ARROW - 154. Chapter 154

Plans all made for the summer, I concentrated on my painting. I didn’t need to worry about the boys and Maria took the girls to the Home where they could play with their friends.

Have you ever noticed when things seem to go well, everything is falling in place, plans finalized something happens that upsets the apple cart.

Tommy came home with a young boy about 12 years old.

“Dad, we need to go and see Uncle Henry right away. Pat is calling Pop and he will meet us at the court house. Read this while I drive.

I dropped my paint brushes in the cleaning can, heading downstairs . There was a young boy who looked like he was dragged in from the streets.

I got in the back seat, and pulled him into my arms. He pulled back, resisting.

“Howard, he’s my dad, he won’t hurt you.”

Now I was concerned, he relaxed a little. Arriving at the court house, there was Colin and his lawyer. Tommy took the boy’s hand and we rushed into the court house.

“Colin, do you know what is happening?”

“No, Pat called and said it was an emergency and to go see the Judge.”

Tommy took over, he spoke to the lawyer and they went to the Judge’s court room, and the next thing I knew, they came back and Tommy took the boy and went back inside the court room. We followed and sat on the chairs.

“What is going on?”

“I don’t know, Tommy came home and said we had to leave right away with that child.”

We waited a little over an hour when Tommy came out and got us. As many times we were here adopting, this was the first time we were in his chambers. He had the boy on his lap, Tommy showed us the papers he brought with him.

Colin read the first page and then handed it to me. I watched him as he read and he seemed to get more and more angry. “Colin, what’s the matter?”

“Read those papers.”

I started to read, I could feel GG. As I read, I got angry. The boy’s name was Howard Wright. He was 12 years old and the police picked him up from the street. He was selling himself. As I read I became more angry, his father was forcing him to have sex with men for money. The police arrested his father and brought the boy to the Home. Colin handed me Pat’s evaluation which included the doctor’s examination.

The boy will need medical help, he was badly hurt internally as well as being beaten with a belt several times.

I looked at Colin, his was crying. I knew I was. I continued to read Pat’s note. She was afraid for him since there was the possibility his dad’s friends may come after him once they knew where the police had taken him.

The judge looked at Colin and me. I nodded yes, “Your honor, he will need a new name and papers.”

The judge looked at Tommy, Tommy smiled and handed him a piece of paper. “Are you sure?”

Tommy nodded yes.

The judge showed me the paper, it was the name of Tommy’s brother who had died at childbirth. I knew about him when I did the research on finding photos of Tommy’s mom and dad for the painting.

Tommy’s last name was Rowe-Roberts, Carl’s last name would be Roberts-Rowe.

“I’ll bring the papers with me when Ann and I come for lunch on Sunday.”

“Dad, we need to take him to a doctor or hospital to be sure he’s okay.”

“Here, take this. Show it to the children’s hospital. Tell them if they have any questions to call me.”

Now we had two cars. Colin had his lawyer take his car back to his office.

Colin drove to Children’s Hospital on Park Street. Entering, Tommy held the boy’s hand I had my hand on his shoulder. Colin went to the admittance office, They must have asked something about payment when I saw Colin hand them his credit card. Then he handed them the letter from the Judge. Things happened fast, a young doctor came, Tommy took over. I was proud of him and I knew the Home would be in the right hands.

“We will need xrays to determine any internal injuries.” The boys followed, at first the Doctor hesitated, then he led the boys for X-rays. Colin and I went to the cafeteria and waited.

"I have been waiting for something like this to happen. It’s a miracle not more of the children at the Home haven’t been molested. There are a lot of sick people in this world. I think a couple needs to have a psych exam before being permitted to have children." Colin wiped his eyes.

I knew he was just ranting but in a way he was right. And now, I wonder how many of the children at the home have had exposure to some form of deviant behavior.

About an hour later, the boys came back. The doctor said there was some damage to his large intestine. “I will give you a prescription for a suppository to be used first thing in the morning. Just follow the instructions.”

