Date: Wed, 30 Nov 2011 07:49:46 -0500 (EST)
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: Castaway Hotel: Next Generation, chapter 13

The Castaway Hotel: Next Generation - by BW
Copyright 2011 by billwstories
Chapter 13 -- The Road to Recovery.

On Saturday, I made sure everyone got ready on time, so
we could attend the service together.  Since I wasn't
certain how many others would be in attendance, I wanted
as many of our family to be there, as possible.  Quite a few
members of our extended family had also heard about our
newest boarder and what had happened to his father, and
they indicated they would be attending as well.  I was
pleased to hear this, because I didn't want to take the
chance that Elliot might later remember that hardly
anyone had attended his father's funeral.

Danny and Brandon even managed to come up with a suit
for Elliot to wear.  I think it had belonged to one of the
other boys when they were younger, but he looked good in
it.  It not only fit him quite well, but it was also an
appropriate color for the circumstances.  Joshie noticed
that Elliot was all dressed up, but not looking particularly
happy, so he asked if he could ride with him when it came
time to leave.  Danny and Brandon said that would be fine,
so Joshie left with them, while Jake and I took the others
with us.

Once we arrived at the funeral home, Brandon told me
that Joshie made it a point to be in physical contact with
Elliot during the entire trip.  Joshie was even standing
next to Elliot and holding his hand as we made our way
inside.  It was really touching to see this five-year old
taking care of the older boy and being so concerned about
his welfare.

I quickly glanced around, to see if everything was as I had
requested, and was pleased to note there were several
other floral bouquets on display, along with the ones I had
ordered.  I went over to see who they were from and
learned that the first one was from our extended family.
They had all chipped in and ordered it, because they also
wanted to make sure an appropriate number of selections
were present.  The second arrangement was from Mr.
Kennedy's office and another was a separate arrangement
from his boss.  The remaining floral offerings were from
Mr. Kennedy's neighbors and other friends, who had seen
his obituary in the local paper.  I guess the HR manager
had submitted the information, so others who knew Mr.
Kennedy would be aware of his passing.  From what I've
seen and heard so far, it is obvious that Mr. Kennedy had
been well liked and highly respected.

Shortly after we went inside, Danny and Brandon took
Elliot up to see his father.  Although I was wondering if
any of this was getting through to him, I received at least
a partial answer when he turned around.  Elliot had an
extremely sad expression on his face after viewing the
body and tears were gently streaming down his cheeks.
He might not be fully aware of what is going on, but he
clearly understood that his father is no longer here for
him.  Elliot then stayed very close to his foster-fathers
and stood between them in the receiving line, as the
others came into the room.

The calling hour seemed to go by quickly and we were all
surprised by how many of Mr. Kennedy's co-workers,
neighbors and friends had shown up.  Each one came over
to speak with Elliot and either hugged him or patted him
on the back, although the women often kissed him on the
forehead or cheek.  On occasion, I could see a distant
glimmer of recognition in Elliot's eyes when someone
came up to him, but he never uttered a word.  He appeared
to be the stoic little soldier, with a stiff upper lip, so only
our family was fully aware of the toll his father's death
was taking on him.

Once we left the funeral home, we drove to the church in a
standard funeral procession.  Three gentlemen Mr.
Kennedy had worked with volunteered to serve as
pallbearers and Dustin, Cole and Kevin stepped in to fill
the other places.  Once the casket had been positioned at
the front of the church, the trio came back to sit with the
rest of us, while Mr. Kennedy's friends returned to sit with
their families and other co-workers.

Dion had volunteered to serve as a soloist and sang a
couple of hymns, one as we entered and another as we
were leaving, which added a nice touch to the service.
The minister gave a very brief, yet appropriate and
touching eulogy.  He included many of the little tidbits I'd
passed along to him from Mr. Kennedy's co-workers and
also mentioned what a devoted and loving father Mr.
Kennedy had been.

Seeing there would be no graveside service, Danny and
Brandon led Elliot up to the casket once the eulogy had
been concluded.  At that time, they each placed a single
rose on the coffin lid.  Although many of the rest of us
were grieving for Mr. Kennedy, it was fairly obvious that
everyone in attendance was more deeply affected by what
his son appeared to be going through.  Eliot, on the other
hand, showed only a minimal response to what was taking
place.  The lone sign that he might possibly be aware of
what was going on were the telltale traces of the tears that
had cascaded down his cheeks.  While our hearts ached for
him, none of us could really fathom how deeply he was
being affected by this loss.

