After a day at home, Katie ran away again and it was the usual of filing a report with the police and Rita trying to track her down. Unexpectedly, Katie came and knocked on the door. Just the look on her face said that something was very wrong. She looked at me and yelled, "Thanks to you, Dad, I lost my virginity tonight!" With that she busted out crying and ran to her room.

Rita went in and talked with her and told me that she had been raped. Then the next time Katie saw me she said, "I liked it Dad. Yep, I put his mushroom in my mouth... and ... and." She busted out crying and ran back in her room.

Later sitting on the couch, she was looking at me in a tawdry manner and pulling at her clothing; which translated to me that she was given a date rape drug. Then another version of her being raped and then another of her liking it. I also detected an underlying shock and reflection about things.

Because of Katie's behavior, Rita's attitude, the fact everyone wanted me to stay out of things for a variety of reasons, and the police removed any authority I could muster; it was crushing to me. Despite it all, I felt I had let Katie down and failed to protect her, yet I warned her about the danger she could find herself in.

Well, did I believe that she was raped? Absolutely, and if that wasn't enough, the son of a bitch that did it called me up with a stolen cell phone and boasted about it. "Yea Dad, I'm the one who raped your daughter... I'm glad I got her virginity and can't wait to get me another one." It was obvious he was a sociopath and he needed to be stopped.

Rita was able to get a house address where Katie was at and some basic information, but Katie didn't know who did it. The first thing I found out was, all of my friends who said, "Mike, if you need any help kicking ass, you can count on me!" Well, it sure turned out not to be the case.

When I asked for their help, everyone declined and when I held them to their promise, I was told by the people; Katie was involved with people who were too dangerous. With a specific person I asked, he replied, "Come on Mike, you know I dealt with my brothers who did drugs and think I know that address. Mike they're really bad, they'll hurt you." I was left completely shocked as I helped him with his family's bull shit, and even brought my .44 magnum to work to protect him.

An offer of help would come from an unexpected source, a neighbor who was an active duty Marine. I told him the latest, which was the rape and the fact that my friends let me down despite their promises to help kick ass if I needed them to. He asked, "What do you want to do about it?"

"I want to get a group together to go in there and come up with a name, and then burn the house down with all of them in it to send a message. Then I want to get the guy that did this, one on one." I couldn't resist, I made the motion like I was tickling a guys balls and added, "I need a new tobacco bag anyway."

I wasn't prepared for his response, "If you want to do that, let me know and I will get a group together." I thought about that for several days, and told him that I am ready and to let me know as soon as possible. Hell, he was the Marine, but no doubt he knew my capabilities and would fit me in where he thought best.

The next day, I went home from work and Rita said, "Mike, I really think that Katie was raped and called the police, they're on the way over."

"Thanks a lot Rita... Well for letting me know anyway." I wasn't happy about this, but grateful to have a heads up. I knew it wouldn't have gone well to pull off an operation and have the police suddenly show up to a fully engulfed house with people screaming inside.

The police officers showed up at our house, he was an older officer and also a woman officer. He promised to investigate and get to the bottom of things and will let us know what he plans to do next.

They took Katie on the front porch and talked with her, after about a half-hour he came back in with the female police officer and in a macho and commanding voice said, "Ok, Mom ... Dad. I got to the bottom of things, and before I bring her in her to talk to you, I want you both to promise me that you won't be mad or punish her."

He asked again and we both promised, I didn't like the feeling I detected a bullshit factor in this. He told Katie to come in and added, "Ok, Katie... Your parents promised not to punish you or be angry so you can tell the truth."

Katie said, "Mom, I wasn't raped... I just decided to have sex and was afraid to tell you." The look on Katie's face was of extreme disgust and irritation; I also noticed the female police officer put her head down.

I asked the female officer, "Is this what you believe as well?"

She simply said, "He's the officer in charge." She wouldn't look into my eyes and they both left.

I looked at Katie and had to ask, "Katie why didn't you tell them the truth?"

"I did, but the officer told me what had happened and it was the only thing he would accept."

"Katie, this is a good lesson about lying and changing your stories. You are known to be a lair and no one believes you. I feel you were raped because I know how to sort through your bullshit."

Between the time the officers shut my front door and opened their car doors, another 911 call was placed, "This is Michael Kohlman again, and you sent a police officer over here to investigate a rape... He was an absolute dickhead and I now want this to be investigated by a detective."

