Just for the "record"

Now that I have put the fact that Thomas was arrested in writing on the Internet, I feel like I should tell the whole story so people don't get the impression that he's a future serial killer or something.

Thomas decided to make a move out to CA to try and find work. I encouraged him to go for many reasons-not all of them unselfish-but mostly because I figure he's a whole lot more likely to find an acting job there than he would in NH. Anyway, I paid for the car to be fixed ($1000+), gave him my credit card for potential emergencies(that seems kind of ironic now), a big hug and kiss, and sent him on his way. It seemed that he had done his research regarding the route he would take and how long it would take him. He had desperately wanted to get the license plate changed on his car because he said, "I am not going to drive across the country with a license plate that says "OH SNAAP"" but he couldn't because you can only change your license plate during your registration month. I got the impression that his anxiety about the license plate was due to a fear of being a target for "bad guys" because he was planning to sleep at rest stops along the way. It never crossed my clueless mind that he might be worried about being a target for the police (and maybe it didn't cross his mind either...I guess OBVIOUSLY it didn't cross his mind!) Anyway, he said he was going to be extra careful driving through the "I" states (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana) because, according to his research, those were the states strictest in law, and he didn't want to get pulled over there. He never said anything about Utah...

His first stop was to be in Boulder,CO to visit with his friend JT who is studying Buddhism. He arrived there safely on his 23rd birthday and called me saying he had a great trip so far and was looking forward to the last leg of his journey to CA. That was on on Sunday, October 18th. The next time I heard from him was on Friday, October 24th (the day before the first official day of my much needed week off from work) sometime between 9 and 10 PM. The phone woke me up out of a deep sleep and when I answered I heard Thomas saying, "I know you've done everything possible for me, blah, blah, blah, etc, etc, etc and I have failed you, blah, blah, blah. "What happened, Thomas" I knew the answer deep down before he said, "I've been arrested."