A Child's Haven - 65. Chapter 65

In the morning, I called my dad and brought him up-to-date on last night’s raid. He brought me up-to-date on the lawsuits and the financial gain to Sanctuary. I’m beginning to believe Tony that someone is watching over us. Whenever I think things are getting tight, something happens that provides the means to accomplish our goals.

Getting a cup of coffee, sitting down, I noticed Terry going down to the showers. I appreciated him being with us last night. As I was off in a dream world, I felt the table move; there were Murray and O’Shea when I looked. I smiled at them and as they handed me the paper.

“Thanks. I wonder if I could get the paper delivered here each day.”

“Sure you almost do now with us dropping it off.”

“Yep, you’re right; I just hate for you guys to pay for it.”

“Don’t worry. We got the best deal, free coffee, and free eats. What’s for breakfast this morning?”

“I don’t know except oatmeal. We have that every breakfast.”

“What does he do with the leftover oatmeal? You can’t reheat it.”

“Do you like oatmeal cookies; we seem to always have them.”

Murray laughed, “I know that there are certain meals that are based on leftovers, like stir-fries, but cookies I’d never guess.”

“That’s the sign of an efficient kitchen. With these kids, we don’t have too many leftovers. You need to ask Terry about yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, what’s the story on the kids at the hospital?”

“We took 13 kids to the hospital. Most of them were malnourished and dehydrated; you took the ones that could walk. There were a few that were pretty banged up, sores, bruises but no broken bones. We’re on our way over there now. Do you want to come along?”

“You bet, but I’ll follow in case you guys get called away.”

“Terry, want to come along so we can check on the kids that were taken to the hospital last night.”

“Yes, but it is ok. I want to ride with Uncle Tom.”

“Sure, no problem, I’ll meet you there.”

Seeing Aaron, Diane, and Tony entering the dining hall, I called “Aaron!” Aaron waved and headed toward where I was sitting. “I’m going to the hospital this morning; I’d like you to go with me. You can access whether any of these kids can come home or not.”

Aaron nodded and diverted to the buffet to get some breakfast. Bubba brought me a second cup of coffee, “What do you want?”

“Nothing, I just saw you were sitting here with an empty cup of coffee, so I thought I would bring you one.”

I just looked at him; he ducked his head into my side, mumbling, “One of the trees died.”

“Are you sure? They may be hibernating.”

“What’s that?”

“Many trees in the winter lose their leaves, and then in the spring, they come back to life again. You will have to wait and see. I’ll ask Uncle Tony to take a look, ok?”

He nodded his head and then went to get something to eat. “As soon as you guys are finished, we can head out.” Actually, they were all finish except me. I drank my coffee and headed to my car.

We followed Murray to the hospital. When we went to the receptionist, there was no problem when she saw me. With the room numbers, we went to the floor. “I think the whole floor is devoted to these boys.”

Entering the first door, two boys were in the room. Both were hooked to an IV. Terry spoke to them, they said they feel a lot better but were very thirsty. Aaron looked at their chart, took some water, and gave it to the boys. All the boys seemed in good spirits except in the last room. There was only one boy in this room, and he reminded me of Patrick. Aaron read his chart and left. The boy appeared asleep until Terry spoke to him. He looked at Terry with wide eyes. He was scared. Terry tried to comfort him; at first, it didn’t work until he mentioned some of the other boys. He relaxed a little, but you could tell he was still a little frightened. Aaron returned and told us that he was beaten. There were no broken bones, but he had some internal injuries, and they wanted to keep him a few days longer. The other boys will be released tomorrow morning. Jerry relayed this information to the boy and asked him if he had a friend; he nodded yes, and he told Terry his friend’s name.

We left. On the drive back, Aaron told us what was in the file. He wasn’t sold but kidnapped. His family is very well off and offered a reward for him. They paid the reward and never saw the boy. “Do you suppose we could contact the family?”

“I’ll try tomorrow morning and see if he’ll give me their name and maybe an address. When you go in, let me know. I’ll need to find his friend and take him with us.”

“Today at lunch, you can ask. You should ask if they had any friends that aren’t among the boys we brought back. It’d be nice if we can reunite these kids with their families.”

Lunch today was hamburgers and hotdogs. There were baked beans and potato salad as a side, and there was soup as well. I noticed a few boys going to the soup and then going for the hamburger or hot dogs. I took a bowl of soup and found a table with some of the new kids. I sat down, and they all looked at me as if I would scream at them. “My name is Brad,” I repeated Brad several times, pointing to myself. One of the kids caught on and said something to the others. They all smiled, and each one told me their names. I repeated their names as best as I could. They laughed and tried to correct me. It was fun, and they laughed when I mispronounced their name. Some of the other kids at a table next to me tried to pronounce my name. It seemed like a game, and then I thought, why not make a game out of it. I called Terry over, “I have a game to play with the new kids. If they can pronounce my name, they get a snack. If I can pronounce their name, then they have to hug me.

