There was problems with the house in which Gabriella was placed and it was not
with the home itself, but with the couple that ran the house. They appeared to be very
greedy and that was evident, from the fact that from Gabriella's moderate monthly
cheque, they would give her a measley $ 12.00 for the month .
There also was other problems in the home so Gabriella, decided to stay with her
parents for awhile, although it was a much farther commute, to her therapist as well as
her programme. So, along with Gabriella's two younger brothers, we moved her and all
her belongings into her parents place.
I had already met Gabriella's family previously and it was very apparent that they loved
Gabriella, very much . Her mother and father were Italian immigrants as was her sister
and herself. The father spoke in broken english but her mother didn't speak english at all .
Gabriella has two sisters and three brothers all of whom are younger than her.
Well anyway it was sad to see Gabriella move from the area; which meant we coundn't
be with each other as often as we would have liked . I would go to the day programme
at the hospital, every chance I could to spend some time with Gabriella, although it wasn't
much, it was better then nothing
It was harder when the weekend rolled around, the day programme was closed and we didn't
always have car fare available, to travel to each others place . We would then talk on the phone .
I always tried to encourage her but it wasn't that easy, she started to get incresingly depressed .
It again came to a head about 3am. one cold winter day, when Gabriella walked all the way
to my rooming house from her parents place . I was very sick that paticular day sauffering from
my own seisure like illness. I heard the banging at the front door, but not thinking it was Gabriella
didn't give it much thought, after all I was very, very sick .
As I was laying in bed though, with such an unbearable dizziness, I could hear at the door,
Gabriella crying and screaming over and over again where's Ronnie, I need Ronnie. It took me a few
minutes, to fingure out what was going and that sick or not I must go to her. Trying to jump out of bed though
was a bad idea, because I was very dizzy and had really very little use of my legs, due to the seisure .
I hit the wall with a thud, as I tried to make it to the door of my room .My legs started to buckel, so I had
to hang on for dear life. The stairs going down to the street were very steep and I still don't know how I made
it in one peace, but I did .
litterally fell out on the street and the people walking by at that time, thought I was on drugs, or even very drunk.
That was not a concern of mine though, I wanted to help Gabriella, but she was now no where in sight .
Only able to go a block, due to my seisure and falling all over the place, I steadied myself against a lamp post and
with tears running down my cheeks started calling out her name.
Gabriella was picked up a short while later by the police whom she flaged down they drove her to the hospital
where she was again admitted ...
look for my next article in a few days... THANK-YOU !