Interruption for a history lesson

I guess some history on Keith is essential to this story. He is the third of six children. Brother Joe, Becky, Keith, Scott, Danny, and Dale. Keith told me that Becky was sexually abused by their father for years. She told Joe and Keith at various times, but they didn't believe her. Neither did their mother. And so it continued until she was old enough to run away and join the military.

Keith married Susan when he was only 18 or so. He also joined the Marines Reserves as a telephone installation tech. He asked Susan to wait 5 yrs then they could have kids. She got pregnant within a year. Their son Tony was born. When he was only 3 months old, Keith was tripping on acid and swears he had a real conversation with Tony. He also gave him oral sex "so his first experience would be a loving one before some sick son of a bitch like his dad got to him" Ummm, right. Talk about sick logic.

Shortly after this, Keith started cheating on Susan with Teresa. He left Susan. At one point Susan tried to start crap with them and Teresa beat the living snot out of her. Keith and Susan divorced. He was UA (Unauthorized Absence - worse than AWOL) from the Marines. He married Teresa, with the same request of waiting 5 yrs before having kids. Then he made a deal with the military. He would join the Army on active duty if they would forgive his UA from the Marines.

Well the Army screwed up royally and put him Intel, like he didn't already think too much of himself.

Roach infested hole

That apartment we took in Fell's Point was really a tiny kitchen, a tiny bathroom, and a small living/bed room. There were roaches galore and we caught several mice. Keith drowned 1 and dropped the other out of the 4th floor window (torturing small animals anyone?) He "wallpapered" one whole wall with centerfold pinups from rags like Cheri.

I either rode the bus or walked to and from work. Keith hated that I worked on the 18th(?) floor of a bank and that he couldn't just pop in to see me. He had to be announced by the guards on the ground floor. In his mind, that announcement/ride up the elevator gave me time to get dressed and clean up all the sex scenes, etc because I was surely screwing all the guys in the office. In reality, I was bored out of my skull. I learned all the products quickly and became very proficient in processing the paperwork. Too proficient. I started calling off sick beyond my number of sick days and vacation days. I was counselled but too valuable to fire. I made friends with Jackie, one of the admin assistants. Keith partied and partied and partied.

Burger King came out with a promotion involving Pound Puppies. Keith wanted us to collect the whole set for a gift for his daughter. I had all but the last Puppie and the BK close to my office was sold out. It was the last day of the promo. I called around and found a BK that still had some. Now, this was in the days of cell phones that looked like suitcases, and our home phone was turned off due to lack of payment on the bills. So I had no way to contact Keith. I know it was his day to go cash his check at a bar, so I figured it would be okay if I chased down that last Puppie. Jackie and her husband gave me a ride. Mission success! I got the last one they had.

When I got home, I was all content and proud of myself. Keith was sitting there in the roach motel in the dark, drunk and fuming. He was sure I'd been out screwing around and verbally beat me to a pulp. He ate the cold BK food in a very disgusting display. Eventually, he was exhausted and passed out. I quietly laid down next to him and cried myself to sleep. Sometime in the night, he woke up in that drunken stupor mumbling something about having to take a piss. Well, he must not have realized where he really was (or maybe he did) because he pissed all over me.

Finally

Okay Linda. For you....

We only stayed in the house in Joppa Town a few months. We found out that his sister Becky was not paying the rent. I have no idea what she did with the money we gave her for our half. So, we all lost the house and Keith and I moved in with his parents. He got a better truck driving job out of Bmore. His parents' trailer was an hour or more from the truck yard so we soon moved in with his eldest brother's family just outside the city. The deal for staying there was that we didn't have to pay rent, but had to buy half the food for the house. Well Joe and Deb were some big people with 2 BIG boys and a small boy and small girl. It would have been cheaper to pay their rent and half the utilities! Keith was bringing home some decent money but working very very very long hours. His run was up to Long Island and he made it every single day of the work week.

Gee how long do you think that lasted? To his credit, he then took a job as an electrician for Benfield Electric (one of the bigger companies then) and I got a job at Md Nat'l bank. We moved out and got our own apartment in Fell's Point, which is a pretty cool neighborhood not far from downtown Bmore.