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Blogs by Sue Hess
Spoon River Hoax 10/11/2005 2:29:35 PM
My sister and I took the scenic Spoon River drive last weekend. What a crock of....
We drove for several hours to the beginning of what turned out to be a little over one hundred miles of garage sales. That's right, every house in every town had all their junk out on the front lawn or drive way and what was supposed to be a historical adventure turned into a long line of junk. There was maybe one historical site in each small town but no where near enough to merit the drive. In a small town called New London, there was a pretty decent fair going on but it turned out that a downpour hit just as we reached that area so we missed it. We ended up in Davenport Iowa and that could have easily been missed as could the drive down the Great River Road to Hannibal, Missouri. Luckily, Hannibal was as lovely as ever and the drive on down to St Louis was glorious but what was to be a weeks vacation ended on Tuesday.
I got back home Tuesday evening and Deb had been trying to reach me desperately since Saturday. It turned out she was busted again and although there was absolutely nothing I could do for her, she had to share the news. Wednesday night I talked to my son John and promised to drive up the next day to visit. That night, the man Deb was living with called my younger daughter to say Deb was in great pain and running a fever. Susie told him to call 911. It may sound unsympathetic but we have both responded to Deb crying wolf one time too many and neither of us rushed to the hospital. I called them early the next morning to be sure she wasn't being operated on and then went on to see John. I got back Thursday and went to see her and it turned out she really did have a life threatening problem, a pelvic inflammation that had turned into a full system infection. She was in great pain but that didn't change Deb much. She proceded to direct me on various errands for her from her hospital bed for the next few days and then on Saturday, informed me that she needed to come stay with me because the man she had been staying with didn't want the problems anymore. I reminded her that nothing had changed since the week before when she could not live with me and she cried and carried on about no one wanting her. I asked her how many people would want a forty year old crack head with no job and showing no signs of changing to come live with them...was I supposed to forget all that because she had been sick? I had to tell her no...she could not come to live with me, pointing out that one of the errands she sent me on the day before was to pick up her purse for her and it turned out to have a crack pipe in it. What if I had been stopped. I could surely have proved it wasn't mine but who knows...and who would want to. The point is, she has made no effort to change or to get a job and I could not let her move into my house. It is like inviting the vampire in...once they are over the doorstep, getting them out would be a trial in itself. I felt awful, like the worst person in the world but I had to do it. So she was released from the hospital today and checked herself into another drug rehab. Maybe this one will be the one that changes her life. I can only hope so. As for my vacation...I was glad to be back to my desk where I could relax.