"Sir... That might not be possible."

"That's fine, because I now plan to bring in the media and not only have reporters investigate the rape allegations, but to investigate your performance as well."

"OK. Stay by the phone, I'll get back to you." A short while later, 911 called back, "Sir, I have a detective that is planning to come over and investigate. It may be a while."

"No problem, I'll wait."

After about four hours, a detective knocked on the door and because of the way he looked, I felt he was the one. There wasn't much distinction between his appearance and how her friends looked, except for the badge.

I decided that I should give him the lowdown and had a dossier with the address where this happened, a couple names, and what information I had on the person who did this, though I only had a first name and no street address, just an area.

I think he was a little shocked to spy a map and satellite photograph of the area the house was in, so he said, "Mr. Kohlman... Were you planning to do something?"

Caught red handed I replied, "Well I know not to answer that question. If I wanted to do something, one would find themselves alone, as all of those friends who offered to kick ass if needed chickened out. Amazingly the people who would willingly step forward would have it become a military operation."

He didn't seemed surprised at my words, "Ok Mr. Kohlman, what do you want me to do about this?"

I told him, "To be honest, she's put forth at least six versions of what happened. From that, I believe that she went there with her friend Christina to party. Somewhere in the course of the night, Christina took her upstairs to show her a, 'surprise.' The door opened and she was pulled in, while Christina went back downstairs to do drugs."

"I believe that she was forced to do Fellatio and also raped vaginally. I knew something was wrong when she came home on her own. From what I can gather, the parents who own the house always spend the weekends up in New York and could care less what their kids are doing."

"Christina is the one who organizes Katie's run-aways and I feel this time, this is also a sex for drugs case. I'll be honest, if you can take Christina out of the picture, my household will have peace. I also believe that many other households will also have peace."

I concluded, "What I want you to do is a proper investigation and if this has merit, to continue it. I also wanted you here, to point you in the direction of a problem I think is best to penetrate and deal with."

He talked with her at length and took notes, than he informed us, "I do believe that she was raped, but considering I feel Katie is a bit unreliable in the truth department, we can't proceed with any type of charges. We will keep an eye on things though."

"Don't worry, the rapist is a sociopath, it will happen again." I think the detective had the same hesitant opinion, which he only acknowledged with body language and facial expressions. Once things hit the detective level, I felt that at least things were being looked at and evaluated.

My life also took another funny turn as during my daily walks with the dog, total strangers would walk up to me and ask me intimate questions about my situation. One time an older man and young punk walked up to me and asked a series of questions.

Considering I didn't know them or had ever seen them, I felt I was in some sort of spy movie. A couple days later it would be someone else, then the odd pair returned, I think they felt this was strange too as they asked me, "With you answering all of these questions, don't you want to know who we are?"

I laughed and responded, "I feel I don't need to know as you are asking all of the right questions and if that was important, you'd tell me anyway." What I didn't tell them was; this was also a great way for them to keep tabs on me as well and let me know that they may be watching. While I loved the detective's involvement, the uniformed police officers were pretty much the same.

In the end, the police did get the guy as he struck again not too long after Katie's rape. This girl was more reliable and they decided to add Katie's charges on to the girl's. I don't know the outcome as Rita and I were separated by that time, but I do know he was sitting in a jail cell without bail for quite a while.

The thing that bothers me about this is everyone is under the belief that if an adult has sex with a person under age, they will be charged with statutory rape and sent of f to jail. Then as one attempts to do this, one is told they have to be four years apart in age. Then when that happens, the officer feels the motives weren't criminal.

I told one female police officer, "Judging by the criteria that you use in determining statutory rape, I should have no problem getting myself a teenage beauty and making love."

"No, in your case, you would find yourself in a lot of trouble and spend a lot of time in jail." I wondered if there was a, "Spock's Guide for Determining the Difference Between Rape and Love"; the Star Trek Vulcan that is, not the doctor who wrote about child care as I wondered if they were.

I pointed out that anything juvenile seems to be like this and is the reason there is so many juvenile problems running around wreaking havoc on their families and communities. They pointed out, that they felt very often it was the parents themselves. The major problems are, the system butts heads with the parents, and the juveniles know that most likely nothing from a societal standpoint will happen to them.



