It was, for many people, a sleepless night. Max spent the night largely looking at the ceiling, Counting Crows droning on through his earbuds, afraid to sleep because of the nightmares he might have. Isabel spent the night trying unsuccessfully to dreamwalk Max, unsuccessfully because he wasn't even sleeping, let alone dreaming. Philip and Diane Evans slept fitfully, worried about their son and the eventual outcome of the assault and battery case against him. Jeff and Nancy Parker talked long into the night, worried about Liz, hoping that this would work out for her somehow, uncertain if it really would.
Liz herself didn't sleep well, wishing that somehow ... she wasn't sure how, that Max could somehow forgive her ...accept what had happened and move on. Even if they couldn't be a couple, it would be nice if he could accept their child...not hate it for what she'd done to him. But of all the things Liz worried about, including her upcoming embarrassment at returning to a school where every single student was going to know that she was pregnant, what would actually happen to her was nothing that she would have ever anticipated.
Liz had looked straight ahead, ignoring the stares and the whispered conversations that had occurred practically from the first second she'd gotten out in the parking lot. She'd known it would be coming, and had steeled herself to deal with it. She went up to her first period College Prep Sophomore English teacher and said that she was sorry that she had missed the two days of classes, but that she'd be glad to make up any work she had missed. The teacher, Mrs. Remington, had looked at her uncertainly and referred her down to the office to see the Vice Principal. Liz had waited nervously under the stares of every passerby until finally Vice Principal Holbrook finally opened his door.
"Come in, Miss Parker."
"I...I uh needed to take a couple of days off school after I saw the sign, and when I came back....well, Mrs Remington said I needed to come see you first before returning to classes."
"Uh...yes, Miss Parker. It has to do with your...condition."
"My...condition?"
"Yes, Miss Parker. It is a school board policy that...well, you see, we have an alternate High School to care for the needs of students with...special issues. Students who find it difficult to conform to the norms of the regular High School curriculum. It's really quite an excellent program to help insure that our at-risk students get everything they need to eventually get their diploma or GED. They even have a nursery there, which is why it's the policy of the School Board that all of our students who are...expecting....attend the Alternate High School."
Liz of course knew about the Alternate High School, peopled largely by students who would otherwise driop out, some because they were just non-conformists, some because of substance abuse issues, some because of disciplinary issues, and she had known that they even had a nursery and that many of the pregnant coeds tended to go there, but it was only now that she was realizing that all of them went there, and that there was an official policy about it. It wasn't actually a subject that would even have come up for her before the party.
"But...I'm in a lot of college prep and advanced courses. Do they even have those courses there?"
"The courses at the Alternate School tend to be more basic, affording the students enrolled there a maximum chance of completing their courses of study successfully, or at least qualifying for a GED if they are unable to do that."
"Basic courses ... A GED ... Mr. Holbrook, I can't get in to a good college if I don't take the advanced courses they require."
"The School Board believes, Miss Parker, and I'm afraid I agree...that it's probably more important for someone ...in your condition...to just worry about getting through high school. That's probably a more realistic goal for you right now than thinking about college."
"But...but...what kind of a life can I build for myself and my child if I can't get a good education?"
"Miss Parker...I don't make the rules on this, it's a school board policy, not mine, but I'm afraid it is my job to enforce it. I'll contact the principal of the Alternate High School and see to it that your records are transferred so you can start there tomorrow. That's really all I can do."
As Maria got out of first period Spanish, she saw Liz sitting on a bench in the football grandstand. Even in the distance she could see her friend's shoulders move periodically, in what could only be sobs. Second period social studies was instantly forgotten as she ran to see her best friend. Liz was crying as she approached and she gathered the girl into her arms.
"Liz, Chica, what's wrong?"
"I've been kicked out. I have to go to the Alternate School. Oh Maria, there go all my plans...my future. How can I provide the kind of life I want for my baby if they won't let me do what I need to get there?"
Maria hugged the sobbing girl.
"Don't worry, Chica, Maria will think of something..."
Decisions AUwA (Mature) 12/28/10 [WIP]
Moderators: Anniepoo98, ISLANDGIRL5, truelovepooh, Forum Moderators
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/6/2008
Last edited by greywolf on Wed Jul 09, 2008 9:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/7/2008
The sign said Jeri Rodriquez, Legal Assistant, Chaves County Legal Aid, and the woman behind the desk looked friendly as she smiled up at Liz Parker.
Liz had approved of Maria’s idea, ‘You ought to sue the bastards,’ but there was a little more to it than that. She’d placed calls to two different lawyers offices. Most wanted several hundred dollars just to hear what she had to say, with fees of between $100 and $200 per hour for any work they did for her. Liz had absolutely no idea how long this fight might take, but she did know that her parents were putting money in her college account, planning a remodel to accommodate a coming grandchild, and planning on helping her with all the expenses that would be coming her way. She did not want them further burdened by paying expensive legal bills for her. She’d finally seen an advertisement for the Legal Aid program at the bottom of the Yellow Pages, and decided to give it a try.
“Hello Miss…uh Ms. …uh Rodriquez. My name is Liz Parker, and…I have a problem. I’m just not sure I can afford the legal help I need to get it solved”
“Just call me Jeri, Liz. We’re pretty informal around here. I’m the only full-time paid employee. Most of the people here are volunteers. If we accept your case we ask, if you can afford it, that you be responsible for court filing fees, the cost of serving subpoenas…things like that. That’s rarely more than a hundred dollars or so. But if you really can’t afford that, we have some funds we get from donations that can even cover that. A lot of our clients really don’t have that much money, but we feel they deserve to get justice as much as anyone else.”
The screening process lasted for ten minutes, Jeri periodically shaking her head and looking irritated as Liz explained just what had happened at school.
“I think I’ve got just the person for you, Liz,” said Jeri. She looked down at the phone on her desk. “It looks like she’s on a phone call right now, but as soon as she’s done I’ll take you in and introduce you to her. She’s an excellent lawyer, who is really up on women’s issues. She likes interesting cases like this and if she takes it, she’ll fight like fury for you. She volunteers here two half-days a week, and it would appear that this is your lucky day.”
Diane Evans was having a truly miserable day. She’d lain awake until the wee hours talking to her husband about their son. Philip was taking him in to see the psychiatrist today, not just to prepare his legal defense from the assault and battery charge, but because they were legitimately worried about his obvious depression. Diane had tossed and turned in her bed until 5AM when she had gotten up to go get a cup of coffee since she couldn’t sleep anyway. That’s when she’d run into Isabel.
Diane knew that Isabel wasn’t really the ice Princess persona she pretended to be, but in her entire life she’d never seen Isabel so vulnerable as she had when she’d found her crying on the couch in the living room at 5AM. She’d had a long talk with her and it was clear, she blamed the whole problem with Max on herself. She was crying that she’d destroyed two lives…both Max’s and this young Parker girl who had gone out drinking and managed to get herself pregnant while on the rebound from Isabel breaking the two of them apart. Isabel was blaming herself for everything. Diane had done her best to reassure Isabel, but her daughter was heartbroken. She was home alone right now, still on suspension from the fight at school, probably still sobbing. And Max had looked like warmed over dead this morning, when Philip had taken him off to the psychiatrist. It had been a thoroughly shitty morning.
Even so, being back at the office sort of cheered up Diane. She liked helping indigent people who were in the right, but had no money to press their rights under the law. It was why she’d become a lawyer. For many of her clients a simple call, like this one, informing the landlord that they did have legal assistance and letting them know they weren’t going to get away with taking advantage of the client was all it took. Diane was actually starting to feel better as she hung up the phone. The knock on the door came only about 15 seconds later.
“Yes, Jeri?”
The door opened and Jeri ushered in an attractive young brunette. “Diane, this young lady is Liz Parker. She has a problem, and I think you’ll find it interesting.”
Diane hesitated for a second or two, then seemed to compose herself.
“I’m sure I will. Pleased to meet you…Liz.”
Liz had approved of Maria’s idea, ‘You ought to sue the bastards,’ but there was a little more to it than that. She’d placed calls to two different lawyers offices. Most wanted several hundred dollars just to hear what she had to say, with fees of between $100 and $200 per hour for any work they did for her. Liz had absolutely no idea how long this fight might take, but she did know that her parents were putting money in her college account, planning a remodel to accommodate a coming grandchild, and planning on helping her with all the expenses that would be coming her way. She did not want them further burdened by paying expensive legal bills for her. She’d finally seen an advertisement for the Legal Aid program at the bottom of the Yellow Pages, and decided to give it a try.
“Hello Miss…uh Ms. …uh Rodriquez. My name is Liz Parker, and…I have a problem. I’m just not sure I can afford the legal help I need to get it solved”
“Just call me Jeri, Liz. We’re pretty informal around here. I’m the only full-time paid employee. Most of the people here are volunteers. If we accept your case we ask, if you can afford it, that you be responsible for court filing fees, the cost of serving subpoenas…things like that. That’s rarely more than a hundred dollars or so. But if you really can’t afford that, we have some funds we get from donations that can even cover that. A lot of our clients really don’t have that much money, but we feel they deserve to get justice as much as anyone else.”
The screening process lasted for ten minutes, Jeri periodically shaking her head and looking irritated as Liz explained just what had happened at school.
“I think I’ve got just the person for you, Liz,” said Jeri. She looked down at the phone on her desk. “It looks like she’s on a phone call right now, but as soon as she’s done I’ll take you in and introduce you to her. She’s an excellent lawyer, who is really up on women’s issues. She likes interesting cases like this and if she takes it, she’ll fight like fury for you. She volunteers here two half-days a week, and it would appear that this is your lucky day.”
Diane Evans was having a truly miserable day. She’d lain awake until the wee hours talking to her husband about their son. Philip was taking him in to see the psychiatrist today, not just to prepare his legal defense from the assault and battery charge, but because they were legitimately worried about his obvious depression. Diane had tossed and turned in her bed until 5AM when she had gotten up to go get a cup of coffee since she couldn’t sleep anyway. That’s when she’d run into Isabel.
