The Boy on the Porch - 3. Some Dreams Are Harder To Achieve

Brendan and Greg went into his office to do some more detailed house searches, and a little making out. No matter what search he did, Brendan couldn't find anything close to what he could afford. At least in the same general area as he lived. Even expanding the search by five, ten, or twenty miles, nothing looked like a possibility. If he could put twice as much down, he could swing it, but where was he going to find another forty thousand dollars? Greg decided to leave and let Brendan continue dealing with his new found troubles, "Call me when you get things straightened out."

"Will do."

They kissed goodnight and Brendan sat back down in his office thinking what he could do. He was just about to give up when he had an idea. It meant sending an email to his brother. He'd probably help out. Maybe?

Dear Rich,

Hope everything is going well with you. It was great seeing you again in May. We should try to get together more often. Decided to email since I don’t know if you’re in town. Too lazy to check the schedule.

The reason I'm writing tonight is because Kathy and Abel have done something horrible to their youngest son, Nick. He accidentally knocked over a candle on Wednesday and they kicked him out. Not even eight years old and they threw him out. I was livid when I discovered that the boy who showed up on my doorstep was my nephew. Fate intervened for the little guy, and somehow, he ended up on my doorstep yesterday. Anyway, after talking with Kathy, who pretty much insisted she didn't have a son named Nick at first, and that they didn't burn him when he knocked over a candle, and didn't make him squeeze an item he broke until his hand bled; I had no choice. I've lodged a complaint against them with our local police.

Unfortunately, that presents a problem. I have Nick here, and could conceivably make that work permanently, but when those two jerks end up in jail, Steve and Jill will have nowhere to go. I know you travel extensively, so them going to live with you would be impossible. But, would you consider matching my down-payment for another house where they could all come and live with me? I can swing $40,000. You'd be half owner of the house, but I'd pay the whole mortgage. So, you could consider it an investment. I would even start to pay you the 40k back if you'd prefer that route. It'd probably only be a couple hundred dollars a month to start, plus lump sums when I get my annual bonuses. Maybe in four or five years, you'd have the whole 40 back, even a little more. You know I'd never ask you for money if it was just for me, but these are our niece and nephews, I can't just let them be taken into foster care if I can help it. Let me know what you think.

Brendan

Brendan considered shutting down his email program, but something told him that since fate brought Nick to him, perhaps fate will allow Rich to see the email right away. He ran downstairs to get a snack and something to drink. Ten minutes later he came back upstairs to a new email from Rich.

"Yes. He answered. But, is he willing?"

He hesitated to open the email, saying a short prayer before he did.

Dear Brendan,

I'd say, I hope you're kidding, but I know you wouldn't do anything like that. I have to tell you, I'm not surprised. Between them kicking YOU out all those years ago, and now Nick, I've heard some not so nice things from Jill about Kathy and Abel's treatment of all three of them.

Find a house. Send me the specifics. I'll take $30,000 from you to not leave you strapped, you're going to need furniture, probably - although moving things from their house might be possible, I guess. I'll write a mortgage for you and cover the difference. Like you said, it can be an investment. Mortgage rates are terrible right now, but I'll give you a rate of 1%, and if the numbers work for you, you could possibly swing a 15 year mortgage. I get paid back faster, and your debt is reduced quicker. I could probably outright buy an acceptable house for you, and rent it back, but I think going this route helps us both, and not just the kids.

You're probably also going to need a lawyer to work the guardianship. Find one you're happy with, and as long as you can cover the initial retainer, I'll split the rest of the costs with you.

Lastly, how much time do you think we have to pull this off? I know you said you called the cops, but they're not always quick to handle things. I'm hoping we have at least a couple weeks, but since it'll be a cash deal for the sellers, maybe we can get a short closing interval, but 21 days is probably about the quickest we can hope for.

Rich

Brendan responded immediately.

Rich,

No idea about timing. The police were called this afternoon, I spoke to two detectives like 6:30. I'd be willing to bet they'd get bail, but CPS may take the kids away in the meantime. Since you're willing to do this, I think we ought to move as quick as possible. With your help, I think I have a few choices already, after some Internet searches earlier. I'll call the listing agents tomorrow and see if any of them would be willing to move quickly with a cash sale. I'll give you a call late tomorrow afternoon if you're available and send details on the house choice(s).

Brendan

Rich was obviously waiting for a reply. A few minutes later, Brendan's email program dinged.

B,

You're right. Okay, get me the details tomorrow, I'll touch base with the listing agent for choice #1. Lean toward an empty house, the sellers might be more willing to close fast. Who knows, maybe they'll rent it to me/us right away until the closing. I could make it worth their while.

