Father's Day - 2023 - A day from hell

 Today and yesterday were rough. I mean, they physically and mentally drained me. I am writing this just to get everything down as I remember it... because it is so unbelievable.

About a year and a half ago my daughter Rebecca was on the streets. She had made some very bad choices and for awhile this meant she was sleeping under the stairs in an abandoned building. My daughter.

I arranged for her to come here, I even gave her the master bedroom. This is the room I was using when guests came over... a full size tub, a shower, a place to sit and put on your makeup. It has a queen sized bed, large TV, nightstands that are tied into the smart house so you can tell it "goodnight" and they will fade out so you can sleep. Everything was the best that I had.

She said that she wanted to work, so I let her use my second car... my personal favorite, a Pontiac Vibe that I bought in 2003. Even though it was an older car, it ran well, the AC was ice cold, and it got good gas mileage.

I told her, "Rebecca, I usually drive less than 9000 miles (14,000 km) in the course of a year. I said at that rate, this car should last about 7 more years... or at least 5. Just take care of it. I spent $400 to get new tires on the car. In less than a month this is what I had to deal with.

That was last year... she had a flat... instead of stopping she drove until she smelled smoke. This was the result. We got it repaired and I explained that she had to stop if that happened. I have AAA Insurance... All it needs is a phone call and I can get help.

Not long after that, she had a problem with the car... did she call the insurance? No, she hitch-hiked home and left the car on the side of the road. I called AAA insurance, but now it was during the busy part of the day. Someone had to be at the car to meet the tow truck... so I had to drive there and wait because Rebecca didn't do what I requested the night before... so at 9:00 am I got there and sat in the hot sun waiting... 90 minutes... No tow truck. I called again, they said they were running late, it would be another hour. I waited... nothing. Twice more this occurred... I was hungry and they were not supposed to come for at least another TWO hours, so I drove to a nearby restaurant to get a meal at about 3:30 in the afternoon after sitting in the hot Texas sun all day.

As soon as my food was served, the tow truck called and said he would be there in a few minutes. I explained what happened, and said I was going to be 30 minutes, and in an angry voice he said he would not wait long. I got there and he towed the car to the repair center... but it was a longer distance than what the insurance pays, so $50 later we finally got to the repair center.

I put $2500 into the repair. I wanted her to be safe, I wanted her to be able to work.

I told her to only drive when she needed to... but she didn't care... she would drive to Galveston TX and back... then get bored and drive to North Austin... I had installed a Bouncie GPS tracker so if she got stuck I would know where. It often showed 500 miles in a single day (800 km). I told her several times not to do that... did she listen? No. The Bouncie Tracker showed that on some days she made as many as 19 trips... in a single day. 

.

To put this in perspective, I might go to the grocery store, then later stop by the drug store to get my medicine, and maybe go out to get a meal... 3 trips. 10 miles (16km) total. She routinely ran 90 miles (145km) in a single day.

At first, she asked me to pay for gas... and I finally said no. I cannot afford to give you $200 a week in gas money. No! She found ways of getting money... and for the most part didn't ask for any.

So let's go to yesterday, June 17th, the day before Father's day.

She has issues... she thinks the world is out to get her... she can be delusional... loose track of reality.

 She thinks strange things. 

She called me and said, "somebody pumped all the gas out of the car, I think it might have been the government to keep me for going anywhere." You and I would see the simple fact... she did not check the gas gauge and was on empty, the light came on. When the warning light comes on, the car can go about 16 miles (25km) before it stops. She asked me to send her $30 for gas. I sent $20... enough to get her home and leave about 1/4 tank as a spare.

Did she come home? 

No. She drove to Austin... 40 miles away. And then a bit later she said the car was running bad... and pulled out the GPS tracker... she said, "Dad, the tracker is causing the problems, are you too dumb to understand that?"  I now had no idea where she was. There was a location showing, but it was 6 hours old, and the tracker showed as disconnected.  I told her the tracker was not causing an issue... it only reads the data from the car. I got her to put it in after a 20 minute argument... the car had a CYLINDER 3 MALFUNCTION warning... listed as "do not drive" as it can cause engine problems such as damage to the timing belt, etc.