Since it was unnecessary for us to go to the cemetery
next, the pallbearers loaded the coffin back into the
hearse.  The funeral home director was going to take care
of transporting the casket to its final resting place, where
Mr. Kennedy's remains would be interred next to his wife.
This relieved us of any further duty, seeing we wouldn't be
require to be there when this took place.

Throughout the remainder of the day, and over the next
few days, Danny and Brandon spent as much time with
Elliot as they possibly could.  They helped him when he
needed assistance and continually talked to him, to let
Elliot know they understood his grief.  They also assured
him that they would take care of him as long as he needed
and did their best to provide him with the reassurance we
felt he needed.

Jesse and Joshie were there for Elliot as well, along with
the rest of my sons, but I think the younger boys were
making the greatest impression.  They continued to talk
to Elliot and let him know they cared, but Jesse also
reminded Elliot that he had endured a similar situation
and could empathize with what he was going through.
Jesse even told Elliot he'd start to feel better as soon as
he was able to release his grief and begin to take his place
as our newest family member.  None of us, however, were
sure how much of this was getting through.

Jesse was also happy to lend Elliot some of his clothes,
and when we put these together with the other things I'd
scrounged up and the clothing Elliot had with him, there
was enough to suffice for the time being.  Something,
however, would need to be done before Elliot started
school, because most of the things he had to wear for the
time being wouldn't be appropriate in a school setting.

Danny and Brandon have been taking turns seeing to
Elliot's needs and staying with him overnight.  It had now
been nearly two weeks since Danny brought Elliot home
with him, but unfortunately Elliot still continued to
endure the vivid nightmares that caused him to wake up
suddenly -- screaming, shaking and sweating.  The screams
didn't last as long as they had on those first few nights,
and now whenever it happened, Elliot seemed to calm
down more quickly after each session.  This was especially
true after one of us wrapped him in our arms and sang the
lullaby.  I had taught the song to Danny and Brandon
during the interim and loaned them the CD to practice
with.  This way, they could soothe Elliot using the method
that elicited the best response and eliminate their need to
have me do it for them.

Once Elliot heard the song, his body would almost
immediately stop trembling and he would slowly settle
down and fall back to sleep.  We still aren't exactly certain
what he is going through or how much he had actually
witnessed when his father was murdered, but it must have
been an extremely painful and horrific experience for him.
Why else would the memory of what happened still be
plaguing him?

After each of Elliot's screaming sessions, neither Danny
nor Brandon would allow himself to fall into a deep and
restful sleep, so they weren't getting a great deal of rest.  I
would fill in and take over each morning, once they
started getting ready for work, and would stay in the guest
room and watch over Elliot until he woke.  Just as soon as
he was fully alert, Elliot would follow me around the house
for the rest of the day, like a little puppy.  I would keep
my eye on him, so I could see what he was doing, and
gradually noticed that he was starting to do more on his
own.

Even though Elliot still hasn't been able to tell us what
happened that night or how much he had actually seen, it
hasn't stopped the police from phoning the house nearly
every day to ask when they're going to be able to question
him.  We've told them Elliot still isn't communicative,
while at the same time remaining adamant that we will
not allow him to be questioned until he is emotionally and
psychologically ready.  Unfortunately, this has proven to
be a thorn in their side and extremely frustrating for the
detectives working on the case.

Recently, some of their comments have made us
concerned that they might be reaching the point where
they are considering bringing charges against us for
hindering their investigation.  I'm not sure if they'd have
any legal ground to stand on, since we are only doing what
we feel is best for Elliot.  We are not connected to this
case in any other way, except for being Elliot's legal
guardians and concerned with his physical and emotional
well-being.  It's not as if the investigation has stalled
completely due to our refusal to let the detectives speak
with Elliot.  In fact, the police have been able to piece
together quite a few of the details from that night, even
without Elliot's statement.  However, knowing exactly
what happened at the motel is still a mystery.

