Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:13:54 EDT From: Bwstories8@aol.com Subject: Castaway Hotel: Grand Reopening - Book 5, chapters 29 -30 Castaway Hotel -- Grand Reopening -- Book 5 by BW Copyright 2009 by billwstories Chapter 29 -- The Aftermath. **Author's Note:** Please read the disclaimer in Chapter 00 before you read this. "Do you want to talk about any of this?" I asked them, now that their mother was gone. I thought it might be best to clear the air completely and see how each of them was feeling about what had just taken place. I looked at Cole first and was surprised to note that he seemed pretty calm and unfazed by what had transpired, but Graham didn't look as comfortable. I knew he was dealing with issues he hadn't voiced yet. "What's up, Graham?" I asked, trying to draw it out of him. "She's all alone and has no one," he began, "and we pretty much told her that's all she'll ever have. I feel sorry for her, that's all." "Why, she never felt sorry for us?" Cole challenged, while expressing his anger. "That's not quite true, Graham," I told him. "This doesn't mean she'll be alone now. I told her before, that I'd be willing to let her visit one or both of you, but I wasn't about to give either of you up." "I know, but Cole pretty much told her we didn't want to see her again -- ever," he explained. "I did not!" Cole disagreed. "I just told her I didn't want to see her, but I told both of you that you had to speak for yourself. Don't blame me if you didn't say anything." "I didn't, because I didn't want to hurt you either," Graham admitting, while looking both sad and hurt. "You just seemed so angry, so unforgiving, that I didn't want you to feel like that about me too." Cole suddenly realized that his brother had misread his anger and thought it was directed at him too, after which he seemed surprised that Graham would even think he would do that to him. It was apparent he now had to convince his brother that wasn't the case. "Graham, I would never hate you. Never, ever!" he emphasized. "We're brothers and I'll always love you. No matter what." "But she's your mother, and you don't love her," Graham pointed out. "But I do love her, it's just that I don't like her or trust her any more," Cole explained. "I don't care what excuses she makes, because she knew what she was doing and she either chose her boyfriend or the drugs and alcohol over us. I'll never forgive her for that." "Not even to give her a second chance?" Graham pressed. "Do you really think she deserves one?" Cole asked. I wasn't sure he really wanted to hear Graham's answer, until he leaned forward and moved slightly closer to Graham, to let him know he was serious. "Doesn't everyone?" Graham asked, very innocently. "Dad always says we all make mistakes, and the only thing he asks is that we learn from them. What if she has learned from her mistakes? Doesn't that mean she would deserve another chance?" Cole didn't answer right away, because he knew he had to think about this before he dared respond. Graham had really put him on the spot, since Cole understood that I had previously given them and their brothers more than one chance to prove to me they had learned from a mistake, so he didn't want to say anything to upset me or make Graham question what I had done for them. Once he had considered all of the alternatives, he finally responded to his brother. "If it was a minor mistake, maybe I'd be willing to do that," Cole told him. "But her mistakes weren't minor. Don't you realize what she did, Graham? We could have starved to death in that apartment or have been badly hurt by being left on our own? Don't you remember how skinny we were and how we didn't even know what cereal was when we first came to live here?" "I remember some of that stuff, but..." Graham never got to finish, because Cole jumped up and raced out of the room before he could continue. Neither Graham nor I understood why Cole had left so suddenly or what had upset him so badly, so Graham looked at me, before turning toward the doorway and wondering if he should chase after his brother. Instead, he came over and sat on my lap. "Do you think I'm wrong, Dad?" he asked, very simply. I pulled him tightly against me, before I answered. "No, Graham, I don't think you're wrong, but Cole sees this from a slightly different perspective," I explained. "He was older, so he remembers more things than you do, and some of those things hurt him very deeply. You'll each have to make up your own mind about this, and neither of us can do it for you." "I know, but she's still my mother," Graham stated, as if that was all we needed to know. "And she always will be, no matter which way you decide," I assured him, "so there's no argument about that. It's just that you can't just make your decision based solely on that fact. You also have to consider how much you want to do with her from this point on and how much input she'll have concerning your future." We were about to continue our discussion when Cole came bursting back into the room, carrying something in his hand. As he approached, he reached out and handed the items he had to Graham. I could immediately see they were photos of the two of them when they first