Containment What will happen when Barb dies?

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Hortator said:
I had actually been thinking about the funeral of Barbara (call me morbid) , but who is going to show up to Barb's funeral?

Catherine summarized Barb as a "cantankerous old harpy". Pretty much the only relationship we know of is with her insurance agent, which is a negative pissing-match. She seems content to stay at home forever, because she feels she has earned that right through retirement.

So, I'm almost sure Rocky Shoemaker will be there, mostly for Chris' sake. I can't imagine Cole would go, if not for some sort of closure on an ugly childhood. Her ex-husbands, if any are still alive, may show. Extended family seems optimistic. Or perhaps I'm not giving enough credit to the Weston-Chandler clan, and maybe they really are all loyal to each other, and will show up to the ceremony.
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Key: Definitely / Probably / Possibly / Unlikely / No Way

Well, besides Chris - tine(?)

I think there is a small question here about how Barb dies. She could die suddenly or know her time is coming a year in advance. As little as I like Barb, that final decline in life is a last opportunity to make things right, and even Barb might have some regrets she'd care to do something about.

Cole Smithey is first on that list of regrets. If there is no will, Cole and Chris each split Barb's possessions--along with a hypothetical other child if Barb has any other children. But Barb doesn't have a lot of assets worth a lot of trouble, and if there is a third child, he or she can't have any kind of relationship with Barb. I'd be tempted to say Cole wouldn't come at all, easier to simply ignore it all and Chris as well, although perhaps Barb could try to reconcile or leave enough $$$ to bait him.

The greater Weston Clan: Not a lot is known about them. Rolling through the Wiki:
Uncle Raymond: Reciprocating for their appearance after the death of Aunt Corina? Not a Blood Relative of Barb though.
Aunt Harriet + Uncle Tom: Keep in Contact with Barb to this day. Seems more likely than Cole, TBH.

Then there is Wesley Memorial Church. Rocky Shoemaker is the obvious attendee (although she's not been heard of in some time--if she's unwell, that's a problem). Ed Winkler, whom Chris does not like and partially banned Chris from the Church, is still the most likely person to officiate the funeral. The perfunctory need to show some support to Chris in his time of need might mean that others from his Church might well appear as well. That list includes Rob Bell, and probably other people with bit roles in their lives.

Others:

Former Co-workers? Its been nearly 20 years since Barb left Virginia Power.
Former Sex Partners? The only way this happens is if Barb decides to settle accounts with Cole and decides to help him seek closure as she passes on. Jack Dale Smithey, coming forward with a Paternity Test might be possible. Nothing like this happens unless Barb is actually going to do what she can to make things right. She really should be doing this now, and I see no evidence of it.
Community Figures? Barb isn't active. Admittedly, a funeral in a small community like Ruckersville might be a good time to drop by to support someone in need, but far from likely.
Trolls? Trolls have attended Chris' trials and seen him in the field many times. However, a funeral is a somber occasion and most Trolls would stay away. There may be a field reporter, or perhaps not even that.
 
Alec Benson Leary said:
None of you fuckers better go to that funeral unless it's to offer to adopt Chris.
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Yea it's one of those times where Chris should be left alone, like Bob's funeral. However I can see Ween's making the attempt to Crash it in some way or send something tasteless to the memorial.
 
Seriously. Flowers are okay or sincere condolences, but something like "LOL, THE FAT COW GOT REKT" is retarded.
 
There's going to be "field agents" attending the funeral, guaranteed. One of them will probably try to swipe an Order of Service card or something. Gotta get Content!
 
Le Bateleur said:
There's going to be "field agents" attending the funeral, guaranteed. One of them will probably try to swipe an Order of Service card or something. Gotta get Content!
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Although trolls should absolutely not be there to troll, someone should really be there, if only as a way to verify Barb's death.
 
I think it's safe to say that Chris' mental state will decline quite a bit when Bard dies.
Bard is the only individual that Chris has any regular in-person contact with. Even if they annoy the shit out of each other, it's still nice to have someone there. Without Bard around Chris is going to feel more isolated and lonely than ever before. It's actually quite sad to think about.
 
butt in trouble said:
I think it's safe to say that Chris' mental state will decline quite a bit when Bard dies.
Bard is the only individual that Chris has any regular in-person contact with. Even if they annoy the shit out of each other, it's still nice to have someone there. Without Bard around Chris is going to feel more isolated and lonely than ever before. It's actually quite sad to think about.
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Prisoners in solitary confinement get 1 hour a day in the common area so they don't go nuts.