I really couldn't gauge how this affected Katie, but I was more than happy with an increasing conflict and dissention in regards to Christina. Now, I didn't attempt to talk to Katie, but actually tried to keep her out of the loop, by talking to Rita in front of her, after I indicated that I wanted privacy. I figured in order to hear, Katie would have to keep quiet and pay attention.

Katie's conflict escalated with Christina and soon they both were threatening to kick each other's ass. I could only think, Oh, the women in my life. I did insist that it didn't happen at my house.

There was a bit of normalcy, as I got a lift to the courthouse to file paper work on my mom's guardianship and Rita's sister, Cathy informed me that she never wants to go in there again. It turns out that Cathy thought she could do a better job at raising Katie and went to a judge to gain custody.

She told the judge that she felt Rita and I was abusive towards Katie and the arguing between Rita and I were causing the destabilization, I figured Cathy told her story with flourishes. The judge saw red, called in the State's Attorney and the court reporter, and started a formal hearing. Kathy immediately recanted what she told the judge prior, and the judge chewed her ass out.

With Katie on the outs with Christina, there was a bit of normalcy as Katie once again hooked up with her better friends and had sleepovers which I felt were really not appropriate at their ages. An older friend was still underage, and engaged to a person in the military, late at night we crossed paths and exchanged a look. I couldn't help but think, Wow you are every bit a mature woman, but do you really have the feelings and maturity required to start a family.

There were a lot more mother and daughter moments between Rita and Katie, but there were also more times when I felt that both ganged up on me. One time Rita walked up to me and said, "Well Katie and I are having mother and daughter time, cleaning the basement... Oh, by the way I found some stuff from your other house and noticed that you had the Autograph book with Jean's signature in it, her obituary and a couple of photos."

Later in the day, Rita came up and said, "I want you to know, you don't need Jean anymore, you have me." The statement disturbed me, but I didn't put two and two together until much later. Since that time, the Autograph book and its contents have never turned up.

But soon, another problem with the sleepovers turned up. The other teens who were our responsibility, started running away with Katie from our house. We were clued in as one decided to stay behind. Because Katie was the apparent ring leader, they were fairly easy to find and bring home, but I let it be known to Rita that I don't want any more sleepovers.



This lull in the action, also helped me spend a little more time with Jimmy, and we made it on another camping trip with Troop 26. This was the Scouting Expo held at the Timonium Fairgrounds and involved the Baltimore Area Council and its troops in a themed campout. This time, it was Emergency Preparedness.

It was going to be a cold and wet trip, but the fairground parking lot was our first perch. The Senior Patrol leader took about a half hour to go to find out where we are camping, then he came back to find our camp. I thought another two hours was excessive, so I tried to motivate the scoutmaster to step in.

"Mike, that's not how we do things here, he's the Senior Patrol Leader and the one in charge. We don't interfere with the boys leading the troop."

"I'm not talking about taking over the Senior Patrol Leader's position; I'm talking about advising him when the need arises."

"He's leadership trained, that's not the way we do things here." I couldn't believe it because as Senior Patrol Leader myself, I had not only control over the troop, I had my troop by the balls and it sure worked out much better then with this troop. I suddenly realized that I always had adults walking up to me and advising, which not only aided the troop in keeping things moving, it was a good guide at building up my leadership abilities.

Once finally at where we were supposed to camp, I immediately saw a problem and tried to talk to the Senior Patrol Leader. Figuring the adults are much better at handling swamps, I said, "You want to reconsider where you put the scouts, you want to put the adults there."

"No I don't, I put the adults by the horse crap, because that's where I want you." The week before this event, the infield of the race track was used for an equestrian event and front end loaders arranged all of the horse droppings in huge piles, but they didn't remove them.

The Senior Patrol Leader complained to the scoutmaster and he advised me, "Mike, didn't I tell you the boys are in charge. If you feel you have to say something to him, you come to me." The troop struck me more as a bureaucracy then as a functioning unit that revolved around leadership.

It rained like crazy, and by morning all of the scout's tents were in a pool of water, and their sleeping bags were soaked in their own personal pools. I found out that the troop didn't have coffee, so I went across the street to get some. Because of the fairgrounds fencing, something that was a quarter mile away by crow flight was more than a mile to hike to.

