Mind games and retreat – Post 5 of the Boise Roommate Saga

Laura and I had originally intended to stay in Callan’s house, in the downstairs bedroom. Laura showed up 24 hours before I did. As I was driving the final leg, from Twin Falls to Boise, I was getting increasingly alarming messages from her. The roommates were openly hostile.

I was also getting alarming messages from my friend Alan, who had done some research on the roommates, Heidi and Kylie. They were felons. They were both currently on probation serving intermittent jail time. There were multiple instances of domestic abuse and DWI. They also had thousands of dollars of financial judgments against them.

Heidi and Kylie were insisting that I was not allowed in the house. They were not going to allow it. I wondered who do they think they are, to decide that Callan’s own mother can’t come to the house? It’s Callan’s house! I was very tempted to show up and tell them off. But what good was another altercation going to do? I was far more concerned about their apparent control of Callan.

Callan and Laura have an aunt and uncle in Boise on their dad’s side; my ex-brother-in-law and ex-sister-in-law, Tim and Jen. They are kind people and Callan and Chirstina have stayed with them in the past. I figured Callan, Laura and Chirstina could stay with Uncle Tim and Aunt Jen, and I would get a hotel for myself and Biska, at least for as long as it took to scope out the situation, which seemed increasingly bizarre.

I called Laura and asked them all to head over to Tim and Jen’s house. Laura called Tim and Jen, who were gracious with their welcome…but Callan refused to go. Why? I was still driving toward Boise, still an hour out. Why would Callan refuse to go to Tim and Jen’s house? I called Callan and still…refusal. I didn’t understand. Callan liked their aunt and uncle.

I realized I needed to get Callan alone somehow, and figure out what was going on in their head. I called Callan and said, “Look, I’m going to be arriving at lunch time. I have a new little puppy. Your dog, Kira, is afraid of strange dogs. Let’s meet in the park so the dogs can meet each other on neutral territory.”

Callan agreed. At first Callan was going to walk to the park. The roommates had taken over the use of Callan’s car. But I figured we could rescue the car along with my kid and the dog. I suggested that Callan “borrow” the car for an hour and drive to the park with Kira.

Once Callan was alone with me in the park, I was able to convince Callan to drive to Tim and Jen’s house, with me following behind in the van. I quickly texted Laura – get Chirstina and get some basics like the computers, and head to Jen’s house.

Once at Jen’s house, I put my van’s security club on Callan’s car’s steering wheel so the roommates couldn’t take Callan’s car. We were pretty sure they didn’t know where Tim and Jen lived, but we were in escape mode now.

I was going to get a hotel for myself, but everyone was completely traumatized and we were starting to try to put a plan of action together. So I stayed with the kids in Jen’s house for 4 days. By chance, Tim and Jen had booked a trip to Alaska to visit their kids and grandkids, so we had their house to ourselves.

I am very grateful for my ex-in-laws. Having the house over the long weekend enabled me to find a large airbnb where we could all regroup, starting on Monday. The rental market in Boise is so tight that I wasn’t able to find an airbnb on a moment’s notice, and couldn’t get in until after the weekend. And I really felt like we all just needed to be together – away from the roommates – to get our heads clear.

But I was a nervous wreck because of my puppy! I was terrified Biska would have an accident on my ex-sister-in-law’s beautiful rugs. I kept Biska constrained in the kitchen and I watched her like a hawk! I took her out every hour. It was exhausting. And Biska did NOT appreciate being confined to the kitchen.

Tim and Jen live in a pretty planned neighborhood, but there are no backyards. Instead of backyards, there is a beautifully landscaped common area with pathways and water features. Dogs aren’t allowed to do their business back there, even if you clean it up. Our only option for dog business was a small patch of lawn in the front along the sidewalk. I had to keep her on-leash and go out with her – I couldn’t just shoo her outside. There I was, standing in Aunt Jen’s front yard at all hours day and night, sometimes in my pj’s and a robe, trying to potty train a puppy. OMG. Oh well, at least it was lawn and not snow!

I have no idea what Tim and Jen’s neighbors thought of us, showing up suddenly as soon as Tim and Jen left for Alaska. We were a motley crew with two dogs and a camper van (vans are never good) plus two other vehicles. We unloaded tons and tons of badly packed crap, as if we were moving in (we sort of were).

It was like the proverbial relatives down on their luck showing up on your front porch with a suitcase. Except it was dozens of suitcases plus strange things like baby gates to keep the puppy confined to the kitchen. I’m guessing Jen got several concerned text messages from her neighbors that day!

During that weekend we went back to Callan and Chirstina’s house twice to get additional clothes and possessions. We only went when the roommates were gone in order to avoid a confrontation. It was so hard having to abandon Callan’s house to these crazy, hateful people. Can you imagine what it would be like, to have people like that in your house, and be completely helpless, not knowing what they were going to damage or steal?

The first trip back we discovered they had already stolen the white Greek flokati living room rug I had given Callan a couple of years ago.

A nice camera with fancy lenses was also missing – that we assumed they fenced it for money for a down payment to get into a new apartment. We didn’t know how much more they would steal or what mischief they would get up to before we could legally get them out of the house. We just had to wait.

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