Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2000 22:40:24 EDT
From: Bwstories8@aol.com
Subject: The Castaway Hotel-2  chapter 19

Legal Notice:
The following story contains descriptions of graphic sexual acts.
The story is a work of fiction and has no basis in reality.

Don't read this story if:
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**If it is illegal to read this type of material where you live,
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against violators.

I wish to extend my thank you to Ed for his editorial assistance with this
chapter.

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		*    *     *     *     *     *     *     *

The Castaway Hotel -Book 2 - by BW  (Young-Friends)
Copyright 2000 by billwstories
Chapter 19 - A child fights back.                                   June 2000

It was now the last day of February and it had been a hectic time.  Cole
had come to my office at lunchtime to discuss a problem with me. It seems
that the boy who had been calling him names and causing him problems had
started in on him again.  It had been going on for a couple of days now.
Cole had tried everything he could think of to end the situation, but he
was now out of ideas and he came to me for help.  We were in my office, in
the middle of our conversation, when I heard a loud argument in the hall.
I sprang from behind my desk, went into the corridor, and I immediately
discovered the source of the disturbance.  There were two boys having a
major disagreement.

Cole had followed me out into the corridor and we looked over the
situation.  I recognized both young men.  The one with his back toward me
was Henry Prosser, the boy who had been causing Cole problems.  He was an
eighth grader and his friends called him Hank.  The other boy was a sixth
grader named Eddie Weeks.  Eddie was small for his age and his blond hair
and slight build gave him an almost fragile appearance.  Eddie was
screaming at Hank and saying something about being through with Hank's
tormenting him.  I moved toward the two boys when I saw Eddie lift his arm
towards Hank.  He was holding a small pistol in his right hand.  I
immediately told Cole to go in and have my secretary call 911 and I walked
forward to see what I could do.

"Eddie."  He didn't seem to hear me.  "Eddie, hold on there.  Don't do
anything foolish.  Let me help you and we'll see if we can't solve whatever
problems you're having together."

He looked up at me, when it registered with him what I was saying.  "No,
Mr. Currie.  I have to take care of this myself.  Hank's not going to do
this to me any more.  I'm not going to let him.  I'm going to make him stop
it right now."  I could see that Hank was very nervous and I was afraid
that he might try something foolish, something that might provoke Eddie.

"Eddie, what's the problem?  It can't be all that bad."

"It is, Mr. Currie, and I'm tired of him calling me names, beating me up,
and stealing my lunch money.  He's done in for the last time and I'm going
to make sure that he doesn't do it to me or any other boy or girl again."

I had heard other reports that Hank was a bully but nothing in such detail.
I moved cautiously forward until I was even with Hank.  I was talking to
Eddie the whole time, trying to get him to relax and put down his weapon.
Just as I got to Hank, I grabbed the boy's shoulder and pulled him roughly
behind me.  He must have stumbled and fallen to the floor because I heard a
thump of something hitting the hard tile floor just as I heard the gun go
off.  Eddie had pulled the trigger and I felt the bullet hit me in the
abdomen.  I looked up at Eddie and he was trying to see where Hank was
lying on the floor behind me.  He must have seen Hank, as he looked between
my legs and he lowered his gun to shoot a second time.  I started to move
quickly toward Eddie as the second shot went off.  I felt a sharp pain in
my left leg and fell toward the floor as I heard the crack of a third round
being fired.  This time I felt a pain in my chest and I collapsed on the
hard, cold floor.

By this time, a couple of teachers had come up from behind Eddie and had
wrestled the pistol from his hand.  One teacher hung onto him while the
other bent over me to offer assistance.  Cole came screaming to my side and
tears were gushing down his face as I was rolled over onto my back.  Now
there was a flurry of activity in the hall and a number of people were
trying to assist me.  Before long I could hear the sounds of multiple
sirens pulling up in front of the school and soon there were police and
paramedics clustered around me and hovering over me.  The police were
talking to witnesses and taking statements as the paramedics tried to stop
the bleeding and treat my wounds.  I was surprised that I wasn't in much
pain.  I was told later that I was suffering from shock and that had dulled
my senses.  I was loaded onto a stretcher and I looked over to see Cole
crying hysterically while being restrained by one of the male teachers.  I
soon found myself in the back of the ambulance and we were on our way to
the hospital.

