No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

Dare I succumb to my gentle nature and extend sympathy?

The young woman pulled up in what is commonly referred to as a "beater". The car you drag out in the winter because you don't care if someone slides into it in the icy conditions. She is not in much better shape. I saw her pull in and figured she was going to ask if the pool was open. It is not. Both pumps need to be disassembled and cleaned out in order to function properly after the pellet gun incident. Only 12 hours off and the algae grabbed it and won't let go, so we decided to close for the season.

She is crying and her car looks like she flung her belongings in it. I was outside and walked over to her car and asked if I could help her. She wanted to know the cost of camping ....... Since she was in a car filled with her clothes and what looked like a TV on the back seat, I assumed she wanted a tent site. But, she said her dad had a trailer and she wanted to camp in it. I gave her my price per night and she kind of stared at me. "Can I just look for my phone?" she asked.

I nodded and came back in to scratch my rash. I admit that I locked the door. I took my dogs out in this lull between rain showers, sprayed Benadryl on my torso and re-booted the internet modem. By then she had located her phone and came to ask if she could plug it in. I showed her an outlet on the front porch and she is now engaged in a lively conversation with someone. Really loud. Glad I left her outside.  She told me she was having a bad day and couldn't find her kids .......

She has some scary looking sores on her bare arms and she is crying. I don't know what I could do for her. She said she was calling her mother. I am afraid to offer much. I am not afraid of her, I am afraid of her latching onto a site with a crappy little trailer and having her marital drama follower her into the park.

I did it. I went out and gave her a Coke and asked if she had eaten today. That's when she decided to confide in me. No marital problems, so no irate husband will show up here and create a scene. But ...... DEFACS (Department of family and Children Services) has taken her children. I can't help with that. Her story is a bit dis-jointed and she had supposedly left them with a male friend and the police were summoned and took the children because she is homeless and can't provide for them.

Now, I have done what I didn't want to do. I have offered an ear and she won't leave. Why do they all come here? She also mentioned talking to her father's girlfriend and that they were the ones taking her kids. I have a feeling there are quite a few holes in this story that I don't even want to know.

But, for now, a storm is almost upon us, the DISH satellite has lost the signal, but I was warned about severe thunderstorms before that happened. The stranger is under the shelter of my front porch, but that in itself is a problem. She is the very first thing you see before entering the office. I am afraid to let her inside, she may never leave.

She needs Dr. Phil, not me.