The Boy on the Porch - 1. Do I Really Need This Now?

Friday

Brendan Nelson knew he should have stopped at the pizza place closer to home. 'Ten minutes isn't too far, the food won't get cold,' he had thought. Well, that would have been true if there wasn't an accident. An hour later, the seafood alfredo was as cold as it was in his car, A/C turned up high. The salad was probably wilted. Brendan grabbed the food and his briefcase and dragged his ass through the ninety-six-degree weather toward the door. He was halfway there before he looked up to see what looked like a bundle of clothes on the porch.

The obvious went through his mind, 'Great, now someone has dumped their dirty laundry on me.'

The pile shifted a little bit.

Caught off-guard, 'Fucking wonderful. Some animal is probably in there licking the food stains. My luck, it'll be rabid.'

He picked up the steel pole he keeps at the bottom of the steps for two purposes, chasing away the neighborhood stray dogs, and knocking down the Joro spider webs that showed up every summer. Brendan was about to poke the pile from an arm's length away when he saw a shoe. Not surprising in and of itself seeing a shoe in a pile of clothes, but this shoe was connected to a tiny, pale leg. He put the pole down and climbed the three steps up to the porch.

Leaning down, he quietly said. "Hey. Are you okay?"

No response, so he reached out to gently shake the person. A little boy popped up with a cry. Brendan backed away quickly, having been startled. That wasn't the worst of his problems at the moment. He backed up so fast, he fell down the steps and landed with a hard thump on his ass. A quiet giggle came from the porch.

Smiling, so as to not scare the child, he queried, "Oh, you think that's funny, huh?"

Another giggle was the only response.

"Okay, yeah, I guess it would be funny from your perspective. Do you have a name?"

The boy smiled, and nodded, "Nick."

"I'm hot and you have a whole lot more clothes on than I do. How about we go inside and figure out, whatever this situation is, somewhere cool."

"Okay."

The boy stood up, Brendan saw how small he was and figured him to be only seven or eight. Unlocking and opening the door, he led the boy inside. Nick followed him out of the foyer and into the living room. Brendan pointed at a chair. Nick passed him and stood in front of it, while Brendan took off his sport jacket and necktie.

"Why don't you take off some of those clothes and take a seat."

The look of fear that came over the boy's face scared even Brendan. The boy looked at the door, behind Brendan, seeing as how Brendan was now between the boy and the door.

"Whoa. Don't be afraid. I just thought since it looks like you have at least three layers on, you'd want to take a layer or two off. I didn't mean I wanted you to take off everything."

Still unsure of himself, Nick simply said, "Oh," and removed a jacket, his sneakers, and a pair of sweatpants.

"Are you hungry, or thirsty?"

"Both?"

"Not a big talker, I see. Let's start with a bottle of iced tea. I wasn't prepared to have company, but you're welcome to share my dinner. It's seafood alfredo and a salad. The alfredo I can re-heat. The salad may not have survived the heat out there."

Nick just nodded. 'I guess that means he'll share,' Brendan thought. He went into the kitchen and brought Nick a bottle of Milo's sweet tea.

"I'll go heat this up. If you want to get down to only one set of clothes, that would probably be a good idea. It will help you cool off better. Go ahead and do that, then come into the kitchen. Okay?"

A shrug was the only response. Brendan went into the kitchen and put the alfredo on a large plate and popped it into the microwave for two minutes. Examining the salad, it appeared to have weathered the heat well enough to still be edible. As the microwave beeped, announcing the re-heating was complete, Nick walked into the kitchen, now wearing a pair of jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt. He stopped barely inside the doorway.

"I'm not going to bite. Please. Come in and sit down."

Brendan turned to get plates and forks out, hoping Nick would be more comfortable not being watched. When he turned back around, Nick was seated in the chair closest to the doorway. Figuring Nick was hungry, he put half of the food on each of their plates, rather than giving the boy a smaller portion. He could always scrounge for something more later for himself. Nick looked at the food, then at Brendan.

