"Winken, Blinken, And Nod ........................................... God Bless The Child----..........."

Good Afternoon;

So....I'm sitting here in the coffee shop and watching this woman who has to be at least 11 months pregnant or carrying a litter of a dozen or more.
She is nodding out over her Frappucino and has spilled one already.
The regional manager and her superior just happened to walk in here today as she
almost inadvertently used her long curly hair as to mop up the spill.

She is not causing any trouble, but there is concern for her, and for the baby's safety because she is unsteady on her feet and falling off the stool, or the commode, (when she was in the restroom for 15 minutes or more), is a distinct possibility.

Jenn and I saw her yesterday on the corner of Falls Rd. & Northern Pkwy. panhandling, (and as a professional critique I must say that her sign, about the size of a newspaper, unfolded at the middle but not opened full width, is printed way to small to read from more than 2 foot away and contains way to many words to read at a stoplight....I could not make out what it said from the passenger seat). I am not sure if she is actually homeless or just playing off the pregnancy to the very last second to get high.

All three levels of management are now standing outside the store talking to her after helping her down the three steps to the plaza area. She is no longer nodding out, but her speech cadences and semi-coherent lapses are indicators that is still high. The little I overheard earlier as she ordered her drink and then complained that it was not the same as she usually got, and ended getting both drinks for the price of one sounded like the work of a seasoned hustler.

The two upper level managers are still outside with her, as if waiting for something or someone, and probably keeping an eye on her for liability reasons.
I wanted to offer to help in some way, but she was giving out a very strong, 

"don't approach me" vibe. I've been texting Jenn, and talking to Kinsey about ways to help someone who is not yet ready to ask for help. About the best I can do is write own the day and time of the women's NA meeting right across the street and offer it to her.

Now there are 2 Baltimore City Police officers talking to her, (I had thought they might have called a taxi).....now all three are gone and the managers all all inside. I went out to look and if they put her in their patrol car and took off, they did it awfully quick.

The one thing to hope and pray, (or wish if you don't pray), for is that the (VERY) soon to be born child does not spend it's first weeks of life detoxing, and that it's development was not retarded in any way by the chemical abuses of the mother.
I must say though that she looked 'healthy' and clean, not gaunt, scarred with sores from picking at her skin, or full of track marks, and her hair, body, and clothes were clean and did not smell.

Except for the pregnancy part, I can claim to have, "been there/done that",
and even though I have no desire to go back, I have empathy for where she is, what she's going through, and shared the fear of both the known agonies of detox, and the unknown future without the drugs that become so much a part of life, that even thinking of life without them is terrifying.

Gotta run, more news if I hear any,
Later....................................Dave