A Child's Haven - 52. Chapter 52

“Tony, if you have a minute, I’d like to review an idea with you. You know I’ve been thinking of doing something for the kids on their birthday. We have the birthday cake once a month to celebrate all of the birthdays within that month. I have asked Beth to make up a birthday calendar to post in the dining hall. So last night, I thought of giving each kid a necklace with their name on the back of a medal and a Sanctuary logo on the front. What do you think?”

“I think that will solve your problem for the first birthday we celebrate at Sanctuary. What are you going to do for subsequent years until they leave Sanctuary?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I should bring this up at the Board meeting to get ideas. It isn’t easy to come up with ideas when you have so many kids. I could ask for suggestions from the kids, but after I implement the necklace with logo concept.”

“I thought you were going to use that idea for their anniversary of being enrolled in Sanctuary. You could design the necklace so that each anniversary, you’d add some decoration. Have you thought any more about the trade school?”

“Yes, I wanted to talk to Mrs. Chester to see about having the kids take aptitude tests. That might help to determine their interests. With that information, I’ll be able to determine if a trade school is even necessary and if it is what I’ll need to complement the existing trade schools.”

“If you do that, you’ll have to have a meeting with each kid to dig deeper into their interests. Those tests are very general and tend to indicate a direction, but they aren’t designed to indicate a particular job. They may say a kid has a proficiency for math but won’t tell you he’ll be successful as a math teacher.”

“But it should tell me something about whether a kid has college potential and what subjects he would do well.”

“And if he isn’t college material?”

“I was hoping that some form of result would indicate if he’s good at a specific function or some hint as to what he’s capable of doing to earn a living.”

“I don’t see where it would hurt to do it. You might want to talk to Grace about it.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll talk to Grace, and maybe between her and Mrs. Chester, we can sort out this issue.”

“There’s something else bothering you. I can tell you have that feeling again.”

“Yes, but this time it isn’t as strong. I know something is going to happen, or I’m about to get some news that I’m not going to like.”

“Have any more kids been added to the total?”

“Yes, we’ve had three more boys enrolled over the last three weeks. The word has gotten out among the shop owners, and when they see a kid asking for money to buy something to eat, they have been sending them here. That’s good news. Restaurants have woken up to the fact that a hungry kid needs to eat and not be tossed out like garbage. Even people accosted by a begging kid have given them a few dollars and sent them here. The police have been doing a great job of picking up kids and dropping them off here. We now have 225 kids. If this keeps up, I may have to build another dormitory next door for the older kids. I still have 2C with 126 cocoons. I just may put some cocoons in the new building in case we need them.

Tony and I watched the kids coming into the dining hall for breakfast. Mario and Adam have done a great job varying meals, so the kids get a variety. Mrs. Jenkins has put together a meal plan focusing on healthy food. Except for deserts at dinner, all of the meals have focused on a balanced diet.

As Tony and I were sitting there watching the kids, Bubba came and sat next to me. I gave him a hug, “How’s Sandy doing? I haven’t seen him for a while.”

“He’s ok. Could we take him to the vet and have him checked out?”

“Sure, we can do that after lunch.”

After the kids had gone through the line, Tony and I went to get our breakfast. Of course, I felt someone behind me, and there were Murray and O’Shea. “Good morning, gentlemen.”

My group of close friends had grown from the original two to now a total of 5. Since Aaron had moved into the third floor, we’d meet in the evening, and sometimes when Tony would stay over, the three of us would meet to enjoy our companionship. It felt good to count on good friends to bounce ideas off or get their views on a specific project.

Sitting at the table, Pat came over and climb on my lap. “Dad, when are we going on a fishing trip?”

“I’m sorry, Pat, I forgot about it, and I’m glad you reminded me. Let me see if I can’t put something together for next Saturday.”

“Will you tell me, first?”

“You rascal, yes, I’ll tell you first.”

“Murray, you seem to be somewhere else. What’s up?”

“Do you remember me telling you about some of those scum bags leaving the State and country?”

“Yes, you said the FBI and Interpol were involved in hunting these guys down.”

“Well, the FBI tracked down one who still had the kid with him. That kid will be here tomorrow. But that isn’t the worst news I received this morning. They tracked another guy trying to get into Canada. When they caught him, he shot the kid. They shot the guy. We lost the kid he was ten years old, they said he would have died anyway, the kid was nothing but bones, the FBI said the kid probably hasn’t eaten for four weeks to look like that.”

