Date: Thu, 5 Nov 2009 22:47:51 EST
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: Castaway Hotel"Grand Reopening - Book 3 chapters 7 & 8

Castaway Hotel -- Grand Reopening -- Book 3 by BW                    
Copyright 2009 by billwstories
Chapter 7 -- The Runaway and a Family in Need.                    

I had the boys up and fed early the next morning, so it wasn't long before
we were on the road heading toward Phoenix.  I had been driving for a
couple of hours, but it was still fairly early, yet I could tell it was
going to be real scorcher today.  After another hour or so on the highway,
we finally reached our first stop, the Pioneer Arizona Living History
Museum, just north of Phoenix.  This wasn't your typical museum in which
you saw a bunch of displays.  Instead, this is a collection of preserved
buildings and authentic reproductions that represent a part of the
country's history.  To be precise, it is intended to recreate various parts
of late 19th century Arizona Territorial history, from the 1860's through
the 1890's.

There are 28 buildings on the site, spread over ninety acres, and include a
Victorian house, rare Spanish colonial houses, an Opera House, a saloon, a
dressmaking shop, a print shop, a carpenter's shop and a blacksmith's shop.
There were also interpreters in period costumes, to answer any and all
questions visitors might have about what they were seeing.  It was an
interesting stop, almost making you feel as if you went back in time, which
the boys seemed to enjoy.  In fact, the boys even talked me into having our
lunch there.

As we ate, the boys wanted to discuss some of the things they'd seen.
"Man, people sure lived in really small places," Pat observed.  "Some of
those cabins are smaller than your bedroom, Dad."

"Yes, people lived very simply and spent more time outdoors rather than
inside," I explain, "which is probably the opposite of the way things are
today."

"Daddy, who was the woman that guy kept talking about at the theater?"
Graham asked.

"I think you mean Opera House and he was talking about Lily Langtree," I
responded.  "She was an actress whose beauty was said to rival that of
Helen of Troy, 'the face that launched a thousand ships.'  I've heard she
had lily white skin, hence her first name, delicate features and her hair
was filled with lovely curls.  Judge Roy Bean, the Old West's 'hanging
judge,' was said to have a crush on her, although it is unsure if he ever
met or even saw her in person."  I wasn't sure that information helped
Graham any, but he didn't ask any more questions about her.

"Dad, the Fort Brent Wood that we saw," Danny asked, "is that really what
it would have looked like?  I thought the western forts were made of logs
with pointed tops, to keep the Indians out."

"I think that's what television and the movies have led us to believe," I
told him, "and I'm sure there were a collection of forts like that, but
look around.  Do you see enough trees for them to do something like that
around here?"  I forgot we were indoors at the time, so my comment caused
Danny and some of the others to get up and go look outside.  When they came
back, they answered my question.

"Gee, I never noticed that before," he told me. "I guess you're right, it
would be easier to make a mud and wood type fort like we saw today, rather
than the one's I'd thought were used."  What can I say?  Another lesson
learned.

By late afternoon, we were back on the road again, and by now, it was an
extremely hot afternoon.  I had only been driving for about an hour, when
the boys started begging me to stop at a grocery store, so they could pick
up some soda, ice and a couple of those Styrofoam coolers.  I agreed it
would be a good idea and a wise precaution, and then we would have enough
for the motel that evening.  Therefore, I made a quick stop on the
outskirts of Phoenix.

It didn't take long before I found a grocery store and pulled into the
parking lot.  All of the boys wanted to go in and enjoy the air
conditioning, so I looked like the Pied Piper with my whole brood in tow.
We grabbed a cart and headed back to the beverage section.  While the boys
were loading up their choices of drinks in the cart, I noticed a man
chasing a teenage boy through the store.  Before the kid got to the end of
the aisle, another man jumped in front of him and they both roughly grabbed
a hold of the boy.

 Immediately they started pulling items from the boy's pants and from under
his shirt; it looked to be all food items.  My guess was that the boy was a
runaway and he was stealing something to eat.  I didn't like the way he was
being treated, so I knew I would have to think of something fast.