Diane knew that Isabel wasn’t really the ice Princess persona she pretended to be, but in her entire life she’d never seen Isabel so vulnerable as she had when she’d found her crying on the couch in the living room at 5AM. She’d had a long talk with her and it was clear, she blamed the whole problem with Max on herself. She was crying that she’d destroyed two lives…both Max’s and this young Parker girl who had gone out drinking and managed to get herself pregnant while on the rebound from Isabel breaking the two of them apart. Isabel was blaming herself for everything. Diane had done her best to reassure Isabel, but her daughter was heartbroken. She was home alone right now, still on suspension from the fight at school, probably still sobbing. And Max had looked like warmed over dead this morning, when Philip had taken him off to the psychiatrist. It had been a thoroughly shitty morning.
Even so, being back at the office sort of cheered up Diane. She liked helping indigent people who were in the right, but had no money to press their rights under the law. It was why she’d become a lawyer. For many of her clients a simple call, like this one, informing the landlord that they did have legal assistance and letting them know they weren’t going to get away with taking advantage of the client was all it took. Diane was actually starting to feel better as she hung up the phone. The knock on the door came only about 15 seconds later.
“Yes, Jeri?”
The door opened and Jeri ushered in an attractive young brunette. “Diane, this young lady is Liz Parker. She has a problem, and I think you’ll find it interesting.”
Diane hesitated for a second or two, then seemed to compose herself.
“I’m sure I will. Pleased to meet you…Liz.”
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/10/2008
Liz looked at the lawyer and struggled to remember, certain she'd seen her before, but not quite able to place her. But that happened a lot. Roswell was a fairly small town, and many people came to the Crashdown. Or perhaps she'd seen the face at a local High School game...practically the whole town turned out to watch High School sports. But Liz couldn't quite place her...and she seemed friendly enough ... and concerned enough.
"Why don't you just tell me,Liz, in your own terms, just what your problem is."
'Problem? If I only had just one,' she thought. But she knew what Diane meant...the legal problem that had brought her here.
"The problem, Ms.... uh, Diane that is, ...is that I did something stupid way back last fall, then something even stupider seven weeks ago, but the Cliffs Notes version is that I found out on Friday that I was pregnant. I told my folks and best friend over the weekend, but I had no idea anyone else knew. Not until I went to school Monday and my name and condition were painted on the big water tank that overlooks the campus."
"That, I believe I heard about," said Diane.
"Yeah," said Liz, her hair swishing as she shook her head gently. "You, and about everyone else in Roswell. Anyway, I sort of freaked..."
"Understandable, under the circumstances.."
"...and I didn't attend school for two days until I could sort of come to grips with how to deal with it. When I did come back this morning, I was told that I would not be able to attend West Roswell because of my pregnancy....that I'd have to go to an alternative high school."
"And I take it you would prefer to remain at West Roswell?"
"The curriculum at the alternate school is very basic. It has no courses that would really prepare me for college, or even let me get into college. It's not that I think that I'm to proud to do ordinary work, I bussed dishes at the restaurant for two years before I was old enough to waitress, and I even enjoy that, but when I look forward to the future...well, I can't see supporting my child and being able to make enough to pay for child care unless I get a better job than that. I know my parents would help, but they deserve their retirement some day too. I realize I've made huge mistakes, and raising a child as a single mom will be hard, but if I don't prepare myself properly, it'll only be worse. Even if I deserve it, the baby doesn't."
"I see..," said Diane. She was already starting to like this young girl. She wasn't making excuses, wasn't whining, wasn't denying her part in the situation she was in. But she was accepting that it had happened, and trying to make the best of it. Too many of her clients never got that far.
Liz looked across the table at the woman, surprised that she felt so comfortable talking to her. Her eyes weren't as judgemental as she'd feared. She made brief notes on a large yellow legal pad, while encouraging her to continue the story.
"I can understand some of the school's concern. This has already been disruptive, ..I understand there were several fights over this, and if it were just me, I might accept it, but it's not just me. I guess it won't be just me ever again," she said, one hand moving protectively to her l;ower abdomen.
"Yes, uh...I believe I did hear about those fights," said Diane, thinking of her own son and daughter. "That does NOT, however, give them the right to do this to you." The small smile this provoked from the girl sitting across from her seemed to warm Diane to the core. THIS was why she'd become a lawyer.
"Why don't you just tell me,Liz, in your own terms, just what your problem is."
'Problem? If I only had just one,' she thought. But she knew what Diane meant...the legal problem that had brought her here.
"The problem, Ms.... uh, Diane that is, ...is that I did something stupid way back last fall, then something even stupider seven weeks ago, but the Cliffs Notes version is that I found out on Friday that I was pregnant. I told my folks and best friend over the weekend, but I had no idea anyone else knew. Not until I went to school Monday and my name and condition were painted on the big water tank that overlooks the campus."
"That, I believe I heard about," said Diane.
"Yeah," said Liz, her hair swishing as she shook her head gently. "You, and about everyone else in Roswell. Anyway, I sort of freaked..."
"Understandable, under the circumstances.."
"...and I didn't attend school for two days until I could sort of come to grips with how to deal with it. When I did come back this morning, I was told that I would not be able to attend West Roswell because of my pregnancy....that I'd have to go to an alternative high school."
"And I take it you would prefer to remain at West Roswell?"
"The curriculum at the alternate school is very basic. It has no courses that would really prepare me for college, or even let me get into college. It's not that I think that I'm to proud to do ordinary work, I bussed dishes at the restaurant for two years before I was old enough to waitress, and I even enjoy that, but when I look forward to the future...well, I can't see supporting my child and being able to make enough to pay for child care unless I get a better job than that. I know my parents would help, but they deserve their retirement some day too. I realize I've made huge mistakes, and raising a child as a single mom will be hard, but if I don't prepare myself properly, it'll only be worse. Even if I deserve it, the baby doesn't."
"I see..," said Diane. She was already starting to like this young girl. She wasn't making excuses, wasn't whining, wasn't denying her part in the situation she was in. But she was accepting that it had happened, and trying to make the best of it. Too many of her clients never got that far.
Liz looked across the table at the woman, surprised that she felt so comfortable talking to her. Her eyes weren't as judgemental as she'd feared. She made brief notes on a large yellow legal pad, while encouraging her to continue the story.
"I can understand some of the school's concern. This has already been disruptive, ..I understand there were several fights over this, and if it were just me, I might accept it, but it's not just me. I guess it won't be just me ever again," she said, one hand moving protectively to her l;ower abdomen.
"Yes, uh...I believe I did hear about those fights," said Diane, thinking of her own son and daughter. "That does NOT, however, give them the right to do this to you." The small smile this provoked from the girl sitting across from her seemed to warm Diane to the core. THIS was why she'd become a lawyer.
Last edited by greywolf on Sat Jul 12, 2008 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/12/2008
It only took Diane about five minutes to get the information she needed for the initial actions that would be required.
"Jeri," she said into the intercom, "...would you please get me the Chaves County Planned Parenthood Clinic administrator? Thanks."
The administrator took the call from the lawyer representing Elizabeth Parker, already sure that the jig was up. When the lawyer said that the young lady had been kicked out of school because her pregnancy status had been discovered by the school ,she asked pointedly whether or not it could have come from the clinic, implying that clinic personnel would need to give sworn depositions that they were unaware of any leaks of the information. There were at least five people in the clinic who knew the truth and no realistic likelihood at least one of them wouldn't tell. It was better to come clean right now and take their lumps, rather than pissing off the girl's lawyer.
"Uh...it seems that the Quality assurance people have been reviewing the security tapes... and they detected another client who was allowed to enter a part of the lab that she should not habe been allowed in to. It appears that she looked at some confidential lab data while she was there, and ...your clients results were among those she looked at. We will of course provide you with a copy of the security tape, and affidavits to its authenticity. Please convey my apologies to your client, and I'll provide you with the number of our liability insurance company to contact for the damage claim."
The second call was even easier. "I have Vice-principal Holbrook on the phone, Diane," said Jeri.
"Thanks," said Diane, picking up the telephone, "Good afternoon, Mr. Holbrook. As my legal assistant no doubt told you, I am a lawyer at the Chaves county legal aid office and I represent Miss Elizabeth Parker. Now my client is alleging that you forbade her from attending school school this morning, not just in depriving her of her legal right under the law, but her obligation under the law as well. She states that you have basically compelled her to become a truant today, since you would not permit her to comply with the law. Are you aware that by doing this you have exposed yourself to both civil liability and potentially criminal action under both US and Federal law? And please be aware, I am recording this phone call for the record."
"Uh...well, I didn't really say she couldn't go to school, just that it would have to wait until her records could be transferred to the alternate high school. She can go there tomorrow."
"I see. So you believe that a one day denial of my clients legal rights is permissible. Can you cite the specific statute that you believe gives you the discretion to do that?"
"Uh...well, it's the policy of the School Board that pregnant girls go to the alternate school..."
"It is? Well, I will no doubt be addressing that with them on behalf of the Legal Aid Office in a class action suit....assuming we can find someone affected by it willing to be out client so we can preserve her anonymity with a 'Jane Doe' class action, but can you tell me why on Earth you believe Miss Parker should fall under that policy? Do you perhaps have first hand knowledge that Miss Parker is pregnant?"
"First hand? Well of course not, but you must have heard of the sign on the water tank."
"The sign on the water tank? Mr. Holbrook...as a vice-principal, I'd assume you are an intelligent man. I find it difficult to believe that you have exposed yourself to civil and criminal penalties on the basis of an illegal act of graffiti. Am I to assume that you are going to kick out some innocent coed for soliciting because some crude and vulgar idiot writes graffiti in the boy's room saying, "for a good time call Janey so and so at such and such number?”
“Uh…”
“Look, before the day is done the legal center will be filing for a restraining order to keep the district from putting ANY young lady in Alternate Education for the simple fact of being pregnant, but if you attempt to keep Miss Parker from attending her normal classes, simply because you SPECULATE that she may be pregnant based upon illegal graffiti, it will become very personal, Mr. Holbrook. You will be sued personally, not in your capacity as a vice-principal, but as an individual. I guarantee that will be a long and very costly process for you if that’s the decision you choose.”
"Well....uh, this really isn't MY idea. It's the school board's idea. Couldn't you sue them?"
"Oh, we most assuredly will, Mr. Holbrook, over the policy itself. But the issue of you implementing the policy based on hearsay...that YOU will have to defend individually, and I doubt that the School District will cover the costs of that for you, since YOU decided to base this implementation on evidence that is inherently indefensible."