came here to live with us. "See, this is what we looked like," he stated, emphatically. "It looks to me as if she hardly ever fed us at all. Now do you remember?" Graham looked at the pictures and studied them closely for a few seconds. When he looked up, there were tears in his eyes. "Yes, I remember, but I didn't want to," he admitted. "But she IS still our mother." "In name only," Cole snarled. "She never took care of us or protected us like a mother should do." "So you'll never forgive her?" Graham asked again. "I don't know, maybe some day, but not just yet," Cole admitted, while leaving the door open concerning a future reconciliation. "It's still too fresh in my mind to forgive and forget just yet." "But maybe just to spend some time with her?" Graham offered, hopefully. "I'd only do it to make you happy, not her," Cole stated. "If you'd feel better if we let her visit, then I'll do it for you. Just don't expect me to be nice or pretend I'm happy about it." "I won't," Graham agreed, "but I don't want to make you do this, if you really don't want to." "Like I said," Cole replied, "I'm willing to do it for you, not for her. I'd do anything for you, like she should have done for us, but I'll never agree to go live with her or anything like that." "Okay, I understand and thank you, Cole," Graham told him, before he scooted off of my lap. "I really do love you," he added, before he embraced his brother, with Cole eagerly returning the affection. After a second they turned toward me, to see if I concurred. "Is that okay with you, Dad?" Graham asked, in his little boyish, pleading voice. "Whatever you want is fine with me," I assured him. "I only want what's best for you boys and my biggest wish is that you are both happy with what you decide. It's not up to me to forgive or accept her apology. Only you two can do that. However, if you want to spend time with her, either here or so you can go other places with her, I'd be willing to try to get in touch with your mother and set it up." Graham thought about this briefly, before he responded. Once he had a chance to consider the matter further, he answered. "Only if she calls or comes back on her own," he stated. "If this isn't important enough for her to do that much, then we'll just forget about the whole idea. I guess I still need for her to prove that she really has changed and does care about us. Okay?" "Whatever you say, big guy," I concurred, while tousling his hair. He smiled in response, so I pulled him closer, so I could give him a hug. "You know, you're pretty smart for someone your age," I added. He merely smiled more broadly at me, but said no more. I concluded he might be right about this, so that's the way I left it with them, while wondering what might happen next and when. The problem with having a large family is, you can never concentrate on just one matter at a time. It seems something is constantly happening with one or another, or many of the boys at once, so I knew I couldn't focus all of my effort on just this one issue. That became even more evident at the beginning of May, when Ricky got another phone call from one of the members of the exchange program selection committee. Since I had an inkling about who was calling and what it was about, I went to get Ricky. He suggested we take the call in my room and put it on speakerphone, so I could also hear what was going on and then he wouldn't have to explain everything to me later. When he suggested this, I told him it wouldn't be a problem, but it turned out to be unnecessary. The gentleman merely wanted to set up a face-to-face conference with us, so we agreed to meet with him, and the rest of the selection committee, two nights later. When we arrived at the appointed location, several committee members were already present and quickly began to ask Ricky a series of questions. "Hi, Ricky," the chairperson began. "We just wanted to check with you again, to make sure you'd still didn't have a problem with giving up your summer vacation to become an exchange student." "No, sir, I don't have a problem with that," Ricky concurred. "My dad and I have already talked this over, and if I get to go, I'll stay an additional month at the end of the exchange program, so I can take a little vacation there, before I come back home. That way I'll also have a chance to travel around and see more of the country I'm in, but I still want to get back in time so I can graduate with my class." "Well, it sounds like you have things all worked out," he agreed, "so we can get down to the remaining business. I'm pleased to inform you that you are the committee's top candidate and we have an opening for an exchange student in Australia. We wanted to use this opportunity to see if you'd be interested in going there and, if so, we have a few follow-up questions for you." Ricky was so excited he could barely contain himself from leaping around the room, but somehow he did manage to control his excitement. However, he did flash that irresistible Ricky smile, which seemed to light up the whole room and everyone in it. "Yeah, that really sounds great," he finally blurted out. "Australia would be a great country to go to. Do you think I'll get to see kangaroos