And the band played on...
John met a woman via mail, who started writing him after hearing about him from her friend with whom John had conversed online, she said she found him interesting and wanted to know if he wanted to get to know her better, this came shortly after John and Brandy's relationship had been blown to pieces and he was feeling both used and pretty low. This woman's interest came at a time when he was carefully hiding the hurt from the general family units and close friends and seemed to be just what the doctor ordered.
John began writing her cautiously at first, still stinging from the abuse he took from Brandy and in time began talking with her via phone, she lived many hundreds of miles away and seemed genuinely interested in him. Time passed and the letters made their way back and fourth. As time passed the woman started taking about a deepening relationship, John made it clear that a long distance relationship could not survive, and the woman offered to in a few months fly out to live with him - as friends first but with the clear aim of forming a relationship. John cautiously started to believe in the possibility that after decades of effort he may have found someone genuine.
This woman asked John to buy her a one way flight out to him and offered to repay him when he drove in to pick her up at Logan airport. As the final week approached the woman asked him to forward her $151.00 to cover the final weeks expenses which he sent out via Western Union at her request, but in the back of his mind he started to wonder why she would need this cash as after all she had claimed to have a savings of $580.00 to both help defray the cost of moving out there and to help pay rent upon arrival. So the next time she called he asked about this and was told that she had blown the entire amount in a night of gambling and boozing and was actually totally broke and this was why she wanted John to foot the bill for all the things he had already sent cash out for. John became upset at her because he realized she had been lying to him and would not be helping with the rent or repaying the ticket or anything else. After words were exchanged and silence fell across the connection, the woman asked John for more money to be sent again this time to cover the costs of food for the week! During the same request the woman revealed that she was staying with two close male friends in their apartment for the week. John started to wonder why then she needed the money for rent if she was staying with close friends? He could not recall any close friend of his ever expecting to be paid rent for a weeks stay! It was then that he started to feel panicky that he had once again been set up and used.
At this point he told the woman that he would not be sending her any more cash, feeling that he was enabling her to continue to waste it in an irresponsibly manner thus enabling her to continue to spiral out of control compounding the problem. When he pointed out that he was unemployed and had been pinching penny's for a long time to spare the money he had already sent to her and that this reckless waste of her savings had left him angry and in doubt of her sincerity she hung up on him. She called back a little later and told him that she could raise more money by doing illegal things like turning tricks if he would not send her the cash, he told her this was crazy and that laying the blame for her actions in his lap was unfair, she hung up but called back later and left a message on his machine stating that if he wasn't totally in her corner and thus willing to send more money out each time she requested it, then she was not coming out to room with him, she then hung up again and has since that point broken off all contact. John had already sent the E ticket information and could not cancel the ticket as it was nonrefundable, so in addition to the rest he is out the cost of a ticket that no one will now use.
John has thrown in the towel has given up and admitted defeat, he has quit and withdrawn completely.#