Ameri Graduates

A little house keeping is in needed.

Ameri completed the subject matter in which she was lacking to get a real diploma. Not that a GED is in any way a walkover, it just leaves gaps. It was touch and go until the very last - something like trying to land a balky Piper Cub in a crosswind on your first solo flight.

So that is done and Ameri can now concentrate on her PAYING JOB. It was (yes past tense) with a telemarketing firm that has three levels of a travel packet offer that contain vouchers for discounts on everything associated with vacation travel. To get the packet. one must join a travel club. To be eligible, one must have a checking account or a credit card. To prove eligibility one must provide a bank routing number and account number or credit card number with the signature box code. Yes! Absolutely correct. What fool would do such a thing. Many do just that very thing every day. The accounts are tapped as quickly and as often as possible and if the "mark" notices and gets nervous or has buyers remorse or smells the scam - TOO LATE. It takes three months to a year to get those charges reversed, if you have a cooperative bank. Ameri was at first eager to do the job and then it got to her. Good. She is out of there.

Ameri has a boyfriend. This time last year she was on the road in the Midwest on her “18 Year Old Genius Tour” with a boyfriend(s). This year she decided to stay home and bring a distant boyfriend to her. We discouraged it in as therapeutic way as possible but the boy friend became part of the therapy plan. When he first arrived they camped at the stable where Ameri keeps her horses. We had the whole place rented and it is relatively safe. We did not make the beginning easy. We did not go out of our way to provide ways and means. We did bring them in for a hot shower and a meal on occasion but for the most part they were on there own. They had a tent, running water, a toilet and a cell phone. There was a large strip mall nearby with a large grocery.

All good things seem to end. On the Tuesday morning after Labor Day we got a panic call from Ameri and boyfriend. They were calling from a hotel in the neighborhood of the stable and they were in a panic. It seems that the checks Ameri had written, four, were pre-cleared for a Tuesday deposit and found to be NSF. The total was near $200. That is felony territory. I had the hotel manager have them put on ice in the lobby area and I take my sweet time getting them in my schedule.

I picked them up and drove them down to pick up Ameri's last check. Ameri thought she was going to be able to cash her check as usual at the little market where they will cash your check if you by something - Ameri usually got three packs of smokes. This time – NO WAY. I asked for the check from her and got it. I asked for her checkbook and ATM card and got it. I drove them to the farm and had them strike camp. Ameri asked, "Where are we going?" I answered, "House arrest."

That was an easy one. There are still NSF check floating around and the NSF fees are building at the bank. We have decided to let what ever legal action comes about, come about. We are now heading into 60 days and nothing has happened just yet. I have tipped my neighborhood law enforcement resource officer and he is helping with the pressure on Ameri. Ameri has contacted the affected merchants and has worked something out. I am staying clear.

This past week we changed stables. The woman that owned the placed we had rented had been confronted by animal control for the flock of sick stray cats she feeds. She is also in violation on adequate fencing to keep horses. It was close, but there were too many emerging complications. The new place is being managed by an older riding friend of Ameri's . It is much farther away but isolated from the temptations of the Mall-burbs. The old place was on the bus line, the new place is on the frontier of the county line.

Both Ameri and boyfriend, hereafter to be called Eamon, are back under close supervision. They have their own rooms. They have to smoke across the street or in the backyard tree house. They can not do the nasty up in here. They are starting new jobs tomorrow. It is not perfect but it is cheaper than hospital co-pays and psychiatric stays.

Life goes on.