A Child's Haven - 50. Chapter 50

I called Abe and set up a meeting concerning the plans to build the trade school. I want to get that project off the ground. The other lot was cleared of the building and leveled. Now, what do I put there?

I went back to the dining hall to get a cup of coffee, and the place was very quiet. I emptied the coffee pot and sat down, reflecting on the last year. From a warehouse to Sanctuary was a long road. Many tears and sleepless nights, but I was proud of the kids who validated my opinion, show these kids love, and they respond with love.

The one thought that keeps running through my mind, have I got them all, are there any I’ve missed. The idea that there are kids out there that I may have missed brings tears to my eyes.

The next morning Murray and O’Shea show up for breakfast. Bringing their coffees to the table, “It has been very quiet. Is this the case of the calm before the storm?”

“I don’t know, but I hope there’s no storm. The calm is nice for a while.”

“The kids are going to start school on Monday. That’ll be interesting since school will start at 8, which means they have to get up at 7 to shower and eat. Some of the kids are early risers, but the change for the others will be something else. I can bet there’ll be groans and moans until they get use to it. Just so you two know, breakfast at 7:30, lunch at 12 and dinner at 6. You can reset your alarm clocks.”

I met with Abe in the late morning and explained my idea of building a trade school. “What do you think about having the school on the first two floors and then dorms on the 3rd and 4th floors? I’m not sure how much space on the lot would be needed for a trade school. Have you any idea?”

“Do you know what trades you’ll want to include in the school?”

“I know of just some, like culinary, construction, woodworking, auto repair, carpentry, I’m sure there are more, maybe something in technology. Do you know any trade schools that we may copy? I need to offer those kids who are not going to college something. They are going to need a skill that will help them earn a living.”

“Once you select the subjects, then I can design the building. If you are going to teach welding, auto body repair, auto painting, those would have to be on the ground floor, whereas seamstress or culinary can be on higher floors. Why don’t you come up with a list? I’ll design around that list and then start to canvas the kids and get an idea of what they want to do when they’re adults? You have two kids that work in the cook shack that want to be cooks, so there’s your start.”

“Let me think about it. You’re right; I need to put together a list of skills before designing a trade school. I’ll talk to Mrs. Chester to see if she has any ideas.”

The idea of a trade school was easy to come up with but not so easy to design. I had no idea how to begin developing what courses to include. Maybe if I sleep on it, some ideas will come to me.

That night I thought about the school. Most of the kids who would be interested probably are a minimum of 14years old. I should check with Mrs. Chester and even Grace. I’m sure some schools focus on a specific skill. With those thoughts, I went to sleep.

At breakfast, Tony came in with a list of the bills to be paid. “Have you got the financial reports ready?

“For you or the Board?”

“Both”

“I knew you were going to say that.”

“Tony, I talked to Abe about building a trade school. But I don’t know what classes to include.”

“You’re going to offer college scholarships; there are trade schools already operating in the city like a barber school or one for secretarial skills. You need to canvass what trade schools are already operating and then offer to pay the tuition to the kids that want to go there. Once you have that list, then you’ll have an idea of what to offer.”

“I probably can find them in the phone book. But suppose I want to find a place where a kid might want to learn about auto repair, and there are only two kids interested. It wouldn’t be right to build a classroom for two kids.”

“No, but you could open it to the public. Have it accredited and charge a reasonable tuition. You would pay for the kids from Sanctuary and charge everyone else the fee. If you want to subsidize the fees, then you can. You could even award scholarships and advertise for students in the city’s high school.”

“Maybe what I should do is build garages on the ground floor that could handle any manual skills, then on the second floor, I could build classrooms and labs, the 3rd and 4th floors. I’ll build quads with a larger kitchen and only two beds to a room. I can set up a system of tuition plus room and board. On the 5th and 6th floors, I could build two-bedroom apartments. I’m going to run that past Abe, and I’m going to check the telephone book for schools that specialize in various trades.”

“We should schedule a Board meeting soon.”

“Maybe we should try and schedule it this Saturday. Now that the elevator is running, we can give everyone a tour. The classrooms should be ready by then. Could you have your secretary call the Board and then reserve the Board room?”

“You’re funny; you know that.”

“Let’s have a cup of coffee.”

Walking to the dining hall, “There’s Aaron.” I waved for him to come along. “Come on and have a cup of coffee with us.”

“Aaron, how is the recruiting coming along?”

“I was thinking as long as Christine keeps sending volunteers over, there isn’t any hurry. Except for a few bruised knees, there hasn’t been much of a call for a nurse.”

“We need to schedule a doctor to have the kids checked. You could do a preliminary exam, and if anything shows up, we can get a doctor to confirm. I want to do a blood workup as well.”

“Who would you use for a doctor?”

“I could use Don at the Clinic. I have to get my money back for that machine I bought them.”

“I’ll need to have forms made up for each kid.”

“Do you know what information you’ll need on the form?”

“Yes, in fact, I have an example form in the office. I asked Christine to bring me one from the hospital.”

“Good, give it to Beth, and I’ll ask her to make a form for each kid. She can copy it and add the name.”

“Look who just showed up.”

“I swear they can smell coffee a mile away.”

“Murray, it appears rather quiet on the home front.”

“Don’t be too sure, Aaron. This is the calm before the storm.”

“You sound like you know something.”

“The DA has released the information that came from the slave place and our friend where Patrick came from. Half of our force has been tracking them down. So far, from what we can pull together, most have left the city. We have sent out information to all the cities within the State, and the FBI has been tracking them as well.”

“Have they found any of the kids?”

“No, they think they have either been silenced or shipped off to another country. Interpol has been active in tracking down the kids that have left the States and are believed to be in Europe. I know some of those kids are in Mexico, and the FBI, in concert with the Mexican police, are tracking them down. Your dad has been freezing their assets, so Sanctuary may be in for a lot of money. Several attorneys are working on the cases. Another piece of news, the guy who had Patrick, was brutally attacked the other day; seems like he was made the lady of the floor.”

“How did you find that out, O’Shea?”

“There was a police report of a riot at the jail; I saw it on the Captain’s desk.”

“I guess there is a higher power that rights the wrongs.”