Finding a Different Kind of Normal by Williams Donna;Purkis Yenn;

Author:Williams, Donna;Purkis, Yenn; [Jeanette Purkis]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Jessica Kingsley Publishers

6 .

Losing Friends and Gaining Contacts

My friends from RMIT, Sharon and Lee, had told the court I could stay with them until I found somewhere more permanent so I moved into their house in the inner suburb of North Melbourne. They lived above a shop in a fantastic, artily-decorated flat full of trinkets, paintings and beautiful rugs Sharon’s dad had supplied. I was given use of the spare bedroom and slept on a mat on the floor. As I could sleep almost anywhere and in any position I had no problem with this, although I wished the room didn’t feel so much like a storage cupboard. Lee and Sharon were both still studying and had jobs, so I spent most of my time alone in their house.

I had a lot of trouble adjusting to life as a free person. I would wake up at 6 am expecting to have to stand on the muster line and be counted before breakfast. I kept wondering what to do and why my day was so unstructured, thinking a day’s work at industries would be a pleasant change to sitting around the house waiting for my friends to come home. I missed my criminal pals and wrote them all long letters most days. When I returned to Fairlea by taxi to collect my belongings, I had a long conversation with the officer on duty at the gate and wondered if they might let me in on weekends. I rang all the people I had known before being imprisoned and found, to my surprise, that most of them wanted nothing to do with me. I was particularly upset when my artist friends, George and Julie, told me they never wanted to see me again. I sat at the kitchen table and wept, wondering why nobody wanted my company. I didn’t think I was a bad person and couldn’t see why others would.

About two days after my release I went to the bank to withdraw some of the $3500 I thought was in my account. I had lent my bank card to my old housemate, Evie, while still in prison as I owed her money for rent. I was unaware that she and her boyfriend, Sam, were both heroin addicts and the fact that they had withdrawn my entire savings came as a complete surprise. The bank would not refund the money and I was left with nothing. I found Evie and Sam’s phone number after trying to track them down for weeks and, when I called them, they claimed the theft was ‘compensation’ for my bringing the police to their house.

I was being paid unemployment benefits and I started spending most of my fortnightly cheque on marijuana, finding I only felt good if I was stoned. I would go to parties, not to meet people but to see if there was any free dope going around. I made everyone at one party laugh by addressing them in criminal slang. They were unable to decipher what I said and I had to translate.

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