Chapter 5

   Whereas before, he used to be somewhat quiet and reserved at school and around other people; he began to act
out and started to pick fights with the other kids and break things in class. By the time the teachers started to see
the switch it was too late. Richard was already gone. It almost seemed like overnight he went from the quiet reserved kid in the corner to completely acting out and looking for reasons to fight or to question the teacher's authority. When they tried to bring it up to his father he just looked at them and said, "What do you expect? The boy has always been a little retarded and slow anyway. He is a freak. He is better off in a home far away from me anyway. He has never been normal and the sooner you take him off of my hands the better."

   When the teachers saw that Richard's father was serious they started making arrangements for him to be sent to a home for the delinquent. In the meantime Richard's behavior began to digress further and he often began to have rages and panic attacks out of nowhere. He would often lash out at the person or thing nearest to him and would throw and break things just to hear them break. Nobody really knew how to deal with his behavior problems so he ended up
sneaking through the cracks. They even tried medication but after a while they just gave up on him and saw him as
a lost cause. When he had a full blown anxiety attack in the home he was staying at they moved him to a local
juvenile hall and put him in isolation for a week. 

    When he came out he was never the same. His mind had twisted. He refused to respond to anybody in any way. He
just sat there without emotion and without thought until they finally removed him from the juvenile hall. They
moved him back into the home after that but nobody really wanted to deal with him at that point. He stayed in
the center until he was 18 when he aged out of the system.   Without anywhere to go he ended up on the street for a while until he was finally able to find a job working at the local construction yard. The foreman hired Richard more out of pity than anything else, but at least he was willing to work and he needed an extra hand. It was 6 years later that he met her mom. 

    At first he seemed like the most charming man in the world. When she first saw him at the construction
yard he has said, 'Hey there pretty lady. Aren't you going to tell me your name?' She gave him a playful smile and
said, "Sorry mister, I don't talk to strangers" He stuck out his hand to her and replied, " I am Richard Thompson.
Now we aren't strangers anymore."   As he was saying this she was pulling out a pen and paper from her purse. With a flirtatious tone in her voice she said. "I guess we aren't. Here is my number. Make sure not to lose it somewhere." She gave him a wink and walked on by. He called her back the next day. From then on they started to see each other on a regular basis. 6 months later they were wed in Tyler, Texas on September 9th, 1981 on a beautiful autumn day.