The Castaway Hotel - 1 - 29. Chapter 29 - The Stork Makes Another Delivery

I played the message on the answering machine, just to see how urgent it was.

“Josh, it’s Sally Swarthout. I hope you get back soon, because I have another boy who needs your help. Please call me as soon as you return. Thanks.” The message was from last Tuesday. Although I wasn’t sure if I could help her out this time, I gave Sally a quick call at home.

“Hello.”

“Sally, it’s Josh. We just got in and I played your message. What’s the story?”

“Oh, Josh. Thank God you’re back. I’ve got a 15 year-old boy staying here with me. I can’t speak too loudly, because he’s in the other room right now. He got thrown out of his foster home because his foster dad caught him and his own son in the middle of a homosexual act. I let him stay with me while you were gone, because I didn’t have much of a choice. Actually, there was no place for him to go, but he desperately needs your help. Would you mind if I bring him over?”

I hesitated before I replied, as I tried to determine what this might mean to all of us. I wasn’t sure if the boys were ready to share me with one more person, and I wasn’t sure if I might be biting off more than I could chew. I was still weighing these doubts over in my mind, when Sally spoke again.

“Josh, are you still there?” she asked, her fears that I was going to turn her down clearly evident in her tone.

“I’m sorry, Sally, I was just thinking this over. Could you just give me some time to consider this first? I’m just not sure this is a good time to be thinking about taking in another boy. We just got back from vacation, things are kind of unsettled and school is just about to start, which is a very difficult and busy time for me.”

“Josh, I understand all of this and I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think I needed to,” she assured me. “I think you already know this county had a scarcity of good foster homes, especially one that would take in a boy who got thrown out of his last home for the reason he did, so right now you’re my best hope.”

“I can sympathize with you on that point Sally,” I agreed, “but this is just not a real good time for us to consider such a move. I have to think of Ricky and Danny first and foremost.”

“I know you do,” she concurred, “but why don’t you ask them what they think,” she urged me. “If they don’t think this is a good idea, then I’ll try to find somewhere else for this boy, although I must say I don’t know where that might be.” I thought about her proposal, and even though I felt I was being pressured into this, I thought I owed her that much.

“Okay, I’ll talk to the boys and then give you our answer. Does that meet with your approval?” I could hear her sigh as I agreed to this.

“Yes, Josh, it does,” she replied, sounding a bit relieved, although not totally.

“Okay, then. I promise I’ll call you back, just as soon as I make up my mind.”

“That would be fine, Josh, but I really do hope you can do this for all of us. I’m pretty much out of options here,” she added, emphasizing her desperate situation and putting a little more pressure on me.

“Okay. I’ll get back with you shortly,” I stated, as I concluded the phone call.

I stepped out of the office and summoned the troops. “Boys, would you all come down to the living room, so we can have a discussion.” They all came filtering in, looking confused about why they were being summoned. “I want each of you in on this discussion, because one way or another this will impact all of you.” Now they looked even more confused.

“Mrs. Swarthout left a message on our answering machine while we were gone. I just spoke with her and she told me she has another boy who needs our help. I don’t have a great deal of information about him, but she wants to know if we’d take him in. I didn’t want to give her an answer, until I knew how you boys felt about this.”

“How can we say no, if he needs our help?” Ricky began, making me eager to learn why he felt that way.

“Why do you say that?” I asked, trying to get him to elaborate.

“I look at it this way,” he began. “What if that boy lived here with you already and it was me or Danny who needed a place to live. I would sure hope the two of you would be willing to take us in, so I think we need to do the same for him.” I was impressed, and persuaded by his line of thinking.

“Yeah,” Danny chimed in. “Where would Ricky or I be now, if you hadn’t offered to help us? I agree with Ricky. We have to do it.”

“Brandon and Jay, what do you two think about this?” I asked, trying to get their input as well.

“Even though I’m not here all of the time, I don’t see any problem with this,” Brandon told me.

“Me neither,” Jay added.

“Dad, I think as far as any of us are concerned,” Danny added, “we’ll help anybody who needs it.” The others were all nodding their heads in agreement.

“Like I said, I don’t know much about this boy and you boys may have to be more careful about what you do together, until we learn more about him. I’m not sure if you might have to stop your intimate times together, but you’ll at least need to be more careful and lock your doors when you can’t hold off.”

“We know, Pop,” Jay added. “We’ll be careful, but who knows, he may fit in just fine.”

“That is a possibility, but I want you to allow him to make the first move, if there is one, and please don’t pressure him into anything.’

“You know we wouldn’t do that, Pop,” Brandon answered. “You’ve taught us all well and we’ll let him decide what he wants to do, if anything.”

