Friday, Aug. 05, 2005
A LOT of Help From My Friends
I stared down at the ground at my bare feet, trying hard to fight back tears, and managed to squeak out,"I won't have the money until tomorrow."
"Get your shoes on," the constable said,"you're under arrest."
Slowly, I made my way upstairs and into my bedroom, sobbing the entire way. I threw a pair of flip flops on my feet and walked back down the hallway, preparing myself to go back downstairs. Adam met me at the top of the stairs, put both of his hands on my shoulders and pulled me towards him. I tried to stare straight ahead, making eye contact with him only slightly. He said softly to me,"Come on...you've gotta go. He's waiting." Again, tears started to form in my eyes, then ran down my cheeks as I walked downstairs, dreading what was about to come.
"Place your hands behind your back."
After I did so, the constable tightened the handcuffs around my wrists, making sure they were secure enough so that my hands wouldn't slip out of them. I stood in the middle of my livingroom not quite believing these things were actually taking place.
"So you'll be there for about an hour?" asked Adam.
"Yep, just have the money there within that amount of time," said the constable as he herded us to the door.
I was the first one out the door, kicking the screen door open with my foot since both hands were behind my back. I headed to the constable's white car in a hurry. I hoped that all of our neighbors weren't looking out their windows, talking to one another on the phone, wondering what was going on with me. I just wanted to get in the car because that way, I felt like I could hide myself better. It was a very short ride to the municiple building. I thought about things, although I can't remember specifically what. I didn't say a singly word the whole way there.
Nearing the magistrate's office, I looked out the window at the familiar things in town. He drove down the main street, then turned into the ally that led to the backdoor. I was thankful that he didn't park in the front where I would have had to walk in front of a lot of traffic. I did not want people seeing me in handcuffs entering the magistrate's office.
When we entered the building I was able to breathe a little (and I do mean little) sigh of relief. At least now I was inside and didn't have to worry about seeing anyone I knew. The constable instructed me to have a seat outside of the office. I sat for what was about two minutes until I was let into the office where there were two woman working behind desks. The district attorney was also in this room at his desk. I was familiar with this room because it was where people go if they need to pay a fine. I thought to myself,"Why didn't I just pay for the tickets? Why did I let it come down to this?"
I sat there in that office listening to the conversations going on around me, but not saying anything. I kept wondering if Adam was going to come with the money. I must have asked myself that question over a million times. Then I would tell myself that I was being stupid, of course he would be there. And then I would contradict myself once again, thinking things like,"That is a lot of money to basically pull out of his ass ... and we don't have it ..." Truthfully, I was worried.
My heart leapt when the district attorney's phone rang. His end of the conversation went something like this : "Yeah, it doesn't matter how it's paid ... it can be both cash and checks as long as the checks aren't bad." He then told everyone that Adam was going to bring the money down. I had already been sitting there for about 30 minutes. They then uncuffed me at my request and had me sign some papers.
It was a half an hour later when Adam knocked on the door. He came in with Bill, the other bartender at his job. I looked up at both of them with a look that said I was ready to get out of there. Bill excused himself and said he was going to wait outside. I stood up and went to the counter. Adam handed me my purse with my checkbook in it and told me that I was going to need to write a check for $300.00 which would come out of my account the next day (today). He had $200.00 and some off cents of his own, and he borrowed $100.00 from Bill to make up the difference.
We met Bill in the hallway, me with a frown on my face. I thanked him and he told me to 'just forget about it. It's over now.'
True, but that was a lot of money. Money that we needed to pay bills with. I mailed in my car insurance payment for $330.00, my car payment came out directly for $250.00, my $50.00 loan was paid this week too. I also paid some credit card bills. Rent is due and I felt sort of selfish for thinking about it, but I go to New York on Monday. I started bawling as soon as Adam and I were outside and walking towards my car. I even started blaming him for what happened. I sobbed,"You're the one who was drunk and didn't feel like moving the car!" " You are the one who told me not to move it and that you would take care of it that one time!" But I can't blame him. I could have just as easily put the $10.00 ticket in the box myself. Instead, we both neglected them and they added up.
An hour before I had to go to work is when I got home from dealing with all that shit. I still needed a shower because I was still sleeping when the constable arrived at my house. Adam woke me up by saying,"Honey, I have some really bad news...a constable is here to see you." I was stressed out big time and still upset. For the first time ever I had someone call my work for me and tell them I wasn't coming in. As it turned out, my mom had already called and told them. Adam called my mom to see if she could help out with the money (she couldn't. She just didn't have it, which I understand) and she figured that Adam might not remember to call them so she took it upon herself. Today at work the co-worker who took the call from my mom said that my mother was like,"Adam might be too worried to remember to call in ..." So that was kind of thoughtful of her.
For the rest of the afternoon I alternated between watching movies and sleeping. I just didn't feel like doing a damn thing. That night I made myself get a shower and get something to eat. Amazingly, Adam was able to give me the $50.00 that I needed for my bus ticket to New York. When I took my bus ticket money to Liz I told her that was all the money I could get right now and that I would need to give her the money for our hotel later. I then explained what happened earlier in the day.
Slowly, my problem was beginning to be solved. My warrents and street sweeping tickets were finally paid in full, it was determined that I would go to NY, and I was able to pay for my way TO New York. But what about the cost of the hotel, spending money for the city and most importantly, rent? Adam and I had talked about calling one of those cash advance places where they can deposit up to $500.00 into your account, then deduct it when you get your next paycheck. $500.00 would help a lot, but still wouldn't be enough. Still, I was stressing out, not knowing what we were going to do.
Later on in the night when I went to Adam's work to have a drink and wait for him to finish up, he says to me,"I have some good news..." Floyd (the guy whos house we've been playing cards at on Sunday nights) came in to the bar and asked how Adam's day was. Adam told him about the predicament and what went down during the day and all. Floyd was like,"God, do you need to borrow some money? You should have called me when it happened and I would have wrote a check then!" Adam wasn't too proud to except borrowing the money because otherwise we wouldn't be able to pay our rent and I wouldn't be able to go on my trip. Believe me, money wise I am taking the bare minimum with me. I can't afford to shop which sucks, but I've gotta do what I've gotta do.
Adam met with Floyd this morning to get the money that we're going to borrow. We told Floyd that we would pay him back and with interest too. Even though Floyd said to forget about the interest, I feel that we should. It's only fair and I don't know of any other way to repay him for this favor he's doing for us. Really, I am so thankful that he offered. At first I didn't know what we were going to do....but now, I know that we'll get through this. We're getting by with a little help from our friends.