Hard Time

Note:  This has turned into another mini-series, this time on the risks and rewards of real estate investing.  To start at the beginning scroll down to the January 30th post.

Pretty soon I was out of the picture.  Cynthia took over and Alice receded into the background with Hepatitis C problems and liver ailments I really didn't want to know about.  I did learn that Alice had a pretty rough life with incest, alcoholism, and some drug abuse that undoubtedly  contributed to the Hepatitis C and liver issues. 

One doesn't meet ex-cons every day and my curiousity got the better of me, again.  "Pretty tough in prison, I bet."  "Oh, you kinda get used to it."  "Which prison?" "Waco."  (My son went to Baylor University in Waco and I didn't know Waco even had a prison.  Guess the Chamber of Commerce doesn't go out of its way to spotlight the prison.)  How long?  Nine years.  (Wow)  Finally I couldn't stand it any longer, "What did you do?"  "Forgery."

Forgery?  Nine years for forgery?  Ken Lay better watch out.  I think the takeaway here is don't do crimes in Texas unless you want to spend a lot of time indoors. 

Plunging ahead.  "And Alice?"  "Attempted murder...but she got framed."  That's what they all say, I thought.  "Who did she attempt to murder?" I asked like an idiot, I really don't know when to just shut up.  "Her sister's boyfriend.  The guy was beating up Alice's sister and well you know..."  At that point I did decide to drop it but thought about sending Alice over to see Freddy and then dropped that thought as well.

Cynthia didn't go into a lot more detail except to offer that she was a college graduate and that forgery is one of those kind of 'classy' crimes so she got to be a trustee in prison and did a lot of repair and agricultural stuff where she discovered her love of fixing things other than signatures.  And boy, could she fix things.  The patched holes fit right in, she put up three light fixtures, found a new(er) backdoor, and filled, sanded and replaced the woodwork where necessary.  New paint was next.

In the garage I found the realtor's "For Sale" sign, spray painted it and scrawled my phone number on it with a Sharpie.  Sue saw it and wondered if I had had a stroke.  Placed it in the front yard and got a call from Marion.

Comments

[Vince_Card]

Thanks for the site. It's great to get some true life, down to earth information about finance and especially real estate.