The rest of the story......

Holy cow!! I got a comment!! :::woot::: LOL...... Busy doesn't hardly cover Deb, seriously..... Ok....so, the rest of the story....

In the midst of my searching....I had a job change. Now Jackie couldn't contact me if she tried. I didn't give up though....I kept bugging the people at the # she'd given me....kept searching the streets of downtown KC. Finally, *finally*, I got hold of someone at that # who told me he not only knew who Jackie was but *where* she was! Gah....I was soooo excited....I gave him my #'s to give to her and totally expected to hear from her in the next day or so. Didn't happen. For several weeks I called the # and got hold of the same guy....he kept telling me he hadn't been "over her way" yet but he was going "tomorrow" yada yada. Then, during one of the calls, he mentioned that Jackie's "landlord" was about to kick her to the curb because she wasn't paying any rent, she was like 6 months behind. Now, a couple of things that I'd found out while working with the homeless (and in particular about this "landlord") is, if they think they have something you want, they will milk you for money the best way they know how. This "landlord" is basically a "slumlord" .....the # I was calling was one of his houses and he basically letting several people live there at the same time, collecting $$ from all of them. Real winner he is, for sure. Another thing I learned was specifically about Jackie......she's got pride. In all the time I'd known her, she'd NEVER ever asked for *anything*, much less money (exception being when she asked us to take her to drug rehab). She would actually get upset if we spent money on anything for her....very proud she was. So, I knew this guy was yanking my chain, so to speak. Jackie would never ask for money, or even hint that she needed it. I'd had enough, I called the Missing Persons unit of the KCPD to see what, if anything, I could do about filing a report on Jackie seeing as how I'm not family/relative. The detective I spoke with, God bless him, not only was able to tell me (in not so many words) about the "slumlord" associated with the #/house I was calling, he was able to confirm that, at least as of Feb of '07, Jackie was alive. He checked with the morgue and didn't find anything there either. He advised me to push a little harder on the person at the #/house and if I didn't get anywhere, call him back. So, I pushed....I was plenty pissed off so there wasn't alot of incentive needed. I called the #, got hold of the guy who immediately said to me "I'm so glad you called...I lost your #'s, really I did, and I'm going over there today" yada yada. I said that was fine, gave him the #'s again and then told him that I'd better hear from Jackie in the next 24 hours or I'd be filing a Missing Persons report, that I'd already spoken to a detective...that I was very concerned because I *knew* that if Jackie had my information and could call me, she would....that's how tight our bond was. She wouldn't let anyone, or anything, stop her from contacting me...short of being dead. Imagine my surprise when he said that the "landlord" was standing right there and wanted to talk to me. I immediately said that if he was going to ask me for money, he was barking up the wrong tree because 1) I didn't have any extra to give and 2) Jackie wouldn't ask for it. The guy told me no, it wasn't anything like that. So, I talked to the slumlord....and within 2 minutes had Jackie's cell #. Gah....I actually had her #......I tried to remind myself not to get my hopes up, that this could all be a trick or a lie.....something. He kept me on the damn phone for a good 15 minutes, all I wanted to do was hang up and dial that # he'd given me, but I tried to be nice and polite. Finally, he was done and I took a deep breath and dialed.

In less than 2 rings I heard a deep Southern, gritty Cajun voice say ... "Baby girl?!?! That you?!?!" I'm a baby....I started crying. After searching for as long as I had, to finally hear her voice and *know* that she was alive and (at least sounding) well....it overwhelmed me. She laughed and told me to stop crying, that she was ok, just fine...."fat 'n sassy"......in short order? She was....Jackie. Just Jackie. And I couldn't have been happier about it. LOL. This all happened on a Friday, a couple of weeks before Christmas...ok, if you insist....it was December 12th, approximately 3pm....wha?? You didn't think I'd remember something this important?? LOL. After talking for about 20 minutes, we made plans for me to come visit her the next day where she's living.

We spent about 2 hours the next day, catching up, laughing, crying.....the whole nine yards. I wish I could say that things are wonderful and perfect, but, this is real life....you take what you get, right? She's living in a basement, and I use that term very loosely, that I wouldn't want my worst enemy's dog to live in. She keeps it clean, cleanliness isn't the issue....it's the condition of the said "house", her asshole neighbors upstairs and the slumlord. She has a roomie, a buddy of hers named Mike (it's a brother/sister situation, no worries on that), he works thru temps services etc......she's got bad knees and can't work a lot but plans on working the sports arena when baseball season starts up again. Between the two of them, and the church up the street, they (barely) keep their heads above water. The jerks upstairs.....lordy but what a mess they are. White trash, alcoholic, meth-smoking punk ass jerks. And that's just the "mom". And I use *that* terms very very lightly. There's mom (in her 50's), 2 daughters (late teens and early 20's) and an asshole son (late teens) .....and 1 granddaughter (a baby, belongs to the early 20's daughter) and 1 grandson (4 yr old, part-time) that belongs to an older son who *doesn't* live with them. Seriously...they are one hot mess. They don't like Jackie and Mike living downstairs, stomp on the floors at all hours, the baby cries, the toddler throws tantrums, they (the "grown ups", including the teens) yell and scream and curse at the kids......they play thumping, punk-ass music from morning til late late night....."mom" spends her disability checks on alchol and drugs, the older daughter gets food stamps and WIC, the late teen daughter supposedly goes to school and the boy? He's just a lazy ass jerk who thinks he's all bad and intimidating. Ha. There's a story about him that I'll have to share on another day......it's a hoot. I'll give you a hint.....for some unknown reason the slumlord believes that I work for Social Services....I don't, but he thinks I do....and he told the family that. Boy, are they on their best behavior when I come around.... LMAO......