“Thanks, boys, I guess I just needed to hear how you felt about this,” I told them. “I was pretty sure I knew how you were going to respond, but I just needed to be certain. I would also like for all of you to be here when he arrives. It might make him feel more at ease if you introduce yourselves, explain who you are, why you’re here and let him know that he’s welcomed. Then I’ll let him choose from the three remaining rooms and you can help us clean it up and move him in. Is everyone all right with that?” They all nodded yes and then went back to what they were doing.

I went back to my office and immediately called Sally. “Sally, it’s Josh again,” I announced, after she answered her phone. “You can bring him over any time.”

“Oh, thank you, Josh,” she gushed. “I knew I could count on you.”

“You’ll have to thank all four boys this time,” I added, “because they were the ones who convinced me to take him in. I wouldn’t do this without their support and approval.”

“Did I hear you correctly?” she asked, slightly befuddled. “Did you say FOUR boys?”

“I did and I’m sorry if I confused you,” I explained. “I was including the boys’ friends, Jay and Brandon. They’ve become like part of this family now too, so I included them on this decision as well.”

“Oh, I remember them from the parties,” she responded. “They’re both really sweet young men.”

“They most certainly are,” I agreed.

“Thank you, Josh, and we’ll see you in a few. Thank the boys for me too,” she added, before hanging up.

It was less than a half hour later before we heard a car pull into the driveway, and shortly after that, the doorbell rang. The boys came flying from all directions, as I opened the door to greet our visitors. “Hi, Sally. Won’t you please come in and join us?”

They entered the house and we moved to the living room. The new boy eyed the four boys, looking confused about who they were. Sally must have told him I had two foster sons and he probably was wondering how they had multiplied.

“Josh, boys, this is Dustin Kowalski. Dustin, this is Mr. Currie, Danny, Ricky and two of their friends.”

“Hi, Dustin,” I greeted him. “Welcome to our home. By the way, the blond is Brandon and the redhead is Jay. They’re part of the family too and they’ll be around a lot.” The boys all said hello to Dustin, shaking his hand and welcoming him to our home.

“How old are you?” Danny asked.

“Fifteen,” Dustin answered curtly.

“Well, Brandon and I are fourteen and Ricky and Jay are thirteen. I think we’ll all get along great.”

“Do you play any sports, Dustin?” Danny wanted to know.

“Yeah, I do,” Dustin answered, simply.

“Which ones?” Danny pressed.

“I wrestled and played soccer and baseball at my old school,” Dustin informed him.

“Great. We all play baseball and Brandon and I also play soccer. Ricky and Jay are going to tryout for the modified team this year, as well. The rest of us play basketball during the winter, though. What position do you play on the soccer team?”

“I was the sweeper.”

“Brandon and I play midfield and Ricky and Jay want to be strikers.”

“I guess we could almost form our own team,” Brandon added.

“Yeah, I guess we could,” Dustin shot back, unenthused.

I let the boys get to know each other for a few minutes, but Dustin never really said much. The others seemed to be doing most of the talking, so I felt maybe I should bail them out.

“Dustin,” I interrupted, “how would you like to go upstairs and pick out your bedroom. We have three empty rooms and you can select any one.”

“Yeah, okay,” he muttered. It was obvious he wasn’t much of a talker, but we got him to follow us as we climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Dustin was about 5’ 8” tall, had brown hair, hazel eyes and was quite sturdily built. In fact, he was quite solid and I didn’t see any fat on him, just muscles, so I thought he must work out to be in that kind of shape. I was just hoping this powerful young man wasn’t the aggressive type or didn’t have a bad temper.

The boys were eager to show him the three vacant rooms. After looking them all over, I could tell he was most interest in the largest of the rooms, and one that had belonged to one of my daughters when she was still at home. The thing was, I think he was disturbed by it’s feminine appearance. Although the walls were painted white, it had a pink border, just under the ceiling, with pink curtains and there were two pictures on opposite walls. One was of a mermaid sitting on a rock, surrounded by water, and the other was of a unicorn, standing under a rainbow. After I got over my initial shock that he might be interested in this particular room, I thought I’d make his choice a bit easier.

“Dustin, no matter which room you select, we can paint or paper it, however you desire. We’ll also get new curtains for the window and you can select your own pictures to decorate with.” That seemed to do the trick and he began to brighten up.

“In that case, do you mind if I take this one?” he asked, timidly.

“Not at all. I think this will work out just fine,” I advised him.

I went on to tell him we could talk about how he wanted to fix it up and then go out and shop for the appropriate supplies during the week. That’s when he truly began to release his apprehension about the room’s current appearance. He seemed both relieved and satisfied by my offer, as we went back downstairs.

“We just came back from a three-week vacation,” Ricky told him, as they walked down the stairs. “Dad took all four of us and we had a really great time.”

“Yeah, I know. Mrs. Swartout said that was why I had to stay with her this past week. We had to wait for you to get back home. I guess my timing wasn’t very good. A couple of weeks earlier and I could have gone on vacation with you.” That was the most I’d heard him say at one time, so far, so maybe selecting his room was helping him to loosen up a little.