I told my boys to get the ice and to try to find the coolers, while I went
to take care of something else.  I also told them to play along with me and
follow my lead, if things started to go against us.  I walked down to where
the two men where manhandling the kid, and set my impromptu plan into
motion.

"Buddy, there you are," I said, pretending to speak to the boy.  "Where in
the hell did you disappear to?"

"Do you know this kid, mister?" the older gentleman asked me.

"Yes, I do.  Excuse me, I'm Josh Currie and I run a group home," I told
them.  "Buddy, here, is one of my boys and he ran away from us a couple of
days ago.  We've been looking all over for him."

"My name's not Buddy," the kid protested.  "It's Nicky."

"I know that, Nicky," I countered, hoping the kid didn't blow this for both
of us.  "I forgot you don't like me using your nickname any more."  I
turned toward the older man.  "I'm sorry if he's caused you any problems,
but if you let me take him with us, I'll make sure that he doesn't bother
you again."

"You can tell that to the police," the man bellowed, determined to make the
kid pay for what he'd done.  "We caught the kid shoplifting and he's going
to be arrested."

"Look, sir, I'm sorry about what he's done, but what if I pay for the items
with our other purchases?  We're not from around here and we'll be leaving
the area right after we pay for our groceries."

"I'm not supposed to do that," he began to mumble.  "He should be punished
for what he's done."

"He will be, I'll make sure of that," I informed him, hoping he'd think my
punishment would be a suitable alternative.  "Look, if you have him
arrested you won't get any money for what he tried to steal, I'll have to
go down to the police station to get him, and that means I also won't be
buying the things the other boys have chosen.  We'll all make out better if
you just drop your objection and let me pay for everything.  That way, I
can take him with me, without having to go to the police station, and then
we'll be leaving town.  What do you say?"

He looked very pensive for another minute or so.  "Very well, but I don't
want to see him in this store again," he stated, adamantly.

"Don't worry, you won't," I informed him.  "We're planning to leave this
area as soon as we finish here, if nothing stops us, that is," I added,
insinuating we wouldn't be able to, if he had this kid arrested.

Having reached this agreement, I took the boy and his 'stolen property'
back to find the other boys, and they were ready to leave by the time we
found them.  "These things are Nick's, so put them in the cart with the
other items.  Do you need anything else, Nick?"

"Why are you doing this?" he asked, wondering if he'd got himself into
bigger trouble after I did this for him.

"Because you needed help," I explained, simply.  "Is there anything else
you think you need?"

"Look, I wasn't stealing this stuff for me," he told me.  "I would never do
that.  It's for this boy I met over at the park, over by the school.  He
told me that he hadn't had anything to eat for nearly three days.  I was
taking this stuff for him."

"That's very noble of you, Nick.  Will this be enough?" I persisted.

"For now.  I don't know what else he might need," Nick explained.  "You
could go with me and we could ask him?"

"That sounds like a good idea," I agreed.  "Okay, boys, to the checkouts.
Let's pay for this and go find that kid."

We went to the front of the store, paid for everything and took it out to
the van.  The boys let Nick sit in front, next to me, although he was still
eyeing us suspiciously.  "What kind of a group are you guys, anyway?"  I
could hear the others begin to snicker.

"We're a family," Andrew told him, "and that's my daddy."

"But I thought you told the manager that you ran a group home!" he snapped
back, now totally befuddled.

"I do.  I run a home for this group, my sons," I replied, before smiling at
him.  Nick looked around the vehicle, trying to figure out how this could
possibly be.

"Dad adopted us," Dion told him.  "We all came to him in different ways,
but we're all brothers now and we're one big, happy…well, mostly happy,
family."  The other boys giggled or took objection to his last phrase.

"What do you mean, mostly?" Ricky wanted to know.

"You should understand that part," Pat told him.  "You and your little
hoodlum friends were the ones who were harassing the others when I
arrived."

"That's not fair," Graham said, indignantly.

"See what I mean, Nick?" Dion said, with a huge grin on his face.

"Yeah, I think I'm getting the picture," Nick responded.

