this is very sad. we have some white trash neighbors. or, a white trash neighbor. the aforementioned white trash (a chick and her boyfriend du jour and four kids by various du jours) will be from this point referred to as WT. this is reason #1623 that she is white trash:
this morning, robbie (WT's son who is the same age as the J-man) came over to play, around 10 a.m. the child is a perfectly nice boy, has some manners, is extremely sweet and cute as a button. we love to have him over. at about noon, WT dropped by and said she was going to her mother's which is "just a few miles down the road" and "robbie knows grandma's number". she would be back in an hour. we of course are completely agreeable, because, well, why not? the kids had a great time, playing rock band, twister, whatever. we didn't mind, because we didn't have anywhere to go. at SIX o'clock, after we'd fed robbie lunch and then eventually dinner, we decided it might be a good idea to check in with WT. we call WT's cell phone number. a pre-recorded message proclaims that "this number is not taking phone calls right now". we ask robbie for grandma's number. turns out robbie doesn't actually know grandma's number. hubs drives robbie home, (it's only about two blocks away but it's cold and dark and we have no idea if there is an axe murderer who's just killed his WT family and is waiting for him to get there too) -- but there was no car in the driveway, the house was black. so hubs brings robbie back. we call 411 for info after asking poor robbie 20 questions about grandma's name, any close relatives, etc. WE EVEN CALL WT's EX's PHONE NUMBER, that i happened to have on a post-it next to my computer. (we actually did not know that he no longer lived with robbie and WT until tonight when we asked robbie another 20 questions) his cell, of course, "is not taking phone calls right now". lovely. seems as if everyone associated with WT neighbor is unlisted. so, it's not a complete urgency, QUITE yet, really, because the kid is safe with us for the time being. but what parent does this? WT, that's who! seven o'clock, eight o'clock, nine o'clock roll by. i am ready to whip out a sleeping bag, call the child welfare people and start the adoption paperwork. finally, about nine-thirty, the phone rings. it is WT. she says that she has been home all along, and after hubs tells her he was there and the house was dark, she says "well i was asleep". what? where are your other children? you just turn off all of your lights, put your children in a closet and nap at six o'clock in the evening??? hubs gets ready to bring robbie home again, and as robbie's putting on his coat he says "if she was home, i wonder where she parked her car?" um. there is no other place to park the car. she wasn't home. she is WT. and i'm sorry that you have to go home to her.
i am really p.o.'d, appalled, and sad. it just hits me hard. am i overreacting? am i just an ultra-conservative-check-in-with-your-kids-every-once-in-a-while parenting nazi? WT doesn't really even KNOW us. if i leave my child with someone for nearly 12 hours i sure as hell am going to make sure i know a lot about them.
dang! i hate stupid parents who don't do their freaking job. their parenting licenses should be revoked. it just hit me that this sort of goes hand in hand with zoe's most recent post. not that drastic, but at least zoe's story will have a happy ending. i hope against all odds that robbie's does, too.
