Date: Fri, 03 Feb 2017 18:08:29 +0000
From: Reickard Masters <succme@zoho.com>
Subject: Juvenile Detention 69

JUVENILE DETENTION

Chapter 69 – 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.



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Rick