Tom helped Meagan move a very big sectional couch yesterday and for it he got a cut finger and so hot and sweaty that we have to wait till today for our groceries. At least he got some soda and pizza while he was there. I just hope she doesn’t turn into a user. I know how much God loves to see us get used and ripped off. I also know how Tom can be too nice to say no.

Tom’s waiting on an over-the-phone job interview call and has begun putting in applications. We’re still waiting on the pension and unemployment. Meanwhile, the bank hasn’t responded which kind of surprises Tom, but not me. He figured they’d call saying, “Well, we didn’t do anything wrong as far as we’re concerned, but to keep you from taking this any further, we’ll either offer you your job back or pay severance.”

He thinks they’re just not sure how to respond, but I say it’s typical stubborn, spiteful human nature that most people have that are willing to take risks and put themselves out to get at others. To them, calling to make any kind of deal would be a dent in their ego and rather humiliating. So, at the end of this week, we’ll have given them sufficient enough time and can then hunt for a lawyer and say, “See? We gave them enough time to resolve the issue, but they just don’t want to play fair. Let’s move on to suing them.”

Either way, I’ve already made up my mind that we’re either getting some sort of settlement or I’ll be getting 5 minutes in the parking lot with the cock that fired him. I’d certainly prefer the dough, but I’m also overdue for a good fight if you ask me. After all, I was forced to sit on my hands in jail so I could see Tom and get my commissary, but now I have nothing to lose. There’s nothing to stop me from getting into it with anyone dumb enough to fuck us over. I don’t mean giving us a dirty look, trashing parts of our land, flipping us off, calling us names, etc., but I mean really fucking us over and that’s exactly what this guy did and he needs to be made responsible for his actions and learn that actions really do have their consequences.

I’m not going to let you protect this one, God!

From what I saw, a couple of roadrunners set up house in the mesquite tree by the driveway. I know they’d never normally set up house so close to civilization if it weren’t for all the prairie dogs. It’s cool, though. They’re my favorite bird.

I was unable to sense any numbers this time around. See, this is what makes me think God doesn’t want us to be rich. Comfortable maybe, but not rich, or else he’d have given me the ability to see the winning numbers, wouldn’t he?

I got 3 envelopes from Mary two days ago, each with cards and letters for me and for José. Well, has she actually heard back from him or not? The cards are really cool. I hadn’t been saving letters, but I’m saving the cards.

She’s bitching about Clarence being too into her which isn’t mutual and wanting to move closer to her. Also, he’s trying to use her and her brother for money, I guess. I suggested she lay it out on the line and cut him off completely.

I can totally relate to her worries about being used and promised her she won’t ever have to worry about that from me. In other words, I’m not going to give her a monetary figure for any work I may help her with. She can decide that for herself. And yes, I’ll hold onto the proceeds from her book as she asked me to and we’ll think of a good cover story for why I’m giving her the money. Tom said that will be easy, but we have to keep our mouths shut about it. Like I said before, while money’s nice, the most important thing is helping a friend with a worthy cause. I know she’d do the same for me.

She seemed pretty sure that the book will generate a movie, so I jokingly said that maybe Kate will be in the movie if there ever is one – ha, ha! She couldn’t really play her, though. She’s too old. She’s now 56. I wouldn’t necessarily assume a movie will result from the book like Terrie said it would, though. I don’t mean to call her a liar, but people often say things will happen that don’t. Not necessarily cuz they’re lying, but just because that’s what usually happens with cases like that.

She asked me to try again to send Jose’s picture. I cut the picture out and sent it by itself with an animal pic. Then I cropped the edges and wrote: José at my birthday party! Maybe that will be a good throw-off. The mugs of her, Gretchen and Monster made it in to her, so maybe this will, too.

I was laughing my ass off when she said I had her really worried about my sanity for a minute there when she read my wacky letter! Yeah, I couldn’t resist scrambling my dream segments on her. If I thought I wished I could be a fly on her wall when she read it was Teddy Bear I was involved with (or so I thought), I really wish I could’ve been a fly on the wall to witness her reaction to my funny little joke of a letter!

She said she was surprised to hear me say I hadn’t gotten anything in a week cuz she had sent tons of stuff. The nosies at the jail were probably holding it for a while for their reading pleasure as we usually get things in clumps. I hope there’s nothing else out there I didn’t get, but as I told her, if she wants to better ensure that I’m getting everything, why not start numbering her envelopes like I number my letters to her? She just might want to make a note somewhere of what’s in each one (the basic highlights, anyway) so that if I tell her I’m missing a number, she’ll know what was in it.

She said the bleach damaged her hair about a medium amount and gave me a couple of product names to try. She said Tom would look good in Moon Blue and I’d look good in Tulip. I have no idea what tulip is or what shade of blue moon blue is, but either way, we’re not going to be doing this anytime soon. Instead, Tom’s going to dye his hair to make himself look younger. He feels this will help him get a job. It’s true that youth and color are great assets. He can’t paint his skin black or look Mexican or Indian, but he can at least get that stuff men use to cover their gray hairs.

It really sucks that they’ve got Mary all confused as to what’s going on, but that’s what they do; say one thing, then another, then another. Meanwhile, nothing they say ever seems to happen. Now she doesn’t know if she’s getting out in a couple of years or getting time off for good behavior cuz now she’s being threatened with prison.

Since I have tons of minutes left on my phone, and since it’d be nice to hear her voice and I might as well get the time we paid for, I told her to go ahead and give me a call. Just remember, I also told her, it may take many tries to reach me as my schedule fluctuates. Also, I may be blasting music or outside on the land when she calls, and she should never worry about what time she tries. It can never be too early as I can’t hear the ringer from where I sleep.

She said she was glad to hear I’d go with her to bring a Barbie doll to Gretchen who’s buried in the Green Acres Cemetery in Scottsdale. Then she said it was so sad to think about and that she was about to start crying.

It is sad to think about.

She also asked if I’d send her some Spanish words with a phonetic spelling of the words so she’d know how to pronounce them. I sent her some basic tips and some basic words, letting her know I’d send a few with each letter.

Later…

It’s change of shift out there now. The prairie dogs have gone to bed and the bunnies are now out.

In today’s mail from Mary, she said she grieved because she fears that some books her family ordered for her were given to another inmate and because she paid for 6 books of stamps and got 6 plain envelopes instead (yeah, because I’m waiting on stamps from her). I told her that after she’s had to endure that shit, I hated to start off with bad news, but two of her envelopes to me arrived completely empty. Tom thinks they fell out at the post office and I think someone at the jail stole them. I hope that if they did fall out at the PO, all that was in them was something for José because then the PO would’ve just sent them on to him. Either way, I told her to make sure she pays attention to my letter numbers in case any don’t make it to her, and secondly, tell them to make sure they secure her outgoing envelopes just in case they did fall out. In other words, get grieving!

I was shocked to learn in her last draft that Terrie’s a cop. I thought she was the DA against Monster. I was like, oh, no, no, no, Mary, please don’t talk to her! She is so totally against you. No matter how nice she comes across, no matter what she says, she is not on your side. Keep talking with her and you bet you’ll end up in prison. Hasn’t she learned? There is no “good cop.” That’s only on TV. Real cops are nothing but power-hungry assholes who only want to see people get screwed to the max. Terrie may hate Monster and sympathize with her, but she doesn’t have her best interest at heart. Why would she want to talk to her if it wasn’t to control, manipulate and screw her ass? She should have a lawyer present if she knows what’s good for her.

Not surprisingly, Tom got blown off by the people who were supposed to interview him via phone. People not only love to not do the things they say they’re going to, but they hate phones and email.