The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation Book 3 - 52. A New Academic Year

We woke the boys early on Monday morning and had them get dressed before joining us for breakfast. As soon as we were done eating, we took Wyatt, Hunter, and Hayden with us, seeing they were all going to the elementary school, while the rest of the boys rode with Dion and Trey.

When we got to the school, the boys followed Brandon and me to the main office, and when the secretary saw us she made a comment. “Don’t tell me we have another Currie attending here this year?”

“Actually, we’re adding two more students to your school this time.”

“Two?”

“Yes, they’re twins.” They were standing behind Brandon and me, so we moved aside so she could see them. “This is Hayden and that one is Hunter.”

She looked at them and blinked her eyes, and then she looked again. “My lord, how do you tell them apart?”

“I have my ways.”

“Then I hope we can figure it out as well. Will they be in the same grade as Wyatt, since he’s here with you?”

“No, Wyatt is in second grade this year and Hayden and Hunter will be in third grade.”

“I hope you know that we have a policy of placing twins in different classrooms.”

“Yes, and that will be fine.”

“Good, then we’ll put Hunter in Mrs. Francis’ classroom, and Hayden will be in Mrs. Munson’s room.”

We filled out the paperwork to enroll them and signed it, and then we walked around the school with the boys so Hunter and Hayden would get a feel for the place. As soon as it was time for them to enter their classrooms, we took each boy and introduced him to his teacher, and then before we left we stopped in the office again.

“We came back to explain how we’re able to tell the twins apart, but we don’t want them to know what we figured out. I hope you’ll mention this to their teachers later, so the boys won’t be able to pull a switch as a joke.” I then told her about the scar in Hayden’s right eyebrow.

“That’s good to know and I’ll make sure to tell Mrs. Francis and Mrs. Munson about this the next time they come to the office.”

We thanked her and left, and we reached the health center in plenty of time to see our first patients of the day. The rest of the day went normally, with one brief exception. While we were at lunch one of the women from the daycare center came over to speak with us.

“I just wanted to let you know how much we miss Holly already. She was a pleasure to have around and she was able to accomplish some tasks that we’d like to do with the kids, but we just don’t have the time.”

“We’re glad she was able to help out and that the rest of you appreciated what she was able to accomplish,” Brandon replied.

“And she enjoyed her time working with each of you,” I added, “and she’ll be returning to work with you again, once her classes end for the summer.”

“We’ll be happy to have her back.”

As soon as the woman left, Brandon turned to me and spoke. “We’ll have to tell Holly about this when we see her this weekend,”

“Yes, I’m sure she’ll be happy to know that she was appreciated and is missed.”

We finished the rest of the work day and then went home. When we got there we asked the boys about their first day. “So how did your day go and how do you like your new school?” I asked Hayden and Hunter first.

“It’s a lot like our old school and the other kids were really nice to us,” Hayden answered.

“And I like my teacher too,” Hunter added.

“That’s good, and Mrs. Francis has taught some of the other boys as well, including Joshie.”

“Yeah, Mrs. Francis told me that.”

“How did you like Mrs. Munson?” Brandon asked Hayden.

“She’s nice, but I wish I was with my brother.”

“I’m sure you do, but schools tend to split up family members this way for several reasons, but you’ll survive.”

“But we got to see each other at lunch and on the playground,” Hunter pointed out.

“That’s good,” Brandon replied.

“Did you know that Dobby and Flash slept in the new doggy bed in our room last night?” Wyatt asked.

“Yes, I saw that when I was heading to bed.

“But Dobby was in the doggy bed in my room when I woke up,” Tristan followed.

“I noticed that too. I guess they were checking up on you boys. Do any of you have homework?”

“Nope,” they all answered.

“That’s probably because it was just the first day, but I expect you to get it done every night and I’ll check it over before you go to bed.”

“You do that?” Hayden gasped.

“Yeah, he did it all last year too,” Tristan told him.

“Yes, I check your homework over to make sure it’s done and done correctly.”

“What if we have trouble doin’ it?”

“Then you can come to one of us for help.”

“Oh,” was all he responded, and I had a feeling he might have used that excuse with his mom to get away with not doing some of his homework in the past.

We had to make another run to the store after dinner to pick up a few things we’d either forgotten or didn’t know the boys would need, but other than that the rest of the night went smoothly.

