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Tales Of a Sojourner*
Mary had weighed the cost of divorcing an abusive husband and it was heavy; yet she never regretted leaving him. She was in her 50’s and had waited far too long. She knew the choice she made had a name - poverty. She would live the rest of her life hoping the month would run out before the money did. Not often, but more than once, small checks were written at the end of the month with great hopes that the check didn’t hit the bank until she could get her small pay check into the account.
She had found a small house for less rent and she was in the middle of a move. She didn’t want her ex to find her, so she left no forwarding address. The check she wrote didn’t beat the deposit. The notice of insufficient funds and the court papers of charges filed never reached her.
Four years later, driving with a friend who had allowed her license tag to expire, a police stop picked up a no-show warrant for Mary’s arrest. She was in jail immediately. The Public Defender wearily tried to convince the judge, again, that those living in poverty had no hope of paying the large fines that were being set. There was little doubt that she, like many others, would be brought back to jail. The cost to the county of all this jail time would be far more than the fine and would further destabilize her. The judge was not sympathetic. He had had his fill of bad check stories. He was convinced that the epidemic must be stopped. He set her fine at over $5,000.
Now, at sixty, she has been in jail for over 4 months, waiting a hearing on her new situation. She has lost her house and her car and she doesn’t know where her belongings are. She had never been a very resourceful woman and now her poverty had deepened.
The check Mary had written over 4 years ago was for $44.
*a sojourner is one who stays at a place for a short time.
- Pat Lucy, Commissioned Lay Pastor
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