"Nick…" I began, but he cut me off.

"It's Nicky, if you don't mind," he told me, leaving no doubt that he
preferred this name to the one we'd been using for him.

I hesitated and thought about my response before I continued.  "While
you're with us you'll have to answer to Nick, because we already have a
Nicky and it would be pretty confusing with two of you."

"You do?" he asked, as if he didn't believe me.

"Yes, my grandson.  He's back there somewhere," I pointed out.

"It's me," I heard a little voice squeak from the back, and then a face
peered over one of his uncles' shoulders.  "I'm Nicky."

"Hi, Nicky," Nick said, smiling at him.  "I don't get to meet other boys
named Nicky very often.  There are a lot of girls named Nicole that they
call Nikki, but I've only met one other boy with that name."

"Now you know two," Nicky said mischievously, "and I'm the best one."

Nick laughed at his namesake.  "I'm sure you are, Nicky.  I'm sure you are.
Okay, you guys can call me Nick and he can be Nicky.  Okay, Nicky?"  Nicky
beamed at the recognition.

"Yeah, I'm Nicky and you're Nick.  I like that," my grandson confirmed.

"Me too," Nick said, smiling back at him.

"Nick," I began, "why don't you direct me over to that park, so we can look
for that other boy.  Okay?"  He agreed and we were on our way.  As we
pulled into the area, I discovered it was more of a school playground than
a park.

"He'll be over by the bushes, back there behind the swings," Nick said,
pointing in that general area.  I pulled the van around and got as close to
the area as I could.  Then I told Nick to go and find his friend, so he
could bring him back to the van and we'd give him something to eat and a
soda to drink.  It was several minutes before Nick reappeared, and he came
out of the bushes leading a younger boy.  They were walking hand in hand
toward us, so we all began to get out of the van.  The other boy looked a
little frightened at first, until Nick said something to him that seemed to
calm him down.  As they came up to us, Trey and Brandon were pulling the
coolers out of the van and carrying them over to a shady spot on the grass.
We all went over and sat down and Nick introduced the new boy to us.

"Bobby, this is Mr. Currie and his sons and grandsons," he informed his
friend.  "They just got me out of a jam at the store.  I got caught
stealing and they talked the manager into letting me go, instead of calling
the cops.  They also bought the food I was stealing for you and a bunch of
other stuff."

"I didn't want you to steal for me," Bobby said, with a shocked look on his
face.  "When you said you were going to get something, I thought you meant
that you had money to buy it with.  I wouldn't have said okay otherwise."
While the boys were discussing this, I made each of them a sandwich and
then reached out in their direction, with a sandwich in each hand.  After
they took them from me, I told them to grab a soda from the cooler.  They
both wolfed down the food and guzzled their sodas, so I made another
sandwich for both of them.  Bobby was still eating rapidly, but Nick had
slowed to a more normal pace.

I took this time to get a good look at both boys.  Nick was about 5'7",
blond hair, blue eyes and was more than a little dirty.  I'd say from
looking at his disheveled appearance that he'd been on his own for a while
and hadn't been able to bathe or change for quite a few days.  He was
slender, but not anorexic, and his movements were very fluid and graceful.

Bobby, on the other hand, probably wasn't even five feet tall, really
skinny, and extremely filthy.  This kid hadn't seen any water for cleaning
purposes for a very long time.  Once the boys finished eating, I began to
ask them both questions.

"Bobby, how old are you?" I wanted to know.

"I'm eleven," he told me, without hesitation.

"What in the world are you doing by yourself?" I followed, unable to
comprehend what a kid this age was doing out all alone.

"I'm not really by myself," he quickly informed me.  "I just went to be on
my own, because my parents weren't able to make enough money to feed the
whole family.  I figured I was old enough to take care of myself, so I
left."

"Whoa, slow down there for a minute," I urged him.  "Let's back up a
little, shall we?  What do you mean that your parents aren't able to earn
enough money?"

"My dad hurt his back in an accident and couldn't work at his old job any
longer," he began his explanation.  "The jobs he can work don't pay much
and both my parents have been having trouble finding jobs that last for
very long.  Most of the work they get usually only lasts for a short time."