The Expo was neat as they had a variety of emergency services participating, and a lot of equipment there. The boys walked around in patrols and had requirements to do, as there were awards to be handed out. While the rain was fairly unrelenting, a lot of the Expo was held in the Grand Stands off the race track. I enjoyed being an adult and walking around drinking coffee and outside, enjoying an occasional cigarette. Still, there were those adults that felt obligated to walk up to me and complain.

Paths between Jimmy and I occasionally crossed and he seemed to enjoy it. They did ask me to visit the, Anti-smoking trailer, and I promised to do so. One adult immediately pointed me to a set of preserved pig's lungs that had been exposed to smoke. I commented that I saw human lungs after a life time of smoking and they in no way, looked as bad. I felt to get the results they wanted, it involved torturing that pig.

I checked out all of the displays, and actually found a real Search and Rescue group. It interested them that I was self-trained and pretty much found out, I was right on the mark. The Red Cross was there so I donated blood, and got labeled a trouble maker as I attempted to push my blood into the bag as fast as possible.

I told them I lived for the buzz and their attempt at holding me from walking away was thwarted when another donor actually passed out. I was told to stay in the chair, but immediately got up and walked away. I heard a couple of comments with laughter, "Yea, you're the scouter!" A good adult leader always keeps an eye out for entertaining situations.

They had a hook and ladder truck from BWI Airport, who had two demonstrations later in the day, but were a bit bored. I suggested they have the grandstand roof, a little crowd and the ladder truck. They got the hint and hit their siren, then did a demonstration of putting the ladder in position and for their personal excitement, and made it to the roof.

After dinner the Scoutmaster made the decision to leave camp that night as everyone's gear was wet. The dilemma was whether to leave before the campfire and fireworks display or after; I recommended after while other adults wanted to leave before. In the meantime, one of the scout's fathers was a homicide detective from Baltimore City. Since he was not at work, his fellow detectives kept him updated on the latest of Baltimore crime. A lot more events then went to him than reported in the news; I learned a lot.

They finally decided to leave after the fireworks, but with all of the troops in the Grandstands, one of our adults took exception and expressed it to everyone there. He was the person that drove me to the camp, "You assholes are stupid, it's raining and the kids were wet all day. You all are fucking assholes and we're out of the troop. I don't want to stay in this hell hole on more minute and I am taking my boy now." His pronouncement sure got out troops attention as well, half the other troops in the Grandstand.

He looked at me and demanded, "Well are you coming home with me now."

"No."

Well, fuck you too!" That meant not only everyone had to cram in more gear and boys for the trip home, we were further delayed as a couple of cars had to come up and take his place. Personally, I enjoyed the campfire and the show.

After the trip, I asked Jimmy if he still wanted to be in that troop and he said, "No." While he was sorry that he disappointed me, he felt that with the clicks in the troop, he would always be treated like a newcomer. He also didn't have friends like Billy there.

"Jimmy don't worry about disappointing me, we'll quit the troop."

"Why do you want to quit it?"

"Jimmy, there is something wrong with the troop when the adults complain more than the boys." They sent a partial reimbursement of the dues, but reneged on another promise.



At home, I found out that Katie had another friend and Rita was fairly happy about that. Her new friend's name was Jordan and what Rita liked about it all was she came from a more affluent area of Towson and hoped this would turn the trick for Katie's behavior.

But then, even with Jordan, there came the cell phone call, "I'm running away."

Rita immediately called Jordan and received a reply similar to this, "I don't know what happened, Katie was fine and suddenly flipped out and ran away. I'm trying to track her down to help her out. This back and forth went on all weekend, and it seemed like when Jordan was near catching up with Katie, Katie ran away to somewhere else.

It was actually Rita who tracked down Katie and Jordan was also there having just caught up with her. Rita started following the advice the police officers were telling her, and took Katie to the emergency room for a psychological evaluation.

In this case it was Saint Joseph's hospital because the waiting room took less time. Then they drew blood to do a toxicology screen, and placed her in a room for observation. When I got there, it was Katie, Rita and Jordan. He was much shorter than me so I said, "What's up guy?"

"I'm a girl!" I had to look again, as she was wearing what the gansta's wore including a baseball cap, she also had her hair cut to a crew cut, and was very butch-like. I noticed many facial piercings as well. The doctor stopped by and said hello to me and, "Hey guy," to Jordan who was actually named Maggie; she just cringed and explained she prefers guys dress.

