All for Acceptance II
By:
Rod
(© 2010-2017 by the author)
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's
consent. Comments are appreciated at...
Rod@tickiestories.us
“No Zack I really don’t believe he would. What he will do is whatever he can to help you and just remember, so will I.”
“I trust you will, you’ve already been more considerate and helped me more than anyone else I know. You’ve even done more than my parents usually do.”
“Zack, that’s kind of my job, you see I work with children such as yourself every day. That’s what I do. When Ted, that’s his name, gets here we will both explain more about what we do and what we can do especially for you.
Chapter 13
“Ted Burke, meet Zack Collins. Hope you didn’t have any problem finding the place.”
“Not at all Rory. So this is Zack Collins, how do you do young man?”
“Fine sir, thank you for asking.”
“Such manners, I can’t say I’ve come across too many young men with such good manners.”
“Thank you, sir. We didn’t have any TV so I listened to the radio all the time and the best station I could get it was a talk radio show and they were always talking about proper manners. I figured if I followed what they said I’d have a lot less problems with adults, just a pity it never helped me any with my parents.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. What are your parents’ names?”
“Elias and Laverne Collins, sir.”
“Where did you live before they left?”
“We seemed to move around a lot but the last apartment was just a few blocks over on East 19th Street between Park and Chicago. When we moved in there I started to go to Four Winds Elementary just a few blocks from here.”
“How long have you been on your own?”
“A little over two weeks. I got up to go to school and there weren’t home and still weren’t there when I got back. That had happened a time or two before so I didn’t think too much about it but two days later they still weren’t back. It was right around the first of the month and I knew there would be a problem with the manager if they weren’t there to pay the rent so I grabbed all I could and keep it with me just in case.”
“Why would you do that?”
“We’d been locked out of apartments before and my Dad had to bust in to get our things, since he wasn’t around I knew if I got locked out I couldn’t get back in, so it was better for me to not take a chance of losing what little I have.”
“Pretty smart I’d say, sorry you’ve had that happen before. What had your Dad say when that happened before?”
“He always said the manager was a bad word, I can’t say, and that we didn’t need to stay there anymore anyway. We’d stay in our car for a few days then move in somewhere else.”
“What kind of car does your Dad have?”
“An older Chevy Impala. He was always saying he hoped it would keep running till he could score big enough to get something else.”
“Do you remember anything else about the car? Like it’s color, how many doors it has or any bumper stickers or something that would make it easy to pick out?”
“It’s black, and has four doors, no bumper stickers but the drivers door got messed up and he had to go to a junk yard and get another door and it’s grey.”
“Wow great description. You told Rory you didn’t know what kind of work your parents do?”
“Right, I don’t know, they never said anything about it. It just seemed like when Dad had money he had money and the rest of the time he just didn’t, if you know what I mean. Even when he did have money it wouldn’t spend much, except for maybe a new outfit for Mom or some new clothes for him.”
“What kind of outfits would he buy for your Mom?”
“Little flashy ones that always looked too small for her.”
“Zack, did your parents ever mention if you had any other family, like grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins?”
“There was a grandma mentioned once but that was ‘cause she died. We didn’t go to her funeral ‘cause it was too far away. My Mom said something about that was the last relative around, so we didn’t have to worry anymore about any of them showing up. She said something about I had been here since I was born and there wasn’t any need for me to go anywhere else.”
“Zack you said you were nine years old what is the month and day of your birthday?”
“May 11th or at least that’s what I believe it is. We never celebrated it and I never got any presents but I’ve got a funny looking document from some hospital that says that’s the date.”
“You have a funny looking document?”
“Yeah, do you want to see it. I’ve got it in my duffle bag. I keep it for when we move around and I can use it to get into school the first day.”
“May I see it please? How did you get into school with just that?”
“My Mom would write a note saying we had just moved to our new address and she would come by at a later time when she could to provide anything else they needed, but I don’t think she ever showed up. The office would somehow get me set up for meals at school and get me into a classroom. I was always real careful to be real nice to all the adults and they would help me a whole lot. I’ll get that for you.”
“Rory, I’m going to open a case for Zack and see what I can find out. Can you take care of him here tonight then just take him into the home in the morning. By then we’ll have the paperwork up to speed.”
“Not a problem. I thought it would be best for him to stay here tonight anyway and Jim seemed to feel that was the way to handle things.”
“Here it is Mr. Burke. Just like I said, it says I came from a University, the University of Minnesota Medical Center. I haven’t even gotten out of elementary school and this says I came from a University. I think that’s kind of funny don’t you?”
“See, Ted I told you this kid is a comedian. That is kind of funny but you know what Zack, that’s where I graduated from.”
“Really, and it’s not far from here either is it?”
“Not too far, just a bit east and a little north, about 20 blocks or so from here,” answered Rory.
“Zack, do you mind if I hold on to this document for a day or two, I promise I’ll get it back to you?”
Zack didn’t look too happy so Rory asked, “Ted could a copy do, I can make a copy for you in just few seconds if it would work?”
“Sure, that would work, if you don’t mind.”
A sigh of relief escaped from Zack as he realized his friend had just come to his aid once again.
“Well I think I’ll get out of here and let you guys get your laundry done. I’ll talk to you both again tomorrow if that’s OK with you Zack?”
“That’s all right with me. Thank you for trying to help me, I hope I was able to give you enough information to find out something. And, thanks for letting Rory make a copy of that document; I don’t really have anything else other than my clothes and duffle. That’s the only thing that even says anything about my parents. I don’t want to let it go.”
“Zack, you’re a good kid. I hope I can find out something for you.”
“Bye Ted, we’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Well buddy want to go with me to get our laundry? I bet it’s dry by now.”
“Last one there is a monkey!” shouted Zack as he raced out of the apartment.
To be continued...
Comments encouraged and appreciated
Rod
Posted: 04/28/17