Regrets And Heartaches - 13. Chapter 13

It became a long, dragged out day for Joey and Caleb. Normally Sundays are slow, but this Sunday was the worst. They had only twenty-one customers all day long, which made the day, drag even worse. Half of them had twenty questions and were not satisfied with the answers they got.

When it came time to lock up, Joey and Caleb jumped at it. The manager counted their registers first, allowing them to leave first. On the way home, they talked about how things are going to be when Joey returns back to school. Half way to Caleb’s house, they decided to check on Joey’s house. It has been weeks since Joey has step foot in the house.

The first thing they noticed when they walked up to the house is the yard. You can tell that no one is living in the house because the yard is a mess. Joey made a mental note to get the yard done before the middle of the week. If not him, he will need to hire someone to go down and get it done for him.

As they walked in the house smelled musty. The further they made their way to the kitchen, the smell turned from musty to like someone died in the house. Caleb tried to turn on the lights, but they didn’t work. That told Joey that the electricity is off and that is why the alarm didn’t need to be turned off when they walked in.

Before going any further, Caleb had Joey wait in the kitchen while he goes and checks the fuse box. He found the one inside, played with it for a few minutes, but landed up going outside to the main fuse switches. He noticed them all off and thought it was strange. He flipped them back on and ran back in to make sure that Joey is okay.

Caleb found Joey where he left him. Now that the electricity is on, they finished looking around the house before heading back to the kitchen to clear out the refrigerator. Since someone turned off the electricity, everything in the refrigerator went bad. That is the smell they smelled when they walked in and thought that someone or thing had died.

After cleaning out the bad food and throwing it out in the dumpster, Joey made a call to the alarm company. He wants to make it clear to them that he isn’t happy they didn’t let him know that the alarm isn’t working. After all he is paying them a monthly fee. He should get the service that they promised him.

After going through the menu, he finally got a live person. “Yes I am calling you tonight to find out why I was not notified that my alarm system wasn’t working. I am paying you guys a monthly fee, but not getting anything in return for what I am paying you. How is that fairr to me?”

“I am very sorry about that sir, let me see what went wrong at your home and why you didn’t get a call that your alarm system isn’t working.” Joey heard the guy click away on his computer for a few minutes. “I see that there was a power outage at your home and your power just came on moments ago. As you know some of the alarm equipment needs power in order for it to work.”

“I understand all that, but what you didn’t answer me is why you didn’t call me that there was a power outage. Your company sells itself to their customers that they will never let time go by without getting the system up and running again. I can tell you that the system probably was out for at least a week and I didn’t hear anything from you guys.”

“Once again I am sorry about that. I promise you this doesn’t happen. We are true to what we tell our customers when they sign up with us. Something odd had happened at your house and then we dropped the ball. Let me hand this over to my supervisor where it can be fixed and not happen again.”

“I don’t have time for you to be passing me over and over again to different people. Just get the dam things fixed and make sure it doesn’t happen again. If it happens again, not only will I cancel my service with your company, I will report the company to the BB&B and I will sue the company for not filling their end of the contract.”

The agent promised to pass this up to ensure it doesn’t happen again. Joey thanked him for his time and hung up. He knows the poor guy didn’t deserve being yelled at, but his company dropped the ball. There is no indication anywhere that they even came down to check why the alarm is down. If they did, they would have found what Caleb did and turned the switched back on.

Before leaving the house, Joey and Caleb checked all the windows and doors. Once they knew that everything in the house is locked, Joey set the alarm and they walked out. A first they didn’t say anything, but it didn’t last long. Caleb broke the silence and got Joey laughing before they reached Caleb’s house.

Because of school in the morning, Caleb had to go to bed early. Joey on the other hand stayed up later to unwind from what he found at his house. By thinking about everything again that he found, he was getting upset again. From the amount of food he had to throw away to the alarm system not working, he couldn’t get his mind to stop running in circles.

Once he had enough, Joey headed to bed. They are still sleeping downstairs in the guehaveroom because of Joey’s leg. Plus Harold and Helen think that Joey doesn’t got his full eye sight back. That is one of the reasons they are not letting him drive his truck to work. They don’t want Joey to get into an accident because he cannot see his blind spots.

Janet woke up Joey the next morning letting him know that he has a visitor. Joey dragged himself out of bed, put on a pair of warm ups and a t-shirt before heading out to the front door. He found his guest sitting in the living room, nervous as hell. Joey didn’t recognize the guy and that scared him. Then when he turned and saw another guy sitting in the chair, he got even more scared.

Joey walked in to see who they are and what they wanted. “Hello gentleman, how may I help you this morning?”

Both of the guys turned and faced Joey. Joey looked them over as they looked him over and saw that one of them looks like he knows him. The other doesn’t look like he knows him at all. Joey thought to himself who ever these guys are, they better not be here to do him any harm. He will not go down without a fight.

“I know you don’t know who we are, but we know you. Don’t worry; we are not reporters and anything like that. My name is Gary Talbert and this gentleman over here is Angelo Feliciano. I worked at the facility as a janitor and Angelo here was your neighbor. I have seen you, but you never see me while you were there.”

“You are right that I never saw you, but I do recognize your voice.” Joey walked in and shook their hands as they formally introduced themselves to each other. “You are the one I owe my life to. Without you taking the chance on calling Harold, I would be still in that place. I cannot tell you words how thankful I am for both of you.”

“There is no need to thank me. I only wish that I had done something sooner. Maybe if I had, you would never had landed up in that place.”

“I am glad that you did what you did when you did it. If you spoke up sooner and got that place closed, my mother and uncle would have found another place. And more than likely, I would not have been as lucky as I was in this place. It takes a good man like you to help out those that are being harmed.”

They sat down and talked about how things were in that place. Angelo had been there the longest and had more horror stories to tell. Gary didn’t go through what Joey and Angelo did, but witnessed it all. Something that will remain in the back of his mind the rest of his life! He knows that he will have nightmares of those guys that screamed out for help and there was no there to help them.

“You look good Joey, with all things considered. It looks like your eyes are healing and if they are the rest of what they did to you will heal over time. No matter what people think or say, you and the others that were in that place will never get over what they did to you guys. I have nightmares and I didn’t even go through what you guys did.”

“That is no lie! Every time I close my eyes, I cannot get the images of what they did to me but. At least you Joey you were able to return to your family that cares about you. My family not only didn’t want me back, they told me in my face they had hoped I died in that place. As far as they are concerned, I am dead to them.”

