Date: Thu, 3 Dec 2020 15:20:34 -0500 From: Eric Murphey Subject: Accidental Paradise Chapter 35 bi adult youth Hello everyone again. I am so thrilled with all the help we are going to be able to help the children with this year. I tell you its amazing to read each and every one of your letters telling me how oyur going to help this holiday season. You are all great and we are all a bit like EricI appreciate each and every one of you. Nifty would appreciate a donation. Eric Accidental Paradise Chapter 35 The next morning Eric wakes up early as usual. He heads out to make coffee, and walks out to the porch. He sits down and sips the steaming brew and Julia walks out and sits on his lap. "Don't go." She says very softly. So softly he wasn't sure she said anything. "What?" "Don't go. I got a bad feeling." "Awe princess. I have been to the city a hundred times. Its safe enough there." "Pleeeease, don't go." She begs him. "I have to. I promised the boys." She looks down and tears fall from her eyes. "Princess I will be back before you know it. Why don't you play with the girls today. I know that Camilla and Lucia would love to get to know you better. I have been hogging you to myself. Why don't you do that and when I get back you will see everything was just fine." "Kay." She says softly wiping her tears. "You will see. I always turn out fine. Want me to bring you back a treat?" "No. I don't want you to go. I don't want a treat. I want you to s-s-stay." She says crying again. "Princess please you have to understand. When I say I am going to do something. I am going to do it. Just like if I tell you I will do something I will always do it." "I will let you poke me with your thing. I know you want to." "Princess as tempting as that is. I still have to go. Besides, I would never do that unless you wanted me to. Not because I wanted to. If I did that it would be wrong. I try not to do the wrong thing." She looks down knowing she is defeated. But, she has to play one last card first. "But, Eric." She says and pauses. "Yes?" "But, I love you." Eric smiles a huge smile. "Princess I love you too. But, I have to go." "I know." She says completely defeated in her attempts. She knew he would regardless of what she says or does. She knows he is a man of honor and integrity. She hasn't seen many of them in her life. But, he is certainly one of them. "I better get dressed and get the boys ready too. I promise princess I will be back before supper." "Remember you promised. You keep those." She says the loudest she has ever talked to him before. "I will." He has already stood up and placed her on the chair so he reaches down and kisses her briefly on her ruby red lips. He walks into his bedroom and says. "Get up boys we got to get going. I want to be back before supper and we got some things to buy while we are out." Both boys open their eyes and look up at Eric. Without a word they go to the restroom and are back in a minute wearing shorts and t-shirts. Eric is dressed when they get back and they head to the van because it looks like it may rain and flour in the back of the truck just will not do in the rain. The boys get in and they take off. Julia watching from the porch wiping tears from her eyes as they do. "Whats wrong with the princess?" Julio asks. "She doesn't want me to go." "I don't want to go either. He is scary." Juan says. "Then why did you gamble with him?" "Cuz we needed some money to eat." Julio answers. "Better ways to get food then gambling." "We don't got lots of choices." Juan says. "No I imagine not." The rest of the way to town the boys were unusually quiet. Not a word escaped either of their mouths. Eric was OK with it he doesn't mind. Most of the time in America when he drove he rarely turned on the radio. It was usually a song he didn't want to hear or a commercial. Which he really didn't want to hear. Once they get to town Eric goes to the wholesaler and gets several bags of flour and yeast. Then some other things they are running low on. They load the van up the boys helping without being asked. Another good thing Eric thinks. "Where is this guy at so we can pay him?" The boys guide him down the street. They suggest he leave the van as nothing will be there when they get back. Including the van. He asks the manager if he can leave the van there. He agrees. So they start down to the seedy part of town. A part that even in the daytime is a bit frightening. They walk down an alley and in a back door. A man is sitting behind a counter. "You got my money?" He says to the boys. "I got your money." Eric responds to the greasy haired man. Eric pulls out 20,000 pesos and sits it on the counter. "Whats this its only 20? Wheres the vig?" "Excuse me?" Eric says raising his eyebrows. "The vig the interest gringo." "Just how much is the vig?" "They owe me 40 now." "How long ago was it you made these bets?" Eric asks the boys. "Like two weeks ago." "That hardly seems fair." Eric says. "You either get me that money now or those boys asses are mine." "I'm not getting you a single peso more. That's just bullshit." Eric