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

“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.

Chapter 14

It had taken quite a few man hours but the information provided by Officer Beck’s conversation with Ricky had finally panned out.  A call had come in from Boundary Waters a section in the Superior National Forest just over the border in Canada; Paul’s mother’s body had been found.  It would be a matter of a bit more procedure to insure the identification but with what they had it was felt there was no doubt that it was her body they had located considering the veracity of the info obtained from Ricky in the braggart session.  That, along with additional evidence of some of his other exploits, would indeed keep him away from society for a number of years.  Paul would at last be totally free of Ricky.

Officer Burke had begun his investigation into the disappearance of Zack’s parents.  Starting with Zack’s birth certificate it seemed that the little bit of info Zack had provided about the lack of relatives was correct.  Tracing on both sides could not find info for relatives of either his mother or father.  His mother had indeed lost her own mother a few years back and that was the nearest relative to be found.  Investigation into Zack’s father did show that the lack of relatives was due to the fact that he had grown up in the foster care system in the nearby state of Wisconsin.  No traceable employment history seemed to be available either.  Registration for his car had been located but licensing was in mid year and would not come up for another six months.  The address on the registration was valid six months ago as attested to by Zack but they had lived in several locations since then.  Even when the six months passed no further renewal appeared in the system.  If they were still in the state they didn’t renew and register under either of their names.

Zack had remembered one store name often being on the bags from which the new clothes had been brought home.  Further investigation provided Officer Burke with at least an acknowledgement that a clerk was aware of the couple and normally assisted them in procuring their new outfits.  Unfortunately the clerk could not offer any further information about the couple other than it had been longer that normal since she had seen them.  The dresses purchased were, according to the clerk usually a little on the provocative side and always a bit tight. Again no further indication of what the couple was doing came to light.  Zack was able to provide some items from which his parents print could be identified.  Those prints went into the system to assist in their identification.

In the interim Zack had been made a ward of the court and placed with Phillip’s Second Chance Home.  He blossomed under the love and attention he received at the home but more importantly he become every so close to Rory.  In Zack’s mind Rory was his hero.  He had cared for him, listened to him, praised him and treated him better than anyone had before.  Zack couldn’t decide if he viewed Rory as a big brother or the father he had always wished he had instead of the man who was supposedly his actual father, but in his mind had never treated him as a father should.

Paul and Jeffrey continued to work, play, teach, learn and scheme together as they became more enmeshed in the daily operations of the home.  Between them, Tony and Phillip IV, Jim Townsend’s prediction of the four being able to run the place became all the more true.  The four were a whirlwind of efficiency in the home and a force to be reckoned with.  There didn’t seem to be a problem they couldn’t solve, a hurt they couldn’t ease or a prank they couldn’t pull off successfully.

Tony and Phillip IV finally did admit to their families the love and devotion they had towards each other and their plans of being partners for the rest of their lives.  It was with a certain amount of trepidation that they made the final admission but it was so evident and they were finally caught in a compromising situation that they could no longer deny it.  As their elders had planned, when the admission was announced all attempted to act surprised but their acting wasn’t that good, it was obvious they already knew and with that it seemed a great weight of concern was lifted of the shoulders of Tony and Phillip IV.

As time went by little details came to light.  Zack’s parents were suddenly identified after being arrested in Florida while attempting a con with an undercover FBI agent.  The exact circumstances were never revealed to Zack, just the fact that they had been located and were on the way to accommodations compliments of the Federal Government and would avail themselves of those accommodations until sometime past Zack’s entry into his 30’s or so.

Ricky had not been so lucky.  Though he was given a substantial sentence for his part in the treatment of Paul, the death of Paul’s mother and a load of other offences, it seems a fellow prisoner had been aware of Ricky’s services, in as much as they had involved Paul, and after making a few of the other cellmates aware of Ricky’s proclivities, Ricky had a number of rather busy nights before he was finally found in a pool of blood in one of the showers. Ricky was carried out of the prison in less than six months.

Investigation had not been able to determine the identity of Paul and Jeffrey’s father or how it had come about that they had different mothers. The closest the investigators came was to draw the conclusion that they believed the fathers sperm, which they could not identify to a name only to an ID number had been stored at some point in a sperm bank and had been used to inseminate the two women by a doctor who had been shortly thereafter extinguished from his practice and life by presumably a mob hit. It was generally accepted that it was the way it was and the two were exceptionally gifted.  It was best the gift of their being simply be accepted and the benefit enjoyed by all.

It was several years later when the state did accept same sex marriage.  When the announcement was made Jim and Bill not only got married but presented the four boys to Judge Hamilton who promptly as he had promised, corrected the names and relationship from a legal standpoint. 

Hundreds of boys went through Phillip’s Second Chance Home.  Several did in fact finish school and come back to work after college, at the home or went on to work at DCFS. 

In the case of each child, there had been some situation, more often than not; the problem of the attitude of a parent towards their own child, or in some instances just the attitude of society in general.  All of the turmoil, all of the fighting, all of the misery and pain suffered by children when all they were asking for, longing for, was love.  All they suffered through and all they did was and had always and only been, all for acceptance.

The End