Thanking him, we checked out, actually Colin went and checked out. Later that evening he showed me the bill. I laughed, “You will have to give up playing golf on Sunday to pay for that.”

“You’ll help. I didn’t realize that an X-ray cost so much. Doesn’t Doc at the Home have an X-ray.”

“Yes, I wonder why he didn’t take an X-ray.”

Tommy chirped in, “He didn’t have time.”

I looked at my new son. He looked scares as he clung to Tommy. I heard GG in my mind. “He will be fine. Give him time. He will be a gift to you.”

“Are you going back to work?”

‘Yes, I left my assistant in charge. He may need help.” I laughed his assistant was Richie.

Arriving home, I gave the suppositories to Tommy, “This is your job in the morning.”

“Dad, where is he going sleep?”

“How about with you. Ronny can have the single room next to my studio.”

When all of the boys were home, we decided to go to the club for dinner. Marie joined us with the girls.

I took the van, the older boys went with Ronny except Tommy, he went with me. Mary Ann took his seat in Ronnie’s car.

Walking into the back door, the boys headed to the table. I told James we were here for dinner and we were celebrating.

Once we were all sitting, James did the count. He stopped at Carl, “New brother or friend?”

The boys in unison, new brother. I was surprised but one look at Tommy, his smile said he set that up.

James went into the Green room and came out after a few minutes. Uncle Jimmy came in with a glass of one of his new concoctions. He sat the glass down in front of Carl. Tommy whispered for him to try it. He did and that was the first smile I saw.

“Uncle Jimmy, what do you call that?”

Looking at Carl, Jimmy saw something, “That is a cola bomb, which we shall call, let me think, starts with a C one of the young boys called out Carl.”

“Ok, it’s a Carl Bomb. Who wants one?” I thought what a question, they all wanted one. Uncle Jimmy left and came back with a tray of Carl’s bomb.

On Sunday, the Judge and his wife came for lunch. The Judge had Carl’s papers including his birth certificate. I gave that to Colin, he knew it was to get Carl a passport. Now all we needed was a photo.

Thinking about taking him to get his photo, a young man was at the club and wanted to know if he could take photos of the customers. Colin told him it would be okay but he must ask first and only get the person who agrees in the photo. I thought this was strange and then I remember who was helping me, GG.

“How did you know about taking photos today. I just moved into town, I’m a student at Yale. One of the students told me about this place and said I might be able to make some money here taking photos.

“Take my brother’s picture. He never had his picture taken.”

He did that and wanted to know where he could develop it. No grass grows under Colin’s feet. “Come into my office, we need to talk.”

On the way home, he showed Carl his photo. Without the bruises, he was a good looking young man. He would need his nose straighten, it must have been broken once before.I would arrange for that to be fixed. He had blond hair, once it was washed, and blue eyes. GG said he had his mother’s features. I asked her could she erase his scars. Her answer, 'you and your boys will erase those scars though your love. Be patient, he doesn’t trust any man right now and neither would you if you had his experiences.'

The first two weeks Carl was with us he was very quiet.

The first three days in our home, he would come to my studio and watch me paint. He would stand to one side as if ready to run. After the first week, I placed Anaud’s chair in the studio so he sit and could easily run from me.

The second week, he watched me make my paint. “How do you do that?” I was ready to grab him in a hug. GG said one word, don’t. I was afraid she said it so loud he would have heard it.

“Would you like me to show you?” He didn’t reply but walked away.

I asked Tommy could we take him to the Home where he could see other boys his age. Pat called and said that she had to call the police.

I called Colin and told him, I don’t know what he did but Tommy went to the Home and said there was a police vehicle parked in the drive way.

Colin and I went to the Home. “Pat, what is the problem and where is Tommy and the boy?”

Tommy and Carl where in the doctor’s office and the door was locked. “Tommy, open up it’s Pop and Dad.”

Opening the door, Carl was shaking in Tommy’s arms. “What happened?”