“I am sorry to hear that Angelo. You would figure over time they would have grown to accept who you are. Especially after seeing that a place like where we were couldn’t change you, nothing can. People need to realize that we don’t choose to be gay, it is just who we are. So they should just get over it and let us be.”

Both of the boys shook their heads in agreement on what Joey said. “If your parents didn’t take you back Angelo, where are you living now? When we talked I thought you told me that you live here in this city. I might be wrong on that, but I think you told me that.”

“All the kids that their family is not taking them back are being put into foster care. Since there are so many of us and we are gay, it is making it harder for them to place us. Group homes will not even take us because of the fact that we are gay. They think that we will do harm to the young boys under their care because they think of us as if we are rapists.”

Joey heard Angelo, but couldn’t believe what he is saying. After seeing what this place did, he thought that the parents to all the kids in that place would take them back. Instead they are adding insult to injury on allowing their own kids to be put into the system. A system on the best of days barely works for those that don’t have the deck stacked against the kid. With them, the deck is stacked against simply because of them being gay.

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Detective Benson sat in the back of Harold’s court room and watched as Harold went from case to case. He thought that he had busy days, Harold has even busier days. The amount of hearings that he has already heard are not even half of those sitting there waiting to be heard. The detective cannot see how Harold is going to get to all of the cases before lunch, but he did.

When Harold adjourned his court, Detective Benson walked around to meet Harold in his office. Harold’s secretary didn’t let Detective Benson back until she got the clearance from her boss. She knows who he is, but Harold left her standing orders to not be disturbed for the one hour he has for himself.

“Good afternoon detective, it has been a while since you have come to see me.” Detective Benson walked in shook Harold’s hand and sat down. “I thought that you moved onto other cases and left the one dealing with Joey on the back burners since we have him back. Although we have him, but we don’t have Beth or Dominic.”

“Good afternoon sir, I didn’t want to come down and disturb you until I had something to one way or another to tell you about where the case stands. You are right when you said that the case has been put on the back burners. My bosses have asked me to move on and let this case go for now. They feel there is nothing that can be done until there is a break on getting Beth and Dominic back into our custody.”

“I figured that much and that is why I didn’t bother calling you.” Harold started to eat his lunch as they talked. “I know how you guys work and when there is nothing that can be done, they have you guys move on. So for now we should be satisfied on getting Joey back and that place closed down.”

“Well my boss asked me to put the case on the back burner, but they didn’t order me not to work on it on my free time. Look they want this stuff out of the front page. Every time they turn around they are reminded about the ugliest moments in recent history of our state. Who knew that there were not only places like the one Joey was at, but parents are willing to send their kids into a place like that. They just want to move on and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“The only way that will happen is if they bring those responsible to justice. If that includes prosecuting the parents, then we should. These parents in my opinion are just as guilty as those that ran that place. They knew what that place was doing to their kids, but they turned a blind eye to it. Sorry that they don’t want to have it on the front page of the newspaper or on the news every night, but we have to send a clear message this crap will not be tolerated. If you don’t want your kid because what they are, then have them adopted, but don’t send them to a place like that.”

“What do you suggest we should do at this point? As of now, the federal government has stepped in and took over. They are going to try the case themselves because they can get more done in the federal court system. We are stuck waiting for Mexico to hand over Beth and Dominic, and who knows if they are going to even do that. Governor Lopez of Texas is holding to what he said, but he is getting a lot of pressure to end his stand off.”

“As far as Governor Lopez is concernedf he will not be told what to do. He will keep the pressure on Mexico and eventually Mexico will fold. It isn’t just Texas that is standing off on Mexico; all the Border States have joined in. It has to be hurting the economy of Mexico worse than the economy of the border cities.

Now while we wait for Beth and Dominic to be turned over to us, we start to prosecute parents here in our district. Those that signed their child into that place knew what was going on, but didn’t do anything to take their child out. I can name up top five laws they broke off hand. Let’s start there and send a clear message to every parent out there that this will not be tolerated in this city.

So what you need to do is get me a list of parents that fall in those criteria’s. Don’t include anything dealing with Joey, and I will sign off on their arrest warrants. I would like the first ones to be parents that not only put their child in that place voluntarily, knew what was going on, and even after their kids got free they haven’t taken them back. I know there has to be a lot of kids out there that their parents are unwilling to open their doors to them. That I will not tolerate because those kids deserve better.”

“I will get you a list before the day is out. You know that you are going to be pressured to leave well alone. Those in high places do not want this to get back into the news right now. Already they cannot get it out of it because of the stand off in Texas. The governor of this state is one of the people pressuring Governor Lopez to let it go.”

“Let them try to bring me down, I have been in this position already longer than the judges that are here. We cannot be afraid of doing what is right. If I go and hide and not do what is right, how can I tell my kids to do the right thing when they see that I didn’t? No sir, get me that list and we need to get to work on sending out a clear message to all parents out there. If you have a child, no matter what that child does or is, you are responsible for that child until he or she becomes legal age. It is that dam simple.”

Detective Benson and Harold knocked out the details of what the police can arrest a person on and what they cannot not. Harold wanted to make sure that those they arrest can be prosecuted. This is the first time in this county history that the law is going after parents in this manner. They cannot afford to give the other side any wiggle room on selling to the public that this is a witch hunt on parents trying to do the right thing.

Meanwhile Joey spent the morning hanging with Gary and Angelo. By the time they finished eating lunch; Joey got to know both of them. Although Gary is on his own, he has lost his job and in return he cannot pay his bills. Angelo is stuck in a place that is not as bad as the place he was at, but it isn’t a loving home. Joey wants to do something for them both, but he doesn’t know what he can do.

“Gary I will reach out to people I know and see if I can get you in a job before the end of the week. Helen, my boyfriend’s mother, is the head manager at Albertsons down the street. Maybe she has an opening that you will be suited for. Let me speak with her when I go to work tonight and let you know tomorrow.”

“Thank you Joey, but I hope you don’t think that is why I came down here. I wanted to see how you are doing and that things are better now for you.”

“I know that you didn’t come down in hopes for a job. I am doing this because it is the right thing to do for a friend. Through everything, I consider you a friend and I hope you consider me a friend.” Gary shook his head up and down in agreement. “After all I would not be sitting here if it were not for you doing what you did.

Angelo I don’t like the idea that you and many others are stuck in the system. I have been lucky that I have never been where you are at as far as not having a place to go. No matter what, I know if worse comes to worse I will always be welcome here or at my ex’s house. What had happened recently to me has brought me and my ex back as friends.”

