A Child's Haven - 28. Chapter 28

“Brad, there are some women here, and they have asked for you.”

“Thanks, Jeff, those are the women to do the measurement.”

While Jeff sat to talk to Amir, we left to welcome the ladies.

“Mom, I’m so glad to see you.”

“Brad, these ladies are my best friends, Mrs. Colby and Mrs. Warren, and these two ladies are going to take the measurements. So where can we do this, and when can we begin?”

“You can take the measurements here, and you can begin when you’re ready. Beth, please bring the roster with all of the kids and make sure Amir’s name is on it as well. Pat, round up the troops and ask Bubba to come here first. Bubba isn’t a resident here, his mother is our chief cook, and I think he thinks this is his home as well.”

Beth came back with the list, “Beth, we’ll need to list the sizes of the boys and girls by name. So you will need more paper and more help.”

“Ok, I’ll ask Claire. She is the oldest of the girls.”

Just then, Bubba came running in, “You wanted to see me, Dad?”

I thought my mom was going to hurt herself from laughing, “Did I say something funny?”

“No Bubba, Mom meet the young man who has adopted me, Bubba; this is my mom.”

Whispering to me, “Does that mean she is my grandmother?”

I nodded my head, “I’m pleased to meet you, Grandmother.”

I couldn’t help it, the look on my mom’s face was priceless, and Tony was cracking up as well. I love my mom, and I knew she would handle this perfectly.

“Hello Bubba, I’m very glad that you’re my grandson, but could you please call me Gram. It’s shorter than grandmother and has a personal touch to it.” With that said, mom pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek. Looking at Tony, I mouthed the words, ‘wait until he calls my dad gramps.’ Tony started to laugh again and had to leave for a few minutes.

As the kids started to arrive, “Ok, folks, I want you to line up in a single file. My mother will write your name on a piece of paper and then direct you to one of the seamstresses who will take your measurements. The measurement will be written on the paper my mom will give you. Any questions?”

Mom took the tablet and went to the head of the line, and the process began. Since many of the kids had the same name, Beth solved that problem by telling my mother their cocoon number and name. Beth and Clair checked the names from their list as the measurements were made. Mom’s friends noted the measurements on the paper with the child’s name. By the end of the process, we had a sheet of paper with each kid’s name and measurements.

While this was going on, I called my friendly shoe salesman and asked if he could send someone over with a foot measuring device as I’d need 180 black shoes by Monday. “I don’t have that many.”

“Aren’t there other similar shoe stores in the city?”

“Yes, yes, I’ll call them and put them on alert.”

As if the bell went off, “Great, Lester, we’ll also need five girl shoes with a small heel, about 1-inch maximum. When will the guy with the foot measurement device be here?”

“He should be at the door about now.”

As he said that, the doorbell rang. One of the boys who were done being measured went and opened the door. “Brad, there’s a man here who said he was to measure our feet.”

“Show him in, Ollie.”

“Are you Brad? I’m from the shoe shop. Lester said I was to measure some kid’s feet.”

The man was confused to think he came all this way to measure some kid’s feet. “No, not some kid’s feet but all of my kids’ feet. Beth, we need another copy of the roster, and Clair, maybe you could record the foot size on that roster.”

Bubba came up, “I’m first because he’s my dad.”

Some of the other kids heard that. After Bubba’s foot was measured and the size recorded, I noticed some of the kids had him cornered. Tony started to laugh, and I knew why.

The system worked well. By noon the ladies were done, so I took the shoe guy and one of the seamstresses to the infirmary to measure Amir. At first, he was concerned until I told him why we needed the measurement. I then realized he’d have to stand. “Amir, to take the measurement, you’ll have to stand. If I hold you, will you try?”

And that is what we did. I held him while the shoe guy took his foot measurement. The seamstress worked fast, and we were done in no time. I placed him back in bed just as Jeff brought in a lunch tray for Amir. The food smelled terrific, and there was a big smile on Amir’s face. I watched Jeff roll over a makeshift table as Amir sat up with his feet off the bed. As he began to eat, Bubba brought a tray for Jeff. “Thanks, bro.” Bubba grinned and left.

I went back to the dining hall, and saw a few of the older boys, lead our guests to the buffet. They carried a tray for the ladies, asking them what they’d like to drink. I was proud of my kids. They were the perfect gentlemen. Mom looked at me. I smiled, and so did she.

When our guests were seated, the kids got in an orderly line and proceeded to get their lunch. I took my coffee and sat down by my mother. Tony sat opposite me with his lunch. Mrs. Colby was sitting next to my mother, “Brad, these children are so well behaved I’m amazed. How did you do it?”

“We didn’t do anything special. What you see is the appreciation and the fact that we have saved their lives from a life of slavery and sure death. All they are doing is showing their appreciation.”

“And, of course, the love you show them.”

“Thanks, Tony, but there’s a lot more than me showing them love and concern and friendship.”

“You’d think that with this many kids, there’d be some form of aggression. I know families where the children seemed to fight all the time, but here it’s orderly, and they have good manners.”

“I believe it’s the sharing of their past and the salvation that Sanctuary offers that binds them in a

way that is difficult to explain. I suppose a psychologist would have a better way of explaining it, but it’s working, and that’s all I’m concerned about.”

Pat came over and whispered in my ear, “Our security showed up.” I looked toward the door, and there were Murray and O’Shea. I pointed to the buffet; they smiled, took a tray, and proceeded through the line. I also noted a few of the kids got back into line.

Murray and O’Shea came over to sit with us. I introduced the ladies and the seamstresses to them; they knew my mom. “We have measured the kids for new pants and shirts as well as shoes for the Monday trip.”

“What happened with the school uniforms?”

“It was too late. We’ll have them for our next trip.”

“The next trip?”

“Yes, Mom, we are planning on at least one trip every month. I have a committee working on the trips. I thought I had a small committee and found out I have a committee of 188. How they meet to do it is beyond me, but they have come up with some good suggestions. Our next trip will be to the zoo. On the agenda, we have a picnic, fishing trip, boat ride, and amusement park. My problem is getting chaperons. With the history of these kids, there’s always the possibility someone is going to try and grab them.”

“How are you going to provide for them on Monday?”

“My brother, Tony, has arranged with the police and the help of our security team, star quality protection.”

“You’re very fortunate to have the help and devotion of so many adults. It’d be a problem to do this on your own.”

“I have help, and the older boys look after the younger boys, Tony and our architect pitch in and more important for me, I have the total support of Mom and Dad. I couldn’t do this without them.”

“Brad, tell them how the trip to Lion King came about.”

“Ok, that’ll show you the type of kids I have. Someone mentioned we should paint the building since it still looks like a warehouse. So we had a contest for the kids to determine how they wanted the building painted. Abe, who is our architect, was the judge. After two weeks, he hadn’t announced a winner, and Abe said he couldn’t make up his mind. I told him I needed a winner or winners by the next morning. So after breakfast, Abe shows up with a bundle of submissions. I quickly glanced through them and told Abe to call out the first name and ask for all those who worked on that submission to stand. At the end of the seconded name he called, we had the winners congregate behind us. When we were done, the split was almost half and half. Beth, who you know, felt that the prize should be offered to everyone, ‘they worked just as hard’ I told her to canvas the winners and let me know. The rest of the kids were either taken to the showers or helped to clean up the dining hall. About 5 minutes later, Beth told me that the group voted to share the prize with everyone. So that is what I did, and as new kids joined Sanctuary, we kept increasing the number of tickets. Till Tony thought he wasn’t going back for more, so he ordered 200. We now are very close to that number.”