Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2002 23:29:48 -0400
From: TgrPaw@gmail.com
Subject: Spare a Quarter - 3

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Can You Spare a Quarter?
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Dedicated to "D":

   We didn't meet this way, it probably wouldn't have been anything like
   this if we had met this way, but if we had, I hope it might have been
   something like this.   {{{{ hugs }}}}

Disclaimer:

   Names of people, places, companies, and so forth are completely
   fictional.  While this story draws inspiration from real events which
   involved real people, it is nonetheless a complete work of fiction.

Copyright:

   2002; All rights reserved.

Comments:

   Email can be sent to TgrPaw@gmail.com

   Flames, hate mail, and similar things will be ignored.

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3. Fate Takes a Turn

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Once he'd made his decision, the rest was easy for the boy.  Being seen
was simple, staying invisible was what took skill.  The boy made his way
to the edge of the crowd and once there, he "accidentally" allowed himself
to become in the way of a woman.  She was carrying several shopping bags
full of items he knew this would be an effective way of being "seen".
After the inevitable collision, he apologized to the woman, and helped
her to pick up her parcels, but the commotion had done what was needed.
The stranger had turned to see what the noise was.

The boy looked up towards the man, and the man looked towards the boy.
Their eyes met, and they both knew - the accident with the woman had been
staged by the boy.  The man took a step towards the boy, and the boy
took a step in the direction of the man.  What would come from this,
neither of them knew, but they both knew that from this moment on,
everything would change.

Graham didn't want to frighten the boy and he didn't want to loose sight
of him, but neither did he want him to change his mind and run off.
He took a step towards the boy, but then hesitated until he saw the
boy take a step as well.  Then when he saw that the boy had moved in
his direction, he moved rapidly across the open space between them,
not quite walking, but not running either.

Graham spoke first, "I didn't think you'd come back," he said.

"I didn't think you would either," said the boy.

"I'm sorry I had to rush off like that.  I felt like like I was the worst
person in the world for doing that, but I didn't have a choice." said
Graham.

"It's ok, you have to do your work, and it's not like you know me or
anything," said the boy.

"I think I would like to though," replied Graham.  As he said this the
boy's eyes again searched his face, and finding nothing, the boy allowed
a brief smile to flicker across his face.

"I need to go up into the office for a few minutes to pick up my stuff,
but then I'll be back down and maybe we can go and have dinner or
something.  Would you like that?" he asked the boy.

"I'll be here," the boy replied.

Graham turned to head back towards the office tower, but then turned
back and said, "My name is Graham, and I'm ever so pleased you decided
to come back."

"Jamie, my name is Jamie" said the boy, and gave Graham another one of
his stroboscopic smiles.

"I'll be right back, Jamie," said Graham.  He smiled at the young boy
and then he ran to the office building.

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

"Graham, how did the meeting go?"

Graham looked up as he rushed to his desk to drop off his papers and
grab his things, it was his boss.  Graham groaned inwardly, while
smiling outwardly.  His boss wasn't a bad sort, but he loved to talk,
and what for anyone else would take five minutes of discussion, would
last twenty with him.

"All wrapped up, and they agreed to everything," said Graham.  "I'll have
it all written up for you and on your desk first thing in the morning,"
he added.  "I've got to run for another meeting right now on the networks
project".

That seemed to satisfy the boss, and he left Graham who was rapidly
scooping the contents of his desk into his briefcase.  Graham grabbed
his overcoat and ran back to the elevator.  Nothing short of wild animals
was going to stop him from getting back down to Jamie this time, and if
the wild animals weren't too big or hungry, he might have tried tackling
them too.  One did not tempt fate more than once in a day, and Graham
had no intention of doing so.

The elevator seemed to take an eternity to arrive, but eventually
Graham got in and pressed the button for the lobby.  Down it went.
The twenty-three stories to ground level seemed to last forever but
finally the door opened.

Graham breathed an enormous sigh of relief when he spotted Jamie
standing outside.  He was still here!  Graham quickly headed for the
door and soon he was beside Jamie.

"Sorry I took so long, the boss cornered me for a minute, but I gave
him the slip," said Graham as he smiled at Jamie.

Jamie smiled back briefly, "I wasn't worried," he said.  "This time I
knew you would come back."

"I usually head home around now," said Graham, "would you like to come
with me?  We can get something to eat, and maybe we can talk a little."

Jamie regarded Graham with suspicion again, but his acute eyes told
him that nothing was behind the suggestion.  All that he could sense
was concern.  It was very strange to him given his experiences to date
with men, but there it was nonetheless.

"I guess ... where do you live?" he asked.

"Well, I have a little apartment near here that I stay in during the
weekdays, but my real home is on Elizabeth Island and I commute back
and forth on weekends by float plane," Graham explained.

"You live on an island?" Jamie exclaimed.

"Yes.  Well it's not just me of course - there's lots of other people
there," Graham replied.

"Wow.  Why do you do that?  I mean it's got to be a pain being so far
away and all," asked Jamie.

