Billie Girl

Chapter Twenty-Two

It is not that easy to be committed. Let me tell you. You have to be a danger to yourself or someone else. I stupidly told Dr. Moody that I had gone out for another one of my walks on the town, and he considered this to be suicidal.

Plus, I guess it was my 911 call where I complained that the sun had not come up that was the tip-off. Naturally they had caller ID over at the police precinct. This led to a confrontation between my mother and a police officer that visited our house. My mother was a real believer in freedom of speech and freedom of expression, and she was not too keen on the cops coming down on me, just because I made a prank call to 911, except it was not.

I pretended to be asleep when the cops came that morning and said that they had received a crank call from this house and that they were concerned.

My mother explained that I was an impetuous child and that I had a lot on my plate. She said it was not like me to call the police at that time of the morning and it could be that I was sleep- walking again. When I was a child, she told them, I had about half a dozen incidents where I would "act out" in my sleep state. Once, when we went camping, I wandered the campgrounds in my nighties. Another time when I was maybe seven, I got up out of bed, came into my parents' room and told them there was going to be a big tidal wave which would swallow us up and that we should abandon our home and head to higher ground. Strangely enough, later that morning it poured like crazy. But the most memorable time of all was when I got up from bed and walked over to my father's office. His computer was on, and I sent out an e-mail that said, "I will always be a daddy's girl." This e-mail was copied and pasted to as many addresses of his friends, associates, and family that I could find. Yet later that morning, I remembered nothing about hacking into his account.

My parents had always always gotten a kick when it came to my sleep-walking episodes, and so my mother wrote this one off as more of the same.

When the cop left the house, my mother came into my room again, and I feigned sleep, and she fixed my covers, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and then left the room.

She mentioned it to me in the morning as I was creating an extravagant breakfast, of two fried eggs over easy, sausage, and a cinnamon raisin bagel with cream cheese.

My body could burn through thousands of calories while at rest. But I knew this would not last. Leslie, my thirty-year-old sister, had become a bit more curvy lately. Not to say she didn't still look beautiful. Actually she looked even better since she had filled out.

"You are so lucky you can still eat like that and keep your figure," my mother said, "but I want to know why the police were at the door this morning."

"The cops where here?" I asked pretending I didn't know.

"They traced a prank call to this house. Something about the sun never coming up. They said a girl called and said she feared that the sun would never rise. And from what I hear, she was not very polite to the dispatcher. I presume this girl was you, Billie. Or was it Tova?"

"It was me."

"If it was Tova, you don't have to stick up for her."

"I said it was me."

"Why did you call 911 when there was no emergency? They have very serious things to take care of. They don't have time for your nonsense."

"It was a legitimate concern that I had early this morning."

"Why is it I don't believe it was you? Look, I think it is noble that you stick up for your best girlfriend, but you don't have to do it. If it was her, then I will call her parents and discuss the issue with them. You girls can't be dialing 911 like it is some kind of a joke."