out in the wild?" "Well, I'm not sure about that, but I'm glad you're willing to go there and are accepting our offer," the chairperson agreed. "Here is what we have planned for you. You will be going to a city called Penrith, in New South Wales. Penrith is just west of Sydney, about an hour and a half away, and it's in the southeastern part of the country. Penrith is also only a couple of hours away from Canberra, the Australian Capital Territory, and not all that far from Melbourne or Brisbane either. Therefore, you should be able to travel to all of those places, as that part of the country has fairly good bus and air service. Therefore, you should be able to explore at least that much of the country." "That's really great," Ricky agreed, "but what about the school I'll be going to. What is that like?" "That's a very good question," another committee member agreed. "We have an opening in Kingswood High School in Penrith, and judging from what we've seen from your records and from talking to your teachers, the committee thinks you would fit in well there." "Well, I guess that sounds pretty good," Ricky confirmed. "I'll check it out on a map and then look it up online too. I want to know all there is to know before I go there." "That would be an excellent idea, but there is one more thing I need to make clear to you," the chairperson informed him. "You'll have to leave the last week of May, in order to get there on time, since they expect you to be ready to begin classes during the first week of June. Their school year runs from the end of January to mid-December, so you'll be getting there to start the second half of their school year. You'll be staying with a family in Penrith and they have a son about your age, or maybe a few months younger. Would you have a problem with any of that?" "Heck, no. That sounds great," Ricky told them. "What grade will I be in? Will I still be a senior when I get there?" "You'll be in what they call year twelve, or the equivalent of your senior year," he was advised. "You'll also be expected to pass whatever courses you take and we have a tentative class schedule set up for you." After learning that much, they talked about the tentative schedule, before discussing the community and surrounding areas in more detail. Once that had been completed, they went over what other types of things he might expect to find or see there and explained a little more about the family he would be staying with. Once they finished going over all of this information, Ricky formally accepted their offer and was congratulated by the entire selection committee. Ricky was so excited about having been chosen that he could barely contain himself all the way home. He was ranting on about everything he had learned up to this point, while also speculating about what it might be like there and what he hoped to do. When we arrived at the house, he raced inside to tell his brothers all about it, because he wanted them to know everything he'd been told about the school, the family he'd be living with and the area in general. The boys were all eager to hear about this too and many of them found it very interesting. It was really kind of cute to see Ricky so excited and I could tell his enthusiasm was rubbing off on the others, as they were beginning to pepper him with all sorts of questions in return. Even Jake got involved in this, but I think he was basically trying to get Shannon excited about the possibility of being an exchange student the following year. I got the impression he was hoping that Shannon might want to try to do something like this following his graduation from high school and before going to college, since he hadn't had the opportunity to visit any other places. This way he could afford to get to see another part of the world, without it costing quite as much as if he had to pay for everything on his own. It took nearly an hour before things began to settle down, and then Ricky went up to use the computer, to look up the various sites the committee had given him about the area. After he did that, he also did a general search, using his favorite search engine, so he could look up more facts about the community and surrounding areas. When he had finished with all of his searches, he came back to share more of this information with me and was even more excited now than he was before, which I didn't think possible. After he filled me in on all of the new information he had discovered, I tried to get him to calm down, so he would actually be able to go to bed and fall asleep. Even though I attempted to do this for him, I was pretty sure my efforts would be in vain and he wouldn't be getting very much sleep tonight. The thing was, I might not either, but I also didn't have to attend classes the following day. In getting caught up in Ricky's excitement, the rest of us had kind of forgotten about some of the other things that were going on in our lives. During the day or two that had passed since our encounter with Cole and Graham's mother, we still hadn't heard back from her, so we had no idea about what she might do next. Due to her lack of contact with us, both boys began to assume that maybe she had decided we wouldn't give in to her