"Well, when I don't have to be at work, I like to get away from the mobs
of people, the noise, the city.  Also I'm getting older and I plan to
retire there soon," Graham elaborated.

"I wish I could get away from everyone like that," Jamie muttered quietly
to himself, though Graham did hear him.

"To get to my place to wash up, we'll have to take the bus.  I hope
that's ok with you - I don't bring my car to work," explained Graham.

"It's ok, but I don't have any money for the bus," said Jamie getting
worried.

"That's ok, I'll take care of it," said Graham with a smile.

They went along the walkway between the office towers and the subway
station.  Graham reached into his pockets and fumbled about looking for
change.  He had a transit pass that he used each day, but for Jamie,
he'd need change, and there was always that dreaded phrase that bus
drivers loved to quote: "Exact Change Only".

Graham pulled the change from his pocket and found a two dollar coin
amongst it and handed it to Jamie.  He wasn't sure if the fare was the
same for a boy as an adult, but there was no way one could go wrong with
paying the adult fare.

"Thanks mister," said Jamie.

Graham felt a bit embarrassed at the honorific, and said "Graham, call
me Graham."

"Ok, Graham," Jamie replied, feeling a bit uncomfortable.  He could
remember times when he'd been belted across the room for forgetting his
manners, and it felt scary to call this man he'd only just met by his
first name.

The bus finally arrived and they got on.  Graham told Jamie it was about
two miles they needed to go and Jamie nodded, not sure what to say.
He knew that he was heading off into an adventure, he just wasn't sure
yet what exactly it would consist of.

There had been the meal earlier of course, and it sounded like there
might be another one tonight.  It would be the most he'd eaten in a single
day for a couple of weeks.  That part was good.  He also knew, however,
that eventually there would be the inevitable: he'd have to pay for the
food and the "kindness".  There was no escaping that part of the deal.
Still, this man seemed a bit different than the others, and perhaps it
might not be so bad when it came to that part.  Jamie stared out the
window at the passing cars and greenery and tried not to think about
what would come later in the evening.

Graham, noticed that Jamie seemed lost in thought, so when the automated
voice eventually announced their stop he touched him on the elbow,
and said, "This is our stop."

Jamie shook his head and focused on the reality around him, and obediently
followed the man to the door of the bus and out onto the sidewalk.
Graham indicated with his hand the direction and they started to walk.

As they went along the street towards their destination, Graham looked
Jamie over while attempting to be discrete about it.  The boy needed a
bath and a good one, it was pretty clear that he'd not had one for quite
a while.  This much Graham picked up quickly from the boy's scent, and
his eyes told him that Jamie's clothes weren't in very good shape either.
Of course they could be laundered, and Graham would see to that tonight
while Jamie gave himself a good scrubbing in the shower.  Graham knew
though he would have to suggest this very carefully, as he didn't want
to give the boy the wrong idea.

Frankly, Graham didn't want to give himself any wrong ideas either.
Graham wasn't entirely sure what he was getting himself into.  All he knew
at this point is that he couldn't let Jamie fend for himself out in the
cold.  Graham had vague ideas of what Jamie may have had to do in order
to survive, but all he had to go on were things he'd read on the Internet.
How much the stories he had read resembled reality, it was hard to say.

As they walked the three blocks to the apartment, Graham tried to
engage Jamie in some conversation to pass the time, "So how old are
you?" he asked.

"Twelve," responded Jamie who was looking down at the sidewalk as they
went along.

"Have you been ..." Graham wasn't sure how to put it exactly, "... on
your own for very long?" he asked.

Jamie looked up and said, "About six months."

Six months on his own, thought Graham, how could such a young boy survive
by himself.  How could it have happened?  Perhaps something had happened
to his parents, and the authorities just didn't know.  That must be it.
Graham's mind still wasn't quite ready to embrace other alternatives.

"It must have been hard to lose your parents," Graham said after a pause.

"Lose?" asked Jamie uncomprehendingly.

Graham suddenly realized he was on very shaky ground, and tried
desperately to regain his footing, "Well, I'm guessing something really
bad must have happened to them and that's why you're on your own."

"Nothing happened to them." Jamie said.  "Unfortunately," he added quietly
with great anger.

Graham realized that he'd made a big mistake at that point.  There was
much more to this than he had thought.  What exactly, he wasn't sure, but
it was important to try to mend whatever damage he may have just caused.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you.  I was just guessing that that
might have been why you were alone," Graham offered.

Continuing he added, "I'd really like to help.  Perhaps if we talk about
whatever it is that happened, then maybe there might be something I
can do?"

"Yeah right," replied Jamie not very convincingly.

Graham tried to restart the conversation onto a different track,
"It must be difficult looking after yourself all by yourself?"

"I get by," Jamie said.

"What if you get sick or something?" asked Graham.

"Then I get sick, or I try to find something I can take," replied Jamie
starting to get rather irritated.