R

*******************

Brendan replied, agreeing to do that. It was nice having a wealthy brother. He went back to the saved homes from his earlier searches. Two of the houses were already empty, at least based on the photos. Those would be his first calls tomorrow. Little did he know he'd be making and receiving at least one other call earlier in the morning.

**********************************

Sunday

Brendan hadn't slept well. He laid in bed quietly so he didn't disturb Nick. He dozed on and off and when the sun started shining, he went downstairs to put on a pot of coffee. He thought waiting until nine to call the two agents would be sufficient. His phone rang at eight-thirty.

"Hello?"

"Uncle Brendan?"

"Yes. Jill?"

"Yes. I overheard mom talking to you yesterday, so I figured this was your number. The police and CPS are here. The cops are arresting mom and dad, and CPS wants to take us. I said we had an Uncle that lived nearby, would it be possible we go with you? The lady from CPS seems like she'd rather not take us, not sure why, but if you can come over, with Nick, and talk to her... I know we haven't seen you in forever, but maybe you can help, at least temporarily? If mom and dad go to jail for a long time, and it sounds like that's possible, we'll all probably end up in foster care. I'd want to avoid that for as long as we can. Please?"

"Yes. I'll get Nick ready and come right over. I'll need your address, Nick hasn't given it to me yet. I've already touched base with your Uncle Rich to try and get something going permanently, so hopefully you won't have to be in foster care at all. Or at least as short a time as possible."

"Really? Oh, God. You're great."

Jill gave Brendan their address, and he went upstairs to wake Nick. Ten minutes later, they were on their way to Nick's house. When they arrived, Jill was waiting at the front door and let them in immediately. The woman from CPS introduced herself. Jill, Steve and Nick stood nearby quietly.

"Hello, Mr. Taft. I'm Stephanie Lawson, one of the caseworkers for Hall County."

"Hi Ms. Lawson. Brendan Nelson. Kathy is my sister."

"I apologize. And Stef is fine. Things have already been a little crazy this morning. All I know is the Tafts were just taken away, and Jill here said you were willing to take her and her brothers, at least on a temporary basis. We're so shorthanded at CPS. Well, that's not your problem."

"No worries. It's been a heck of a weekend already for me too. Anyway, you can call me Brendan. What do we do now?"

"Well, this is a fairly unusual situation. In most cases we'd interview you, check out your residence, run a background check, etc. But right now, I wouldn't have an approved family to place the children with, so I spoke to my supervisor and as long as you agree to a few conditions, I can leave the children in your care."

"Whatever it takes, Stef."

"Great. Would you be able to take the children as soon as they pack some things? With the police involvement, it may be a couple days before they'd be able to come back here. And if their parents get bail, they couldn't come back here at all without a caseworker present, and even then, it would only be to get more clothing and things."

"I can take them, that's no problem. I only have a two bedroom house, and the second bedroom is currently my home office."

"That was my second question. I know this is a lot to ask, but in that case, would you be willing to take them to a hotel or motel, somewhere with room for all four of you?"

"Yes. That's pretty much what I was thinking anyway."

"Fine. I can't run a background check right now, so I'll have to trust your honesty on this. Do you have a criminal record?"

"No. Nothing more than a couple speeding tickets, and those were quite a few years ago."

"Great. And lastly, and definitely most difficult, would you have the ability to stay in that hotel/motel indefinitely, or at least we could find one or more families that have the resources?"

"Obviously not indefinitely, but I've already communicated with my brother and we plan on purchasing a house that will be sufficient for all three children to come live with me. We expect to move on that as quickly as possible, even rent the house until the sale is official if possible."

"Wow. You've already started lining up your ducks. Then there's only one more thing. I'll email you a copy of the foster parent application. You being a relative bypasses a lot of the standard requirements. If you could fill it out and return it as soon as you know your temporary living space, so we know at least where the children will be for now. We can make an addendum once the home situation is settled. I will warn you, if that takes too long, that is, longer than you're able to remain at the temporary space, we will need to place the children elsewhere until such time where you could take them permanently into an acceptable domicile."

"Understood. Like I said, my brother and I expected to have to move quickly on this."

"If you'll just give me your email address, you can take the children as soon as they've packed up what they need for the near term. I'll have to leave after you, to ensure the house is empty and locked. Sometime in the next day or so, the Sheriff's department will have to secure the premises. You may be able to get back in for the next twenty-four hours or so if necessary, but beyond that, you'll need to go through them for access."

"Understood."

Brendan shared his email address, Stephanie gave him a business card, and he went to help Nick gather his things. Twenty minutes later, they left the house, piled the clothes and things into the trunk and headed out for breakfast. At the restaurant, Brendan probed into some of the other things their parents may have done, based on Rich's comments the night before.

