Final Analysis - Catherine Crier [78]
As the fall approached, Susan’s diary entries reflected a growing debate between Susan and Felix about her plan to take Eli and Gabe out of state. They argued repeatedly over schools for the boys and the practical aspects of Susan raising Eli and Gabe in Montana. During this time, Susan often wrote about Felix’s verbal and physical abuse, saying that he “seems to still have a lot of angry feelings about my moving him out of the bedroom. Said he felt like slugging me in the face. Called me a criminal and a swine for the umpteenth time.
“My criminality, according to F., lies in my having turned him out of my room and brainwashed the children against him…. He lost control of himself again and struck me in the face with a roll of papers. I suggested he get some help. Chased me out of his room. Then kicked the T.V. screen, much to Eli’s dismay who was watching it.”
On September 1, Susan informed Felix that she was leaving California on September 7, and revoked “any powers of attorney” she had given him. “If you get a court order, as you have threatened to do, forbidding me from taking Eli and Gabe out of California, I will not take them with me,” she wrote in a letter.
Still she persisted with the idea that they would accompany her, outlining a plan for Eli to enroll in a public school in Bozeman until the spring term. “The move would benefit Gabriel, as well,” Susan insisted. He failed several of his eighth grade classes at Orinda Intermediate and was beginning to “hate” school. “A change of scene will do him good,” Susan noted.
“I don’t want the children to lose you…,” Susan noted at the end of the letter. “I do want the children to have a father as a resource: a reasonable, mature, unselfish father who is primarily concerned with his children’s best interests rather than with using his children as leverage.
“You have stated that you will obtain a court order restricting me from removing the children from California. You have also threatened to kill me, to stop working to support the family, and to kill yourself. I don’t take any one of these threats more seriously than the other, and intend to proceed with planning as if you will come to your senses.”
While Susan made much of Felix’s determination to thwart her move with the two boys, it appears he did nothing to stop her when she actually departed. On Friday, September 7, the three set off for Montana without incident in Susan’s Volvo wagon, which was packed with personal belongings and pieces of furniture “important to the boys.”
Several days later, she sent Felix an update.
“We all miss our home in California,” she wrote in a letter dated September 13. “Montana will take some getting used to. It gets very cold here in the winter. Main Street in Bozeman is like stepping back in time…. The good news: the drug scene is very small here; the kids are focussing [sic] on their home work; both are eligible for their driver’s licenses…. Best regards.”
After nearly a month of living in a cabin outside of Bozeman, Susan wrote this entry in her diary: “I feel incredibly sad about Adam, who is gone in more ways than one. He has started school at UCLA. Just before we left, he threatened to kill me, provoked by Felix to a great extent. But I am still stunned by it. Not even Eli ever threatened to kill me. Adam hates me.”
Though Adam and Susan remained at odds, by late November 2001, it was clear that the change of venue did nothing to help Eli. Once again, he was involved with drugs. By month’s end, the teen was on his way back to Orinda. “After talking to us both, he [Eli]