Dorothy Stops By

I got home from out of town yesterday afternoon. As I was closing the front door, I saw a woman in a pink coat across the street. "That's probably Dorothy," I thought. "I'd like to know how she's doing, but not right now." I was trying to recruit people for the UIC/Noble information event in the previous post.

But Dorothy beat me to the punch. I'd been home for about 10 minutes when the doorbell rang. "OK," I thought and opened the door.

She looked good--not too sick. She'd been in jail again, but then she got to go to treatment at the Women's Treatment Center. "I like it there. It's nice," she said. "They have nice beds. I'm going back on Monday. I'm staying with my sister this weekend."

She had lost my phone number, so I gave it to her (home, not cell). They wanted to put her on house arrest but she didn't have a phone for the box. "I'm not taking anybody's box ever again," I warned her. "You know I didn't have a working phone for a month after the last one."

"I know," she said. She lost out then, too, because we couldn't pick up any callback messages from treatment programs because I couldn't get the phone to dial. "And he went to jail anyway, right?"

"Yeah," I said. "He's out now, though. He got probation."

Dorothy was looking for some bus fare, of course. She wanted ten dollars, which seemed like a lot, but I know I can run through 10 bucks of bus fare pretty fast when I have to go a few places. But I had spent most of my cash on my business trip, so I only gave her five bucks. "This'll get you started, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, this'll get me started," she said, disappointed but not too much so. Once again, I hope it doesn't get her finished. I just never know if she's really using it for what she says she's using it for, or if she's totally conning me, or if she's been fine but now about to go on a relapse bender since she's sprung for the weekend.

So far, my gut says she's working her program and trying to get somewhere.