says starting to get pissed. "They knew the rules going in." "So you like to gamble then?" Eric asks. "Sure who don't?" "Fine hows this. We play poker. Each get a set amount of chips. I lose you get the boys and the 20. I win I walk out with the boys and the 20." "Deal the man says quickly." "We will be right back." Eric says and leaves the boys in front of him. Eric returns a few minutes later with three decks of cards all still wrapped. "Seems only fair we use new cards. I will even let you pick the deck." Eric says flipping them on the desk. The man glances at them and then Eric knowing he is straight laced he will certainly beat him. "Come on then." He says and Eric and the boys follow him through a door into a gambling den. They go to an empty card table and the boys sit on the sides and Eric and the man sit on the ends. Eric opens one of the decks. A lady comes and puts a rack in front of both of them. "So what will it be then. Razz, Omaha, Draw poker, Stud, Deuce to seven triple draw, Badugi, horse, lowball. Your choice I know them all. "Lets play draw poker." The greasy man says. "Fine by me." Eric deals out five cards the man bets a hundred. Eric calls. He takes down the first hand. He hands the deck to the man and watches him deal. He catches a hanger as the man is dealing. Meaning he is dealing off the bottom of the deck. So cheating. Eric lets it slide the first time. He wants to see what he is doing first. Eric looks at his hand and he thinks OK he is trying to give me false confidence and go in for the kill. I know this game. Eric bets a normal bet. The man calls. Eric takes two cards and winds up with four aces. The man takes just one. Eric bets a little heavier. As in a thousand heavier. The man calls. Eric turns his cards and the man throws his full house down on the table. "Dammit. He says acting frustrated. Eric is like so this is how its going to be. That's just fine. After a good while the man changes it up and Eric's hands are still good. But, would be losers. He folds most of them to the mans dismay and frustration. Eric has been playing it straight. Because that's his nature. But the chips are down as they say. What the man doesn't know is Eric used to play with cards all the time and can do amazing tricks most magicians cant do. He can stack the deck and deal from the bottom with the best of them. That is precisely what he does to. He deals the man a straight flush. The 3 to the 7. Eric deals himself part of a royal so he will draw to it.. If your going to cheat. Cheat big he thinks. The man looks at his cards and bets low. He only bets 500. Eric calls and asks how many cards. "None these will do." He says smiling at Eric. Eric draws three cards as he had set up to do. "I am all in." The man says shoving in his chips. "I got you covered I am sure of it with a few left over. Whats say we make things interesting for this hand. Eric says without even looking at his cards yet. "What you want to bet?" "What do you have?" "I got lots of money." "Alright." Eric says pulling out his phone and shows him a picture of Lucia and Camilla in the buff swimming at the pond. "What are they worth to you?" He licks his lips in anticipation of having them. By force if he has to. "I suppose I would pay 100 for them." "So put the money on the table and lets go." He waves to a woman who is about 30 and obviously had a hard life. "Get a hundred and put it on the table." She heads to the cage and comes back with a hundred thousand pesos she sets it on the table. "Alright gringo I got a straight flush." He say smiling as he turns it over. The boys are terrified they know that's a great hand. "Pretty good hand." Eric says never having looked at his cards he turns them over one by one. Revealing a ten, jack, Queen, and king of spades.. The woman never has left she wanted to see the action. "You ever hear the adage a cheater never wins?" "Sure." "Well your not only a cheater but, a bad one to boot." Eric says and turns over the ace of spades. "You son of a bitch." The man spits out standing up. Eric sees the butt of the gun as he is starting to pull it out. I should have listened to Julia he thinks as he sees the chrome start to come out. So this is how I die. Trying to save two boys. Shame I didn't. He thinks. The barrel comes out and Eric is standing up to try to attack him. But, they are too far apart. He sees the lady slide up behind the man and put a razor knife to his throat and slide it a crossed. At first it seemed like nothing happened. Just a thin red line. Then when he turned his head the wound opened up and the blood started spraying. The look on his face was nothing but, surprise. He put his hands to his throat and the gun fell to the ground letting off a shot. He room cleared very quickly. Eric grabbed the boys and the lady and raced out. The man on the floor clearly dying. Gurgling with every breath. "You bitch." He thought he heard the man say as they raced from the room with the crowd. "Hold on I will be right back." She says pulling away from him. "No we have to go!" Eric screams