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G. Mick Smith, PhD is a digital marketer, executive, podcaster, voice actor, and recovering academic. Mick currently resides far from the madding crowd in sunny California enjoying his parent's first new car, a 1957 Buick Special, hiking, music, reading, and writing. Contact him at mick.smith@wsiworld.com for all your internet, voice, and social media needs.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Don’t Leave Home Without It
Chapter 2: Father’s Rights
Chapter 3: Home, Sweet, Home
Chapter 4: The Law is a Process
Chapter 5: The Eunuch
Chapter 6: The Big Afghan
Chapter 7: Can Lightning Strike Twice in the Same Spot?
Chapter 8: Bankruptcy Blues
Chapter 9: Dr. Bob E. Maple, the Poster Boy of Oysters
Chapter 10: Deborah Z. Silver-Levine, Esq., Feminist Bulldog
Chapter 11: The American Health Care System
Chapter 12: Ring, Ring, Goes the Bell
Chapter 13: Banking Blues
Chapter 14: Deborah’s “Boy”
Chapter 15: Happy Birthday to You
Chapter 16: Do No Harm
Chapter 17: In the Best Interests of the Children
Chapter 18: Surviving Therapy
Chapter 19: Deposition Blues
Chapter 20: Due Process
Chapter 21: Happy Father-Daughter Day
Chapter 22: Eulogy
Chapter 23: The Union of Church and State
Chapter 24: Representation for Custody Trial
Chapter 25: Silena
Chapter 26: Mothers Win 92% of Contested Custody Cases
Chapter 27: The Judge Declares that War is Over
Chapter 28: Pax Theus
Epilogue: Family Court = Child Abuse
Appendix
This novel is dedicated to all the kids who are burning in America—in particular—to one best kid ever, my Star & Angel. Although Family Court divorced her from me, she eventually triumphed over the therapists, judges, lawyers, masters, pediatricians, and neighbors who act and make decisions in their own best interest.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, events and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Lyrics courtesy of Michael Riah, “Over You’; and, Ian Hunter, “Purgatory,” “Soap and Water,” and “You Nearly Did Me In.”
`You are my sunshine, my only sunshine,' I serenaded Kaitrin nightly while rocking baby to sleep. Baby was conceived using NFP (Natural Family Planning) which is the only birth control method the Church favored. And, before sleep, no need to burn these blessed baby diapers after changing them. They did not smell like all the horror stories you hear. `She’s a keeper’ as they say."
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Got to be a cop along here. Yup. My eyes spotted a North Blackland Township police officer.
“Officer, may I file a missing person’s report?” I surveyed his uniform. He was immaculately pressed with regular Navy blue pants and his blue shirt had a badge pinned to his right side while the radio was attached to his shoulder epaulet.
“Person gone more than 48 hours?” The officer didn’t remove his glaring, intimidating cop glasses, like the kind you wear on the ski slopes, shiny, reflective lenses, can’t see eye type, and the policeman stared down at me.
“Well, I don’t know how long she’s gone, just a kid, only five, our daughter, Kaitrin. Below the shiny lenses and in the corner of his lip trickled brown ooze." I do know that she was babysat at Johnson's today.” The cop spat out a slug of tobacco.
You can’t file a report since you don’t know how long your daughter has been gone.”
“Can’t you call?” The peace officer glared but said nothing while he stretched for the phone in his patrol car. Keith Johnson was home from work. Found out that my wife's new-found best friend, Silena Diaz, who lived three doors away, had driven my wife and Kaitrin to the airport.
The airport!
Where did they go?
"California" the radio crackled.
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Fascinating. I turned the brochure over; it was from a piercing parlor in the Bohemian South Street section of Philadelphia. As I saw where it was from, a loose paper slipped out and fell to the floor.
According to the receipt, 19 days before Anne had had her labia pierced. She had gotten a bead and gold ring. With her navel piercing and jewelry this had cost her $143.00. I referred back to the brochure to discover that depending on what part of her labia was pierced; healing would take 2-12 weeks.
Now more than ever, I knew what I had to do.
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