Thursday afternoon I was on my way to 51st and Ashland to catch the bus downtown when I heard someone calling for me from south of 51st Street. I looked down the block and there was Dorothy running to the corner. I crossed the street and we hugged.
"When did you get out?" I asked her.
"Yesterday." She launched into a long explanation I didn't totally understand. The way she tells it, Haymarket tried to insist she had left their program without permission (I guess that would have violated the terms of her probation). When Dorothy explained that she had been put into a nursing home rather than a formal long-term recovery program, the judge threw out her case and ended her probation. She was very happy.
I, on the other hand, was very worried. "So do you have a caseworker now? Do you need a payee?"
I was just asking, but of course she took that as a sign that I would serve as her payee. Unh-unh. "Honey, I love you very much, but I have somebody coming I have to take care of," I said, pointing at my stomach. "I can't be your payee." (Gotta say I love how this baby is getting me out of one jam after another--it's great.)
She's staying in somebody's basement for now. There's an SRO with on-site social services that's going to open over on Halsted in about a year--she needs to get on the waiting list for that building. A long time ago I worked for the company that is putting this together, so I know they are good (not like that nightmarish nursing home). I have somebody's card related to that project here in the house. It might be time to dig that up.
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