at her. She races back in and comes back out within a minute. Which to Eric seems like an eternity. She is carrying a garbage bag over her shoulder and they race down the street and to the van. Eric opens the side door and tosses both boys in as they are still stunned from what they witnessed. The lady is in the front seat already and Eric races around and jumps int eh drivers seat. He takes off calmly and drives home at regular speeds. Shaking nearly the whole way. Once they pull into the drive Eric gets out. "You can stay as long as you like." Eric says to her and walks into the house. He didn't know it but, he had blood on him from head to toe. Apparently when he grabbed the boys and the lady he was sprayed from the mans neck. The boys had spots of blood but not as bad. Oddly the lady had none. "Oh my God Eric are you OK?" Maria says racing from the porch. "I'm fine." "What happened?" "I'm fine. I don't want to talk about it." "You are covered in blood." She says. He looks down and notices it for the first time. He looks a long second and heads into the house. He gets in the shower clothes and all he wants to wash the bastards blood from him. He looks down and the water beneath him is pink. He rubs his eyes hard with his fists wishing he could unsee what he saw. But, it was either him or me. He thinks. The lady chose me for a reason. He looks into the water spraying into his eyes it burns a bit, then he loses is lunch. He is vomiting so hard he gets on all fours for fear of falling. He wretches and dry heaves like last time he drank. He finally stops after what feels like eternity to him. He pulls off his wet and ruined shirt. Not an easy task. He stands up and strips off his shorts. From the shower he tosses them in the waste bin. He grabs the soap and scrubs like he has heard people who are raped do. He scrubs until he is nearly bleeding trying to get off the blood he feels is still there. "I should have just paid him. But no I have to be a big shot." He mumbles. "He would still be alive. I am such a fool. My stupidity and arrogance cost a man his life." He then sobs. He feels so ashamed of what he did. He knew the man wouldn't just laugh it off. He wasn't that kind of guy. What the hell I was I thinking? I wasn't. That is the problem. I shouldn't be left alone. I'm an idiot. He thinks. After about an hour in the shower he turns it off. Good thing we got the instant hot water thing. He thinks. He dries off and goes to his room. He lays on the bed and stares at the ceiling. Miss Sofia walks in. "Eric honey are you OK. The boys told us what happened." "I don't know." He squeaks. "I made you some fresh coconut water. I know how much you love it." "Thank you." He says without looking towards her. Still staring at the ceiling. "Honey I know you don't believe me now. But, it will pass. Someday you will not think about it." "Yeah." He says softly. "I will leave you alone now." "Thank you for caring." "Honey I always have cared about you. You are a sweet man. Not like any other I have ever known." He just stares at the ceiling with this. Why cant I just be normal he thinks. Want what regular people want. A big house a new car, lots of money. Instead I am born a fucking pedophile. So I come here to get away and its a dream come true. So many children all who love me. Life would have been a lot easier if I just liked women. He is thinking. As he does he feels someone crawl up next to him. They crawl up on his chest and into his face. He sees Julia. "I love you." She whispers. "I love you too princess." He whispers back tears starting to stream from his eyes. How could I ever wish I wasn't here. I have really helped all of these people. Or maybe they have helped me. No we have helped each other is what it is. We are all broken yet somehow together we work perfectly. We may be the island of misfit toys. But, for us, this is paradise for sure. She kisses his mouth and lays her head on his chest. He wraps his arm around her and holds her close. They lay on the bed in silence for nearly an hour. "Julia honey Danny needs you the customers are coming." Miss Sofia stage whispers to her. She lifts her head from Eric's chest and kisses him again and goes to the kitchen. Eric gets up feeling like he is made of concrete. He walks out into the kitchen and starts to help. "No Eric you go sit down or something. Go watch a movie or something. You had a bad day." Danny says taking his arm and leading him to the couch. "No you guys need my help." "No sir we can do just fine without you. You have taught us all very well." Danny turns on the TV and puts on a movie he knows Eric loves. He goes back in the kitchen area and starts making pies. A few minutes later Julia walks over and puts an ice cold Coke in his hand. She kisses his cheek and goes back to work. He takes a sip of the Coke and sits it on the table next to him. He stands up and looks out at the people all having a good time. Eating pizza and being with family and friends. He just stands and watches for an hour. People looking up at him every so often. He sees Juan