demands or she had changed her mind altogether. They even began to wonder if maybe she had already left town. I know Graham was slightly hurt by this thought, since he was hoping to get to know her a little better, but I think Cole was relieved this ordeal might be over. I did speak to Graham about his feelings on this topic and at that time he shared his suspicions with me. Once he brought his fears out in the open, I asked him how he'd feel if she had changed her mind and left town, and he told me quite frankly that if she didn't bother to return or try to get in touch with either of them again, then he would just assume Cole had been right about her in the first place and that she didn't really care about them. I tried to explain this might not necessarily be the case, even if she didn't come back right away, but I think by that time his mind had been made up. It was just a day or two later, however, when someone else came to our door. This also happened while the boys were at school and when I opened the door, I found a fairly young man standing there. He was probably in his mid-twenties and dressed in business- casual clothing. He merely asked me if I was Josh Currie, and after I answered in the affirmative, he served me with a summons and left. I was somewhat stunned, but took the paperwork inside and examined it. The summons indicated I was to appear in family court on a specific date and time, as well as indicating a judge would determine if I had strong-armed Cole and Graham's mother into giving up her sons. This document alleged that I had tried to poison the boys' minds against her, causing one of her sons to hate her and the other to be uncertain if he wanted to get to know her again. I was a little surprised at how it was worded and what was inferred, but I concluded she must be desperate to try something like this. Immediately, I picked up the phone and called Steve (Judge Shay), but he informed me he already knew about the summons. It had come across his desk, to be placed on his calendar. Of course, he had already recused himself from the case, on the grounds that he was our attorney, so this matter would now be presided over by a judge from a neighboring county. He wasn't sure who that would be just yet, but told me he'd let me know, just as soon as he found out anything specific. Castaway Hotel -- Grand Reopening -- Book 5 by BW Copyright 2009 by billwstories Chapter 30 -- Dreams and Concerns. Before the boys got home from school, I spent part of my time trying to decide just how I was going to break the news to them. Would I just sit down with the entire family and explain about the summons to all of them at the same time, or would I just get together with Cole and Graham first, and then wait to fill the others in after I had apprised them? Eventually, I concluded it would just be best, and maybe even easier, to tell everyone at once. I would explain what was alleged in the summons and how I was planning to respond to it. After that, we'd just play it by ear, as I wasn't sure if I could predict how either Cole or Graham was going to react to this news. In the end, I also waited for Jake to get home from work, since I wanted his input on this as well. After dinner, I asked everyone to join me in the living room, so I could apprise them of the situation. Since this was going to affect all of us, in one way or another and to varying degrees, I felt it would be best to do this as soon as I could. "What's up, Dad?" somebody asked, but I didn't even take notice of who had made the comment. "Well, I got a summons today, to appear in court," I replied. "It's her, isn't it?" Cole asked, in a very hostile tone. "Yes, it's your mother who's taking me to court," I responded meekly, in an attempt to take the edge off of the situation. Cole just stared at me, mulling things over in his mind. "Is she still asking for us to come live with her?" Graham wanted to know. "Yes, she is," I answered, very simply. "So what does she think is going to happen?" Cole asked, defiantly. "I already told her there's no way I will go live with her." "Well, that's part of the problem, Cole," I explained. "She's claiming that not only did I take advantage of her being under the influence when I adopted you, but that I've also brainwashed you boys, making you hate her too." "I hate her because of what she did to us, not because of anything you've done or said," he countered, although I think we already knew why he felt the way he did. "WE both know that, but she doesn't," I explained, "so that's what she claiming. She's hoping this will help her to get you both back. I'm not worried, though, and I'm sure this will all work out in the end." "But I'm telling you now, I'm not going with her," Cole stated, defiantly, "even if the court says I have to." "Well, let's not fret about that quite yet," I cautioned, "as nothing has been officially decided yet. We'll just continue on as normal and wait and see what happens." "Won't Uncle Steve be the judge?" Graham asked, naively. "No, I'm afraid he can't," I replied. "He's had to remove himself from the case as judge, because he's our friend and lawyer." "Then who will the judge be?" Graham followed up. "We don't know yet, but