Money, Mail and Lies

Bubba called today. He usually gets Ab, and today I answered.

It wasn’t the Bubba that I know. It was someone with what sounded like a contrived, guttural accent, who mumbled and freely used profanity in an effort to emphasis his point. "This is f------ing, pissing me off!" he said. I called him on it, saying there’s no point in using that language while talking to me. To his credit he stopped. Maybe that means he still has some respect for me as his mother.

I was looking forward to talking with him, since the last time he called while talking to his sister, he implied that I lied about sending him his Indian "per capita" check that arrived here last Christmas. He still hasn’t received it, he says.

I don’t lie. I especially don’t lie to my children. I have no reason to lie about forwarding his measly $180.00 per capita check to the address he provided. And I told him that this morning. I told him that I sent the check exactly when I said I did, and it’s entirely possible that someone else, maybe even one of those folks where he’s living, obtained that check and cashed it.

His naiveté was amusing. "No one could cash that check since it wasn’t signed!" he replied. ‘Oh my 18 year old child, you have a lot to learn’, I thought. Then I proceeded to explain how many thousands of checks are stolen and easily forged every day. He listened. I know, in his heart he trusts my judgment, life experience and the knowledge I’ve obtained from 24 years in the criminal justice system.

So, I said, it’s real easy to find out if that check has ever been cashed. You just go to the tribe’s accounting office and tell them what happened. They’ll pull up their records and determine if it’s been cashed, and by whom. If it hasn’t been cashed, they can put a stop payment on it and issue you a new one. Now isn’t that a lot easier that all that resentment that you’ve been harboring for me?

You’d think his "family" as he now refers to them, could have suggested that way of tracking down that check awhile back.

Hmmmmm.