Chris spends at least an hour a day at McDonalds. He'll be fine.
 
Angel Bob said:
How do we know she's not already dead? After all, she hasn't been to the last 2 court dates.
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I imagine when Barb DOES die, no doubt in her sleep on the couch, Chris won't notice for some time and will probably be in denial about it for a while.
Maybe the cat(s) will start eating her?
 
WeenMcScream said:
I imagine when Barb DOES die, no doubt in her sleep on the couch, Chris won't notice for some time and will probably be in denial about it for a while.
Maybe the cat(s) will start eating her?
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Let's break out the odds:
18uzs80jqyy7agif.gif

Odds aside (And Barb is evens of dying of cancer as opposed to a heart attack), Barb is Chris' major social interaction. Chris probably will freak out, but he knew enough to call 911 for a fire. Why wouldn't he call 911 for an obvious medical emergency?
 
Blue Max said:
Let's break out the odds:
18uzs80jqyy7agif.gif

Odds aside (And Barb is evens of dying of cancer as opposed to a heart attack), Barb is Chris' major social interaction. Chris probably will freak out, but he knew enough to call 911 for a fire. Why wouldn't he call 911 for an obvious medical emergency?
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Maybe he doesn't have a cell, and the home phone is hidden under the hoard? Unlikely.
 
ephewe said:
As I said, I was merely answering the question accurately according to probability, etc. Unless you don't think Chris will be a ward of the state and you don't think he would be scared of a bunch of ED nuts and you don't think he'd be taken advantage of by scumbag orderlies at government run group-homes..?
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I'm pretty sure @Marvin and co. have said multiple times that there's no way Chris is going to end up in a group home. He can take care of himself, even if he's not particularly good at it by most people's standards. He's an idiot, but from a legal perspective, he's perfectly mentally competent. And when you start to describe rape scenarios, it sounds more like your own fanfiction than actual speculation.
 
Chris can unlock and lock a door, operate a motor vehicle, and order food from a restaurant. By absolute minimum standards he is competent to survive on his own, and that's probably all the government would care about when his mother died, if they're even keeping that close an eye on him.

Whether Chris will actually be competent to survive on his own is a different story. All financial matters aside, I suppose a lot of it depends on how much he's improved over his past behavior re: cleanliness... after all, this is the guy that was so unoffended by his own poop that he was going to just leave it soiling his sheets until Barb gave in and changed and washed them for him. There's also all the notes on the horrid state of the Chandler house's cleanliness in general. Now hopefully he's improved over that, or could even be driven to do something about such things if he no longer had any other choice. (After all, so far he always, always has the chance of just waiting out his mother any time she draws a line in the sand. And apparently he's won those faceoffs often enough that he's actually recognized the pattern.) The major issue with him cleaning up after himself is that as far as the info we have goes, Chris just doesn't seem to get offended by filth... it apparently doesn't bother him that much, or at least it bothers him less than the idea of putting out the effort to clean does.

However, the state of the inside of his home is a pretty private thing, at least to everyone but us (assuming he keeps making videos/photographs), so it's unlikely that a social worker or someone is just going to pop by, ask to do an inspection, find a few cat mummies and a toilet that's still getting used despite having gotten clogged a month before, and spirit Chris away to a group home. Though if he continues making videos after Barb dies, I'd expect to start seeing steadily more visible signs of his health degrading, and much faster than before. Chronic cough (from mold, dust, mildew), baldness proceeding even faster (from not bathing properly), possibly even visible sores (from same, plus never changing his bed).

If that happens, I suppose some of the more responsible Chris-watchers may have to decide whether to seriously try and get something done before his health suffers irreparably or just leave him to his own devices, but that's none of my business.
 
Chris is retarded, but I don't think he's retarded enough to forget to buy money to pay the bills or eat. He's shown to be somewhat moderately self-sufficient. I doubt he'll ever make any improvements to change his life, but the guy ain't gonna forget that he needs McDonald's to live.

Sorry for anyone wanting him to go out in a blaze of glory, but it looks like he'll probably just wind down to an uneventful and quiet end.
 
