Last week a friend of mine was killed in a car accident. It was one of those stupid things, where nothing she could have done would have made any difference (somebody driving the wrong way along a 2-lanes-each-way freeway). She left behind her husband Dale and her 7-year-old son Wills (not her husband's biological son). Her name was Jeanette, but I only ever knew her as "Cat". She was 28 years old.
By coincidence, Wills was on a visit to his biological father and grandparents. They promptly refused to return him to Dale, or to bring him to his mother's funeral.
Yesterday my wife and I boarded an early-morning plane in Melbourne and flew to Launceston for the funeral (45 minute flight). The church was standing-room only, since Cat was precious to lots of us in both the motorcycling and scouting communities. There must have been 200 people there.
After the service, when the pallbearers had loaded Cat's coffin into the hearse, Wills' biological father punched Cat's brother, then snatched up Wills and tried to run off with him. This guy had never had custody of Wills, and in fact had walked out on Cat when Wills was only months old. Needless to say, he didn't get far.
It beggars belief to me that he would show such contempt. Wills was already in his care, and all he had to do was wait until after the funeral, take Wills home quietly with him, and wait for the court proceedings. Instead, all he managed to do was shoot himself in the foot, get taken away in a police car, and make himself at least 100 new enemies. The remainder of the day was split between anger at him and mourning Cat, when the latter was all that should have been going on.
It's a rotten situation, but what do you do?
BTH