“You are a good guy Joey, but unless you can force the group homes to take us, we are stuck where we are at, in the detention facility here in Alamogordo. I know it is confusing since we were taken to a camp almost seven hours away from here, outside El Paso Texas. The good thing is that we can go and come as we want, at night we are locked down along with the kids that have broken the law.”

“That is where I don’t agree on what is happening to your guys. Alright, your parents or family don’t want to take you in, but we don’t deserve to be locked up like the criminals. We get out of one locked up place and into another. That is just not right no matter how they put it. By the way, how many are with you in that place?”

“The last count, ten or twelve I believe. The other kids whose parents didn’t want them back live in Texas. So they are somewhere in Texas in the youth system. They have a lot more than we do, I mean a lot more. Plus there are others that live in our state, but they were sent to the cities where their parents are. That is why there are only twelve of us here.”

Joey sat back and thought to himself for a few minutes before saying anything. Before all this happened, he asked Al to reinvest some of his money, and as far as he knows Al has started to do that. Now here he sits with all this money, he can actually do something to help kids like him, but what can he do.

“Angelo, my ex’s grandfather is a very smart man. Besides owning his own company, he advises the governor of Texas. He made me a lot of money and I know if I ask him what he thinks about this, he will have an idea what to do. Let me talk with him and see if we can come up something. I am pretty sure that we can put something together.”

Gary and Angelo hung out for another couple of hours before they left knowing that Joey had to go to work. After they headed out, Joey quickly got ready for work before getting on the phone with Al. Just as he hung up with Al, Caleb, Fran and Alan walked in from school. Caleb kissed Joey as he walked to their room to get ready for work.

Once Caleb got ready, Janet took the boys to work on her way home. On the ride to work, Joey could see that Janet wanted to talk with him and he knows what she wanted to talk about. They have been dodging the subject about the kid since they first talked about it. It isn’t that Joey doesn’t want her to be the one to carry his kid, it just after talking it over with Caleb and Harold; he knows he should hold back on it right now.

Unlike the day before, Joey’s and Caleb’s shift went by fast. Although they were not as busy as they are on Friday and Saturday, they had a lot more customers than they did on Sunday. Before they knew it, the manager counted their drawers and they were locking up the video department and clocking out for the day.

When they walked out of the store, they thought that they were going to have to walk home like they did the day before. But to their surprise, Helen was waiting for them as they walked out of the store. They ran to the car, got in and thanked Helen for coming down to pick them up from work.

The minute they walked in. Helen told them that dinner is on the table. They threw their jackets in their bedroom as they walked over to the kitchen. Both of the boys ate their dinner as if they hadn’t eaten in days. They didn’t take anything to work to munch on like they normally do, so when they walked into the kitchen for dinner, they were starving.

After they cleaned up the kitchen, Joey went looking for Harold and found him in the living room reading. Joey debated with himself if he should disturb Harold or not, but before he finished the debate with himself, Harold looked up from what he is reading. He waived Joey in to see what he needs to speak with him about.

“Harold I am wondering if you and Caleb would speak with me in the kitchen. I have something to run by both of you and I want your input on it.” Harold has a concerned looked on his face as he looked up at Joey. “Don’t worry sir, it isn’t anything bad. I think it is something pretty cool, but again I would like to hear what you and Caleb thinks about it before I do anything.”

Harold got up and walked with Joey to the kitchen. The only thing that keeps popping in his head that Joey wants to talk with him and Caleb about is having a kid. Other than that, there should not be any other reason that Joey needs to talk with both of them together.

When they joined Caleb at the kitchen table, no one said a word. Both Caleb and Harold looked at Joey and waited for him to speak since he called for this meeting. But Joey just sat there looking nervous. Harold came to a conclusion what ever is weighing on Joey’s mind is something huge. So he decided to kick start the conversation, but got stopped.

“The reason I want to speak with you two is because what I want to do is going to take the backing of you two. Earlier today I finally met Gary and Angelo from that place. I only knew them by voice, but today I got to know them in person. A couple of things they said hit home and I want to do what I can to help not only them, but others that are in Angelo’s spot.”

“You know Joey this is very weird because I had a conversation today with Detective Benson. Although I cannot give out the details of that conversation, it is just weird that we both were talking about the same issue today.”

“That is weird sir; I guess it is meant for me to do what I would like to do. Now as both of you know I have Al reinvesting some of my money. The other amount he is putting where I can make something off of it by sitting there. I have all this money, which means I can do something to help those that need it.”

“Yes you have money Joey, but that doesn’t mean that you should give it all away. You built up your money on the money that your aunt and uncle left you. This money wasn’t handed to you by rich parents. So you cannot sit here tells us that you want to give it all away to help others that don’t have it.”

“There is no way I am going to give it all away. I do feel I should give some back, and I have felt that way for a while now. I just couldn’t decide who I should donate to. Now a perfect project fell in my lap that I really can sink my teeth into. Something that hits right at home with me!

I already spoke with Al and he has started working on it, but he told me to talk with you guys before I go any further on it. The reason for that is I can go two different ways with what I want to go. Before I can decide what direction I should go, it depends on what you guys think about my plan.”

Caleb has no idea what Joey is talking about. He looked at Joey and his farther confused on what is being discussed. One thing Joey had forgotten is that Caleb didn’t know that he had money. He thought Joey is like him and his family working to keep food on the table. Not working to keep from touching money that he already has.

“If you lay out a good plan and I think it will work, I will back you on it. But I want to hear how you plan to get things going and where you think it will end up. Sometimes you guys start on a project, but never finish it. You cannot start on something that involved other people’s lives and not finish what you started.”

“Trust me I have no plans to start this project and then walk away from it. Let me tell you what is going on and then I'll tell you my plans on what I want to do to help fix the problem.”

Joey explained to Harold and Caleb what Angelo and Gary told him earlier in their visit. From Gary having a hard time finding a job to Angelo and several other kids being forced to live in a detention facility! As Joey went through what he found out, neither Harold nor Caleb could believe what they were hearing.

“So this is what I would like to do to help Angelo and kids like him and me. I would like to build a home just for kids that have been kicked out of their house and have no where else to go. The system cannot place them because the foster homes will not take them for the fact that they are gay. They are afraid they are going to influence the other kids in that home one way or another, which we know that is bullshit.

Now I can go two ways about building this home. Al laid out the pros and cons of each way to me earlier. I would like to go one direction, but it depends on what you guys think about it. Let me first tell you what two ways I could go on building this home before I ask you where you stand and if you can do what I am going ask you to do.

First I can take an old building and build it into a halfway house for kids like me and Caleb. If I go this way it will take a lot longer to get it done. And for the mean time those kids that are locked up have no where to go. Taking a building and transforming it into living quarters is the hardest because they were not built to have people live in them.

