So it's official. My sister's due date is July 23. Yep, after a dozen or so close calls, she's finally pregnant as confirmed by a real live doctor. I really am trying to be happy and supportive, but it's not easy. It would be much easier, of course, if I hadn't received the phone calls from my mom last week telling me that the cops had been to Lexy's house twice in the past week because her boyfriend's been hitting her.

So that's the way of it. 19 and pregnant, with a job at Taco Bell that pays $8 an hour, and a one-room efficiency apartment. Oh, and we can't forget the $1000 in outstanding fines she has for various driving infractions (the latest obtained last week when a neighbor called the cops because the boyfriend was trying to smash her windshield when she was trying to leave - turns out the cops don't like it when you try to drive with a suspended license). And a boyfriend that hits her. Fuckin' lovely.

This guy she's with, Eric, is just a winner. He got out of jail six months ago for drug dealing and assault charges. He won't let her go to Chicago with me next month because I wouldn't let him go along. He won't let her out of his sight. I can't even talk to her about it because he listens on the phone when I talk to her. She flat out told me a couple of weeks ago that he verbally abuses her and threatens to beat her if she doesn't give him her paycheck. He quit his job at Taco Johns to go work at Taco Bell with her so she couldn't be alone at work. I don't know what she's going to do.

Of course, she is playing house right now. I'm not saying she shouldn't be happy, but I honestly think she should be more concerned than anything. If the dude will hit her, he'll hit a kid. "Oh, he just has anger issues," she tells me. Yeah, let's see how those anger issues manifest themselves when he has a screaming baby at 3 AM. I don't know. I don't know what to say to her or even how to feel about this.

When I was on the phone with Lex yesterday talking to her about this, Eric piped in and said, "You know you have to move back to Wisconsin now so you can watch the baby for us". Fat chance, dude. I know my mom is going to end up keeping the kid, just like my grandparents kept me until I was six because my mom was too busy being a teenager (I was better off for it, but a mother should still take responsibility for her own child).

I don't know. I just don't know. I'm so worried for her.