Prison!

The clock reads 5:41 a.m., but I have been awake for over two hours, despite going to bed at nearly eleven last night. I woke up with my head racing and my pulse rate at over 100. No, I wasn't on a caffeine high, I just had a lot on my mind after the latest development in the unbelievable saga that it the end of my marriage.

Yesterday evening, I was expecting Mary and N to drop my son off at about 6.30. At about that time, I peeled potatoes and put some meatballs in the oven. A short while later, there was a knock at the door. I jumped up off the couch and opened the door to find..... not my son, but my sister-in-law.

Puzzled, I invited her in. She looked serious, nervy and on the verge of tears. I was soon to find out why.

She sat on the couch and shakily told me that my son was at her place and so was N.

"Where's Mary?" I asked.

After a pause she said, as clearly and deliberately as she could manage, "She's in jail."

Whaaaaat?????

Apparently, she received a phone call yesterday from her barrister, stating that she had a court appointment. N drove her to the court and attended the hearing. This was not just an initial hearing after being arrested, however. No, that happened about a year ago. This was the actual trial, and she was convicted of theft and sentenced to 9 months in prison! And this is the first I am hearing of it.

I am still in a state of shock. How could she do this, and keep it secret from her entire family? Her sister didn't know until Thursday that there was anything going on, and neither did N. Both were under strict instructions not to tell me. She was apparently led to believe that cooperating with the police would get her a non-custodial sentence. She was wrong.

The person I feel most sorry for is my son. In less than two months, he has been the victim of his parents separation, then just when he'd got into a new routine, he discovers his mother is a convict, and he won't see her again for quite some time. Her selfishness and greed is astonishing. I now need to change all my plans to include looking for a new place and a new school.

When we had finished talking, I went back to my sister-in-law's place to pick up my son. I briefly spoke to N but he was in a worse state than me, and knew little more. The court proceedings apparently went over his head. He did tell me, though, that the house she has been staying in since the end of January is his. She lied about that, too.

I cannot afford to work part time, but I cannot work full-time and be with my son as much as I should. What do I do? He needs me, but he wants to spend time with N. He can't live with N of course. He needs his father now. Whether N even stays around and waits for her release is open to question. I wouldn't blame him if he didn't. If I move closer to work, I could get into work and back quicker to spend more time with him, but then I lose the support of my mother and sister-in-law who can fetch him from school. He wants to change schools, but I can only do that if we move somewhere else.

Just as hard to swallow is the fact that under British law, I have no right to visit her. She has to ask for me to visit. Considering our recent history, that's unlikely. She will most probably call N first, and I have asked him to keep in touch and let me know where she is, since when a prisoner is taken into custody, no-one knows where she will be held. All I can do is wait for her to call and hope that she asks us to visit. I need to know what she did. And why? And what happened to the money? I certainly didn't see any of it, although in retrospect that's a very good thing, because otherwise I might be behind bars myself as an accessory.

Does life get any more bizarre?

I've got some serious thinking to do.