What the police do know so far is that there was some sort
of altercation between Elliot's father and three men at a
restaurant.  After listening to various witness accounts
about that evening and reading a sheriff's department
report, they have learned that three drunks had been
harassing a waitress and making some pretty derogatory
comments to her, which offended many of the other
patrons.  After a while, Elliot's father confronted these
men and asked them to knock it off.  He was also
overheard telling them that he didn't want his son to hear
or witness such behavior.

After Elliot's father stated his request, one of the drunks
threw a punch at him and a fight ensued.  The restaurant
owner then called the sheriff's department to report the
disturbance, but all the deputies did, after breaking up the
fight, was to take the three drunks outside and tell them
to go home and sleep it off.  Now, the police believe the
troublemakers didn't do as they'd been told and waited
around instead, so they could follow Elliot and his father
to their motel.  The detectives investigating the murder
feel these actions were a gross dereliction of duty and the
sheriff's deputies should have made certain that the three
men had actually left the area.  They feel things would
have turned out much differently if they had.

Even though Elliot was still maintaining his silence, he
was beginning to show signs that he was coming out of his
depression and mental fog.  He was continuing to do more
for himself, like eating on his own, getting dressed
without assistance and taking care of his personal needs,
such as going to the toilet and bathing without being
prompted to do so.  He also seemed to be listening to what
the others were saying to him, especially Jesse and
Joshie, even though he still wasn't responding to them
verbally.  Although the current situation isn't perfect and
there haven't been any huge gains, when you add up all
the small strides he has taken, Elliot definitely seems to
be heading in the right direction.

There was one particular incident of note during this
period, although I can't be positive if it actually had
anything to do with Elliot slowly starting to come around.
One night, after Elliot had woken up screaming again and
we'd put him back to bed, I noticed Joshie had come
downstairs to see what was going on.  I was going to send
him back to bed, but he seemed to be on a mission, so I
merely watched to see what he was up to.  Quietly, he
crept toward the guest room, carrying his teddy bear with
him.  I followed behind, to see what he was up to and
witnessed a truly selfless act being made by a small child.

Without a word, Joshie walked over to the bed and placed
his teddy bear next to Elliot.  I quickly scooted back out of
his line of sight, so he wouldn't know he'd been observed.
I thought it was best to let this little covert operation be
his little secret and watched him scamper back up the
stairs.

When Danny went in to the bedroom a short time later, he
discovered Elliot snuggling with the bear and resting very
peacefully.  It might have been purely a coincidence, but
Elliot didn't wake up again that evening and his
nightmares only plagued him for a few more nights.  Even
though I have no way to prove it, I'd be willing to bet that
Joshie's selfless act played a significant role in Elliot's
recovery.  Sometimes it is the littlest things that make
the biggest impact.

A few days later, I was filling in for Danny and watching
Elliot, after he'd left for work.  I dozed off for a little
while, since Elliot was resting so peacefully, and when I
woke up a little while later, I sat up and dangled my legs
off the side of the bed.  I was trying to work up the
willpower to go make some coffee, since I no longer had to
stay with Elliot until he awoke.  When I finally found the
strength to do so, I was on my way to the kitchen when I
ran into Joshie.  He was dressed for school, but his fathers
weren't ready to leave yet.

"Can I go see Elliot?" he asked.  His eyes and expression
were pleading with me to say yes.

"Okay, but don't wake him up," I agreed.

That was all it took to catapult Joshie in the direction of
the guest room.  A few seconds later, he came racing into
the kitchen, brimming with excitement.

"He said good morning!" Joshie exclaimed.

I was somewhat confused by Joshie's utterance, as I was
still trying to shake off the cobwebs of sleep.

"Who did?" I asked, since I didn't comprehend the
importance of his revelation.

"Elliot did," Joshie gasped.  "I was standing by his bed and
he said that to me."

Surprised, I went rushing toward the guest room, with
Joshie at my heels.  As I walked in, Elliot was sitting up
and had a pensive expression on his face.  I didn't speak
and merely observed him instead.  After a few seconds,
Elliot turned slightly in my direction and started
speaking.

"My dad woke me up that night," he said, which left me
totally flabbergasted.  "I was sleeping and he was shaking
my shoulder."

I'm sure my mouth must have hung open and I wondered
if he might be talking in his sleep.  When I realized he
wasn't, I started to respond, but Joshie beat me to the
punch.

