The Meeting

As I had expected, there were only the four of us at this meeting. This was the first time I had actually seen my father in over four months so I didn't say much and surprisingly, neither did he or Chloe. We quietly listened while Mr. Shears rambled on for a bit, eventually laying out the details of the debt, omitting the cause and the company for some reason. When I asked about it he simply said that it doesn't matter and I am not entitled to know. I wanted to press it further but at that time Chloe interrupted and asked what our options were.

The total amount of money owed had reached $50,000 due to interest over the last year. It was actually a lot less than I was expecting considering his spotty history over the last few years. Obviously, Dad didn't have the required funds to pay off the amount owed and there was no way he could possibly come up with it, so his options were pretty slim.

Before going over what choices were available, Mr Shears got to the reason about why Chloe and I were invited to this meeting. He explained that this company our father is indebted to is actually a locally owned rehabilitation center for women and they are willing to make a deal to erase the debt. They somehow found out that my father has two adult daughters and with that knowledge, came up with a solution that wouldn't involve going to court and wouldn't require the debt to be repaid in cash.

They offered to erase the debt against my father if one of us was willing to agree to come and participate in their woman's rehabilitation program. The details were very gray and not clearly outlined by Mr. Shears. All we were really able to learn was that the program lasts 100 days and that the volunteer would reside at their facility for the full duration. More details would follow if the proposal was agreed to.