Day #38 > MONDAY 30th NOVEMBER
Mum greets me in the kitchen – sans collar natch – & she seems a little down, but we make a coffee together & she seems back to Mum by the time we walk Abel. We walk & talk, discussing Bob & Mum drops the big ‘I’ve had enough Tim, I can’t do it any more – I can’t stay with him.’
Gulp. Good.
I let her know that I would adore her living with me anywhere – England, Greece, anywhere! – but it must be her choice & she agrees it is, as she knows she has no future with him. I’m delighted but concerned she’ll be pulled back into Bob’s grasp, but strongly feel that she shouldn’t jump into anything so we agree that it would be wise for Mum to calmly see how her day goes & we’ll address Bob whenever she’s ready, but simply don’t rush it.
Well, of course we’re back in for a maximum of 10 minutes before Mum gives Bob the full beans. She leaves him in no doubt that she will not carry on the way she has been. They go around the houses once again, but she’s not budging. Bob says he won’t stop drinking – ‘why should he?’ he says. I suggest that I take Mum away from this house on a vacation – to England, Greece, somewhere – whilst he gets himself dry, which he will document by a doctor – & once he can prove it Mum will consider returning.
Bob naturally squirmed, but then countered with an offer of him giving up drinking only if I left. Yep. That’s it – I leave Mum alone with Bob to stop drinking? Yeah right, you 🍩 . . .
Unsurprisingly we didn’t accept that, so after the various accusations of Mum only having an ‘illness’ because I was here & that I wasn’t welcome in the house – along with accusing me of being an alcoholic of course – I was to be considered a guest of Mum’s & not of Bob’s. Mmmm. We didn’t bite, & held on to the vacation suggestion despite Bob’s constant wriggling. One whole hour of wringing, squirming, distractions & every trick in the book he knew – but eventually he agreed & confirmed that he’d deal with his addiction on his own without help from others. We’d continue to work on that aspect, but everything else was set. No giving in. No deals. No other option. Nada.
Because we’d never let on that we knew about the beer in the cupboard under his sink, I headed straight there after discovering his whiskey tumbler yesterday, & surprise-surprise, there was the whiskey in plain sight. Sigh. Clearly it needed to go, so to make the point crystal, I told Bob that I knew he had whiskey in the house, & he should remove it to save any temptation – & of course that after wasting a month of our lives by lying & deceiving us that he’d quit, now he had to earn that trust back, so simply pour it down the sink as a sign of goodwill to show you mean it now. He tried his very hardest to wriggle out of it – including telling Mum she had to do it! Telling Mum! She had to do it! Well, suffice to say Bob poured his own whisky down the sink in double-quick time . . . & it was a big bottle – 1.5 litres or so – & not even good whisky, as the bottle was made of plastic. Class . . .
Mum & I made a cup of tea to celebrate!
As we needed some milk & yoghurt I took Mum out shopping for a breather from this atmosphere – & just before we left I handed Bob the olive branch & asked if he’d like anything from the shops? ‘No.’ he replied. Ok, no problem. I mentioned to Mum that I’d asked Bob & she quipped: ‘What, not even whiskey?!’
Oh she’s good!
We escaped, but only for an hour or so, but it was enough of a breather to bring some life back to us both & shake off the dark spirit we’d been slimed with. Once back Mum went off to the garden to do something she loves & Bob was, of course, focussed on his tablet, so I went upstairs to process all along with clearing my inbox.
Returned back downstairs at 6.00pm-ish & frosty would be an understatement. It emerged that Bob wasn’t going to cook tonight so we had cold ham salad rolls; but I left them to it at 8.00pm to visit Dion & Gina next door, as I wanted to run recent events past them to ensure all was fair & ‘right’. We chewed the fat & they confirmed the Congressman’s Office would be the place to arrange a passport if required, & we need to look at photo ID. They confirmed Mum was a different person since I’ve been here & they’re loving seeing the ‘old’ Susan back. Good, confirmation.
Got back to Deweyland at 10.20pm – all was quiet – although Abel was suspicious & greets me with much yapping – but it didn’t appear to stir the Deweys so I headed up to bed at 10.30pm & slept well. Very well indeed.
