Date: Thu, 7 Jan 2021 15:26:02 -0500 From: Eric Murphey Subject: Transitions Book 2 chapter 16 gay adult youth Donate to nifty Transitions Book 2 Chapter 16 They have been asleep about two hours and Eric's phone rings. He reaches over and grabs it clumsily. He sees its 12:24 and its Marias mother. "'Lo?" He says. "Mr Eric Maria isn't home yet. I'm so worried I don't know who to call. I called the McDonalds and no one answers." She says franticly. Now if it was another teen girl he would think she is out having some fun with friends. But, not Maria she is a good girl who heads straight hone after work. "I'm up. I will go look for her. I will call you if I hear or see anything. Do the same for me." "Thanks Mr Eric. I'm sorry I just didn't know who else to call." "I'm sure she is fine." Eric says not so sure of that himself. He rushes to get dressed. He calls Miss Julia to let her know he is stepping out and asks if she can come over and be with the boys. Shes great she doesn't even ask why. She knows he doesn't just leave in the middle of the night for no reason. She knows she will find out later why. After he is dressed he races downstairs. Miss Julia is coming in the door. "They are all in my bed sleeping. I will be back as soon as I can." He says and pecks her on the cheek. Not a normal thing for him to do. Not that he hasn't it just isn't normal. "Mr Eric is everything OK?" She asks worried. "I hope so." He says and races to the garage and jumps in the SUV. He curses the garage door for taking forever to open and when it does he lets out of it with a squeel of tires. He zips into town to the store and then starts slowly driving the way he thinks Maria would walk home. The same way he walked a million times when he didn't drive in to work. He gets to his old house now theirs and no Maria. He whips back around and starts heading back a different route. He still sees no Maria. He starts going up and down alleys and he sees a body crumpled next to a wall. "Oh fuck." He says. He slans the big truck into park before its even stopped making that wonderful noise the transmission makes when you do that. He is out of the truck before its totally stopped. He races to her side. The lights iluminate her prone body. He can see her clothes are torn and her jacket is ripped as well. "Oh Maria." He says tears starting to well in his eyes. He crouches next to her and can see her face is badly bruised. He quickly feels for a pulse. He sighs relief he finds it and its strong. He picks her up and rushes to the truck and lays he in the back seat and slams the door and jumps in. He takes off and is doing about 80 mph through town to the hospital. Once he gets there he slams the truck into park again and rushes to grab her out of the truck and rushes her into the emergency room. "Help I need help!" He screams to a nurse. "Follow me." She says coming from around the desk. He puts her on the bed the nurse indicated to him. "What happned?" "I don't know. She is one of my workers and her mother called me and I found her like this in an alley. I rushed her here." As he is saying this a young female doctor hurries in and starts evaluating her. The nurse is already stripping off her clothes. "I have to go get her mother. I will be back in a minute." Eric says to the nurse. "Whats her name?" Eric tells her and races off to their house. He gets there and Marias mother sees him pull in and is on the front porch in a second. |"Did you find her?" "Yes now get in the truck." He says forcfully. She does as she is asked quickly and he slams the turck in drive and takes off like a shot. "Wheres my little girl?" "Shes at the hospital. I found her she was unconcious and I raced her there." "Oh my baby." She says starting to cry. Eric is back at the hospital in minutes and he parks and they go in. Eric takes Marias mother straight to the ER room he was just in. When they walk in Eric sees them still going over Maria checking her now nude and bruised body. She is starting to come around a bit and is looking around with blurred eyes. "Where am I?" "You are at the hospital Maria? Can you tell us what happned?" "Two guys they stole my purse. One tried to rape me. But, I fought him off. Last thing I remember is him punching me really hard int eh face. I remember falling and them running off and laughing." "You are pretty banged up Maria. But, it looks like you will be OK. But, you are going to be pretty sore a few days at least." The doctor tells her. She looks over and sees her mom and Eric. "Mr Eric what are you doing here?" "Your mom called and I went looking for you and found you." She realizes she is naked at this point. "Oh my god I'm naked. Mr Eric dont look." She says trying to cover her breasts. "Sweet heart I dont care. I'm just glad you are going to be OK." He does turn his head so he isn't looking directly at her. He actually noticed she was naked. But, he was so worried about her he didn't care. Normally he would have checked her out. But, its not the time for that. "Now we are going to keep you at least overnight for obslervation. I want to do a head xray to make sure you don't have any fractures. Are you hurting anywhere else?" "I hurt everywhere." "Does anything feel broken?" "No I just hurt is all." After a few minutes they put a sheet over her and wheel her down the the Xray department. Eric and her mother going with her. Her mother is still crying. But its just tears streaming down her brown cheeks. They do some xrays and wheel