The defendant spends 9 months in a special prison doing intensive drug and alcohol treatment, followed by 3 months in a half-way house and a year of after-care treatment. Judge KindlyOldMan announced he would follow M2's recommendation. He asked the cursory question of whether the defendant had anything to say before judgment was pronounced. Joe had something to say.

Joe told the Judge he was tired of dealing with M2. He told the courtroom that he thought M2 was probably a lesbian and was certainly a woman who hated men. When he got out of treatment he wanted another officer!

The Judge turned five kinds of green and ran a hand over his face. When he finally was able to speak he told Joe they would address that problem once he got out of SAFPF, if need be.

So, Joe went away for a while. Much to everyone's surprise Joe really paid attention and worked the program in SAFPF. He came out a new man and did well on probation. He and his wife had a better relationship. They started going to church together. Joe continued to maintain his sobriety. They were both in their mid-40's with grown children. Their second grandchild was born. The two of them worked hard and started to enjoy the empty-nest lifestyle. Joe had always been a hard worker and his wife worked as well as being in the Army reserves, so they lived a comfortable, if not prosperous, life.

Things were going good when Joe's wife was called to active duty. She was sent to Fort Hood for three weeks of training prior to being shipped off to Kuwait. Joe came to see M2 sometime after his wife left. He told M2 that his wife had a weekend of leave time right before she was scheduled to leave the country. She couldn't come up here, he would have to travel down there if he was to see her. He explained that it was a 7 hour trip and he didn't think the time and expense was justified for no more than one weekend together. He wasn't going to go.

M2 threw a fit. She lectured him about his wife going off to war. She could likely be killed and how would Joe handle that? Did he really want to face that guilt? Didn't he want to spend time with her? How was his wife going to feel if he didn't come see her one last time before she shipped out? M2 told Joe that he was going to Fort Hood and she would except no excuses. She gave him a travel permit. Don't be cheap, she told him, go visit your wife! He dutifully went to visit his wife.

All went well.

Joe's wife got to Kuwait and was ok at first, but soon began to have problems. She didn't feel well. She was sick, but could still work. She worked hard. She worked out hard. She expected the problems to get better. They didn't, so she finally went to a doctor. After she explained her symptoms, the doctor immediately gave her a pregnancy test. She was five months pregnant.

Five months earlier, M2 had all but forced Joe to go visit his wife one last time before she went off to war.

M2 ought to be paying child support.

Joe's wife came back home and had a beautiful, healthy baby girl - a baby girl who is two years younger than their youngest grandchild. Joe finished his probation and continues to live a sober and productive life. Now he sees M2 every week at the grocery store instead of the probation office.

And M2's love-child is growing like a weed.

Bling Bringers and Buckle Bunnies

Ever spend the whole week thinking "Wow! I can blog that!" but never doing it? This week has been the culmination of a very stressful month. I have stress leaking out my ears and its making my nose run. But, today is Saturday and I am kicking back, ready to slap and cuss anyone who asks me to do anything. I just don't care. Not even a little. BWAAHAAAHAHAHA!

So There.

One thing that always ads to the stress level is teaching a class for drug offenders in the evening. It is only a 15 hour class, once a quarter, but it robs me of the evenings. I am a tyrant about my evenings. I like the extra money and I even enjoy the class - sometimes - but it makes for a tough couple of weeks.

So what am I doing about that? Going back to Austin next week for a week's worth of training so I can help teach a class for Felony DWI offenders. But drunks are always more fun than addicts, right?

Not always.

Last week I kicked a guy out of my drug class. He is on my caseload. His name is Joe. Joe is/was a drug dealer. A drug dealer of the volume business variety that makes the front page of the newspaper when the business plan fails.

And he is absolutely huge. I didn't realize how huge until I was staring at the underside of his chin, letting him know his presence was no longer required in our little class. When we took a break halfway through the class, he came back with glassy, bloodshot eyes. And the giggles. Joe does not normally giggle.

Yesterday I had an appointment with Joe. We started with the standard denials and assertions. Following that portion of the program, I asked Joe what he was doing with his free time.

He looked a little sheepish and said he was buying and selling cattle.

"You're doing what!?"
"Buying cattle. My uncle has 30 acres north of town and I keep them there where they free range until I am ready to sell them. I keep them long enough to make a profit - which doesn't take long because of the price per pound," Joe said and started to grin.

Joe went on to explain how he spends his Saturday mornings making the rounds of all the area small-town livestock auctions, doing his buying and selling. At this point I was laughing out loud.

Joe admitted the thing he enjoyed most about selling drugs was making deals - the thrill watching his money grow, based on his skill as a deal maker. He has recaptured a part of that thrill as a cattle broker. He's also branching out and has started studying agricultural stocks in the Wall Street Journal!

I was laughing so hard, I was almost crying. I asked Joe what they thought of him when he showed up at the livestock auction. He shifted in his chair, which caused the bling around his neck to slide across his chest and the huge chain sparkled in the fluorescent lighting. He fingered the hem of his Starter jersey which drew attention to his fancy wristwatch and audacious rings. He looked up at me from under the edge of his brimless cap.

"You know I'm the only one there who's not a cowboy, right?" he with a huge grin. "I don't really fit in, but I don't mind. And one of these days, I'm gonna get me one of those huge belt buckles!"

I could've hugged him.