“Two men came and said their son was missing. They heard that there were children here and they thought one of the boys was their son. Pat told them there were no children here. Lois called the police. Pat told them they had to leave before the police arrived. One of the men, took off in the car. The other man ran away and we don’t know where he went. One of the policeman is still here.”

I called Ronny and told him to gather the older boys and bring them to the Home. Pat took Tommy and brought him out to meet Ronny when he drove up. Evidently the second man was waiting, when he saw Tommy he came out and tried to grab him. Ronny gave him a bullet hit, the man fell two feet from where he was standing, holding his stomach, trying to breathe. The policeman came round the corner, cuffed him and put him in the parked police car. We heard him yelling that that kid tried to kill him. We all laughed, Tommy said that was a bullet hit.

The policeman came and talked to Pat. She signed something , getting a receipt she gave it to Colin. He looked and smiled, a wicked smile. “Guess who will be going in front of our friendly judge.” Then Tommy, Carl, Pop and Ronnie headed to the city.

I told Pat not to worry he won’t be back and neither will the other guy. I knew Colin would have these men before our friend.

The boys who came over with Ronnie rode back with me. We waited for Colin and the boys to return. I knew Tommy would tell us what happened.

That evening at home, when everyone was back, “Colin, we need to provide some protection for the Home.”

“I don’t know how and still let them enjoy the outdoors. We can’t have the police there.”

“Maybe a fence.”

“The reality is the a fence won’t keep anyone out.”

“I’ll talk to the guys at the club they might know some how to improve security.”

I didn’t hold much hope.

A week before we planned on leaving for Europe, Tommy and our club police had a meeting at the Home. The boys who were 12 and older, were made deputy police. They had a badge for them.

Colin looked at them with the badge on, “Scouts. They could be Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.” I hadn’t thought about that. But would that be enough. Again, the police suggested a loud horn. I wonder how loud it would be. They said the horn would be loud enough to be heard by the local fire department and the police. For me it wasn’t enough.

“Talk to the company the you hired for the gallery.”

I did call them, we met at the Home. “I’ll have a proposal in five days.”

For the second time I rescheduled our vacation.

Between the older boys and myself, we spent a lot of time at the Home over the next five days. Colin said Charles is on alert.

The security company started to feed us proposals. The first proposal was a redesign of the gate leading to the property and an 8 foot chain link fence along the property next to the road. When I asked about the corners, they planted bushes that had sharp needles. They said there were used in the East to guard private homes. To be honest they didn’t look like they could stop anything. Ivan said they will grow about 8 to 9 feet tall and anyone trying to get through would get a sharp needle that would be painful and won’t be easy to be removed. I told Charles to extend the chain link fence inside the area where these plants were going to be planted. I didn’t want any of the kids to accidentally touch them.

Three days later, poles were being erected with lights and cameras. I expected this since I have the lights at the gallery. On the poles, beside the bright spot lights were cameras. The cameras sent the images into a panel of what looked like tvs in Lois’s office. Any one stepping on or approaching within 4 feet of the porch was being monitored on live tv.

On the fourth floor, over looking the back of the Home, were cameras and lights. This system monitored the back area 24-7. There was one addition that I wasn’t sure about. Colin said to go ahead with it. This area was monitored via tv but their was a loud speaker that anyone watching could speak and be heard outside. A camera was installed to take pictures. I thought that was clever, if a person was in that rear section stopped and looked at the Home, a photo would be taken.

“You know any time we are here, everyone will know we are coming.”

“Small price to pay. The only other way is to have a police force stationed here. That could frighten the kids.”

“If those horns go off, they will be frighten as well.”

“Not if the older children are trained and understand what is happening.”

It is a shame that you have to go to such extreme to protect these children from people like Carl’s father.

“We are lucky this hasn’t happened before.”

The window in Lois’s office was covered with a panel holding a series of TV’s that monitored the outside of the Home.

Charles said he would watch over the Home when he was here. His people were teaching basic wood working and some metal crafts.