A mixed life
7-26-02
It is a mixed life.
Last Saturday at one of the properties for which I am the asset manager, a woman was stabbed to death by the father of her two eldest kids. He broke into her townhouse, waited for her to come home, her two eldest in tow- the baby in her arms, and he stabbed her to death. The baby was also stabbed. Not on purpose. The baby simply got in the way.
When the mother flew in from Nashville to claim the body, the coroner would not release the daughter to the mother.
"I'm sorry you are not next of kin- The husband is the next of kin."
"But, my god, the husband is the one that killed her." I imagine that is what the mother said. What bureaucratic nonsense! Can you imagine?
Worse than that was the fact that the woman wanted to move out of state because her life had been threatened. This woman had had a hard life. She was on probation for stealing food from a grocery store to feed her three kids, the eldest who is only three. She went to the judge and told him of the threat; but the judge would not let her move because she was on probation. NOW may sue the courts. But the judge has said not to blame him; he would be disobeying the law if he let her go out of state. Isn't this a triumph of bureaucracy and letter of the law nonsense? Some things just make no sense.
On the other hand, showing the mix of life, I am on vacation. Mary and I will fly to Orlando to the SALI convention (Stencil Artisan League International) we will visit Disney world, and Animal Kingdom and Epcot and MGM studios. We don’t leave until Sunday. Today we are together at Borders. Mary is sitting across from me flipping through a magazine which has a pattern for a painting that Mary will do in our dining room. Earlier we went to the home depot to get a flapper for the toilet. Since I am the most unhandy of men, you do not know what joy it is for me to fix something without having to call in a professional. Sure it takes me 7 times longer to do it. What a joy it is for me to finish it correctly.
Had to go.
7-27-02
Back to borders. I have had two glasses of wine at dinner and the second glass had to be drunk much quicker because Mary wanted to go. My fingers seem unconnected. Numb. I like the feeling. It makes me think I am writing profound thoughts which have never before been thought. God I will seem silly when I read this again.
Borders to buy a sketchbook. It was one of those buy two get one free deals, so i now have 384 pages of acid free paper to jot my thoughts. Maybe I'll write something in it and maybe not since I seem to do quite well with my fold up key board and PDA. I love the freedom that not having to work for another eight days gives me. I have a double cappuccino in hand and a book on the best American Poetry in 2001. Mary has given me a deadline of 7 PM. Now I only have a few minutes and the cappuccino is too hot to drink and the wine is making me sleepy, not dreamy. The coffee has not had time to work. The wine is pulling hard on my eyelids. I am making few observations. I am concentrating on all the wrong things- the loud woosh of the HVAC, the fast clicking of the cash register printing out receipts, the bad haircut on the guy sitting in the window, his hair sitting on the top of his head. I want to go over to him and lift it off to see what is under it. He has a tattoo of a panther on his upper arm, so I dare not do that. A baby is fussing, her mother is young, tanned, and beautiful, a woman on crutches has placed her cast up on the chair opposite her, her leg is loose skinned, cellulite full--- like a pock marked face of a teenage kid. She does smile out at her husband who has just arrived. I ignore her leg and see her bright eyes. Now I must stop writing.
It is a mixed life.
Last Saturday at one of the properties for which I am the asset manager, a woman was stabbed to death by the father of her two eldest kids. He broke into her townhouse, waited for her to come home, her two eldest in tow- the baby in her arms, and he stabbed her to death. The baby was also stabbed. Not on purpose. The baby simply got in the way.
When the mother flew in from Nashville to claim the body, the coroner would not release the daughter to the mother.
"I'm sorry you are not next of kin- The husband is the next of kin."
"But, my god, the husband is the one that killed her." I imagine that is what the mother said. What bureaucratic nonsense! Can you imagine?
Worse than that was the fact that the woman wanted to move out of state because her life had been threatened. This woman had had a hard life. She was on probation for stealing food from a grocery store to feed her three kids, the eldest who is only three. She went to the judge and told him of the threat; but the judge would not let her move because she was on probation. NOW may sue the courts. But the judge has said not to blame him; he would be disobeying the law if he let her go out of state. Isn't this a triumph of bureaucracy and letter of the law nonsense? Some things just make no sense.
On the other hand, showing the mix of life, I am on vacation. Mary and I will fly to Orlando to the SALI convention (Stencil Artisan League International) we will visit Disney world, and Animal Kingdom and Epcot and MGM studios. We don’t leave until Sunday. Today we are together at Borders. Mary is sitting across from me flipping through a magazine which has a pattern for a painting that Mary will do in our dining room. Earlier we went to the home depot to get a flapper for the toilet. Since I am the most unhandy of men, you do not know what joy it is for me to fix something without having to call in a professional. Sure it takes me 7 times longer to do it. What a joy it is for me to finish it correctly.
Had to go.
7-27-02
Back to borders. I have had two glasses of wine at dinner and the second glass had to be drunk much quicker because Mary wanted to go. My fingers seem unconnected. Numb. I like the feeling. It makes me think I am writing profound thoughts which have never before been thought. God I will seem silly when I read this again.
Borders to buy a sketchbook. It was one of those buy two get one free deals, so i now have 384 pages of acid free paper to jot my thoughts. Maybe I'll write something in it and maybe not since I seem to do quite well with my fold up key board and PDA. I love the freedom that not having to work for another eight days gives me. I have a double cappuccino in hand and a book on the best American Poetry in 2001. Mary has given me a deadline of 7 PM. Now I only have a few minutes and the cappuccino is too hot to drink and the wine is making me sleepy, not dreamy. The coffee has not had time to work. The wine is pulling hard on my eyelids. I am making few observations. I am concentrating on all the wrong things- the loud woosh of the HVAC, the fast clicking of the cash register printing out receipts, the bad haircut on the guy sitting in the window, his hair sitting on the top of his head. I want to go over to him and lift it off to see what is under it. He has a tattoo of a panther on his upper arm, so I dare not do that. A baby is fussing, her mother is young, tanned, and beautiful, a woman on crutches has placed her cast up on the chair opposite her, her leg is loose skinned, cellulite full--- like a pock marked face of a teenage kid. She does smile out at her husband who has just arrived. I ignore her leg and see her bright eyes. Now I must stop writing.
posted by Kajgreb | 7:35 PM
2 Comments:
Bureaucratic stupidness makes me absolutely crazy! My god!
I think most of it occurs to poor people - they don't have enough money to hire somebody to get them out of the messes they get in because they have no money!
I am so glad you focused on the young mother's bright eyes instead of her cellulite although I too have a hard time dealing with unpleasant looks. I hate that about myself.
Have a good time in FL., Krichjak
Are you the guy that hunts vampyres in the sewers of LA?
I'm absolutely stunned, yet unsurprised by the incident of the mother being stabbed to death by her husband. What a harsh reminder of how unfair and unjust life and the system can be.
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