"See, I told you he was talking," Joshie announced,
matter-of-factly, while poking me in the leg.  I signaled
him to be quiet and then turned to speak to Elliot.

"Oh, I didn't know that," I said, lamely.

Since Joshie had distracted me and I didn't want to take
too long before responding, I didn't have much time to
think about how I should reply to his statement.  Feeling
rushed, it was the best I could come up with.

"Yes." Elliot continued.  "Someone was trying to break in
to our room and I guess my dad must have looked through
the curtain and seen who was there.  Then he woke me up,
took me into the bathroom, opened the window and told
me to climb out and run.  I was only in my underwear and
it was raining, but he ordered me to do it anyway.  He told
me to run and find a place to hide, and I was not to come
back, no matter what I heard.  He pushed me through the
window, but not before I promised to stay hidden until he
came to get me."

"He must have known what might happen then," I
responded.

Elliot merely ignored my comment and continued
speaking.  He said he'd held it in long enough and needed
to get this out of his system.

"When I was climbing out the window, someone started
banging into the door.  They must have been trying to
break it down and the whole place felt like it was
shaking," Elliot told me next.  "My dad said to run and not
look back, so I did what he said and ran into the woods.  I
heard some loud yelling at first, but I couldn't tell what
anyone was saying.  It was raining so hard and it was so
loud that it sort of drowned everything else out.  I was
scared and just kept running.  I was starting to feel pretty
stupid, since I wasn't wearing much and what I did have
on was already soaking wet and it was so cold out.  That's
when I heard those two horrible bangs.

"I wanted to believe that sound might have been thunder,"
Elliot explained, as his lower lip began to tremble, "but I
guess I knew it wasn't and panicked.  I started running
faster, trying to get away from that sound, but it was dark
and I couldn't really see where I was going, so I ended up
tripping over that stupid log.  That's how I broke my
wrist," he added, while staring at his cast.

Fortunately, at that instant Dion came into the room and
told Joshie to come with him, so he could take him to
school.  Now, Elliot and I were finally alone.

"It didn't hurt when it happened," he continued.  "I must
have been either too scared or too shocked to be aware of
the pain.  I knew what happened back in the room, so
maybe I was trying hard to block everything out and
blocked the pain out as well."

Elliot's entire body was beginning to tremble as he told me
his story and then he began to sob in earnest.  I sat beside
him and pulled him tightly against me in a powerful hug.

"You must have been really scared," I told him.  "I know I
would have been."  Elliot looked up at me.

"I was scared, really scared, but I was still hoping that
somehow everything would be okay," he confirmed.  "I
don't know how long I was out there, but it was bitterly
cold.  Then, I heard other people moving around in the
woods, but I knew it wasn't my dad.  He would have called
out for me and that never happened.  I figured whoever
had been banging on our motel door was now looking for
me too.  It had to be the same jerks we'd run into trouble
with at the diner.  I was sure of it.  I thought they must
have hurt my dad and now they wanted to get me too.
Luckily, it was the police."

"Right away they started asking a bunch of questions, like
what was I doing there and where had I come from, but I
couldn't say anything.  It was like I couldn't make my
mouth work.  Eventually, one of them asked if I had been
staying at the motel.  I must have nodded my head, even
though I don't remember doing it, but that's when I found
out my worst fears had come true."  Elliot paused briefly
and then continued.

"After they learned I'd been staying at the motel, one of
the officers asked if I knew the victim and that's when I
knew my father was dead.  I could feel it.  They didn't
know it was my dad and they just kept asking me about
the victim or the guy in the motel room.  Finally, I heard
one of them say the word killed and that confirmed what I
already knew in my heart.

"He kept asking me who the man was," he continued, "but
I couldn't say anything.  I felt myself slipping into this -- I
don't know what to call it, a fog, I guess.  I remember I
wanted to cry, but I couldn't find my voice.  I just kept
hearing those loud voices yelling somewhere in the
distance, and even though I tried, I still couldn't
understand what they were saying.  I never saw anything
either, but I knew it was those assholes from the
restaurant.  We didn't know anyone else there, so they had
to be the ones that murdered my father."

Elliot's entire body was heaving now, as the floodgates he
had held closed for so long began to burst open.  I held
him close and allowed him to release his grief.  It was
several minutes before he began to calm down and
eventually started to speak to me again.