"Where are your parents now?" I wondered, but Bobby didn't seem to want to
answer this question for me.  He looked at the ground in front of him and
didn't say a word.  I knew I would have to prod him again.

"Hey, it's okay, Bobby," I continued.  "I don't mean to pry, but I would
like to see if I could help your family out.  I can't do that if you won't
tell me anything."

He looked up at me and studied my face for a little while.  He must have
thought I was being sincere, because he finally answered me.  "We lost our
house after Dad lost his job," he informed me.  "The bank reprocessed it or
something…"

"Do you mean the bank repossessed it?" I asked, interrupting him.

"Yeah, that's what they did," he confirmed, "so we've been living in our
car ever since."

"In a car?" I repeated, startled.  "How many of you are living in this
car?"

"There were five of us," he answered.  "My mom, dad, two sisters and me."

"I at least hope it's a big car," I replied, forgetting I shouldn't be
making jokes about his situation.

"It's a Dodge Shadow," he told me.  I quickly realized that is a smaller,
mid-size vehicle.

"That's not real big," I replied.  "It must have been awfully cramped with
five people and their belongings."

"Yeah, we didn't have very much room," he admitted, looking even more sad
than before.

"Bobby, what does your father do?" I asked.

"He worked for a construction company.  He did a lot of things, but mostly
he was a carpenter," he told me, and I could immediately see why a bad back
would be a major problem for him, although Bobby also clarified that point.
"He can't lift much now, not after he hurt his back, so nobody wants to
hire him."

"Why don't you take me to where they're staying and I'll see if I can't
help them?  Okay?" I continued.

He looked skeptical, as if he weren't sure he should be doing this, or
possibly he thought his parents would object to getting someone else
involved in their problems.  However, after a few minutes, he finally
agreed to my request and we began preparations to leave.



Castaway Hotel -- Grand Reopening -- Book 3 by BW                    
Copyright 2009 by billwstories
Chapter 8 -- Another Good Deed.                          

I told Nick he could go with us, to help guide me around and make Bobby
feel safer, but I told the other boys to wait there on the playground and
make themselves comfortable, until we got back.  I didn't want to scare
Bobby's family, if that many people suddenly showed up and confronted them.
My boys loaded the coolers back in the van first, so we'd have food and
soda to give to Bobby's family, once I'd located them.  It wasn't long
before the three of us were on our way and Bobby was giving me directions
to where his parents would be parked.

Before we got there, I found another grocery store and made another quick
stop.  I picked up lunchmeats, bread, some condiments and more drinks,
before we started to load up with more non-perishable types of food.  I
purchased cans of Spam, Vienna sausages, vegetables, pork & beans, peanut
butter, jelly, canned juices and bottled water.  I also added a can opener,
paper plates, plastic silverware, vitamins for both the adults and the
children, and a gallon of orange juice.  We paid for everything, carefully
loaded the bags into the back, and were on our way again.

We discovered Bobby's family in an isolated area of a large parking lot,
which was part of a huge strip mall.  I let Bobby get out first and he
walked over to his parents' car by himself.  His mother spotted him first
and jumped out of their vehicle and ran toward him.  She grabbed him in her
arms and was hugging him to her chest, as his father and sisters got out to
greet him too.  I take it his parents hadn't had a say in his leaving and
were glad he was back.

After several minutes of this affectionate reunion, Bobby started waving
his hand at us, indicating we should join him.  Nick and I got out and
slowly walked over to where the family stood.  Bobby introduced his parents
and sisters to us, before he introduced us to them.  After the
introductions were made, I began to talk with the parents, while the kids
went back toward the car.

I told them about my boys and myself, advised them we had purchased some
food and other things for their family and then got to know a little more
about their situation.  After we had talked for a while and got to know
each other better, I called Bobby and Nick over, so we could walk back to
the van and grab the supplies from the back.  We carried the groceries over
and put them in the trunk of Bobby's parents' car, where they would be safe
until needed.  Bobby's mother and father thanked us several times and I
told them I would do whatever else I could before we left.  I added that we
would come back tomorrow afternoon to see what more we could do, and then
Nick and I left, leaving Bobby with his family.  We could see his mother
starting to prepare things for them to eat as we drove away.  It was a very
rewarding sight.

