The Fremont Saga
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 19 

A Whole Lot Of Explaining

As I was taking my shower, I realized that I had some aches and pains that I didn’t normally have.  In fact I was downright hurting.  I was the last person on the team bus except for the trainers who were loading the equipment bags on the truck.  I stopped to help them and Coach Henderson jumped my case, “Brian, the guys can handle this.  Get on the bus.”

When I entered the bus, there weren’t many empty seats so I sat down in the first one I came to, “Ricky, is it okay if I sit here?”

Ricky started to laugh, “Who am I tell the star of the team and the richest and most talented kid in town that he can’t sit beside me?  No one else wants to sit beside a juvenile delinquent.  Besides my name is Ritchie.”

I started to talk to Ricky in Spanish, “First, I am not the star of the of the team.  Second, you have no right to accuse me of being the richest and most talented kid in town unless you know something I don’t know.  Ricky I know nothing about you, other than your name is Ricardo Alvarez. You never talk to anyone.  Why do you consider yourself to be a juvenile delinquent?”

Ricky sat up straight, “Brian, you speak Spanish better than me and that’s my native language.  I was born in Bolivia.  My parents immigrated to the United States when I was seven.  My Father left my mother when I was ten.  Shortly after that, my Mother died and left me all alone.  I was starving and started to pick people’s pocket for money, in order to live.  The police caught me and that’s why I live in a home for delinquent kids.”

Ricky slouched down, “Brian, this is one of the first times that I have been away from the home unsupervised.  I know that when I get to the home tonight, I’ll go to bed hungry since the evening meal is always at six o’clock.  I’ll be lucky if someone comes picks me up by eight o’clock.  I may even have to walk to the house.  I’m not the most favorite resident, because I won’t play the games the caregivers want.”

I looked at Ricky, “What do you mean by that comment?”

Ricky whispered, “They want us residents to give them blowjobs or even worse.  The head person only agreed to me making the trip this afternoon after telling me that my ass was his when I returned .  He’s been trying to get me to have sex with him for over a year.

It’s a good thing we were talking in Spanish because everyone on the bus would have been getting an education.  I pulled out my cell phone, “Here, call the home and tell them we’ve been delayed and that you won’t be back until after nine.  Tell them that you will catch a ride home with one of the other players.”

After Ricky made the call, I called home and Timmy answered, “This is Timmy, how can I help you?”

“Timothy James, this is your brother, Brian.  We’ll be bringing a friend home for dinner.  Please tell whoever is cooking.  Is Dad there?”

“Daddy, your mean son wants to talk to you.”

Dad came on, “Brian, is there a problem?”

“Yep, there’s a big problem, but it doesn’t have anything to do with me or Tanner.  We’re going to be bringing a friend home for dinner with us.  Could you please call Uncle Dan Tillison?  He needs to hear what Ricky has to say.”

Ricky had tears in his eyes, “Brian, you don’t let any grass grow under your feet, do you?”

When we arrived at the school, we helped the trainers unload our sports bags.  When we arrived at the house, everyone except Timmy and Justin were present.  I introduced Ricky and then asked where Timmy was.

Uncle Archie laughed, “When we left Grandmother Gleason’s house, Timmy was giving your Grandmother a blow by blow account of your game and how he was sure you would be coming home with ten broken bones.  Justin is going to bring him home.  Justin and Timmy were doing Grandmother’s dishes when we left.”

Talk about tight jaws.  My teeth were so tight together that I’m surprised that I didn’t break a tooth.  Timmy came skipping in, “Mother, next time we take a meat ball sandwich to Grandmother, I think we need to put in some extra meat balls.  She ate most of them before she ate her sandwich and other things.  She wants to know if you could make a ham or egg salad sandwich for her lunch tomorrow.”

All of a sudden, Timmy realized there was someone he didn’t know and stopped, “Who’s he?  We don’t have many more places for people to sleep.  I guess he could sleep with us but you big guys hog the bed and squish me.”

“Timmy, this is Ricardo Alvarez, but he would like for us to call him Ritchie or Ricky.”

“Okay, we’ll call him Ritchie or Ricky.  But why can’t he pick just one of those names?  People will forget what they want to say by the time  they say all those names.”

Ricky was laughing, “Look, Timothy James, your name is as long as mine.”

Timmy pointed his finger, “Everyone calls me Timmy and don’t you forget it.”

After dinner, we were doing the dishes when Uncle Dan Tillison arrived. I took Ricky and went to greet him and took him to where the adults were.  “Uncle Dan, you need to hear Ricky’s story so you can help him.  Ricky, tell the people exactly what you told me on the bus.  I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.”

