Diane

First of all, Diane is o.k., at least for now. Edgar, however, is living with her. He had a mild stroke while at her apartment. Diane got help, and, now that he's back home with her, seems to be taking care of him. She's back at YANA, reining in my profligate ways with the donations, coming up with good, new ideas for services, buying food for her cat, and apparently taking care of all the old women in her neighborhood. She also recently strangled Edgar into unconsciousness. I think this was before the stroke, but I'm not sure. "I choked him out," she told me, embarrassed and grinning at the same time. He had been messing with her ("just playing") when she didn't want to be messed with, and Diane got one of her "anxiety attacks." She choked him until his eyes rolled back in his head and he passed out. As you know, I've seen Edgar. I believe he to have been very drunk or very stoned for that to have been possible.

"There are some women who abuse men too," Diane told me. I agreed wholeheartedly. "I guess I became one of them then," she said. No agreement there. A batterer and rapist "messing with" with one of his victims deserved a lot worse than that. Still, there you go: intermittent moments of power, the occasional revenge, the occasional good natured reward. String enough together, and I guess you get enough to keep a person going.