"What? It's not poisoned, I wasn't expecting company. Here, I'll start first."

Brendan took a forkful of salad and started to raise it up to his mouth. Nick gasped. Brendan put down the fork.

"What am I missing? You said you were hungry. You haven't even touched your tea."

"Don't... you... say grace... first?"

Brendan hadn’t said grace for nearly ten years, "I usually don't, but if it will make you feel better, I will."

"Please?"

Brendan stumbled through some kind of blessing he mostly remembered, smiled at Nick, and said, "Amen." Nick dug into the food like he hadn't eaten in days. Brendan considered that may be possible. He ate slow, so there would be some left on his plate if Nick wanted more. Nick cleaned his plate and looked at Brendan smiling.

"Are you okay? Do you want some more?"

"Would... you... mind?"

Brendan pushed his plate over to Nick, "No. Eat up."

Brendan got up and put yesterday's leftover meatloaf and rice into the microwave. Nick stopped eating with about two forkfuls of noodles and salad left. The shrimp and scallops were all gone though.

"I do the same thing. Finish the good stuff first and leave some noodles for last. Had enough, then?"

Nick started to say, "Ye..." and then belched, turning red and looking down, "Sorry."

"It's okay. Sorry, I don't have any ice cream or cake, so I can't offer you dessert."

"That's... okay."

Brendan finished his day-old meatloaf and got up to put the dishes into the sink.

"Let's take our tea back into the living room and you can tell me why you camped out on my doorstep."

Nick followed, and sat down, but was not forthcoming with any reasons.

"This is where you say... Shoot, I never told you my name. I'm Brendan. Or Mr. Nelson, if you prefer. This is where you say, 'Brendan, I showed up on your porch because..."

Still nothing.

"Do you know your phone number, so I can call your folks and let them know you're okay?"

"NO! I mean, yes I know their number, but you can't call them."

Nick finally put a sentence together of more than a few words and without built-in delays.

"Okay. Care to say why not?"

Nick shook his head.

"You're not giving me many options here, Nick. I either need to call your parents, or child services. You belong to someone."

"You seem nice. Can't I stay with you?"

"Unfortunately, that's not the way the world works. Typically, a child stays with his parents until he's eighteen. If that's not possible for some reason, Child Protective Services steps in and finds him a new home."

"I think already found a new home. And I am eighteen."

Brendan snorted, "Eight, maybe. Eighteen, not a chance. Okay, if you don't want to share..."

Brendan picked up his phone to start searching for CPS' number.

"What... what are you doing?"

"Looking up Child Protective Services. You can't stay here."

"Why not? I bet you don’t like me. I’m not surprised. Nobody else does."

"Sure, I like you, as much as I know you so far, but you belong with your parents."

Disappointed and obviously sad, Nick agreed, "Okay, call the child place. I'm not telling you who my parents are."

This piqued Brendan's interest, "Why not?"

Nick was quiet for a long time.

"Last chance. Tell me what's going on or I make the call. You know, the longer we talk, the later I make any calls."

"Okay. I'll tell."

Silence for a long moment, Brendan started to prompt Nick again, but decided to give him a little more time. His patience paid off.

"My parents don't want me."

Brendan waited.

"I have accidents."

"That's not uncommon. I'm sure you'll grow out of it. Many kids, um, wet the bed."

"Ewww, yuck. I don't do that. I mean real accidents."

"Like what? What happened today to make you run away?"

"Today? Nothing."

"When did you leave home?"

"Wednesday."

"Two days ago? Your parents are probably sick with worry."

"They're not."

"And why do you say that?"

"They told me to leave."

"One of them said that?"

"Dad said it, and mom said 'now.'"

"Okay, what happened Wednesday?"

“They always have candles burning everywhere. Dad says he’s not paying that damn electric company more than he has to. I sat down at the dining room table to draw a little, and I knocked the candles down again.”

“Again?”