Dad motioned to me and whispered to me, “Brian, you need to chill out.  It’s very evident that you and Tanner are ignoring the fact that Justin is here.  He’s not going to try anything.  If we thought he would, he wouldn’t be here.”

When I went into the kitchen, Justin was sitting at the breakfast bar by himself,  I sat down beside him, “Justin, my Dad just chewed me out because he said it was obvious that I was ignoring you.  I apologize.”

Justin had tears in his eyes, “Brian, I understand why you would have misgivings about me being here.  I promise you that I’m not going to try to do anything to you, Tanner or Timmy.  I have been living in purgatory ever since I got back from Ithaca.  My father has been treating me like I was his personal plaything.”

“I’ve been humiliated to the point that I began to blot out when he would misuse me or beat me.  I have no idea what’s going to happen to me, now that he’s finally in jail.  I don’t have any money or any place to go.  If it hadn’t been for your father getting funds from some foundation to pay my hospital bills, I’d probably be an indentured slave of the medical center.”

I grinned and squeeze him, “Okay, indentured slave, let’s go see what kind of sleeping arrangements we can find for you.”

“Brian, please don’t squeeze me like that.  It hurts.”

I could tell it hurt Justin when we went down the steps to the basement to the rec room, but he couldn’t very well sleep in the kitchen.  I pulled out the hide-a-bed, “I need to go get some bed linens and a blanket.  It’s been a while since anyone slept down here.”

I went to get the linens to make the hide-a-bed.  I checked and Timmy was in the bedroom talking to Tanner and Ron.  When I got to the rec room, Justin was sitting with his hands on his knees on the recliner.  When he heard me, he looked up, “Brian, I don’t understand why your parents and you would even care about me.  What is your relationship with Mr. Larceveque and Mr. Overmeyer?”

“Justin, my parents have been looking after strays all their lives.  So it comes natural to us.  As far as Uncle Archie and Uncle Will, they sorta work for us.  Now, get off your ass and help me make this bed.  When was the last time you had a shower?”

Justin stood, “Do I smell that ripe that you think I need a shower?”

I shook my head no, “Justin, I was just asking.  Do you have any clean clothes with you?”

Justin frowned, “What you see is all I have.”

“Justin, go take a shower and I'll go see if we have any clothes that will fit you.”

“Brian, I can’t take a shower.  They told me at the hospital not to get the bandage on my wound wet.”

“Go take a sponge bath.  I’ll be right back with some clean clothes.”

I went to get some clean clothes and when I entered the bathroom off the rec room.  I physically got ill and lost my meat ball sandwich.  The bruise marks on Justin’s body were everywhere.  More importantly the bandage on his wound was covered with blood.  “Justin, we need to change your bandage.”

I got the things to change the bandage and was doing so when we heard the door open.  Justin was complaining, “Brain, that hurts.”

I continued to pull the congealed bandage away from the area around his wound,  “Brian, stop.  I can’t take much more of the pain.”

Dad came down the stairs followed by Uncle Will and Uncle Archie.  Dad was yelling, “Brian, what the heck are you doing to Justin?”

I started to answer, “I’m trying to change his band…”

I stopped when I realized the implications of Dad’s question, “What does it look like? I was trying to change the bandage on his leg.”

I handed the materials I was using to Dad, “Here, you take care of the crybaby.  I was just doing what you told me to do.  I’m out of here.”

I bounded up the steps and went to get my wallet and my jacket.  Timmy looked at me, “Where are you going, Brian?”

I hugged him, “I need to go.  I’ll talk to you later.”

I ran out of the house and slammed the door.  I started walking without having a destination in mind.  I wound up in the park sitting on a bench near where I had found Timmy.  I was sitting there trying to figure out why Dad and Mother didn’t trust me.  They always seemed to think I was guilty of doing things without knowing the facts.  Why would Dad even think that I would have been hurting Justin deliberately?

I heard Timmy, “Brian, please come home.”

“Timmy, I don’t have a home anymore.  The Bensons don’t care about me.’

Tanner spoke, “Brian, you’re overreacting.  Your parents are frantic.  They’re both out driving around looking for you and so are Uncle Archie and Uncle Will.”

The voices were quiet and all of a sudden Timmy was sitting on my lap and Tanner was sitting beside me of the bench. Timmy was holding my face, “Brian, you gotta come home.  We need you.  Justin and Ricky think it’s their fault that you ran away.”

I hadn’t realized that Ricky had been in the house.  “Where is Ricky now?”

