That Friday was Ashley’s birthday. She turned 16, and she conned Mike into letting her spend the day the way she chose. First of all, she wanted to sleep in. She didn’t want to go to school, and he didn’t make her. It upset me, but I let it slide because I was learning to pick my battles, and it wouldn't have mattered what I wanted. They ended up running around all day together. I think Mike took her out to a nice lunch, and they saw some movie that I would later learn was R-rated. Big red flags there, if I'd had any say, but Mike was in control all the way. They stopped at the store coming home and bought her favorite icecream to go along with the cake I’d baked. We had a nice dinner, and Ashley opened gifts. At cake time she ate her special kind while the other kids grumbled over vanilla. I gave her clothes, and the children had purchased a Calvin and Hobbs book. She loves Calvin and Hobbs. Mike gave her a very pretty opal ring. I’m no expert on jewelry, but I do know well-made, expensive pieces, and the ring he gave Ashley was expensive. Since we were having problems paying our bills, I wondered where he got the money for such a nice purchase. But I didn't want my head bitten off, so I said nothing. Looking back, I don’t know how I managed to stay so uninvolved and quiet. Maybe I figured it would blow over, but if I had to do it again now, it would be a lot different. So many things were becoming out of control, I felt as if I was on a supercharged merry-go-round. Despite the clothing shopping with Marilyn, Ash's Oakside counselor, Bart, was still not happy with her attire. It was unfair but true that her snotty attitude and less-than-willing efforts at compromise had pissed Bart off, and he was determined to show her who was boss. He made a special "Ashley rule" that she was to show herself to the van driver every morning, and if the driver felt her clothes were appropriate, she could come to school. If not, she had to change. Since Ashley didn’t want to be there in the first place, the arrangement gave her ample opportunity to simply dress inappropriately on purpose and miss school. And missing school, she believed, just made it more likely that we'd throw in the towel and let her live her life the way she wanted- on the streets, using drugs. Disliking Bart the way she did, Ashley was as much of a handful during her class-time counseling sessions as she could get away with. Everything about school became an issue- her participation in class and her grades, the way she singled out her San Ramon friends at lunch even though she wasn't supposed to associate with the in-patients, and how she ran hooting and hollering through the halls when she was supposed to be at detention. Not that I thought she didn't deserve to get into trouble, but to tell the truth, I didn’t blame her for her dislike. Bart seemed like a snake, and he even made me nervous. He didn't seem to have the right kind of personality for a therapist who worked with teens, and patronizing Ashley was a huge mistake. When Mike and I would meet with the two of them, you could feel the tension as she sat there, looking at anything but him, and he talked to her through us. Unhappily for her, what Ash didn't realize was that every day she failed her objectives at Oakside brought her one step closer to being sent out of state to school. And I was praying hard for that day to come.