“Yeah, I’ve done it before. Lots of times. Anyway, I tried to put out the fire on the tablecloth myself instead of yelling for help like usual. But I couldn’t, dumping my juice on it didn't make a difference. When dad heard me crying, he ran in and grabbed another tablecloth and swatted at the fire until it went out. Mom heard the noise, came downstairs and saw two ruined tablecloths and a big burn mark on the table. She said, ‘what did you do?’ but I didn’t get a chance to answer. Dad said, ‘he tried to burn down the f-ing house again.’ She said she had enough and couldn’t take any more of my accidents. That’s when dad said, ‘get the f out.’ Mom added ‘now.’ I went upstairs to put a couple changes of clothes on in case it got cooler at night. When I came back downstairs, crying, they had the front door open and were pointing outside. I just started running until I couldn’t run anymore.”

Brendan was shaking his head in disgust at Nick's parents through that monologue, “Where did you stop?”

“I don’t know where it was. But when I got tired, I walked for a while, and saw a house with a for sale sign. I looked in a window and saw it was empty. There was a big doghouse in back, so I slept there.”

“And what about yesterday?”

“I ran and walked again. I stopped at a Burger King because I was hungry. Probably close to dinner time. I hoped someone would buy me food.”

“And did someone?”

“Yeah. But...”

“What happened?”

“There were these older boys there. They said they’d buy me food if...”

Nick was sobbing a little, so Brendan waited again.

“They said they’d buy me a kid's meal if I showed them... my peepee.”

“And did you?”

Nick got excited and shouted, “I WAS HUNGRY!!!! I DIDN’T THINK I HAD A CHOICE!! Sorry I yelled. One of them said he didn’t need to see that and went in to buy the food. By the time he came back out, both pairs of my pants were down, and they tore my underwear off because they said I wasn’t moving fast enough. They started punching me, so I laid down and curled up. Someone came out the back door with a garbage bag and they all ran away. I guess the garbage guy didn’t see me. I put my pants back on and ate the food.”

“Did they just punch you?”

“No.”

“What else did they do?”

“I didn’t want to, but there were four of them, including the kid who went for the food. They kicked me a couple times, and... They pulled on my peepee. One took his out and started to come toward me. But the kid who went for the food made him stop. That’s when the man came out with the garbage.”

“Was that all you had to eat?”

“Until now, pretty much.”

“Where did you go after the Burger King?”

“I roamed around until I saw another for sale sign and slept under the porch there. It was late when I woke up. The sun was straight up. I ran and walked some more until I couldn’t go any further. I walked up to the house next door, I thought it wa... but a dog was barking. It sounded big. I pretty much crawled onto your porch and fell asleep.”

"Wow. That's quite a story."

"You don't believe me?"

"No, I believe you. It's just sh... stuff like that shouldn't happen to a little boy. How old are you anyhow?"

"Seven and three quarters."

"Not seven years, nine months, and eleven days?"

"I don't know exactly how many days. I turn eight in October."

"I was kidding. Your parents were pretty stupid kicking you out, if you don't mind me saying so."

"It's really better than what they did for my last few accidents."

"And what was that?"

"Well, it depended on the accident, but it almost always ended with me being locked in the bathroom until the next morning."

"So, what else did they do besides lock you in the bathroom?"

"When I knock over the candles, they hold one under my hand for a while."

"They burned you?"

"Not enough to make a mark, just to hurt."

"What else?"

"If I break something, I have to squeeze a piece of it in my hand."

"Same thing, enough to hurt, but not mark you?"

"Hard enough until they see a spot of blood."

"Christ. Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"One of each, they're older and don't have accidents like I do."

"So, they don't get punished like you?"

"No. At least I've never seen it."

"Damn. I think we have to report this, but I don't want to be the one who breaks up your whole family. If CPS takes you kids away, there's no guarantee they'll keep you together."

"I don't think I'd care. As long as someone who wouldn't hurt me takes me. You wouldn't hurt me, would you?"

"No, I wouldn't, but there's no way I'd be able to take you in. For lots of reasons, but mostly because a person needs to be an approved foster parent, and I'm not."

"Can't you get approved?"