"Well, how about we just let her continue in regular classes until you and the school board work this out between yourselves?"
"Why Mr. Holbrook, I think that would be an excellent suggestion...and probably a fiscally prudent move on your part as well. Good day, Mr. Holbrook," said Diane, as she hung up the phone.
She looked up at a smiling Liz Parker and smiled as well. "Well, we won that one rather easily and it was important, but not as important as the upcoming restraining order. The actual law on this, Liz, is not really in doubt. But the law likes the precedent, sort of the status quo. If we had gone in to request that restraining order and you had already been in alternate high school, the school district might have asked that the restraining order be deferred until the case could be heard. That might be months...years. In the interim, you would have continued where you were..in alternate school. By seeing to it that you are NOT in alternate school, that puts us in the drivers seat. The district will ultimately lose this case, because the law is not on their side. But if they can drag it out until you already graduate...from alternative school, the case becomes somewhat moot and most clients won't keep pursuing it. That's what they are counting on...and what we can't let happen."
"Jeri," she said into the intercom, "...would you please get me the Chaves County Planned Parenthood Clinic administrator? Thanks."
The administrator took the call from the lawyer representing Elizabeth Parker, already sure that the jig was up. When the lawyer said that the young lady had been kicked out of school because her pregnancy status had been discovered by the school ,she asked pointedly whether or not it could have come from the clinic, implying that clinic personnel would need to give sworn depositions that they were unaware of any leaks of the information. There were at least five people in the clinic who knew the truth and no realistic likelihood at least one of them wouldn't tell. It was better to come clean right now and take their lumps, rather than pissing off the girl's lawyer.
"Uh...it seems that the Quality assurance people have been reviewing the security tapes... and they detected another client who was allowed to enter a part of the lab that she should not habe been allowed in to. It appears that she looked at some confidential lab data while she was there, and ...your clients results were among those she looked at. We will of course provide you with a copy of the security tape, and affidavits to its authenticity. Please convey my apologies to your client, and I'll provide you with the number of our liability insurance company to contact for the damage claim."
The second call was even easier. "I have Vice-principal Holbrook on the phone, Diane," said Jeri.
"Thanks," said Diane, picking up the telephone, "Good afternoon, Mr. Holbrook. As my legal assistant no doubt told you, I am a lawyer at the Chaves county legal aid office and I represent Miss Elizabeth Parker. Now my client is alleging that you forbade her from attending school school this morning, not just in depriving her of her legal right under the law, but her obligation under the law as well. She states that you have basically compelled her to become a truant today, since you would not permit her to comply with the law. Are you aware that by doing this you have exposed yourself to both civil liability and potentially criminal action under both US and Federal law? And please be aware, I am recording this phone call for the record."
"Uh...well, I didn't really say she couldn't go to school, just that it would have to wait until her records could be transferred to the alternate high school. She can go there tomorrow."
"I see. So you believe that a one day denial of my clients legal rights is permissible. Can you cite the specific statute that you believe gives you the discretion to do that?"
"Uh...well, it's the policy of the School Board that pregnant girls go to the alternate school..."
"It is? Well, I will no doubt be addressing that with them on behalf of the Legal Aid Office in a class action suit....assuming we can find someone affected by it willing to be out client so we can preserve her anonymity with a 'Jane Doe' class action, but can you tell me why on Earth you believe Miss Parker should fall under that policy? Do you perhaps have first hand knowledge that Miss Parker is pregnant?"
"First hand? Well of course not, but you must have heard of the sign on the water tank."
"The sign on the water tank? Mr. Holbrook...as a vice-principal, I'd assume you are an intelligent man. I find it difficult to believe that you have exposed yourself to civil and criminal penalties on the basis of an illegal act of graffiti. Am I to assume that you are going to kick out some innocent coed for soliciting because some crude and vulgar idiot writes graffiti in the boy's room saying, "for a good time call Janey so and so at such and such number?”
“Uh…”
“Look, before the day is done the legal center will be filing for a restraining order to keep the district from putting ANY young lady in Alternate Education for the simple fact of being pregnant, but if you attempt to keep Miss Parker from attending her normal classes, simply because you SPECULATE that she may be pregnant based upon illegal graffiti, it will become very personal, Mr. Holbrook. You will be sued personally, not in your capacity as a vice-principal, but as an individual. I guarantee that will be a long and very costly process for you if that’s the decision you choose.”
"Well....uh, this really isn't MY idea. It's the school board's idea. Couldn't you sue them?"
"Oh, we most assuredly will, Mr. Holbrook, over the policy itself. But the issue of you implementing the policy based on hearsay...that YOU will have to defend individually, and I doubt that the School District will cover the costs of that for you, since YOU decided to base this implementation on evidence that is inherently indefensible."
"Well, how about we just let her continue in regular classes until you and the school board work this out between yourselves?"
"Why Mr. Holbrook, I think that would be an excellent suggestion...and probably a fiscally prudent move on your part as well. Good day, Mr. Holbrook," said Diane, as she hung up the phone.
She looked up at a smiling Liz Parker and smiled as well. "Well, we won that one rather easily and it was important, but not as important as the upcoming restraining order. The actual law on this, Liz, is not really in doubt. But the law likes the precedent, sort of the status quo. If we had gone in to request that restraining order and you had already been in alternate high school, the school district might have asked that the restraining order be deferred until the case could be heard. That might be months...years. In the interim, you would have continued where you were..in alternate school. By seeing to it that you are NOT in alternate school, that puts us in the drivers seat. The district will ultimately lose this case, because the law is not on their side. But if they can drag it out until you already graduate...from alternative school, the case becomes somewhat moot and most clients won't keep pursuing it. That's what they are counting on...and what we can't let happen."
Last edited by greywolf on Tue Nov 09, 2010 12:18 am, edited 3 times in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/13/2008
It was forty-five minutes later and Diane was sitting in a Mexican Restaurant eating Combo plate number three (pauco). She often took clients there to talk when she needed to put them at ease, to get the background information that would be needed to adequately represent them. The place had small rooms you could reserve where you wouldn't be overheard and Diane wasn't at all sure that the waitstaff even spoke English. Liz was finishing the lunch fajita plate, as Diane sipped her coffee.
Diane realized as she watched the girl eat that she was taking a real liking to Liz Parker.
It had started when Liz had told the medical clinic that she would NOT be making any claims against them for their technician not keeping Pamela Troy from seeing her medical records. She had said that she was sure the tech hadn't done it intentionally, and Liz had told the clinic administrator that it wasn't like she herself hadn't made a few mistakes recently. Liz told the administrator that if they would just take steps to make sure that didn't happen to anyone else, that was all she cared about. The Administrator had promised they would, then about ten minutes latter had called back to tell Liz that the clinic would be handling all costs for her pregnancy, whatever they came to, in appreciation of her being so understanding. Liz had tried to decline but the clinic had insisted, and in the end she had courteously accepted. In a world where too many people expected to make money out of everyone else's mistake, Diane found this very refreshing.
Then Diane had talked about the upcoming case. What the School Board might well do, is drag this out as long as possible. The first thing would be the restraining order, and getting the information to effectively present Liz's case for that had been the main reason she'd had this lunch meeting with Liz. As Liz had told her of her academic achievements, her awards, her aspirations, the likely difference between Liz's life if she could get in to college as opposed to having to go to alternative high school, Diane had little doubt that they could prevail at the time of the restraining order, particularly since Diane herself could choose the judge to request it from. But after that, the court case could be dragged out...dragged out for years. But Liz had stepped right up, saying that she would see this through because of the principle involved, even if she was already graduated from West Roswell High herself. That too had made Diane respect her. She liked people ready to fight for a principle.
But in getting this information, Diane had become increasingly puzzled. Lawyers are trained to recognize discrepancies in stories they are told, incongruities in testimony that indicate that there is something that the lawyer does not yet understand, perhaps something the other was hiding. She had been sure that she would find something like that with Liz, but she hadn't. Oh, she didn't have complete information, but it looked like Liz Parker was the real deal, a very nice young girl who had, as she freely admitted, made a couple of bad errors in judgement recently. Except, there had to be more to it than that.
Isabel, Diane knew, was not a stupid person. Oh, she tended to hide her intelligence more than Max did, part of her Ice Princess persona no doubt, but Diane knew that Isabel, although somewhat overprotective of her brother perhaps, was sharp as a tack, and that was what the real discrepancy was. Absent the very obvious and not-insignificant fact that Liz was carrying some other young man's child, Diane would have thought that Liz would have made an outstanding girlfriend for Max. As smart as he was, cute, much more social...the two had so damn much in common and would seem so...compatible. But Izzy had been keeping them apart for years...since long before Liz had been carrying anyone's child. Izzy had said she was worried because they wwere so 'different', but Liz didn't seem 'different' at all, other than being a particularly bright and likeable teenager who had made some mistakes...mistakes that Izzy thought that she had somehow pushed the girl into making.
'Curiouser and curiouser,' thought Diane as she saw Liz take a sip out of the lemonade that the waitress had just refilled. Diane winced and then chuckled as she saw Liz put some Tabasco sauce into it.
"That's got to cause some heartburn," said Diane with a smile.
"I just started doing that," said Liz. "The maternity book says you get funny cravings in pregnancy. I suppose that's why."
"I think it's just a teenager thing. We seem to go through a lot of Tabasco around our house too. Liz... I haven't really asked you about just how you came to be pregnant. I mean, the exact mechanism is obvious, but...well, it takes two to tango. Would you be interested in having me represent you against the father of the child. He has legal obligations for support and childcare too. You needn't carry the entire load yourself."
The face that had been almost happy instantly turned to a mask. "No...I don't want that."
"Can we talk about it?"
Liz looked at Diane. The woman had been so nice to her, she didn't want to offend her. Maybe she could make her understand, without getting Max involved.
"We can talk," said Liz, giving a shy smile, "but I don't think it'll make any difference."
Diane realized as she watched the girl eat that she was taking a real liking to Liz Parker.