The second option I have is to take a couple of homes and make into one home. Although it cannot house a lot of kids at one time, it can take kids off the street. For example if I take the house I own that I bought when my mother moved us to this city and buy the house next door that is abandoned and make into one house, it can house between twelve to sixteen kids at one time.”

HH “Joey, where do you come up with the number between twelve and sixteen? That is a lot of kids to put in one house, even if that one house used to be two houses.” Harold wondered.

“Where I came up with that number is simple. Take a look at the normal floor plan of the houses on my block. A one story house has three bedrooms, kitchen, living room and two bathrooms. The house next door is a double story house. So that means there is a lot more space in that house than I do in mine.

So what will happen if the houses are put together? I know it will work because my ex is doing that right now with four houses. All we do is knock out the walls and put in walkways between the two houses. Once that is done, the second house doesn’t need the living room, kitchen or den. We can change those rooms into bedrooms in order to house more kids. You put two per room, we have three rooms in my house, at least five rooms in the second house, and you will come up with sixteen.”

Harold continued, “I can see that working, but it will cause you some problems. One if you give up your house, where are you, Fran and Alan going to live. You cannot live in the group home and think you can run it. You are way too young and have no idea how to do something like that. Put aside that you will never get approval from the city.

The other concerns you need to look at is which option is cheaper for you. You can write it all off for taxes at the end of the year, but for the mean time you will be spending your own money. Again you must get licenses by the city, get someone to run it and get funding for it to keep your doors open. I don’t want to rain on your ideas, but there are a lot of things to look at before you can even move forward on it.”

Joey responded, “Al brought up the same questions and we went down the line answering them. First where will me, Fran and Alan live? Easy, I will rent an apartment for us to live in. In a couple of years I will be going off to college and the house will be sitting here empty. When that happens, Al said he will take Fran until she graduates.

Putting the two houses together is a lot cheaper than buying a building and then transferring it into living quarters. Also as the construction is going on, they can build around the kids that are living in the houses right now. I can give the ten kids that are right now in the detention facility a place to live. It is not their fault on what is happening to them. So why should they have to suffer.

Finally as far as funding and getting the licenses, I will need your help on that. The state pays foster parents money each month to take care of the kids they get placed with them. I select a person to live in the house and run it that the state will approve as a foster parent. That will take care of the funding issue. The only money that comes out of my pocket is the cost of construction and purchasing the other house. Like you said I can write that off at the end of the year.

The licenses I would need your help to get. You know the people and you can rush it through for me. I want to get those poor guys out of that place as soon as I can. Again they don’t deserve to be in a place like that.”

Harold sees that Joey has everything in order. “There are a couple of things I would like to change in that plan of yours. I like it all except where you, Fran and Alan are going to live. If you and I split the cost on adding a couple more rooms to this house, you guys should live here. It will come out a lot cheaper that way than renting an apartment. Plus I can rest at night knowing that you guys are safe under my roof.

The other thing I would change is getting you help as far as cost. I can reach out and get others to donate to get the house built. That way you don’t put out the entire cost of doing that. As far as the NM license and approvals, I will get on that for you. Just get the person that you want to run then place, as long as that person has a clean back ground, I will push that name through to get certified.”

For the next hour and half, Joey, Harold and Caleb knocked out details on getting Joey’s plan off the ground. It didn’t take long for Caleb to get into the grove with Joey and Harold. Some of the ideas that Caleb presented, both Joey and Harold liked and put in to the plan. They had to call it quits because Harold had to get ready for work and Caleb had to do his homework and get ready for school.

“I am very proud of you Joey. You have a big heart and are willing to put your money where you mouth is at. Normally people would talk the talk, but not walk the walk. That is an old saying I know, but I am an old man.” The kitchen broke out into laughter. “Seriously Joey, you are doing what you are saying that you want to do.”

“Thank you Harold, I want to do what I can to help those kids that were I that place get somewhat a normal life. I am lucky that I have Caleb, Fran, my friends and you guys here supporting me when I got home. These guys not only went through the hell I went through, but when they got out, their family turned their backs on them. That is just not right and they deserve a lot better than that.”

Harold agreed with Joey as he left the kitchen. Caleb and Joey walked out of the kitchen, but once they walked into the hallway, Caleb went to the room and Joey went to the living room. He didn’t want to make noise while Caleb is doing his homework. If it was him he would want as much quite as possible while he did his homework after a long day.

After an hour of channel surfing, Joey gave up and turned off the television. He walked around the house and turned off any lights that are on and no one in the rooms. Once he checked on the doors, he walked into the room. He found Caleb already in bed, but awake waiting up for him.

“I know this is none of my business, but I would like to know something Joey. It is starting to seem that my father knows things about you before I do. That I cannot understand because I believe I am your boyfriend. At least I sleep with you, make love with you, and care for you when ever you need it, but you keep so many secrets from me I don’t even know if I know you at all.”

“Caleb I don’t know why you are so mad about what I talked about tonight with you and Harold, Harold didn’t even know about what I wanted to do until I brought you and him into the kitchen. I barely came up with the plan before we went to work. So I don’t know where you see I am keeping secrets. I truly don’t.”

“Stop playing dumb Joey, you know what I am talking about. It isn’t about putting together a group home for people like us. That I know you barely came up with today. It is the other thing you said about your money. I had no idea you had that kind of money. You told me you had little bit of money, but spent it on buying the house. In order to pay the monthly bills, you needed to work. I was left to believe that you were broke.”

Joey stood against the door trying to watch what he is about to tell Caleb. As far as Joey is concern, it was none of Caleb’s business on how much he is worth. For him to be getting mad like this is just wrong. What he had when they got together is none of his business at least not until they get further along in their relationship.

“To tell you the truth Caleb I don’t see where I need to explain myself to you. Not once have I asked you what you have in your bank or what you and your friends are planning to do during spring break. Those plans were made before we got together and I have no right to ask you to change any of it. I have no right to ask you what you have.

The way I went at the baby thing was all wrong. I should have gone to you and let you know what I wanted to do before I went to Janet or your father. When I told you about the plans, I apologized for not talking with you first. You accepted my apology and we left it like that. If you are going to be the type of boyfriend that holds things in and then throws at me when ever you feel you need to, we better call it quits now. I will not be with someone that does things like that.”

Joey turned to leave the room, but stopped when he walked out in the hall. “The reason I didn’t tell you about the money I have is because of what is going on right now. When ever money is talked about, it causes problems. I know money would not have moved you one way or another to go out with me. You are not like that Caleb. I just didn’t want money issues to be the reason we fight, like we are doing now.”