"I would doubt it, and not overnight regardless."

"Oh."

"I'm really sorry I have to do this Nick, but I'd get in trouble if I didn't report this."

"I get it. I just don't want to go back to them."

"I'm pretty sure after we explain what's been happening to CPS, they won't do that."

"I guess."

"Let me call, and explain what's happened, and we'll go from there."

Resigned to his fate, Nick hung his head and said, "Okay."

Brendan did a search and located the number to call. He called and listened for a short time.

"Unbelievable. Call during limited hours, Monday through Friday, eight AM to six PM, Saturdays eight until two. They say call nine-one-one if it's an emergency."

"So, what does that mean?"

"I guess it means you're staying here tonight."

"Alright!!"

"You're pretty dirty, can you take a shower or bath by yourself?"

Nick frowned, "Yeah. I'm not a baby. But I don't have any underwear to put back on."

"I can give you a T-shirt. It should be long enough to get down to your thighs. I can see if I have an even longer one."

Brendan went to his bedroom and found a T-shirt that was longer than the rest and brought it to the living room. He had a pair of stretchy socks that Nick could use like slippers.

"Okay, you can put these on after your bath or shower. I can pin the neck hole closed tighter after you put it on."

Brendan led Nick to the bathroom upstairs and pointed out the body wash, shampoo, and got a washcloth and towel out of the linen closet. He also pulled a spare toothbrush out of the vanity and placed toothpaste next to the sink.

"I'll make up the couch with a sheet, pillows and a blanket. Sorry, I don't have a spare bed."

Brendan lived alone in a two-bedroom house. The second bedroom was set up as a home office.

"That's okay. It's better than a doghouse or under a porch."

"I'm sure. Okay. I'll be in the living room when you finish."

"Thanks, um, Brendan."

"You're welcome, Nick."

Brendan made up the couch and sat on a recliner to wait for Nick. He had just sat down when his phone rang. He looked at the screen and said, "Fuck."

"Hello, Greg."

"Let me guess, kitchen fire this time? Or did you simply forget we were going out tonight?"

"Um, option B, I forgot, but with, I hope, you think a good reason."

"Oh, this ought to be good. Let me have it."

"A kid was laying on my doorstep when I got home from work."

Greg snorted, "Well, I have to admit, that's an original one. Didn't know you were one to go after the kiddies."

"You know I'm not. And I'm serious. His name is Nick, he's not even eight years old and his parents kicked him out."

After a brief hesitation, Greg responded, "You're serious?"

"Unfortunately, yes. And CPS apparently doesn't deal with kids who need help after six PM."

"Holy shit. Okay, you get a pass. Can we do something tomorrow night?"

"I'll say yes, as long as CPS takes him off my hands. I'll have to give you a call tomorrow and let you know what's going on."

"Okay. Wow. His parents really kicked him out? And he's only seven?"

"Yes, on both counts."

"Alright. Give me a call tomorrow, I want the whole story."

"You'll get it. Goodnight."

"Goodnight to you too, you might need it more."

Nick came down twenty minutes later, almost looking like a different kid. Brendan took a safety pin and shrunk the neck hole so it wouldn't slip down past his shoulders. It was still only a few minutes after eight.

"Should we see what's on television for a little while, or are you ready to go to sleep?"

"Can we watch TV for a while. I'm not that tired."

Brendan checked the guide and found Bugs Bunny on one channel, "Is Bugs good enough?"

"Yeah, I like him."

They watched together for almost an hour when Brendan noticed Nick starting to nod off.

"I think we'll turn off the TV now, you're falling asleep. I'm in the first room on the right upstairs if you need anything overnight."

"Okay. Goodnight Brendan. Thanks for not tossing me back on the street."

"You're welcome, but I'd never do that. Goodnight."

Brendan took Nick's clothes and put them in the washer, so they'd be clean in the morning. He couldn't do anything about the lack of underwear right then. Nick's clothes took a ride in the dryer after they were cleaned.

Next Up - "Child Protective Services Helps, Sort Of"