Wednesday 16 June 2004
As I begin writing I am cranking my new theme song, Girls and Boys by Good Charlotte. Before I get into why (which I'm sure, Dear Reader, you can already guess), I'll start with news about the one girl that does matter, my Catherine.
Cathy and I had a nice week together. We went swimming twice, she came to school with me each day, and for the first time in her life she beat me at a game of Monopoly. We cuddled and we talked a lot, and all in all we had a grand time.
She let me know in no uncertain terms, though, that she does not want to attend The Academy. She doesn't want to leave her friends in her old school... she was told by her mother that my school teaches too much for what's appropriate for each student's grade level (can you say, "Uneducated and proud of it?") What really killed me, though, was when I mentioned that if Cathy did come to my school she'd get the chance to see me every day. Her response was that when she's with me she feels really special, but she said that if she sees me every day it won't be as special any more. Ouch.
Still, I introduced her to strawberry smoothies (couldn't get enough), and she got to eat things she loves but never has at home... barbecued pork being her first and favorite choice of the week. Catherine was such a delight at school during our last few days, helping each of the teachers to pack up things for the year. When she snuck into the picture of our student body on the last day of school, I laughed and told her, "Get out of there! You're not an Academy student!" But both Beth and Jody encouraged her to stay right where she was, so the final 2003-2004 school photo will show her face among the students in the back row.
Email over the past few weeks had seen some hopeful candidates. Though Connie and Kim had quit writing, Evgenia (pictured right) continued to write very nice letters from Russia and two new prospects showed promise: Rhonda (who didn't post a pic online) shared a bunch of email with me and even came down from Green Bay to meet me (we shared what I thought was a nice afternoon together on Memorial Day, but only one email since); Sarah also shared email and a number of phone calls with me over the past few weeks.
The last few emails I received from Evgenia alluded to thoughts of moving from Russia to the United States, that she was falling for me and wanted to stay with me. I was amazed at the thought that a woman this beautiful would want to share her life with ordinary me, especially after being frank about my relationship with Kari and of my serious lack of financial stability. The last email I got from her was last Friday, in which she asked if I would Western Union $1000 to her for a plane ticket here and a visa application. A quick Internet check on the bank to which she wanted me to send money got me in touch with a lawyer with the Criminal Retribution Taskforce in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The .RU email address was actually from the United States and the IP address this person was using was tracked by the Louisiana CRT team and verified this. It was a complete scam, and one being used on lonely middle-aged men through the United States. I knew it was too good to be true.
