Lighting Fires In The House

What more fun thing could you think of to do on a Friday night than be talking with your fiancee' and then the next thing you know, all hell is breaking loose at her house? 14 year old boy piled some kind of material in one of the upstairs bathroom sinks and then set it on fire.

Yup, right inside the house.  This after he told her she was fu****** stupid and other not-so-nice expletives and adjectives that more likely describe a monster, not one's own mom.  She sends me a pic and then asks me if she should call the police.  I'm thinking what I might be inclined to do in such a situation - probably kick the kid in the ass and other such manhandling events and then shove his ass down the stairs, out the door, throw some blankets out there and bid him a good night.

He set his mattress on fire last month.  Yes, his mattress, in his bedroom. She called the police, Sheriff's came out, 4 of them apparently, decided they couldn't take him but advised her to "wear his ass out".  ???  What, are you going to make him work all night long?  I never heard that phrase used in the context of what they were saying it so I had no clue that they actually meant to whip his ass until it really, really, reallllllly hurts.  They were saying all of this in front of the boy.  They further advised that if she does decide to spank him and if he offered any  resistance at all, they would be happy to come back and beat his ass for her.

I'm not sure they can legally do that, I think they were pretty much reading him the riot act and trying to put the fear of God - or man - into him.

I can only say that if I were there now, much of this s*** wouldn't be happening.  He simply needs a man in his face to help him deal with all the junk that is going on inside of him that no-one will help with and she doesn't really have a clue how to deal with teenage boys.  She freely admits that. Girls, yes, boys, no.  Her options were to go ahead and whip his ass or dump him on ex's doorstep. Who would do nothing.  He might not even take him.  Never-the-less, she opted for the ass whipping. I simply said make sure someone else is in there with you with a cell phone to call police again in case he goes crazy on her.

I will not say how many times she whipped him, I will say that he was pretty much - in a lot of pain.  But, he let her do it.  I say let because he is much bigger than her and in the realm of size, he could easily beat the snot out of her if he wanted to.  The police saying what they said is the reason he didn't put up a fight.  Otherwise, I am sure this would be a completely different story being printed on this page right now.

I have not talked to her yet today to find out how things are going over there, I need my coffee first!  I'm assuming the boy is either going to come into alignment with her demands  - which is simply to do basic chores around the house - or perhaps he will run away, as she has threatened that she will beat his ass again.  I'm not really all for spanking a 14 year old, but in her case, the only alternative is to dump him.  She doesn't really want to do that.

As for me, my slow preparations to move - not in a big hurry it's not going to happen tomorrow afternoon - continue on. Plodding along in my closet, which is easily the biggest thing I have to go through since it's where  keep anything and everything of value to me.  And, as I have been finding out and a bit embarrassing, also en-massing piles of papers from the past covering a huge vortex of issues and things that - vortex the wrong word but seems to fit anyway - I have had to go through, piece by piece and discarding most of it.  Much of it important at the time I was going through it or otherwise using it, now it's just history that I have no need to keep a collection of.  Still, it is amazingly boring, tedious and monotonous work that I would rather not have to do.  I will be spending even more quality time in there today.

I also have to get Caleb's car ready to sell, meaning going to Auto Zone and trading the bad battery in for a good one and cleaning out the car - of which he left rather messy.  I should be able to fetch around $800 for it. It's ugly, it's got dings on the door and such but, it runs great.  A good running car is the only thing I need to get some kind of money out of it.  Oh, yes, I dd ask him if he wanted the thing, he does not.  He won't be back here that long when he returns from Hawaii and then purportedly off to Japan.

Regardless,the closet and continuing on with it is on today's agenda.  Work on it until I can take it no longer, leave it and come back to it type of thing  Just not something I can sit there and do alllll day long without stopping though if I were to do that, I could have it done today. I am not that motivated.

At work, the rumors may still be flying about, I have no idea, but at least the endless stream of people approaching me and asking if they are true has stopped. Not that I mind replying, because some of the rumors are completely hilarious as people recirculate things they hear and then add and detract things from the story until it has morphed into something completely and totally different than what is actually happening.  I had the same thing occur many years ago when a transmission - a very large and heavy one out of a semi tractor - fell onto my knee.  As the rumors spread, over the days after the accident, I had people coming up to me looking at me in shock.  "Oh, I heard that you had to have your leg amputated!" and other such nonsense.

I have finally decided in my mind that leaving the house under the care of Mark and Lynnette will probably work out - with frequent phone calls making sure they are covering everything - and that eventually the house will go well beyond what I owe on it and I can sell it and be done with it.  Or whatever, who knows.  If I get the job offer in Shreveport and she can continue on with her programming work and also continue receiving a rather substantial amount of money in child support, money will not be an issue with us - at all.  In fact, there should be plenty left over.  I want some toys is my deal.  Lol.  A dirt bike and a quad and a truck to pull a trailer with all of it loaded on it.

I suppose this entry has one on long enough.  12 days until I fly out of here and go for another visit. 13 days until I find out whether I have a job offer or not.  13 days as well until I get in front of that 14 year old and start having a man-to-man with him or maybe I should call that a man-to-child since that's really how he is living his life.  Well, maybe let that go until that Saturday or even Sunday.  Never-the-less, I want an opportunity to try and drag out of that kid what it is, exactly, that is going on inside of him that makes him want to act out in such bizarre and even dangerous ways - lighting things on fire inside of the house is hardly an act that most people would call safe........

G'day.

ben