A Child's Haven - 68. Chapter 68

“Actually, Murray, I am. I’m going to sue the newspaper for slander. The boat will dry dock next week and be ready to go in 6 to 8 weeks. I’m going to build a school on the island and beef up the security. Our first cruise will be to the Bahamas, and I’m taking everyone, kids, and friends. We may have to sleep on the deck, but we’ll have fun.”

“That sounds great, and knowing your dad, he’ll make them squirm. You still think those guys who paid in advance for the kids want to take them.”

“Yes, after that trick at the hospital, what better way than have this place condemned. Where would the kids go? Ah, there’s the rub, they don’t know about the island or the boat. And that’s where the kids will go. I can have those kids out of here within 4 hours.”

“If you can find out who put that column in the newspaper, we may find the others.”

“Did the guy you picked up the other night give up any information?”

“No, but his home did. We got the names of his group. The FBI is working on that now. I’m sure some of them are the ones who prepaid for the boys.”

A week later, when Murray showed me the paper, there was an apology for the previous article concerning Sanctuary. “It seems that the lawsuit for slander is beginning to bear fruit. I may have to call Dad later to see what has turned up.”

The boys came in all smiles. I wish the Governor were here now. Little did I know that Grace snuck him in, and he was in the activity room looking over the wall and watching the kids line up for their breakfast. I went and got a refill of coffee, followed by Murray and O’Shea. Bubba came up and hugged me, I kissed him on the head, then came Pat, and the kids followed suit until I think I must have kissed them all. The kids filled their plates and went and sat down to eat. One of the new boys came over and asked me to sit with them. “Is it true that we have an island where we can swim and fish?”

“Sure, and we’ll be going there this summer. Do you like to fish and swim?”

I had all of the kids listening to me. They started saying I like to swim, or I like to fish, or I never fished. Could you teach me how to fish? It wasn’t only my table, but the other tables joined in as well. I started to laugh, “Yes, we’ll teach you how to swim and fish. We’ll play games and have a campfire at night, roast hot dogs, and make smores.” I knew I shouldn’t have said smores.

What are smores? Are they good to eat? Before I had a chance to answer, the other kids began telling them what smores were. They wanted Mario to make them smores. If I knew Mario, he’d find away to do it.

Just as the boys were ready to leave for school, Grace showed up with the Governor. “Sir, I didn’t know you were here. Would you like some coffee, breakfast, a tour? What can I get you?”

“I think coffee would be nice, but I’ll get it. Grace, do you want one as well?”

I walked to the coffee pot with the Governor and Grace. I introduced Mario and Janet to them. Mario offered them breakfast, and I noticed that the Governor decided he might have a little something. Mario fixed him a plate, and then I had to smile when he told him if you want more, just come back, but what you take, you must eat. Grace looked at me.

“We tell the kids they can come back as many times as they want, but what they take they must eat, or they can’t have dessert for dinner. I like to introduce my staff to you.” I proceeded to introduce the staff and what position they hold. “After you finish eating, I can introduce you to our teaching staff and give you a tour. You must see the sleeping arrangement.”

We sat at the table and chatted while they ate. One of the boys came up to me. “Yes, Curly, what can I do for you.” “We need more paper in room 31-2.” Tony popped up; putting his arm around Curly’s shoulder led him out of the dining hall.

“Shouldn’t he be in school?”

“He is. 31-2 represents the schoolroom on the third floor and the second room. His teacher probably needed more paper, and he volunteered to get it.”

When the Governor was finished eating, one of the boys working in the kitchen came over and got his plate and our cups. “His class starts later, and he stays later. I’ll explain as we go on tour.”

We took the elevator to the second floor; I explained to the Governor when I bought the warehouse, how I modified it, and the cocoons’ installation explaining I took the idea from the Japanese. I showed him how they worked; he was surprised at the amount of room and how comfortably they looked. I think he was also surprised at how each cocoon had the bed made and was neat. He asked who maintains the beds, “Each child is responsible for his cocoon.”

“So they make their beds and keep it clean and neat.”

“Yes, they are also responsible for keeping the bathrooms at the entrance to the room clean and, of course, making sure that the dirty linens are placed in the laundry chute.”