I was very woozy at this point, probably from the loss of blood, and I was
having trouble remaining conscious.  The last thing I remember was being
wheeled into a treatment room and doctors working frantically on me before
I totally zoned out.

Back at the school, the police had taken Eddie Weeks into custody, the
teachers had rounded up my boys and had them in my office with Cole, and
the head teacher was trying to regain some semblance of order within the
school building.  Trey thought of calling Sally and telling her what
happened and soon she was at the school taking care of the boys there.  My
secretary called the high school, explained the situation to the principal
there, and she asked him to have a guidance counselor to round up my other
sons and explain to them what had happened.  Sally asked her if she knew
where the van keys were and my secretary retrieved them from my desk
drawer.  She knew that I always kept my keys there while I was working.
Sally loaded my boys into the van, drove to the high school to pick up the
others, and then drove them all to the hospital to be near me.  She knew
that none of them would be able to function until they knew how I was
doing.

As soon as my high school boys were loaded into the vehicle, they started
asking questions about what had happened.  Cole told most of the story but
the others had to fill in gaps each time he started to cry again.  Soon,
they were all racing down the hospital corridors to the waiting area for
the ER.  Sally tried to find out whatever information she could glean from
the receptionist, after she had the boys somewhat settled down.  First, she
had to explain who she was, inform them that all my sons were in the
waiting room, and she was acting on their behalf.  They finally gave into
her requests for information and they were willing to communicate with her
about my condition.  Basically, all they told her was that I had three
gunshot wounds, I was taken to the OR, and she would be told about my
condition as soon as anything more was learned.  She went back to rejoin
the boys and she relayed what little information she had.

The boys were all upset and they were asking her a thousand questions about
what was going to happen to me, what they were going to do while I was in
the hospital, and what was going to become of our family.  She tried to
reassure them by telling them that she would stay with them at our house as
long as I remained hospitalized.  She also told them that nothing would
happen to the family and that she would be there for them and me until I
was back on my feet.  They calmed down a little but they were all basket
cases at this point.  The older boys were trying to comfort the younger
ones and the boys were all clinging to each other like Linus to his
security blanket.

In the operating room, the doctors were patching up my injuries and pumping
blood back into my drained body.  I don't know how long they worked on me,
but finally they finished and I was wheeled into recovery.  One of the
doctors went out to inform Sally about what they had done and to update her
on my condition.

"Hello, I'm Dr. Patel and I was one of the surgeons that operated on
Mr. Currie.  I understand that you are the person representing the family."

"Yes.  I'm a close friend and Josh has given me temporary guardianship of
his sons if anything should happen to him.  He did that well over a year
ago and I hoped that I would never be forced to assume those duties."

"I understand.  Let me offer my sympathy over what has happened and let me
fill you in on what we did for him.  Mr. Currie was the victim of three
gunshot wounds and he lost a considerable amount of blood.  Fortunately, it
was only a .22 caliber handgun used in the assault or the damage could have
been much worse.  We gave him immediate transfusions of blood and then we
operated on him once his vital signs were stable.  One of the gunshots
shattered his left kneecap.  We've done what we can for now, but we will
need to replace the original bone with an artificial knee joint as soon as
he has recovered sufficiently.  Another bullet went through his intestines.
We had to sew up several areas where the bullet punctured the tissue.  The
last shell went through his right lung and collapsed it.  We have repaired
the damage, re- inflated the lung, and we are pumping antibiotics into his
system to fight against infection."

"Will he recover and will he be able to function as he did before?"