"The police kept asking me all sorts of questions, but for
some reason I couldn't tell them anything," Elliot
admitted.  "Everything they asked seemed to come out in
a blur.  I didn't know what they wanted, I just knew my
dad was gone and that's all I could think about.  I would
have given anything to have been able to help them, but it
felt like there was nothing I could do.  I felt like my mind
and my mouth were fighting each other, like my brain
wanted to say something that would make everything
better, but my mouth wouldn't cooperate.  I don't know
what I would have said though, even if I could have said
something.

"I didn't actually hear what had been said in there because
of the rain," Elliot continued, "and I didn't see who
entered the room or which guy shot my dad.  I just kind of
tuned out their questions and kept thinking this was my
fault.  If I hadn't let my dad take me on this trip, then he
wouldn't have been at that restaurant or argued with
those guys.  If I hadn't gone on this trip, he'd still be
here."

Elliot began crying even harder after coming to this
conclusion.  Seeing this, I felt it was time for me to step in
and let him know it wasn't his fault.

"Elliot, you didn't do anything to cause this," I told him,
while I held him tightly.  "The fault lies only with the
three men who couldn't hold their booze or their tempers.
All you did was go on a trip with your dad and you can't
punish yourself just because you wanted to spend time
with him.  You'd have probably hurt his feeling if you
hadn't wanted to go.  Your father sounds like the type of
man who wouldn't have let a bunch of drunks harass a
waitress, whether you were there or not.  He couldn't
know, and neither could you that doing the right thing
would cost him so dearly."

Elliot's head suddenly shot up and his blue eyes stared
into my face.

"You really believe that?" he asked.

"Of course I do," I stated, "and I want you to think about
this very carefully.  Was your father the type of man who
would step in to situations like that and try to protect a
defenseless woman?"

"Yeah, he believed you should always try to do the right
thing and help people in need of help," Elliot answered.

Elliot sat quietly for a few seconds considering my
remarks, and then it appeared as if a light had suddenly
gone on in his head.

"Yeah, you're right.  I'm sure he would probably have done
that," he finally concluded.  "He was never one to stand
around and let someone get picked on."

"See, so you had nothing to do with what happened," I
reiterated.  "Your father would have stepped in to help the
waitress, even if you weren't there."

Elliot looked slightly relieved by this revelation and I
could feel some of the tension easing from his shoulders.
It seemed as if he was feeling better than he had a few
minutes before, but he wasn't totally out of the woods yet.

"All this time I felt it was my fault," he repeated.  "I kept
playing it over in my head.  I just knew if I hadn't been
with him, then he would be at work right now, not -- dead."

"And now you see that's not true.  Right?" I asked.

"Well, I guess," Elliot admitted.  "I can see it still might
have happened.  I just wish there had been something I
could have done to stop it from ending like that."

"Like what?" I challenged.  "Could you have stopped your
father from standing up to those men?  Or do you think
you could have made sure they went home, like the
deputies told them?  Or were you planning to fight them
off at the motel?"

"When you say it like that, it sounds silly.  I know I really
couldn't have done any of those things," he confessed,
while looking at me thoughtfully.

"Then you can't go on blaming yourself for what
happened," I told him.

>From that moment on, I sincerely believe things began to
change for Elliot, as he finally allowed himself to release
the guilt he had been harboring up until then.  After a
moment, he went into the bathroom to wash his face and
then I took him with me to the kitchen, so I could fix his
breakfast.  That morning, he didn't merely pick at his
food.  He ate well for the first time since he'd been with
us.  I knew that one talk wouldn't fix everything, but this
was definitely a good start.

Elliot spent the rest of the morning following me around
the house as usual, but I suspect it was merely because it
was what he had become used to doing.  I wanted to get
him involved with some of the household chores, so he'd
have something else to think about other than what had
happened to him and his father.  I had him help me rinse
off the breakfast dishes and load them in the dishwasher,
and then later I had him assist me when I made his lunch.
We had another little chat as we sat down to eat.

"Thank you for everything else you did by the way," he
said, but I wasn't sure what he was referring to.  I guess he
must have realized my confusion, because he added some
clarification to his statement.

