The tracking link works! Haiku left Edenton, NC yesterday and has been rescheduled to be delivered on the 11th. Can’t wait, and oh how I hope there are no more problems or delays and that she came out ok! If they damaged the label, they could’ve damaged her.

Got the blue fairy and a letter and drafts from Mary yesterday. She liked my sculpted rat and thought Little Guy was a cutie. Said he reminds her of a rat her brother had that was a size 8 shoe which is about what Little Fella is (I assume she means women’s sizes). He may be closer to a 6 or 7. Little Guy’s a lot of fun. He’s fast, playful, smart, and affectionate. It’s weird, though, because he sometimes stands still with his head raised and slowly sways from side to side as if he’s off-balance.

Baldilocks has turned out ok. He lets me handle him more. He’s sort of in between. Meaning, he’s not a bad rat, but I doubt he’ll ever be one of the most memorable and outstanding rats, either. He’s not nearly as cute as the others with his extra thin, coarse poodle-like fur. I like the thicker fur that’s straight and smooth. I also like how he goes home on his own after being out exploring.

Yes, I’ve been pretty happy, as Mary pointed out, though I have the usual day-to-day worries. I just want to get out of here, though that might not be for a couple of months yet. We’re calling the realtor this week no matter what the damn bank says. We need to get the show on the road. His unemployment expires at the end of next month. I doubt he’ll ever work again in this house, but as soon as we get moved, he’ll need to get out and get a job no matter what it pays, before the money from the sale of the house runs out. I still doubt we’ll ever have a home business successful enough to keep him home.

She was reminiscing with laughter over the time I was twirling around in our cell and Bryant asked her what was wrong with me, and she goes, “Who?”

She said she missed the dry air here, well, Arizona was anything but dry for a few days there. We had quite a bit of rain.

I’ll miss the monsoon storms if we don’t move to a similar climate. Who knows, though? We may remain in the desert. If we do, I’m hoping it’ll be the Kingman area because then we’ll be close to Laughlin and JBS’s main store. Their dolls may be outrageously overpriced, but at least they do a good job and then I could walk into the store and get the dolls when they’re done and not have to play the package chase game. We’re still hoping for a mild, woodsy climate, though.

It’s just now starting to warm up for the year, getting up into the 80s. The heat didn’t come on till just now and it’s nearly 4 AM.

An hour ago I thought of Mary being woken up to clean the dayroom with the utmost empathy.

I was glad she let me know what letter number she was up to. When she does that I know just how updated she was at the time she writes her letters to me.

I guess we have as much in common as we don’t, because I too, ask God why he would allow us to have the miserable lives we’ve had. And I ask the same question she said she did – what does life want with me? It’s not like someone else’s life depends on mine, so what’s the point? What can I really offer anyone?

I understand she still loves her family but is fed up with their crap. I still say the way to avoid it is to avoid them. If you don’t want to get struck by lightning, don’t be outside when it storms! It’s great that she’s taking a stand against her uncle. Always, always follow your heart, your head, and your gut instinct, I told her. Never be what society thinks or says she should be, or what any individual thinks or says she should be for that matter. I want to work instead of having kids not because it’s a common practice nowadays, but because it’s what I feel is best for me.

I’m surprised she’s got so much of José in her book only because while he may be a big part of her life, he’s not a big part of the case.

She was nearly in tears when I mentioned she didn’t usually send letters without drafts, so I adamantly assured her that I didn’t mean to imply anything bad when I said that. I told her she can send letters with drafts anytime she wants and reminded her that I myself don’t always send letters by themselves. I often enclose journals, pictures and typed drafts, so she shouldn’t worry about it.

Although I hope to one day see her and go to Red Lobster as she mentioned, I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever see her again regardless of what state she ends up in or we end up in, as I told her, because I hate to travel and she may not feel it’s fair to have all the traveling put on her when it came down to us seeing each other, which I’d totally understand. I don’t like to go anywhere without Tom, who would have to stay back and work, and he doesn’t like to go anywhere without me unless it was a business trip or something like that. If she did come to me, wherever I end up, the least I can do is save her from hotel expenses. She can stay with us and we’ll feed her, too.

As far as her asking me what I’d like her to do for me for typing up her book – don’t worry about it, I told her. She’s my friend, I wanted to help, and I’m sure she’d do the same for me if the tables were turned. She’s probably the sanest, most reliable, most tolerant, and most accepting friend I’ll ever have! If she someday has a writing career or some other career and she wants to hire me to work for her from wherever I live, great. If not, fine. Besides, I do like to type and it’s not like I have drafts to type every single day. I don’t think she has any concept of just how fast I can type, either! I type almost as fast as we speak. I also know that if this book does generate any money she’d give me a little something because that’s the way she is.

I wonder if she’ll be released this year or next. I don’t think they’ll send her to prison for a decade, but I still worry they’ll hit her with a lifetime of probation. She said it herself in her book, the judicial system isn’t what it used to be. If this were the 70s or even the 80s, she probably never would’ve done time.