Other People's Kids

Kid: "Josie"

Our first Little Darling arrived yesterday around noon, and we've spent a lot of the time since then getting to know her.

"Josie" (name changed as per the Ground Rules) is a local teenager from a tough family background. She actually seems to like that my musical taste runs to the old and musty, but seems to feel it her duty to introduce me to music that was composed in the last decade. It became immediately apparent that she has an amazing talent for drawing, and she seems a very pleasant kid to be around. We're still wondering when we'll see the supposedly plentiful reasons why her probation officer seems set on her being in residential treatment. Granted, we've only known her a day and a half, but the girl seem pretty clean.

This one is likely to be a trial in some ways if she stays with us long-term, though. She's smart, I think she could be sneaky if she wanted to, and worst of all she has a face like an angel and the kind of figure that's likely to attract lots of boys. Luckily her bedroom window is situated such that late-night escapes will at least be difficult...but who's kidding who. If she wants to sneak out, she's going to. If she does, we'll have to content ourselves with catching her, grounding her, and making her scrub floors and shovel the walks.

But we've talked to her, and she seems to have been pretty honest with us for the most part. The B.S. meter only twitched a few times so far, and she hasn't really pegged it once yet. I think we can help this one, if we get the chance. We have a court date on Friday and should know more after that.

posted by Dan @ 9:00 PM