“Don’t worry about it, Dustin,” Ricky responded. “We’re going to be going on more trips. Dad’s already told us he’ll be taking us on another vacation next summer.”

“I hope I’m still here then,” Dustin muttered, before adding, “but I doubt it.”

“Why?” Danny asked. “You’d have to screw up pretty bad to get thrown out of here. Dad will forgive you for a lot of mistakes and you’ll probably have to get arrested and be confined to jail or juvy hall to not be here next summer.”

“We’ll see,” Dustin countered, dryly, “but I haven’t had much luck like that.”

“You will here,” Ricky added. “Just don’t screw up.”

“I’ll try not to then,” Dustin remarked, with a slight touch of humor.

While the boys continued their conversation, Sally and I stepped into the living room, where we could talk privately. “Josh, I will probably get criticized for giving you so many boys so quickly, if the state audits my department,” she began, “but this isn’t an average home.”

“Oh, I’d agree with you on that. We’re far from average,” I teased.

“I look at it this way,” she explained. “I have homes with two or three of their own children, who have also taken in one or two foster children, so I don’t think this is so unusual, except that you’re not biologically related to any of the boys.” I did see her point along those lines.

“Besides,” she continued, “I’ve seen what remarkable progress you’ve made and I have no problems with bending the state guidelines in your situation. I can do that, seeing I’m the one who makes these local decisions and I’ll deal with the state bureaucrats when the time comes.”

“Sally, I hate to argue with you,” I countered, “but it hasn’t been my progress. I’ve thought about this a lot and concluded it wouldn’t have worked out so well if Ricky hadn’t been my first foster son. Seeing he knew me from school and felt a strong connection to me, probably from being sent to my office so much, he worked out fine. And then I think I have him to thank for making sure Danny fit in so well. I think whatever he shared with Danny about me helped him adjust more readily.”

“And now you have two of them to help you with the next one,” she added, hoping I wasn’t about to back out now. I wasn’t, but I was willing to make her squirm for a while thinking about it, before I took her off the hook.

In the other room, the boys were continuing to get to know each other a little better. “You guys seem pretty nice,” Dustin told them. “Thanks for making me feel better. It’s not always easy to fit into someplace new.”

“Don’t worry about that here,” Ricky let him know. “Dad’s really a great guy and you’ll like him. We’ll all get along, too.”

“You call Mr. Currie Dad?” Dustin asked, with a look of shock, maybe even horror, upon his face.

“Yeah. We asked him if we could and he told us it was okay,” Ricky assured him. “You can call him that too, if you want, or you can call him Pop, like Brandon and Jay do. That’s only because they have their own dads too.”

“That’s really cool,” Dustin told them, suddenly showing a small spark of life. “I’ve had to call my old foster parents Mr. & Mrs. So and So or some would let me call them by their first names, but I never really felt like I belonged in any of their homes.”

“Pop’s a great guy,” Jay added. “Sometimes I wish I lived here too.”

“Well, I hope this works out then, but I don’t expect I’ll be around here for very long?”

“Why?” Jay asked, confused.

“Cuz that’s the way things seem to work for me,” Dustin replied simply, since he didn’t want to tell him why he really said that. “So where’s his wife?” he asked, trying to change topics.

“She died a few years ago, but Dad has four grown children, from his marriage. He said we’re going to see them over the holidays this year, some at Thanksgiving and some at Christmas. He’s told them about us and I’m sure he’ll let them know you’re here now, too.”

“So they don’t live close by?” he followed.

“Nah, Dad says they all live quite far away and have their own lives and families now,” Ricky responded.

“I see,” was all Dustin could comment.

“Come on, let’s go outside and play some ball,” Danny suggested. “I got a new soccer ball for my last birthday.”

The boys popped their heads in the living room and informed me they were going out to kick the soccer ball around, just before they all tore out the door. I could see them passing the ball around on the side yard, and they seemed to be having fun. While the boys were out playing, Sally filled me in on the important facts of Dustin’s life in foster care. During this time, I discovered that Dustin had a rough existence over the past few years and there were indications to believe he might be gay or bi. If he is able to get past his bitterness over his past life, he could fit in well with the others.

“Josh, I hate to drop off another boy and run,” Sally apologized, “but I have other things I need to take care of. Before I leave, though, I feel I need to tell you once more what a terrific job you’re doing here and thank you for everything you’ve done for the boys, and for me.”

“Sally, like I’ve said before, I haven’t really done that much,” I reiterated.

“Josh Currie, you stubborn old coot,” she teased. “One of these days I’m going to get you to finally admit how much progress you’ve made here. You’re modesty is cute, but a bit tedious at time.”

“It’s not modesty,” I informed her, “when it’s the truth.”

Realizing that was the best she was going to be able to do, Sally thanked me once more, said good-bye to the boys and then left. We all waved at her, until she drove out of sight.