The Peter Charles - 2. Chapter 2

Arriving at six forty-five, we stopped at Marge’s for breakfast sandwiches and more coffee. I introduced Ron to Marge and got him a hot chocolate. “Sorry Marge, no fish today. Someone sabotaged our boat but we’ll have fish next week, we have a new boat.”

“Ron, Glen will take care of you today and I’ll see you at lunch.” I gave Ron a hug, Glen a kiss and I headed to my office.

“Okay Ron, the first thing we’re going to do is get a haircut, I need one as well.” I took him to my barber, “Paul, do you have time for two haircuts?”

“Sure, who’s first.”

“Go ahead Ron, Paul is very good.”

I watched as Paul began cutting Ron’s hair. I smiled, Ron was a nice looking boy and as Paul was cutting his hair I could see a vey smart looking young man.

When Paul was finished, he showed Ron what his hair looked like moving the mirror around his head. Ron smiled, I knew he liked it. Paul looked at me, I raised my eyebrows a few times, Paul smiled. It didn’t take long for Paul to trim my hair, I paid him, left a tip, we left.

Next stop, Jim’s sport store. Walking into the sport store, “Hi Jim, I have a new mate who needs outfitted for the boat.” It didn’t take Jim long to take the measurements.

“How many sweats?”

“Three”

“How many shirts?”

“Three” Shoes, boots and a crabbing net and line. “That’s it, sorry but no fish today. Our boat was sabotage but we’ll be back in business next week, we have a new boat.”

“Okay Ron, next stop clothing store. We walked to the store where we have bought clothes before, “Hello Javier, I need to outfit this young man, we need everything.”

“Okay Glen, let’s start with the briefs, do you like boxer briefs, boxers or tight whiteys” Javier was laughing as he said that.

“I don’t know”

“Javier, show him what they are.”

Javier shows him and I watched his eyes, He looked at me and held up a pair, I nodded yes, “Javier two packages.”

Then T-shirts, pants, dress and jeans, shorts. I watched Ron try them on, I gave him thumbs up at the same tine indicating to Javier how many. Leaving Javier’s, we had clothes for everyday and clothes for special occasions. “Now, we need to put these in the car and then we’ll get some lunch.”

“Glen”

“Yes”

“Why are you and Kevin doing this?”

“You know Ron, I never asked that question. It just seemed the right thing to do. Kevin and I are very happy with our boys. Nicky is my brother, Jamie is his best friend and is Officer Bob’s son, Johnny is a friend of Nicky’s, Andy is a friend and nephew of the owners of a pub called the Wharf. Scott was adopted by Kevin and myself, Charles and Peter are perhaps a little more complicated. They live with their grandmother but if anything happens to her, were their guardians and eventually we’ll adopt them.”

“And you and Kevin are my foster parents.”

“That’s the way it started with Scott, we were his foster parents and then we adopted him.”

“Does that mean you’ll try and adopt me?”

“That depends on you. Scott wanted to be adopted. Do you want to be adopted?”

“I don’t know.”

“No problem, you’ll be loved even if you aren’t adopted. Okay, let’s go and get lunch.”

Stopping at the Jewish Deli, “Sorry Stella, our boat was sabotaged so no fish today. We have a new boat so we’ll have fish next week. Now, I need two pastrami sandwiches to go.”

“Who is this cutie?”

“He’s our new foster son.”

“Looks a little on the light side, here’s a cup of chicken soup.”

“Thanks Stella” With our packages we headed to Kevin’s office. “Be quiet and I’ll bet we can sit in his office before he sees us.”

Passing Bess, I placed my finger at my lips, she nodded. We enter the office and sat on the sofa. We sat there for a good ten minutes when Ron couldn’t hold it anymore and giggled.

“How long have you been sitting there?”

“About ten minutes”

“Ron, tell me about your day. I like your haircut.”

“We went to the sport store and I guess I got outfitted like the rest of the boys. Then we went clothes shopping, we put everything in the car. The lady at the restaurant said I was underfed so she gave me a cup of soup.”

