Sharks & Section 8

Sharks can smell the blood in the water...and mother-in-laws can smell money on its way to your checking account or at least my mother-in-law can.

Financially, we have been making it by the skin of our teeth basically treading water to prevent from drowning.  When my husband was offered a job that would send him to Afghanistan he took it for two reasons:  1.) the obvious reason, a substantial payroll increase and 2.) he'd be working directly under a three-star general and he felt that having him on his future resume would look pretty.

Now, mind you, he left for Alabama over the weekend for about a month of training before heading to the Middle Mess, errr, I mean, East.  Obviously, we have not receive any more cash flow as of yet.  However, a couple of days ago I get a phone call from the mother-in-law asking for $300 to pay her deposit on a new apartment.  WHA-AAAT!?!?!?

Let me back track...

My mother-in-law is a recovering addict.  She is bi-polar and also suffers with back trouble.  She's in her early 50s and has never really been 100% self sufficient.  She holds a part time job but receives a substantial amount of government assistance.  Lucky for her (and for my husband growing up), the glue of the family was my husband's maternal grandmother.  She would bend over backwards to help her daughter time and time again much to the disapproval of my husband's grandfather.  In his defense, I can't blame him for being leery to help her considering after my husband's father walked out when my husband was still very young the grandfather allowed the mother-in-law and my husband to stay in their home and she thanked them by committing credit card fraud and racking up a little over $10,000 in bills which over time they paid off.  So, yeah, I can see why he would want to keep his distance.

In April of this year, the grandmother passed away.  The mother-in-law, while doing much better, lacks many of the life skills that comes with being on one's own that most people experience and retain in their early 20s and 30s.  Now in her early 50s, she's always been bailed out of her problems (I'm not talking jail, BTW) and has never had to actually do it all on her own.

Anyway back to the previously scheduled program...

She apparently applied for Section 8 which from my understanding is a government program that assists with rent based on your income.   The applicant pays a percent and the government pays a percent and by government I mean taxpayers.

When she called me it was a few days after my husband left.  She asked if he had told me about her moving which he hadn't.  She said her aunt was giving her money to pay for movers and that Section 8 would be assisting her with rent but she hadn't received the voucher yet.  She said she had to come up with her portion of the deposit which was $300.  Then she told me she needed it by the 1st of September.  She called me on the 30th of August, by the way.  I explained to her I didn't have it at this point in time to give to her.  Although she never said outright that she spoke to my husband about giving her the money, she has this manipulative way of beating around the bush about things which is exactly what she did.  I told her I needed to talk to my husband before I could send her anything.

Later that day, I spoke to my husband and he had no clue what I was talking about.  He didn't even know his mom was moving.  I asked him if he wanted me to give her the money.  I explained that I use the word "give" because even if I say "loan" I know we will never see those C-notes ever again.  He is adamant about not giving her anything which means I'll be stuck in the middle of their conflict.  Lucky freaking me!!  All I can say is at least she's clean now so her rants will be a bit more coherent.  Regardless, this will be all my fault.  I am sure of that.  *sigh*