"I suspect that all of his wounds will heal but there may have to be some
changes in his life-style.  He may have to change his diet until his
intestinal tract heals, he might have some lingering respiratory problems,
and he probably won't be able to run or compete in sports with the knee
damage he sustained.  Other than that, I expect that he should recover
fully."

"You don't know how relieved that makes me.  I was worried that I might
have to assume full responsibility for all of his sons.  That would not be
easy on any of us."

"He has a lot of sons and they are a handful, then?"

"He has eleven boys but they are wonderful young men.  It's just that I
work a great deal and I've lived on my own for years.  I wasn't sure that
I'd be able to adjust to such a change."

"Eleven sons?  I didn't think that people had that many children any more."

"They're adopted.  He's taken in boys who needed him badly and he's done a
wonderful job with them.  I've got to go tell the boys that he'll be fine."

"You do that and I'll help make sure he is.  We don't want those boys to
lose their father now, do we?"

"Indeed not.  Thank you, Doctor.  I must excuse myself and go back out with
them.  They are anxious for any news about their father.  Thank you,
again."

"I'm glad that I could help."

Sally went out and told the boys about my condition.  They were still upset
but relieved that I would recover.  They were also quite shocked to learn
that I had been struck by three separate bullets.  They knew one, maybe
two, but they had never imagined that all three bullets struck me.

"When can we see him?" Andrew asked.  Sally could see the traces of the
tracks from his tears.  He had tried to wipe them away but they still lined
his face.

"The doctors will let us know when he has come out from under the
anesthetic and is moved to his own room.  They let you see him then, but
I'm not sure how many they'll let into the room at one time."

"We don't care if they only let us enter in small groups," Kevin told her,
"we just want to see him."

"Yes," Dustin added.  "We need to see him with our own eyes and tell for
ourselves that he's okay."

"We don't know what we'd have done without him," Ricky chimed in.  "I can't
even remember what it was like before I lived with him.  He changed my
whole life and I still need him."

"We all need him," Pat offered in support of Ricky's statement.  "I didn't
realize how much until the past couple of weeks.  He's taught me a lot and
I need him to keep showing me when I'm not acting very smart."

"Don't worry, boys, the doctors only see minor problems ahead.  I think I
understand how you feel and I'm glad that you appreciate who he is and what
he's done for you.  I'm sure that he would have downplayed what you just
told me, but he could never minimize how much he loves all of you and how
much he cares about you.  You are as important to him as he is to you.  He
would do anything for you boys, even more than he did for that boy in
school when he stepped in front of him to keep him from getting shot.  He
sacrificed his own body to save that young man and there's no telling how
far he'd go to help one of you.  You're are indeed very lucky to have found
each other."

"We can thank you for part of that," Trey responded.  "You were the one
that led most of us into his arms and his home.  We owe you too and we're
also grateful that you are here for us now that we need you."

"Trey, I wouldn't be anywhere else.  Josh asked me if I would be willing to
assume guardianship of you, if anything should happen to him.  I was
hesitant at first, but then I thought that I couldn't do anything less than
he had.  I finally agreed to assume that responsibility.  I didn't ever
suspect that I would actually be called upon to fill in, but I would never
turn my back on you boys or shirk the promise that I made to Josh.  I'm
here for as long as you need me, but I hope that Josh will be taking over
again as quickly as he can."

"Nothing against you, Aunt Sally," Dion told her, "but we do too.  We love
you but we'd prefer to have Dad back."

"And that's exactly how it should be.  No offense taken."

The whole group continued to wait but Sally soon realized that it would be
some time before the boys would be able to see me.  She talked to several
nurses who suggested that it would be early evening, at least, before I'd
be moved and ready for visitors.  She talked the boys into going out to eat
first and then they could return to visit.  Reluctantly they agreed and
Sally took them to a restaurant for dinner.  The boys were very quiet
throughout the meal and they only picked at their food.  Sally tried to
conduct a conversation with them but the boys didn't feel much like
talking, either.  When the meal was finally over, they all loaded back into
my van, thanked Sally for taking them out, and they drove back to the
hospital in nearly total silence.  Ricky was holding Andrew and Sammy was
sitting on Danny's lap.  The two little ones were probably the most deeply
affected by this incident, especially now with the uncertainty of their
grandparents in their lives.  The older boys did everything they could to
reassure the little ones.  Sally happened to notice this, as she looked in
the rear-view mirror, and she just smiled to herself.