Nick gave me directions on how to get back to the school and told me more
about himself on the way there.  I guess he was beginning to feel more
comfortable with us and no longer felt we were any threat.  Through this
conversation, I discovered Nick had run away from his home in Oklahoma
City, because he felt neglected and unwanted.  He said there were other
reasons, too, but didn't want to elaborate on them, at least not yet.  I
did learn his parents were fairly well to do, unlike Bobby's folks, but
Nick had conflicts with his father and felt ignored by his mother.  He also
informed me that his father was planning to send him to military school in
the fall, so he took off, since there was no way he was willing to attend
there.

I was just beginning to understand more about him, when we reached the
playground where we'd left my boys.  Along the way, I had also talked Nick
into staying with us, at least for a few days, since I was worried about
him being alone now.  As we pulled in to the parking lot, the boys raced to
the van and wanted to know why we were gone so long.  While I was
explaining it to them, Nick ran back over to the bushes and retrieved his
belongings, so he could bring them with him.  As I was continuing my
explanation about what we'd been doing, they all loaded into the van and I
let Nick fill them in on the rest of what they had missed out on with Bobby
and his family.

The afternoon passed by quickly, especially after being sidetracked like
that, so I decided we should go to our motel.  It was only about twenty
minutes away from where we were, so it wouldn't take that long to reach it.
After I checked in, I informed the boys I would advise them of their room
assignments shortly.  However, I did suggest to Nick he would be staying in
my room, if he didn't mind, and he said that would be fine.

After I got everyone situated, I told the boys to clean up for dinner.
Nick and I were alone in my room, as the four little ones were staying with
the older boys tonight, since I planned to use this time to learn more
about our guest.  I told him he could shower first, but we soon discovered
another problem.  He didn't have any clean clothes to put on afterward.  I
told him I'd borrow some from one of the other boys who were about his size
and he could wear those for tonight.  I added that we would all go to the
Laundromat tomorrow, as we all had things that needed to be cleaned, and
then we'd decide what other items he might need, so we could run to a store
and purchase them.

Nick immediately told me I didn't need to buy him anything and he could
make do with what he had, but I told him we'd see, before I went to borrow
some things for him.  He was heading into the bathroom as I went next door.

Trey offered to lend Nick an outfit and soon had a pair of shorts, shirt,
socks and underwear ready for me to take back for Nick to use.  Kevin made
a similar offer and gave me another set of items for Nick to have for
tomorrow.  After thanking them both for their generosity, I went back to my
room and could hear Nick still in the shower.  I grabbed one of the extra
toothbrushes from my carry-on case and grabbed my travel shaving kit from
the suitcase, getting everything together, when the bathroom door opened
and Nick walked out.  He was toweling his hair dry as he entered, not
seeming to care if I saw him naked.  "Did you get any clothes for me?" was
his simple question upon entering.

"Yes, here are two different sets of clothes," I informed him.  "One is
from Trey and the other is from Kevin.  I know you don't know which ones
they are, but I'll point them out to you later."  He was looking over the
clothes, while I was checking out his body.  I was surprised at how
developed his frame was; obviously he must have worked out in the past or
been involved in sports.  He was circumcised and hung about 3 -- 3.5"
flaccid.  He was pretty good looking, now that he was cleaned up, and I
felt some of the boys might be attracted to him, after they saw him looking
like this.

"I'll wear this stuff tonight," he said, showing me the set that Trey had
donated.  "Thanks for making the boys let me borrow these."

"I didn't make them," I corrected him, "they volunteered.  They've all been
in similar situations and are really quite generous when it comes to others
who could use some help."

"I didn't mean anything by that, but I will thank them myself later," he
corrected.  "And thank you for helping me at the grocery store and for
everything else.  I don't remember anyone ever being this nice to me
before."

