Second son called again last Friday, the day after New Year's. We didn't pick up the phone because we didn't recognize the number and didn't feel like taking junk calls. But it turned out he was calling from his friend's cellphone, and left a message. I called back. Things were not going well, he said. He'd been out of work for the past two months. Only recently, he was offered a job, he said, but the start date had been postponed and meanwhile, he didn't have money or a living situation. I had been sending periodically, and so had his father, but apparently the combined contributions were not enough to keep him going. He'd been sleeping on his friend's couch, off and on, but the bud's wife didn't appreciate having a third party in their apartment. He'd even slept in his car a few times. It breaks my heart.
Obviously, I've been kept in the dark about the details of his life for the past few months, partly because his phone been cut off periodicially. After being evicted from his apartment, he thought he had found a living situation renting a room from a guy who said he owned a house. When he told me about it, during a rare phone call, I was suspicious from the get-go. The story was that the guy had just bought a house but was having trouble meeting the mortgage, so he needed a renter to help. But with the market the way it is, what mortgage lender NOW would lend to someone who can't come up with the monthly amount? Neverthless, S. gave him the $300 the guy requested. Once he moved in, though, the two had differences about the details of their agreement, and they argued. No blows exchanged, of course, but the guy called the cops on S. and told them he couldn't be there, so they made him leave the house. He lost the $300 because the guy wouldn't return his calls and S. thought it would be a bad idea to go back to that house. (I assume the guy was some con artist who probably didn't own the house at all.) So I sent him $300 to make up for the lost money, and soon after that, his phone was back on and he called to say he had another situation, co-renting a place with a woman and four children. I asked, "Does she own the house?" He said, "No." I groaned inwardly, and pointed out that another renter does not have the authority to rent part of the house to a third party! But he said that he didn't have any other options. After a few weeks, though, they had a disagreement about the terms of their "contract" (invalid as it may have been) and he had to move out. Now, as of last Friday, no job, no place, and no money.
Liberto suggested that I invite him to come back East and live with us, so I proposed that to him and asked if he'd like to. He said, "Totally." I suggested we fly him back--so much quicker and easier---but he'd need a car once he got here, so he decided to drive back.
He was supposed to leave Arizona on Saturday (we wired money on Friday). All day, I was on the edge of my seat wondering if he'd left yet, where he was, and when he'd arrive. On Sunday afternoon, when Paul and I were sitting at the docks after a nice hike, my cell phone rang. S. was on the line, using his friend's phone, saying he hadn't left Phoenix yet. I was stunned. I asked if he had changed his mind, and he said he hadn't, but that it had taken all day yesterday for him to get the car oil changed, do multiple laundries, go through his things to decide what to jettison and what to pack in the car, go to a storage unit to retrieve some stored items. He then said he didn't think he'd have enough money to get more than halfway there, and to complicate problems, he doesn't have a functioning cell phone because it's been cut off. Apparently, the $200 we sent pn Friday was not enough to afford a disposable cell phone, so he doesn't even have a way of communicating--other than pay phones.
Before we got off his friend's phone, we agreed that he'd call Monday to let me know where he was between Phoenix and Savannah, and I'd wire more money there, wherever it was. However, Monday was my first day back at school, so I couldn't drop everything and run out to Western Union at any ole time, so I said to call between 3:00 and 5:00, let me know where he was, and I'd wire money there. I also suggested he could call the house collect and tell Paul, who could convey the message to me.
Paul called me about 1:00 and said S. had called to say he was in Tucson. He'd only gotten as far as Tucson since the day before? I assumed that he needed money based on our conversation the day before, so I hastened to Western Union and wired some to Tucson. When I got home, Paul said that S. hadn't mentioned needing money when he'd called. Had I wired it to Tucson for nothing and, not expecting it, he had missed getting it? I think so! At about 6:30, he called my cell phone and said he was now in El Paso and would probably need money tomorrow. I didn't even have to heart to ask if he'd stopped at Western Union in Tucson. I guess I just didn't want to find out for sure that I'd just tossed another couple of hundred into a black hole. Now we've got it arranged that he'll call or leave a message sometime tomorrow telling me where I can send the money.
It'll be several more days before he gets to Savannah. I'm a nervous wreck, what with school starting as well as worrying about his road trip. He told me he was going to pull into a Wal Mart parking lot and get a few hours sleep before continuing on. He says he doesn't have enough for a motel and besides, he says, one needs a credit card to check in at a hotel.
Today was a teacher planning day, and tomorrow is the first day with new students.
I hope I can keep it together, given the concerns on my mind right now!
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