"Nobody wants me," he finally mumbled almost silently...and I was tempted to say I had heard that before but decided that was probably inappropriate. Never stopped me before but there is a first time for everything, isn't there.
"I heard that, Jake...but tell me. Please.
WHY?" The ensuing silence was almost deafening for a moment, while Jake obviously gathered his thoughts...and I sat waiting, on the precipice of something I wasn't too sure of. But then I've been down this path before, OR SO I THOUGHT.
"I don't know why. Just is."
"Ok, let's start at the beginning. What about your folks?"
It was immediately obvious I had struck a nerve but I had no clue why.
He started to lose it again, but quickly caught himself.
"Mom died when I was a baby, and dad is a drunk. He hates me and blames me I guess for Mom dying. He drinks all the time, hits me and beats on me a lot...and this morning he threw me out. Said I was costing too much to feed and clothe and house. So, here I am."
He stopped talking for a minute, turned and looked at me as if to assess whether I was about to run for the hills. If so, I must have been a terrible disappointment for I didn't. In fact you couldn't have pried me off that park bench with a crowbar or a hand grenade.
Then he turned away again, and while looking down but straight ahead as well...started once again to answer my question. "WHY?"
"Always been hard for me to make friends, I don't know why. I guess partly cause of embarrassment about my dad. I tend to shy away from everyone, I guess..." and I detected another sigh.
'Good God,' I thought.
Not the first time I have heard this or similar and it just never gets any easier. Seems the kids always get the short end of the stick when things go south for the 'rents.
"I don't have anywhere to go and I don't know what to do. I REALLY DON'T," and with that the water works started again in earnest.
I hugged him again, and with that going for us I made an instanteous decision to commit a rescue operation. Now, remind me again how stupid that probably was and teenage boys are not exactly puppies...I know and you know. Wouldn't have mattered a whit of course. I am stubbornly stupid when it comes to this kind of thing. So be it. As they say, BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT...and here we go again.
"Ok, Jake. First, you DO have a place to go if you want it." He nodded in the affirmative, and I thought score one for sanity. His not mine.
"Secondly, we got to make sure you are ready for school...and third, um....ok, we'll cross number three right before the bridge washes away."
That got a response, Not exactly a cartwheel but close enough given the circumstances. I grabbed his hand, and propelled him upward as I stood up. C'mon. Oops, wait a minute."
I called my office and said I had run into a snag. I didn't call it by its name, Jake, but my secretary knows me really well. I could hear him rolling his eyes through the phone. LOL...and with that accomplished I and my new found whatsis skedaddled for my car and the trip home. My home until recently (a few minutes ago), but now OUR home (for whatever time he would be there which at this point was open to speculation but I wasn't going to that place...quite yet).
We walked the two blocks to the ramp by my office building and went in to where I was parked. I thought he was gonna have a stroke when he saw my car...and he really didn't need that on top of everything else, and GOD KNOWS I didn't either.
But, he recovered quickly thank God and after putting the top down and buckling and flossing and all that, off we went to do whatever it would turn out to be that we did as long as we lived to tell about it and I fully intended for that to be the case. Course, I been wrong before. SELDOM, it's true, but occasionally.
We got to the house and it was time for shock number two I guess. I am used to it, but it IS quite a house and I guess for someone not raised in this kind of affluence it can seem a bit intimidating. I had quite a time getting him to stop standing out front and staring...and to come inside, but eventually...
CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER IV
"I heard that, Jake...but tell me. Please.
WHY?" The ensuing silence was almost deafening for a moment, while Jake obviously gathered his thoughts...and I sat waiting, on the precipice of something I wasn't too sure of. But then I've been down this path before, OR SO I THOUGHT.
"I don't know why. Just is."
"Ok, let's start at the beginning. What about your folks?"
It was immediately obvious I had struck a nerve but I had no clue why.
He started to lose it again, but quickly caught himself.
"Mom died when I was a baby, and dad is a drunk. He hates me and blames me I guess for Mom dying. He drinks all the time, hits me and beats on me a lot...and this morning he threw me out. Said I was costing too much to feed and clothe and house. So, here I am."
He stopped talking for a minute, turned and looked at me as if to assess whether I was about to run for the hills. If so, I must have been a terrible disappointment for I didn't. In fact you couldn't have pried me off that park bench with a crowbar or a hand grenade.
Then he turned away again, and while looking down but straight ahead as well...started once again to answer my question. "WHY?"
"Always been hard for me to make friends, I don't know why. I guess partly cause of embarrassment about my dad. I tend to shy away from everyone, I guess..." and I detected another sigh.
'Good God,' I thought.
Not the first time I have heard this or similar and it just never gets any easier. Seems the kids always get the short end of the stick when things go south for the 'rents.
"I don't have anywhere to go and I don't know what to do. I REALLY DON'T," and with that the water works started again in earnest.
I hugged him again, and with that going for us I made an instanteous decision to commit a rescue operation. Now, remind me again how stupid that probably was and teenage boys are not exactly puppies...I know and you know. Wouldn't have mattered a whit of course. I am stubbornly stupid when it comes to this kind of thing. So be it. As they say, BEEN THERE AND DONE THAT...and here we go again.
"Ok, Jake. First, you DO have a place to go if you want it." He nodded in the affirmative, and I thought score one for sanity. His not mine.
"Secondly, we got to make sure you are ready for school...and third, um....ok, we'll cross number three right before the bridge washes away."
That got a response, Not exactly a cartwheel but close enough given the circumstances. I grabbed his hand, and propelled him upward as I stood up. C'mon. Oops, wait a minute."
I called my office and said I had run into a snag. I didn't call it by its name, Jake, but my secretary knows me really well. I could hear him rolling his eyes through the phone. LOL...and with that accomplished I and my new found whatsis skedaddled for my car and the trip home. My home until recently (a few minutes ago), but now OUR home (for whatever time he would be there which at this point was open to speculation but I wasn't going to that place...quite yet).
We walked the two blocks to the ramp by my office building and went in to where I was parked. I thought he was gonna have a stroke when he saw my car...and he really didn't need that on top of everything else, and GOD KNOWS I didn't either.
But, he recovered quickly thank God and after putting the top down and buckling and flossing and all that, off we went to do whatever it would turn out to be that we did as long as we lived to tell about it and I fully intended for that to be the case. Course, I been wrong before. SELDOM, it's true, but occasionally.
We got to the house and it was time for shock number two I guess. I am used to it, but it IS quite a house and I guess for someone not raised in this kind of affluence it can seem a bit intimidating. I had quite a time getting him to stop standing out front and staring...and to come inside, but eventually...
CLICK HERE FOR CHAPTER IV
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