26 July 2004

"I just went up to the office to talk to Beth."

Beth is the residential coordinator -- or something along those lines -- of the shelter. In other words, the boss.

I replied: "Yeah? Is she still here? What'd you talk about?"

"I went up there and told her that what she said yesterday was really hurtful."

"What'd she say yesterday?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't here. Well, she came in last night, and somebody asked her, 'how are you doing?' And she said, 'Well, I'd be better if I didn't have to be here on a Sunday night. It's my day off.'"

"Are you serious?" I asked.

"Yeah! As if the fact that kids are getting molested is just an inconvenience to that bitch."

"So, when you told her that it hurt your feelings, what did she say?"

"She said she didn't need to defend what she said, and she wasn't going to. Then she asked if I had any more questions. I said, 'nope, I think you just answered everything for me.' Which means that I'm going to ruin this place."

"Shall I email the newspaper?"

"Yeah."

"Anybody else?"

"I'm not sure yet..."

"Is there a police report?"

"Yeah, I filed one. Safeplace wouldn't even call the police. But the detective-sergeant was really, really good."

"Awesome."

"I'll give you the case number later."

"Good. That will help."

Okay, guys... At the moment, I need to go locate a baked potato as soon as possible, but meanwhile, eerybody think good thoughts for the women of Safeplace. Most of us are very tough people, emotionally at least, but a few women are still sort of traumatized. (And believe me, you would be too...) I'm not feeling traumatized in the least though. I feel like kicking some heartless-bitch ass. It's a pretty good feeling, actually. It's sort of similar to the feeling that I own the world.

(I may not own the world, but I surely lay claim to Madison, Wisconsin...)

(I may not be able to ruin this place, but I'm going to fuck some shit up...)

This shit ain't right.

It's more than a fucking inconvenience when kids are in danger.

Oh yeah, and by the way, the molester-kid and his mom have been temporarily relocated, supposedly to a local hotel. NOT, mind you, because they were posing a threat to the other residents, but because, "It's become an unsafe environment for them; the rest of you were ostracizing them and that's really hurtful and wrong." Those words were from boss-lady Beth, as spoken at last night's house meeting. She fled the shelter soon after, because, "I don't want to be here any longer than I have to be." I DID overhear that.

Wish me luck, guys. I need some ass-kicking mojo.

~Helena*