Evie's Day in Court

Four years at university, three years of law school and eleven years of practice were not enough to win a case against Evie. Jack Campbell, Esquire had encountered women like her before. At age 29, having already made serious life mistakes, Evie was not about to let her past ruin her life.

On her day in court Evie overcame her lack of education and history of drug addiction to be awarded frequent and unsupervised timesharing with her twin five year olds. Despite the fact that her former husband had retained counsel and had insisted that he, the father, should have sole custody, the judge awarded shared parental custody. And, even though Evie had to appear with no attorney to represent her the court followed the Florida family law rules and awarded her everything she requested in her petition for modification.

Evie knew down in her soul that her life, her case, was more important to her than it was to any attorney. Her attorney, while she had one, was all about the money, and had withdrawn the minute she could no longer pay him $500. per month whether he did any work or there was any court activity or not. Opposing attorney, Campbell, seemed to want to draw things out and string things along as long as possible. Evie just wanted to see her kids more than one supervised overnight visit per month.

By the time she had her day in court, Evie had been waiting almost two years. She had voluntarily let her children live with their father so that she could have an opportunity to get a better job, make sure she could stay clean, and get a stable living arrangement. But, the father, Charles, took the opportunity to take over everything, and before she knew it Evie was obliged to pay $500 in child support even though her income was much less than Charles'.

For every short story, there is a long story. Evie had never finished high school due to her attention deficit disorder and then falling so far behind in her classes that it was too overwhelming for her to even try to catch up. After a free fall through the cracks in the system, she quit school as soon as she legally could. She drifted for a couple of years, partying with her friends, having her time, living off the parents. She went to work at one of the many bars in the beach town where she lived. Being a barmaid was a perfect fit for her outgoing personality. Smiling and flirting, fetching and carrying drinks, earning decent money. The work atmosphere was fun. Everyone worked together, Work hard – play hard was her mantra.

By age 23 she racked up two DUI's, was arrested for possession of a controlled substance (oxycodone), and married one of her regular customers, Charles. He was a couple of years older and a Marine. At first Evie was entranced and enchanted by Charles' direct approach to life and his ambition to pursue a military career. Soon after their wedding Charles received orders to relocate to north Florida, Fort Walton Beach in Okaloosa County. The honeymoon ended quickly. Charles was sent out for training and then deployed overseas, leaving Evie in an unfamiliar town. She went to work in the only trade she knew, tending bar, made new friends and entertained herself with partying, drinking, and pills. Charles would come and go, and for a long time had no idea that Evie was using pills. She was an expert at hiding her addiction as she had hidden her usage from her parents for years.

Evie woke up one morning in her car which was parked outside the bar where she worked. She was in her work clothes from the night before. Her keys were in the ignition and the contents of her purse were dumped out on the seat next to her. A half full cup of what smelled like scotch was in the cup holder. The smell of which made her retch. Her head hurt and she was thirsty. She did not remember going to work the night before, or working, or leaving work, or going to her car, or

drinking, or apparently taking all of the pills that she had in her purse. At the moment of not remembering, she realized two things. That she was lucky to be alive, and that she did not want Charles to know. It was easy enough for Charles not to know as he was deployed on assignment somewhere, and not expected back for another week.

Evie put her things back in her purse, poured the contents of the cup out the window, smoothed her hair, and drove home – back roads all the way. She did not want to be pulled over or have to speak to a law enforcement officer for any reason, not now, not today. Once home, she slept, got up, raided the fridge, and slept some more. That evening when Charles' skype call came through, she ignored it. She had to think, she needed time to clear her brain so she could think before she spoke to him. She knew he'd detect that something was off with her if he saw her on skype. Before they married she had promised him that all of her drinking and drugging activities were in the past. She felt bad for letting him down, and she felt let down too. The marriage thing was not what she expected, not what she thought she was getting into. He was gone all the time. Home maybe four or five days a month – a week at the most. She was left to her own devices, which obviously were not very good devices, as she had gone back to the same life she had before they were married, except without her life long friends around her.

So she left. She packed up and left and went back to her parent's house in Daytona Beach. She left Charles a note saying that she had some things to work out and had gone back to her parent's house and didn't know when she'd be back. She knew Charles would be hurt and angry; and she knew her parents would be judgmental and angry. She avoided Charles' skypes and calls as long as she could, but finally a few days after he returned from his mission she picked up her cell when he called. Tears and shouting ensued. Despite Evie not wanting Charles to know about her pill addiction she finally confessed to him. He told her not to call or contact him until and unless she had checked herself into rehab.

Evie's parents were not amused that she had left her husband after less than two years for no other reason than he worked a lot. Evie's dad let her know that she could stay with them for one month maximum, and then she needed to get her own place or go back to her husband. Evie went to work right away at her former beach bar. Before the one month was up, however, Evie learned she was pregnant with twins. Evie's mom was ecstatic to be a grandma, Evie's dad didn't say much at all. They both told her she had to tell Charles.

Charles hung up on her every time she called. He would hang up as soon as he asked whether she was in rehab and she said no. After several tries, she quit calling. Charles filed for divorce, Evie agreed to it and did not attend the court hearing.

Evie's parents caved and let her stay with them until after the babies were born, but, they said, then she would definitely have to find her own place. Evie stayed clean the entire time she was pregnant. Did not drink a drop and did not take one pill.

After the babies were born, the three of them moved in with one of Evie's lifelong friends and her two children. Evie applied for social assistance, food stamps, and child support. Charles denied that the children were his. Only after a court ordered DNA test did Charles recognize the twins as his own. And once he did, he took full advantage of Evie's request for him to take them for a while so that she could get back on her feet and get clean. He went to the Department of Children and Families and convinced them that due to Evie drug addiction she was not fit to raise the children and he should have sole custody. (Evie had not used any drugs since she had found out she was pregnant.) And then Charles went to the Department of Revenue and requested child support, and he was awarded $500 per month.

But everything changed the day Evie finally got her day in court.