After they arrived at the hospital, they went to the front desk and
inquired as to my condition and my location.  After a couple of phone
calls, they were told that I was being moved to my own room and it would be
about another half an hour before they would be able to see me.  The boys
dragged Sally to the gift shop to look around.  The clerk was uneasy with
all of the boys wandering around, but she needn't have worried.  The boys
were looking for a gift to purchase for me.  It was Graham who saw the item
that they all agreed upon and they asked Sally if they could borrow the
money to purchase it.  She agreed, they made their purchase, and they went
back out to the lobby to wait.

They sat there for another fifteen or twenty minutes when there was a phone
call to the front desk and the lady announced that the boys could go to my
room.  They got on the elevator and took it to the third floor.  They
disembarked and followed the signs to room 317.  A nurse stopped them
before entering and questioned who they were.  Sally explained the
situation and the nurse looked the group over.  Finally she announced that
it would be all right for them to go in, but they were to keep the noise
down and not get me too excited.  They agreed and walked in.

I was lying on the bed, starting to drift back off to sleep.  I opened my
eyes when I heard the door open and I was thrilled to see my boys again.
They walked in and surrounded my bed, each one reaching out to touch me
somewhere.  Sally stood just inside the entrance smiling.  They were all
talking, telling me how worried they had been and wanting to know how I was
feeling.  I explained that I was a little sore but I was fine.  I told them
the doctors said that I could probably come home in a few days but I would
probably have to use crutches for a while.  Maybe I downplayed what the
doctors had told me, but I didn't want the boys to go home and worry all
evening.  They didn't need that and I didn't want to have to worry about
them losing sleep over me.

Quietly, Cole and Graham worked their way up beside me and handed me a
small bag.  I took it from them, thanked them, and opened it.  It was one
of those little statues that said 'The World's Greatest Dad".  Tears
started streaming down my cheeks and I just looked up and thanked them.
Graham announced that it was from all of them and I just smiled and said,
"I know".  The boys visited for a short time before the nurse came in to
shoo them out, telling them that I needed my rest.  They all came over and
kissed me good night, with Andrew, Sammy, and Graham needing a helping hand
from their brothers to be able to reach me without jiggling my body or
bumping my wounds.  I kissed each and every one of them, thanked Sally for
all of her help, and bid them all good-bye.  It wasn't long after they left
that my medications kicked in and I drifted off to sleep.

Sally had driven by her place on the way back to our house and she picked
up a bunch of her things to take with her.  She took enough to last her for
a couple of weeks because she thought she might need to stay there, even
after I got home, to help out.  The boys took care of each other and made
sure that everyone remembered to wear clothes at all times.  There was a
great deal of doubling and tripling up in beds, as everyone desired some
company.  Kevin and Dustin loaned the old master bedroom to the youngest
group, as Ricky, Cole, Graham, Sammy, and Andrew all slept together that
evening.  Dustin and Kevin slept in the jungle room.  Trey slept with Dion
and Pat slept in with Danny.  Everyone was still upset over what had
happened and no one wanted to spend the night alone.  Sally slept in my
room and everyone said a special prayer of thanks that evening, thanking
God for letting me survive the attack.

The next day I spent much of my time alone and I had plenty of time to
think about a great many things.  One of them was to consider if I should
retire early, possibly a disability related retirement.  I finally decided
that would be a drastic reaction to what happened and I decided to keep my
job, and everything else, the way it had been.  The next decision was when
I should schedule having the artificial knee put in.  I made a tentative
choice of a date, but I would have to talk to Sally first, as she would be
stuck holding down the fort until I got better.

