She was free now and could do whatever she wanted. To hell with Jules. She truly did have fond feelings for the Rabbi, but perhaps now more in death than in life. “I should send that guy Straub a birthday card,” she said out loud, and peeled out of the parking lot to a whole new future.
Epilogue
The Backstory of Richard Straub
John and Eileen Straub, who could not have children of their own, adopted Richard Straub at the age of two. He was so cute as a young boy they called him “Dickie.” They intended to raise him as a good Jewish boy in Dallas, Texas. At five years of age, they took him to synagogue every Saturday, exposing him to Judaism and the Hebrew language. They were loving and well off, fine people, but being in their early twenties, also very naïve. They never filed wills, even though they now had a child. They were so young they believed themselves to be invincible. They weren’t.
Six months before his bar mitzvah, when Dick was twelve years old, his world came tumbling down. His parents died in a car crash, and that’s when he learned that they were not his natural parents. He was not aware he had been adopted. Other than Richard, his parents had no next of kin on record. Both had been teen runaways, eloping and changing their real names so their parents could not find them to stop their marriage. Richard immediately became an atheist, believing that no righteous God would have killed his parents or treated him so poorly. Isn’t God supposed to be good? he thought.
As a result, Richard became a ward of the state, making him fearful and miserable. He had no idea what his future would bring. Now what the hell is going to happen to me? he thought. I’ve already cried my eyes out and I can’t cry anymore. Who will take care of me now? What does it mean to be a ward of the state? Am I going to have to move and lose my friends?
As a ward of the state, he was assigned to a Child Protective Services (CPS) office. They tried extremely hard to get him adopted, but very few people wanted a twelve-year-old boy; they wanted an infant.
Fortunately, CPS was able to place him as a foster child with a lower-income Jewish couple. This satisfied the agency, since they knew his deceased parents were Jewish. Unfortunately, soon thereafter he was shifted from his new home to one foster home after another, at least four times, through three different states. These foster families were low-income people who accepted him strictly for the government’s stipend, which ranged between $480 to $700 per month, depending on the state and age of the child. In addition to the welfare they collected, they didn’t need to pay for Richard’s health care costs because he was covered by the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program.
They also lied to the state that Dick (his preference over Richard) was disabled, by being mentally underdeveloped for his age. A total fabrication, but they got away with it. There was no prerequisite that they must show love or give hugs and kisses to their foster child. And none did. At fourteen, he had his first encounter with the law when he was picked up for vagrancy and misdemeanor theft after he took a banana and an apple juice from a supermarket.
His last foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz, lived in Sedona, Arizona. Though they believed they were good although not practicing Jews, the foster father turned out to be a mean alcoholic and beat Dick mercilessly if he didn’t finish his supper, didn’t use proper table manners, or any other minor irritation. There were even times when they didn’t feed him for days, except for bottled water and some small dishes of rice or noodles. In their warped minds, they were saving money the kid would have just pissed away, and besides, he deserved it.
Dick became extraordinarily discouraged and angry, and ran away from their home at the age of seventeen. He learned how to steal food and dumpster-dive behind restaurants for edible food that diners couldn’t finish or didn’t like, all to survive. With practice, he was able to get past the stench and flies to reach the food without retching. He slept on park benches and washed himself at local McDonald’s rest—rooms. He hated all the foster families he had lived with and decided to keep his original family name of Straub.
He joined the army at eighteen and became PFC Richard Straub. Nine months later, he was sent to the brig for punching an officer. Ultimately he received a dishonorable discharge for being an untrainable wise-ass, starting brawls, refusing KP duty, and failure to follow orders.
After his military screw-up, his life became even more difficult. He took various odd jobs but failed to remain employed longer than two months before getting fired or quitting. He was often arrested for misdemeanor crimes such as breaking and entering an empty home, claiming he just wanted to stay dry during the rains. He didn’t want anyone to know he was homeless.
He was once arrested on a felony charge for car theft, fingerprinted, and had his DNA taken. The judge, noting the fact he was in the passenger seat when the theft occurred, found him not guilty without prejudice, but did not expunge his record.
This rotting life continued for over six years, but his luck improved considerably when he got a job