Jamie began to realize that this man had pretty dim ideas as to what
his life was really like.  'Loosing my parents?'  That was beyond really
hilarious, if only I could loose them, he thought.  At least out here on
the street Jamie had a choice in whom he was going to have to deal with.
Well sort of a choice.

Fortunately, the awkward situation resolved itself temporarily, by their
arrival at Graham's place.  It wasn't a palace by anyone's standards,
but it was clean and decent.  It was a bachelor-style apartment on a
quiet street with trees and flowers situated around it.  Jamie wondered
if the man's claim of a house on the Island was just a story and this was
his real home, but it didn't really matter.  It would be warm and dry,
and that was enough.

Fortunately there was no one about to look at this strange couple as
they went in through the door, an older man in business clothes, and a
rather grubby 12-year old boy.  Graham briefly imagined what might wander
through people's heads, but then they were inside and he closed the door.

"If you'd like to take your shoes off, that would be nice," suggested
Graham, as he removed his own shoes.

Jamie followed suit, but that merely exposed his socks to Graham's
eyes.  Seeing them, Graham realized that Jamie's socks weren't going to be much
of an improvement over his shoes as far as keeping the carpet clean.
Jamie looked down and saw what Graham was looking at and felt embarrassed.

"I'm sorry, I don't get to wash very often," Jamie said with his head
hanging down.

"That's ok," Graham replied.  "I should have realized.  How about you
go on into the bathroom, and have a really good shower, wash your hair,
the works.  While you're doing that I'll start washing your things,
and then they'll be all clean for you.  While that's going on I'll look
about for some things you can wear while you're waiting for them so you
don't get cold."

"Thanks, that'd be great," said Jamie.  He knew the routine, but
nonetheless was glad of the chance to clean up.  It didn't happen too
often, but some of the men that he went with, would let him wash and
get cleaned up.  'First you need to wash the chicken before cooking and
serving it,' one of them had joked to him once.

"Once you get everything off, you can place it just outside the door,
and I'll get onto washing it for you," said Graham.

Jamie disappeared into the bathroom.  He quickly took off what he was
wearing, shirt, pants, socks, and underwear.  It wasn't much, and it
was all that he could call his own aside from a few other items he had
stashed in a backpack in a secret location.

Despite this sad state of affairs he was alive, and Jamie knew that that
was an achievement.  He would never give up, and he hoped that someday,
things would get better.  He wasn't sure when, he had no idea how,
but someday they would.  If he had nothing else, Jamie did had hope.
It was a faint hope most of the time, but there was a stubborn streak
inside him.  A faint flickering flame that he wouldn't let anyone
extinguish, no matter what he had to do to survive.

The clothes were placed outside the bathroom door, and the sounds of
water running alerted Graham that he needed to get busy with the laundry.
He picked up the clothes, carefully emptying the pockets on a side table,
and then went out the door and took them down the hall to the laundry
room.  He dumped them into a machine, poured in an double dose of soap
powder, inserted the necessary coins and the machine roared into life.

Graham came back into the apartment and looked about in his dresser
and the clothes closet.  Graham wasn't a big man, and he reasoned that
Jamie might be able to wear some of his things at least for a few hours.
He selected out an old pair of jeans that he could no longer get into,
and an oversized t-shirt.  Graham knew his underwear would never fit
Jamie, but that wasn't a vital problem at the moment.  He placed the
the clothes on the floor just outside the bathroom door where Jamie's
dirty clothes had been.

Eventually he heard the sounds of the water ceasing, and someone getting
out of the shower.

"I've put some things just outside the door for you, so you'll have
something to wear until your clothes are done," he called out to Jamie.

"Ok, thanks," Jamie replied, somewhat puzzled.  This wasn't how it usually
worked out.  Typically he knew he was expected to come out with a towel
wrapped around himself, and then ... things would take their course.
Of course he'd not seen what had been laid out for him, so he figured
maybe this guy was into something a bit different.  It might be diapers
for all he knew.  Whatever the price was, he knew he had to pay up,
and Jamie never went back on a deal, no matter what it was.

Once he'd dried himself off with a big fluffy bath towel he found in
the bathroom, Jamie opened the door just a crack and looked out and
then down.  Jeans and a shirt, very strange.  He opened the door some
more, quickly picked up the clothes, and then closed the door again.
Jamie was puzzled by this strange man and what was happening, or more
particularly, by what was not happening.

The expected pattern wasn't quite occurring, and that didn't make sense.
Jamie knew what was expected of him, and he knew his part in it all,
but this didn't make sense.  Why would the man provide him with clothes,
when he knew very well, he'd be expected to be out of them in a couple
of minutes?

Puzzlement notwithstanding, Jamie put on the clothes.  They didn't
fit particularly well, but Jamie realized that it was because they
belonged to the man.  They came close though.  The man wasn't tall,
rather short actually.  Jamie was almost as tall as he was, though of
course the man was much heavier.  The clothes would do he supposed,
at least until he had to take them off.