Tip & Ty
by: E Walk

(Copyright 2007 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

 

Chapter 39
New Kid In Town

This is Zack.

I practically had to put on a jock strap to contain my excitement about what might happen after Mark and I had the children settled.  Golly gee whiz, he is so beautiful.  I decided that I had better go help him with dinner but before I had a chance to do anything, Bobby was walking around banging a pot lid, “Dinner is being served in the dining room immediately.”

Needless to say, the banging sound got everyone’s attention and we assembled in the dining room.  I don’t know how Mark did it but he could make even the simplest dinner look like it was fit for a king.  After a short prayer of thanks, the eight of us started to eat.  It seemed weird to not have any extra people with us tonight.

We had just finished our fresh orange slice and coconut salad when the doorbell rang.  Bobbie excused himself and went to answer. He came back with a very thin young man who looked to be maybe 16 or 17.  He looked rather grubby and Bobby started, “Nano Mark, he says his name is David and he talks funny.  When I talk to him, he just shakes his head like he can’t hear me.”

Mark looked at the young man, “David, can you hear me?”  I watched as Mark was talking and he was moving his fingers like he was sending some sort of message.”

The young man looked at Mark with his bright eyes, “Thank you sir, yes I’m deaf and yes I’m starved.”

Billy looked at the young man, “What does deaf mean?”

Mark quickly stated, “Billy, I want you all to put you hands over your ears then push as hard as you can and then I will talk to you.  I want you to see if you can tell what I am saying to you.”

Mark turned away and started to talk quietly and nobody reacted.  Mark turned around and indicated that everyone should take their hands from their ears and Mark frowned, “How come no one is doing what I asked them to do?”

 

Billy was almost crying, “But Nano, we couldn’t hear what you were saying.”

Nano smiled, “Now, you know how this young man must feel.  He can’t hear what we are saying.  Zack, show David to the bathroom and let him get cleaned up while the children and I get the rest of the food and fix a place for David.”  Mark had been signing the entire time he was speaking.

Bobby looked at Mark, “Are you nervous or something?  You keep moving your hands.”

Mark laughed, “Bobby, I am talking to David in ASL.  He can see what I am saying as I move my hands.  It’s almost like learning another language.  I took some courses in it when I was in college, so I would be able to talk to someone like David if I ever met them.  I guess it is a good thing that I did.  Now I am going to introduce each of you to David, so he knows who you are”

After the introductions were completed, I showed David to the bathroom and handed him a wash cloth and a towel.  I waited outside the door while he took care of his business.

This is Ty.

Not only is Mark a Nanny, but I think he is about to become more of a hero than he already is.  When Zack and the guest David returned, David looked like a new person.  There was place set for him across from Mark and next to Bobby.  Mark set it up that way so he could sign for David if there was any conversation.

David couldn’t care if there was any conversation, since he was too busy scarfing down the food on his plate.  He looked up, “May I please have more?  I haven’t eaten for two days.  I was trying to save my money and this is surely better than anything that we had in the home.”

Mark left and returned with the pan and let David help himself.  Zack took a little more of the goulash but everyone else passed because they were already stuffed.

As David was finishing his dinner, Mark started and signed what he was saying, “Tip and Ty, why don’t you go get the children ready for bed, while I do the dishes?  Zack, you take David to our extra bedroom and make sure he gets a shower and has some clean clothes to put on.  I’ll read the children a story when they are ready.” 

As soon as Zack left with our guest, Mark looked at me, “Ty, would you please call Philip Burns.  There is more here than meets the eye and I don’t feel very good about what might have happened to David.  Quite frankly, he appears to me to be very intelligent and I want to know what he is running from.”

Mark turned to Tip, “Tip, please go make sure that the children are okay until Ty can get in touch with Mr. Burns.”

This is Zack again.

I took this David person to the second bedroom in our apartment and showed him the shower.  I went to get his backpack that he had with him, so I could see if he had any clean clothes.

He grabbed the back pack and pleaded, “Please don’t rob me.”

There was a pencil and pad of paper sitting on the stand and I wrote, “David, I am not trying to rob you.  I just wanted to see if you had any clean clothes.”

David sat down beside me and started to sob, “I’m sorry.  Everything I have is in the backpack and I don’t have any clean clothes.”