"I may not have been talking then, but I've been taking in
everything that's been happening and I remember all the
things you did for my dad's funeral.  It was really nice.
I'm sure my dad would have been happy with everything,
especially that you made sure the people he worked with
were able to come.  He loved his job."

I was actually too choked up to respond to his comment,
so I just leaned over and hugged him in reply.  He hugged
me back and that was more than enough thanks for
anything I had done.

That night, after dinner, Elliot sat down with Danny,
Brandon, Jake and me, so he could share his story with
them.  I felt it would be better, and more cathartic for him
to do this, rather than have me relay the information.

Elliot basically repeated the same story he'd told me, only
this time without blaming himself for what had happened.
He did tell them he thought it was his fault at the time,
but explained I had helped him realize he didn't have
anything to do with it and couldn't have prevented it from
happening.  Danny and Brandon looked up and smiled at
me when they heard Elliot admit this, just to let me know
they appreciated what I'd done for their son.

Now that Elliot was talking, Danny and Brandon decided it
would be a good time to get answers to some of the
questions they had.  Suddenly, they were firing queries at
him, one after the other, with the next one coming just as
soon as Elliot had answered the previous one.

"So what were you and your father doing in this area?"
Brandon wanted to know.

"My dad's been traveling a lot lately, because of his job,
and wanted to make sure we still spent time together.
That's why he made plans for us to take a leafing trip over
the first long weekend from school," Elliot replied.  "We'd
been driving around and checking out the leaves that had
changed color and doing some hiking in the woods.  He
liked to stop at the cider mills and some of the historic
towns too."

"You mentioned you were on a long fall break weekend
from school, but our district hasn't had one recently,"
Danny stated.  "Where did you go to school?"

"I was in a boarding school near my old town, outside of
Pittsburgh," Elliot answered.  "It's called the Benjamin
Rush Academy."

This bit of information caused Danny, Brandon and I to
trade glances at one another and wonder if Elliot expected
to continue attending private schools if he lived with us.

"Are you a good student?" Brandon asked next.

"Yes, I usually get mostly A's and B's," Elliot answered,
"but it's not like I'm a genius or anything."

Elliot seemed to be trying to downplay this fact, so as not
to appear too nerdy or conceited.

"What grade are you in?" Brandon wanted to know.

"I'm a freshman in high school," Elliot replied.

"How old are you and when's your birthday," Danny
followed.

"I turned fourteen last summer," Elliot informed them.
"My birthday is June 29th."

I could see Danny and Brandon both making mental notes
about this information.

"Do you have any other family?" Brandon wondered aloud.

I knew this was bound to come up and we all braced for
the possibility that we might lose Elliot.

"Not that I know of," Elliot confessed.  "The only family I
remember was my grandfather, but he died when I was
little."

I glanced over at Danny and Brandon and thought I saw
them breathe a huge sigh of relief.

"Do you know if there is someone special we should
contact, like your father's lawyer?" Danny wanted to
know.  "I'm sure there are a lot of loose ends we'll need to
tie up, like getting your things and having your school
records transferred."

"I can give you the address for my old school and I have
my house keys, but I don't know of anyone else you
should contact," Elliot explained.  "My dad had lawyer
friends and people he worked with, but I don't know if
there is anyone you should get a hold of."

"Well, that settles that then," Danny stated.  "Is there
anything you'd like to ask us?"

"Um, well... I'm not sure how to ask.  Are you guys... uh,
married?" Elliot inquired.

The boys weren't quite prepared for that question.  It
seems obvious now that it would eventually come up, but
we'd all been so concerned about Elliot and his recovery
that we hadn't given any thought to how he might react to
being in a house full of gay men.

"Oh, well, no... not exactly.  Pennsylvania doesn't
recognize same sex marriage." Danny answered,
awkwardly.

"We've been in love since high school and when we
finished college we decided to commit ourselves to each
other, so our relationship is like a marriage," Brandon
offered.  "Does that make you uncomfortable?"

I think we were all holding our breath, while we waited to
hear Elliot's response.  A lot was riding on his reaction to
this query.  Clearly, he couldn't stay in a home where he
was uncomfortable, yet we had already grown so attached
to him.

"It doesn't make any difference to me, I don't mind,"
Elliot answered.  "I'm just glad to be in a place where
everyone is so nice."

I think we all breathed our second sigh of relief in less
than two minutes.

