Here Be Dragons

2008-03-14

Okay, here's the story my youngest told me. Colin, her boyfriend's brother is probably an undiagnosed schizophrenic, at least that's what people who hallucinate and deal with a different reality are diagnosed as, in my experience. Shortly after last Thanksgiving Colin lost his job and became homeless. The father told him he could move home despite the fact that my daughter and her BF are renting the house. My daughter objected because 4 years ago he exhibited the same symptoms and they committed him but nothing was done to cure or stabilize him. They medicated him so he would be compliant with them while in their custody but he had no evaluation or psych work up and was released without meds or help or follow up a week later. My daughter felt like the heavy and Colin believed that she was "out to get him" after that fiasco.

So here she is with him foisted upon them again and she doesn't want to be the heavy and put him in the streets but she doesn't want to live with him either. She hates that she's put in this position again and wishes that the Father would grow a pair or at least love his own son enough to get him help, or at least started on the path, but instead they came up with a compromise that Colin could stay but he had to live in the cellar/garage and could not come upstairs into their living quarters. He is after all her BF's brother and he loves him.

This worked for about two weeks and sure enough there is one bathroom and he needs to come upstairs. It's cold down there and it was winter so he would sneak up while they were at work. They ended up paying for his space heater and his food etc. and eventually he had to be told explicitly that he belonged downstairs and he would beg to stay upstairs.

One evening the cops came saying someone had dialed 911. Colin thought he saw a black man in the garage and frightened, he called them, but then wouldn't let them in because he has a warrant on him for some misdemeanor or other. They took the phone from him and found him upstairs in the middle of the night more and more often. They sent him downstairs but he returns over and over. They eventually find him in their bedroom in the middle of the night just staring at them sleeping. He claims that he is guarding them and says he will kill anyone that tries to harm them. They send him back downstairs but wonder about the threat as he could hallucinate that they are the enemy, whatever that is.

The kicker happened like this. My daughter found him outside banging on the back sliders, he was terrified and shaking from fear and cold. He was saying "Pillow Biters! Pillow Biters are in my room biting my pillow!" Now, I've been informed that a pillow biter is a name for a male gay. We also have recently had construction for the rotary before the Sagamore Bridge which is one of the two bridges that give Access to Cape Cod. Also Provincetown is at the very end of Cape Cod and is a gay haven. Now you can understand the rest of what happens.

My daughter asked Colin about the pillow biters and asks for proof. He goes to show her the saliva on his pillow. He actually thought someone was in his bed physically trying to have sex with him and biting his pillow. When no saliva was found he said that it must have dried up. He saw what he saw and experienced what he experienced and he was terrified. He refused to sleep downstairs anymore. He claimed that the new flyover to the Bridge allowed people from Provincetown easy access to their exit (first one before/after the bridge depending on direction)and they had broken in and smeared AIDS germs all over his bed. He wouldn't go anywhere near his mattress.

My daughter and her BF gave Colin another mattress but once it went downstairs it became suspect too and possibly infected. My daughter feels very sorry for him and knows that he is sincerely terrified and that the way he is living and experiencing life is frightening. But she also knows that his break with reality has become so huge that he thinks that THEY are smucked up and not HIM. He knows what he knows and god help him it seems that real to him.

My daughter doesn't want to be the heavy this time. She wants him to get actual help this time and she wants the father or at least the brother to figure it out. Colin thinks she's out to get him from 4 years ago. She gave an ultimatum and I'm pretty sure she's about to land on my porch with suitcase in hand. She hopes that by removing herself from the equation they will be forced to deal with it themselves.

I don't hold out much hope for this situation as the father's first instinct was to just kick him out and force him into a homeless shelter. I don't think my daughter can move into another apartment either .. she has a dog. She's moving out thinking, "for a thousand dollars a month I can get a good apartment without all these problems" but she isn't going to find a yard or probably even a landlord willing to rent to her with a dog. I'm pretty sure she's going to have to return to the father's house they are renting because of it. That's her baby and she'd never let him go.

That's another thing. The father barely works. They're paying his mortgage for him. He works so little that he can't afford to hire his own son to put up siding. And her BF works construction which is irregular at best. I think a few people will find out that my daughter comes in real handy when the bills come due but I am extremely relieved that she will draw a line somewhere when it comes to her welfare.

So, that's her story and she's stickin' to it!
The End

I think I may wear sunglasses and go to the Flower Show tomorrow at the Bayside Expo. I've never been

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