Speaking of innocence...

As I was getting ready to leave for work this morning I glanced out the kitchen window and saw a truck in the yard. Assuming it was the infamous pool man I retreated to the back of the house to avoid a chance encounter. He seemed to be there an awfully long time so I peeked through the windows to see what was taking so long.

Imagine my surprise when I saw what appeared to be a homeless man walking toward the back of my house. I looked more closely and realized it was none other than my brother. He had apparantly driven down at about 2:30 am and slept in his truck in my front yard thinking his court appearance was today. (It's actually tomorrow afternoon.)

I let him in and we talked for a minute. He looked better than he has in about a year - had some color, looked like he'd put on weight (tweekers are pretty pale and gaunt), his eyes were clear, and he sounded more coherent than he had the past few times I've spoken with him. He had his dog with him but not the bitch (crank skank girlfriend). I informed him that his court appearance is actually tomorrow and told him he could have the couch for the night if he wanted to stay in town. He complained about how the court was keeping his bail money and it wasn't earning interest (I didn't remind him that it was once my $10k doing the same thing and it didn't seem to bother him then...) He said he might stick around and even offered to do some yardwork while I'm at work today. Although a mowed lawn would be nice, I'm just hoping he doesn't call any of his old friends and get into trouble in the next 18 hours.

Now I'm wondering if offering to take him to get some slacks and a nice shirt before his trial would be too much. Or if I should call my mom and tell her he's okay or let her just come down for the hearing tomorrow (as she has planned) because I know she needs to see him and see that he's doing a bit better before the holidays. I guess I'll wait until I get home and see what hell the meth hath wrought before I make the next move...And I've still got half a bottle of Ouzo in case it's bad...