Trouble

We have some friends, whom I will call the Hunters. They aren't our closest friends in the world, but their kids are reasonably close to the ages of our kids, and we've done things together. We have taken their kids when they needed to do adult stuff, and they have returned the favor. Mrs. Jogger and Mrs. Hunter have hung out together and swapped war stories. We knew that the Hunters have had a rocky relationship lately, but we didn't know how bad it really is.

Mr. Hunter is in jail as I type. On Friday night, he threw a microwave oven across the room, in the general direction of his kids. Thank God no one was hurt, but Mrs. Hunter finally had enough, and she called the police. I guess this is not his first violent outburst.

Mrs. Hunter is now making plans to leave, but it's not that easy. Mr. Hunter has taken control of their finances, and almost everything is in his name. I guess lately, he's even been doing the shopping, so that she wouldn't have any money at all. He makes sure that her car only has so much gas, so that she can't go far without him.

She is afraid that she really needs to disappear. She is afraid of what might happen when he gets out of jail, which might be soon. Unfortunately, since he hasn't actually hurt anyone, yet, the powers that be won't be ready to lock him up and throw away the key.

All this is a sudden shock to Mrs. Jogger and I. We knew that they weren't exactly Ward and June, but we had no idea how bad things were. Now we're scrambling to figure out how we can help Mrs. Hunter and the kids. We, of course, have no experience with fleeing abusive husbands.

It's just scary, that's all. This isn't the movie of the week. This is our life, our friends.

I came home tonight and hugged everyone in my family, hard. We have our problems, but thank God we're not as bad off as that. I just hope everything works out for them.