“Joey please don’t leave, I am sorry for acting the way I did. It just seems that my dad is getting to know my boyfriend before I do. You are right; I don’t care about your money. I only care that we are together and happy. Money will not make me think of you any differently than the way I think about you now.”

Looking at Caleb, Joey knows that he means what he is saying. He walked back in, got undressed before joining Caleb in bed. At first they just laid beside each other. It didn’t take that long before Joey reached out and grabbed Caleb’s hand. He pulled Caleb into his side and held Caleb tight as he whispered into his ear.

“When my aunt and uncle died, they left me their house, life insurance and what ever they had in the bank. They were the only ones in my family that accepted me for whom I am and never looked down at me. When they were killed, I thought my life was over as well. So I did stupid crap that almost lost me Jacob, but Jacob didn’t leave me. Instead he stood by me; put up with all the crap I did and got me through it all.

Later Al invested my money, which wasn’t a lot at first. When I left Jacob, I walked out with close to eleven million dollars of my own money. That is one thing Jacob always wanted in our relationship is that our money to be kept separate. I don’t think he did that because he felt one day we were not going to be together. I think he did that to show me that he will never take from me.

The only reason Harold knows about the money is because he got Al to sign on as my power of attorney. On the paper work it showed my net worth. If it wasn’t for that, Harold wouldn’t know about it. Now your mother is a different story. I told her the truth about what I am worth the day I interviewed with her. I didn’t want her to ever find out that I lied and in return tell you I am not truth worthy.”

“Thank you for telling me Joey! That is your money and you do what you want with it. Even as we progress in our relationship, I will never ask you to make what is yours mine. That isn’t fair, not because you have more, but because you had it before we ever got together. I agree that Jacob had you keep your money in different accounts because he feels the same as I do, it is your money, not his or mine.”

Joey cuddled up to Caleb even with the cast on his leg they got their legs tangles up together. It didn’t take long for any of them to fall asleep once they said the three magic words, I love you. Once they fell asleep, they didn’t wake up once. They slept all the way to the alarm, at least Caleb did. Joey stirred, but didn’t wake up because he didn’t need to be anywhere so early in the morning like Caleb.

When Joey did wake up, he smelled bacon in the air. He quickly got dressed, went to the bathroom and washed up before heading to the kitchen to see what Janet is cooking for breakfast. As soon as he walked in, Janet put his plate on the table.

“Good morning Janet, how are you this morning?” Joey sat down and right away dug in.

“I am doing good Joey; you are in a chipper mood. What has you in such a good mood this morning? What ? Did you and Caleb do the naughty last night or something.” Janet joined Joey at the table with a smile on her face. “Sorry I didn’t mean to sound dirty. It is just you are in a very good mood this morning.”

“No Caleb and I didn’t do the naughty last night. In fact we had our first fight.” Janet put her cup down looking at Joey with a stunned expression. “Don’t worry we talked it out. It wasn’t anything big. We just fought on something small. We are still getting to know each other and because of that we will fight about stupid things sometimes.

That reminds me, we need to talk about what we talked about a couple days ago. I have given it some thought, and decided I need to get my life in order before adding a baby to the mix. I still want you to be the one to carry my baby, just not right now.”

“No problem Joey, I figured that you had gone that direction since you haven’t spoken with me about it since we first talked. If nothing has changed in my life when you are ready, such as a husband, I will be more than willing to do it for you. Just don’t wait too long because if I get too old, I might not be able to get pregnant.”

“Don’t worry I will not wait more than a year before asking you again. But I still want to help you so I have to ask you something. Yesterday I put together a plan to help kids like me, but don’t have anywhere to go since their parents don’t want them in their house. I understand you live in an apartment right now, am I right?”

Janet just shook her head in agreement. “Let me lay out what I want to do before asking you what roll I would like you play in it. So if you need a refill on your coffee better get it, because this is going to take some time.”

Not having to be told twice, Janet got up, refreshed her coffee, and made sure her baby is okay before sitting back down. Once she sat down, Joey told her about what he, Harold and Caleb discussed last night. Not leaving out one thing, Joey told her about the amount of kids, the size of the house and who the kids were going to be. He told her everything about his plans of his group home.

“Since you are a certified nurse and a mother, I would like to ask you if you would like to be the one running the house. You will get free room and board as well a paycheck every two weeks for the work you do running the house.”

“There are a couple of questions I need to ask you before giving you an answer one way or another. To start off with is would I be cooking for all those kids in the house, cleaning up after them and cleaning he entire house? The reason I am asking these questions is because it is a lot of kids that I will be responsible for.”

“You will be running the house which means that you will make sure those in the house have what they need, go to school and stay out of trouble. As far as cleaning and cooking I will have others going in to do that. You are only responsible for keeping them safe, fed, in bed at a distant hour, make sure they go to school and basically are happy.”

“If any of them give me problems, will I have the right to punish them? It would beat the purpose of having someone in the house in charge, but cannot discipline them when ever they do wrong. They are teenagers after all.” Janet wondered.

“Within the law, yes you deal out the discipline. You are going to be their foster parent and that means you have all the right like a parent does to punish them when ever they do wrong. You have to understand that this house will be only for gay kids that have been kicked out of their houses. So they will come to you already troubled. You need to be patient with them and work with them to make them understand that the world isn’t as bad as they think it is or lead to believe it is.” said Joey.

“I understand that and have no problem with it. The only other issue I have is that I am a female and more than likely there are going to be more males in the house than females. I am not afraid of that, but no matter if they are gay or not, it would be nice to have a male figure around. If you need that, I cannot offer it because I am not married or planning to marry anyone in the near future.”

“No I am not asking you to do that Janet. I have a person in mind to ask to help you in that group home. You met him yesterday and I believe that he is a great guy. Just like the kids that are going to be in the group home, he has been dealt a bad hand in life. I want to help him out any way that I can.”

Janet and Joey talked a little longer before she agreed to take on the project. Before going any further, Joey asked her point blank that there will be nothing in her back ground that will stop her from becoming a foster parent. She made it clear that there isn’t anything there that will make him have to pull back the offer.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, Joey sat down in the living room and called Gary. After telling Gary everything, he popped the question. At first he didn’t say anything to Joey, but when he did, Joey liked the answer. Just like Janet, he made sure that Gary didn’t have anything in his past that will cause him to pull back the offer. Just like Janet, Gary said there is nothing to worry about.