Going into the amenity area, “At the end of each set of cocoons there are these amenity areas, this one is for games, the one above this is a library and is for studying, and the one above that is an exercise room. We can access each room through that staircase. Would you like to see the other amenities rooms?”

“Yes, I would. How many can you sleep here?”

“Each floor has 126 cocoons. Each cocoon has a lock on the inside, so a child feels perfectly safe. They have a key, and I’m the only one with a master key.”

“How many kids do you have here?”

“Currently, almost 350 kids. There are another 100 cocoons in the annex on the other lot. We can see that from the Director’s room, this is the library, individual booths, and tables. The shelves are lined with books from donations, some we buy. The computers are protected with a nanny watch.”

Climbing the stairs to the 2-3, “This is the exercise room. Each machine is designed to provide exercise and not necessarily bodybuilding. The monitors on the machines are games that are activated by the amount of effort each child puts into the exercise. For example, the bike monitor shows a race; the faster you go, the closer you come to the finish line. The handles have built-in monitors that measure temperature, blood pressure, and heartbeats.”

“To reach the third floor, we must go to the other side of the room. As you can see, more cocoons and these are occupied as well.”

“How do you know who is assigned to which cocoon?”

“We have an induction center. When we enroll a child, they are assigned a cocoon and given a key. If they move to a different cocoon, they will turn in the key and be reassigned.”

“Does that happen often?”

“Not really, but once in a while, friends want to share the same floor or close to each other. It hasn’t been a problem.”

“I noticed what looked like a cash register in the cocoons. What are they?”

“They are the kids’ banks. They receive an allowance each Friday after dinner, and they can save it or spend it. If they want to spend it, one of the other staff or I will take them to a store where their product is sold.”

“What’s the percentage that saves versus spending?”

“Close to 98 percent save, the ones that spend, buy birthday presents for their friends.”

“Here is floor 3-1; this section has been divided into three floors as well. This is the school.”

We walked the floor; they looked into each room as the students were busy doing some activity. At the end of 3-1-15, I walked them into the teacher’s lounge. I went to Mrs. Chester’s office and asked her to join us. “Grace, it’s so nice to see you, you also Governor. What do you think about our school?”

“I’m quite impressed. How many students are enrolled here?”

“All of them excluding the new students who just arrived, they are learning how to read and write English.”

“The goal here is to prepare these kids for the GED. So far, we have two students that have been accepted into college on scholarships. We have three more that’ll be ready the first of the year. I think some of them probably could pass now, but they are just a little too young and could use a better math background.”

“Grace, are you ok with this?”

“Yes, in fact, Mrs. Chester was my recommendation for the superintendent of this school. These children have been deprived of a normal school environment, so under Mrs. Chester’s guidance, she has hired the best teachers who represent the best in education. I have looked over the progress reports, and they are excellent. I can have them on your desk by tomorrow if you want to look at them?”

“No, I’ll take your word for it. What is on the other two floors?”

“We need to take the elevator to the next two floors. This floor is 3-2 here I have built a transition life style that prepares the student for college dorm living or independent living. This floor has the most freedom for the kids. This is a quad, the center is a small kitchen that one might encounter in a dorm, and there are four bedrooms to each quad. Each bedroom has three beds, a small bathroom, and a closet. This quad is empty.”

I opened the door, “This is the kitchen area, the microwave, the refrigerator, and the sink.” I then opened one of the bedrooms. The Governor and Grace walked in, looked around came back out.

“What’s at the end of this room?”

“There is a single apartment for a quad leader and study areas. I led them to the study area and showed them the leader’s room.”

“There isn’t a leader?”

“Not at the moment. The first leader now occupies a one-bedroom apartment in the annex, and the last leader just started college at his father’s college.”

“The next floor, 3-3, is for the staff. We have several staff that live here, this is my bedroom, and the others are identical. Tony, our finance manager, has a bedroom here as well as Aaron, our NP. I believe Diane, our nurse, will be moving here soon. We have one room designed for a child who must be kept in bed for a long time. The infirmary is equipped with beds, but they are mostly short term.”

