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       #Post#: 129--------------------------------------------------
       DesPlaines Confidential
   DIR By: StoryGod
       Date: January 13, 2020, 2:17 pm
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       Marion made sure the bedroom door was closed and locked before
       she tore open the first envelope. In it was a sketch of a devil
       in red crayon. The devil had bug eyes as if he had imbibed
       something unspeakable. He danced in the flames. He was not an
       unhappy devil. Marion decided that was a good thing.
       [QUOTE]
       Dear Marion,
       If I was going to construct Hell and be the head devil there,
       the place would probably be such a perfect copy of New
       Beginnings for Sobriety that the directors of this present,
       infernal pit would sue me for plagiairism. I'm not a lawyer, so
       I don't know if you can sue for plagiarism, but I'm sure there's
       a way to do it.
       All who enter  the portals of New Beginnings are assumed to be
       sinners. We are also in danger for our lives. We must choose
       life. We must admit our guilt. For those with active addictions,
       the road to salvation is cold turkey. My nights are punctuated
       with the wails of the condemned. Fortunately, neither your
       father nor I are addicts. Your father wants to sail and I just
       like having a good time.
       Of course we can't convince the caring staff, especially the
       conselors that this is the truth. Arguing with them is like
       arguing with a wall. Worse still, many of the "counselors" are
       graduates of the program. Carl and I sometimes just let them
       blather on. The problem is we have group confession nearly
       daily. There it becomes a choice of telling our torturers what
       they wish to hear so that we can "earn privileges," arguing, or
       saying nothing.
       Belive it or not, the last two courses of action are the best
       choices. First, lying gets old fast, though neither Carl nor I
       feel we owe our jailers anything close to the truth. Keeping a
       false story straight is not as easy as it looks. Second, the
       so-called privileges here aren't worth earning. One of them is
       doing household chores. I'm not kidding. I'm not going to make
       up a habit and find Jesus or whatever else I'm supposed to find
       in order to earn the privilege of menial labor. Of course menial
       labor does break up the boredom. Television is also a privilege
       that Carl and I don't have. You can see how low we have dropped
       here, but there is something to be said for lolling on the couch
       like a pasha or is it pashette. Anyway, it is better to loll and
       watch the poor sheeple sweep, mop, and wipe.
       It is especially pleasant because for Carl and me, New
       Beginnings comes with a ready-made ending. The trial is November
       10. It should be over by the first of the year, and then Carl
       and I are out of here. It's that simple. We may die. The
       counselors are right, but if we die it will be of boredom, and
       we'd die anyway because confessing to crimes we did not commit
       gets old.
       Meanwhile, Mr. Stanley, our lawyer is helping us get ready for
       our case. Actually, Ms. Laine, Mr. Stanley's assistant is my
       lawyer, since we could decide to testify against each other, not
       that it matters because I was off the Maria when everything
       happened and so was your father, except of course he was stoned.
       I was only half stoned. Bad things always happen when you're
       stoned, but unless your father had been on the deck of the Maria
       with a shot gun, that kid would have come aboard with Jorge and
       Stuart.
       Hopefully, the judge and jury will see reason. Hopefully, our
       time spent in three sober homes and not breaking any rules, and
       being for all intents and purposes clean will be evidence of
       good character. Hopefully, we can move to New York State soon,
       though the winter will freeze my poor old bones.
       I hope school is going well. It is good that you like school.
       Ninth grade is not a fun time. Please write again soon.
       Love,
       Mom
       [/QUOTE]
       #Post#: 130--------------------------------------------------
       Re: DesPlaines Confidential
   DIR By: StoryGod
       Date: January 13, 2020, 2:54 pm
       ---------------------------------------------------------
       Marion opened the second letter.
       [QUOTE]
       Hello Marion!!!!
       You are the only one of the four kids who writes. You are the
       only one who remembers your parents. Sometimes I think everyone
       has forgotten me here in this god forsaken sober home in the
       ugliest part of Florida. The counselors here want me to play
       along and act like an old stoner who has hit bottom, instead of
       a freedom loving man who got in trouble, when it REALLY wasn't
       his fault.
       But here we are.... every day the same. I thought I would die
       for a while after I came here. Now I wake up and wonder how I'll
       make it through the day. The answer is not well, Marion. Even my
       lawyer, and Bruna's lawyer forgets we exist. He's missed at
       least one appointment. That is the hardest time because
       something good is actually going to happen, or at last you hope
       so. Then after the lawyer goes home... you wish you could have a
       double strength scotch and soda or a few pills or some good
       quality Columbia Gold. There's none of that around. What we'd be
       able to hustle is shit anyway, and we'd have to like like a pair
       of Persian rugs to get out and get the product. Those who bring
       anything in here, charge top dollar for shit. I can assure you
       of that.
       I'm clean against me will, and I fantasize about getting so
       stoned I can't get straight again. I want to be so high  I'll
       never come down, and fuck the Ship. They took the goddamned Ship
       anyway. It's gone. It's probably got a hole. They'll probably
       sell that beauty for scrap. That hurts.
       That hurts almost as bad as the lawyers forgetting we exist. And
       no I'm not sure January is going to happen. I'm not even sure
       I'm going to trial. Bruna's been the sane one through all this.
       "Hang in there," she says.
       By the way thanks for letting us know about Felix, Liza, and
       Nestor. They never write us. I think they have forgotten we
       exist." Good luck with school.
       Dad
       [/QUOTE]
       "My parents haven't changed but at least they haven't done
       anything stupid," Marion told herself.
       "Are your parents OK?" asked Zia who was sitting at the desk
       studying, her back stiff and straight. Soon, she would give up
       studying to iron singing along with the iron's kush-kush sound.
       "About what I expected," Marion found the words.
       "Is that good or bad?"
       "Boy are you nosy!" Marion thought.
       "It's decent enough," Marion found the words again.
       "What are you going to do?"Marion looked up from her work.
       "Keep writing to my parents. They need to know I'm out there and
       that I love them." There, that was all it was. When, Marion said
       it the words made something messy and weird, simple and small.
       Marion wondered about what her mother and father said about
       their lawyers. "Oh well," she thought. "Everybody misses
       appointments, and Niles and Judith would never hire a lawyer and
       not get their money's worth. Maybe my parents got mixed up."
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