" That last message was why I went into the office in the first place. Ada usually didn't ring my room while I slept.I had a white bag with a bacon, e...g and cheese biscuit in it. Ada had let me have a coffee maker, so I made a fresh pot of coffee before I ate the biscuit. Ada had somehow managed one of those dorm refrigerators, a tiny microwave, and the coffee maker for me, so I had a half ass kitchen.While the coffee cooked, I sat at the small low table and even though I didn't want to, I. I clearly remember my mother getting hysterical when the police came to the door and told her that my father had been killed in an automobile accident while on company business. Those two sources led to enough money for her to keep our house, raise me like a little lady and give me a good education.Mom went out dancing (read: bar hopping) about twice a week. Sometimes she wouldn't come home until the morning, leaving my baby sitter to wake me up and give me breakfast. One night she brought home. For a moment she thought her son might be joking — but only for a moment. She could see in his face that he was deadly serious. "But, Robert. He's only 18! It would be i*****l for me to give him alcohol. Also, don't you think he should be spending time with girls his own age?" "Mom, are you k**ding? You give me wine and beer all the time. ... And I've told you before that Michael and I aren't interested in girls our age." "Well, I'm just saying that I don't think it's a very good idea to send. However, I knew in my heart that hard decisions were coming. The next three days I went to work as usual and stayed late to avoid going home to an empty house. I ate my meals at a nearby diner and when I got home, I had a drink of scotch and then went to my empty bed. Sleep was hard to come by. I really missed Flo and the warmth and love she had brought to our marriage before the jokes started.. On Friday I received a call from Jack Harlan that he was putting the results of the the testing in.