it will probably be a judge from another county," I informed him, "That's not fair," Cole protested. "Uncle Steve knows us and would make the right decision. He wouldn't make us go live with her." I opened my mouth to answer him, but then hesitated and looked toward Jake for support. It was obvious Cole had already heard all of my arguments and wasn't buying it. Jake immediately understood my plight and jumped to my assistance. "Well, when you know someone that well, you can't be the judge on any of their cases," Jake advised him. "That's only so it's also fair to the other side. How would you feel if the judge was your mother's friend, instead of our friend?" "Well, I'd think that wasn't fair, but why do we have to worry about doing things fairly?" Cole asked, bluntly. "She's saying things that aren't true or fair." "Well, regardless of what she claims," Jake tried to assure him, "the system is set up to be fair to both sides. We have to go on the assumption it is and both sides have to act accordingly. Your Uncle Steve will be there, but just as our lawyer, not the judge. That will work just as well for us." Some of the other boys had questions to ask about this too, since they were worried an unwanted decision would break up the family. Worse than that, I suspected more than one of them wondered if their parents might come back and try the same thing. After explaining I doubted anything as drastic as that would happen, I said we'd do our best to make sure things turned out in our favor and take this 'one day at a time.' Once Jake and I had answered all of their questions and the boys felt reassured, everything returned to normal, at least for the time being. However, that all changed the following day when Steve called. "Josh, I found out who the judge will be," he began. "It's going to be Judge Mullen, from Indiana County." "How is he as a judge?" I asked, innocently. "Well, let me put it this way, he's not known for having a sharp legal mind," Steve explained. Since I'd never known him to speak disrespectfully of any of his colleagues, I began to worry. "He's an old country lawyer who got elected through the efforts of his 'good old boy' supporters," Steve went on, "and he does a lot of things that have no legal basis and sometimes makes decisions most normal people would never even have considered. He's had many of his decisions challenged, and some overturned, due to his lack of following precedent." "Damn, what will that mean to us?" I wanted to know. "Well, I'm hoping he'll react favorably to you, because of me," he replied. "He knows my reputation and I don't think he'll try to challenge my knowledge of family court law. I've heard he is easily impressed by reputation, so hopefully that will work in our favor. Therefore, I think we'll do fine." "Well, I'll trust your judgment on that," I conceded, "but do you know what time we're expected to be in court?" "Yes, it's set for 2:00 p.m., so we'll get together this weekend and go over everything in advance," he suggested. "Does that sound alright to you?" "Yes, perfect. Thanks, Steve," I replied. "You're a great friend and I'm proud that you're going to be representing us." Steve thanked me for placing my trust in him and then promised he'd do everything possible to keep our family in tact. After agreeing that I knew he would, we set up a time to get together on the weekend, so we could plan our strategy and discuss all of our options. We planned to have Cole and Graham sit in for at least part of this, so Steve could also get their input and judge their reactions for himself, but we would make any and all decisions about how to proceed. It was going to be an interesting time. Steve showed up right on schedule on Saturday, and he and I discussed many things. He also took some time to chat with Cole and Graham alone, to get their input for this hearing, before we brought them in with the two of us, so we could explain what we thought might happen. Steve told them he didn't think much would be decided at this initial court date, since the appearance would be mostly for the lawyers to make their motions and set the tone and groundwork for what might take place later. It might also give us some indication of what types of surprises Ms. Van Cott's lawyers might try to spring later, while also giving the judge an opportunity to weigh some of the issues, before the real battle began. We ended up spending slightly more than two hours discussing the issues and answering questions. By the time we finished, I think we all had a little more confidence about our chances and a better understanding about what to expect. Now, we just had to get through the rest of the weekend without worrying ourselves to death. When Monday came, I went alone to the courthouse, since Steve and I agreed it would probably be best not to bring the boys along. This decision seemed to really upset Cole though, since he figured he'd be there to tell his mother AND the judge why he felt the way he did and that I had nothing to do with his attitude toward his mother, but that wasn't to be. Since I knew very little would be accomplished at this first meeting, I thought it best that Cole, Graham and the others go to school