“At 10:00, she works the afternoon shift.”
“Will you bring her down to the station when she gets home?”
“Yes I will,” I promised, “Can you tell me what this is about?”
“Sorry, I can’t tell you, I have to speak to her personally.”
“Okay, I’ll bring her down when she gets home.” With that he strutted back to his patrol car.
I closed the door and turned around in a daze. What has she gotten herself into anyway? A wreck? She would have told me about that, unless it happened on the way to work. Shoplifting? She has done that before, but she would have been stopped coming out of the store they don’t knock on your door for that. She will be home in about two hours. I’ll go crazy trying to figure this out before then. I could call her, but she hates to be bothered at work. Maybe a beer will help me understand what is going on.
I always thought that if the cops knocked on my door it would be me they were after, not her. I was the rotten apple of my family. I had always been a rebel at heart. I never followed the rules, or the laws. I’ve seen the inside of jail cells more times than I care to think about. This brew is making me think of the worst. Jail is always cold and hard! My wife there? She never speeds or runs red lights. She is always safe, never pushing the limits when she drives. This must be some kind of mistake. What else makes sense? I’ll just have to wait until she gets here. These thoughts kept running around in my mind for the next hour or so.
Finally at 10:25 she walked in the door. What was I going to say? How could I tell her and not upset her?
“How was your day at work?” Is she in a bad mood?
She replied: “Terrible, all the weaving was dry and cracked.”
This was a common complaint. It meant that she didn’t make the amount of money she had hoped for, that situation always put her in a bad mood.
She looked tired.
“I had a visitor tonight.” Here goes.
“Who was that?” she asked, looking mildly interested.
“A Deputy Sheriff.” I replied.
“What did he want?”
I have her attention now. “ I don’t know, he wouldn’t tell me.”
“Who was he looking for?”
“You.” I hesitated, “What have you done?”
“Nothing, I don’t know why they’d want me.”
“He wants me to take you down to the station”
“Tonight?”
“Yes, as soon as you arrived.”
“Can I set down for a minute?”
“Okay, but not very long.”
“Do we have to go tonight?”
I thought I told her once. “Yes!”
Now she’s scared! “Oh, let’s wait until the morning.”
“We can’t do that.”
“Why not?” She said with a grimace.
“The Deputy said tonight!”
She Whined, “It’ll wait till morning.”
“I’m not going to get woke up in the middle of the night, by a cop knocking on the door, besides, it’s probably a mistake anyway.”
“ It’s about the drugs!”
“I don’t think so.” Why hadn’t I thought of that? I had been selling marijuana, cocaine and about any other illegal drug that I could turn a profit with. I had been doing this longer than Teresa and I have been together. I expected an arrest for a long time, but not for her. “What makes you think so?”
“I heard that there was some Secret Indictments coming out.”
“Why haven’t I heard that?” I should have heard, I’m plugged into the information network better than she is!
“I don’t know.”
After some more argument, I convinced her that we had to go tonight. I went across the street to my parent’s house and asked my mom if she would watch the kids while I took Teresa out. Mom agreed, and I dragged Teresa to the car and we went to the Sheriffs office. We smoked a joint on the way, and I believe that may have been my last one. When we got there, I parked the car across the street. Looking at the building we were about to enter, I got a cold chill down my back; I had been a resident there for a month a few years back. I knew exactly where we were going once we got inside. We got on the elevator and I punched the button for the third floor. When the doors opened we walked up to the dispatchers window and I explained why we were there. A Deputy came out and told us that Teresa was being arrested for trafficking in marijuana. Handcuffing Teresa’s hands, he told me to go home. I left bewildered as to what to do.
When I arrived home, I felt dejected. Why not me? I asked my mother what I should do. She suggested that I get a lawyer. After a sleepless night, I began calling the lawyers in the phone book. Someone named Mr. Workman agreed to see me. I explained what the problem was and he called the Sheriff’s office to inquire about bail. When he put down the phone, he told me that Teresa was being released on her own recognizance at 10:00am.
I was there when she stormed out of the Sheriff’s Office. She had never been locked up before. She had been transported to another county and back because there were no accommodations in our county. A court date was set for six weeks away. I threw all the drugs out of the house, climbed into the bottle where I felt the most comfortable, and stayed there for about two weeks. Teresa and I had a big fight and she threw me out of the house.
Teresa hired a different lawyer and was sentenced to three years probation. After she flunked three drug tests for her Probation Officer, she was given a choice of “prison” or “drug and alcohol treatment.” She chose treatment. I was allowed to act as her support person and consequently learned about addiction.
At my first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, I heard the speaker talking about me! I could relate. She was in treatment for 28 days, and we got back together for nine months. I went to prison for 16 month on a different offense. After I got out we got a dissolution.
To sum this up I must say that I have ten years sobriety thanks to Alcoholics Anonymous, and ironically Teresa is still partying. Isn’t it strange how one night, can start a chain reaction to totally change your life.
