The Saga of Ellen
    This is not strictly a Mom & Me circumstance, but a while ago I wrote a story about the "Ellen" in the title of this post. A character in the story named "Sam" is the disguise for my mother. The story is, essentially, true.
    Some of the people who are apt to visit this site, mostly relatives, are very familiar with The Saga of Ellen. There is another development that occurred last night that all who follow this saga will find interesting:
    I was beginning to think that Ellen may have moved out of the neighborhood. Night before last, though, she showed up at the door. She asked why we'd been gone so long, expressed concern about my mother's health and said she hoped I was taking care of her, which I assured her I was. Then she asked for a cigarette, which I politely refused by telling her, "No, Ellen, we've talked about that before," and she left.
    Last night, late, just as I was publishing updates, I heard scuffling at the front screened door to my right by about 7 feet. I looked out and saw what appeared to be a human figure in white moving back and forth right in front of our door.
    I rushed outside and discovered it was Ellen, headed back down our driveway, one of our garbage bags in hand, which she had obviously stolen from our garbage bin right by the front door.
    I yelled at her to bring the garbage back. She offered, over her quickly retreating shoulder, that she would throw it away at her house, as though she was doing me some kind of favor.
    I immediately called the police. An officer who was familiar with Ellen and her Saga in arrived 10 minutes later. We compared histories. I knew some of his, he knew some of ours. I mentioned that I knew she was a difficult case because she'd been picked up several times and, except for prowling, up to now she hasn't broken any laws in her dealings with us, she's just a nuisance. I actually didn't mind, I told him, that some of our garbage was going to be thrown away in her can because, moving back in and all, we've got more garbage than we can handle right now. Until it's on the street curb, though, t is our garbage, she is stealing, and suppose there was sensitive material in the garbage?
    The officer decided that it was time to get serious and bring what law can be brought to bear on her. I was relieved he said this. He suggested as a first step that I swear out a "No Trespassing" citation for a year from the date of issue that bars her from our property. If and when she appears on our property, I would call the police (on the non-emergency number, I noted) and they will dispatch a unit out to "take care of it."
    It sounds like a mini-restraining order. Neither I nor the officer are willing to predict what this will accomplish. He did not indicate whether anyone else in the neighborhood had taken such a step, although I can imagine that the neighbor portrayed as "Daniel" in my story probably has. He was pretty proactive and he and his wife remain in the neighborhood.
    The officer filled me in on a bit more of Ellen's background. She does, indeed, live with her mother and she has and lives with a 14 year old daughter who is aware of her mother's "condition". The head of the household, Ellen's mother, does indeed work, often evening and night shifts. She rations Ellen's cigarettes to two a day for financial reasons. The officer said the mother suggested that Ellen has a highly addictive character and would chain smoke them into financial ruin if she were allowed.
    I told the officer of the length of our history with Ellen (since 1998, I believe), some of the ins and outs, and about the story the entire experience prompted me to write. We were both jovial over the entire experience. The officer, much to my relief after years of ineffective measures, took last night's incident much more seriously than I expected, especially when I told him about having car batteries drained on nights when I'd forget to lock a stray door, she'd discover it, prowl through the car for cigarettes and leave the car door slightly ajar to avoid making noise (which she clearly did not attempt to avoid last night).
    At any rate, The Saga of Ellen continues but, at this point, to my amusement. Some things never change. I have visions of Ellen and her mother dying here, Ellen's daughter, about whom the officer said, "seems smart enough", leaving then coming back throughout her life at critical moments in her mother's and grandmother's lives.
    Hmmmm....
- posted by gail rae @ 12:33   email...this post