7:40 p.m. | 2003-03-30 Updates On A Couple Of Past Diary Guests & Other Stuff. Remember Bike Boy? If you don�t, he was the guy bicycling around town punching ladies as he passed them. Remember how I told you they caught him outside of MyWorkPlace? Well, that was the wrong guy, notwithstanding that his bike fit the description and he looked just like the composite sketch. See, I failed to mention that he wasn�t Bike Boy and they released him. Mostly because, well, that wasn�t good news. I didn�t want to continue to worry about that whole thing, nor did I want to worry you folks. Anyway, they finally found Bike Boy and MyState is awaiting his extradition in order to prosecute him. Once his composite was in the newspaper, he fled the state. Here, he had a job, a place to live and five bicycles. After he fled to another state thousands of miles away, he was homeless, jobless and bikeless. Plus, he fled to a state that has harsh winters, which perhaps, wasn�t the best of plans. Apparently, the cops put out and intrastate APB (all points bulletin), and luckily, the cops in the other state recognized him. Even though he was bikeless and had cut all his hair off. He was arrested there and MyState is awaiting his return. He has quite a criminal record, so he�s probably looking at some jail time. Hopefully, that will all work out well. Remember my Little Sister (LS) � the young mother I mentor? (Not to be confused with Younger Sister who�s actually my biological sister.) Remember how she got pissed (rightfully) because her slumlord wasn�t repairing her apartment (as is typical) and she called code enforcement (short-sighted move there) who came out and condemned the place (rightfully) so she ended up homeless at her own doing? Yeah, well, I took a hiatus from mentoring her at that point. First, because I didn�t know where she was at any given moment, and second, because after three years of telling her the same shit over and over, I began to feel like I was just talking to myself. At that point, she was just wanting me to bail her ass out of all her problems. That�s not mentoring and that wouldn�t be to her benefit. So, I decided that it was time for her to decide if she was going to sink or swim. It could have gone either way, but she�s a survivor so I was pretty sure she�d figure things out. Plus, she knows how to reach me, so it wasn�t like I disappeared. I just stepped back so she could step up. Anyway, I ran into LS at the grocery store today. She�s been busy during my hiatus. Yeah. Um, lets see� well, she had another baby (3rd child) who is now 7 weeks old. She knows who the father is of this little one � the guy that�s been living off her for the last 3� years. She found a place to stay. Her disability (mental health issue) came through, so she�s getting considerably more aid than she was before. And, get this, one of her friends gave her a minivan so she now has transportation. So, my hunch was right. It was time for me to step back and let her figure out whether she was going to go up or go further down. She looks good � gained weight which she needed to do desperately � seemed in very good spirits and is finally doing some future planning. Her new baby girl is adorable. (She was an �accident�, of course.) And, I don�t really know how this works, but the father is now on her welfare and they�re going to make him get a job. (Good luck to �em. There�s nothing wrong with him, however, he rather live off someone else than work.) All things considered, it�s a good outcome. She really didn�t want another baby, but she�s here now so there it is. LS did immediately ask why I haven�t called her (she got a cell phone as soon as she became homeless; I figured it�d been cut off long ago) then owned up to the fact that she hasn�t called me either. Hell, she even got pregnant and gave birth and still didn�t call me. The kids were happy to see me too. God, they�ve grown. Anyway, that was rather unexpected and I may need to pull my mentoring shoes out of the back of the closet. I think my hiatus might be over. In other news, it�s been a wonderful weekend even though I�m still working through this virus thing. Beautiful weather so I did a little weeding in the garden. So many things are blooming. It�s so pretty. I spent a fair amount of time just sitting outside reading. John Grisham�s Skipping Christmas is a fun, light-hearted book. He writes well and it�s only 177 pages so you can read it in one sitting. And, I finally got a good start on Eric Schlosser�s Fast Food Nation. It�s been very peaceful. I like that. your thoughts? seed flower