Chapter 29

Unable to get a job in the medical career she excelled at and burdened with student and medical debt, Karole lost everything, her job, her truck, and it soon looked like she would lose her house. She hated her situation; she was even beginning to hate her daughter. The only thing left in her life that she truly loved was Lanh, whom she loves like a sister, and Don, whom she loves like a potential lover, and for that, she hates herself even more.

It was difficult for Don to adjust to not being the breadwinner. Academically, he remained busy submitting papers and articles on his “Return to the Three Rs” mantra to publications, such as the Journal of Curriculum and Instruction, Teaching & Learning Journals List, and the School Community Journal. The push to return to the three Rs earned him his degree and occasionally sees the printed page. He also gets the occasional speaking engagement, but after farming and a decade of military service, it feels like a hobby to him, and it pays about the same as a hobby. Luckily he was able to get SSD - social security disability which kicked in as Karole’s life fell apart. Most of his time was spent babysitting Karole’s daughter Krissy, which he and Lanh love doing.

As for Lanh, her two jobs were demanding, exciting, fulfilling, and everything she could have dreamed of when she decided on a career in speech therapy, but since both jobs are part-time jobs, she received no medical coverage nor any other benefits. Luckily, she’s covered by Don’s Tri-Care.

Ever since Karole lost her job, life for the four of them had become incredibly difficult. Emotionally, Karole was shattered, and that was making it difficult for her to get as close as she wanted to get to Krissy. Don and Lanh were there for her at every turn, but ever since the DEA and FBI poked and prodded, her employer Mountain Sports Medicine laid her off “For Cause” and with a black mark like that on her record there was no one in Colorado that would hire her.

Karole fought to keep her head above water financially, but the hits kept coming. First, her pickup truck was repossessed, then Krissy got sick and medical bills just poured in. Don wanted to hold her and comfort her, but that wasn’t his place, so he watched Krissy like a doting stepfather, and he left it up to Lanh and her sisters to cheer Karole. Money was getting tight for Lanh and Don, too. Don’s disability pay was a fixed rate, and with inflation tearing up the economy, he was losing more money with each monthly paycheck. Like all disabled veterans, to maintain his social security disability income, he was forced onto Medicare, which proved that when he was promised “Free healthcare for life,” when he enlisted, it was a bald-faced lie. It added a monthly bill that they didn’t need and could barely afford because Lanh’s hours at the clinic were cut, which hurt immensely.

“Enough!” declared Don. “Let’s go home for a while.”

“Ah don’t have money to travel,” said Karole. “Ah just got cut from the boutique.”

“Don’t care, there’s a freezer full of beef and a dozen cows full of milk waiting for us,” said Lanh. “We’ll make do.”