As soon as he got off the phone with Gary, Joey called Harold and gave him all the information he needed to get the ball rolling to get Janet and Gary certified as foster parents. Harold promised Joey that he will have the paper for them to sign when he gets home tonight. Before hanging up, Joey thanked Harold and promised that he will have the paper work signed by mid morning tomorrow.

Once everything got started, it started to move pretty fast. By Thursday Joey had his foster parents in place, construction bids being offered and the house next door bought. Now he just needs to move the ten kids that are stuck in the detention facility out and into the two houses. But before he even does that, Joey remembered that he needs to get his personal stuff moved out and new furniture moved in.

He sat down on the couch to start calling storage companies to rent a storage room for all his personal items. Just as he pulled the phone towards him, it rang. That caused Joey to jump off the couch. He quickly gathered himself and answered the phone. To his delight it is Al on the other end.

“Joey, it is good to hear your voice. I have spoken with Harold and I see that you have gotten the ball rolling already on your plan, good job. I am glad as well that you decided to use homes instead of a dingy old building. There is nothing that replaces a warming home. I have some good news for you, so I hope you are sitting down.”

“Yes sir I am sitting down so let me have the good news.” Joey isn’t sitting down; instead he is walking back and forth trying to figure what the good news is.

“Well I reached out to friends around the state of Texas and other states. I got them to donate to your group home. Jacob and I have as well donated some money to your cause, which brings the grand total to an even four hundred thousand. That should be enough to pay for the construction work, the other house, furniture and some money to put away for a rainy day. I will wire the money to your account, but you should open one up just for the group home and put this money in it.”

“I don't know what to say, I really don’t. Thank you Al and thank Jacob and all those that donated to this group home. That money will come in handy and I will make sure it is only spent on the group home.” Joey cleared the frog in his throat before continuing. “I have another favor to ask you Al, can you set up the account for the group home and only have you and Harold able to pull money from that account.”

“Sure I have no problem doing that. I will open up the account and put this money in it by the end of the day. Are you sure that you don’t want your name on the account Joey? I know you and you will not spend the money on anything else except what it is for.”

“I am sure Al, thank you anyways. With just your name and Harold’s, the group home will be professional. Having a high school kid's name on the account wouldn’t look right. You know me, Harold knows me, but others don’t. If we ever want or need more donations, I don’t want to give anyone an excuse to say no.”

“You are a very wise young man Joey. Even if your name isn’t on the accounts, I will make sure people know that this is your project. You put it together and made it happen. No one else should get credit for the work you have done Joey, no one.”

Al went into more detail on how Joey can write off the home he owned as a donation at the end of the year and anything else he donates to the group home. Joey couldn’t catch on, so Al asked him when it comes time for him to file his taxes, send him the paperwork. He will make sure he gets credit for everything he donated through the year.

After hanging up with Al, Joey called around to get the closest, but the cheapest storage room available. Once he got that done, he did his afternoon business. He got ready for work and waited for Caleb to come home from school. When he did, Joey told Caleb everything that had happened on their way to work.

Still not able to drive, Janet dropped Joey and Caleb off at work. Most of the shift the on duty manager kept borrowing Joey to help in the back storage room. The one that is scheduled to work in the back got sent home because he came in smelling like he pulled his uniform out of the hamper. Instead of calling in another employee, the manager felt Joey could handle working both areas, but he forgot or didn’t care about the broken leg.

By mid shift, Joey could barely walk a couple of steps. Now his leg is in a lot of pain because all the pressure he has put on it. Just as he sat down, the manager walked into the video store angry with Joey. He didn’t like the idea that Joey is in the video department when there is a delivery to be unloaded.

“I don’t care if you are going out with the boss’s son, you will stay where I put you. If you cannot get that through your thick head, I will send you home. Now get up and go back to the receiving doors and unload the truck that has been parked there for over twenty minutes. This is bull that I have to put up with the lazy employees.”

Joey got up to head to the back when Caleb held him back. “Can’t you see that Joey has a cast on his leg and read that he has returned to work with limited duties? If you don’t want to put this store in the position to be sued, you better find another to unload that truck. Maybe it should be you since you refused to call in another person to cover the shift of the person that you sent home.”

“Excuse me Caleb, who in the world do you think you are? If you think by being the son of the manager gives you the right to stand up to me like this and not listen, you better think again. Joey has come back to work at full time hours, that means he does everything that a full time employee does. He is cross trained to work in several departments, unlike you. That means I can use him where ever I need him at.”

“Sir with all do respect you are wrong about me being only trained for the video department. But that is neither here or now, you are wrong on what you are doing. If you don’t want to lose another employee for weeks because you worked that employee in a department where he shouldn’t be at right now, you better think again on what you are asking Joey. If you keep him in the back, his doctor will pull him from work.”

“Until you become manager and have to make these decisions, keep your opinions to yourself. Joey is assigned in the back to unload any deliveries that come in when the video department isn’t busy. So Joey if you don’t want to be sent home you better return back to the back and unload that truck.”

Joey looked at Caleb, mouthed thank you, as he headed out of the video store. Anyone that sees him walking can see that he is struggling. No matter how much he tries to hide it, people can tell he is in pain. Seeing that, Caleb isn’t ready to give up on keeping Joey from going to the back to unload the truck.

As he helped the few customers waiting to check out their movies, Caleb called his house. When his mother got on the line, he told her what is going on at the store. That didn’t make her happy at all. She told Caleb not to give the manager heads up that she is coming down. She wants to catch him doing what he is doing herself.

One of the customers that heard the entire conversation between Caleb and the manager decided to stick around and catch the store manager when she walks in. She wants to lodge a complaint on the way the manager handled the whole thing. Besides being wrong on where he signed Joey, he dealt with the conversation in front of customers. A true manager doesn’t discipline their employees in front of customers or other employees.

Caleb didn’t even see his mother walk in. When Joey returned to the video department, he thought he came back because it got busy. The minute Joey walked in; he got on register to help clear out the store. Just as the last customer checked out their video, Helen walked in with the manager on duty.

“Hey guys, I need to speak with Joey over here in the corner for a few minutes. Caleb you keep doing what you are doing and if it picks up again I will let Joey come back.”

As Joey, Helen and the evening manager walked to the corner, the customer that has been waiting for her walked up to them. Caleb recognized the customer, but no one else did. He tried to play interference, but the customer brushed by him. She is a woman on a mission and will not be stopped by anyone to get her mission done.

“Excuse me ma’am, excuse, I need to speak with you if you are the store manager.” Helen turned to see the customer coming straight at her. “Are you the manager in charge of this store, or at least above this gentleman?” The customer pointed to the evening manager as she stopped in front of Helen.

