Punishing Good Works

WHEN SHE STARTED WORKING in the kitchen at the senior center, she soon aroused my suspicions, and my libido, since she was youngish, slender, attractive. some of the other old folks became suspicious of her as well, because she missed work every fifth day, or more precisely, every four point seven seven three days, like clock work. Illness and family emergencies do not occur with such regularity. we old folks, with decades of practice, can be surprisingly astute at recognizing a meth addict when we see one. People addicted to crystal meth, besides thinking themselves intellectual geniuses adn superhuman, and everybody else idiots, decieve themselves into believing that nobody notices that they are manic hyperactive for four sleepless days and nights, then crash, hard, like clockwork. The fact that this frenetic sex pot and her two daughters moved in across the stret from me heightened my awareness of her many many boyfriends, her nocturnal activity, and shopping sprees to every Wal mart within the area to buy basic meth cooking supplies, like lighter fluid. she lost her job and ran out of money, of course, had nowhere to live, and asked if she could stay with me temporarily. I, ever the heroic idealistic, consented, thinking I could help her get straight. It didn't work out. At this point the story becomes painful for me, which is perhaps why I am telling it again, even though i wrote about it several years ago, on this website. As she was moving into my house, I noticed that she was stealing everything that wasn't nailed down from the house across the street. that simply wouldn't do. i had to draw the line somewhere. Even I have standards. Deal off. My mistake was relating this bizarre episode of my life to my straight laced sister, who hasn't been to my house since. My theory,which i will probably never confirm one way or the other, is that my brother in law, who doesn't like me, prevailed upon his wife to simply write me off as a drug addict, or guilty by association with a drug addict. I haven't seen much of my sister since, I haven't seen the meth queen at all, and I hope she's still alive, though I suspect she may not be.if they don't get off meth, they don't live long. it is probably my fate, and my punishment to never know, and to lose my sister's friendship, all for my poor decision of sticking my nose where it didn't belong. Live and learn, as we say, and if you try to save a drug addict, all you're gonna get is grief.