and Julio working their new pace. He sees they still wont take money from a customer always referring them to pay one of the others. Normally he would have smiled. This time only the corners of his mouth went up. He grabs a guitar that Danny had left in the stand. He sits down and starts playing. He starts playing slowly the saddest song he can think of. It doesn't really fit, but it fits his mood. He strums the strings slowly. "Heeear that loooonesome whiperwhill He soooounds to blue to flyyy. Liiiike me heees lost the will to live. Iiiiiim so lonesome I could cry." He continues on. Julia looks at him and can feel his pain. Danny can as well. How could they not hearing him sing so sorrowful. They don't know what he is singing as its in English. But, they can feel the pain none the less. He sings on and on until the song is over. He starts on another old Hank Williams song. He plays and moans and whines through a few more after. He sits the guitar down and walks into his room and as he has never done before he shuts the door. Danny watches and is shocked. He has never seen Eric close himself off to the others. Which is precisely what he just did. When its time to close everyone comes in to clean up. "Wheres Eric?" Maria asks. "In his room." She looks and cocks her head like a dog hearing a funny noise. "The door is shut." "Yeah he played some really sad sounding songs and went in there and shut the door. I wanted to go in with all of my heart. But, I know that sometimes you just want to be alone." She nods in agreement. "Well come on everybody this mess isn't cleaning itself." There wasn't much mess at Danny and Julia kept it up. Juan and Julio would come in from time to time and wash some dishes and go back out. The lady Eric brought back who killed the man her name is Marguerite. Maria had been talking with her all night as they had time. She pitched in like she was one of the family and was helping take orders deliver pies and sodas. Having what appeared to be a lot of fun. Maria learned that her dad lost her to the man in a card game when she was 13. She had been with him since then now she is 32. She told Maria that for years she had wanted to kill him because he was a vicious and cruel man who loved nothing more then to torture people. His favorite was to get a little girl and smack the bottoms of their feet with a cane. He would get off as they screamed. Usually by shoving his cock into any hole available. He loved to rape and hurt people. He was a bad man who deserved to die many years ago. She had told Maria. Maria agreed whole kindheartedly. Killing isn't something you should do. But, in this case it certainly seemed justified. As they all settled down to head to bed as they were all tired Maria says to Marguerite. "If you like you can sleep on the couch its a pull out. Or with me. Same for you little girl." She says touching Julia's head and running her hand down to her ear. She shakes her head no and looks to Eric's room. "I don't think he wants anyone right now. Even one of his princesses." She looks back to the door and points to the couch. "I think I will sleep with you. If you don't mind." Marguerite says. "I wouldn't have offered if I did." She smiles at Maria. "Alright lets get the bed pulled out for you Julia." Maria says taking off the cushions and pulling out the bed. She lifts the girl up and puts her on the bed and tucks her in. She and her new friend head to her room. Maria was having a hard time getting to sleep and decided after half an hour to go drink some warmed up milk. She heads to the kitchen and sees Julia with a pillow and blanket laying in front of Eric's door. She smiles at how much that little girl loves that man. Hell they all love him. She is carrying his child but, this one. She has a love for him that is beyond anything she has ever seen or felt. Of that she is sure. She picks her up and puts her back on the couch not waking her. She warms some milk on the stove and has it and a cookie Danny had made yesterday. She thinks of the horror her new friend must have gone through. She didn't say it but, Maria knew that she was one of the girls he tortured. Once she is done she is finally feeling tired enough to go to sleep and heads back to her room. Later in the night Danny gets up to go use the restroom and he sees Julia on the floor in front of Eric's door. He smiles and puts her back onto the couch. He uses the restroom and heads back to bed. Ten minutes later Mateo heads out because Danny woke him accidentally getting in bed and he goes to pee as well. When he comes out he sees Julia on the floor in front of Eric's door. He smiles at her sleeping and puts her back onto the couch. Covers her up and kisses her forehead. "Eric will be fine tomorrow. You will see. He loves us. I think though you have a really special place in his heart. Just like he does in yours." He whispers. He kisses her forehead and heads back to bed. Eric woke unusually early. Well he never really got much sleep. He kept waking up from the nightmare of seeing it again and again. First the