Lifestyles of the Rich and Cruel

This story, emailed to me by a friend in New Jersey just sent me in to orbit. Un-fucking-believable what people are capable of.~ Pato

Last night I took Lisa and some of her friends to a local music and arts festival about an hour away...It was fun hanging out with them, until Lisa and her friend Anna approached me on the side to talk after I dropped the other two friends off.

Lisa is just fine....this was about her friend Anna, who completely burst into tears and fell apart before she could even get a word out to tell me what the problem was. I was amazed when I found out, and it just goes to show that you can never really tell what goes on in people's homes behind closed doors.

Anna is a really sweet kid...she's bright, gentle, no drugs/alcohol use. When I first met her shortly after moving here, she lived in a big house on the river with both her parents. Her folks divorced about a year ago, with the father, who had an affair, moving to Rome and leaving Anna and her mother in this big huge house. The father is/was a fund manager and apparently amazingly rich.

All seemed fine to me, as far as I or anyone else could tell...For the past month or so, Anna has been spending a lot of time here and instead of rotating on whose house they meet up at as it used to be, Anna has been opting not to meet at her house. It's been either here or at the homes of the other two friends. I didn't think anything of it, and not even Lisa knew until a few days ago...

Anna's mother left on July 5th.

She didn't die or anything, she just left...Packed a bag, left a bank book with $105,000 in a bank account in Anna's name, woke Anna up on the morning of July 5th and said she was going to live in London with her "boyfriend"...She gave her a phone number, in London, where she could be reached when she needs more money.

This kid is 16 years old, and has been living alone for the past month with absolutely no idea what to do. Unbelievable.

You'd think this whole thing might be some tall tale from a 16 year old in dire need of attention, but it's not! I knew right off the bat Anna was telling the truth...poor kid just fell apart.

But wait, it gets worse!

Anna spent the night with us (she's still here) and today, I called her father in freaking Rome...Anna had already done this, and told me the father wasn't going to do anything. I couldn't imagine how this could possibly be, so I took his phone number from Anna and called him....Know what he said to me? He told me Anna was "dead in his eyes" and that indeed, he wasn't coming back to the states. He has a new life he told me, and a new baby, and life is good for him now.

Renee (my friend's wife) called Anna's mother, who promptly told Renee that Anna was the reason she and her husband divorced and that she "can't stand the sight of the child"...She's "available for financial support, but not parental support" and "won't be coming back to America".

Anna has both sets of grandparents still alive...The mother's folks who are living, guess where....in London. I spoke to the grandfather, and he said they are in poor health and too old to take care of Anna.

Renee tried to call the father's parents, but their answering machine said they were away for the summer, until after Labor Day. They live in California...Anna doesn't even know where exactly, she hasn't seen or had any contact with them in 6 years.

How on earth can people do this to their child? What kind of people are these? I've been shaking my head all day...I can barely comprehend any of this.

So we've got a houseguest right now...and we have no idea what to do with her.
__________________