It had started when Liz had told the medical clinic that she would NOT be making any claims against them for their technician not keeping Pamela Troy from seeing her medical records. She had said that she was sure the tech hadn't done it intentionally, and Liz had told the clinic administrator that it wasn't like she herself hadn't made a few mistakes recently. Liz told the administrator that if they would just take steps to make sure that didn't happen to anyone else, that was all she cared about. The Administrator had promised they would, then about ten minutes latter had called back to tell Liz that the clinic would be handling all costs for her pregnancy, whatever they came to, in appreciation of her being so understanding. Liz had tried to decline but the clinic had insisted, and in the end she had courteously accepted. In a world where too many people expected to make money out of everyone else's mistake, Diane found this very refreshing.
Then Diane had talked about the upcoming case. What the School Board might well do, is drag this out as long as possible. The first thing would be the restraining order, and getting the information to effectively present Liz's case for that had been the main reason she'd had this lunch meeting with Liz. As Liz had told her of her academic achievements, her awards, her aspirations, the likely difference between Liz's life if she could get in to college as opposed to having to go to alternative high school, Diane had little doubt that they could prevail at the time of the restraining order, particularly since Diane herself could choose the judge to request it from. But after that, the court case could be dragged out...dragged out for years. But Liz had stepped right up, saying that she would see this through because of the principle involved, even if she was already graduated from West Roswell High herself. That too had made Diane respect her. She liked people ready to fight for a principle.
But in getting this information, Diane had become increasingly puzzled. Lawyers are trained to recognize discrepancies in stories they are told, incongruities in testimony that indicate that there is something that the lawyer does not yet understand, perhaps something the other was hiding. She had been sure that she would find something like that with Liz, but she hadn't. Oh, she didn't have complete information, but it looked like Liz Parker was the real deal, a very nice young girl who had, as she freely admitted, made a couple of bad errors in judgement recently. Except, there had to be more to it than that.
Isabel, Diane knew, was not a stupid person. Oh, she tended to hide her intelligence more than Max did, part of her Ice Princess persona no doubt, but Diane knew that Isabel, although somewhat overprotective of her brother perhaps, was sharp as a tack, and that was what the real discrepancy was. Absent the very obvious and not-insignificant fact that Liz was carrying some other young man's child, Diane would have thought that Liz would have made an outstanding girlfriend for Max. As smart as he was, cute, much more social...the two had so damn much in common and would seem so...compatible. But Izzy had been keeping them apart for years...since long before Liz had been carrying anyone's child. Izzy had said she was worried because they wwere so 'different', but Liz didn't seem 'different' at all, other than being a particularly bright and likeable teenager who had made some mistakes...mistakes that Izzy thought that she had somehow pushed the girl into making.
'Curiouser and curiouser,' thought Diane as she saw Liz take a sip out of the lemonade that the waitress had just refilled. Diane winced and then chuckled as she saw Liz put some Tabasco sauce into it.
"That's got to cause some heartburn," said Diane with a smile.
"I just started doing that," said Liz. "The maternity book says you get funny cravings in pregnancy. I suppose that's why."
"I think it's just a teenager thing. We seem to go through a lot of Tabasco around our house too. Liz... I haven't really asked you about just how you came to be pregnant. I mean, the exact mechanism is obvious, but...well, it takes two to tango. Would you be interested in having me represent you against the father of the child. He has legal obligations for support and childcare too. You needn't carry the entire load yourself."
The face that had been almost happy instantly turned to a mask. "No...I don't want that."
"Can we talk about it?"
Liz looked at Diane. The woman had been so nice to her, she didn't want to offend her. Maybe she could make her understand, without getting Max involved.
"We can talk," said Liz, giving a shy smile, "but I don't think it'll make any difference."
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/13/2008
The longer the conversation had lasted, the more Diane had thought of Liz Parker, and the more strange it seemed to Diane the Izzy had been so determined to keep Liz away from Max. For Liz didn't seem at all 'different', at least not in any negative way. Yet despite Izzy's efforts, Max HAD loved this girl. He still did. That was what was tearing him apart.
'Could it really be,' thought Diane, '..that but for Izzy's interference, this young lady would have some day been my daughter-in-law? And could it be she still will? Because Max certainly isn't over her.'
“OK,” said Liz, “What do you want to know?”
“Well,” said Diane, “I believe the classic line is, ‘How did a nice girl like you get in a mess like this?’”
“Oh, hubris, stupidity, anger, feeling sorry for myself…I suppose the usual failings.”
“Care to be a little more specific?”
“There was this boy who was my friend. Not a boy friend…just a friend, and when we were younger that was just great. We were schoolmates in elementary school, and who thinks about boy-girl stuff there? Then came junior high school and puberty, and pretty soon the boys and girls were looking at each other in different ways. And I really thought he looked at me differently too, Diane, and…I liked that look. I wanted him to want me, just like I wanted him….not to have sex or anything..we were both way too young. But just to be a couple, you know?”
“Yes. Believe it or not, I was young once too. We all go through that period.”
“Well, last year I saw other couples pair up, and I did something stupid. He’s..shy…always has been. But I put pressure on him. I wanted to date. Like the other kids were doing. I know, it was stupid. We were only freshmen for goodness’ sake. We had all the time in the world, but it didn’t seem that way to me when I saw other girls going with their guys. I knew him better than that. I should have known he wouldn’t respond well to me being pushy, but I was…stupid. And then it got worse.”
“You got angry about it…?”
“Hell has no fury like an Elizabeth scorned. It was easier to be angry than to admit how much the rejection hurt, and I was angry. He said we were ‘too different’? What in hell kind of a reason was that?”
Apparently his sister's,' thought Diane, '... although I doubt Max wouldn't have said it if he didn't actually believe it. What does it mean?'
“Perhaps, If he was that shy, he just didn’t know what to say…,” said Diane.
“But we weren’t different…we weren’t different at all. In fact, it was almost like we were…soulmates. But rather than admit how much I was hurting I tried to make him hurt too. Stupid, huh?”
“Well, probably not the best thing you could do, but you were both young, there was plenty of time…”
“I know that…now. You know, he must have come by a dozen times during the summer, just being there so if I wanted to we could have gone back to being friends. I could have had so many do-overs. I wouldn’t have even had to apologize for blowing up at him, we could have just gone back to..normal. But I couldn’t let it go….”
Diane watched Liz, her own heart breaking as she saw the girls eyes sparkle with impending tears, and the first tear start to trickle down the girls right cheek.
“Going to the party was a huge mistake. The place was thick with testosterone and alcohol. I got hit on a couple of times, and all I could really think about was why HE hadn’t been interested. Why was I only attractive to guys I didn’t care about, or didn't like, while my soulmate came up with lame excuses to not date me? I tried to drown my sorrows in alcohol. It didn’t work.”
“So what happened?”
“What happened was … I wanted to feel like I was loved…like I wasn’t…rejected. I didn’t so much lose my innocence that night…there was nothing innocent about what I did. The guy I did it with…he wasn’t sober…wasn’t hardly conscious. I don’t think he even realized what was going on until it was over. He lost his innocence…I lost mine the moment I decided I could use him that way, before anything even happened. And when I did that, Diane, I lost any chance I ever had of really having the soulmate I wanted. Now all I want is to be the best mother I can for my child..to see that my baby gets the best life I can give it.”
It was a quiet ride back to the Crashdown. As Liz went to get out of the car, Diane put her hand on her forearm, and turned to look at her.
“If you'll forgive me, Liz, I'd like to talk to you for a minute ... other than as a lawyer to a client. More like girl to girl or mother to daughter, if that would be OK?"
"I guess..."
"You know, Liz, we all make mistakes, and sometimes when we do, that affects the ones we love. I once made a terrible mistake. My husband and I were married our sophomore year in college. He wanted to start a family, I wanted to wait. Wait until we'd gotten in to law school...wait until we'd finished and were in practice. He went along with me, but I found out I waited too long. My biological clock ran out. But I also found out that God gives second chances, Liz. We adopted two children, and my husband loves those children just as if they were his own.
You aren't even seventeen, Liz. You can't stop living...have your entire life be just about the baby, as important as that is. You need to have a life of your own too. I'm sure there are plenty of young men out there who would love you, accept your child, just as my husband accepted the ones that we adopted, the children that are now ours just as much as if I'd given birth to them myself.
Liz nodded, and got out of the car. As she stuck her head back in she replied, "Thanks, Diane, but I don't think you understand. I don't want 'plenty of young men', I want my soulmate, and I'm pretty sure I've closed that door for good."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, and I probably understand more than you think. Max...Max doesn't give affection easily, Liz. For the first two years after the adoption, I kissed him goodnight every night, without getting a single kiss in return. I worried every morning that I would find an empty bed when Max decided to leave in the middle of the night because he couldn't accept our house as his home..., but eventually he came around.
He loves you, Liz, or at least he certainly did. You've hurt him and he's hurt you, and I don't think that either of you intended for that to happen. I don't know if you and he will be able to put that behind you or not, but I do know that you aren't over him, and he's not over you, and unless you sit down and talk it over...give it a try, you'll never really know."
Diane watched the color fade from Liz's face.
"You're Max's mom...?"
"And he won't know a word of this conversation unless you tell him. But you should talk to him, Liz. You both need that. In the meantime, I'll call you in a day or so. There will be some papers you'll need to sign. See you later."
Liz watched Diane Evans drive off. She hadn't let herself really even hope before this, but Max's mom had said that Max really did love her..that despite everything, he wasn't over her. She wanted so much to hope, but it was hard to overcome the fear. Maybe she could talk to Isabel, see if she could set up a meeting with Max...somewhere private.
She'd have to think that over. 'Tomorrow,' she told herself. 'Do it tomorrow.'
'Could it really be,' thought Diane, '..that but for Izzy's interference, this young lady would have some day been my daughter-in-law? And could it be she still will? Because Max certainly isn't over her.'
“OK,” said Liz, “What do you want to know?”
“Well,” said Diane, “I believe the classic line is, ‘How did a nice girl like you get in a mess like this?’”
“Oh, hubris, stupidity, anger, feeling sorry for myself…I suppose the usual failings.”
“Care to be a little more specific?”
“There was this boy who was my friend. Not a boy friend…just a friend, and when we were younger that was just great. We were schoolmates in elementary school, and who thinks about boy-girl stuff there? Then came junior high school and puberty, and pretty soon the boys and girls were looking at each other in different ways. And I really thought he looked at me differently too, Diane, and…I liked that look. I wanted him to want me, just like I wanted him….not to have sex or anything..we were both way too young. But just to be a couple, you know?”