instead. Therefore, they went to class, while we went to court. I drove down and met Steve at his office and then walked to the courtroom with him. We went inside, took seats in the gallery and waited for our case to be called. When it was, Steve and I walked up and sat at the defense table and waited, while Ms. Van Cott and her lawyer went to the table on the other side of the room. "All rise. The Honorable Richard Mullen presiding," the bailiff announced. We all stood as the judge walked into the room and took his place behind the bench, and then we took our seats when he told us to do so. The case was announced and things got underway. First, her lawyer requested that his client be given temporary custody of her children while the case was being heard, but the judge denied that motion on the grounds that she had made no effort to contact them for over four years. Steve countered, saying that we were prepared to allow her to have visitation rights to see the boys, either at our house or under the supervision of DSS, but her lawyer quickly claimed that wasn't acceptable. He countered that she shouldn't need to have her visits supervised by anyone, since she was their biological mother, so Steve quickly withdrew our offer, by saying that he was concerned she might try to take the boys outside the jurisdiction of the court if the visits were unsupervised. He had made this offer knowing it probably wouldn't be acceptable to the other side, seeing she had rejected a similar offer shortly after we first met. The thing was, we wanted the judge to understand we were willing to make an attempt to work things out with her, but she was unwilling to compromise. Since I was intensely watching the judge during this exchange, I could see he quickly caught on to that fact. In return, Steve asked for an immediate dismissal of the case. He explained that the adoption, and everything preceding it, had been done according to the letter of the law and suggested this indicated there was absolutely no basis for this suit. The judge denied this motion as well, saying that particular issue was what we were here to decide. He did say he would have someone investigate both parties, to determine our fitness as guardians. He also stated he would use someone from the county he was from to do this, seeing I was extremely close to various members of the local DSS and that might influence their appraisal of the situation. Steve immediately objected to his bringing someone in from another area, saying the local department was more familiar with the circumstances surrounding the case, but was quickly overruled. After that, the judge instructed both Ms. Van Cott and me that we'd both be contacted within the next few days, to arrange for such a meeting. That person would also meet with the boys separately, then talk to the administrators at their schools, and finally question their teachers and possibly a few of their classmates. We didn't see any of that as posing a problem, so we didn't object. Steve and I discussed the situation further before we parted company and he assured me everything went basically as he expected, with the exception of the outside investigator, but he saw that as no big deal. He explained that the report from DSS would carry considerable weight, but also the testimony of those indicating what Ms. Van Cott's mental status was at the time she made the decision to give up the boys. It would be up to her lawyer to convince the judge that she didn't have the requisite ability to make an informed and unclouded judgment about what she was doing at the time, otherwise the adoption would stand. However, if she could open that door successfully and was able to convince the judge she couldn't possibly have made an informed decision at that time, she'd still have to convince the investigator she was now totally clean and capable of being a fit parent. He told me that wouldn't be easy for her to do, especially with her history, but quickly added that almost anything could happen at that point. I didn't really want to hear she had a chance to win, but I knew Steve spoke the truth and it was better I realized what could happen up front. On Wednesday, the investigator showed up unexpectedly at the house, as they seemed to like to do, so you couldn't put on a show for them. He interviewed me first, alone, but it might have been because I was the only one there at the time. He asked me a great many questions, some of which I couldn't see as being relevant to the case, but I cooperated and answered them just the same. When the boys arrived home after school, he questioned Cole and Graham separately, and then he also spoke to some of the other boys. Once he'd finished with that, he merely announced he was finished and left rather hurriedly, without giving us any indication about what he thought. He seemed like an odd little man, at least to me, and after he left the boys told me much of what had taken place with them. They informed me about some of the questions he asked them, and it didn't seem as if those questions were very probing or even relevant, so we weren't sure what his angle was. Maybe I had misjudged him and he was already leaning in our favor, and that's why his questions