Thirty five plus years ago, I ran a computer bulletin board system which allowed users to dial in and exchange messages. This bulletin board system was connected to others via dial-up phone connections, and predated the general use of the internet by the masses. Several of us in the Northern Westchester area met in person and developed friendships. Chris was one of those people.
Now, Chris was one of three siblings, the only boy of the three. Vicki and I feel that Chris was a victim of emotional abuse for reasons I won't discuss here. But I will say that Chris lived in a fantasy world of his own making, and that he would tell "fantastic" stories to make himself seem special in front of people. His reality was mundane. He paid his bills by working as a security guard at a nearby firm and dumpster dived for the computer parts from which he build his first computers. He was responsible for introducing Vicki to me. But he was always under the illusion that Vicki would be his girlfriend, while Vicki was making sure that this would never happen.
Eventually, Chris's parents died and left the family homestead to the three siblings. When I saw this building, it had solid bones, but it was in need of a lot of TLC. There was a big hole in the kitchen floor that needed repair, and I never found out why it was there. The sister I met was a little bit crazy, and the other wanted nothing to do with Chris or her crazy sister. In time, Chris would be the sole resident of the place, but he couldn't perform basic property maintenance. For example, he didn't even know how to keep his driveway free of ice during the winter.
Chris got mixed up with the wrong person and got locked up for an attempted crime against someone's property. (His acquaintance persuaded him it was going to be a practical joke, from what Chris once recounted.) He was in jail for roughly a year and a half while the house went unattended. During that period of time, several of Chris's friends tried to look after the place until Chris's sister put the kibosh on that. That winter, the pipes froze and made the house a disaster area. Neither sister knew or cared to turn off the water and winterize the house. Eventually, the house was sold as-is, and needed just as money to repair the place as it did to buy the place. Hopefully, the new owners have made this place a good home. But I'm digressing from the story.
When Chris was released from jail, he ended up in a nearby suburb. Vicki and I each said that it would be prudent of us not to be in contact with him, and I had one or two contacts with him at computer flea markets Luckily, I lost contact with him.
Several years later, I met Vicki while shopping at Bed, Bath and Beyond. Vicki noted that I was the only person she missed from Chris's circle, and we began a friendship that lasts to this day. But what happened to Chris? Neither of us wanted to renew contact, but we wanted to find out what happened to him. After a little internet research, I found out that he moved to North Carolina - far away enough, that neither Vicki nor myself would ever have to worry about meeting him again.
Yet I wonder. Did he ever get the therapy needed to put his life back on track? That's one of many questions I doubt will be answered....