Dad called Jesse at work on Tuesday to wish him a happy birthday, and he also mentioned that he’d like to celebrate by taking him out to eat. After Jesse agreed, he called the office and left a message for me to call him back, which I did before going to lunch. He told me what he planned to do and asked if we wanted to join them, and I told him we did. I mentioned it to Brandon while we were eating lunch, and he agreed.

“I suggest we think of something we can do to thank Jesse for allowing Noah to spend most of the summer with him here at the health center.”

“That’s a good idea, so let’s run over to Kevin’s Pharmacy to get him a nice card before we go home later.” I agreed.

When we arrived at the house later, we got the boys ready and then we all went to meet Jesse at the Outback. After we all wished him a happy birthday, Dad told him something else.

“I made a cake for you earlier and it’s currently in Dion and Trey’s SUV, because Jake and I rode down with them. You can either go back to the house with us and cut it there, because I bought ice cream too, or you can just take it home with you.”

“Let’s go back to the house after we eat and have it there.”

Dad agreed, so we went inside and ordered. Brandon and I had to help Hayden and Hunter decide what they wanted, like we’d done with Tristan the first time he ate out. It was obvious their mother hadn’t taken them out to eat very often, probably because of her illness. We helped them find something they’d like, and then we all enjoyed a very nice dinner together.

After we finished eating, we headed back to the house to have cake and ice cream. Of course we had to sing Happy Birthday to Jesse first, and then we gave him our cards. We not only wrote a message in ours thanking him for what he’d done for Noah, but we included two $20.00 bills as well. Jesse thanked us for the gift and opened the cards from Dion and Trey, and Dad and Pop next. After thanking each of them as well, Dad had him take the rest of the cake home with him when he left.

The remainder of the week proceeded without any problems and the boys were falling into their new nightly routines. They were also getting used to having me check their homework before they got ready for bed. By the time Friday night rolled around, the boys seemed ready to have the weekend off. School had taken a lot out of them and now they were ready to focus on other things.

“Dobby’s been sleepin’ in my room every night,” Tristan pointed out before we started reading to them.

“And Flash has been staying in our room,” Wyatt followed.

“Yes, I’ve noticed that. I think they know who has paid the most attention to them and they’ve bonded with you. It looks as if Flash feels closer to Wyatt, Hayden, and Hunter, while Dobby prefers hanging around with Tristan and Revin.”

“That’s cuz they’re rougher when they play with the dogs and I think Dobby likes that,” Hunter pointed out, “but Flash doesn’t.”

“That makes sense. Male dogs tend to do things like that to test their dominance with others in their group.” Seeing Tristan and Revin are also older than the rest of you boys, it seems that Dobby has bonded with them as the alpha males.”

“That’s ok, cuz we each got one that sleeps in our room at night,” Wyatt concluded.

“Yes, they’re watching over you.”

After we finished reading, we reminded them that they had to be ready by the time we got home from work the next day, because after we finished eating lunch we’d be going to visit Holly.

“Am I goin’ too?” Revin asked.

“Yes, I mentioned it to your mother when we were shopping. I told her we wouldn’t be seeing her at church the following week because we were going to visit Holly, so Dion and Trey would be picking her up instead, and then she agreed to let us take you along.”

He seemed satisfied with my response, so we bid them all goodnight and kissed each one on the forehead. We then made our nightly rounds, and when we got to Benny and Joshie’s room, Benny had something to ask us.

“Can I stay here with Joshie tomorrow?”

“Let me check with Dion and Trey first, to make sure it’s ok with them. If they don’t have a problem with it, then we don’t either.”

“Ok, thanks.”

When we went downstairs I mentioned this to Dion and Trey. “Of course he can stay here with Joshie and Wyatt,” Trey answered.

“It’s not that we don’t want to take him, but he wants to stay here for some reason, so thank you.”

When we arrived home from work the next day, we ate lunch with everyone first and then we took off to visit Holly. The ride wasn’t too bad and the weather was fairly nice, so when we reached the address Holly had given us, we walked up to the front door and I knocked. Holly opened it a few seconds later.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said as she gave each of us a hug. “Come inside and I’ll introduce you to Mrs. Mitchell.” We followed her inside and a woman in her late 40s was waiting in the living room to greet us.

“Hello, I’m Dan Currie and this is Brandon O’Hara,” I began as we shook her hand, and then I introduced her to each of the boys.

