Soon she was again using and I was taking care of us. Of course I then learned to keep my mouth shut and it took something bad happening to land me b...ck in foster care. Back into the system, back to another home. So with all this in mind, you hopefully see why I was stunned to get so much attention in my new foster home from my new foster parents. After several days of so much attention, getting to pick out everything in my new room, getting brand new clothing and breakfast lunch and dinner. She was effectively already dead when the doctors requested permission to turn off the machine.”“Turn off? You mean she might still be alive if they hadn’t?”He shook his head very slightly. “Not really. It wouldn’t have been the Clarissa we all know. It would have just been a shell. An empty body kept alive by a machine. It broke Christine’s heart to acquiesce to the doctor’s request, but it broke her heart even more to see her daughter lying there with tubes and wires coming out of her,. Marie would later learn his name to be Runs With Horses.The little group rode into the trees and slid off their horses. Marie's captor took her to a nearby tree. He retied her hands in front of her body then securely to the tree on a short leash and left her to herself. Others went busily about starting a small campfire and gathering wood enough to keep it going for some time. Another of the group took the horses and picketed them a short distance away.Two of the group went off in different. Take it and go on to California."The woman broke down into tears and said, "Ma'am, I can't take your money. There ain't no way that we could pay you back." Don't worry about that. Just take the money and go. Your kids deserve the chance for a better life, and you might find one in California. You sure won't find that around here!"Arlene walked up to the woman and shoved the money into her hand. She walked back to me and said, "Come on, John. There is nothing for us here." She mounted her bike.