Tears came to my eyes, “Interpol found two with the kids still with them. They were hiding in Brussels with a known pedophile. Those kids are being sent here as well but won’t be arriving for a few days. They are having medical check-ups as well as being debriefed.”

I looked at Tony, “I think we need to expand our message. If we could find someone in Europe to set up the same type of facility, we could reach more kids.”

“I think if you wanted to expand, you should consider those cities close to the Mexican borders. With the smuggling of Mexicans into the US, I’m sure kids are being abused.”

“I can’t do this alone. Maybe it’s time to bring the press in on this project and hope other people will take on some of the responsibility of creating safe homes for these kids.”

“You should run that by your dad. When it becomes widespread news, you may put yourself and Sanctuary in danger. Grace may not be able to keep Child Services out of the picture.”

“Brad, talk this over with the Board. Get their view before throwing this place open to the press.”

Later that morning, I called Abe and told him I was putting the trade school on hold pending the aptitude tests. I also asked him to look at a feasible way to expand the dormitories if we had more kids. After talking to Abe, I went to see Beth on my way to my office.

“Beth, could you construct a large calendar adding the names of the kids on the day of their birthday? I want it large enough so it can be posted in the dining hall so all of the kids will know the birthday of each kid.”

“I’ll need large sheets of heavy paper. I’ll get Clair to help.”

“Great, the sooner, the better, I’m taking Bubba and Sandy to the vets this afternoon, I’ll stop and pick up some paper for you.”

Going to my office, I began to write an agenda for the Board meeting. I also added my thoughts under each subject as a reminder for me. While I was doing this, Jeff came into my office, “Dad, there’s a kid in the dining hall that doesn’t speak English.”

I left the office and ran to the dining hall. Sitting at one of the tables was a boy about 13-14 years old. “Hello, welcome to Sanctuary. Can you tell me your name?”

In broken English, “I need help.”

I called Tony, “I need a Spanish interpreter. Can you get me one?”

Just then, Bubba came into the dining hall after walking Sandy. When he saw me sitting with the boy, he came over to us. “Bubba, you wouldn’t know someone who speaks Spanish, do you.”

“Mrs. Alvarez speaks Spanish.”

“Who is Mrs. Alvarez?”

“She’s the Spanish teacher at my school.”

“Do you know how I can get in contact with her?”

“Sure, just call the school.”

He told me the name of the school. I call the operator and asked for the number. Once I had the number, I called the school. After going through the secretary, telling her why I wanted to speak to Mrs. Alvarez, she put me on hold. I waited a few minutes when the secretary came back online, asking for my phone number and said that Mrs. Alvarez would call me back as soon as her class is over.

“Bubba, please go to the kitchen and bring some food here for this boy.”

I went to the vending machine and brought him a bottle of juice. Bubba came back carrying a bowl of soup and a sandwich. I believe there is a pot of soup on that stove all the time. I later found out that if a kid were hungry, they would go to the cook shack and get a bowl of soup.

When Bubba set the soup and sandwich before the kid, he dug right in. By the smile on his face, I could tell he was grateful for the food. When he finished the soup, Bubba took the bowl and returned with another.

It didn’t seem 10 minutes when Mrs. Alvarez returned my call. I told her who I was, a brief explanation of Sanctuary and my problem. She asked me to put the boy on the phone which I did. I wasn’t sure what they were talking about, but as they were talking, I could see the smile growing on the boy’s face as he looked at Bubba and me. When he was finished talking, he handed the phone back to me. “Yes, this is Brad.” I listened as Mrs. Alvarez told me about the boy.

His name was Carlos Emiros Vasquez. He was smuggled into the US from Mexico and was brought here by one of the smugglers to be sold. When the smuggler couldn’t find the place he was to take him, he left him in the car. Because he couldn’t speak English, the smuggler thought he’d be too afraid to leave the car. He escaped and ran until he saw a sign in Spanish over one of the stores. He told the owner of his problem, and the owner directed him here. I guess if this is going to happen again, someone there better learn Spanish. I asked Bubba to show him around, see if he wants to take a shower, and then go see Beth and see if we can get him enrolled.

Tony called and said he’d have a Spanish interpreter at Sanctuary tomorrow morning. I told him about my conversation with Mrs. Alvarez and the need for us to learn Spanish. He suggested that maybe Mrs. Alvarez could teach night classes. I decided that wasn’t a bad idea, and I’d personally go and thank Mrs. Alvarez tomorrow. I called the secretary of the school and arranged a lunch meeting with Mrs. Alvarez.