A Quiet Street

[poliphilo]

A child stands in the middle of the road yowling.

We go out and talk to him gently. He says his mother has left him to go shopping.

He is wearing a school jumper and flimsy blue shorts. Ailz takes his hand. His hand is freezing.

We walk him to his door- a few houses down- where his slightly older brother comes out and talks to us.

(Why aren't either of them in school?)

His Brother takes him in and locks the door.

Peace again. This is a very quiet street. And the BIG question- did we do the right thing?

The mystery of other people's lives.

Comments

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I try to persuade myself that the evil-doers just couldn't cope, that they were out of their depth and allowed things to go from bad to worse because they were too stupid and ill-equipped to handle the situation.

I feel the same--surely no one could consciously say, Let's quit taking care of her. Just buy some more candles.

I think the rationalizations kick in--"tomorrow we'll call the doctor"--or one enters a sort of fugue state in which one blots out the reality in the next room.

I don't think they set out to murder this woman. I think they abandoned her slowly, and had an elaborate set of justifications--"She's going to die anyway; it's a blessing, really; maybe she's already dead..."

They didn't call the police because, probably, they had no other income but her checks, which would stop.

"I hate mankind, for I think myself one of the best of them, and I know how bad I am."

For some reason, I remembered this morning my abandonment of my ants in a jar, back when I was a child. I shoved the jar into a dark corner in the garage and forgot them--because I found them suddenly repulsive.

I don't know why I suddenly want to weep for those ants. I want to weep for everybody this morning. For that little boy who couldn't find his mother.

But Ailz took his hand, which was cold.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

The affair has left me feeling somehow implicated-
though I don't know in what.

In the human condition I suppose.

There has just been a development. Two police vans drew up on the street and a policewoman went into the house in question or the house next door (I couldn't see which) and left with a young woman in tow. Is there a connection or is it a complete coincidence? I shall probably never know.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Something is wrong.

I think you will find out something.

I have a feeling this was the same house--

You did the right thing, the simplest and most sensible thing, to just take the child back to his house.

You didn't have enough information to assume anything else--and he was not even far from home.

The poor children. What will happen to them if their mother was taken away?

I am confused--I thought the mother had gone shopping. Maybe she came back home?

Or maybe it's just an amazing coincidence, that side-by-side houses both have Events taking place within the same period of time.

But I think something's happened.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I saw the woman on the street earlier. I don't think she lives here. She's a visitor perhaps.

There was no sign of the kids when she was taken off. I say "taken off" but she went of her own accord, without restraint.

But they sent two vans!

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Allow me to extrapolate:

- Two vans were sent so that, if necessary, the children could be taken to Child Protective Services

- The woman is a visitor at their home. She may be the mother's sister. She is very troubled, and is trouble.

- The friction she has caused brought about a blow-up today. The mother and sister got into it, the mother slammed out to "go shopping," the sister got drunk/stoned/abusive, or all of the above, and the smaller child ran to find his mother and the older child called the police.

- The mother is still "shopping" while all hell has broken loose at her house. The police would like very much to know where she is.

- She'll be sorry when she gets home.

- Or (better): the mother got home. The place was a wreck. The children were crying. The sister was drunk/stoned/abusive. The mother called the police. (In this scenario, I can't figure out the two vans.)

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Or:

- The two sisters got into an awful fight when the mother got home. They yelled, they slapped, they sent the children to their rooms. They began breaking up the furniture! And the older boy, crying, called the police.

That makes it work out--two vans, one for the adults, one for the children:

Kind policeman: Are you all right?

Boy: My mother is breaking things. My Aunt is drunk and is going to kill us all!

Kind policeman: Help is on the way.

Okay, that's the one that works. Now if you never find out another thing, at least I've got a sort of closure here.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

It sounds very plausible.

I'm remembering that there was a police car parked just down from the house a couple of days ago. Whatever is going on has been going on for a while.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

The holiday season tends to escalate these things.

I've been thinking: would the police take small children away in a van? Surely they would simply put them into the back seat of a more friendly police car, and hopefully give them teddy bears.

Maybe there's a batch of drug dealers living there.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I don't think the children were taken, but of course I may have missed something.

I may have missed a whole lot. I only know about the police vans because my in-laws came to the door while they were there.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Oh, well.

You're not as good at lurking behind twitching lace curtains as I am...

I'll just have to make up a satisfactory ending to make everything come out all right for those little boys.

They move in with their REAL mother, who lives on a farm, and she gives them both ponies.

Everybody else goes off to jail, and good riddance.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Lovely.

And very improving.