Tanner answered, “He’s in the rec room with Justin.  They’re going to sleep on the hide-a-bed that you made up.  Come on, we need to go home so we can get the littlest wizard to bed.”

When we went into the house, Tanner went to the phone, “I’m going to call your parents and Uncle Will and Uncle Archie and tell them that you’re here.  I’ll be up as soon as I talk to Justin and Ricky.”

I brushed my teeth and crawled into bed.  When Tanner came into the room I warned him and Timmy, “I don’t want to talk to anyone until I cool off.”

Tanner grinned, “I already left a note telling them that you weren’t in the mood to talk.  So rest in peace.”

Timmy woke me, “Can we please go running?”

“Yep, you wake your lazy brother and I’ll go check on Ricky and Justin and see if they want to go with us.”

When I got to the rec room, “Justin was wearing the sweat suit that I had given him before I tried to change his bandage and Ricky was wearing his briefs.  I touched Ricky on the arm, “Rick, we’re going to go running.  Do you want to go with us?”

Rick sprung up and looked around trying to get acclimated, he suddenly realized where he was, “Good morning, Brian.  I’d go with you, but the only clothes I have are the ones I arrived with yesterday.”

I handed him his jeans, “Here put these on and I’ll get you some clean clothes in the bedroom.”

I touched Justin and he curled into a ball and whimpered, “Please don’t beat me.  Just do what you’re going to do, but don’t hit me.”

I shook him, “Justin, it’s Brian.  I’m not going to beat you.  We are  going to go running. Do want to go with us?”

“I’m sorry, Brian.  Brian, I don’t think I can run.  I’m still a little stiff.  Why don’t I walk to the place where you go running to get my leg limbered up?”

“Okay, we’ll meet you in the kitchen as soon as we get Ricky, or Ritchie, suited up.”

Tanner and Timmy were in the kitchen fixing coffee.  Timmy looked up, “Uncle Will and Uncle Archie aren’t going with us, today.  They said they were too pooped to pop, whatever that means.”

As we were walking to the park, it was evident that Justin was really hurting.  I turned to him, “Justin, go back to the house.  Do you want one of us to go with you?”

“Brian, I don’t think I can make it back by myself.  My leg is numb.”

I turned to Tanner, “Tanner, go get the car.  There has to be a problem.  We need to get Justin to the hospital.”

Instead of Tanner returning, it was Dad, Uncle Will and Uncle Archie.  Dad asked, “What’s the problem?”

I looked at Dad, “Mr. Benson, Justin says that his leg is numb and he doesn’t think he can make it back to the house.  He needs to go to the hospital.  Something has to be wrong.”

I ignored Dad as Ricky and I helped Justin into the van.  After the van had departed, Timmy frowned, “I guess we don’t have time to run today.”

I looked at my watch, “Tell you what, Timothy James, we’ll take one quick lap around the short trail today.  Let’s hit the road, guys.”

When we arrived back at the house, Tanner was fixing breakfast.  Ricky, Timmy and I went to take a shower, which we did all together to save time.  As we were getting dressed, I kept handing Ricky clothes to wear.

Timmy was ready before Ricky and me, and Ricky commented after Timmy had departed, “Is Timmy for real?  No eight year old can run like he did this morning, and the fact that he was in the shower with two teenagers didn’t seem to phase him.”

“Rick, Timmy is an exceptional young man.”

As we were departing for school, Mother took me aside, “Brian, we need to sit down and talk.”

“Mother, Dad accused me very unjustly last night of doing something to deliberately hurt Justin, when I was only trying to be helpful.  It seems that ever since I started high school, the two of your are always accusing me of doing things without knowing the facts.  What do you want me to do?  Stop living.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I think that Brian is becoming a bit thin skinned. However, I can understand that he might think that his parents are judging him a bit harshly.  Looking back on things, it sort of does look as if the first thing that comes to their minds where Brian is concerned is to think that he is doing something he shouldn't. 

I actually find that strange, since Brian is one of the most considerate people around.  He does tend to speak his mind, and he tends to tease, but he would give his worst enemy the chance to do better.  

I suppose that given the fact that Justin had been bothering Tanner, might have made an ordinary youngster more than a little suspicious, but we are talking about Brian.  He might be impulsive, but once Justin and he had that little talk, Brian was really trying to help.

It might have looked to Beau, as though Brian was hurting Justin, but to assume that Brian was doing it on purpose was unfair, to say the least. 

Let's hope that Brian and Becca can get all this straightened out soon.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 04/16/10