“Yes. Believe it or not, I was young once too. We all go through that period.”
“Well, last year I saw other couples pair up, and I did something stupid. He’s..shy…always has been. But I put pressure on him. I wanted to date. Like the other kids were doing. I know, it was stupid. We were only freshmen for goodness’ sake. We had all the time in the world, but it didn’t seem that way to me when I saw other girls going with their guys. I knew him better than that. I should have known he wouldn’t respond well to me being pushy, but I was…stupid. And then it got worse.”
“You got angry about it…?”
“Hell has no fury like an Elizabeth scorned. It was easier to be angry than to admit how much the rejection hurt, and I was angry. He said we were ‘too different’? What in hell kind of a reason was that?”
Apparently his sister's,' thought Diane, '... although I doubt Max wouldn't have said it if he didn't actually believe it. What does it mean?'
“Perhaps, If he was that shy, he just didn’t know what to say…,” said Diane.
“But we weren’t different…we weren’t different at all. In fact, it was almost like we were…soulmates. But rather than admit how much I was hurting I tried to make him hurt too. Stupid, huh?”
“Well, probably not the best thing you could do, but you were both young, there was plenty of time…”
“I know that…now. You know, he must have come by a dozen times during the summer, just being there so if I wanted to we could have gone back to being friends. I could have had so many do-overs. I wouldn’t have even had to apologize for blowing up at him, we could have just gone back to..normal. But I couldn’t let it go….”
Diane watched Liz, her own heart breaking as she saw the girls eyes sparkle with impending tears, and the first tear start to trickle down the girls right cheek.
“Going to the party was a huge mistake. The place was thick with testosterone and alcohol. I got hit on a couple of times, and all I could really think about was why HE hadn’t been interested. Why was I only attractive to guys I didn’t care about, or didn't like, while my soulmate came up with lame excuses to not date me? I tried to drown my sorrows in alcohol. It didn’t work.”
“So what happened?”
“What happened was … I wanted to feel like I was loved…like I wasn’t…rejected. I didn’t so much lose my innocence that night…there was nothing innocent about what I did. The guy I did it with…he wasn’t sober…wasn’t hardly conscious. I don’t think he even realized what was going on until it was over. He lost his innocence…I lost mine the moment I decided I could use him that way, before anything even happened. And when I did that, Diane, I lost any chance I ever had of really having the soulmate I wanted. Now all I want is to be the best mother I can for my child..to see that my baby gets the best life I can give it.”
It was a quiet ride back to the Crashdown. As Liz went to get out of the car, Diane put her hand on her forearm, and turned to look at her.
“If you'll forgive me, Liz, I'd like to talk to you for a minute ... other than as a lawyer to a client. More like girl to girl or mother to daughter, if that would be OK?"
"I guess..."
"You know, Liz, we all make mistakes, and sometimes when we do, that affects the ones we love. I once made a terrible mistake. My husband and I were married our sophomore year in college. He wanted to start a family, I wanted to wait. Wait until we'd gotten in to law school...wait until we'd finished and were in practice. He went along with me, but I found out I waited too long. My biological clock ran out. But I also found out that God gives second chances, Liz. We adopted two children, and my husband loves those children just as if they were his own.
You aren't even seventeen, Liz. You can't stop living...have your entire life be just about the baby, as important as that is. You need to have a life of your own too. I'm sure there are plenty of young men out there who would love you, accept your child, just as my husband accepted the ones that we adopted, the children that are now ours just as much as if I'd given birth to them myself.
Liz nodded, and got out of the car. As she stuck her head back in she replied, "Thanks, Diane, but I don't think you understand. I don't want 'plenty of young men', I want my soulmate, and I'm pretty sure I've closed that door for good."
"I wouldn't be too sure of that, and I probably understand more than you think. Max...Max doesn't give affection easily, Liz. For the first two years after the adoption, I kissed him goodnight every night, without getting a single kiss in return. I worried every morning that I would find an empty bed when Max decided to leave in the middle of the night because he couldn't accept our house as his home..., but eventually he came around.
He loves you, Liz, or at least he certainly did. You've hurt him and he's hurt you, and I don't think that either of you intended for that to happen. I don't know if you and he will be able to put that behind you or not, but I do know that you aren't over him, and he's not over you, and unless you sit down and talk it over...give it a try, you'll never really know."
Diane watched the color fade from Liz's face.
"You're Max's mom...?"
"And he won't know a word of this conversation unless you tell him. But you should talk to him, Liz. You both need that. In the meantime, I'll call you in a day or so. There will be some papers you'll need to sign. See you later."
Liz watched Diane Evans drive off. She hadn't let herself really even hope before this, but Max's mom had said that Max really did love her..that despite everything, he wasn't over her. She wanted so much to hope, but it was hard to overcome the fear. Maybe she could talk to Isabel, see if she could set up a meeting with Max...somewhere private.
She'd have to think that over. 'Tomorrow,' she told herself. 'Do it tomorrow.'
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/15/2008
Philip Evans had been told that there was no sense waiting while his son went through the psychometric testing so he had dropped him off and gone back to the office for four hours, thinking he just might get some work done. He needn’t have bothered. His mind was constantly distracted by thoughts of his son. No, it wasn’t his legal troubles. Although technically assault and battery, his son was a juvenile - an honor student – with no prior troubles of any kind. Besides, legal matters were a field that Philip could handle. In that field, at least, he felt in control. But there was no avoiding the fact that, even to a layman, his son was obviously hurting, and Philip feared it was affecting his health as well.
As he entered the clinic, he saw Max sitting there.
“Are you finished, son?”
“I’m not sure…”
It was only a few seconds before Dr. Sugby and his assistant came out of his office and smiled at Max. “Just one more test, Max, a visual tracking test. Ms. Detwiler will take you back to the lab and administer it. It shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.”
As Max went with the female technician, Philip turned to the clinical psychologist. “A visual tracking test? What does that do?”
“Do? Oh, it’s basically a video game. Max will use a joystick to try to keep a ball witin a moving box. It was designed to measure coordination, although in the shape Max is in I doubt he’ll be very good at it. But it will still serve its purpose,” said Dr. Sugby with a sly grin, “It’ll keep Max busy for fifteen minutes while we talk.”
Within two minutes, Philip was settled in to Dr. Sugby's office. "You know," said the psychologist, " normally I couldn't reveal that much about a patient without their permission, but since part of the reason for this is for legal purposes, and since you are his lawyer and he signed a release, ...and of course he is your minor son..."
"What can you tell me, doctor?"
"Well, I can tell you your son is extremely intelligent, and extremely well read, and extremely resourceful...or perhaps he just chose to prepare himself for this visit."
"What do you mean, doctor?"
"I mean, your son scored absolutely normal in the MMPI, the Beck Depression Inventory, and a number of other tests we administered to him."
"So...there is nothing wrong with Max?"
"I didn't say that, I said he scored ABSOLUTELY normal. No one does that - not on any psychometric test, and certainly not on five different ones."
"I don't understand."
"There is a normal human variability in everyone. The only way to score dead normal five times in a row would be to memorize the tests - which isn't easy I might add. Several of those tests aren't even publicly available outside the psychiatric and psychology communities, but somehow your son got hold of them, it's the only answer that makes sense, particularly when I see what his sleep diary shows."
"I guess I don't understand."
"Let me put it this way. Statistically, if someone flips a fair coin, the expectation is that they'll get half heads and half tails. But if they flipped the coin five hundred times and got EXACTLY 250 heads and EXACTLY 250 tails, that would be sort of ...suspicious. Your son sort of flipped five hundred coins five different times, and got EXACTLY half heads and half tails each of those five times. That doesn't happen. First of all, nobody is perfect and even if they were there is something called normal variability. Your son is very intelligent, to be able to fake it like that, but I think if he weren't so sleep deprived he would have been awake enough to realize what he was doing, and then he would have intentionally introduced some randomness - and we'd have probably not caught him."
"So you say you think there is something wrong, and he's ...lying to you?"
"Well, not lying, just doing something we call positive malingering - literally faking that he is in better condition than he actually is. Despite his standardized tests, Max has given us other indicators of psychiatric dysfunction. He filled out his sleep history indicating that he only gets about four or five hours of sleep a night. That just isn't enough for a teenager..."
"Four or five hours a night? Four or five hours a WEEK is more like it. He stays in that room and plays the most depressing damn music..."
"Well, clinically your son is depressed, whatever the psychometric testing may say. There's little doubt about that, and some or all of that may be a function of just the sleep deprivation."
"We see that he gets to bed early enough, but I think he just lays there with the music blaring - or uses earphones."
"Well sleep is important. More to the point, DREAMS are important. We don't entirely understand why, but the brain somehow recharges itself during what we call REM sleep, that is, rapid eye movement type of sleep. Absent that, we tend to get more and more dysfunctional. Given his chronic sleep deprivation I'm actually surprised Maxwell can function at the level he is right now."
"Would this cause him to get into fights?"
"Well, it doesn't meet the legal definition of insanity if that's what you are asking. Max clearly knows right from wrong, and to tell you the truth if someone had done something like that tank painting business with someone I cared about, I'd have probably fought them too, I certainly would have at Max's age. Right now the stress on Max must be tremendous. The breakup with this girl apparently affected him far more than anyone in your family anticipated."
"I'll say. His mother and I didn't really even know there WAS a girl, until they broke up. It seems like after that, everything just sort of came unglued..."
"Well, not surprising, really. Adolescents tend to keep these things pretty close to the vest. No doubt Max has been grieving the loss of her since last Fall. Then this - the girl becoming pregnant by some other boy. He may well be interpreting that as the ultimate rejection."
"But that makes no sense, doctor. He rejected her ... or at least he was sort of pushed into rejecting her by his sister."
"But that's just it, he didn't reject her at all. He was simply passive, acquiescing in his sister's rejection of the girl. Not the same at all, I'm afraid. And from what your wife said, her spent the bulk of the summer hanging around her, sort of hoping, I'd imagine, that the girl would give him a second chance. Subconsciously he obviously believed that he'd made a mistake, but by that time she'd had HER feelings hurt, and so she retaliated by rejecting him. Whether her getting pregnant was planned or not, Maxwell could only interpret this as the ultimate rejection. Still, he can't let go of the dream of her, even with her pregnancy. He still feels obligated to fight to defend her... or at least the dream he had of her."
