ARROW - 186. Chapter 186

Time moves on. Richie and Anne Marie are expecting their first child. Richie said if it is a boy he will be named Paul. If it is a girl she will be named Marie.

Ronnie said it was too early to start a family. When we reminded him of his football team, he said there are other ways to get a team. I think Julie said there was no way she would agree to have enough boys for a football team. Armand had his painting of the young boy from the Home dressed as a football player proudly displayed in his living room. It seemed Donnie had noticed it and was willing to recruit boys at the Home for his football team.

Tommy told Colin and Armand that he and Pepe were partners. Colin was surprised, Armand said he suspected and it wasn’t a surprise.

Ivan and Elsie were expecting their second child and hoping it would be a girl.

Life became routine. Armand spent a lot of time at the Home painting in his studio on the fourth floor. Colin organized the older boys and Sunday was golf day. Saturday was fishing unless the weather caused the ocean to be to choppy to take the boat out.

David was now a sophomore in high school and is doing quite well. He and Tony are in the same class. Mary Ann is a junior and trying to decide what she wants to study in college. She told Armand she was thinking about being a nurse. “Dad, if I finish my nursing classes could I work at the Home?”

Armand smiled, “Yes, we will always need a nurse there.”

Toby turned out to be the rascal. The teachers complain he is always talking. He and John seemed to see who can talk the most. Poor Luis can’t get a word in when those two are together. Louise has become a young lady and likes to tell everyone about the boys in her class. According to her, the boys fight to see who sits next to her at lunchtime. James and Peter laugh at her when they take their lunch to school. They tell Colin and Armand everything they notice about the kids in school during their lunch period. Louise rules over the boys in her class. Mary Ann prefers to eat with a small group of girls, right next to a table of boys. Peter said the girls like to flirt with the boys.

The boys pull several tables together. They mostly talk about sports. James said David is very quiet but listens to their conversation. He participates on occasion.

With the cooks all back, Armand, Colin, and the family have dinner at the club. The table in the kitchen has been enlarged to be able to serve 16 people, 18 when Tommy and Pepe join them. James and his crew had to arrange the kitchen to fit the large table. When they were done, the freezer was moved to the basement, and the refrigerator was moved to the loading dock where the freezer was installed. The dishwasher was moved next to the refrigerator. They were able to get a table that sat 10 to a side. Colin looked at it and said it’s a good thing we aren’t fat, “We could never sit around that table.” The boys started to laugh. “Pop. you can always sit at the end of the table.”

Colin had put on a little weight over the years. He couldn’t understand why he gained weight and I didn’t.

“When we eat at the Home, you eat your food. When I eat there, I share my food.”

They laughed, when Armand was there, the girls and young boys shared his dinner, he would have it no other way.

When you are busy time moves on but you hardly notice it. The children remind you as they grow older but you never relate that to yourself. Colin had a surprise birthday party for Armand, He would be 50 years old. Colin was also fifty so the boys decided to surprise him and make it a birthday party for both of them.

The boys told James, he told them they would have to go fishing on Saturday so he would have enough lobster and shrimp for the party. The boys were all for that and so were the boys at the Home. Mary Ann told Colin the girls want to go fishing as well. So now there were almost 60 boys and girls. The very small children stayed at the Home with Pat. Charles brought some new discs for the TV. His boys joined the group fishing.

Armand had to buy a few fishing rods. Looking at the boys' and girls' faces he would buy them anything they wanted. Smiling faces, a joyful sound, and then the singing started. Boarding the boat they saluted the captain. He smiled as he welcomed them aboard. Now the fishing boys and girls were strapped in their chairs. Colin had chairs on both sides of the boat. Everyone who was fishing was strapped in. With a toot of the horn, the boat moved out into the water and headed north.

There is something about the smell of the ocean. Everyone was excited and I heard a few wagers being made. No money was involved but you heard I’ll bet you I catch a bigger fish than you or I bet I catch more fish than you. It would be hard to determine who caught the most fish. For them, it was a game.

Arriving at the captain’s predetermined coordinates, the boat slowed down. Lines were baited and fishing began. I waited until the first fish was caught before I started to bait the traps.

We fished until lunchtime. Colin had chests filled with sandwiches, potato chips, and chocolate milk. Using the boat's galley he cooked hotdogs. I don’t know how many hotdogs he boiled. When the kids finished their sandwiches, Colin had a hotdog for them. I thought they would have been full of sandwiches, I was wrong. One of the kids said fishing makes you hungry. I laughed as I hug him. Now I had to hug them all and I was fine with that until one of the little boys had tears in his eyes when I hugged him. Now I also had teary eyes.

Looking over these children I realized I wasn’t finished adopting those who needed someone to care for them in a special way.

I watched Carl as he took photos of the boys when they caught a fish. “You aren’t fishing?”

Smiling, “There isn’t an empty chair.”

“You could sit in one of those lounge chairs. Move it to the bow, you can fish from there.”

“I’d rather take pictures of the fish the kids catch.” I knew he would be painting several of the kids.

When Colin thought we had enough fish for the club and the Home, we started back to the dock. I did notice we were going very slow and the kids continued to fish. The only difference was the size and kind of fish they caught as the water became warmer. Before docking, the boat decks had to be cleaned, the 10-gallon fish buckets had to be moved to the dock. I watched Colin as he helped to lift one container, it must have had several large fish in it. I could tell it was heavy. The first mate had to help him.

As usual, we gave the captain a lobster and shrimp for his and the first mate’s dinner,

With the containers loaded in my van, the children were loaded into a bus that Colin was driving. Four of the older boys joined me in my van, we were headed to the club. Colin and his group were headed to the Home. I would join him after I dropped the fish off at the club.

“James, do you think this is enough fish?”

“It should be, No lobster or shrimp?”

“Not this time. Colin is taking two trunks to the Home and I think one of those has a couple of lobsters. We didn’t catch any shrimp.”

I watched as they removed the fish and began to clean them. Billy held up a lobster. “This was on the bottom.”

James took it, he was making sure I wouldn’t take it. I knew the kitchen staff would eat that.

Now we headed to the Home.

Arriving at the Home, the cooks were all smiles. Fresh fish for dinner, what could be better? “I’m going to invite Ivan and his family over for dinner. There is enough fish to feed an army.”

Heading for my van I didn’t realize I had a line of boys behind me until I was ready to enter the van. “Can we go with you?”

“Sure get in. One of you can open the gate for me.” I noticed the boy who had tears in his eyes was there with the others.

Driving over to Ivan’s farm. The boys talked about the animals and wondered if the peanuts were ready.

Pulling into Ivan’s driveway, as soon as I stopped the car, the boys exited. I saw them head to the animal shed. Ivan had a few geese and I knew where they came from as well as chickens. Louise’s lamb, now a full-grown sheep, was always a visit. Ivan now had two cows and the boys picked carrots to feed them.

While the boys checked out the farm, I went and invited them to come to the Home for a fish dinner. Elsie was all for it Ivan said he had to milk the cows. “Elsie and little Ivan can come with me and you can come over when you are done milking the cows.” And so it was decided.

Elsie had to get little Ivan ready and herself as well, this allowed the boys to roam the farm a little more.

Arriving back at the Home, the girls made a fuss over little Ivan. “I always like coming here and so does Little Ivan. The girls do a great job entertaining him.’

I hadn’t noticed the boy with me. Colin asked who is your friend. That was when I noticed the boy. “He is my dinner guest tonight. We are going to have the fish he caught for dinner.” The lad had the biggest smile on his face. I need to find out more about this child.