The next day at lunch, Sally popped in to see me.  She had Judge Shay in
tow.  They both asked how I was feeling and they assured me that everything
else was fine.  Steve was also helping to run errands with the boys and
help take care of things.  They inquired about the details of what had
happened when I got shot and Steve asked my feelings about what should
happen to the boy.  I told him that the boy had been acting out of
frustration and that the intended victim had been harassing him, and Cole
as well.  I told him that the boy should receive psychological counseling,
but no punitive sentence.  He told me that he wouldn't be handling this
case, because of our friendship, but he would pass my suggestion along to
the other family court judge.

I discussed an operation date with Sally and we came up with several
possibilities, depending on the doctor's schedule.  I told her to let the
boys know I was fine and she just laughed and said that she wouldn't be
able to keep them away from the hospital with several teams of horses.  She
said that they would all be over after she got out of work and I would be
able to tell them myself.  Then she told me about how my gift was selected
the previous evening and some of the discussion that had taken place before
they settled on that little statue.  She said that more than worrying about
what would happen to them, the boys were more concerned about me.  Their
primary concern was that I wouldn't have any long-term effects from the
shooting.  She told me that she went up to check on them in the middle of
the night and she explained to me who had slept where and with whom.  My
only thought was that I was hoping that the boys wore their underwear to
bed.  From her lack of reaction to her account of checking on them, I
assumed that they had.

I was told that reports of the shooting had even made national attention.
It wasn't a lead article, because no one was killed, but it did receive a
small mention in every national publication of prominence.  The boys told
me that I was being portrayed as a hero for saving Henry Prosser from
getting shot, possibly killed.  They said that they were very proud of me,
but that I was never to do anything like that again.  I replied, "Yes,
daddies" in my best childish voice ant they informed me that they were
serious.  They said they liked the idea of my being a hero, but they wanted
to keep me as a dad more.  I told them that I couldn't promise not to do it
again, if a similar situation arose, but I did tell them that in the future
I would be much more careful.  They accepted my response, noting that, even
before they asked, they didn't think I could make that promise to them.
When they left, I got another round of kisses and a great many 'get well
soon' wishes.

When the doctor came in the next day, we set up my surgery.  I would just
stay in the hospital until it was done, three days hence.  The doctor told
me that my recovery was helped by the fact that I was still fairly young,
but more so that I had kept myself in decent shape.  I told him that it
wasn't hard to stay in shape with eleven sons to chase around.  He laughed
and told me that he didn't know about that and he didn't think that he
wanted to find out, either.

On my third night in the hospital, I had a surprise visitor.  Sally and the
boys had just left a few minutes before, to go and get dinner, when in
walked Hank Prosser and his parents.  We exchanged greetings and then
Mr. Prosser got the ball rolling.

"Hank, what do you want to tell Mr. Currie?"

"Mr. Currie, I just wanted to thank you for saving me the other day."  The
whole time Hank was speaking, he was looking at my bed and not at me.

"And what else did you want to say?" his father prodded him again.

"That I know that it was mostly my fault for picking on Eddie and that I
promise that I won't do that ever again."

"To just Eddie or all of the other children?" I asked him.

"To anyone," he responded.  "That includes Cole."  This time he looked into
my eyes.

"We've learned a lot about what Hank has been doing," his mother added,
"and we're going to make sure that it doesn't happen again.  We hadn't
known any of this prior to the shooting, but Eddie Weeks and his parents
have filled us in on much of it.  We won't say that what Eddie did was
right, but we can see that Hank helped cause his reaction."

"We want you to accept our apology, as well as Hank's," his father
continued.  "We feel responsible for his actions and, therefore, partially
responsible for what happened to you.  Hank is going to repay all of the
children he took money from and he's going to apologize to them and their
parents in person.  He also got a good ass whoopin' for what he did but I
think that knowing that he was almost shot for what he did scared him
enough so he doesn't repeat it."  The Prossers were good working class
parents who had always shown a great concern for their children (Hank had a
younger sister).  They had always attended school functions and
parent-teacher conferences.  I knew they would be true to their word.