“I’m Dawn Mitchell and I’m pleased to meet all of you. Holly has told me a lot about everything you’ve done for her, her brothers, and their mother, Julie, who is one of my dearest friends.”

“It’s been our pleasure, and we love Julie’s children very much,” Brandon offered.

“I know. Holly’s made that abundantly clear.”

We then chatted with her for a little while before Holly announced that she wanted to take us to the campus so she could show us around. We were ok with that, so we said goodbye to Dawn and left to get the grand tour. Holly directed me on how to get there, and then we got out to walk around.

It was a fairly small campus, but it was quite nice with fairly new buildings that were nicely decorated and exuded a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. She showed us where she had each of her classes first, and then she took us to see the student union building and the bookstore. Once we’d seen everything, Ryan made a comment.

“It sure is a lot smaller than when we went to Penn State with Noah.”

“Yes, that’s a major university and this is a two-year community college, so it wouldn’t be nearly as large,” I explained.

“It’s really nice, though,” he added, hoping he hadn’t hurt Holly’s feelings.

Now that we had seen everything, we went outside and found a place where we could sit and talk in private. I had something I wanted to give to some of them before I asked a question.

“There’s something I need to discuss with Holly, Hayden, Hunter, and Tristan,” I began and Tristan looked surprised that I’d included him as well.

“Me?” he asked.

“Yes, you too. You’ve all come to live with us during the past year and I have something for each of you.” I then pulled four envelopes out of my pocket and handed each one to the person whose name was written on it.

“What’s this?” Hunter asked.

“You have to open it to find out.”

They did and discovered each envelope contained a very lovely card, and inside was another document. They read it and looked up at me. “So you’re saying you want to adopt us?” Holly asked.

“Yes, we are,” Brandon quickly answered. “We want each of you to officially become part of our family.”

“Do we hafta change our names?” Hayden asked next.

“That’s entirely up to you.”

“Mom mentioned that you might do this,” Holly replied, “and she told me it was ok with her if we wanted to change our names.” I believe Holly was mentioning this so her brothers would know their mother was ok with the idea.

“I want to do it,” Tristan immediately stated.

“Ok and you can either keep your middle name or use your last name as your middle name instead,” I explained.

“I’ll keep my middle name,” he quickly responded.

“That’s fine and it’s totally up to you,” I agreed. While I’d been talking to Tristan, I noticed that Hayden and Hunter were whispering to each other, but Holly spoke up next.

“I think I’ll keep my name the way it is, because it might mess up my college records if I changed it now, seeing I’ve already started. I’m probably going to get married some day, so I’ll be changing my name then, so it doesn’t make sense for me to also do it now, but I still want to be your daughter.”

“That’s perfectly fine and we can adopt you without changing your name,” Brandon agreed. “You might be right about it creating a problem with your college records, so let’s just leave it the way it is, but you’ll still become our daughter.”

She smiled and nodded, seemingly pleased with his answer. As soon as that had been agreed to, Hunter spoke up.

“We want to be adopted too, and we’ll use our last name for our middle names.”

“Do you agree with that, Hayden?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Ok, then you two and Tristan have another choice to make. You can use either of our last names or you can hyphenate them.”

“What did the other boys do?” Hayden followed.

“They all use the O’Hara-Currie name.”

“That’s pretty long, but we’ll do that too,” Hunter answered for both of them.

“Yeah, me too,” Tristan agreed.

“Ok, then I’ll talk to Uncle Steve so he can set a date for the adoption ceremony.”

“Why do you hafta talk to him?” Hayden wondered.

“He’s a judge and he’s helped us adopted the other boys as well.”

“Oh, ok,” he replied and they all seemed to be fine with this.

We then went back to the house and Holly quickly told Dawn what we had discussed. “It’s very sweet of you to do that for them, and from what Julie and Holly have told me it’s not unexpected.”

“You’re correct about that, and it all started with my dad. He adopted a bunch of us as well, so now we’re doing the same thing for others.”

We then asked Dawn to join us when we took everyone out for dinner, and she agreed. Before we left, however, we discussed what type of meal everyone wanted and discovered some of the boys wanted to have pasta, while others preferred hamburgers, chicken, or steak instead. After hearing this, Dawn recommended we go to the Back Door Café, because then we could all get what we wanted.

When we got there, I immediately noticed that the place was nicely decorated and had a lovely ambiance, so we agreed that Dawn had made a good choice. We soon discovered that the staff was very courteous and efficient, and everyone found something on the menu that they liked. The food was delicious and we all enjoyed a very lovely meal, and we were all quite stuffed as we waddled out to the SUV later.