She had texted me for early in the morning on the 17th, asking for money... but before I could get downstairs to my phone I had recieved an alert... "THIS IS THE BANK - DID YOU JUST ATTEMPT TO CONNECT YOUR DEBIT CARD TO APPLE PAY?"

I answered NO... and they immediately called me... I had to lock the card, and they said they would send another card. The person was not able to activate it because I have great fraud protection. Then guess what???

"THIS IS THE BANK - DID YOU JUST ATTEMPT TO CONNECT YOUR DEBIT CARD TO APPLE PAY?"

No! It was my other card... same thing... I handled them... and did some research... there was a phone number associated with the attempted hack... it was Rebecca's Phone.

Instead of contacting me first... she had written down my debit card numbers and was attempting to attach her account to MY DEBIT account... to steal money from me.

I asked her about that... asked why she would do that to me? 

Here is what she said... actual copy from the text message...

I told u I believe someone in my phone. someone stole my new grey phone. That has my number and accounts and photos. I do not have Apple Pay. I don't know what Apple Pay is.. I tried to apply for it and they declined me.

A month before, when I was in California... there were bills for Pizza Hut and Apple Pay for her Spotify account, the pizza was delivered to my house, and the other charges were all associated with her, my card had been attached to her account, I found $210 in activity that I reported. 

So really? Another blatant lie.

 I told her  to call the insurance... and wait for the tow truck... even though I knew this was going to be a $150 tow. Did she? No. She pulled the Bouncie tracker out and decided to drive. I had no idea where or how far. She would not answer my calls or texts.

It was now about midnight... I went to bed, nothing I could do... just wait and see how it all played out. It was very stressful, at about 3am I finally got to sleep.

So now Father's Day... June 18th, before sunrise...

At 5:15AM I hear a noise downstairs... still half asleep, I say, "Hello? Is anyone here??" No answer... well, I went downstairs... and I noticed the bathroom light was on and her jacket was on the table. I looked at my video camera... she came in, went to the bathroom, and went out. I tried to call... of course, no answer.

Several hours later she came home... around 10am I think...like nothing had happened, saying in a cheery voice, "Happy Father's Day!"

As I said, she gets delusional... I tried to talk with her... she went on about how congress and the white house were tapping her phone, and stealing her money... and messing with her bank records, and that I must be stealing money from her. Her father... stealing from her... after having her stay here rent free.

That was not what I expected to hear on Father's Day...

Then she went on saying that she knew she grew up here in Texas where I live, but she said she grew up with with her real parents... not me... and that I was a government plant, a fake parent. 

In reality, she grew up in Gretna Louisiana... she had never been to Texas until I brought her here last year. I even tried showing her childhood pictures. She said they were all faked by the government with Photoshop.

How do you suppose that made me, her father, feel on Father's Day?

I compose myself... I say that I will go with her, and we will put gas in the car... and get it home safely. It is on the side of the road about 10 miles (16km) away. 

She swore that she never got the $20 that I sent the day before... let's think about this... She was 6 miles South of me (10km) and she KNEW she had a nearly empty tank... if she did NOT get the money... why would she drive right past the house, and go an additional 40 miles (64 km) then attempt to drive another 40 miles (64km) home... KNOWING she had only a 16 mile (25km) total maximum range??? 

We get to the car and she hands me the gas can... it's got no cap, no hose. No way to put gas into the car... and you can't drive with an open gas can... it would spill all over. This meant I had to drive to Walmart, purchase a gas can, then drive back to the car again.

I decided that since there was a restaurant next to Walmart... we would get lunch, then take care of the car as it was very hot 100F / 38C and we both needed hydration. We got lunch, and I spent $26 on a new gas can... then filled it, and headed to the car. We put gas in the car and I told her to drive home, but go slow or engine damage could occur.

I has stopped on the service road and walked a few hundred feet through the weeds to where the car was... after putting gas in the car, I had to walk back to my car then drive. I got home with about 20 minutes later, and after 10 more minutes... still no Rebecca. I tried calling, no answer. 

I tried looking at the tracker, disconnected. No idea. Did she break down? Was she hurt? 

I left a text, "I thought you were coming home... where are you? Did you break down?"

Then I get a text after about 1/2 hour later... 

Did I have to come home? Got my boy looking at the car although it's running great. He's gonna check stuff for me.

