Other People's Kids

Twitchy Nerves

And now the deed is done. It worked out somewhat differently than planned, with The Wife making the handoff, but the effect is the same.

Then came time to fess up to "Josie". We took the easy way, basically saying that the cop came and asked us to find the item, which he had information that she had. She was mildly upset that The Wife had cleaned her room and said she wished that we had just called her and she would have told us where the item was.

Then there was a pause while I retrieved my jaw from the couch and pushed my eyeballs back into my head.

Oh, my, but this little girl is a cool cucumber. No sign of really any animosity, and maybe a touch of satisfaction with the idea that her rival will potentially be getting into some serious trouble. I don't think she's thought through all the ramifications...but she's been burning up the phone line tonight, and she does seem a bit depressed. I have no idea whether it's related to this issue or not.

At any rate, the touchy part is over (I think), and now my radar is twitching again. She's planning something. Yes, I know I'm being paranoid, but that doesn't mean she isn't out to get me. I don't know if it's in the immediate future or if maybe she's lining something up for spring break at the end of the month, but she's up to something. Her responses to things are all wrong, she's still pulling away from us, and she just overall seems a little...off.

I'm still mortified by the choice we had to make last night, though. I truly hope it does work out all right all the way around. The social workers clearly have more faith in the wisdom of law enforcement and the courts than I will ever have. I hope they're right in this case, because I'd like to believe that I can trust their judgement. We followed their lead this time. Whether we're likely to listen to them next time depends a lot on how this plays out.

posted by Dan @ 6:23 PM