"Well, where do we go from here?"
"Well, he needs therapy, probably several months of it at least. While Max is bright and superficially very pleasant, he is not exactly what you'd call trusting."
Philip could only nod his head, remembering just how uncertain little Max had been about even staying in their home. "So there's really nothing that can be done more promptly?"
"Oh, I didn't say that. In fact, there are a couple of things that we ought to do immediately and while they are short-term fixes, they should definitely help. First, I'm going to be prescribing Fluvoxamine for your son. It's is one of the more sedating antidepressants. Then, just in case that's not enough, I'll also prescribe some sleeping medication - Temazepam. After he's been on the Fluvoxamine awhile it probably won't be necessary, but for now you can give him a tablet forty-five minutes before bedtime, or better yet - half a tablet, and he can repeat that up to two times every forty-five minutes until he falls asleep. Once your son gets adequate sleep, lots of things ought to start to work better for him. I would appreciate it, however, if YOU administered the medications, rather than let him have the bottles. There is some small suicide risk associated with Maxwell's condition."
"OK, doctor. I'll see that either his mother or I are in charge of his medication."
"Well, let's bring him back in here then and we'll have this discussion with him, OK?"
It was thirty minutes later that Max and his father were at the pharmacy, picking up the medications.
"Here, Max," said Philip, handing him an antidepressant tablet. "You might just as well get started on these..."
Max looked at the medication, not wanting to take it, but not wanting a fight with his father either. It would be harmless enough. Even as his hand touched the tablet he was gathering his powers of molecular manipulation. The medicine in the tablet was inert long before it reached his stomach. It took very little effort and avoided an argument with his father, ...and Max was NOT in a mood for any more arguments right now. He had enough to worry about. Tonight he would sneak out again - go to the roof above the Crashdown - try to see Liz.
As he entered the clinic, he saw Max sitting there.
“Are you finished, son?”
“I’m not sure…”
It was only a few seconds before Dr. Sugby and his assistant came out of his office and smiled at Max. “Just one more test, Max, a visual tracking test. Ms. Detwiler will take you back to the lab and administer it. It shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes.”
As Max went with the female technician, Philip turned to the clinical psychologist. “A visual tracking test? What does that do?”
“Do? Oh, it’s basically a video game. Max will use a joystick to try to keep a ball witin a moving box. It was designed to measure coordination, although in the shape Max is in I doubt he’ll be very good at it. But it will still serve its purpose,” said Dr. Sugby with a sly grin, “It’ll keep Max busy for fifteen minutes while we talk.”
Within two minutes, Philip was settled in to Dr. Sugby's office. "You know," said the psychologist, " normally I couldn't reveal that much about a patient without their permission, but since part of the reason for this is for legal purposes, and since you are his lawyer and he signed a release, ...and of course he is your minor son..."
"What can you tell me, doctor?"
"Well, I can tell you your son is extremely intelligent, and extremely well read, and extremely resourceful...or perhaps he just chose to prepare himself for this visit."
"What do you mean, doctor?"
"I mean, your son scored absolutely normal in the MMPI, the Beck Depression Inventory, and a number of other tests we administered to him."
"So...there is nothing wrong with Max?"
"I didn't say that, I said he scored ABSOLUTELY normal. No one does that - not on any psychometric test, and certainly not on five different ones."
"I don't understand."
"There is a normal human variability in everyone. The only way to score dead normal five times in a row would be to memorize the tests - which isn't easy I might add. Several of those tests aren't even publicly available outside the psychiatric and psychology communities, but somehow your son got hold of them, it's the only answer that makes sense, particularly when I see what his sleep diary shows."
"I guess I don't understand."
"Let me put it this way. Statistically, if someone flips a fair coin, the expectation is that they'll get half heads and half tails. But if they flipped the coin five hundred times and got EXACTLY 250 heads and EXACTLY 250 tails, that would be sort of ...suspicious. Your son sort of flipped five hundred coins five different times, and got EXACTLY half heads and half tails each of those five times. That doesn't happen. First of all, nobody is perfect and even if they were there is something called normal variability. Your son is very intelligent, to be able to fake it like that, but I think if he weren't so sleep deprived he would have been awake enough to realize what he was doing, and then he would have intentionally introduced some randomness - and we'd have probably not caught him."
"So you say you think there is something wrong, and he's ...lying to you?"
"Well, not lying, just doing something we call positive malingering - literally faking that he is in better condition than he actually is. Despite his standardized tests, Max has given us other indicators of psychiatric dysfunction. He filled out his sleep history indicating that he only gets about four or five hours of sleep a night. That just isn't enough for a teenager..."
"Four or five hours a night? Four or five hours a WEEK is more like it. He stays in that room and plays the most depressing damn music..."
"Well, clinically your son is depressed, whatever the psychometric testing may say. There's little doubt about that, and some or all of that may be a function of just the sleep deprivation."
"We see that he gets to bed early enough, but I think he just lays there with the music blaring - or uses earphones."
"Well sleep is important. More to the point, DREAMS are important. We don't entirely understand why, but the brain somehow recharges itself during what we call REM sleep, that is, rapid eye movement type of sleep. Absent that, we tend to get more and more dysfunctional. Given his chronic sleep deprivation I'm actually surprised Maxwell can function at the level he is right now."
"Would this cause him to get into fights?"
"Well, it doesn't meet the legal definition of insanity if that's what you are asking. Max clearly knows right from wrong, and to tell you the truth if someone had done something like that tank painting business with someone I cared about, I'd have probably fought them too, I certainly would have at Max's age. Right now the stress on Max must be tremendous. The breakup with this girl apparently affected him far more than anyone in your family anticipated."
"I'll say. His mother and I didn't really even know there WAS a girl, until they broke up. It seems like after that, everything just sort of came unglued..."
"Well, not surprising, really. Adolescents tend to keep these things pretty close to the vest. No doubt Max has been grieving the loss of her since last Fall. Then this - the girl becoming pregnant by some other boy. He may well be interpreting that as the ultimate rejection."
"But that makes no sense, doctor. He rejected her ... or at least he was sort of pushed into rejecting her by his sister."
"But that's just it, he didn't reject her at all. He was simply passive, acquiescing in his sister's rejection of the girl. Not the same at all, I'm afraid. And from what your wife said, her spent the bulk of the summer hanging around her, sort of hoping, I'd imagine, that the girl would give him a second chance. Subconsciously he obviously believed that he'd made a mistake, but by that time she'd had HER feelings hurt, and so she retaliated by rejecting him. Whether her getting pregnant was planned or not, Maxwell could only interpret this as the ultimate rejection. Still, he can't let go of the dream of her, even with her pregnancy. He still feels obligated to fight to defend her... or at least the dream he had of her."
"Well, where do we go from here?"
"Well, he needs therapy, probably several months of it at least. While Max is bright and superficially very pleasant, he is not exactly what you'd call trusting."
Philip could only nod his head, remembering just how uncertain little Max had been about even staying in their home. "So there's really nothing that can be done more promptly?"
"Oh, I didn't say that. In fact, there are a couple of things that we ought to do immediately and while they are short-term fixes, they should definitely help. First, I'm going to be prescribing Fluvoxamine for your son. It's is one of the more sedating antidepressants. Then, just in case that's not enough, I'll also prescribe some sleeping medication - Temazepam. After he's been on the Fluvoxamine awhile it probably won't be necessary, but for now you can give him a tablet forty-five minutes before bedtime, or better yet - half a tablet, and he can repeat that up to two times every forty-five minutes until he falls asleep. Once your son gets adequate sleep, lots of things ought to start to work better for him. I would appreciate it, however, if YOU administered the medications, rather than let him have the bottles. There is some small suicide risk associated with Maxwell's condition."
"OK, doctor. I'll see that either his mother or I are in charge of his medication."
"Well, let's bring him back in here then and we'll have this discussion with him, OK?"
It was thirty minutes later that Max and his father were at the pharmacy, picking up the medications.
"Here, Max," said Philip, handing him an antidepressant tablet. "You might just as well get started on these..."
Max looked at the medication, not wanting to take it, but not wanting a fight with his father either. It would be harmless enough. Even as his hand touched the tablet he was gathering his powers of molecular manipulation. The medicine in the tablet was inert long before it reached his stomach. It took very little effort and avoided an argument with his father, ...and Max was NOT in a mood for any more arguments right now. He had enough to worry about. Tonight he would sneak out again - go to the roof above the Crashdown - try to see Liz.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/22/2008
Isabel hadn’t felt particularly good all morning. Even the peanut butter, jam, and jalapeno sandwich for lunch hadn’t cheered her up. Isabel had been pretty much lost in a sea of despair, remorse, and guilt over what she’d done – and she knew without question that it was her fault.
‘I should have taken the chance,’ she thought again – for the hundredth time. She had known Liz as long as Max had, ‘ …but you barely knew her at all before this all happened. You barely know her now.’
But what, she wondered, if she’d taken the other course. Instead of trying to keep away from Liz, herding her brother before her, what if she’d actively courted Liz’s friendship, way back in third grade, back when Max’s infatuation was pretty harmless. By now they could have been close friends. By now she would have known just what kind of a girl Liz was – whether she could have been trusted with the secret. Isabel could almost fantasize how it might have gone – Her sleeping over and telling her good friend Liz that she was an alien – seeing how Liz reacted. Then if Liz had handled it OK, she could have told her the next part – 'Have I got a brother for you….'
‘But that’s not what you did, Isabel,’ her inner voice told her. ‘You kept them apart …busted up what they might have had … and destroyed both their lives. Liz is pregnant – unhappy, Max is devastated – seeing a shrink – not that THAT will do any good – and it’s all YOUR fault, Isabel.’
Isabel was beating up on herself pretty hard. You might think it couldn’t get much worse. You’d be wrong. Diane just pulled in the driveway, intending to have a serious talk with her daughter about just what the hell was so wrong with Liz Parker and wanting her daughter to explain in just WHAT WAY this delightful young girl had been so 'different’ from Max. “It was going to get REAL awkward for Izzy very soon.
