the Scuffy - 27. Chapter 27

Thursday was the last party Nicky had. Many of his friends were going away for the summer or had jobs. The doorbell rang and I thought it was the pizza. When I opened the door there was Bob with a boy about sixteen-seventeen. I invited them in and that’s when I noticed the luggage the boy had with him.

“Kev, I need a favor”

“Sure Bob, come on in?

“Kev, this is Scott, he was turned away tonight by his parents. He was sitting at the bus terminal when I saw him. I looked at Scott, there were tears in his eyes. I went and sat beside him.

Pulled him into my arms, “Everything is going to be okay, Scott. This is your lucky day, believe it or not. Now there’s a party going on downstairs, no smoking, no drugs, no sex but you can have popcorn and beer.”

I got up and went to the door to the rec room, “Nicky, I need to see you for a moment.”

Nicky came up and when he saw Scott, “Hi Scott, did you come for the party?”

“Nicky, Scott has had a little bad luck.”

“Did that bully Jimmy pick on you again? It’s a good thing school is out or I’d show him what it’s like to pick on someone.”

“No Nicky, it’s a little more serious than that. Scott will be staying here with Glen and I”

“Scott, you landed in a field of four leaf clovers, come on and join the party.” I didn’t think Scott was in the mood to go to a party, but with Nicky there is no, no.

Glen came down, “Just in time, sit down”

“Scott’s parents found out he was gay. Evidently one of the kids at school told his parents who called Scott’s parents. The upshot of this, they threw him out. I thought you and Glen could help him.”

I looked at Glen, “Bob, we’d be glad to take him in, but there is one condition. We want this to be legal. Once they find out about Kevin, they’ll come after us for money.”

“I kind of figured that. These papers appoint you as his legal guardians. Once he is eighteen, he’ll be on his own.”

I looked at Glen he wasn’t buying it either. I went and called my attorney he said he would drop by my office in the morning. “Bob, we’ll take these papers for now, but to protect Glen and my interest, we need to adopt him. Then it’ll be legal and no one can challenge that.”

“Well, I didn’t expect this. But if you are sure that is what you want, then I’ll help all I can.”

“We don’t want his parents to know about this until it’s official.”

“You going fishing again this week-end?”

“Yes, want to come along?”

“Yes, but I need to see what my schedule will be for the week-end.”

“Okay, anytime just let us know.”

Bob left, Glen and I carried Scott’s suitcases and duffle bag up to the room across from Nicky’s. “Now we really need to get that bedroom finished.”

Opening the door to the rec room, “Scott, may we see you for a moment. This will only take a moment. We need to measure you for the fishing gear. What size shoe do you wear?”

“Eight and a half”

“What’s your waist size?”

“Twenty-seven and a half”

“What size shirt do you wear?”

“Medium” “

Thanks you can go back down, the pizza will be here soon.”

“A run to Jim’s”

“Yes, we’ll see if he has more of the shirts with our name on it.”

Later that evening, “Look, we can order the furniture on line.”

I looked at the page, “This is hand made of oak. That’s a very solid wood”

“Look, we can get the bed, dresser and desk with chair for a combination price.”

“That looks reasonable, go ahead and order it. We’ll need a mattress and linens.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

When the pizza came I called Nicky, “The pizza is here, how’s it going.”

“I think he’ll be okay. It’s hard to have your parents turn their back on you for something you can’t control. Once we get him on the boat, he’ll be one of the guys.”

Friday, Glen picked up additional boots, sweats, flip flops and printed shirts. He saw junior, “Hey Junior, want to go fishing?” Jim yelled ‘NO’

“We need linens for the bed, also a computer and cell phone, I’ll get two cell phones.”

Stopping on our way home, I went for the computer and cell phones, Glen went for the linens, blankets and pillows.

Arriving home the boys were ready, Johnny was there with his blue shorts and shirt. I gave Scott his shorts and shirts. As we left the house, the boys put on their boots, I gave Scott his.

