Juvenile Detention

By: Rick Masters
(© 2015-2017 by the author)

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

masters@tickiestories.us

The Epilogue

As Simon had suggested to his head teacher, Josh's influence had reduced conflicts within the school and improved student morale. That same influence continued during Josh's time at university. When he came out with his top degree in social sciences, he had a small following of admirers who were eager to help him. Those other students needed to begin carving out their own careers, but they all intended to help Josh in his efforts to change public attitudes towards young offenders.

Josh also had to look to his career. His settlement had been invested wisely by David Groggen, but it was not enough to support Josh for the rest of his life. To Josh's surprise he retained the fame from the interviews following his acquittal and the findings of the inquiries. Three months before he completed his degree he was approached by a company that wanted Josh to head up a new staff welfare and social program. The company employed several thousand people, most of whom seemed to feel that they were merely a number and a name on a list. The board had become concerned about the level of demoralised personnel, who appeared to think that no one higher up the ladder even knew that they existed. The board planned to introduce a social program that would put faces to names and numbers and look at their individual situations, offering needed help if they could. During his interview Josh talked about making vacancies available to people who had criminal records or who had served time at her majesty's pleasure. He was given one simple answer: "We are employing you, and while we know your record has been expunged, you still have served time."

Over the course of the next hour Josh took control of the interview, until he was asking more questions than he was answering. Finally the chairman of the panel suggested, "I think we have heard enough. Any further questions you might have can be worked through once we have made you an offer." Five minutes later Josh had left the head office and was driving back to the house he shared near the university.

The company worked fast. Two days later Josh received an offer in the post. His eyes boggled when he saw the terms of the contract. He got on the phone to David to ask his advice, and David told him he would be an absolute fool to turn the offer down. "Think of it this way, Josh. You will be getting paid, and paid handsomely, to do what for you is just your normal life. I think this job was made exactly for you and you will excel in it. Also you will have more than enough money to live on, so there will be funds available for the halfway house we've been talking about."

"Thanks, David. I knew you would be able to advise me."

Josh was based at the company's head office, but he began to roll out his program at the satellite sites first, building a team of people to help him at each site. David had told him that in such big businesses employees at the outlying sites always felt that the head office boys got the best deals and the rest were left out to dry. When the staff at these sites discovered that they were getting in in front of the people at head office they clutched at it and began to work with and for the program with greater interest and zeal. The benefit to the company was seen in greater production and fewer man hours lost due to 'sickness'.

Before Josh had been there a year he was being recognised by name by nearly every employee at every site. The company was gaining great publicity as news of what they were doing spread. That gave Josh the platform he needed to kick start his personal endeavour to change the attitude of the public, first toward young offenders, but later also to older prisoners.

The halfway house, where Josh had been the first patron, was also taking shape. Karl and Esther had overcome the empty nest syndrome when Josh and Simon had left for university by having another boy, Zechariah, move in. Zechariah had come through their contact with Stephen at the Academy. When Stephen had said that he had another boy who was in need, Karl and Esther found they could not say no. Zechariah had not been as easy as Josh and Sam, but after a few weeks with Sam still there to help and Josh and Simon coming and going at odd weekends Zechariah began to fit in better. Having Zechariah convinced them that they were doing the right thing. They began to set up a charity with the help of David Groggen, and as Josh campaigned for a better understanding and sympathy towards young offenders the charity gained some notoriety and some wealthy benefactors. One of these benefactors had a large old manor house, and he offered it to Karl and Esther to use. He enlisted the help of a couple of other well off people, and between them they offered Karl and Esther salaries better than they had been receiving up to that point. They both resigned from their jobs to work full time in the home, which let them take on several more young offenders.

Josh was often invited to speak about his work at places like the Women's Institute and even a Masonic Lodge. When Josh went to speak to groups like this he always wore orange overalls. He sometimes took his own overalls along with him, although he had grown enough that they no longer fitted. At one of these speaking engagements there was a reporter present, and the early paper the next day announced the work of the "orange aide". Josh really liked that phrase, and as the reporter had made his column very positive, Josh adopted the phrase as the name of his campaign.

In his last year of school, Sam gave them all a shock with a burst appendix. He had to spend a fairly long time in hospital and very nearly died. Josh took a leave of absence to stay by his side for a full week while Sam got through the worst of it. Only when Josh was convinced that Sam was going to be okay did he return to work. A few weeks after that Sam announced that he wanted to train to be a nurse and began to look for a suitable place to do the training. Sam's research led him to Oxford, where he was assured his record would not be held against his application, provided he got the necessary A level results. He already had the right GCSE passes, despite his late entry into formal education. His application was successful, and Sam headed off to Oxford. Oxford was his first choice because Josh was based there. After his first year in halls he moved in to live with Josh. No one was surprised when Sam opted to specialise in paediatrics; it was clear that he had a real way with young people and cared deeply about them.

They made frequent weekend trips to the manor house that Karl and Esther now shared with anything up to fifteen young offenders trying to find their way in the adult world. Esther kept one room spare for when they visited. If Simon was visiting as well, he had to fit in with Sam and Josh unless there was another room available at the time. Following his degree Simon had set up home with Godfrey in London, where they both had found work. They kept in regular contact with Sam and Josh.

When Sam graduated with a high degree and offers of work from three of the hospitals where he had done some of his practical training, he was able to accept a position in a hospital less than ten minutes commute from their home, so he was closer to his work than Josh was to his. But of course Sam had to do shifts, while Josh had regular daytime hours.

At their wedding they shared a pair of best men - Simon and Godfrey. At the reception afterwards the main table had just six people - Josh, Sam, Simon, Godfrey, Esther and Karl. Josh's mother had been invited but refused to attend without his stepfather, and Josh was adamant that he was not welcome and would be refused entry. Her absence hurt Josh, but he now looked on Esther and Karl as his parents and even addressed them as 'mum' and 'dad'. Sam did the same, which made Simon very proud. Josh and Sam had invited Chris and Andy but knew that they would not be able to be there, because they were still serving their sentences. They had also invited Stephen and his family, who were very pleased to attend, as did Mr. Succum and the medic, Officer Simon. One other notable guest was Tim Clarke, who came along with his wife. Tim had kept in contact with Josh and was a strong supporter of the Orange Aide Charity.

Two months after Josh and Sam's wedding they were asked to be at the Orange Aide Manor House (its official name) for a particular weekend. They thought they knew why and were happy to find out that they were correct: Simon and Godfrey announced that they were getting married. Six months later there was a role reversal, with Josh and Sam as best men and Simon and Godfrey as the grooms. This time the head table at the reception had two more people, Godfrey's parents looking as proud as Simon's parents were.

Esther and Karl 'parented' Orange Aide Manor until they felt the need to retire and hand it over to a younger couple. That younger couple were Zechariah and his wife Brenda, nee Rogers, whom Josh had seen naked when working on the computer program for Alpha Block at the Academy. But Zechariah only really got to know her when she stayed at the manor house after her release. At the time they took over the house they had two teenage children who stayed there with them.

Sam enjoyed his nursing. Liking the close interaction with the young people he was caring for, he refused several offers of promotion. Josh stayed with the company that had employed him out of university, but after he had got their social program established he worked part time and consulted with other companies looking to introduce similar programs.

Simon, Godfrey, Josh and Sam stayed close. Every other year they went on holiday together, carefully choosing places where they did not have to hide that they were couples. They managed to continue this tradition on into their retirements.

***
 

Posted: 02/03/17