Jordan gave me her story and when I pointed out that she was with Katie, explained that she just got there and not to be angry because she feels that she can help Katie out and stop running away.

The observation period is four hours, and Katie was declared clean and normal, than released. Another day, another run away and Rita's adventure in finding her and Jordan took to helping Rita track her down.

Then back to Saint Josephs for another emergency evaluation. I was a bit more suspicious this time and enquired more deeply with Jordan, who then seemed intent to explain Katie's problems in complex explanations and in psychological terms.

I loved every minute of that and Jordan's balls and couldn't help but say, "Jordan, are you majoring in psychiatry?"

"No, I hate school. I am receiving treatment from a psychiatrist myself. That's how I know I can help Katie out."

Damn if I didn't have the sensation of my dead Dad poking my side saying, "Tell here this..."

"Jordan, with you under treatment, isn't that like the blind leading the blind."

Jordan immediately started sucking air in and out, trying to make herself hyperventilate, as well these animal-like sounds. While I was amused at this, Rita was concerned and enquired, "What's wrong Jordan?"

"It's your husband... I think I will have to kill him." In no mood for a fight, I left to walk the five mile trek for home. Katie turned up clean again and was declared normal, and to be honest, I had to wonder if they told us that for our benefit. I like the term, "Normal teen," considering the teens they always had to observe? I wondered if they actually knew any, normally functioning teens.

I not only knew that Jordan was the new ring leader, she was very intelligent, but not being guided by any sense of responsibility or common sense, it was going to be sheer trouble. With the ongoing saga, I stopped watching TV and reading books; they were weaker than any adventure Katie could come up with.



Another time, a new face of a female police officer brought Katie home. Katie was immediately brought in and started yelling at me. I got whiplash when I heard this police officer say, "Katie, your father didn't even say anything to you, so why are you coming in and starting an argument."

"That motherfucker's an asshole."

"Shut up Katie-"

"Don't tell me-"

"Oh yea, who the hell do you think I am, your father. If you piss me off, I will arrest you ... Don't think that I can't, because I will. Maybe nothing will happen to you, but you made a bad impression on me just from this, I know your father isn't the problem, you are."

I developed an instant love relationship with this lady cop, but it was mitigated with guilt, because the call and the police visits seemed to coincide with her shift changes. A lot of the times, I had no idea the police were called, opened a beer and then ended up opening the door for this police officer, beer in hand.

It didn't take long for me to get a guilty conscience over this and couldn't help but say, "Boy, you must have a really bad opinion of me because every time I answer the door, I have a beer in my hand."

"No, not really; I long since determined that your drinking isn't the problem. In fact, you seem to be the one around here with a level, good thinking head."

I was shocked and loved talking with her, and point blank told her, "I'll be honest. I really never had a good opinion about female cops and it hasn't really helped with the ones that have been here, but I must say I feel you are one of Parkville's finest. If you have a problem with me or the way that I handle things, you let me know and I will listen to you... In the meantime, I am going to find out the secret that makes you one hell of a cop."

It was a wonderful thing to see an element of femininity enter into the female cop's persona, as she blushed, smiled slightly and said, 'Well, I, I don't really think there is anything mysterious about it. My... My father was a Baltimore City police officer."

"Well, that's it! They're a different breed, no time for this BS. If it's any consolation, my father worked for juvenile services in the city for 25 years."

What I now found amazing about her was our ability to work together as we brought each other up to snuff on anything Katie related. It was more like from one cop to another."

I met Jordan's mother and in my opinion, a lot was revealed. Her mom had entered into a new relationship which put her out on the other side of the city with her mate to be, and left Jordan and her fourteen year old sister home alone for most of the time.

Basically her mother was of the opinion, "Well, Jordan has so many psychological problems; there isn't much to do but let her have her way and try to placate her towards better behavior."

I had to ask, "Is that what they believe with the therapy?"

It was, and I was not only amazed at Jordan's ability of milking the system, her and Katie seemed to be a lot smarter than many of the adults involved. This was the very thing that Dad was not only fighting when he worked for juvenile services, it was what led him to believe the system is making these kids more violent to boot. He got in trouble buy constantly referring the Juvenile Justice as the Criminal Graduation System.

I was totally stymied and had to ask, "How does this all relate to Jordan when she becomes an adult. Right now, everyone is either making excuses, or 'placating,' this behavior. What happens when they become adults and hit the adult system? All of a sudden, they are held criminally responsible."

