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[jaydub]

So my recently resurfaced stepbrother has a girlfriend he met in Los Angeles.  He is up in Oregon working with my dad and stepmom in a national park (they are running a summer program for kids whose families are staying in the park).  They (my stepmom and her son) reconnected after 15 years of estrangement that started when she divorced her first husband.
Anyway, the girlfriend got a job in San Francisco for some reason, and moved herself up here to start working (details unknown).  She did not, however, have a place to stay due to circumstances and was living out of her car, and then in a women's shelter in Oakland for the past week.  My stepmother called and left a message asking whether we could take her (the girlfriend) in for a week.  As it happens, my kids are with my mom this week, so I saw no harm in doing so; Stacey, while not thrilled at the prospect, didn't object. 
We already have one stray human, in my now 24-year old niece.  I was hesitant to add to our collection, but I figure what is the use of having good fortune without sharing it with others who might just need a lucky break to get their feet under them. I had the girlfriend (Jamila) call me to figure out what she needed. She described her situation in brief, and was super grateful for the chance at a safe place to stay for a week.  She is getting paid this week (offered to give me some money, I declined) so should be able to start fending for herself some. I gave her directions on how to get down from Oakland to my place, and expected to see her about 7:30 or so.
7:30 came and went, and about 8 my stepbrother left a thankful and apologetic voicemail explaining that she was having car trouble and would be late.   Ok, that happens.  Then at 9:45 Jamila called me herself, with a tale of woe about having broken her eyeglasses, being almost out of gas, and about halfway to my house in a pretty sketchy area.  She couldn't drive any further because her vision is too poor to read streetsigns after sundown.
I helped her find a gas station and a safe place to stay while I drove out to round her up.  We determined it would be OK for her to tail me home so we wouldn't have to abandon her car to the tender mercies of the nighttime denizens of the San Leandro BART station parking lot.  I figured out a surface street (service street?) route to get her home so we could stay off the freeway and set out to find her.
I got to the train station at about 10pm and called her. She had successfully refueled, and we started establishing landmarks to find one another in the gigantic complex.  After a bit, I found the maroon Hyundai Sonata with an emergency spare on one corner, one headlight, and hazard lights going and we finally met up.
I got her back, enjoying a midnight tour of the industrial and warehouse neighborhoods of the East Bay, and detouring only briefly when a railroad crossing blocked off the road for about 15 minutes.  I had made a nice dinner, and got her a plate of that, and offered my son's bedroom for her use.  Jamila was overflowing with thanks, gratitude, and apologies for the trouble.  I then left her to the ministrations of my niece who is an expert in public transpo options in the region, as SF is in the opposite direction to my commute and Stacey's.
She was gone before 6:30, off to work.  Stacey had gone out to meet her, and prevent her from packing her stuff back into the car for the day.  My dad called later and said she had made it to work on time, and was very happy.
I'm curious about what will happen as the window of opportunity closes.  This weekend the kids get back, and Jamila has a trip to Reno planned to see her boyfriend (the Oregon thing is done this week as well).  Stacey's folks are with us next week as well, so the house was already booked before she showed.  Stacey seems to have taken a shine to her, which considering her introversion and mild misanthropy is fairly unusual. More as the situation unfolds...either a very elaborate and well acted con is underway, or perhaps I've lent a helping hand to a fellow traveler.  Time will tell. 

[pmcd9]

I have a strict no one rides for free policy at my house. Now that's not entirely true, but I definitely try not to take in strays unless they are willing to pay in some way. Recently, back in May I had a strange situation at my house. it involved these 3 furry critters.

I've known Therese, the woman, or UV Indigo Auracle (ugh!) for about a year. She was a transplant to Houston from Omaha Nebraska. She's a really sweet kid, but a straight up dingbat. She actually moved not to Houston, but rather Sugarland, a bedroom community just to the south of the city because that's the dream of every small town girl apparently, to move to the big city and live in one of it's nondescript suburbs. She's recently returned home to Omaha. She hooked up with Atif, who's a pretty good guy, while living here in Houston.