“Yes ma’am I am the store manger. How may I help you?”

“Yes, well for starters I would like to lodge several complaints against this employee, slash manager. I don’t know if you work evenings or another customer got a hold of you that witnessed the scene that I witnessed earlier. To tell you the truth in all my years in management myself, I have never had a manger under me like this gentleman. He does so much wrong, I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Why don’t we go up to my office and talk? That way you can feel free to tell me what you saw. As well if you want, we can have the manager in question in the office as we talk. That way he can hear it for himself what you had a problem with.”

The customer made it clear to Helen that she wants the manger present while she lodges her complaint. On the way out, Helen asked Joey to stay in the video department until she calls for him. He kept looking back and forth from Helen, the manager to the customer. Someone is defiantly in trouble and he hope it is not him.

As the boys went through their last rush for the evening, Joey saw the customer leaving the store. He figured that Helen would call for him, but she didn’t. Caleb stocked the shelves with movies as Joey checked them back in. After they completed that, Joey cleaned the counter area as Caleb vacuumed the floor. Just as they finished, the evening manager walked in to count the registers. Just as he finished counting drawers, he turned to Joey and started to whisper.

“Joey I am sorry for placing you in a position when you have not been released from your doctor to full duties. I should have made sure that you were released back to full time work, before placing you to receive merchandise. The cast on the leg should have given it away to me that you cannot work any manual position.”

“No problem I understand the pressure you are under and with you down one man it didn’t make it any easier for you today. In future when this cast is off and I am released from my doctor back to full time, I want you to know I will work any position you need me to.” Joey shook the manager’s hand as they walked out of the video department.

On the way home, Helen didn’t ask if her manager talked with Joey. In fact none of them talked about what had happened in the store earlier in the shift. The minute they got into the car, Joey picked back up where he had left of at when they got to work. Helen made Joey start from the beginning since she didn’t hear it.

The next morning when Caleb walked back into the room and found Joey awake, he was surprised. At first he thought that Joey is getting ready to school. Then he started to think that Joey would have told him if his doctor released him back to school, and he didn’t.

“I know we talked about a lot of things last night, but why are you awake so early? Since you returned from the hospital, you normally sleep in. So you can see why I am wondering what is going on.” Caleb walked over to Joey and kissed him on the lips.

“I have a doctor’s appointment later this morning. I figure since I am going to be out this morning I might as well leave a little early and get those kids that are locked up in the local detention facility out. I know that I have not moved out my stuff, or bought the furniture for the house, I just cannot sit here another day while those poor guys are locked up. They had enough of being locked up for no reason at all.”

The "why" Joey cares about others is the first thing Caleb fell in love with. Seeing him working so hard to get ten kids out of a place where they don’t belong, is making Caleb love him even more. What he is doing right now is proving to everyone that when the day comes that Joey does have his kids; he will do what ever he needs to do to take care of them. Caleb just cannot get enough of Joey when he is like this, so caring!

Joey and Caleb got joined at the breakfast table with Fran and Alan. When they sat down, they thought the same thing Caleb did. They thought that Joey is going back to school, but Joey killed that thought right away. He told them why he is up so early and it got left at that. The subject moved on to how good it will be when the day dose come that Joey does get released to go back to school.

Fran and Alan waited for Caleb at the front door while he stayed back to have a little alone time with Joey. They made out for about five minutes when Helen walked in and pulled Caleb off of Joey, playfully. She teased them to get a room, but not until after work tonight as they walked out of the kitchen.

When they left, Joey sat in the living room to wait for Janet. Just as Joey turned on the television, Janet walked in calling out for him. He yelled back to her letting her know that he is in the living room. He got up, turned off the television and met Janet in the hallway.

As they pulled away from the house, Janet broke the silence in the car. “Are you sure that Gary and I are in the NM system already? I don’t want to drive down there to get the guys, just to be told that we are not foster parents. Plus is Gary going to be there with his van? There is no way the ten more people are going to fit in my car.”

“According to Harold when he checked yesterday, you guys are in the system already. Both you and Gary have already been approved and are now temporary foster parents of the ten guys we are going to pick up. Once their parents are removed are guardians, you two will be their foster parents.

As far as Gary he is going to be there when we drive up. He knows to bring his van and his paperwork to prove that he has been approved by the state.” Janet looked at Joey with a look on her face of what is he talking about. “You know just in case he is asked for the paper work, which I don’t think either of you will be, I asked you guys to bring the paper just in case we get a person that wants to be a hard ass about things.”

Janet pulled up to the only van in the parking lot as Joey explained what he meant. They got out of the car at the same time Gary got out of his van. They greeted each other before walking into the detention facility. When they walked up to the clerk, the clerk asked them to take a seat.

A few minutes later, an older, balding guy walked up to them. He asked to see their ID’S and walked back to the office which he had just left, leaving Janet, Gary and Joey sitting there wondering what is going on. He didn’t say good morning or any kind of greeting for that matter. He just asked for their ID’S and left as fast as he walked up.

They sat on the benches close to thirty minutes before the same older gentleman walked back out. He handed the ID’S back to Gary and Janet and then asked them to sign on the lines above their names. Once again not explaining anything, just do and give me is all that this guy seems to know.

“It is about time that the state has found a group home to take these guys off my hands. Having them here has made my job very hard. Never before have we housed anyone here that wasn’t in trouble for the law. So as you can see we are not set up with a plan in place for residents to come and go everyday, like they did.”

“That had to be hard for your staff. You have kids in there that probably tried to take advantage of this situation and tried to escape or worse. Hopefully with our group home, you don’t have to ever be put in that spot again.” Gary stood up in order to talk with the guy face to face, instead of looking up to him.

“Well it is over now and the kids are your responsibility now. I wish you guys luck, because you will need it to be taking in ten boys like that.”

Joey wanted to say something, but let it go. The faster the guy leaves, the faster they will get the boys, as he says, and get out of there. There is no need to spend anymore time than they need to. The place just gives Joey the creeps because it reminds him somewhat of the facility that he was taken to.

Before the guy walked back into his office, ten young boys walked out, carrying a bag each. Joey looked at them and saw that all of them are younger than he is, except Angelo, he is Joey’s age. The rest of them cannot be any older than fourteen, if even that. Angelo walked up to Gary and Joey with a smile on his face.