About three hours later she came home. When she went to her bedroom, I went to the car... I started it and went around the block... it was NOT running fine. I decided that I had enough... I disabled the car so it would not start. 

I figured that I would fix the car, sign the car over to her... she would have to be responsible for the insurance, the inspections, her tolls, getting the car repaired, etc. If not the police and her would be involved when she had no plates, and her choices would have consequences. But I would be removed from that liability.

Now here is the really weird shit... as if it was not strange enough already.

I live on a hill... a substantial hill with a curving road leading down to the pool and then to the lake. Ok... top of the hill... and it goes DOWN from my house... got that mental picture?

She gets in the car after I told her not to drive it... tries to start it... and of course it does not start. I figured that would end it... perhaps an argument, then I could deal with things. 

So what does she do??? 

She puts the car in NEUTRAL and pops the brake. Let me explain that to you... the car has POWER BRAKES... they work when the ENGINE IS RUNNING. The car has POWER STEERING, it works when the ENGINE IS RUNNING. I have disabled the car from being able to start...

Without the engine running... you need 3x the force to turn the steering wheel. You need to use 2x the force to pump the brakes... and they do not work well.

So... she puts the car in NEUTRAL and starts coasting BACKWARDS down the hill. BACKWARDS!

She is going 30mph / 48kph down the winding road... BACKWARDS... with cars on either side. She only had a few feet /2m on either side... more than that and she would hit another car. And if any kids were in the streets... she would have hit them.

Somehow... she got all the way to the pool area... past all the kids... and pulled to a stop at the end of the road. thankfully, she hit nothing.

I drove down there and caught up with her... I told her to give me the car keys. She said NO!  I said, "it's my car, my rules and you need to stop... give me the car keys!" She said, "No! Fuck You! I have places I need to go." I said, where are you going now? She said, "To the other pool, I need to get away from you."

The other pool is about 1/4 mile (0.4km) away... so I let her go. That was at 4pm. It is now midnight, I just heard her come in the door, walk to her bedroom, and lock the door.

Those actions all forced my hand... so I have a few things I must do now...

Here is what is happening now... she has forced my hand. I must get the car out of my name... and if left here, she may try doing stupid things like this again. I cannot have that responsibility, and I am not going to pay several hundred dollars to repair the car... she has severely abused it... the passenger mirror it torn off, the inside of the car is filled with half-eaten food and empty cans, it is horrible.

I cannot keep the car... she will just drive it until failure, and do stupid things that I cannot be accountable for. I have hidden my car keys to the second car, the one that I'm driving now, so she will not be able to steal mine. 

Because she did not surrender the keys to the other car after the pool incident... I had to make a hard decision... my friend and I drove the car to a secret location and parked it. 

In the morning (Monday, June 19) I will call the Make-A-Wish organization and donate the car to them. They will either fix it and sell it, or destroy it and sell it for scrap... it was my favorite car that has worked well for me all this time. I'm very sad about that... I was certain I would have the car at least another 5 years... and it would be nice to have a spare if the other car had problems.

Such was Father's Day... very difficult... draining... strange.

June 18, Midnight... all my body hurts... my head hurts. I have no energy... totally physically and mentally drained. And tomorrow I have to deal with all this stuff... I have to call my new boss and tell him I need more time off work on a busy day to handle my own personal hell.

There is so much other stuff that I didn't put into this post... about 40 text files where she is talking about strange impossible things... and conversations while we were driving about imaginary planets in the solar system that she can control with her mind... I just do not know how to deal with this.

But by getting rid of the car, and canceling the insurance on it... I do not have to worry about her getting into an accident and me being liable for all the damages and if she ever hurt or killed someone.

 She will need to figure out how to get where she wants to go... I have no idea how she will get to work 40 miles away... but I no longer care.When she realizes the car is gone she will be screaming at me to take her to work (a 75mile / 120km drive round trip) then in 8 hours go do it again... not going to happen. Sorry. No. So I have that to look forward to today... on top of getting my car inspected and getting ready for yet another business trip.

I tried to work with her... I think I was reasonable... even beyond anything most people would ever do. But I can't do it anymore.

So yeah.. Happy Father's Day From Hell to me.