"Hank, I hope that you've learned a lesson.  There's an old saying that
states, 'what goes around, comes around'.  It almost came around to you in
the worst possible way.  I was going to be speaking with you that
afternoon, anyway, because Cole and I were just talking about what you were
doing to him when I heard the commotion in the hall.  You're lucky that
Cole had kept me in my office telling me about his problem or I might not
have been around to help you."

"Yes, sir.  I'm sorry and you can whoop my butt too, when you come back to
school.  I know that I deserve it."

"I'm not sure that will be necessary, if you've truly learned your lesson.
I will keep it in mind, though, if you should start up again."

"Yes, sir.  Thank you, but I won't do it again."

"Good.  I'm glad to hear that."

I said good-bye to Hank and his parents and they left.  I thought about
what had happened and I concluded that I wished that I had more parents
like the Prossers.  They didn't have much money, they didn't have a lot of
degrees, and they weren't the picture of the ideal family, but they loved
their children, took responsibility for their own actions and those of
their children, and they did their best to instill a good moral code into
their children.  Children sometimes refuse to follow their parents example,
and rebel, but the parents were still doing their job and Hank was going to
fall into line, whether he liked it or not.  It may have taken an incident
like this to drive the point home to Hank, but he would have gotten it
sooner or later.

When Sally and the boys returned, I told them about my visit.  Cole piped
up and told me that I should take Hank up on his offer and spank him good
and hard.  I knew where he was coming from but I would follow- up on this
with him later.  I visited with the boys for another hour or so and then I
told them to go home and do their homework and get ready for bed.  As they
were leaving, Danny and Dustin hung back.  They promised me that, as the
two oldest, they would take care of the boys so Sally wouldn't be bothered
and they guaranteed me that all the boys would wear clothes as long as
Sally was there.  I thanked them for their help and they left.  Once more,
I was proud of my young men.

Two days later I had another surprise visitor.  This time it was Eddie
Weeks and his parents.  He had been released into their custody after the
initial hearing but he had stayed home from school for a while.  They came
in shortly after lunch.  Eddie walked in with his head hung low and he
walked up to my bed.  He looked at me and looked up and down at my body,
checking out all the bandages he could see.

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Currie.  I didn't mean to hurt you.  I like you.
You're a nice principal.  I feel really bad that I hurt you like that.  I
just couldn't stand Hank picking on me like he did and I was going to stop
him from doing it any more.  I didn't want to hurt you.  Will you forgive
me?"

"Yes, Eddie.  I'll forgive you but only if you promise me that you'll talk
to me first if you have any more problems."

"I promise, Mr. Currie.  I'll always come to you first."  I reached out and
took his hand and he lifted my hand up and held it against his face.  His
parents stood back and watched the scene.  He had very good and caring
parents, as well, but he had just reached the breaking point and did
something foolish.  I knew his father had handguns, shotguns and rifles, in
his house.  He was a hunter and he had his own farm and used them at
various times when slaughtering a cow or a pig.  He had taught Eddie how to
use and respect those weapons but Eddie forgot his training in his rage.  I
don't blame him or his parents.

"Mr. Currie," Eddie's father began, "we're all very sorry about what
happened.  Eddie has felt real bad about everything, especially about you.
We've had several talks about what he did and I can assure you that he
won't ever do that again.  Right, Eddie?"

"Yes, Papa.  I am sorry, Mr. Currie.  I hope that you don't hate me for
that but I could understand it if you did.  I still like you, though."

"And I like you, Eddie, and I accept your apology.  You behave and I'll see
you in school when I get back."

They left my room and I thought about their visit.  Both boys and their
parents had come to me to apologize and promise that they wouldn't do
anything like that again.  I guess this didn't end all that badly.  Another
lesson learned and I was the only one who was hurt.

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