“I cannot say enough to your guys on getting us out of this place. It isn’t as bad as the place we were at, but pretty close. At least we had beds, a bathroom and eatable food. Other than that this place is exactly the same.” Angelo hugged Gary, Joey and even Janet as he talked. “How did you guys pull this off, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“No of course not, ask anything you guys want. Let’s first walk outside to the parking lot and we will explain what is going on.”

Gary nodded over to the front door for them to get out of the place. No one in the group needed to be told twice. They all walked out quietly and walked over to the van in the parking lot. After everyone put their bags in the van, they gathered around Gary, Janet and Joey. Joey looked over to Gary to let him and Janet do the talking. After all they are the kid’s foster parents now.

Taking turns, Gary and Janet told them what is going on. They took them through what to suspect at first and what is to come. After explaining the issue with the house, they went right to the rules, which wasn’t anything the kids couldn’t deal with. They all could deal with the simple rules that Gary and Janet have, compared to those they went through in this place and the other place.

“If you guys have no question, we should head out already. We need to move our furniture and clean the rooms that you guys are going to sleep in. That way when the furniture gets delivered later this afternoon, the rooms will be clean and empty for the movers to set up the furniture the way you want the furniture set up.”

The boys tried to hide their excitement, but they couldn’t. They got into the van happier than they have been in a long time. For the first time they can see that they have a chance to a normal life again. A life that they thought they would never get again since their parents have disowned them and put them in a place that probably would have killed them before letting them out. They know that this brighter future is happening because of one person, Joey.

TO BE CONTINUED……………..

WRITER’S CORNER:

{Welcome back readers and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Just like my other three stories, it took a few chapters to get the story to come alive. We all know the main character, Joey, but the rest are new. So I need to build them up so where you guys know them. Just as I build a character up, I bring in new ones. In this chapter I introduced several new characters that will give this story more life.

Every time I sit down to write out a new chapter, I read the editors corner and the writer’s corner of the last chapter I wrote. I see what open plots I have out there and what I can do to make those plots more interesting to you’re the readers. After that I try to create new plots in order for the story to get new blood. Then I also close off plots that have run their course or just got boring.

The reason I am telling you this is so where you know I don’t have an outline as I write, I just write what comes to my mind. So the curve balls, new plots, closing off old plots and making things spicy come to me as I write. So if you guys have an idea on any of my stories, drop me an email and if I like it I will use it. I have used many ideas of readers in the past, including creating characters after my readers.

There were a couple new plots I opened up in this chapter. First plot is Joey creating a group home initially for the local NM kids that were not taken back by their parents. Even after everything that has been on the news, some of the parents didn’t want to take their kids back. It is sad, but it does happen. Joey saw that and wanted to do something about it.

With the help from Al and Harold, he got his plan off the ground. He took his house, bought the house next door, and is going to join them together to make a big group home for gay teens. At first Joey thought that he was going to spend all the money, but once again Al came in and helped him out. Al raised five hundred thousand to get the group home started. I don’t see this group home failing.

With the group home now in the story, two new characters from NM we got to know in earlier chapters are going to become main cast members. Gary will be helping Janet run the group home. We all know that Gary lost his job because he did the right thing when he called Harold about Joey. The other character is Angelo, which will become a very close friend of Joey. So you guys will see a lot more of Gary, Angelo and even Janet in the future chapters. Oh to you readers that might ask this question, Gary is straight.

One of the other new plots in the story is Joey, Fran and Andy moving in with Harold and his family. We all should have seen that one coming. Of course Joey and Caleb are going to get a large room and share it. Fran and Alan will sleep in separate rooms, but will get closer as a couple. Here is another giveaway of a future chapter; Harold is going to adopt Alan and Fran, not Joey. So look for that to happen really soon!

Do we have a problem brewing in the evening shift at Albertans” What is going on with that manager and Joey? He made a rude remark to Caleb about him being the son of the manager and boyfriends. I wonder if we are ever going to know what happened in the office between the customer, Helen and the evening manager. In order to get answers on this plot, you will need to read on.

Now let’s look at the small argument between Joey and Caleb. I can see where Caleb is coming from, but at the same time it really isn’t any of his business about Joey’s money. It looks like they let settled the argument, but we will see. I don’t think it will ever come back up again to tell you guys the truth.

What might come back up is spring vocation. Although they settle the issue with Joey’s money, they never returned to the topic about Caleb’s plans over spring vocation. Trust me that issue will come up again very soon. Yes the plans were made before Caleb and Joey got together, but they are together now and that means they need to adjust their plans that they had made.

There are so many other plots that will be there in the chapters to come. We need to know what is going to happen with the request Detective Benson has made. How many parents are going to be arrested, for what and are they going to be found guilty? Will Mexico ever hand over Beth and Dominic? If so, who is going to charge them and with what? We know that the federal government stepped in and took over the prosecution of those that ran the facility. So much going on guys, don’t miss or you will be hitting yourself.

There is so much going on in this saga. I can keep writing, but I won’t. You guys are going to need to tune in to the next chapter to see what is going on. More plots are going to open and old ones will be closed. This story, like my others, will keep you on your toes. Don’t miss what is coming up in the chapters to come.

I do not want to say too much more and spoil the future chapters to come, so I won’t. I warn you though! Do not skip a chapter, or you will be lost. There is a so much to answer in the chapters to come. Keep reading the future chapters, and enjoy! Please email me and let me know how I am doing at jacobmillertex@aol.com, Thanks!}

EDITOR’S CORNER:

[This chapter has really moved the story along and expanded its scope. Joey is still healing and not yet ready to return to school. He is trying to work as much as his improving health will allow. He is off on a truly major project of acquiring a new house and merging it with his own house to become a small group home for boys who have been kicked out, forced out, or just pushed out of their own families and homes. AND THIS KID is still in high school!!!!!

His "house/home" project is drawing financial support from several states and may even serve boys from places other than NM. He has several very responsible adults assisting/advising him in this effort and that will be a positive factor in Joey's own growth and development as an adult.

But, his mother and uncle are still out there. Will they re-enter the story at some time and if so, how might this impact Joey and his plans?

Will the enlarged home of Harold and Helen become a reality and a real home for Joey, et. al.? Will Joey return to high school and be able to once again be the excellent athlete and student that he was before?

How will the rest of Joey's own 'family' (sister, etc) find a secure home life as he grows and goes off to college? Then there are the parents/guardians of his fellow 'inmates' who also sent their children to that place. Harold seems to want to bring them before the courts to face their own justice system. Will this take place and, if so, will it be successful?

We have many such questions yet to be answered. It looks like we all need to be looking for Chapter 14 to be posted so as to help address these questions--we hope! Best wishes to you all! --Kent D. (sw Ohio area)