"Oh, hell no." That was Terry's firm answer when Matt asked if Frank could crash for a few weeks until he figured something out. "Matthew, I have a life here; I am busy, I have plans, and I don't need him here messing things up."
"Mom, it'll only be a few weeks until I can figure this out." Matt looked her directly in the eye, "It's here or the sidewalk for Frank. I promise it won't be long." He looked down from his 6 foot frame with that boyish smile, "I'll make it up to you. After I get him an apartment, we'll go shopping at Peddler's Village to that kitchen store that you like and then we'll go to that colonial restaurant." They both knew she would relent, Terry never could say no to Matt and that charming smile.
"I do love their pork tenderloin. Did I tell you that I went there with Elaine? She couldn't believe that it was pork tenderloin, it was so tender. I said, Elaine it is pork tenderloin, then Elaine said, no Terry I can't believe it, then I said . . ."
"Ok mom, so it's all settled, I'll bring Frank on Monday after we pick up his stuff with the truck." Matt had to cut her off, she would have gone on for an hour with stories of her and Elaine's escapades.
Early Monday morning, Matt picked up a U-Haul and he and Frank emptied the old house of all Frank's worldly possessions. Television and stand, dresser, bed, bags and bags of clothes and shoes, and Panser the schnauzer. "C'mon Frank, we've got to hurry, I have to be at work by 9." Somehow Matt managed to drive an hour to Upper Darby, get a truck, load Frank's stuff, bring it to Plymouth Meeting, drop off him and his belongings at Terry's and still get to work on time.
"Frank, put your things in the back bedroom." Terry commanded. She was annoyed at having this invader, even if it was her son, with his smelly bags of clothes and not to mention that scruffy dog, in her neat, cozy home. She didn't even know what to do with him or what to say so she did what she did when the boys were kids; she started cooking. Meatloaf with stewed tomatoes, noodle kugel, broccoli cheese casserole and apple cream pie. Low fat and low calorie was not on the menu tonight. As annoyed and uncomfortable as Terry felt about this arrangement, Frank was delighted. He missed his mom and her good home cooking and he was so happy to just have some company.
Matt and I went over for dinner that evening. Terry was a little more quiet than usual and Frank also seemed distant. There was a sad vacancy in his eyes that was not there before. I chalked it up to the stress he had been through. Dinner conversation was difficult, so we talked about the dog. "So, how is Panser getting along Frank?" I asked. " Oh, he's great. I took him for a walk and he did his business." Frank answered. "Yeah, I had to ask him to walk the dog three times and then he peed on my rug anyway. You're going to have to keep that dog caged up, I won't have that Frank." Terry seemed a little more angry that she should have been, but I guess it was a stressful day. "So Frank, how are you going to get to work now? Are you going to take the train?" Matt asked. "Oh, uh, no, uh, I got fired." Frank stammered. This was a surprise; the three of us stopped eating. "My gosh Frank, what happened?" Matt asked. "You know, they were always taking my customers and giving them to the other salespeople . . and stuff like that. I don't know why. They're my customers and then they get the sale. They said my . . . uh , , , my volume was down." "Frank, you've been working there for three years, how could they do that?" Matt asked incredulously. Terry said sarcastically, "Great, how can this day get better?"
The evening went from bad to worse at that point. The only good thing was the food, which was very good, as usual. Terry was a phenomenal cook. She was one of those people that made everything look easy. If she was bringing a dish to your house, it came piping hot in a special dish and was always amazingly good. She may have gotten her start in the school cafeteria, but her natural talent and interest propelled her into corporate catering for a short time. If we were invited to Terry's for dinner, you can be sure that it was something to look forward to.
We decided to cut the evening short since Terry seemed stressed and Frank seemed to be tired. Terry told Frank to take the dog out again so Frank walked us out to the car. We walked silently to our car and Frank disappeared into the darkness with Panser after quick goodbye. No thank you, no conversation, just silence. After all Matt had done for Frank, just a thanks would have been nice, but either Frank forgot how to be polite or maybe he was just tired.
We called Terry a few days later to see how it was going. "When did you say he's moving out?" "Why mom, is everything okay?" Matt asked worried. "I just have a weird feeling. He just stands there and doesn't say anything, he just looks. Then, I came home yesterday and I made some lunch, went through the mail and I just sat down to watch tv, when suddenly Frank came out of nowhere and stood behind me. Scared the bejeesus out of me, I'll tell you. Something is not right." Terry exploded. "I'm sorry Mom, I really appreciate what you're doing. I'm doing my best. Susie is calling some places today." Matt replied.
I called some craigslist ads. I got a call back two days later from one. "We don't like troublemakers. Is this for you?" The woman asked. "Well, no. It's for my brother-in-law. He's getting a divorce and he needs a place to live." I explained. "Does he work? Because I'll need a letter from his employer proving that he has a job." the potential landlady said. "Well, he just got laid off, but my husband and I will guarantee the rent. We can co-sign the lease for him if that's okay." I answered. " He sounds like a troublemaker, I don't know." the landlady said. "Oh, no, he's great; he's a great guy." I tried to sound positive. "Well why is he getting a divorce then?" the landlady wanted to know. " It's all his wife's fault, she's the troublemaker, she's just no good." I threw Kat under the bus. "Well, let's set up an appointment when we can get together. I don't rent to anybody until we get to know each other. I don't rent to just anybody, we don't need any trouble." the landlady explained. " Umm, okay, let me get back to you when I know my schedule." I lied. Scratch another apartment off the list. I'm pretty sure as soon as she meets Frank, she'll get the weird vibe the rest of us are getting too.
