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Janelle Stone was furious. She was sick of the State of New Mexico “legally” screwing her. Ever since she came to the damn state, she couldn't get away with shit. Sometimes she did shit she shouldn't do but for the most part, it was simply a matter of other people and the state picking on her for no reason at all. If she wasn’t totally innocent, her charges had been trumped up and downright ridiculous. Janelle didn't miss New York because of the weather but she missed the freedom. New York would never make such a big stink out of nothing as New Mexico did. Maybe it was time to ditch Steven and head for some other state. It's just that she didn't want to make her life even harder by having to be independent.
Until she decided what to do with herself, she was on probation. Again. She hated her probation officer, too. His name was Boris and he was one of the worst POs she’d ever had because he was constantly breathing down her neck like the boss from hell. He was always there. She felt like a child all over again being ordered around by this all-too-serious guy. He had no sense of humor as if a probation officer was required to have one in the first place, and there was something about his attitude that made Janelle feel all the more defiant.
When the doorbell rang one day, Janelle opened the door with concern and confusion on her face when she found Boris standing just outside. “What's wrong?” she asked feeling her heartbeat start thudding in her chest uncomfortably.
“Oh, nothing,” Boris said. “Just here for another check.”
“After just two days since your last one?” she asked, reluctantly stepping aside for him.
“Well, that's just probation for you. Unpredictable.”
“Are you sure nothing's wrong, like anyone who's threatened to harm me or anything? Because this sure seems a bit extreme.”
“It's just how it is,” Boris said, hating it when Janelle played the victim as she often did. “When you're on probation you just gotta expect the unexpected.”
Without hiding her impatience and annoyance, Janelle filled out the standard report form, and then Boris left.
Boris always tried to remain neutral and professional where his clients were concerned but there was something about this one that really bugged him. He just did not like Janelle Stone. He didn't know that he could go so far as to say he literally hated her. But he definitely had a strong dislike for the woman. It was common for his clients to swear they were innocent but this one went beyond playing innocent. She played the victim. He was fully aware of her past issues with the law. The way she played victim when it came to the minorities she threatened and harassed, and also denied any charges and allegations of child abuse was appalling. She was incredibly lucky, especially in a state as strict as New Mexico could be at times, that she got out of having to do jail time. Not everyone got probation for child abuse and neglect.
It wasn't that anyone thought she was innocent but the courts just couldn't prove the more serious charges. At least not yet. No one was stupid, though. They knew that the likelihood of the bruises getting on the baby by accident was next to none. Especially when a couple of witnesses in the neighborhood swore they'd seen Janelle yelling viciously at the screaming infant when walking it in its stroller.
He believed the husband was innocent as did others, who had always insisted he had absolutely nothing to do with it since it was a cheat baby, something that was obvious. Two people with brown hair simply didn't produce redheads.
Nonetheless, he doubted he would like Janelle even if he wasn't her probation officer and they had met under different circumstances. Every now and then a person met someone they simply didn’t like from the get-go even if they didn't do anything wrong to them personally. He was certain that Janelle was one of those he would never like no matter what.
Boris’s best friend was black and he knew the kind of racism he and others like him had to endure throughout their lives.
Every time he saw her it was the same old shit. Where he normally hoped his clients would do well and stay out of trouble, he couldn't wait for her to fuck up so he could throw her in jail where she belonged. That was one of the conditions of her probation... Any screw-ups and in the slammer she went. When he noticed that she really seemed to hate his presence more and more, he made a point of increasing his visits, hoping they may drive her to run. He knew there was a chance of this too, because she was so damn defiant and seemed to really hate being told what to do.
One time she and her husband went out to eat and he showed up with a date right after they got there. When Janelle spotted him, she angrily slammed her silverware down on her plate and confronted him to accuse him of following her.
“No joke,” he was telling his fellow colleagues the next day. “This bitch actually had the nerve to get up and accuse me of following her.”
His colleague laughed and said, “Damn! That is one confrontational and defiant bitch. I can sort of see, though, why she may be a bit suspicious. You're dropping in on her more often than what's typical for a standard probationer and then you show up in the restaurant she's eating at in a city as big as Santa Fe?”
“Yeah, I suppose it might look kind of weird.”
“So what happened next?”
“I threatened to arrest her if she didn't back off, and being the defiant little shit she is who has to get the last word she told me – as she was walking away – to do that and she would make sure I had to look for a new career.”
They both chuckled with laughter.
“Was the husband suspicious as well?”
“No. He seemed rather embarrassed as if he wished she would just sit down and shut the fuck up.”
“So then what?”
“Well, of course I had to go to her house the very next day,” said Boris laughing. “She had this look on her face as if to say, Uh-oh, he's here to arrest me. Instead, she quickly apologized and said that maybe she shouldn't have jumped the gun like she did and made assumptions, but I do seem a bit obsessed with her.”
Both men laughed and Boris remembered pestering Janelle when she was in the hospital one time.
Janelle occasionally needed to be hospitalized when her diabetes got out of control. She did her best to manage it but sometimes diabetes got the better of a person.
She was talking with her husband who was at her bedside while she was eating the bland hospital food served to her, and after a friendly lecture on watching what she ate and controlling her weight, her probation officer entered the room.
“Oh, you've got to be kidding me!” Janelle said in exasperation.
Boris was barely able to contain a smirk.
“You couldn't just wait until I was discharged tomorrow?”
“It's standard routine,” Boris said.
“Oh,” Janelle said sarcastically.
“I told you this,” said Steven.
“We're mandated to verify hospitalizations. You don't want to be accused of lying about being in the hospital, do you?”
Janelle, nostrils flaring angrily, sucked in a deep breath. “Well, I'm here as you can clearly see. I'll see you on report day.”
“Just a quick form for you to sign first,” Boris said, struggling to remain professional as Janelle scoffed.
In frustration, Janelle shoved the tray of food toward the edge of the small table on wheels that extended over her bed. “I'm trying to eat now. Just put it here.”
Janelle signed the form without bothering to read it closely. Then Boris went through his usual spiel of whether or not she's had police contact, had anything to drink, done any drugs.
“Oh, my God, what do you think?” Janelle's voice began to rise. “I'm in the hospital for God's sake!”
Steven began to pat her shoulder despite knowing she hated that after having told him enough times. She wasn't a dog, she'd always say.
“Look, you need to cooperate. You were told the rules up front.”
“Yeah, but I didn't think they would extend to the hospital. And no, I haven't had any police contact, I haven't had anything to drink, and I haven't done any drugs other than what they've given me. But do know that I am going to do what I can to get a different probation officer when I get back home. You're clearly obsessed with me and it's making me uncomfortable.”
“Duly noted,” Boris said before he turned around and left, his smile of amusement not escaping either his client or her husband.
To further fuel Janelle’s anger, instead of getting support from her husband, he assured her that she was only making things worse by saying that.
“Yeah, I should have known I could count on you to support and defend me. Why don't you go home now and I'll see you in the morning.”
Without a word, her husband threw up his hands in sheer frustration and left.
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