As Diane came in the door she saw her morose looking daughter watching daytiume TV, or at least pretending to. "Have you had any lunch yet, Isabel?"
"Yeah, a sandwich..."
"Izzy...get in the car. We are going to go get a cup of tea somewhere quiet where we can talk. I'll pick the subject."
"Uh..I think I'd just as soon wait around here, Mom, and see what the doctor said about Max."
"We'll leave them a note to call us when they get home, but you and I, Isabel, are going to have a long overdue talk. It can be mother daughter or woman to woman, your option, but we ARE going to talk."
Ten minutes later Diane was back to the same table where she had just had lunch with Liz Parker. The tea was served and the server left the room and she looked into the wide eyes of her daughter. "OK, Izzy, just what in HELL was wrong with Liz Parker - not now when she's carrying some other boys child, but last Spring, when she wanted to start going with Max? And HOW, pray tell, is she 'different? ' She seems normal enough to me..."
'That's just it Mom,' Isabel thought, '..she IS normal - like you.' Of course, it was easy to think it. She wasn't about to SAY it.
"Look, Mom...I know that I screwed up. You don't have to rub it in. If I could go back and do things differently - all this morning I've been wishing I had the last six months to do over - the last six years, all the way back to third or fourth grade. I know it's my fault - my fault that Max is heartbroken -my fault that Liz went out drinking and got pregnant - It's all my fault," Isabel said, unable to choke back the sobs any longer.
'Well, she's certainly not the Ice Princess she pretends to be,' thought Diane, comforting her daughter. "Well, we all make mistakes, Isabel. It just proves you are human, that's all."
'Yeah - I WISH,' thought Isabel, burying herface in her mother's shoulder, just like she had when she was a very little girl. Somehow it DID help. "You know, Izzy, maybe if we could get Max and Liz to talk to each other... maybe they could work something out. It can't be any worse than what your brother is going through right now."
As her mother used the table napkin to wipe away her tears - smearing her mascara in the process -Isabel nodded her head. "Maybe we could...," she said. "I could talk to Maria - I bet she'd help."
‘I should have taken the chance,’ she thought again – for the hundredth time. She had known Liz as long as Max had, ‘ …but you barely knew her at all before this all happened. You barely know her now.’
But what, she wondered, if she’d taken the other course. Instead of trying to keep away from Liz, herding her brother before her, what if she’d actively courted Liz’s friendship, way back in third grade, back when Max’s infatuation was pretty harmless. By now they could have been close friends. By now she would have known just what kind of a girl Liz was – whether she could have been trusted with the secret. Isabel could almost fantasize how it might have gone – Her sleeping over and telling her good friend Liz that she was an alien – seeing how Liz reacted. Then if Liz had handled it OK, she could have told her the next part – 'Have I got a brother for you….'
‘But that’s not what you did, Isabel,’ her inner voice told her. ‘You kept them apart …busted up what they might have had … and destroyed both their lives. Liz is pregnant – unhappy, Max is devastated – seeing a shrink – not that THAT will do any good – and it’s all YOUR fault, Isabel.’
Isabel was beating up on herself pretty hard. You might think it couldn’t get much worse. You’d be wrong. Diane just pulled in the driveway, intending to have a serious talk with her daughter about just what the hell was so wrong with Liz Parker and wanting her daughter to explain in just WHAT WAY this delightful young girl had been so 'different’ from Max. “It was going to get REAL awkward for Izzy very soon.
As Diane came in the door she saw her morose looking daughter watching daytiume TV, or at least pretending to. "Have you had any lunch yet, Isabel?"
"Yeah, a sandwich..."
"Izzy...get in the car. We are going to go get a cup of tea somewhere quiet where we can talk. I'll pick the subject."
"Uh..I think I'd just as soon wait around here, Mom, and see what the doctor said about Max."
"We'll leave them a note to call us when they get home, but you and I, Isabel, are going to have a long overdue talk. It can be mother daughter or woman to woman, your option, but we ARE going to talk."
Ten minutes later Diane was back to the same table where she had just had lunch with Liz Parker. The tea was served and the server left the room and she looked into the wide eyes of her daughter. "OK, Izzy, just what in HELL was wrong with Liz Parker - not now when she's carrying some other boys child, but last Spring, when she wanted to start going with Max? And HOW, pray tell, is she 'different? ' She seems normal enough to me..."
'That's just it Mom,' Isabel thought, '..she IS normal - like you.' Of course, it was easy to think it. She wasn't about to SAY it.
"Look, Mom...I know that I screwed up. You don't have to rub it in. If I could go back and do things differently - all this morning I've been wishing I had the last six months to do over - the last six years, all the way back to third or fourth grade. I know it's my fault - my fault that Max is heartbroken -my fault that Liz went out drinking and got pregnant - It's all my fault," Isabel said, unable to choke back the sobs any longer.
'Well, she's certainly not the Ice Princess she pretends to be,' thought Diane, comforting her daughter. "Well, we all make mistakes, Isabel. It just proves you are human, that's all."
'Yeah - I WISH,' thought Isabel, burying herface in her mother's shoulder, just like she had when she was a very little girl. Somehow it DID help. "You know, Izzy, maybe if we could get Max and Liz to talk to each other... maybe they could work something out. It can't be any worse than what your brother is going through right now."
As her mother used the table napkin to wipe away her tears - smearing her mascara in the process -Isabel nodded her head. "Maybe we could...," she said. "I could talk to Maria - I bet she'd help."
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/22/2008
It was almost dinnertime, and Liz was helping her mother set the table.
"I'm really sorry about the problems with school today, dear," said Nancy Parker. "I can't believe that any school district would do something like that. Hopefully the lawyer you talked to will get this straightened out."
"You know, Mom, ... I really do think it might work out alright. I really like my lawyer. She's sharp. You should have seen her back off the vice-principal. She already has a request for a restraining order against the whole school board scheduled for tomorrow, with a female judge. I won't even have to be there, I'll be back in class. Until I start to show - or require some kind of restrictions, they can't do anything to me anyway, because they have no legal way of knowing that I'm expecting."
"Well, I'm glad you like her and you think she's capable."
"It's more than that, Mom. I really do like her as a person. I mean, she could have been judgemental but instead she's just being supportive. She's made it clear she thinks I made a mistake but - duh- that's pretty obvious. But I really think she's genuine in being willing to just let that all be in the past, and just helping me deal with the results of that mistake."
"Well, that's what lawyers are supposed to do, Liz, be your advocate."
"Maybe so but this one is a lot better than that," said Liz. Diane Evans had been willing to befriend her and support her even when she had thought that she had broken her sons heart by getting pregnant by another guy. 'Would she have felt the same if she'd have known that I practically raped Max?' Liz wondered. She decided that she probably would. Diane seemed genuinely understanding, and seemed to want for this all to work out, even her and Max getting to be a couple if they could work their problems out. 'If only....,' thought Liz, not really willing to let herself believe that might be a possiblility. Just for a moment Liz visualized her and Max going to Diane hand in hand, telling her she was going to be a grandmother. She'd misinterpret it at first, assuming Max was going to adopt her child. Then they'd tell her that Max wouldn't have to adopt...that it was really THEIR child....
"Well this lawyer must be someone special," said Nancy. "You get a big grin on your face just thinking about her. That's the happiest I've seen you look since school let out last year."
Liz shook her head and went back to putting silverware on the table.
"Just daydreaming, I guess...," she said. 'How I wish it could be true...'
Across town, Izzy and Philip were setting the table while Diane had Max cornered in the kitchen. She added just a little more cumin to the chili, and tasted it. "Close...although I suppose you and your sister will ruin it with Tabasco sauce again..."
Max shrugged his shoulders. That was about as expressive as he'd been since he and his father had gotten back from the Psychiatrist's office and his father and mother had discussed the situation with him. The CD player was gone, and he had a 10PM bedtime. Not curfew, but actually IN BED time. It didn't matter to him. He still had his CDs and he could play them with his powers, just like before, and he could deactivate the sleeping pill they were going to have him take as easily as he had the antidepressant. It wouldn't change anything. He wasn't going to sleep - not and see those dreams. Besides, he had things to do tonight. In fact, about 2 AM he planned on sneaking out, going to the rooftop outside her window, and explaining to Liz why she HAD to have an abortion - not the WHOLE truth, certainly, but he wouldn't lie to her either.
"Max, do they still read The Scarlet Letter in sophomore English?"
"I think so," said Max, wondering where this was going. "That's next semester though I think."
"Do you know the story? Do you know who Hester Prynne is?"
"No."
"She's a young lady in that story and she made a mistake, Max. She conceived a child that she shouldn't have. She was not only not married to the father of the child, she was married to someone else. She was an adultress, which is sort of frowned upon even now, but back at the time of the story, it was considered a horrible offense. The people shunned her, mistreated her, she became almost like someone who wasn't even allowed to be part of human society..., but it's a story of redemption too, Max. Hester knew she'd made a mistake and made it her mission in life to not make any more mistakes...to move on. In the end, everyone in the community respected her - accepted her. Do you understand what I'm saying, Max?"
'What, that even though I raped Liz and put some sort of monster parasite in her, that's OK? I don't think so, Mom...' "Uh, not exactly, Mom."
"Well EXACTLY, Maxwell Evans, it means that just because a young lady makes a mistake...like perhaps Liz Parker, that doesn't mean that she isn't a good person. That doesn't mean that reasonable people wouldn't accept her...even be welcoming to her. Do you understand that?"
"I suppose so," said Max. He understood now where his mother was going with this. It was his mother that was confused. Liz had only made one mistake - trusting him. Trusting a monster whose own nature was such that it couldn't stop itself from hurting the innocent.
"Son, I can't make your decisions for you. You are almost an adult, and what's between you and Liz is something that the two of you must work out. But I want you to understand, your father and I don't consider Liz or anyone like her to be 'damaged goods.' I know you are upset about what's happened to Liz - what's happened between the two of you, and only the two of you can decide what's best for the two of you - but I want you to understand that Liz and her child would always be welcome in our home."
"I uh...understand, Mom." 'Except there is no child - just a monster - a monster I put inside of her that needs to be killed.'
