![]() ![]() It took a month for me to even begin sorting it all out. There were burns in the couch, and a 4-foot patch of blackened carpet that looked like someone had spent several days rubbing bong water and soot into the floor on purpose. There were overflowing ashtrays, real and improvised, and trash everywhere. The couch had a blackened depression where she'd been sitting for God knows how long. The place was so bad, it looked like a crime scene. It was shocking, but equally shocking was what I saw when I went to her condo. The DTs would set in over the next few days. When I arrived, my mom was in the hospital, unconscious, and attached to a tangle of intravenous drips. The next morning, I got on a plane for Florida. When the paramedics brought her to intensive care, the attending physician called me to ask what the hell happened to her. She took one look at my mother and called an ambulance. He was sure she would die if he left her there. Our mother, he said, had been so drunk she hadn't moved from the couch in weeks. Now David was calling because he was about to start a 30-day jail sentence. By this time, my grandparents had both died, and my mom and David lived in my grandfather's condo at Century Village, a retirement community in West Palm Beach. Then one day last year, they took over my life. I didn't understand them, and they played little role in my daily life. I'd have to remind myself sometimes that these people were my immediate family. I'd visit a few times a year and always felt stunned at the way they lived. These were transparent to me, but often fooled my grandparents, who devoted their final years to trying to manage all this- posting bail, taking care of rent, paying for treatment plans, and David's $3,000 cell phone bills. He made friends with a producer, Jermaine, who was not exactly a producer, but a kid who met David at the Olive Garden and then moved in with him and my mom.Īt first, I was skeptical of this arrangement, until I realized that Jermaine was the most responsible one of the bunch, with David mostly jobless, and my mom still devising elaborate cover stories for morning trips to the liquor store. It was a strange world down there.ĭavid got into rapping, freestyling at MC battles so he could leave his mark on the greater Palm Beach area hip-hop scene. They brought my mom and David to Florida, where they all lived among the palm trees and strip malls. My mother didn't show.Ī few years ago, my grandparents staged a rescue. Once, in an effort to connect with her, I arranged for me, my brother Ethan, and my girlfriend Ronnie to all fly across the country to meet my mother and David for a visit at my grandparents' house. Occasional drunken phone calls late at night, a few sightings on family holidays.įor several years in there, I didn't even know where she was. As she got worse, we only caught glimpses of her. That's when my mom started drinking seriously. After my parents' divorce, my half-brother David- he was just an infant at the time- stayed with my mother, and my father got custody over me and Ethan. The last time I lived with my mother, I was nine. Because, corny as it sounds, sometimes duty calls. Though, this guy faces a more extreme version of it than most of us do. The kind of family obligation all of us face at some point or another, in some form. Today we're going to devote our entire show to the story of somebody who gets called for a job that he does not want- that nobody would want, really. Suddenly, it seems important to do the right thing. ![]() Something kicks in for the people who actually get on to juries. Another 15%, Norman and Vincent say, try to contest or postpone their eligibility.Īnd there is one curious thing that the court's own exit questionnaires show, and that is that people who actually get to sit on a case and hear evidence and get to a verdict say they liked the experience way more than the people who just show up and don't get a case and then actually get to go home earlier. Only 9% of the people who are summoned here for jury duty fail to show. out of one’s way: Not convenient for or easily reached by one not along one’s route.And- not to put too fine a point on it- they are threatened with fines and jail time if they don't show up.drop off: to take someone or something to a particular place.Sylvia is going to get married only once-we hope! I had to buy tickets a month in advance.Įlizabeth: That’s too bad, but surely you can see that the wedding is more important. ![]() ![]() Matthew: Oh, no! That’s the day of the championship football game. I’d like to have it in time for the wedding.Įlizabeth: Don’t you remember? Your niece Sylvia is going to get married on Saturday. Can I do it tomorrow?Įlizabeth: Yes, but if you take it today, I’ll be able to pick it up on Saturday morning. Matthew: Okay, but it’s a little out of my way. Elizabeth: Would you drop this dress off at the dry cleaner for me? ![]()
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