She Smiled Sweetly

She Smiled Sweetly" by Mary-Ann Tirone Smith is the third in a mystery series featuring Poppy Rice. There are several mentions of homeless and street living in the story, because one of the characters had fled home due to abuse.

A partial quote: "...first she had to remove herself from the people..." "...the people who joined her in the taking of drugs, her street family."

Some of my street family did not use drugs in their former life and when off the streets they ceased using them. Others, like Eddie, spent many months becoming free of his twin addictions ~ alcohol and drugs ~ returned to the streets having no place to go. It did not take him long to accept an offer of that first beer and hard to resist a toke when a joint was passed around. I knew other men who got clean and sober. The guys would congratulate and applaud them. Yet they soon were drinking (or using drugs) again.

Some resided in Sober Living facilities. Others, who were court-ordered to reside there, had no intention of cleaning up. They were the ones constantly tempting the others. It is true of the homed as well as the homeless, a life style change is needed in order to remain off the booze and drugs. That means there can be no more association with the old crew. Moving outside that comfort zone can be too daunting for many, no matter how good their intentions to turn their life around.

A simple sentence in a fiction novel sums it up: had to remove herself from her street family.