didn't seem to be drawing out anything damaging against us. A couple of days later, Steve called me, but I wasn't expecting to hear from him again so soon. "Josh, I just got a copy of the DSS report and we've got a problem." "Really? What kind of a problem?" I asked, surprised by his pronouncement. "A major problem," he countered, which startled me even more. "How can that be?" I wondered, aloud. "The guy didn't really do or ask anything while he was here." "I think that's because he had made up his mind before he arrived there," he explained, "but after he talked to various people at the school. May I come over right now?" "Of course you may," I replied, "unless you'd prefer I come to your office." "Well, that might be better," he agreed. "Maybe the boys shouldn't know what he's said just yet." "Okay, I'll be right down," I assured him. I quickly grabbed my keys and headed for the van, after which I hurriedly drove down to Steve's office. As I entered, I could see he had a very worried expression on his face. "Is it really THAT bad?" I asked him, while beginning to panic myself. "Yes, it couldn't be much worse," he explained. "The investigator is saying that neither of you is a suitable parent and the boys shouldn't be with either one of you." I was shocked to hear this news. "Why the hell would he say anything like that?" I nearly screamed. "What the hell could he have seen or heard that was that bad?" "Maybe I should read you an excerpt from his report," he offered, while looking at me to gauge my reaction. "The Currie household is male dominated, with no female influence at all, and the head of the household clearly promotes something other than traditional values. It is my understanding that many of these boys are openly gay or bisexual, probably at the prompting and encouragement from Mr. Currie, who may also have his own gay lover. It is my belief that he has promoted his own warped ideas of sexuality to these boys, thus encouraging them to become gay or bisexual themselves. This is clearly not something the Department wants to support, so we strongly recommend that the court re-evaluate all placements made here, with the idea of rescinding all prior adoptions and removing said minors from the premises and away from his influence." I was too stunned by what he read to say a word. Instead, I just sat there and stared at Steve. It was a few minutes before I could put my feelings into words. "Could that little shit really be recommending that they take away all my sons?" I asked. "Who made him the moral guardian of our society and gave him the authority to do such a thing? That wasn't even part of this case and wasn't something he had any grounds to get into. Can he really take all of my boys away from me?" "I don't think all of them, but possibly he could get Cole and Graham removed," Steve explained. "I'll do all I can to keep that from happening, but this judge is just so damn unpredictable. I don't know what to tell you and I can't even venture a guess as to what will happen." "What's our next move then?" I wanted to know. "Well, we'll start lining up character witnesses, like Sally and my wife, and I'll have a group of different psychologists interview the boys," Steve explained. "Once the psychologists have written their reports and I have read their opinions, then I'll know what to do next. If they support our position, as I suspect they will, we'll parade them to the witness stand to speak on your behalf, but we'll also line up some of the boys' teachers too, so they can state how well they're doing in school and how they relate to their peers. That should help to negate much of what the investigator has said in his report." "Do you think that will be enough?" I wondered, concerned that maybe we should be doing even more. "With any other judge, yes, but with this one, I'm not sure," Steve admitted. "Damn, haven't you got any GOOD news for me?" I shot back. "Josh, you know I'll do my best to keep you all together," Steve explained, "but I think it's time we met with Ms. Van Cott and tried to reach an agreement outside of court, if it's not already too late for that. If we can agree to something, maybe we can prevent any of his bias from getting into the public record." "Do you think she'll listen and cooperate?" I posed. "She will, if she wants to be in her boys' lives," he replied, "because the recommendation is equally harsh on her. It refers to her as a 'chronic drunk and a long-term junkie,' so she won't have a leg to stand on, to get the boys on her own." Steve had read the part about her being a drunk and junkie directly from the report. "If she doesn't want to cooperate with us and reach a compromise, then she probably won't ever see the boys again either." "Okay, set up a meeting with her, so we can work this out," I agreed. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep my family together." Steve acknowledged my comment and then I headed back home, to sort out my concerns and talk things over with Jake. E-mail responses to the stories, story suggestions, or other 'constructive' comments or advice may be sent to: bwstories8@aol.com - but please put the story title in the subject line, so it doesn't get deleted as junk mail.