The Boy by The Lake - 1. Chapter 1

Life has a way of gifting you with surprises and they come randomly without any restrictions or expectations. I always thought I lived a normal life, I waited until I was thirty before finding the woman that I was going to share my life. We both were professionals, she was a lawyer and I was a CPA with my own business. Our life was full, we had a nice home, took exotic vacations, and never felt the need to have children. It was just as well, my wife couldn’t have children. So we built our life around each other, we lived for the moment.

At the age of sixty we retired. Through wise investments, we had acquired sufficient funds to be able to enjoy the rest of our lives. We plan on revisiting some of our past vacation spots, those that had a special meaning for us.

Everything was going just great until Clair’s sixty-second birthday, she became ill. We were in Switzerland at one of our favorite cities. We went to a doctor and that was where we heard the bad news, Clair had cancer. It was so extensive the doctors gave her six months to live. “Jeff, when I die, I want my ashes to be deposited in that lake in Italy where we enjoyed our twenty-fifth anniversary.”

Clair died seven months later and true to my promise, I had her ashes encased in a water tight urn for burial. The day was a beautiful sunny day, just like it was on our twenty-fifth anniversary. With teary eyes I said goodbye as I dropped the urn into the lake.

Returning home, I was lost. With tears I packed Clair’s clothes and donated them to the local charity. I took her jewelry and placed them in our safe deposit box. I couldn’t sell them and we had no one who would appreciate them.

Everything I did reminded me of Clair. My doctor suggested that I do something that Clair and I didn’t do, the idea of developing new interests. At first I couldn’t think of anything until one day I read about a walk to benefit cancer research. I signed up, this was Clair giving me a new lease on life.

That walk started me on my practice of walking every day. At first I walked in the afternoon, but being summer it was too hot, so I started to walk in the morning. I eventually got in the habit of walking very early and watching the sun rise over the lake. I’d walk to the lake, wait for the sun to rise, then return home.

That routine led me to a major change in my life. It was an unusually cold morning, temperature was several degrees below zero. I had just started my walk and got no further than the end of my driveway when I returned to the house and put on another coat, one that I bought when we were in Iceland. Clair said it made me look like a big fuzzy bear.

Walking toward the lake, my mInd was on our Iceland vacation. As I waited for the sun to rise, I noticed a figure standing by the lake. As I got closer, I saw it was a young man who only had on a light shirt, no coat. I went up to him, put my arm around him and realized in a few more minutes, he would’ve been frozen. I put my bear coat on him, taking his arm I led him back to my home. I’d miss the sun rising this morning.

Arriving home I led him to a chair in front of the fireplace. I stoked up the fire, adding another log. Hanging up my coat, I went to the kitchen to begin breakfast, particularly, starting the coffee. While the coffee was brewing, I went to remove the bear coat from the boy. He seemed to regain consciousness as he warmed up. “Can you tell me your name?”

Looking at me and then around the room his eyes landing on the fire. “Tobias, my friends call me Toby.”

“Toby, will you tell me why you were at the lake?” He looked at me and started to cry. “Toby, you don’t have to be afraid of me, I won’t hurt you.”

That seemed to make him cry even harder. It was strange to sit there and watch this teenager crying. I wonder what could he have done to cause him to cry so hard and being out in this cold without warm clothing. “Would you like a cup of coffee?” He stared at me as if he couldn’t believe what he heard. “Sit there and get warm, I’ll bring you a cup of coffee.”

I went to the kitchen to get the coffees. I heated up some milk and made him a cup of half coffee and half milk. I took my usual black cup and went to sit down with him. I handed him his coffee, as I sipped mine he gulped his down. “Have you eaten anything lately?” He shook his head no. I wondered how long he has gone without eating. “You sit here and get warm, I’m going to fix breakfast.”

I knew if he hadn't eaten, he’d eat a big breakfast. I had a tube of biscuits that I opened and put in the oven. Scrambled eggs and sausage would be the main course. I fixed him another cup of coffee, took it to him and noticed the blank stare of his eyes. What I really noticed, was that his eyes were the same color as Clair’s.

It didn’t take long for breakfast to be ready. I led Toby to the table, Toby acted like a person in a stupor, easily led with a blank expression. Sitting him down at the table, I placed a plate loaded with scrambled eggs, sausages and biscuits. The coffee I replaced with a cup of hot chocolate, Clair’s favorite breakfast drink.

At first Toby stared at the plate, as if it was all a dream. Then the odor of the food reached his nose, it wasn’t a dream. He started to eat like he was starved and in fact I think he was. “Eat slow Toby, or it’ll come back up. You don’t want to eat your breakfast twice.”

I watched Toby eat and knew that the boy hadn’t had anything to eat for a while. I felt the need to take care of him, why I didn’t know. Thinking, what would Clair do in this situation? As I thought about Clair, I kept looking at Toby. The more I looked at him the more I became aware that this lad needed a friend and someone to look out for him. As Toby finished his breakfast, “Toby, do you want anything else? I could make more eggs for you and there’s a couple of biscuits left.”

It seemed Toby became more aware, “Would you like to lay down for a while and maybe take a hot shower?” I didn’t need a verbal answer, one look at Toby’s face answered my questions, “Follow me.” I led him to one of the guest bedrooms on the second floor. When Clair and I designed this home, we had insisted on guest rooms with en-suite bathrooms. The builder said it was a waste of money but we insisted and since we were paying, he complied with our requests.

