I AM PEEVED

Sometimes, it does not pay to be altruistic, to trust people. Sometimes, you get screwed.

I'm pissed off. My baby girl is getting fucked. Monetarily. Two thousand large.

Before Meagan moved in here on January 31st (out, promptly, as she told the buyers--many many trips with a U-Haul pick-up truck), she sold her mobile home to a couple with two small children. The woman/girl was young and cute and 21 or so. The "husband" was in his mid-30s and he talked all wide-eyed and without guile. He spoke a good game; I believed that he and she were down on their luck and that they would benefit greatly from getting a home (they'd been living on couches of friends and relatives) for a LOW! LOW! PRICE!

And Meagan did hook those sorry asses up. She surely did. She sold the mobile home for next to nothing and (!) included the appliances--stove, washer, dryer, refrigerator. Sure, the furnace wasn't working well, and, sure, there was a water leak due to the pipes freezing, due to the furnace not working as it should have. And, sure, there was a whole hell of a lot of Meeg's and Nay's "stuff" that they had assured us that they had no problem dealing with, getting rid of, whatever. "My cousins can help me out," Joe said. "They can drive up a big ole truck and haul away whatever you don't want to keep." Meagan and I were quite pleased. We could slice into the Juggernaut o' Stuff and have her and Naomi move in more expediantly. Cool beans.

In the end, Meagan actually cut them more of a deal. She knocked $200 off the already-miniscule selling price because she felt a little guilty for leaving some things behind for them to deal with. And, of course, she felt a little guilty for saddling them with the water bill that was escalated due to the broken pipes.

"No problem," they'd assured us. "We know people. We can get these things fixed."

And...they did. For--obviously--much less than someone not in the "know."

Now, here's the thing: They've been skating on the lot rent for the last two fucking months. The lease is, somehow, still in Meegie's name. Until April 1st. Then, and only then, do the SQUATTERS become responsible for the payment of the rent.

Meagan flat-out told them that she would pay the rent to the community office until they got approved. She told them, hell, write me a money order and I'll make sure that the Central Office gets the payment. They failed to do that. Meagan called them numerous times, trying to get a palaver with them, trying to make good on the payment. They blew her off, they didn't return phone calls...in the meantime, she received eviction notices, sent to her (our) new address.

Yikes.

Basically, what the sons-of-bitches did was SQUAT in the home until they were approved, thinking, I'm sure, well, hell we're not responsible for the payment of the lot rent. We ain't approved yet; the lease is still in Meagan's name.

So, Meagan has gotten court documents. Meagan has been told that, despite the fact that she hasn't lived in the house for nigh upon two months, she still owes the lot rent for the months of February and March.

I--and she--say bullshit.

The outcome is undecided, right now. I think she/we should retain a lawyer. There has got to be a way that the SQUATTERS should have to pay for the home in which they have lived for the last two months.

How does someone do this to someone? How does someone blatantly fuck someone who has given them such a good deal, gone out of her way to help a young "family" with two small children? Where the hell is his sense of decency? Where are his testicles? How does he let his 21-year-old girlfriend, the mother of at least one of the cute kids, work at Burger King while he smokes down, drinks 40s, basically mooches (leeches) off of her?

Legally, I don't know if Meeg has much of a leg to stand on. To help them--and to expediate the process of moving out--she did not go through the Central Office of the mobile home community. She didn't particularly follow the community rules for selling a trailer. She simply signed over the title to the couple with the young kids, the couple that was down on its luck. The law is stringent, sometimes.

In regards to Karma, though, Meegie is standing on fourteen legs. Trying to help people should not Achille-slice someone.

Like I said, the end has yet to play out. There may be a legal loophole.

If not, we'll chalk it up to a learning experience. Sometimes, though, "learning experiences" taste pretty fucking sour.

And, if not a learning experience, perhaps it can be a vengeful experience. She has had, and is still having...evil thoughts.

But, in terms of Karma--and just being good honest people--we think that the Higher Road is a better way to go.

Oh, but I'm peeved.