I didn’t say anything, but just pulled David close to me.  I was surprised when he looked up at me and whispered, “Zack, I feel safe here.  I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”

Oh I wish I knew how to sign.  I grabbed the pad of paper and frantically wrote. “David, go take a shower while I go find some clothes for you to wear.  I’ll put them on your bed.”

David started to shed his clothes and before I could leave, he was standing there naked.  I couldn’t believe that a teenager would be so open.  Most teenagers would be a little more reserved and waited until I had left the room.  David seemed oblivious to the fact that he was naked.  It didn’t take me long to ascertain that he was better endowed than most grown men. 

David went into the shower and I went to see what clothes we might have that would fit him.  David appeared to be about 6 feet tall like Mark and me but he was much more slender.  I grabbed a pair of bikini briefs and Mark had a pair of warm up pants that had elastic in the waist with a draw string so David would be able to adjust the waist and keep them up around his slender hips.

I pulled out an old Kansas City Chiefs sweat shirt and a pair of clean socks.  I took the clothes and laid them on the bed where David would be sleeping and went to make a report to Mark about what I had seen.  Mark had the children at the table, and they were eating a piece of carrot cake. 

Billy looked up, “Where’s David?”

I thought to myself, ‘I think David has an admirer.’   I looked at Billy, “David is taking a shower.  He’ll be here shortly.”

Ty came in and announced, “Philip and Pam will be arriving shortly.”

This is Mark.

I looked at Zack and I could tell that he wanted to talk.

I motioned for him to follow me so we could talk in private but we were interrupted when David returned with a huge grin and started to sign. “These briefs are obscene.  They hardly cover anything.”

I laughed and signed back, “We'll talk about that later.  Now sit down and I’ll get you a piece of cake.”

I had the children put their dishes in the dish washer and I took them to brush their teeth and read a short story to them.  As I was finishing the story, Billy asked, “Is David going to stay with us?”

I looked at the four children and shrugged my shoulders, “David will be spending the night with us.  It will be up to your Daddy to decide what is going to happen to David.  That is why Mr. and Mrs. Burns are coming to talk to your Daddy and David.  Now let’s get you tucked into bed.  Tomorrow is a school day and it is already after eight o’clock.”

After I had the children settled, I went to find the others.  Everyone was in the living room and Philip and Pam were already seated there.  It was awkward because none of the other people knew how to sign.  David, must have been able to read lips because when I went to introduce the Burnses to him, he looked up and said, “I know Mr. and Mrs. Burns.”

I sat so David could see me and I started to sign, “David, please tell us all about yourself and why you are here.”

David looked at me and signed, “Do you want me to try and talk or use ASL.  I find it difficult to talk because I don’t know how words are to sound.  If you had a computer, that would be the best way for me to communicate because I can express myself fairly well when writing.”

I relayed what he said to the rest of the people and signed, “I’ll go get my laptop and maybe we can hook it up to the television so everyone can read what you write.”

I had done several presentations in college using this format, so it was a simple matter for me to set the connection up.  I started by typing in Blue print, “David, tell us the basics about you first, and then you can tell us what you think we should know.”

David started to write in red, “My name is David Wright.  I am 17, will turn 18 in July.  I have been attending Oklahoma State University since I finished high school a year early.  What else do want to know?”

I took the computer and wrote in blue, “How and why are you here?”

David started to write in red, “I ran away from a group home, because I was feeling threatened.  I hitched a ride and the trucker who picked me up lives here in Kansas City and he let me off right outside the entrance to your development.  I don’t really know why I chose to come to your door, but I’m glad I did.  I feel safe here like I already told Zack.”

Tip and Ty looked a little concerned and Ty asked, “Mark, ask David why he was in a group home.”

I typed, “David, Ty wants to know why you were in a group home.”

David typed, “It’s a long story but I was removed from my parents' custody after my father beat me so bad that I had to go to the hospital.   The court put me in the welfare system and placed me in a group home for boys from the ages of 10-18.  I hated it and ran away when I was sixteen but didn’t have any money then.  When I was apprehended, I was sent back to same home.”

Philip spoke, “Ask David for the address of the group home.”

“David, where is the home located?”

David typed, “The group home is located 620 Hogan Drive in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Now may I ask you all a question?  Why are you asking me all this stuff, especially in front of Mrs. Burns?”

I started to write, “David, Mr. Burns is a private detective and he may be able to help you and us, so it is imperative that you tell us the truth.  Mrs. Burns is Ty’s law partner and may well become involved in your case.  For you information, Tip is a pediatrician and Zack is a graduate student and goes to Kansas University.  Me, I am just a high priced babysitter for Ty’s four children.”