Arriving at the dock, Nicky took Scott and headed for Chicken Shack. The rest of us unloaded the truck.

“Jamie, take Johnny and bring up the tins. If this is like last time, we won’t have much time. Uncle, new crew member, his name is Scott, tossed out of his home and now lives with Glen and I.” You don't have to tell Uncle much, he knows about the hatred in the world.

Having everything put away, Charles wanted to know about Scott. So I told him but not why his parent wouldn’t allowed him to live with them anymore. “So he’s living with you.”

“Yes, he’ll be your older brother.”

“Dad, since you came into my life, Peter and I have dads and brothers.”

“Yes, and Glen and I have sons. I think we are both lucky.” Yes, I got a thirteen year old hug. “We need to check on the Crab Master.”

His bucket was almost full. He had it down to a science. The handle on the net was long enough that as soon as a crab took the bait, he would snatch it up and put it into his bucket. I saw Nicky and Scott heading back to the boat. He had a lot of bags, I wondered what he had bought.

“Uncle, how did Jim do last week?”

“He’s coming ask him yourself.”

“Hey, Jim how was it.”

“I fished from Friday night till Tuesday morning, I came back loaded. The guys at the Wharf asked me how I did. When I told them I came back full, they wanted to know where I went. I told them that the mermaid gave Nicky the coordinates and that’s where I went. They asked me if I believed in mermaids, I told then it didn’t matter as long as I had a full load.”

“Are you going back out?”

“ Laughing, yes, as soon as the mermaids give me the coordinates.”

“We’ll call you like last time.”

With everything on board, “Johnny pull the anchor.” Glen and I freed the lines and the boat was ready to go.

“Nicky, we need to get fuel and water. Nicky what’s wrong?”

“I can't get the motor to start.”

“Hang on, I’m going to check.”

“Try now, the motor kicked right over. Let’s go. Remember we need to give Jim one of our old coordinates.”

“How about this one? It wasn’t so bad.”

“Okay, go and talk to your mermaid”

I knew that the other captains would have their glass on Nicky. I had fixed a mannequin to the bow. All Nicky had to do was to lean over and pull the head up. From where those captains were standing, they couldn’t tell if it was fake or real. Nicky came back and radio Jim the coordinates.

I watched Jim head out. “Nicky, give a short blast twice.” He did and we got a short blast back. Charles was sitting on the bench on the stern, I gave him a pair of old binoculars I had.

“Dad, there are several boats following Jim.” I checked and Charles was right.

I took the radio, called Jim, “Be careful, the blood hounds are out tonight.”

We watched Jim as he slowed as if he was going to drop his nets, only he didn’t. As soon as the boats near him dropped their nets, Jim took off. Boats with nets in the water are slow because of the extra drag. As we watched Jim pull ahead. “Nicky, let’s get fuel and then head to our coordinates.”

The sun was going down which provided cover for Jim as well as for us. “Kev, we’re on our spot.”

“Let’s go boys, nets to drop. Glen you and Jamie drop the port net. Johnny help me with the starboard side. Charles, get the pushers ready for the morning.”

“Nets in the water, let’s eat.”

“Nicky, keep the radio tuned to Jim’s boat. Uncle what was the weather report.”

“Swells three to four feet, rain in the East moving West, expected to hit in five-six hours.”

“Okay boys, we’ll have our work cut out for us.”

Dinner was becoming routine, everyone had a job to do and they did it. Plates piled high with food, Nicky got baked beans, “Peter, don’t eat the beans or you’ll pass gas all night.”

“Charles, you’ll eat beans, won’t you?”

“Charles, if you eat beans, you’ll have sleep in Cabin 1.”

As it turned out, we took the inflatable mattress and escaped to the stern. Peter slept with Uncle. I could just imagine what Cabin 1 smelled like. Using a double sheet, it wasn’t bad. Charles slept in the middle so he was warm.