I also call the sheriff, reporting the break-in. If anyone had told me before I encountered addiction that I would be calling the sheriff on my son, I would have thought that that person was the one on drugs. I don’t want Nic arrested. Imagining him in jail sickens me. Could anything good come of it? Suddenly I share the feelings of the parents I met in some of the Al-Anon meetings whose children were in jail and who said, “At least I know where she is.” And: “It’s safer.” The sad irony is that as violent as jail can be, as bleak and hopeless, it is probably safer for Nic than the streets.
