Page 64 - The Houseguest

pull of the vodka, the whiskey, the beer and eventually mouthwash and hand sanitizer when the first three became unattainable in rehab and subsequently, prison.
He held many memories of spending time commiserating with his stepsister, Laura, a product of his father’s third or fourth attempt at a relationship with a woman. Some of his worst beatings came from trying to protect her from their father’s indecent intentions. It brought him comfort even now to know his heart did indeed possess the capability to feel compassion for another human being. At least he had that going for him. He wondered where she was today, because last he’d heard, her heroin addiction had summoned her to the streets of New Jersey’s Millville where the necessary demands for her drug of choice were easily met through mutual exchange.
His cellmate, Raul had told him about a program the kind citizens of the Tri-State area had begun. They titled it HRP – Houseguest Rehabilitation Program and the goal was to help transition an adult offender to begin, and continue to lead, a productive life after their incarceration. “A Correctional Re-Entry Program” is what Raul called it at the time, so he filed the information in the back of his mind for retrieval when the time was right. And today, the time was right. While staying at a shelter near Hoboken that he’d found through the prison’s outreach program, he literally stumbled upon literature for the HRP program on the floor covered in black tread marks. It had apparently fallen from among the hundreds of pamphlets placed in plastic slots on the wall. The words on the cover read in bold italics: “These men and women are anxiously seeking the same things that
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The Houseguest by Linda Ellis www.LindaEllis.life