David laughed and typed, “Gee, I thought you were the boss.  Ever since I arrived you have been telling people what to do.”

Tip, Ty and Zack responded in unison, “Amen.”

Philip started talking and typed what he was saying so David could read it, “I would like to have a copy of what was said.  This is what I think should happen.  I’ll call a contact that I know in Tulsa and have him check the information that he can get from there.  It may be late tomorrow before I can get a report back.”

He continued, “In the meantime, Ty, you need to inform the local authorities that you have a runaway juvenile staying here with you.  Make the call about noon so they can start the bureaucracy working.  Since it will involve agencies in two states, it will take them several days, at least, to get anything organized.  In the meantime, Tip, I think you should do a complete physical workup on David.  I don’t think it would be wise to get anyone else involved at this point.”

As Pam and Philip stood to leave, David decided he needed to say something else. He spoke instead of writing it,  “One more thing that you all should know is that I think I'm gay.  You may not want me to stay here.”

I signed, “We'll talk more about that later. Right now I think we need to say goodnight to the Burnses.”

David was very polite and shook the Burnses’ hands and thanked them for coming.

As soon as Pam and Philip had left, I directed David’s attention to the computer.  I started to write, “David, just to put everything in the proper perspective, Zack and I are gay also.  I think it would be wise if you not tell too many people how you feel about your sexuality.”

Zack took the keyboard, “Mark, promised that he was going to make wild passionate love to me tonight, since we had to be on our good behavior all weekend, because we had two teenagers staying in the room where you will be sleeping, for the past two nights.”

David started to laugh and typed, “Too much information, Zack.  Good heavens, you can scream in ecstasy or agony and I won’t hear it.  Don’t worry Dr. Washington and Mr. Jefferson, I’ll give you a blow by blow account of what I observe visually.”

David’s face turned serious, “I want to thank you for taking me into your home.  I feel safe and comfortable for the first time in a long time.  If you will excuse me, I am rather tired, since I haven’t had any sleep for two nights.  Is it permissible for me to sleep in these skimpy briefs that Zack gave me to wear?  I think he just wanted to gawk at my body.”

David hugged us and left.  After I was sure he was gone, I turned to Zack, Tip and Ty and pointed my finger, “Don’t blame this on me.”

I saved the document that we had created on the computer and shut everything down.  “Come on Zack, let’s go check on the children and make sure that David has everything he needs.  I wonder if he has a toothbrush.”

The children were all asleep and we made sure they were covered.  We went to the garage apartment and David’s door was open and the light was on.  I put my hand in and flipped the light and David called out, “Please come in Nano and Zack.”

Zack and I entered and David was in bed with a sheet covering his lower body.  David started to get tears, “Do you have to tell the authorities that I am here.  Can’t you just let me hide here until I turn 18?”

I pulled David close and hugged him, and then I signed, “David, I wish that were possible, but we could get in trouble, especially Ty, since he could lose his children and that would be disastrous.  This will work out so that it is a win-win situation.  Please, just let the experts handle this and do what they recommend”

Zack looked at David and spoke and I signed, “Dude, we need to find a way that we can let you know that someone is at the door since you can’t hear us knock.

David laughed and mumbled, “Easy my dear Zack, you just need to put a light switch on the wall outside the door.  Besides if I need to take care of my needs, I’ll do it in the shower.  Of course, I’ll make sure that all doors and windows are locked.”

We both hugged David and went to our room, we took a quick shower and then the fireworks began.  When the smoke subsided, there was no question that there had been several explosions in the bed.  I hugged Zack and pulled him tight, “Good night my love.”

To be continued... 
 

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

I do believe that David is going to become a very important and well loved member of the household and the family.  God has a way of sending people to the places where they need to be, it seems.  What are the chances that David would choose a house that had someone who knew ASL, and was a concerned loving person, willing to go all out to help him? And that doesn't even take into account the fact that everyone else in the family would be kind, loving and helpful as well. I, for one, can hardly wait to see what will happen next. I hope it won't be long before we see the next chapter and find out more.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Really? I can't imagine anything unusual happening that might have the effect of spoiling any carefully laid plans, can you?  I mean I have never come across a story that had something like that happen before. The only thing we can do, I guess, is wait and see what happened when we read the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 04/25/08