Freefalling

By mid-January of 1972 we were already in deep water financially. Mom was paid on commission and she had hardly made any sales calls in the prior month. Also, Karina had been in town and that always put a strain on the finances. So the bank account was just about empty and we were already behind on almost everything (including the rent) when mom was admitted to the hospital. (Not to mention that she didn't have any health insurance).

And that would explain why I was so dismayed when the February child support check didn't arrive. I was counting on that money to at least make a rent payment and keep the utilities going. So I called dad to ask what was up and he said "I already sent you that money"... I thought for a few seconds and said "The only check you sent was for my college tuition" And his response was "Exactly. That was an advance on your child support..." Now - if I had even remotely suspected that that's what he meant by "paying for my college" I would have never enrolled. (And that's yet another example of why I could never trust my dad.)

Aside: I actually confronted him about it many years later and he assured me that he never would have done any such thing - I must have misremembered it... But his little bit of selfishness caused me to end up (basically) homeless, and that's the kind of thing you tend not to forget.. Of course, I didn't tell him that mom was in the hospital with cancer, but I doubt it would have made any difference....

So - the next six weeks were an exercise in dysfunction. I tried visiting my friends in Argyle - hoping for a bit of "normal", but they were all really uncomfortable around me. All I wanted was for them to act like they did before they found out my mom was dying - but that was too much to ask, I guess :-)
Of course, the church did get involved. Some of the women came over shortly after the news got out and brought me a couple of bags of groceries. And as they were leaving one of them said "I'm worried about you being here all alone". Then she thought for a few seconds and added "But then - you're used to being alone, aren't you?" And at that point she started crying and hugged me... I have to admit I actually found it slightly amusing. (It was one of those "Well, duh..." moments.)
Brother Dee also took up a special collection for me during the service one Sunday. Most of the folks in Argyle were barely making ends meet back then so it didn't amount to much, but it did keep the utilities turned on for a bit longer with some left over for food and gas.

Yeah - it was all pretty surreal. Sometimes there was food in the house, and sometimes not. That's when my friend who managed the convenience store would help me out. (I did my best not to take advantage of his employer's unknowing generosity.)
I'd just go to school - and do my homework - and every afternoon I'd head over to the hospital to see if mom was still alive.
Then there was the whole "eviction" thing... One day a guy showed up saying he had been paid to clear everything out the house and was wondering why I was still there. So, I went to see the landlord (who was also my insurance agent).

Aside: Yes, I actually had car insurance. (The semi-annual premium had been paid during better times). It was really expensive too - about $400 per year (almost the value of the car). BTW: That was one of the main reasons the muscle car era came to an end in the early 1970s. Insurance had gotten insanely high. The monthly premium for a muscle car owned by an 18 year old male was 3 to 4 times higher than the car payment. It's no wonder sales tanked. But I digress...

The landlord claimed to be a "devout Christian", but that didn't stop him from evicting an 18 year old kid whose mother was dying of cancer. He said it was just business. Yeah - I guess Christianity ends where money begins for some people :-)
So I asked around and Steve's parents agreed to let me store some of my stuff at their place. I was hauling it down there a bit at a time (the Charger would only hold so much). But one day when I got home from school I discovered that the TV, stereo and everything else of value was gone. I called the landlord and he claimed he had a legal right to anything that was still there. He was probably right - but it was still not a very nice thing to do.

But the thing that summed it all up was the pile of dirty dishes. For some reason I just couldn't bring myself to wash them. They'd been accumulating for weeks. The sink was full and they were overflowing onto the counter. At least four of fives times a day I'd think "I have got to clean up that mess", but I just couldn't do it... Then one day when I got home from school I discovered that the water had been turned off, thus rendering the issue moot...

And that's when I had to find another place to stay...