crimson necklace then the spray. It was everywhere. He gets out of bed and opens his door. He sees Julia lying in front of it her sweet head on a pillow. He smiles as he looks down at her. He picks her up and puts her in his bed and goes to pee. He puts on some coffee after and heads out to look at the farm a cup of coffee in his hand. A moment later his other hand was occupied to. But, with Julia's hand as he walks around. "You know when I first came here I never expected any of this. I just was tired of everything and everyone. My life it seemed was a mess. I was miserable. I came here to find peace. I had it and it was great. I don't know that I will ever have that, like I did before." She gives his hand a squeeze. "I know you will help me try." He looks at her and she nods. "You know when Benji got here he didn't know anything about chickens. I taught him everything I know. Before long he was teaching me." He says. She giggles a cheerful giggle like only a little girl can. Which makes Eric smile. They are looking over the coop. "Yeah I had maybe two dozen chickens. Look at it now. Tyson would be proud. We must have 200 now. He is a real go getter that boy. He is so sweet and loving. I worry about him though. Well, I worry about all of you." They walk down to the pigs. "Look what Tomas did. I helped build the pen. But, after that it was all Tomas. Look how big those suckers are. He wants to get 48 now. Can you imagine little Tomas taking care of 48 pigs. I know he can but, dog gone that's a lot of pigs. He is such a good boy. He wants nothing more then to help other people. Amazing young man he is." "Did the girls show you their rabbits yesterday?" She shakes her head no. "Must have went to the pond huh?" She smiles. "I love the pond its so cool and refreshing after working all day. Look at all these damn rabbits we have now. Can you believe we started with just two. The girls do an amazing job with them too. I was so shocked when I saw Camilla and Lucia skinning a couple and tanning the hide. We had rabbit for dinner that night." He says smiling down at her. She looks up and smiles back. He starts walking over to the fence line. "You see that big field over there?" She smiles and nods. "The ladies Maria and Zoe. They talked me into getting that. We are leasing it now. But, we are going to buy it at the end of the season." He turns around and looks at the tables for Paradise Pizza. "It was Randy's idea for the pizza parlour and the family just rolled with it. It is doing great business as you have seen." She nods she has. "So we have all prospered very well together. Shoot just look at the cabin. When I moved here it was one room. I added a bedroom and floors. But, that was it. Now its huge. You have seen Lucia work a crew to build. She is amazing. She is going to be the head of something one day. She is so smart. And Danny my god that boy is going to be famous if he wants. Anytime he wants. He will be a very wealthy man. Mateo and him love each other so deeply. Funny thing is. I don't think either of them is really gay. But, they just love each other so much they make love all the time. And Camilla. I'm not sure what she is going to do yet. But, she will do great things of that I am sure." She nods agreeing. "You know I killed that man." She looks up at him shocked. "I didn't actually cut his throat. But, it was my actions that caused his death. I am so ashamed of myself." He starts crying. She squeezes his hand. He sits in the cool grass getting wet from the morning dew. She climbs on his lap and wraps her arms around him. He sits and holds her and cries. She gently rubs his back with her hands as he does. "I am a bad person Julia. I am arrogant and self righteous. I am all the things I don't like." She kisses the side of his head and continues stroking his back until he is cried out. She kisses him on the lips a quick kiss. "You are a good person. Look at how you helped everybody here. They all told me that they had no where to go and you brought them here and expected nothing out of them except to help. All these things happened because of you. You are so special and you don't even know it. That makes it even more special." She whispers in his ear. "Yeah but...." "But, I love you and I know you love me. I haven't had anyone care about me other them Jose for a long time. You have shown me that I can be loved. Thank you." "Of course you can be loved. You are an amazing girl. You are my princess." "All little girls are princesses to you. That's why you are special." She hugs him again and gets up. She grabs his hand and tugs him up. He follows her and she guides him to the bedroom. "I'm still tired." She says, and climbs into bed. "Me too princess me too." He gets into bed she lays on his chest and he goes to sleep quickly. She is gently rubbing her fingers through is hair. She thinks how lucky she is to be in this nice home with people that really care about her. She says thank you to god for it and is asleep quickly. Eric sleeps a few hours without him knowing everyone in the family looks in on him