Thursday, Part 3

Out of the truck stepped out the woman who had been in my bed, Stephanie (last name unknown) and my dad, who wasn’t going to let us leave until he checked something. I already knew what he was seeking: whether or not the safe that had been “hidden” underneath some clothes in my room was still in its same position. I knew it wasn’t. Krystle had gone and retrieved it right before they left. However, I wasn’t sure if it was in the storage unit or had gone home with my mom to Huntington.

Of course, he didn’t find it, nor did he find a “voice recorder”, which he claimed he had hidden on top of one of the kitchen shelves in order to record everything that happened in the house in case he ever needed to use it in court (stuff like me and Brittany arguing, he and I arguing, etc). Nobody aside from him had heard of this mystery machine.

“Oh yes. I took something I’ve never seen or heard of in my life. I must be a pretty damn crafty thief to pull off something like that,” I joked.

He disregarded the voice recorder disappearance and mainly focused on the safe’s absence. He refused to let us go until the safe was back at the house. I told him I didn’t know where it was, which was an entirely honest statement because I didn’t know exactly where it ended up. Therefore, Curtis, Devin, Speedy and myself effectively became hostages in my own home. A home that at one time or another each one of them has been as much a part of as I have. Talk about insanity. Heath left to get back to his house due to a curfew set by his parents minutes before my dad arrived, or he too would have became a POM – Prisoner of Moore.

With little room for error if we were to squeeze between the fence and the truck’s parked position, and no chance of my dad letting us go due to his stubbornness, we all did what we were best at doing:

Devin: He mainly just stood around and observed the whole situation, taking it all in as it came without much said. He was pretty calm about the whole ordeal, which I was happy about.

Curtis: He made a phone call to his mom but quickly got cut off due to the terrible cell phone reception at my house. I called her back and aimed to calm her, as she was worried about my dad having a gun, which to my knowledge, he didn’t. I instructed her to call the county police. Curtis then proceeded to call his uncle Chris, whom he eventually called off when the police arrived.

Speedy: He sat out in the car for a while and joined the group later on after things calmed down a bit, but obviously stressed to the max. Later her would claim his nerves couldn’t handle the gravity of the situation. I felt bad for putting him through it, but he stayed strong enough to get by.

Myself: Between talking to Curtis’s mom and phoning my own (informing her of the situation and asking her where the safe exactly was – it was at the storage unit), I also got into a heated argument with that Stephanie chick. The best part was when I first started speaking to her:

- “What’s your name?” I asked when she went inside the house as I stood with my face pressed against the screen of the living room window.

“Stephanie,” she said.

“FUCK YOU!” I shouted. Take my word, it made so much sense at the time to say, given the circumstances. It really, really did.

“What? Oh my god, I can’t believe you’d talk to me like that. I wish your mommy were here. She loves me and wouldn’t believe you’re talking to me that way.”

“Yea, I wish she was too so she’d see what kind of skanks are running around here. She hates you, so don’t even try to talk bullshit like that.”

“Ah hell, I’d whip your mom’s ass. I ain’t like that bitch Rhonda. I ain’t afraid to punch her in the face.”

After this point, the remainder of the conversation escapes my memory. Most likely due to the fact that it took an obscure turn most likely wrought by some bad stuff in her system. That, or she’s a true idiot. I’m not sure which a person should prefer.

Another fun exchange that I can’t recall word for word involved her trying to defend herself as a non-drug user by saying she had kids to take care of. I countered by saying something along the lines of “Well, if you care about your kids, why the fuck was you in my bed this morning? Shouldn’t you have been home with them?” Her mouth trudged past her mind and went into details such as “I have been with them all day and I came with your dad so he’d have someone to go to the hospital with him!”

I realized arguing with her was a cause better suited for a monkey than a man, so I pretty much just paced around the house waiting for the police to arrive, ignoring her the remainder of the night. During that time, my dad called the KY State police and filed a theft report. They never showed. I knew they wouldn’t. I have a decent idea of how the law works, and my suspicions about whether or not the safe had been “stolen” were proved correct later when Evan Norris showed up to save the day.

I want it to be known that through all of my experiences with policeman, and there have been several (anywhere from when the time I wrecked to the time my dad was burning all his clothes in front of the house), never have I felt like so much was accomplished, as was the case with this visit. As far as I’m concerned, Evan Norris is the most respectable man in uniform in all of Martin County. If every cop were as admirable as he appeared that night, the world would be a much grander place.

Essentially, it went down like this. He told my dad that since they are married still (he and my mom), anything his is half hers, so she couldn’t have technically stolen the safe (this is what I myself believed, as I alluded to earlier). He asked me about the whole situation and why what was going on was going on, and I informed him of the entire day’s events. He reiterated to me what he’d told my dad, and assured me that we’d be able to leave soon, confirming that I was 18 and actually able to leave without my dad’s consent.

My favorite part of the entire evening was when it was brought to everyone’s attention via Evan that Stephanie had more than the legal amount of Xanax in her system, as he could tell by her eyes (I told ya I could tell, didn’t I)! He administered a drug test to her, which surprised all of us when she passed, and instructed her to remain at home due to her appearance. Finally, he forced my dad to move his vehicle so we could leave the scene.

I went and got the safe out of the storage unit and brought it back to him, mainly for good karma. I figure I could do something somewhat nice for the man since after that I was prepared to never see him again, at least for a while anyway. Curtis and I parked at the very end of the driveway and walked the safe to him, then retreated.

“There better not be anything missing.”

At this hour (2:53 AM EST), approximately one week and 4 days since that night occurred, that is still the last full sentence I’ve heard my dad utter. He mumbled some stuff as Curtis and I hurried back to my Jeep, but nothing clearly audible.
I fell asleep that morning on the couch in one of his living room’s that has since become my permanent bed for the summer’s remainder, not reconsidering once my decision to move out on a whim, but only of the extreme kindness that I have been given. There are people without a single worthwhile friend. I have countless people to rely on, as illustrated by all the help I was granted without any questions raised.

Devin could have easily demanded to be taken home – but he didn’t. Speedy could have worried himself to death and eventually cracked and have a nervous breakdown – but he didn’t. Heath tried his hardest to stay longer, even lying to his parents in order to remain, but his efforts were well appreciated. Curtis even tried to call someone to come kick my dad’s ass – those are what real friends are, to those of you who have none. If you can find just one person like any of these guys, you’re bound to do fine in life. I’m too lucky.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to restate how appreciative I am to the Goble family for taking me in during the last month of summer. Curtis obviously doesn’t mind, but I know it makes things at least slightly more difficult on Carla, Danesha, Machelle and Gamble having me around the house. The girls are like sisters to me and Gamble like another mother (among the many I can claim – you can never have too many, though). They too, are too kind.

Devin was right – this certainly made one hell of a blog entry. But, it was something much more special. What started as a trip to buy comics and Yu-Gi-Oh! Cards turned into something much more eventful. I’m thankful for every morsel of it, however. After all, I made an unforgettable memory with some of my greatest friends during the final summer that we would all spend together before we ventured off to college. We turned what appears on the surface to be a tragic experience into something twenty years from now we’ll be telling our kids about and laughing with each recollection.

That’s what life is all about, folks – being with the people you care about and making memories that will last a lifetime. Making them is always the best part, but if they’re looked back on as they should be, as experiences that made you better for having them, then it’s nearly just as sweet.

Prince Batman, AWAY!!!
Joshua Aaron Moore

Quote of the Day
"Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget." --- G. Randolf