| Friday 2 October 1998. 6:57 PM Times become more and
more interesting.
Today Suzi and I went and did some of the very urgently needed general duties.
Suzi runs a company and right now she is not fit to work. She is devoted 100% to AJ
and that's that. Which is BAD for our income earning ability. I can't work two
jobs 18 hours a day in parallel. In fact as many of our clients know, we aren't
really working right now, which is really bad.
Anyway we went to the Bank (I won't say which one) and people started looking at us.
OK, we know a few of the staff know us, because they are great staff, but it wasn't
just staff. It was People. Ordinary People like Suzi, AJ and myself.
It felt a little funny. Then out of the blue whilst Suzi was filling in the
Withdrawal forms, an older woman came up to us. She said she was sorry for intruding
and she hoped we didn't mind but she was curious to know if we were the people who were on
TV.
I could only smile. We talked for a few moments and she even shared a story or two of
her own about DoCS. Seems there is far more than meets the eye going on. This
only angered me more. And it's made me more determined to resolve this whole DoCS
thing once and for all. For goodness sake this is the 1990's. In fact it's
almost NOT the 1990's any more and we still treat people like criminals, we victimise them
and we tear apart the emotional fabric that makes us human. Now I understand why
Suzi says they are evil.
Anyway we then went to the counter and the counter staff started looking at us.
(I think it's my beard which was due to be removed this week, but I think it's here to
stay for a while. Suzi says this is just an excuse to avoid shaving. But AJ
really likes to play with it.)
Then a Teller asked. It was all on again. Shock, tears, fear. These
words keep on coming. Lots of sympathy and they all agreed that it was so surprising
to have happened to someone they all knew. (I get the feeling there are a lot more people
how know myself, and Suzanne, than we ever expected. Just a single casual passing
seems to be enough in this tragic event in our lives to bring people who normally just get
on with a business transaction, to feel for each other.
FAMILY. The only word I can use to describe it.
We left the bank and went to Suzanne's other Bank. On the way there I decided to
drop into the Travel Agent who'd helped us with a holiday some time ago. She hadn't
seen the story, but there were murmurs in the background. I pulled out the video
(that camera goes with us everywhere now) and they all gathered around. The other
staff suddenly realised they'd seen this on TV and were shocked we were standing in front
of them. Here come those words again: Fear, Shock, Trauma, Horror, Tears.
After we left the Bank we went to pick up the Monitors I'd put in for Repair. (We
had two monitors fail the week before our tragic story unfolded.)
I walked in the door and the guy just stood there. He said "My wife
cried." I tried to break a smile of comfort. He made quite a few
comments, especially complimenting me on my calm stature and the way I handled the police.
We talked for a while and a customer walked in the door. He looked at me like
he'd seen me somewhere before. (I think I need to get use to this. If you
do see us in the street, please come and say hello. It helps Suzanne
feel that she is not alone or doing anything wrong. Right now she feels that it's
all her fault. I'm spending a lot of time ensuring she realises it's not.)
I had the Video Camera with me - yes I'm paranoid, but you will understand when you
read the next page in today's events. (Hopefully I'll remember to put a link here - if I
don't, can someone remind me!) We decided as Suzi was feeding we'd run a bit of the
tape. The customer saw about 10 seconds looked at me and just explained. I'm
not sure what he said at first, but then he went on about how he'd seen it on TV and now
seeing it on my camera with me standing there ...
Why am I telling you this? Because I'm gloating about this amazing recognition
and sudden popularity? Of course not. I'm telling you because this is a story
about YOU, and ME and our Families.
It's not about "Adam Todd" (Junior or Senior)
It's not about "Suzanne Todd and her Baby."
It's about how this huge abuse of power and authority can affect YOU. Right NOW.
Any moment now the Police or DOCS could respond to YOUR neighbour saying you are
not "caring" for your child. Read the next page in this days events (the
one I mention above) because I'm shocked. I'll get to why I'm shocked and say this
now ...
After we left the Repairer (who incidentally is Dr. Vision at Camden, very fast
efficient and a great guy, only met him twice now.) we drove to Campbelltown to the DoCS
office to pick up those documents I'd requested several times. They were read for my
last Friday but things were complicated and we didn't get there.
on our way there, Suzi made some comments. We know some personal things about
some of the DoCS staff. Without pointing names, Suzi asked me how can a Government
Department that is suppose to be devoted to helping Families stay together and grow strong
employ staff hwo are divorced or seperateed, some more than once? Are these people
so desparateand angry they force their plight onto other peopel who are in fact happy?
Well this time round it's not going to work. Suzanne and I are very strong
willed people. We've never given up on things before and I guess there was a reason
we were picked for this incident as horrific as it is. I guess there are other
Parents (some single mothers too) that have no where to turn to. I guess it's our
job to help give them somewhere to seek help.
Suzanne dropped me off nearby and went for a drive. A long drive.
I walked into the office (yep, camera rolling) and went to the counter. There
were a few people milling about. A few strange looks, but nothing spoken.
I pressed the button and a gentleman came out. I gave him my name and said there
were some documents for me from Pauline Rockley awaiting my collection. He went away
and ten minutes later came back with a largish bundle wrapped in Brown Paper marked
Private and Confidential. I smiled weakly, thanked him and was about to leave when
he said "Pauline asked about the return of the Car Seat."
I said "We haven't forgotten, we;ll get to that as soon as possible. Right
now because Suzanne's income has been depleted and I haven't worked (I'm a private
consultant - please don't ask what because we don't want to advertise our commercial
interests. If you want to know you can find out easy enough. That's why
there are no links form the AJ pages to our other web sites.) So we don't have any surplus
income to afford to spend on luxuries. A Car seat of decent quality is something that
comes after we eat and pay the rent and ensure our AJ is clothed. Anyway, maybe next
month there will be a surplus. Maybe some of those clients who have not bothered to
pay us and make excuses will find in the kindness of the moment a few seconds to write a
cheque and send it off. Come on 3 months over due isn't exactly nice. How would you
like not being paid for 3 months?
I left and started to unbind the parcel. What I had in my hands was - well
lets call it GOLD.
Now you'll just have to read the next page to find out what it's all about. And
as I'm about to do Daddy things with AJ whilst Suzi cooks dinner (yum, we're having Tuna
Steaks, Perch and fresh Salad for dinner!) it will be a little later tonight.
But be warned. What Suzi and I read in these documents is frightening.
We've been told by my parents, other victims and even Marina, but the stories and
explanation just seemed so - well - wild - we didn't want to believe it.
I now understand why I'm paranoid. I now understand why some people are so
concerned.
You will really need to have a warm loving family cuddle when you read the next pages.
Horror Movies aren't even scripted this well.
Don't forget to HAVE YOUR SAY if you want to make
a comment or statement. By now you're probably starting to become more angry.
Well the next page will set you off.
until then ... |