to make sure he is OK. They all see the same scene. Eric asleep with Julia on top of him. His hand cupping her pert brown bottom. They try very hard not to make noise. But, when you try not to make noise fig newtons turn out loud. Eric wakes up a few hours after they went to sleep. He has a raging pee hard on. It is sticking up between Julia's crack. He pushes against it with his hand feeling her soft bottom against this raging hard cock. He moans as it feels so nice. He slowly slides her off feeling her velvety lags slide down his cock. It almost sets him off. He gets up and goes to the new restroom as he doesn't know if he wants to be around anyone today other then Julia. AS he pees. He thinks about how he truly loves everyone at the farm. But, there is something about her that is just more special to him. He isn't sure what it is. But, he is very glad she is here. Once he is done he flushes the commode and walks out to get a cup off coffee. Everyone is sitting on the porch. He thinks about joining them and decides against it. He walks back into the bedroom and smiles at his sleeping princess. He places his coffee on the night stand. He props up a few pillows against the head board and sits and leans against them. He takes a sip of his coffee and Julia feeling him in the bed sidles up next to him. She puts he head on his chest, wraps her arm around him and her hand lays on his side. He gently runs his fingers through her lush dark black hair. It is so very soft he thinks. "You may be the most beautiful girl in the world. I have never seen a girl as beautiful as you ever." He whispers. Julia is only half asleep and hears what he says. She gently smiles against him. He gently caresses her back as she continues to half doze. He doesn't say anything else. Julia is enjoying the soft petting as she dozes. She gently starts rubbing Eric's side as he touches her softly. Its anything but, sexual. Its just a very loving moment. She decides to wake up and as she does she reaches up and kisses Eric on the lips. "I love you." She says to him in a soft sleepy voice. "I love you too." She slides up against him and is straddling him. She wraps her arms around him and he holds her as she wakes up. "You know that feeling of peace and contentment I was telling you about earlier?" "Yes.' She whispers. "I have it right now. At this very moment holding you." She looks at him and smiles. She kisses his chest and lays her head back down. They lay like this until nature overtakes her and she has to head to the restroom. Eric hears her water splash into the potty and smiles. She is so sweet he thinks. He gets up as she walks back out. "I guess we should stop being so lazy and go help the others with whatever they are working on." "Yeah." She says softly. She takes his hand and they hear they are in the school house. SO they head there hand in hand. Half way there Eric decides he wants to feel her next to him. SO he picks her up and she wraps her arms and legs around him to hold on. She smiles at him and gives him a peck on the cheek. When they walk into the school the children, Maria, Miss Sofia and Marguerite are working away getting the room set up. They have the tables set up and chairs. Jose is getting the computers set up. Looks like about three of the four are set up. "We came out to help. But, it looks like you have everything done already." "SO when are we going to start school?" Little Dillon asks excitedly to Eric. "I am thinking tomorrow. Hows that sound to you?" "Cool." He says grinning. "I guess I had better go get my lesson plan set up and go through the books we ordered forever ago. I really am ashamed as I have let your children's education lapse." "No you haven't. We have been learning all kinds of things." Mateo says. "True. But, you need to learn other things too. Important things. Like how many planets are in our solar system. How to do maths and things like that. How to read and write is very important. I think one of the most important things there is." "Princess you want to stay out here or go with me?" He asks Julia. She puts her head against his chest and gently rubs her fingers through the little hair he has on his chest. "I think that answers that." Miss Sofia says. "Yeah last night I had to put her back on the couch. She was sleeping in front of your door on the ground." Mateo says. "Hey I did that too." Danny says. "I did as well." Maria says. "Aww princess. You should have come in." "I was scared." "Of what?" "Of how sad you were. Kind of still are." "I will be OK. Its just going to take a little time is all." "I know." She says. "I am heading to the house if you guys want or need anything we will be in there." "Kay." Some of them say. SO he heads back in and he sits Julia on the couch and grabs the books he ordered online for home schooling. He sits down and opens up the reading book. "Princess can you read?" He asks her. She looks down feeling ashamed. "No." She mumbles. He lifts her chin and looks her in the eyes. "Its OK you cant now. In a few weeks you will be reading like a pro." She smiles