We dropped Dawn and Holly off at the house first, and they both thanked us before we left, and then we drove over to the hotel to check in. We didn’t have a lot of luggage this time, because we were only staying overnight, and since Ryan was sharing a room with Brandon and me, he also shared our suitcase. We had the other boys put their things in the other suitcase, and then we carried them to our rooms.

I’d requested adjoining rooms with two beds each, and when we got there we quickly began to settle in. After the boys got ready for bed, Brandon went over to read the next chapter to them, and then I went over to say goodnight before they went to sleep. In the interim, Ryan and I had a little chat.

“So Holly is going to be my sister now?” he asked.

“Yes, even though she’s going to keep her current name.”

Although he didn’t say it, I had a feeling that the word ‘incest’ was bouncing around in his head. She had merely been living with us before this, so I believe he thought it possible they might connect, but once we adopted her they would legally become brother and sister. I’m sure he was still considering this new situation as he was drifting off to sleep.

After taking the boys out for breakfast on Sunday morning, we went over to pick up Holly again. We told Dawn that we were going to check out the rest of Johnstown and asked if she wanted to join us. She declined, but she told us a couple of places we should go if we wanted to find out about the area. I took her advice and we went to the Johnstown Flood Museum first.

“Why do they have a museum just about floods?” Revin asked when we got there.

“It’s because Johnstown has experienced several floods, and two of them were major disasters,” I answered. “I’m sure you’re going to find out about them once we get inside, but they killed a lot of people in this area.”

“And my sister still wants to go to college here?” Hunter asked as he looked at Holly concerned.

“Yes, because the problems that caused the floods have been addressed, so there’s not as much chance of it happening again,” I answered. Hunter seemed to calm down after I told him this, so I just hoped seeing the displays wouldn’t upset him again.

As soon as we parked and went inside, we quickly learned about the first flood. It happened in 1889 when an earthen dam broke after several days of very heavy rain. The water flowed down the valley and slammed into Johnstown, destroying the town and killing more than 2,200 people. The museum even had a large relief map so we could visualize how it happened, and they also had an assortment of objects that had been recovered after the flood. When viewing the various displays, Tristan asked a question.

“So they rebuilt the dam and it happened again?”

“There have been other floods, but they weren’t caused by breaking dams. If you read this, it explains that the St. Patrick’s Day flood of 1936 was caused by extremely warm weather that caused the snow to melt more rapidly than usual, and that was also accompanied by heavy rains. This caused the water level in the rivers to rise between six and eight feet (1.8 – 2.4 m), which brought it to twelve to fifteen feet (3.7 – 4.6 m) over flood level.

“Even though this was a tragic event, the good thing was that there was sufficient warning before it got really bad, so many people were able to evacuate the area in time. Even though there was a lot of property damage from the flooding, not as many people died. After the flood receded, the Army Corps of Engineers built large concrete barriers on both sides of the river to prevent it from flooding the area again. At the same time the government also passed Federal Flood Control Acts to keep it from happening again.”

After we finished up there, we took everyone out for lunch, and when we were done with our meals we drove over to see the Johnstown Inclined Plane next. This is a railway that goes up the side of a very steep hillside, with a grade of 70.9 degrees, so the railcars aren’t able to go up it as they normally would. The railway was built in 1890 by the Cambria Iron Company to go to the top of Yoder Hill. To do it in a way that people could actually ride in it, the railcar was placed atop a triangular undercarriage that keeps it level while at the same time connecting it to the track so it can navigate the hill. During the 1936 flood the Inclined Plane carried nearly 4,000 people to higher ground and got them out of harm’s way.

We rode it to the top and back down again, and it was a very unique experience. It also gave us an incredible view of the surrounding area that was absolutely breathtaking.

After leaving that location, we dropped Holly off at the house. We asked the boys to stay in the SUV while we walked her to the door and went inside to thank Dawn for her help.

“We enjoyed both of those places you recommended, and we wanted to thank you for being so nice and for taking such good care of Holly.”

“You’re more than welcome and I promised her mother that I’d make sure nothing happened to her while she was here.”

We thanked her again before going out to the SUV, and then we made the drive home knowing that Holly was in good hands. It also gave Brandon and me some peace of mind having met Dawn and knowing what she was like.