A decade
ago, I met "W" in Vestavia, a beautiful sophisticated black woman who
grew up in New York, was a runway model in Paris France after high school, came
back and graduated from Tulane University moved to Birmingham, got married, had
two children, drove a Porsche, worked for the city in Richard Arrington’s
(mayor) office. That was before we
met. When I first met her, she was a
single, jobless hustler on public assistance who hid her drug addiction
well. I was a target of the hustle; none
the less, we became good friends - often meeting for lunch at the local
California Pizza Kitchen; her favorite was a Waldorf Chicken salad with extra Dijon
balsamic vinaigrette on the side and a bottle bubbling Perrier water. On occasion, she brought her oldest son
"T" and we enjoyed long conversations about the differences in black
and white culture. Fast forward 2 years;
"W" had met a con artist, married him, moved to Atlanta, was enslaved
in abuse, and murdered a few months later.
"T" lived in Shelby county with his best friend (who lived
with his drug addicted mother), who kicked them both out on the street with
$900 and instructions to grow up (they were both in their early 20s). The end result: "T" accidentally
murdered his best friend while on drugs in a cheap hotel room, cooperated with
police, got convicted of felony murder and spent the next five years in
jail. I stored "T"'s (one) box
of things while he was locked up. It
took "T" about a year to find me after getting out; interestingly
"T" was living with a new girlfriend who lived with her mom and girlfriend
was a heroin addict.
Some wise
person once said "Insanity is doing
the same things over and over and somehow expecting different results." I had an extra bed room in the apartment in
Vestavia and told "T" it was available as a stable place to
stay. About a month later he took me up
on it. My instructions were to find a job
within six months, and get your own place within a year.
Epilogue
It’s been
over three years; no job yet. “T” is now
my live-in “security officer”. “T” is less
expensive and more effective than a burglar alarm.
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