"You're welcome, Nick, but I would like to find out more about you later.
Would that be okay?" I asked, hoping he'd be willing to continue to open up
to me about himself.

"Yes, I don't mind telling you," he replied.  "You seem to understand
better than other adults.  Most of them either don't care or don't want to
be bothered.  You're different, though.  I can tell, especially after
seeing what you've done for all of your sons, grandsons and what you did
for Bobby and his family."

"I do care and I am interested," I agreed.  "We'll be alone tonight, so we
can get into this more later, but for now, it's almost time to eat.  Here's
a toothbrush and toothpaste, so you can brush your teeth.  When you're
finished, I'll take my shower and you can watch television or play a game
while you're waiting.  There are a bunch of electronic games in that bag on
my bed.  Help yourself, since we brought them along so everyone could play
with them to help pass the time."

"Thanks, Mr. Currie," he told me.  "I'm sure glad you came into that
grocery store today, or else I would be spending tonight in jail, instead
of here in the motel with you."

"I'm not sure they'd have kept you in jail for petty larceny," I advised
them.

"They would have once they found out I was a runaway and wouldn't give them
any information about myself," he countered, and I had to admit he was
probably right.  "You saved me and I won't forget that.  Thanks."

"Well, maybe you're right," I confessed.  "They might have kept you for
being a runaway or if you wouldn't cooperate, and you're welcome.  Make
yourself at home while I clean up."

I went and took my shower, shaved and brushed my teeth.  Soon I was
dressed, so I went to see how the other boys were doing.  They were all
nearly ready, so I called the front desk for suggestions as to where we
could eat.  Once I had a place, got the directions and made a quick call to
make sure they could accommodate us, I had everyone come to my room.

The boys began talking to Nick, as soon as they walked in, trying to make
him feel welcome and to discover more about him.  He told them a little,
although not as much as he shared with me, and I began introducing him to
the boys, a few at a time.  Nick made sure to thank Trey and Kevin for
lending him the clothes, when I got to them, and both told him it was
nothing and he could borrow whatever he needed while he was with us.  Nick
just smiled and thanked them again.

We had a good meal and the boys used that time to tell Nick about
themselves, while getting to know each other better.  By the time we were
ready to order dessert, Nick seemed like part of the family.  During that
time I also learned that Nick was fourteen and an active swimmer.  That
helped to explain his better than average body development for a kid his
age.  He also told us he was going to be a freshman in the fall.  That gave
him something to talk about with Trey and Carlos, as they were both going
to be freshmen too.  That didn't keep the others out of the conversation
though, especially since Ricky, Cole and Pat were all about the same age as
well.

As we were returning to our motel, I grabbed a Phoenix newspaper out of one
of those newspaper dispensers that are always around.  There were some
things I wanted to check out in it later.  We all went back to our rooms
and some of the boys asked Nick to come over and spend some time with them.
I told the boys they would have plenty of time for that in the future, but
I wanted to spend the time with Nick tonight, so I could learn more about
his situation.  The boys gave in, although they were not real happy about
it, and Nick and I went to our room.  We got comfortable and I began to ask
him some more questions.

"So, why don't you tell me more about your family and why you ran away?" I
prodded him.

He didn't even pause to think about it and just began to open up to me.
"My dad's a manager in the structural design and engineering department at
Gulfstream.  They build jets," he informed me.  "He is very bossy and
everything has to be done exactly his way.  I pity the poor people that
work for him.  He wants me to be an engineer or a doctor, and that's just
not for me.  I'm not that good at math and science, but Dad doesn't want to
hear that.  He says I could do better, if I applied myself.  When I got my
final report card and he saw my grades, he got angry and decided he was
going to send me to military school in the fall.  There was no way I was
going to let that happen, so I took off.  I packed a few things while my
parents were out of the house and just left."

"What about your mother?  Couldn't you have asked her to intervene between
you and your father?" I wondered.

"No.  Mom doesn't care about anything but herself," he stated, rather
coldly.  "She's so wrapped up in going back to college to become a doctor
that nothing else matters.  She still goes out places with Dad, but she
acts like I don't exist any more.  She put off going to medical school when
she got pregnant with me, so now that I'm old enough to take care of
myself, she returned to college to fulfill her dreams."

