Re: Re: Googlegangers

When I was living in Houston, I came home one day to find an envelope taped to my front door. It was from a Constable (some type of law enforcement) asking me to come by the nearest station. I had no idea what they wanted (the note wasn't specific) and went. Upon arrival, I was asked several questions: name, address, birthday, approx height. I kept asking them why they were asking me these things. Finally, they asked me if I had ever been to a certain town between Galveston and Beaumont (I don't recall the name, but I had never been there). I told them I knew of the place, but had never been there. Again, I asked why they were asking me these things. They eventually told me that a women from this town was claiming that I was the father of her child, Lakeshia. I said, ah no, I'm not. Again, they asked me my name, etc. I tried to explain that I have a pretty common name and they obviously had me mixed up with someone. Besides, I told them, how many males with my name did they imagine lived in Houston? We kept going back and forth before I figured out they were asking me everything related to a drivers license. And there was one major thing that they hadn't asked, because it isn't listed on a drivers license - race. So I asked the officer, what was the race of the person they were looking for? He gave me a look that told me it was something he hadn't even thought about. There was a older secretary type lady working nearby, who happened to be African-American. She was chuckling while the officer and I were having this conversation. I finally told him that based upon the name of the child, and of the mother whose name was of a similar vein, that I thought they might want to add race as a filter to narrow their search. The older lady started laughing and said something to the effect of.... "well, maybe you are one of those Michael Jackson looking types." The officer, after he stopped laughing, agreed with me and let me go home....

Strangely, about a year later, I got a notice in the mail from the State of Texas notifying me that I was being sought for failure to pay child support. Seems the same women had had another child, named a variation of Lakeshia, and "I" was named as the father. It took several calls the the State Attorney's office to get it all straightened out.

And for a couple of years after these incidents, my parents would give me a Father's Day card from my 2 "daughters".