"Well, you got a point, but what can you do about things?"

"In my case, the most I can do is to stand for what is right."

But every day, there was new problem to be confounded with, if not from Katie, then from Rita. All of a sudden, Rita was upset and needed to talk stating that Katie decided to turn lesbian. It was becoming harder to hold back on the laughter at this better then TV affair of a family.

"Rita? To be honest, I don't really think that Katie knows who she is right now. As far as that being a problem, I think it is a pretty small one compared with the others. Look on the bright side, at least she won't get pregnant and have a baby.



Needless to say, this also severely affected Rita's job as well. Being a car salesman, one is expected to supply the body to go the job; not take off in retrieval missions or to be constantly on the phone trying to track anyone else down, except for prospective car buyers. It also doesn't help when police cars are pulling up in front of the lot and officers walking into their establishment.

I believe that Rita left her job, because it was located in Harford County and this activity combined with the long commutes, really took a lot of time away from the job. The next place wasn't happy with her either and possibly dismissed her. To me, Rita was going to new jobs like Katie was running away. Also, over the years I think I heard every which way to either steal a commission or get them disqualified. It drove Rita nuts to set up a sale and have to leave the closing to someone else. Rita lost out big time.

Then she was happy as she found a job working for Al Packer Ford, because their manager named Mike understood and would not only cut her a break, but helped Rita out. Pretty soon, I heard Mike this, Mike that, Mike thinks this and that. "Mike's glad he isn't you." Then it seemed that things were also taking a socializing note and it didn't help me to be reassured by Rita that, "Nothing's going on."

Yet, it did strike me that Mike had ulterior motives and Rita had that sense of puppy love about her; as my feelings weren't helped when Mike left his job at a dealership on Belair Road and went to one further out of town and took Rita with him. This also left me with a bit more to deal with in regards to Katie.

I figured this symbiotic work relationship was a good a test of Rita's faithfulness as any other. Then one day, I was up and about in the kitchen and Rita came in and had the queerest look on her face and shouted, "If anything has happened between Mike and me, it is your fault!" After that, she busted out crying and ran upstairs.

The pronouncement hit me like a stone and put me into shock, when Rita came back down twenty minutes later, I was still standing in basically the same position. She smiled and said, "Mike... Nothing happened, it was a test and if you hit me, I would have called the police and filed charges on you."

"Rita, now it doesn't matter if you did or didn't, you are still are unfaithful in my mind, as no good woman would even think of testing her husband like that. Either way, you are still unfaithful."

I was thankful that Rita and I slept upstairs, and because of working different shifts, sleeping in the same bed at different times. It was a matter of days when I walked in the door and Rita was still home. I went to go upstairs to go to bed and she jumped in front of the door that goes from the kitchen to the upstairs. She put her hand out and said, "Mike, I'll be honest. I hate when you sleep with me and really don't want you using the same bedroom with me anymore."

I very simply said, "Fine," and went off to Jimmy's downstairs bedroom to sleep. At that moment in time, I thought about the burning bush experience I had where God himself walked away from the relationship, but left it up to myself to do the same. I now had no desire to continue such a relationship and it was more or less for the sake of Katie and Jimmy that I still remain dedicated to them, whether or not they saw it that way.

I didn't mind encroaching on Jimmy's bedroom, because he was away at school during the day, and with his incessant video game playing, hr was only grabbing a couple of hours sleep on the couch anyway. In less than another week, Rita stipulated to me, "It's nice you're sleeping in Jimmy's room because as far as I am concerned, I am not married anyway. I am tired with everybody keeping me down, so I am starting to go out again at night.

When she left, I moved all of my clothes that I needed downstairs and Jimmy's upstairs. While this perturbed Rita, Jimmy understood and finally I woke up and stepped out of the bedroom to find Katie standing there asking, "What are you doing in Jimmy's room?"

"It's now my bedroom, your Mom and I are separating." It was curious for me to note Katie had a look of both regret and comprehension. But in a few days it changed, because she tried to push it with me and I said something that led to her arguing with me. She then ran into her room and came back out and made the motion that she was going to punch me in the face, wearing brass knuckles.

I looked at her and smiled, "I'll tell you what Katie, I'm letting you take the first punch!" I felt it best to patiently stand there and give her the opportunity, but she ran into her room and hit a couple of things, and hopefully hurt her hand like I did when I showed off with a pair.