"So, Jill, and Steve, your Uncle Rich made a comment last night about hearing some not so nice things your parents have done."

Jill, being older, and for another reason, soon to be discovered, spoke up first, "Uncle Rich doesn't know the half of it. And to be perfectly honest, no offense, but I don't feel comfortable telling you all the details."

"No worries. Share what you want, hide what you want. But if any of those things you want to hide are illegal, it'll be best if either CPS or the cops know."

"Okay. I will just say some definitely are after speaking to a police woman earlier. Anyway, mostly, whenever one of us does something wrong, we get punished, physically. To be perfectly blunt, dad beats us over the tiniest little things."

Steve spoke up as well, stuttering, "He eeee-ven b-b-broke m-m-m-my arm once."

"What did he, or they, tell the doctor?"

"I had t-t-to s-s-say I f-f-f-fell out of a t-tree."

"And other beatings, were they with an open hand, a fist? What?"

"Usually open handed, he didn't like to leave bruises. But if we weren't careful and broke a rule too close to the previous incident, he'd punch."

"He'd s-slap m-m-me in the b-b-baaaack of t-the head wi-with th-th-the hand he wore his r-r-ring on."

"Did it ever make you bleed?"

"M-m-m-most of th-the t-t-time. He used m-m-my head b-b-because it wu-wu-wouldn't sh-sh-show."

“Wow. I wish I knew you lived so close, but your parents and I didn’t see eye to eye on, well, anything really. If Nick hadn’t shown up on my doorstep Friday, I don’t even want to think about long term impacts.”

“F-f-friday? Wa-wa-what d-did you d-d-do f-f-for t-t-two d-days?”

“I slept in a doghouse Wednesday night. Got sort of lucky on Thursday and begged for food at Burger King. And slept under a porch Thursday night.”

“S-sort of?”

Nick momentarily looked toward Jill, “Can I tell you later?”

Steve simply nodded. He was happy his Uncle hadn’t said anything bad about his stuttering.

“Th-th-there’s wu-wu-one m-more th-thing I want t-to men-men-mention.”

“Go ahead.”

“Wa-wa-when I st-stuttered t-t-too b-bad, he would t-t-taaaape m-my m-m-mouth.”

“I’m sorry you had to put up with that. All of that. You’ll never have to worry about any of that living with me. It just disgusts me they did that to you all.”

“Like I said about telling Uncle Rich, that isn’t anywhere near everything.”

“I know they’re your parents and all, but I hope they get put away for a long time. At least until you’re all eighteen.”

Nick wasn’t satisfied with that, “Forever would be fine with me.”

Steve and Jill both nodded.

“Okay, we’ll go back to my house, maybe you can watch some TV while I make a couple calls about houses, and a motel. I’ll pack a bag when I know where we’re going. It’ll be lunch and dinner out tonight. Then we’ll take it a day at a time. It’s a good thing it’s summer and we don’t have to worry about school.”

It was missed by Brendan, but Jill gave the other two a look and a very slight shake of her head.

“C-c-can we g-get pizza f-for d-dinner?”

“That’s okay with me, how about you two?”

They both agreed. Brendan drove them back to his house.

“Okay. I’ll be up in my office, feel free to interrupt if you need to. Don’t wreck the house.”

“We’ll be good. We can really interrupt you?”

“Sure Nick, if you need to.”

Jill added, “If dad was doing computer stuff, we couldn’t interrupt unless we were bleeding or something.”

“I sure hope things work out so you can live with me. You all need a break from life with ogres.”

They all laughed.

“See you all in a bit.”

Variations of okay followed.

Up in his office, the first call Brendan made was to an inexpensive nearby motel. He asked if they had a pair of adjoining rooms available, and for how long they would be available. They did, and he could book the rooms for as long as he needed. He reserved the two rooms and asked about going week-to-week. They said that was fine. They would hold them for two weeks, but he could check out anytime.

He logged into his bank and transferred enough out of his long-term savings account into his checking account to cover the motel and extra expenses for the next two weeks. He also sent his manager a note saying he’d need the next two or three days off due to a family emergency and he’d call tomorrow to give him details.

His next call was to the real estate agent for one of the two houses that appeared empty. No luck on the first one, it had gone under contract the previous night. He had better luck with the second one. It was available and the agent could show it this afternoon. He agreed to meet her there at two o’clock.

He then checked his email for the foster application. He filled it out, including the extended stay motel he’d booked, answering another twenty or so questions and submitted it. He also sent an email to Stephanie indicating the application was completed.

He still hadn’t made it out shopping, and it was close enough to lunchtime, so he gathered up the kids and headed out to eat. Brendan gave Greg another call to keep him up to date.

Next Up - “Things Move Fast”