Since she had picked him up as soon as he walked out of detox, she thought he was clean. And that's probably what he told her. So she spent the money to put him on a plane to Phoenix, far from his home in the Midwest.
Once he arrives and gets settled into a room I hear from his mother. She says that TLC was not at all what he thought it would be like.
The second day he was here - on a Sunday - he was put to work, holding a sign on the street advertising our weekly donation only car wash. The only part he told her about was the donations - he didn't tell her the part about the car wash.
The next day we sent him to work on one of our labor crews. He didn't expect that either because the last place he was at was free - he was there on a scholarship plan.
When he found out that he was going to have to work he asked for a ride to the airport. He said he wanted to go home and shoot some heroin.
In our opinion, he wasn't ready for recovery anyway. Because his roommates claimed he kept asking them if they knew where he could buy heroin.
I let her know that when he was ready we'd take him back. When he gets enough pain he may call.