She and Atif returned to Houston to pick up some of Atif's stuff, I think. It's hard to tell because both of them talk in circles and never seem to get to the point (potheads). Therese is a motor mouth too. She goes on and on without ever actually saying anything.  They brought along another friend, Trent, who they picked up along the way. Trent was stranded somewhere in Texas and they rescued him.

So they're here and Therese calls me up Her and Atif want to see me, so we get together with a couple of other folks. It was fun. Lots of laughs. Trent, the stranger of the group is both full of himself and full of shit. But he's funny so he's alright. Around 10 I say my farewells and take myself to the house.

Around midnight I get a call from Hippie Dave asking if I can take Therese and her krewe in for the night. They failed to mention all afternoon and into the evening that they had no place to stay and no money to rent a place. I didn't really want to do it, but I felt peer pressure so I said I would.

The next day is Monday and according to their original plan they were going to leave Tuesday morning. I pulled some last minute strings and got them invited to an artcar event taking place in Tulsa the coming weekend. That would give them a $600 payday to help get them home. So now their plan is to leave on Thursday instead. I said they were welcome to stay with me until then.

On Tuesday I asked if they would be willing to do some chores to pass the time and help out the fat lazy old man. You know, vacuum the carpet, dust, mop, clean the shower. I never would have asked, but on Monday they spent the entirety of the day sitting on my porch literally doing nothing except smoking cigarettes and talking shit. The highlight of the day for them was when Trent discovered a common green anole. He had apparently never seen one before and it blew his mind. I honestly thought they were bored and would welcome the chance to have something to do and help me out at the same time.

Of course they all got very busy suddenly and had tons of stuff to get done before they left town.  That was fine too. At least they're doing something now and out of the house. All in all over the next two days, after many fits and starts they may have done an hour of housework. No biggie. It wasn't something I was expecting anyway. The only real negative of the 3 days was Trent. He went from annoying hippie loser to certified asshole. They were about to shut off his cell phone and I heard him con his mother with a lot of bullshit about how scared he was living on the street and he didn't want to lose his only lifeline. I also didn't really appreciate that Therese and Atif abandoned Trent all night on Wednesday only reappearing on Thursday morning to pick up their shit (and him).

That weekend they are in Tulsa enjoying a fun artcar party thanks to me and I am at a different local artcar party when out of the blue Kristie asked me what the hell was I doing asking my guest to clean my house? I was taken aback so I refused to discuss the matter with her. After I gathered my thoughts I got to wondering how the hell she even knew about this unless those little bastards were complaining about me behind my back.

Oh yeah, one more thing. Therese has this little dog and she asked me to babysit a couple of times. I didn't really mind too much. Gerald was clearly smitten though.

[wombat]

You guys are very noble. I just had my 11 year old nephew visiting for a day and a half and I am about to lie down and pass out. I wouldn't even let him move in with me, much less a more distant relative or acquaintance.

[wombat]

And I sent him away to do it. That was the brilliant part.

[pmcd9]

Yeah, you must have posted 20 photos of that kid, and he was wearing that mask in every single one. Clearly the kid was nothing more than a prop to you. Ha ha...

[theinevitable]

I like his t-shirt.

[wombat]

I also have that t-shirt, which makes it particularly tragic that I don't have two pug masks.

[jaydub]

My houseguest experience had the best possible outcome.  She spent the hours she wasn't working on the computer applying for housing.  We said our goodbyes Friday morning, as she was arranging repairs for her car financed by her first paycheck.  Future Thanksgivings at my Dad's place look to be free of awkwardness.  So despite my initial misgivings over the hazards of taking in strays, my faith in the essential goodness of mankind has had some reinforcement.  My dad once told me, "Life is  a series of disasters that fail to happen."
Now I just have to get my 24-year old niece to learn to drive so I don't have to pick her up at 10 f'ing 30 at night.

[pmcd9]

I'm loving the feelgood ending.