“Toby, this is your room and your bathroom is right here. Take a hot shower, put your clothes outside of your door and I’ll wash them. There’s a robe you can wear hanging behind the bathroom door.”

I left Toby in the room and went downstairs, I just finished adding wood to the fire when I heard the water being turned on. I smiled as I went to pick up his clothes. Deep down I liked the idea of having someone to care for, I almost wished we had children, almost, but wouldn’t change my life with Clair for anything.

I expected Toby to come back down for his clothes. I checked, he was in bed fast asleep. Smiling I went back down to see what information I could find. His pants pockets were empty, one had a quarter in it. To find out more information I’d need to wait until he woke up. As it turned out that didn’t occur until early evening.

I was sitting in front of the fireplace reading the paper when the other seat became occupied. “Did you have a good sleep?”

“Yes, thank you. What’s going to happen to me?”

“Well, the first thing I need is your full name, then we’ll work out something. In the mean time, you can stay here.”

“My full name is Tobias MacDougal and I live on Central Avenue. My dad tossed me out because I’m gay. If that bothers you, I’ll leave.”

“No, if you remember, I asked you if you were on the street because you were a murderer or thief. That’s all that matters to me. Your sexual preference is your business. You said your last name is MacDougal, do you know an Angus MacDougal?”

“Yes, he was my grandfather.”

I smiled, “Come with me.” I led him to my office. “When I was working, I was a CPA and my wife was an attorney. Your grandfather came to us to set up a trust fund for you. Are you aware of that?”

“No, no one said anything about a trust fund.”

“It may be that your grandfather never told anyone. I managed the investments in your fund and to be honest, I haven’t checked them since I retired. So let me do that now.” I opened Angus’s file and checked on the investment portfolio, it had grown quite a bit over the last five years. “Toby, you're a lucky young man. Your grandfather’s trust fund for you has made you a wealthy young man.” I printed the investment portfolio and the current value. Handing the printed portfolio to Toby, I watched his reaction.

As he read his expression changed, “No way do I have this amount of money.”

“Yes, you do but your grandfather put conditions on your access to that money. First, it's to cover your college costs which include tuition, books and living expenses. You’ll receive the interest on your account when you reach the age of eighteen. Once you have finished college or reached the age of twenty-five, the full trust fund becomes available to you."

“My mom and dad didn’t know this?”

“If your grandfather didn’t tell them, I didn’t.”

“I can’t believe Grandfather didn’t tell them.”

“I’m sure there was a reason why your grandfather didn’t tell them. But we have another problem, you’ll probably go into child services until you are eighteen unless I get appointed as your guardian.”

“You would do that, become my guardian?”

“Sure, why not, your grandfather trusted me, so why not you?”

“Oh, I trust you. You haven’t taken advantage of me knowing in what shape I was in. You have treated me better than I would’ve expected.”

“I’m glad you feel comfortable here. My wife and I never had children, she couldn’t have children. We spent our time together enjoying our work and our life. The chair you are sitting in was her chair.”

“What happened to her?”

“She died from cancer. We didn’t know anything until it was too late. Now, all I have are the memories of the times we spent together. The nights are the hardest for me, and in time, I think you being here will help. It was by chance that I saw you in the morning. I almost decided it was too cold to go for my walk. Now, I’m glad I did. Tomorrow we’ll put in action a plan to gather your belongings from your old home. I’ll contact my lawyer and get the paper work naming me as your Guardian until you reach the age of maturity which is eighteen. Is there anyone you need to call? You’ll go back to your current school unless you want to change.”

“Yes, I’d like to call my best friend.”

“Ok, you can use the phone in the kitchen or in the other office.”

“The other office?”

“Yes, my wife had her office and I have mine. You can use her office, come and I’ll show you were it is.”

When we design our home we put the stair case in the center of the living room with an office on either side. We had a half bath under the stair case that either office could use. It felt strange to open her door, I hadn’t gone into that room since she died. I pointed to the office, “Go ahead, you can use the phone there.”

While Toby called his friend, I went and began to look over other investment portfolio’s I had set up for other clients. I realized that I missed doing this. When Clair was alive, I never missed it but now without her, it felt right to do this again. I began to make out a list of accounts that were active, active being those people who hadn’t switch their accounts to another investment company.

I was in the process of making a list when Toby came in to my office. “Sir, could my friend come over to visit?”

“Of course, you can invite any of your friends over. Hopefully in a few days you’ll regard this as your new home.” Yes, more tears and I got a hug.

That evening we order pizza from his favorite pizza place. I had to compare it to the pizza Clair and I ate in Italy, I did that silently to myself. He was happy and made the comment it was the best in the city. It was nice to see him smiling. Toby was a good looking boy. I was sure he wouldn’t have any problem finding a partner.

He watched a little television, I continued to read a book that I had started early in the week. As the clock ticked off the hours, I began to get sleepy. “Good night Toby, I’m going to turn in. Just make sure all of the lights are off when you turn in. Are you or do you want to walk with me in the morning? I leave at five thirty.”

“Is that the walk that brought you to the lake?”

“Yes”

“Would you be upset if I didn’t go?”

“No, absolutely not, sleep well and I’ll see you in the morning when you get up.”

That night I had a dream of Clair and I in Italy. We had a good time, walking through the markets, trying the food and drinking the wine. The weather was fantastic but I think that was more because of the love we shared. It was a beautiful dream and one I’d never want to forget.