A Child's Haven - 43. Chapter 43

Arriving at the hospital, “You go on ahead, take a picture with your camera and send it to us. We have a meeting to go to and possibly a pick-up.”

I entered the hospital and found my way to the secured area. Pressing my finger on the pad, the green light came on, and I entered the kid’s room. I noticed some of the monitoring machines were removed, and he had only one intravenous line. It looked like he was improving. His color was good, and he appeared to be sleeping. I took his facial picture with my phone and sent it to Murray.

I was sitting in the chair holding his hand on the arm without the intravenous. I guess I was a little spaced out, and then I became aware that the hand I was holding was moving. I quickly called the nurse, and she verified that there was hand movement and went to get the doctor. When Doctor Franks arrived, he looked into his eyes and smiled, “I think he’ll be coming out of the coma by morning. His eyes are clear, and he’s apparently aware of touch. You can stay until he opens his eyes if you want.”

“Doctor Franks, I think you’ll need a bulldozer to move me tonight.”

He smiled, said something to the nurse, and left. I sent a message to Murray indicating what the doctor had said. I sat there, holding his hand, rubbing the back of his hand with my thumb. He was reacting to the rubbing of his hands. I started to talk to him as I continued to rub the back of his hands.

“Hello, my name is Brad, and I have a place called Sanctuary. Jabir sent me to find you, and now you’re in a hospital. You are safe, and that man will never hurt you again.” I continued to talk, telling him about Sanctuary, about the kids sleeping in cocoons, and what a cocoon looked like. I told him about the dining hall and the food that was prepared for the boys. I just kept talking. I heard that even if a person is in a coma, they can hear you. So I continued to talk, told him about my ideas for the roof garden about the school and the new building on the next lot. I told him about Lion King and the trip we’re going to make to the zoo. I just kept talking about anything to try to get him to open his eyes. Murray came with a coffee for us.

“How is he?”

“I think he may be coming around soon. The doctor said his eyes are clear, and he’s been reacting to me holding his hand. I keep talking to him, hoping he’ll regain consciousness.”

“He looks a lot better than when he was first brought in. I think he’ll be ok and I know he’ll be treated right from now on.”

“I started to move the older kids to the quads today, and I hired an NP. All in all, it was a productive day. As soon as this young man can go home, then I can concentrate on my new project.”

“What’s your new project?”

“You know that vacant lot on the left side of Sanctuary; I’m going to build a trade school there. Some of the kids may not want to go to college, and they’ll need a trade. I wasn’t sure what to do with that lot, and then one night, it just came to me out of nowhere. I was thinking of a garden, a small apartment building, a playground with a swimming pool. But I have another lot on the right side. I could use that space for some of the other possibilities. And I could also buy more lots and develop them. Whatever I do will be done with the kids in mind.”

“Brad, you need to call the nurse, he’s trying to open his eyes.”

“Murray, turn down the lights, and I’ll get the nurse,” as I stood to go to the door, the nurse came in, followed by the doctor.

“It appears that our guest is about to join us.”

I stepped away from the bed as the nurse, and the doctor surrounded the patient. I watched as the nurse injected the drip bag with a syringe of something. As the drip bag emptied into the boy’s arm, he began to stir. “We should have him awake in 15 to 20 minutes. I’ll tell you when to start talking like you were as he comes out of it. Keep your voice low and calm. He has heard your voice and will recognize it as he comes around.”

I waited for the doctor to give me the nod to start talking. When he said I should start, I held his hand, “Jabir is doing fine. We have a boy there called Amir, who comes from the same country as Jabir but a different village. The boys all like Jabir; they say he is funny. Jabir joined Sanctuary when we saw him at the theater where the Lion King was playing. You would’ve liked the Lion King. It was a nice play. I bought the DVD so you can see it when you come home with me.”

While I was speaking, I was watching the face of the boy. Slowly his eyes opened and what beautiful green eyes he had. “Hello, my name is Brad, and I run a place called Sanctuary, which will be your new home. Right now, you’re in the hospital where you’re being healed. Can you talk?”

“It looks like he’s trying. Nurse, give him some ice to suck on his throat is probably sore.”

The boy sucked on the ice chips. The nurse continued to feed him the chips until he put his hand up to stop. “Jabir, where’s Jabir.”

Holding his hand, “Jabir is safe. Soon you’ll see Jabir. I’ll bring him with me tomorrow, but now you need to rest and let the doctor and nurse help you to get better. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“You didn’t ask him his name.”

“No, I’ll get it tomorrow when I bring Jabir in to see him. He’ll feel more comfortable and then I can find out more information. How was your evening?”

“O’Shea is at the station booking a suspect, and I’m going there as soon as I drop you off. We’ll see you in the morning.”

“Thanks, Murray, I appreciate the personal service. See you in the morning unless you’re in the neighborhood in the next 30 minutes. Dinner is over for the kids, but I’m going to have them fix something for me, or should I say for us? If you do come over, come in the back way.”

As I entered the cook shack and started to fix a sandwich, Adam showed up. “It’s late, you should be in bed.”

“I knew you hadn’t eaten, so I was waiting for you. We have some leftover spaghetti and soup, which would you prefer.”

“How much spaghetti do you have? Murray and O’Shea might stop in for dinner.”

“I think we have enough. If not, I can heat up the soup real fast.”

“I appreciate this, Adam. Have you moved yet?”

“Yes, the room is really nice. Jeff took the lower bunk, so I took the single bed under the cabinets. I took some soup up, and we ate in the quad. It was a little odd, normally there are kids talking, and even though the noise level isn’t high but compared to the silence as we were eating, it seemed odd. I missed the buzz of the kids, but it also was nice.”

“You’ll get used to it; here come our favorite security people.”

Adam made three dishes of spaghetti and set them before us. He brought a cup of coffee for each of us. “Adam, you can go to bed, I’ll put the dishes in the dishwasher when we’re finished eating. Thanks.”

“He seemed happy tonight.”

“Today, he moved into the quads with Jeff. As the boys get older, I plan on moving them to the quads, where they’ll experience a little independence. Have you seen the quads?”

“No, we haven’t seen anything except the cocoons on the 2nd floor.”

“When you have some time, I’ll give you the tour. A lot of the work has been done, except for the elevator. So you’ll have to climb the stairs.”

“We’ll see you in the morning, Brad. Good night.”

“Could you pick up a paper, please?” Nodding their head, they left, and I went to my cocoon