It was obvious where Katie was going to punch me with them, and while it would have done a great job and opening me up and possibly breaking my cheek bone, it would not have disrupted my ability to fight back, as I had planned to trap her brass knuckled hand and use them to break every finger in that hand. I figured that was the most defensible move as I would have the marks of her hitting me, but she wouldn't have any to indicate that I could have started a fight.

But with Jordan, Katie got one hell of a violent streak in her and once again in passing downstairs on the rare occasion that she was there, she smiled and sad, "I'm glad you're sleeping down here Mike, it's going to make it easier for me to kill you in your sleep."



That one concerned me and the next time she ran away, I went into her room and cataloged all of the weapons she had amassed. Needless to say, when a male police officer came into take a runaway report, I asked that he remove the cataloged weapons from her room. I left them in place as I wanted him to see where they were stashed.

I was surprised as shit to hear, "I'm not doing that."

"What?"

"Katie still has civil rights."

"She's been threatening my life and has the means to take it."

"I don't care, she still has civil rights."

"Ok, as the property owner, I have no problem opening up her door and getting them for you."

With one step in that direction, he jumped in front of me, stuck his finger in my face and yelled, "You do that and I will arrest you and put you in jail!"

I could only think, These cop motherfuckers actually want me dead, Jesus Christ none of them have any balls, common sense or desire to do what is right. I told him to finish his report and get the hell out! I should have challenged him, made him arrest me and then let the press have a field day, but it was a combination of being totally exhausted and knowing the press is keeping juvenile crime situations under wraps it really might not have been worth it for me.

I attempted to administer a punishment that would hobble her a bit as well as keep her in check with the weapons, and took the nonfunctioning lock off of her door and installed one that had two keys, one for me and one for Rita so Katie couldn't go into or use her room unescorted.

Bringing Katie back was Officer Dickhead, and the first thing that Rita told him was that I had put a lock on the door and only Rita and I had the key. He just got this Jesus Christ look on his face and grimaced. Katie ran in to check it, and then ran back out to the officer crying and demanding that he orders me to remove it.

Officer Dickhead told me to go inside while they discuss this, and Rita came in and said, "The officer wants you to remove the lock and he is going to come in to check it, if it is still on the door, he is going to arrest you."

It took about five minutes to change the locks back, and with the door opening he walked out. I ran out the back door and before he shut his care door, I yelled, "I have gotten so much shit from some of you for not getting control over my step daughter, while the other half you assholes are making the simplest of punishments impossible! Katie's running your show better then you!" I had to admire Katie, because in my opinion she was the only one who knew what she was doing.

Then Jordan and Katie were on the outs with the other, threatening to kick each other's asses, but that just meant that Katie was going back to Christina, or finding new friends to pal around with. Back to Essex, or to Towson and now she had a new friend in the city near our house.

It took only two weeks to come home from work and Rita said, "I think you need to file a complaint against the Baltimore City Police."

"Oh yea, for what?"

"A city police officer demeaned and caused duress in Katie."

I actually started peeing myself trying to hold back the laughter, but with a straight face I asked, "How so?"

"Well Katie was with her friend from Rosalie Avenue and was at Glendale and Harford, when a police officer wanted to know what they were doing and took her brass knuckles away... He told Katie, "I'm telling right now to get your ass back into the county (the line just up Harford Road) before I get pissed."

"Oh, Rita. No way, I'm not going to do it. Dad worked juvenile in the city for twenty-five years and wouldn't mess with the police. Even he was scared of them." That laid a notion of a complaint to rest, but I lied. For the most part when Dad had a complaint against the police, he always asked, "What did you do to deserve it." Usually the kid would either fight the police or spit in their face.

While Dad never made a complaint about something like that, if he thought something was wrong, he'd either talk to the police officer, the duty officer or in one case of their police officers hanging out at the bars where is kids were doing illegal activity in, he went to internal affairs and also dropped the information to the press.

I admired the city police officer and he got it. Katie's as a problem was eliminated with the immediate justice of having her weapon confiscated and told to get out, that officer didn't leave any room but for her to do what he said.

It also scared her a little bit, "Katie, city cops aren't like the county. Don't piss them off or you may find yourself in their patty wagon doing a bit of four wheeling on a vacant lot."