"Matt, let's look in Upper Darby. I'm sure Frank wants to be back in his neighborhood instead of all the way out here. Everyone wants to know your life story here, I don't know how anyone rents an apartment." I said. The next day I called an apartment building that seemed promising. I got an actual person who said that I could fill out an application and send in a $50 fee and then I could get the apartment. 'Wow" I thought, "this sounds great". Matt went over that weekend to see the apartment and pick up the application. He filled it out there and handed over the $50 fee. "Okay, when can we move in?" Matt wanted to know. "First we must do a credit check. You have bank send statement then we let you know." the woman tried to explain in her hispanic accent.
After sending the bank statement, filling out the application, and handing over $50 we never heard from them. I called every day for a week. Sometimes a hispanic man would answer and say she wasn't there, sometimes I would leave a message. Finally after a week, the woman answered the phone. "You did not get the apartment, I'm sorry." "What? Why did you collect $50 if you weren't going to give us the apartment?" I demanded to know. "I do security check, sorry, it no good." she replied. I don't know why, but this hit me like a ton of bricks. He's been arrested for violating the PFA, he's been arrested for the trumped up forgery, DUI, of course it's going to come up. I realized that we are never going to find an apartment. I even placed an ad on craigslist appealing to other divorced dads that might have an extra room to rent. I did get one response from a guy that sounded really nice and offered to go out for a beer and discuss what it's like to divorce a bitch. Of course, he thought my emotional, well thought out plea was Frank, who was actually incapable of such deep thoughts or emotions. I just ended up deleting the ad and feeling guilty for deceiving him.
"We might have to let him move in with us for a while, I don't know how much longer my mom will let Frank stay." Matt said one day about three weeks later.
"Are you kidding? There is no way he is moving in this house. We have children, all our spare bedrooms are filled and the kids and their friends play in the basement." I pushed back. "How about some type of group home?" I offered. We looked into that and found that there must be some type of insurance plan or welfare, which we had neither, otherwise it was quite expensive. One day after talking with a friend, Matt came home and said "I was talking to Joe and he said I should ask Pat." Pat is a fantasy football buddy "His wife is divorcing him and he got the kids and the house, but he's having a hard time making ends meet. He may actually lose the house. Frank could help him pay his bills and Pat could help us out."
"That sound good Matt, I could use the help. I might be able to get him a job too. Does Frank know anything about newspapers?" Pat inquired.
"Oh, yeah Pat. Frank delivered newspapers on the side for years. He could definitely help out with that."
"I'm just so tired from getting up at 3 in the morning, maybe some days Frank could run my route and I'll take something off his rent." Pat offered.
"Speaking of rent, how much were you thinking Pat?" Matt asked. "Six-fifty should do it Matt." Pat stated. "Is Saturday okay?"
Pat could have said sixteen hundred fifty and it would have been okay with Matt. He needed to get Frank out of Terry's space and this was the best option. Not only that, but Frank could earn money toward his rent running Pat's route. Maybe Frank could even get his own route. "This is awesome!" Matt thought.
Saturday came and we moved Frank into a bedroom in Pat's house. It was a nice four bedroom house. A little messy, but considering it's just Pat, a ten year old boy and twelve year old girl, it's understandable. There were toys littering the floor in every room. The kitchen sink was piled with dirty dishes and the counters hadn't been wiped or decluttered in a long time. It didn't matter, we were just happy to have a place to park Frank. "Thanks alot Pat, we're really grateful." Matt said.
"Don't mention it Matt, I can't wait to sleep in as soon as Frank can take over a day or two of my route. In the meantime, he can help do the frags and I'll give him a couple bucks for that." That involved placing the ads inside the newspaper, an easy, but time-consuming job.
Frank looked like a lost puppy when we left him there sitting amid his box barricade in the bedroom of Pat's house. "Frank unpack your stuff and get organized." Matt suggested. "Okay Matt" Frank replied bewildered looking.
"Matt, something's wrong with your brother." Patt called one day about a month into the new living arrangement.
"What's up Pat?" Matt asked, concerned but not surprised that something was going wrong already. "Frank has been going out with me running my paper route every day for three weeks. You said he had experience, he said he knew how to do it, but I'm about to get fired over him and this was only his first day on the job."Pat was upset.
"Oh no, I'm sorry Pat. What happened?" Matt asked.
"Well, he left here at 3(AM) and didn't get back until 8. He should have been back by 5. My supervisor called me and said he's been getting calls all morning that papers are missing. They had to send someone else out to run my route and we didn't even know where Frank was. When he finally came back at 8, the car still had all the papers in it." Pat explained.
"What did he say when he got back?" Matt asked.
"He said he got lost, but we've been over this route for weeks; he said he knew it. Matt, I can't let him do this. I need this job and if he screws up again I'm going to get fired. I'll still let him do the frags, but he's not going to be able to do my route." Pat said. "And another thing Matt, when I agreed to let him move in, I kind of thought it would be nice to have someone to talk to or help out. He just stays up in his room all the time. I don't know what he's doing, but he rarely comes out. I don't want to leave him alone here when the kids are here."
"I understand Pat, I don't blame you." Matt responded.
"I'm also a little worried about the dog. He leaves him in a crate in the garage most of the time. I see him take Panser out for walks but he always puts him back in the crate. It just seems a little sad for the poor thing." Pat said.
"I'll come over and talk to him Pat, thanks for letting me know." Matt offered and hung up. Something is seriously wrong here, I think we need some outside help, Matt thought.
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