Terry explained that we were going to play a game. He explained the rules and thought it’d be fun. Each kid who played would get a snack, only after the game. So we started. The first kid came up to me, I pronounced my name, and he repeated it correctly. I waved Mario over and told him to bring me a box of snacks. I gave the kid his snack. We played this game until each kid got a snack. Bubba was laughing as he pointed to the vending machine. Each kid finally caught on. Snacks were free.

Terry was listening to each kid’s name until he saw the kid’s friend in the hospital. Terry took him aside and spoke to him, asking if the kid did get kidnapped. Later he told me that the kid said he did get kidnapped, but his father refused to pay the ransom. “Did he say why?”

“From what he told me, the kid was his stepson, and he wasn’t too fond of him. He’d have raised him because of his wife but wouldn’t spend any money on him. He wasn’t the heir. He had an older son.”

“What about that kid, was he abducted also?”

“No, he followed, it seems they are boyfriends.”

“OK, now it begins to make sense. His father knew he was gay, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t pay to have someone kidnap him. Some Eastern cultures feel that homosexuality should be punished by death. Let’s take this young man to the hospital tomorrow morning.”

That night for dinner, Mario made a fantastic meal; we had chicken roasted with Eastern spices, chickpeas, and rice. I noticed the new boys really like dinner. For dessert, we had dough balls dipped in honey and then covered with sesame seeds. They were good, but more than one was too sweet for me. Not the boys, they really liked them, and when Janet uncovered the dishes, you could almost see the mouth of the kids begin to salivate.

After dinner, we had another game. I paired each new kid with one of the older boys. The prize was the same, only this time I had a small package of pistachio nuts. The boys lined up Terry followed with the prize. We all chuckled as each boy tried to pronounce the other boy’s name. At the end of the line, the girls joined in. Tony, Aaron, and Diane were enjoying the game as much as the boys. Each kid had a package of nuts.

The next morning after breakfast, the three of us headed for the hospital. We went to each room and checked with the boys. Terry talked to them and said they might be going to their new home today. When we got to the last room, Terry asked that we stay outside as he told the kid to go on in. We heard a sob, and then a name being repeated over and over again. After a few minutes, Terry knocked, and we went in. Both boys were in bed. Terry said something, and they separated.

“Terry, tell him that when he comes home, he’ll be waiting for him.”

As Terry told him, he reached for his boyfriend’s hand. I thought this might be the best medicine for the kid. Knowing that someone is waiting for you is a great incentive. I left them with Terry and went to talk to the nurse. I was smiling when I remembered this nurse was at Sanctuary. I said hello, and she hugged me. “So my boys are going to be living at your place.”

“Yes, and if you miss them, you can come over anytime to see them. How are they doing? Do we have a release time yet?”

“Yes, the doctor said he would check them after lunch and sign the papers then. Are you going to pick them up?”

“Yes, what about the lad in the last room?”

“I don’t think he’ll be released. He won’t eat anything it’s like he doesn’t have any will to live.”

“Really, I just left that room, and he’s smiling and laughing.”

She quickly went to the room, and when she walked in, she found two boys laughing at what Terry was telling them. She turned around and looked at me as if I could explain the change. “I didn’t bring about the change that other young man did. I think he believed that his friend was dead and he had no will to live. Now he knows his friend is alive, he’ll want to live as well.”

Later that afternoon, I took the bus with Terry and brought home 12 boys. Aaron checked them in, setting up their medical card, Beth enrolled them in Sanctuary. Some of them had friends that were saved, and so they guided them around. I decided that Terry should teach them English. If they are going to stay in America, they’d need to read and write in English. Talking it over with Mrs. Chester, we decided to hold English classes from 1 to 4, Monday through Friday. As soon as a student became proficient in English, they’d transfer to a regular class. We had already begun teaching specific courses from 1 to 5 in the afternoon. GED preparation continued.

There is sadness in Sanctuary, but also there are times of joy. Adam was doing well at school and was working the week-ends at a very upscale restaurant. I expected him to either move into one of our apartments or into the city. Jeff passed his GED and now had to settle on a college. He wanted to go to his dad’s school, but that meant he’d have to leave Sanctuary. His concern was Beth. After meeting with Beth several times, he decided it was ok to leave her behind. Jeff got a partial scholarship that paid for his tuition but not room or board. Sanctuary picked that up as well as books. He got an allowance of 100 dollars a month, and he got a car for payment of his contribution to Sanctuary.