“Then you better eat it before it get’s cold. What did you bring for us?”

“Pastrami sandwiches”

“Did you bring extra rolls?”

“No, sorry, does Marge have extra rolls?”

“I don’t think so, ask Bess she might have some tucked away. How’s the soup?”

“Its good. Kevin, would you adopt me?”

“In a heart beat”

“Why, you don’t know me?”

“Have you killed anyone?”

“No”

“Have you robbed a bank?” =

“No”

“See there’s no reason not to adopt you.”

“Bess had a few buns but we must share.”

Lunch was great, joking with Ron was fun, he was quite witty. Bess came and I gave her half a sandwich. “Wait, I’ll give you more meat from this sandwich.”

“Lou is going to love this. He never has time for lunch.”

“My pleasure. Well guys, I need to get back to work. What are you going to do?”

“Ron is going to come with me, he can help clean up the back room.”

When you're busy, time seems to fly. “See, I told you we’d have to drag him from here.”

“Sorry guys, Monday is really rough, I think I’m going to have to work late tomorrow as well. I’ll take the car and you can drive the truck. Talk to Jim and see if there’s a way to reconfigure the chests to get an extra chest on the truck.”

Driving home I listened as Ron told us, actually me, about his day. He was quite talkative. “Show Kev what Dad gave you.”

He held out his arm, he had gold chain bracelet. I told him it was a beautiful gift. I looked at Glen, he showed me his bracelet as well. I knew then he had one for every one.

Arriving home, Nicky was busy in the kitchen. “Ron, come with me and bring your packages. I’m going to put his stuff in Nicky’s room.”

I went to my bedroom and called my carpenter friend. I wanted him to started on the room above the garage. I think two bedrooms and a bathroom will handle the older boys.

“Nicky has a birthday this month.”

“Anyone else”

“I’ll check”

Nicky called us for dinner. “Would you boys continue camping in the rec room, we’re short on bedrooms, temporarily.”

“No, it’s fun and we don’t have to get up early because Nicky, Jamie, Scott and Andy can help spot us.”

Dinner was good, Nicky was becoming a fine cook. I noticed Ron took a few extra helpings. I also noted, Ron had hair developing over his top lip, he was older than he told us.

The next day I called Stewart and asked him to look into the Ron situation. I told him about Bob and the DNA. He said he would follow up with Bob.

Lunch time, Glen showed up with sandwiches and extra buns. Bess and Lou were grateful. I told Glen about my conversation with Stewart. “Glen, how old do think Ron really is?”

“Ten or eleven. why?”

“I noticed last night he had fuzz above his upper lip. I think he’s older than twelve. I’d put him at fourteen.”

“Why would he lie?”

“I don’t think he knows. I’m not sure what happened at that hospital but he’s very confused.”

“Let’s see what Stewart comes up with.”

“I’ll see you at home.”

Looking at the my stocks and my reports, I called my broker and bought a thousand shares of one of the stocks on one of the reports, at market price.

I arrived home at nine that night. “Bob called he has some information. He said that what he needs to tell you must remain confidential.”

“Does he want me to call him?”

“No, he said to let him know when you’re home and he’ll come over.” I called Bob and told him I’m home.

I was eating dinner with Peter on my lap helping me. “Is that good?”

“Un huh”

As I was finishing Bob showed up. “Hi Bob, let’s walk outside.”

“Kevin, what I can tell you is that Ron isn’t who he said he is. The DNA belongs to a boy who is almost fifteen years old. When I checked on the name that came back from the DNA, I was shut down. My boss said to drop it.”

“What was the name?”

“Samuel Joseph Addison, Kevin if you proceed with this I can’t help you. There’s one person who can help, a judge you might know.”

“Bob, did you find out the name of the hospital?”

“No, I tried but then I was shut down.”

“Okay, I think I may find out from Ron. It must have been where he lived. Thanks Bob.”

I called Stewart and told him what Bob had told me and that he was shut down. “Stewart, this sounds like government so be careful.”