From Dragonfly: The Set Up

Yesterday afternoon, I am playing Canasta with Mama and some other friends, when a case manager (not my own) walks by and says, "[NAME], did you get the good news?"

I say, "good news??" I know that the only good news around here is an out date... she tells me that she saw my name and my date came in... "Really???" I was confused, because my case manager hadn't called me in. So, I quickly - like quicker than quick, walked with this case manager directly to my case manager's office. When we get there, I realize I am wearing a tshirt, shorts and my shower shoes (crocs), this is not how we are supposed to be dressed to talk with staff, but I was too excited to think about anything but seeing if I am actually leaving in 2 weeks.

My case manager and the other case manager proceed to talk to each other about whether or not my date has come in. My case manager says, "I think you're talking about her street date," that's the date for maxing out, not home confinement. The other says, "no, it was a May or June date..." They go back and forth until my case manager opens my electronic file. Meanwhile I am just standing there, heart pounding, thinking, "I'm going home, I'm going home..."

They scroll down my electronic record and lo and behold... nothing. My date has not come in. It was my "street date" that the woman saw, she just hadn't realized that it would start popping up on the "exit soon" report --- I leave within 2 months no matter what, so my name will now be on that weekly report I guess.

I slowly made my way back to my game. My friends looking at me with smiles and excitement. I tell them, "it was a mistake." They seemed as sad about it as me. We all like to see good happen for one another. I went back to my Canasta game... maybe the next time it will be for real.

Meanwhile, we've been having a lot of storms down here in Fort Worth. The age of the main building is showing. When you walk into the building, there are about 25 bucks and a bunch of potted plants lined up to catch the leaks from the ceiling. It kind of reminds me of the bucket game - where you have to throw a ball into a close bucket, then the next bucket, and the next... Only here, the rain falls in all the buckets at the same time. Everything here is really just "cosmetic," the buildings may look good, but they leak. Perhaps, next time their repairs, like the news of my leaving, will be for real.