Jigglyjogglers said:
Chris can unlock and lock a door, operate a motor vehicle, and order food from a restaurant. By absolute minimum standards he is competent to survive on his own, and that's probably all the government would care about when his mother died, if they're even keeping that close an eye on him.
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I think some people think there's a bunch of government officials who read retards on the Internet and then punch up some kind of HUD and shout SOMEBODY needs to take this tard into custody! Look at him! He's so retarded! And then some horde of feds swarms out like the end of E.T. and grabs the guy.
 
AnOminous said:
I think some people think there's a bunch of government officials who read retards on the Internet and then punch up some kind of HUD and shout SOMEBODY needs to take this tard into custody! Look at him! He's so retarded! And then some horde of feds swarms out like the end of E.T. and grabs the guy.
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Perhaps some people are extremely optimistic about how much the government actually cares.

The next time Chris has any interaction with a government worker assigned to look after his well-being will probably be when he gets into trouble again and needs a public defender. While theoretically the public defender could look into his situation and say "Hey, this guy's not doing too well, maybe we need to help him out a bit more than just keeping him out of jail", it's unlikely. Mostly because Chris just doesn't inspire sympathy or caring in most people.

I mean, if Chris were some sort of "sweet-natured eternal child" mentally retarded guy, who was obviously struggling to make his way in a big scary world, could barely talk and when he did it was with a soft, sweet little kid voice, he'd probably get that kind of attention. People who get into social work probably friggin' dream of walking into a movie script situation like that, it's likely why a lot of them chose that line of work. But Chris is clearly not a sweet-natured child... he's a surly brat, and while he has speech impediments he can make himself understood in his shrill screech, and he's going to fight you helping him every step of the way instead of looking up at you with that "Thanks mister, can I call you big brother?" expression.

Short version: Most people will go out of their way to help the sweet-natured, cute little puppy somebody tossed on the sight of the road, and is whimpering and cowering obviously hoping for someone to save it. It's a much rarer individual who will try to save the full-grown dog with mange who's snapping at anyone that comes close to it.
 
When Barb croaks, unless Chris just lets her body sit in the horde or plays necrophiliac (you never know), he's probably going to call the police, which (hopefully) will set into the events of "getting Chris to a group home" into motion.

If it doesn't, Charb's bad finances come into play and the house could be repossessed, then Chris will either have to take that option or end up like the bag lady he always dresses as. From then on, Chris could be roaming the streets of the greater Ruckersville-Cville area, dressed in shabby, dirty women's clothing, carrying the last of his earthly possessions in a stolen Food Lion shopping cart, and muttering about trolls.
 
Xarpho said:
When Barb croaks, unless Chris just lets her body sit in the horde or plays necrophiliac (you never know), he's probably going to call the police, which (hopefully) will set into the events of "getting Chris to a group home" into motion.
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More likely Chris will call 911 instead of the cops specifically. He'll say his mom's not answering him or not breathing or whatever, they send an ambulance, and they either attempt resuscitation or just collect the body. At that point he'll probably call Rocky or someone (didn't one of the more recent entries say she was back to helping out the Chandlers?). But either way the medical response people are going to have other things on their mind than turning a keen eye to Chris's ability to care for himself.

But also, anyone who's still hoping for the "group home" thing? Again, it's not like the government can just go in there, say "You're not doing a very good job of taking care of yourself, we're going to put you in a home". (Which we should all be thankful for.) There would be an investigation and a trial to determine if Chris was competent to take care of himself, and as bad as his house probably is I doubt it's bad enough to meet that standard. And while Chris is odd, messed up, weird, and not all that bright, he's actually not at the point of being mentally incompetent that I can tell. (Hell, he's even learned to be suspicious of fishy phone calls and internet messages to some extent, which puts him up on a fair number of senior citizens and people who take blind calls from New York stockbrokers.) Chris can feed himself (if not well), can dress himself (if not well), can get from place to place when he needs to (if not... you get the idea). He can even apparently do all those things without freaking out (since the occasional times when he freaks out are so precious for our entertainment). He's arguably more of a functioning adult than half the people on tumblr, by those standards.

CWC's pretty terrible and not that good at taking care of himself, but he's a person and he still has rights, including the right to make his own (bad) decisions and decide where and how he'll live (within his means). Putting him in a group home would require taking away those rights, and it should never be easy to do that to anyone.
 
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