at him. "You think so?" "As smart as you are. I know so." "You know what I think I need to do is evaluate all of you to see who knows what." "Whats say you start?" "Kay." She says softly. "Do you know your numbers?" "I know what they are. But, I don't know their names." "OK. Have you had any school at all?" "A little. I know some of my letters." She says. "OK so we need to teach you everything then. It will be fun to teach you and you will have fun learning too." Eric says trying to get her excited about learning. It seems to work because she is grinning ear to ear. "Sweet heart why don't you go get Dillon and tell him I want to talk to him for a minute. Let all of the children know that I will be asking them all about their learning." "OK." She says happy to be helping Eric. A few minutes later Dillon walks in. Eric is looking at the Spanish grammar book as he does. "Well, hello my young friend. How are you today?" "I'm great." He says smiling. "OK Dillon I am going to ask you a few questions about how much you have learned OK?" "Sure." "Have you been to school?" "Nope I'm too little yet." "That's silly. I never understood that. A child can learn massive amounts at any age. The younger the better." "Yeah I like learning stuff." "Great. Why dont you send in Mateo for me." "Sure." He say smiling. Eric goes back to setting up his lesson plans. Which is turning out to be a little less difficult then he thought. "Hi Eric." Mateo says when he walks in. "Hey buddy. How you been doing lately? We haven't been able to spend much time together lately." "I'm good. Danny is kind of driving me nuts about little Maria. I mean sure I love her a lot too. But, he is obsessed with her." "Yeah babies can do that. I think that he is thinking of when he was still completely blind and had to depend on everyone for everything. She is kind of like that and he feels its his duty to make sure her needs are met. Kind of as a karmic repayment if you will." Mateo processes this a minute or so. "You know you may be right about that." "I may be. Or he may just love babies and I'm full of shit." Mateo giggles at this. SO Eric asks the same questions he asked the others and gets the same answers. Little to no formal education. Until he gets to Benji. He has a lot of learning. Before his dad passed away he went to school very regularly. He was a good student as well. Camilla has no education. Tomas has some as does Lucia. He figures Lucia is about first grade level as is Tomas. Juan and Julio cant ever tell between a number and a letter. Danny has had education and he is on about the same level as Benji. After he is done talking to all the children about their education eh goes back to his lesson plans he is setting up for the next few weeks. It is aggressive he thinks. But, they are so far behind I need to teach them so much. The children with some education can help me. He thinks. After he is working about an hour Miss Sofia walks in. "Eric?" She says timidly. Not her usual demeanor at all. Shes not loud by any means but, certainly not timid. "Eric if I tell you something will you promise not to laugh at me?" "OF course." She is twiddling her fingers together in front of her like one of the children. "What is it?" "I cant read." She blurts out. Eric looks at her. Tears well up in his eyes and they begin to fall. "I'm so sorry. I wish I would have known earlier. I would have taught you before." He says as he gets up and wraps his arms around her. "It must be terrible not knowing how to read." "You have no idea. I have faked it for years." "Do you want to learn alone or with the children?" "I think with the children. SO they can see that no matter what age you are you can always learn. I think it will be a good life lesson for them." Eric smiles. "I think you are absolutely right." That night they are open for business and have a stellar day. One of their best yet. Word must be getting out for sure. They all clean up at the end of the day. When they are ready for bed. Juan and Julio walk up to Eric. "Eric can we sleep with you and the princess tonight?" Julio asks. He looks at Julia and can see like him they would rather be alone. Eric looks at them and says. "Of course guys." To their happy faces. He kisses her cheek. "See your nice." She whispers in his ear. The four of them go into Eric's room and Eric is on his back. Julia on top pof him and a boy on each side. He puts his arms around the boys as they snuggle up to him. Julia has her arms around Eric's neck and her head on his shoulder. "You know what Juan and Julio?" "What?" "I am really proud of you two boys. You are really showing me htat you are trying to make amends and turn your lives around and be good boys. Instead of the little shits you were." Eric can see the boys smile in the dark. "Thanks. We are trying." Julio says. "Yeah we are learning that we don't have to be assholes here to get by. We can just be us." "Exactly. You are two smart cookies that's for sure." Eric can feel Julia smiling against his shoulder. She kisses his neck and they all fall asleep one by one.