Hello, there, again; it's your pal Phil again getting you up to speed on the latest poop (I'd use a stronger word but kids read these letters) for Milborough. As you already know, the doctors and lawyers handling Elly's case gave her the once-over and committed her to the Centre for Mental Health down on Burlington Avenue until such time as she comes back to herself. I hate to say it but it agrees with her; despite the fact that she isn't quite herself, she's looked better than she has in years. The doctors tell me that her outlook is fairly good and with the right kind of care, she should be able to rejoin us in the real world pretty much in time to celebrate April's nineteenth birthday. The only obstacle they seem, of course, is John.
This, of course, is because I don't think he rightly knows how bad things are. Sure, the Crown Attorney had to drop the case against him but that doesn't mean that anyone thinks he's all that innocent. All that it means is that he isn't worth the trouble it'll take to put his pasty behind behind bars; not that he sees this. He doesn't seem to understand that his arrogant boast that he wanted nothing to do with Michael is what got him, as the Americans say, no-billed. Since he isn't going to be a big idiot and harsh Mike's mellow, Judge Jeneryk said that he didn't pose big enough a threat to the civil order to be bothered with; too bad that that comment and his sarcastic remark about how odd it was that Elly lived in fear of his doing exactly what he did sailed right over his head but what are you gonna do?
Not, of course, that I expect his elation to last. Y'see, I know him well enough to know that sooner or later, it's going to occur to him that he might just be in the wrong. All it'll take is the bleak Christmas he's in for; instead of the big spread he's used to, he's going to be pretty much the relative no one really wants around and he'll have to be confronted with the worst thing in the world: thinking about why things are what they are.
By the time Elly is released, he'll have realized that he shouldn't have done what he did or thought the way he had; he won't apologize, of course, but we don't expect that of him. We just want him to not be a jerk.
On that score, it's a good thing that Anthony is who he is; he may be somewhat awkward to deal with but he does know that John needs to be humored while we're waiting for him to get his act together. It helps that John is as good with money as Elly; he doesn't, for instance, realize that his veto rights over Gordon Mayes no longer exist or that buying a bumper sticker supporting Jeneryk when he was running for office twenty years ago doesn't make him the big wheel he thinks he is. It's sort of sad that a man who could do things is rattling away in his yard living in the past but we can't feel too sorry; his folks don't. They're slightly more worried about the woman who thinks she's a receptionist working in a dental office while she takes her meds.
Anyways, I'll have to cut this short; I don't want to overstay my welcome and talking about the Pattersons seems like a good way to do that. I'll get back to you next month with the latest news, though.
Until then,
Phil.