“You said you have an annex?”

“Yes, actually, we bought the two lots on either side of this building. You can see one lot from the roof but the other building you’ll need to see from the Board room. We’ll need to walk to the roof.”

When we got to the roof, Grace was amazed at the plants and flowers growing along the walls. Pat and Bubba’s trees were doing ok but probably needed some treatment.

“Who maintains these mini-gardens?” He caught my smile, “The kids”

I nodded my head, yes.

I showed him the lot to the left of the building. There was the firewater tower, the swimming pool, and the small playground. He just looked as if he was thinking about something. “We can go to the Board room, and you can see the annex.” We took the elevator down to the main floor, and then we took the elevator at the office building to the Board room. Pulling the drapes open, I pointed to the annex. The ground floor contains space for shops, woodworking, and auto mechanic. Four large areas which can be partitioned. The second floor includes rooms associated with art, music, and homemaking. The third floor contains 100 cocoons, of which some are now occupied. The 4th floor is one-bedroom apartments, and the top floor has two-bedroom apartments. Occupants of the apartments pay a subsidized rent. Our cook, Mario, will be moving into a one-bedroom apartment in a few days. Well, we’re in this building would you like to see the induction center and the infirmary?”

“Lead on.”

Stopping at the second floor, “This is our induction center; the file cabinets are filled with the personal data on each child, name, age, birthday cocoon assignment, and any dietary information. In my office, I keep a more personal file that tells the story of each child. When they leave and are on their own, that file will be destroyed. But for now, it gives me some insight into the child.”

Going down to the first floor, “This is our infirmary. Aaron is our NP; we have the services of a doctor from the clinic down the street. Diane is our nurse who works with Aaron to be sure our kids are healthy.”

In a whisper, “What is wrong with that little fellow?”

“I’ll tell you outside, ok?”

The Governor shook Aaron’s hand and followed me out the door. As we walked to the dining room, I told the Governor about the boatload of kids kept in barrels. “Most of the kids were suffering from malnutrition and dehydration, there were 13 who had to be hospitalized, and he was the worse of the twelve. He was beaten pretty badly, but he pulled through. He’ll be there for a few more days, and then he’ll be allowed up for a little while until his strength returns. Grace, that’s the kid that the Mayor’s assistant tried to remove from the hospital.”

“Sir, that pretty much completes the tour unless you want to visit our cook shack?”

“Can we get a cup of coffee there?”

“Yes, sir, and probably a little snack as well.”

I led them to a table that was there for us to hold our 11 pm meetings, “Mario, would you please bring us a cup of Italian coffee, and do you have any of those special cookies?”

He just smiled and brought our coffee with a small platter of cookies. I just smiled as the Governor sipped the taste of his coffee. He offered Mario a job in his kitchen. Mario smiled, “Sir, you are welcome here anytime.” I think the cookies did the trick.

“Do the kids get to eat these cookies as well?”

“The kids eat the same food as the staff. These cookies will be at the lunch bar this afternoon. The only thing the kids don’t get is coffee, but there is plenty of juice, milk, and water in the vending machines.”

“Brad, this place is a perfect model for other states. Don’t be surprised if I start bringing tour groups through here.”

“Sir, there’s a need for Sanctuary in every large city. They don’t have to be as big as ours; we have kids here from all over, Mexico, Europe, and now the Far East. The only thing I asked, check with Grace. She knows when we are gone on vacation.”

“Wait, you take these kids on vacation? Where do you go?”

“Well, we owned an island in the Pacific. We go there, all of us. And now I’m retrofitting a large liner, and we’ll go on a cruise. These kids have been deprived, beaten, abused, and lived in rags, and practically starve. My motto, no more.”

“The million-dollar question, this must cost a fortune, how do you do it.”

“I’m a very fortunate man who has inherited a lot of money. I have smart investors, so I could use the interest from my trust to start this place. As we began to remove the boys from the men who bought them, I began to sue them. I have a smart lawyer. You’d think that most of these men wouldn’t have much money, but that wasn’t the case. Not only were they pedophiles, but they had offshore accounts. I got it all, and I plow it back into Sanctuary.