Salvation - 52. Chapter 51

The morning came early, and I found myself with two scamps in my bed with me. For a long time, they hadn’t crawled in my bed to sleep, but here they were, curled up next to me with arms over my stomach. Maybe this was God’s answer to my prayers, and this is what I was meant to be doing. I looked into innocent eyes as they sparkled with mischief. “Good morning, Dad.”

I pulled them onto me, kissed them on the head, “Good morning, sons.”

I got up, and they scampered off to their bedroom. Dressed, they met me at the dining room table; in fact, all of the boys were there. I looked at the clock. It was 6:30 in the morning. I knew no one slept very well last night.

David had bags under his eyes for not sleeping well; Maria’s eyes were red from crying, Alex and Sal looked like they were in a car wreck. They must have slept in their clothes.

“Ok, boys, Maria, Alex, Sal, Peter, we need to get this together. I want all of you to go back to bed and sleep. I’ll drive myself to the hospital and let you know how the boys are doing. I don’t want you all to get sick, so please go back to bed and get some sleep.”

I drank my coffee, giving all of the boys a hug, included Maria, Alex, and Sal. I headed out to my car and drove to the hospital.

The first person I ran into was Mo, “It was a quiet night.”

“Mo, go and get yourself something to eat and some coffee. I’ll stay here.”

I gave him some money and pointed him in the right direction. I was sitting in his chair when he came back with a coffee for me. Thanking him, I went into the room and found Jon sleep in a chair between the boy’s beds. I sat in the other chair and waited for them to wake.

I watched the two boys sleep, they looked peaceful, but I knew what they went through. As I sat there, Mo stuck his head in the room. I went outside. “The nurse said the doctor is on his way to check the boys.”

I went back into the room and waited for the doctor. About fifteen minutes later, the doctor and nurse entered, upon seeing me, “You stayed here all night also?”

“No, I just arrived about 30 minutes ago.”

“The boys had a quiet night. I think because they were exhausted. This young man should be a nurse. He was very attentive to the boys.”

I smiled at Jon if anything, he had a big heart, and I knew his story was not all peaches and cream. He, too, had some scars.

Slowly I watched the boys wake up. Jon made sure he was the first person they saw. The nurse helped them sit up a little, and then she began to take their vital signs. The doctor looked at the charts from the night, checked their wounds or scars as they might be.

“I want them on a soft diet, they are still bleeding a little, and I don’t want to aggravate that. I’ll give you a prescription to use on their open sores. I would like to see them in a week, but call me right away if anything looks like it is getting worse. For you, I’ll make a house call.”

“I’ll bring some hospital gowns you can use to take them home in.”

“We waited for 5 minutes when she brought two of those hospital gowns that cover the front but not the back.”

I got the prescriptions, stopped at admissions, made sure everything was paid, and then waited for the boys. Mo was wheeling one and Jon the other as they came to the front of the hospital. The valet brought my car, I helped the boys in, Mo got in the front, and Jon rode with the boys.

Pulling in at the gate, the guards told me that a man came to see me. Alex said to let him in. I thanked them and then drove to the front of the house. Mo carried one boy, and Jon carried the other.

“Mo, take them to my room. I’ll take care of them.” I watched as Mo followed Jon to his room. Maybe Jon should be a nurse.

I walked into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee. There were Alex and his dad. “Hello, to what do I owe this surprise?”

“Alex called and told me how upset you were with the newspaper story. I had to come over and apologize. I did it, I think, for the right reason, but I should have asked you or at least given you a heads up. Please forgive me.”

“I have, and although it upset me at first, I’m over that. The two boys that arrived yesterday as a result of that article made up for any misgivings. I’m still afraid of the possibility of someone trying to break in. I need to step up security. The only thing is I don’t know how. What I have now seems to be state of the art, but there’s still a possibility of someone trying to get in.”

“You can have the fence electrified. That would be easy and quick.”

“No, if I had done that, those two boys would have been dead. They were caught climbing the fence to get in.

“Put more people in the guardhouse.”

“No, the numbers don’t guarantee safety. But I could move the guardhouse so that they are within the fence and strengthen the fence. I need to ask Sal and Mo about that. Maybe motion-activated lights might work or infrared lights with a warning system at the house as well as at the guardhouse.”

“You could put a parking place outside the gate, monitored by the guardhouse. Anyone coming would have to go through the guardhouse. Get a golf cart to convey them to the house.”

“Security on a building is a lot easier.”

“I like that idea, but I want a three-person squad at the guardhouse. One man is to be monitoring the systems from a separate room. They can take shifts.”

“With the help of Sal and Mo, I’ll supply the men to make up for my blunder in giving the newspapers your speech without telling you.”

I smiled, “Let’s shake on it.” When he did, I pulled him into a hug.

“Does that mean all is forgiven?”

“Yes, all is forgiven. Now I need to check on the boys. David, can you prepare some breakfast for these gentlemen and me. I’ll be right back.”

I went to Jon’s room. “Jon, ready for breakfast?”

“Yes, I think the boys are hungry as well.”

“Let’s carry them to the dining room. Take a pillow with you.”

So I picked up a boy with a pillow, and so did Jon. All the boys were in the dining room. I forgot I left so early in the morning that this was the normal time the boys woke up. I sat the boys down, making sure the pillows were securely in the chair. Maria brought in two bowls of porridge with honey. When Charlie and Vasily saw that they wanted some as well, then the theatrics. “Mine is too hot, and mine is too cold," the three bears and goldilocks all over again. They had everyone who knew the story laughing. Charlie had to tell the story, so the others knew.