Diane looked at her son, hoping she'd gotten through to him. It didn't appear so. He was as depressed as she'd ever seen anyone. She hoped the antidepressants would work - soon.
"I'm really sorry about the problems with school today, dear," said Nancy Parker. "I can't believe that any school district would do something like that. Hopefully the lawyer you talked to will get this straightened out."
"You know, Mom, ... I really do think it might work out alright. I really like my lawyer. She's sharp. You should have seen her back off the vice-principal. She already has a request for a restraining order against the whole school board scheduled for tomorrow, with a female judge. I won't even have to be there, I'll be back in class. Until I start to show - or require some kind of restrictions, they can't do anything to me anyway, because they have no legal way of knowing that I'm expecting."
"Well, I'm glad you like her and you think she's capable."
"It's more than that, Mom. I really do like her as a person. I mean, she could have been judgemental but instead she's just being supportive. She's made it clear she thinks I made a mistake but - duh- that's pretty obvious. But I really think she's genuine in being willing to just let that all be in the past, and just helping me deal with the results of that mistake."
"Well, that's what lawyers are supposed to do, Liz, be your advocate."
"Maybe so but this one is a lot better than that," said Liz. Diane Evans had been willing to befriend her and support her even when she had thought that she had broken her sons heart by getting pregnant by another guy. 'Would she have felt the same if she'd have known that I practically raped Max?' Liz wondered. She decided that she probably would. Diane seemed genuinely understanding, and seemed to want for this all to work out, even her and Max getting to be a couple if they could work their problems out. 'If only....,' thought Liz, not really willing to let herself believe that might be a possiblility. Just for a moment Liz visualized her and Max going to Diane hand in hand, telling her she was going to be a grandmother. She'd misinterpret it at first, assuming Max was going to adopt her child. Then they'd tell her that Max wouldn't have to adopt...that it was really THEIR child....
"Well this lawyer must be someone special," said Nancy. "You get a big grin on your face just thinking about her. That's the happiest I've seen you look since school let out last year."
Liz shook her head and went back to putting silverware on the table.
"Just daydreaming, I guess...," she said. 'How I wish it could be true...'
Across town, Izzy and Philip were setting the table while Diane had Max cornered in the kitchen. She added just a little more cumin to the chili, and tasted it. "Close...although I suppose you and your sister will ruin it with Tabasco sauce again..."
Max shrugged his shoulders. That was about as expressive as he'd been since he and his father had gotten back from the Psychiatrist's office and his father and mother had discussed the situation with him. The CD player was gone, and he had a 10PM bedtime. Not curfew, but actually IN BED time. It didn't matter to him. He still had his CDs and he could play them with his powers, just like before, and he could deactivate the sleeping pill they were going to have him take as easily as he had the antidepressant. It wouldn't change anything. He wasn't going to sleep - not and see those dreams. Besides, he had things to do tonight. In fact, about 2 AM he planned on sneaking out, going to the rooftop outside her window, and explaining to Liz why she HAD to have an abortion - not the WHOLE truth, certainly, but he wouldn't lie to her either.
"Max, do they still read The Scarlet Letter in sophomore English?"
"I think so," said Max, wondering where this was going. "That's next semester though I think."
"Do you know the story? Do you know who Hester Prynne is?"
"No."
"She's a young lady in that story and she made a mistake, Max. She conceived a child that she shouldn't have. She was not only not married to the father of the child, she was married to someone else. She was an adultress, which is sort of frowned upon even now, but back at the time of the story, it was considered a horrible offense. The people shunned her, mistreated her, she became almost like someone who wasn't even allowed to be part of human society..., but it's a story of redemption too, Max. Hester knew she'd made a mistake and made it her mission in life to not make any more mistakes...to move on. In the end, everyone in the community respected her - accepted her. Do you understand what I'm saying, Max?"
'What, that even though I raped Liz and put some sort of monster parasite in her, that's OK? I don't think so, Mom...' "Uh, not exactly, Mom."
"Well EXACTLY, Maxwell Evans, it means that just because a young lady makes a mistake...like perhaps Liz Parker, that doesn't mean that she isn't a good person. That doesn't mean that reasonable people wouldn't accept her...even be welcoming to her. Do you understand that?"
"I suppose so," said Max. He understood now where his mother was going with this. It was his mother that was confused. Liz had only made one mistake - trusting him. Trusting a monster whose own nature was such that it couldn't stop itself from hurting the innocent.
"Son, I can't make your decisions for you. You are almost an adult, and what's between you and Liz is something that the two of you must work out. But I want you to understand, your father and I don't consider Liz or anyone like her to be 'damaged goods.' I know you are upset about what's happened to Liz - what's happened between the two of you, and only the two of you can decide what's best for the two of you - but I want you to understand that Liz and her child would always be welcome in our home."
"I uh...understand, Mom." 'Except there is no child - just a monster - a monster I put inside of her that needs to be killed.'
Diane looked at her son, hoping she'd gotten through to him. It didn't appear so. He was as depressed as she'd ever seen anyone. She hoped the antidepressants would work - soon.
Last edited by greywolf on Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Decisions AUwA (Mature) 7/24/2008
It was almost 10 PM at the Evans residence, and the family ‘discussion’ had been going on for almost an hour - a long painful hour, in the opinion of Isabel Evans. The psychiatrist had apparently told her father that they needed to try to get Max to talk – to come out of his shell – and that wasn’t going particularly well. It had started with an argument over the sleeping medication. His father had given Max a half-tablet to take, one hour before his new mandatory bedtime, and that had started the argument. Max was in denial – denying he needed sleep, denying there was anything wrong. When he’d finally ‘given in’ and taken the tablet to humor their mom and dad, Isabel had sensed the flare of power in his hand before he even put the tablet in his mouth. She had little doubt that he’d inactivated it. The next forty minutes had been more arguments and denial, and it had almost broke Isabel’s heart.
If she’d ever realized, even for a moment, just how much Max being happy had depended on the friendship and acceptance of Liz Parker, Isabel knew she’d have never pushed Max to stay away from her. Even though her mother seemed to be accepting of Liz’s condition, it was difficult for Isabel to believe that Max could ever be that accepting. Bearing someone else’s child is a major league way to break off a relationship. ‘But it wasn’t her fault, Isabel,’ she reminded herself.
‘Everything would have been fine if YOU hadn’t screwed it up – hadn’t screwed up BOTH their lives…’
She wished for about the thousandth time that she had never interfered, wished for the millionth time that she had never sworn Max and Michael to that stupid ‘sacred vow.’ If Mom and Dad really knew what they were up against, maybe they could better understand what Max was going through – find some more effective way to help him.
As she watched the next painful exchange between her parents and Max, Isabel came to a decision. Tomorrow she’d talk to Michael – tell him she was going to tell her mom the truth. She’d wait for a week if he wanted her to – give him time to leave Roswell - go in to hiding if that’s what he wanted to do – but she was going to share the secret with her mom. Maybe that would help Max. Maybe she could at least confess to her mother why she’d done what she’d done. Maybe then her mother would forgive her, even if she knew she’d never forgive herself.
“Guys, we need to take a break. I’m going to fix some hot chocolate for everybody. I think we all need to calm down a little,” said Diane. The ‘conversation’ continued another 30 minutes, almost 20 minutes past Max’s ‘mandatory’ bedtime. Finally it broke up and Max went off to his room, leaving the three other Evans’s sitting there.
“That did not particularly go well,” said Philip.
“No – no it didn’t,” said Diane.
“Nor did he seem particularly sleepy,” said Philip. “I ought to go get him to take another half tablet of the sleep medication.”
“It’ll only cause another fight,” said Isabel, ‘…and won’t do a damn bit of good anyway.’
“Don’t worry. I put one in his hot chocolate,” said Diane.
Isabel smiled approvingly at her mother. “Well, that ought to work.” All was fair in love and war and getting her brother back to sanity, as far as Izzy was concerned. Perhaps she COULD share a dream with Max tonight – talk to him brother to sister - find out what was really bothering him. Somehow she might be able to help him work through this.
‘It might be a good night after all…’ she thought.
If she’d ever realized, even for a moment, just how much Max being happy had depended on the friendship and acceptance of Liz Parker, Isabel knew she’d have never pushed Max to stay away from her. Even though her mother seemed to be accepting of Liz’s condition, it was difficult for Isabel to believe that Max could ever be that accepting. Bearing someone else’s child is a major league way to break off a relationship. ‘But it wasn’t her fault, Isabel,’ she reminded herself.
‘Everything would have been fine if YOU hadn’t screwed it up – hadn’t screwed up BOTH their lives…’
She wished for about the thousandth time that she had never interfered, wished for the millionth time that she had never sworn Max and Michael to that stupid ‘sacred vow.’ If Mom and Dad really knew what they were up against, maybe they could better understand what Max was going through – find some more effective way to help him.
As she watched the next painful exchange between her parents and Max, Isabel came to a decision. Tomorrow she’d talk to Michael – tell him she was going to tell her mom the truth. She’d wait for a week if he wanted her to – give him time to leave Roswell - go in to hiding if that’s what he wanted to do – but she was going to share the secret with her mom. Maybe that would help Max. Maybe she could at least confess to her mother why she’d done what she’d done. Maybe then her mother would forgive her, even if she knew she’d never forgive herself.
“Guys, we need to take a break. I’m going to fix some hot chocolate for everybody. I think we all need to calm down a little,” said Diane. The ‘conversation’ continued another 30 minutes, almost 20 minutes past Max’s ‘mandatory’ bedtime. Finally it broke up and Max went off to his room, leaving the three other Evans’s sitting there.
“That did not particularly go well,” said Philip.
“No – no it didn’t,” said Diane.
“Nor did he seem particularly sleepy,” said Philip. “I ought to go get him to take another half tablet of the sleep medication.”
“It’ll only cause another fight,” said Isabel, ‘…and won’t do a damn bit of good anyway.’
“Don’t worry. I put one in his hot chocolate,” said Diane.
Isabel smiled approvingly at her mother. “Well, that ought to work.” All was fair in love and war and getting her brother back to sanity, as far as Izzy was concerned. Perhaps she COULD share a dream with Max tonight – talk to him brother to sister - find out what was really bothering him. Somehow she might be able to help him work through this.
‘It might be a good night after all…’ she thought.