"There's nothing wrong with that," I advised him.

"Not unless you forget about everything else, and that's just what she's
done," he shot back, somewhat defiantly.  "It's like she never had me.  I
hardly ever see her any more, we never talk or do things together, and she
couldn't care less about what I'm doing.  The only reason my dad cares is
because I'm going to carry on the family name and he wants to make sure I
don't embarrass him.  Neither one of them gives a damn about me any more,
other than that I live up to their expectations.  They won't even consider
what I want or ask what I'm thinking.  I hated living there with them, so
once Dad started talking about military school, I made my decision to get
the hell out of there."

"Don't you think you could work this out with them?" I pressed.

"No way," he replied.  "The only thing that Dad would accept would be for
me to do exactly what he said.  I can't do that, so I won't go back.  Hell,
they probably haven't even noticed I'm gone yet."

"When did you run away?" I asked.

"About three weeks ago," he told me.

"And you don't think they would have noticed you were gone by this time?" I
challenged, thinking he might be exaggerating a tad.

"They probably just think I'm out with friends or something," he offered.
"I left a note in my room for them, but I doubt they've seen it yet.  They
probably won't find it until it's time to ship me off to military school.
That's when they'll go looking for me and find out I'm gone."

"Where were you going and what were you planning to do?" I asked him,
wondering if he'd even considered those issues.

"I came here because I thought I could go to one of the reservations and
talk them into letting me go on a vision-quest," he informed me.  "I've
been to four different reservations so far and none of them will let
outsiders do that.  They say I would have to have someone from the tribe
recommend me and they won't do it unless they know you really, really well.
I thought the vision-quest would tell me what to do next, so now I don't
know where I'm going to go or what I should do."

"Well, you could stay with us for a while, at least until we figure
something else out," I suggested.  "We're on vacation and there are a few
more places we are going to visit here in Arizona.  You're welcome to join
us for the time being."

"Thanks, I'd like that.  I really like you and your boys," he sort of
gushed.  "You've all been really nice to me and all of you seem to care
about what happens to me.  I wish my parents were more like you."

"Maybe they are and you just don't know it," I offered.  "Or, maybe they'll
change after you've been gone a while."

"Maybe, but I doubt it," he replied, with a touch of sadness in his voice.

"Give them a chance and they just might surprise you," I advised him.

"Or maybe they'll surprise you, but I'll wait and see, like you say," he
agreed, although probably only half-heartedly.

"Good," I agreed, thinking he was trying to meet me part way on this.
"Look, you can do what you want until we turn in.  I want to read the
newspaper and check some things out.  Will that be all right with you?"

"Sure, Mr. Currie.  I've got no problem with that," he told me.  "Thanks
again, and I want to thank you for Bobby, too.  That was really nice of you
and I know he and his family appreciated it."

"Well, that's part of what I'm working on now," I hinted.  "I'm going to
try to see if I can't find them jobs and a place to live tomorrow, before
we leave here.  I'll want you to go with me, while I try to work things
out."

"But what about the other boys?" he asked, concerned that I was neglecting
them.

"Most of them will stay here, but I'll take some of them to the Laundromat,
so they can wash our dirty clothes, and yours too," I informed him.  "They
won't have a problem with that, I'm sure.  In the meantime, you have the
games, television or I can see what the other boys are doing if you want to
join them.  It's up to you."

"I think I'll just watch some TV while you're reading.  I'd rather just
stay here with you for tonight, if you don't mind.  I'm kind of tired of
answering questions and all."  I just smiled at his last comment, thinking
about how much we had all grilled him today.

"No, Nick, I don't mind.  Let me do this and then maybe we can talk some
more later," I suggested, in case he just wanted to talk, rather the tell
more about his family.  Maybe he had some questions for me.

"Okay, that sounds good," he responded, more eagerly than I would have
expected.

We both did what we had planned and I made sure to set aside enough time,
so we'd get a chance to talk more once I'd finished.


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