As I looked up, I could see Brandon was about to ask
another question, but I cut this session short.

"Let's continue this later," I told them.  "I'll bet Elliot is
tired of answering so many questions and could use a
break."

Danny and Brandon didn't seem as if they wanted to stop
here, but they relented to my request.  I think they were
afraid that if Elliot stopped speaking, he might slip back
into his unresponsive state, but I was confident those days
were behind us.  I suggested next that Elliot should go find
Jesse and see what he was up to, while Danny, Brandon,
Jake and I discussed some of the issues that had surfaced
during this impromptu interrogation.

We actually left Elliot alone for the rest of the evening and
merely watched him interact with Jesse and Joshie.  It
was nothing earthshaking or extraordinary, but it was nice
to see him finally acting like a kid and having a little fun.

Later that evening, Elliot woke up screaming from the
terror of his nightmares, but it was not nearly as bad as it
had been the first few times it had happened.  In fact, this
only happened a few more times in the coming weeks and
these episodes appeared to be slowly coming to an end.

Over the next few days, Elliot continued to show positive
signs that he was healing and dealing with his demons.
One of these was that he was interacting more with Dion
and Trey too, and not merely relying on Danny, Brandon
and I.

Strangely enough, the most interesting of Elliot's recent
interactions was with Joshie.  Joshie was with me in the
family room at the time, when Elliott approached us.

"Is this your teddy bear?" Elliot asked, while holding it
up.

"Uh huh," Joshie answered.

"Hmmm, I wonder how he got in my bed then?" Elliot
followed.

"Ummm, you were sad and I thought Teddy would make
you feel better," Joshie told him.  "I brought him to your
room and put him in bed with you."

Elliot smiled broadly.

"Well, that was very thoughtful of you and Teddy helped
me sleep much better, but I don't need him anymore,"
Elliot confessed, before giving Joshie a hug.  "Why don't
you take him back now?  He's already helped me, but I
think he misses you."

"Okay," Joshie said, "but you can have him back, if you
get sad again."

Upon hearing this, Elliot hugged Joshie one more time and
then ruffled his hair.

"Thank you.  That's very sweet of you," Elliot said.

 Joshie let his head drop slightly, after hearing this, as his
way of showing he was slightly embarrassed by the
attention Elliot had given him.

"Yes, you did a very nice thing," I told Joshie, before
Elliot left, "and it helped Elliot a great deal.  I'm very
proud of you for doing that to help him."

Joshie gave me that, 'aw shucks' look and then took off to
put Teddy back in his room.  Elliot shared a knowing grin
with me and then turned his attention to Jesse, who had
come in to watch television.

"You were a big help too," Elliot admitted, while looking in
Jesse's direction.  "It was really nice of you to tell me
about what had happened to you.  It made me feel like I
wasn't so alone.  It also made me feel like I might be okay
again someday, like you are.  As bad as things have been,
it's nice to know that someone else knows what it's like."

"I didn't do anything special," Jesse balked, "but I did
want you to know that I had been there when my father
was killed.  I remember how bad I felt after it happened
and I didn't speak again, until I came here to live."

"I can understand why you stopped speaking, but what
happened that made you start talking again?" Elliot
wanted to know.

"After I came here, I became really good friends with one
of my new brothers," Jesse explained.  "One day we were
riding our bikes and Andrew had an accident.  I could tell
he was hurt, because he wasn't moving, so I rushed back
here and told Dad that Andrew was hurt."

Jesse looked up at me, so I could confirm his story.

"Yep, that's what happened and it was the first time any
of us had heard Jesse talk," I agreed.  "He didn't speak as
clearly as he is now, but he spoke well enough that I could
understand what he was saying.  After he did that, we
raced down to see how badly Andrew was injured.  If Jesse
hadn't spoken, I would have never known Andrew was hurt
and he might not have survived."

"Wow!  You were a hero then," Elliot stated, as he looked
at Jesse.  "Where is Andrew now?"

"He's away at college at the moment, but he'll be coming
home for Thanksgiving and you'll be able to meet him
then," I answered.

This seemed to suffice for now and before long I saw Jesse
leading Elliot out of the family room and on a tour around
the rest of the house.  I think the healing process was
moving into high gear now, which will make life a little
easier for everybody.