her back to the room she as in. It takes a few hours but, they get her into a room by around 4am. Eric offers to take Marias mother home. But, she isn't about to leave her baby girl alone. Eric kisses Maria on the forhead trying to avoid any bruises. "Take care sweat heart. The boys and I will be by to see you when they get out of school." "Thank you Mr Eric." "I wish I could have been there earlier to help you." She smiles knowing he is telling the truth. She knows Eric has a special place in his heart for her. She knows he cares about all of his employees. But, she know she is special to him. As he is special to her. They love each other. He heads home and is exhausted both mentally and physically. When he gets home is is frustrated wishing this never happned. She is such a sweat girl it shouldn't have happned to her. He calls Chris the store manager when he gets home. "Hello?" Chris answers Eric can tell he was asleep. "Chris ists Eric." "Whats up boss. The store isn't on fire is it?" He says in a panic. "No its worse then that. Let me start by saying she is alright...." "Whos is alright? Whats going on?" "I'm am trying to tell you." "Sorry." "Mairas mother called me and said she wasn't home yet. I raced out to see whats going on. I found her in an alley badly beaten. Apperently some teen boys robbed her and attempted to rape her." "Oh my god is she ok?" "Yes she is fine. She is pretty bruised up though." "Oh shit. She is such a sweat girl. She doesn't deserve this shit. Hell no one does." "She is. And your right no one deserves this. She is at the hospital now." Eric gives Chris the room number. "I'm going up now." "She is probally sleeping." "I don't care. She wasn't even supposed to work last night. I asked her to do me a favor. Oh shit that poor little girl." "We have to make sure this doesn't happen again." "Absolutely." "I just wanted to let you know because I know you love that little girl like I do." "Thanks for letting me know." As Eric is hanging up he hears Chris's wife in the back ground asking what Mr Eric is calling in the middle of the night for. Eric is tired but, pissed and has a ton of energy. He heads to the pool and strips his clothes. He dives in and does ten hard laps. After the tenth he stops at the edge and catches his breath. Once he does he starts doing laps again. He is swimming hard. He wouldn't win a gold medal for his times. But, for him he is making amazing lap times. He doesn't even notice. He just wants to get rid of the anger he feels now. He swims another ten. Once he gets doen with that set his arms feel like noodles and he climbs out of the pool. He of course didn't think to grab a towel. He walks back into the house carrying his clothes and dripping wet. He sees on the clock its pushing six. Time to get the boys up and started he thinks. He heads upstairs and dries off the dampness left on his body. He walks in and wakes the boys and tells them to get cleaned up and ready for school. He thinks about telling them about Maria but, he decideds he doesn't want them worrying all day at school. It may be the right thing to do, or not. He isn't sure. Its just how he feels he should handle it. Eric takes a quick shower and gets dressed again. He heads to the kitchen and Julia is at the stove making oatmeal for all of them. "Whatchoo race off for last night?" The boys are at the table already all smiles and morning happy. Giggling and playing. "You left last night poppi?" "Yeah for a little while. We will talk about it after school." "OK." Is the response. They eat and Eric takes the boys to school as he has to enroll Tran in his new school. He is beat but, it has to be done. He heads to the office and gets it all taken care of. He heads back home after giving Tran some money for lunch and falls into his bed clothed and falls asleep in seconds. Eric wakes up around one and he heads downstairs. He thinks about swimming a few laps but, his arms are pretty worn out from earlier. He calls the office. He talks to June. "June I want an immediate memo sent out to every single store I own. Anyone that has to walk home after we close is no longer to do that. We will pay for cab rides home. The managers are to use petty cash and send in the information every week." "Sure boss." Eric ends the call pretty quickly. After that he calls the florist. He has twelve large floral displays sent to Marias room. Eric gets kind of frustrated at the floral shop because they don't sell candy. He wanted to send her some chocolates. He figures he will stop and get some when he gets the boys from school to go see her. He makes himself a turkey sandwich and instead of chips he gets some carrot sticks. He grabs a water instead of a Coke. Just simple choices that will help him get to his goal of being healthier. He eats his sandwich and puts the plate in the dishwasher. He heads back upstairs to remake his bed as Tran had made it this mornign as per their agreement for the train. Funny thhing is Eric had totally forgotten about it because of everything that's going on. Around two he is puttering around his office and his phone rings. Its Dr Ross and he has to take Tran for some blood work the next day. Eric sets it up for after school so he doesn't have to miss any. Around three he gets in the Escalade and heads to get the boys. Once he his there Alejadnro sees him first. He is giving Cindy a hug as her dad is there to get her for some reason. He races over. "Why you picking us up Poppi?" "I will tell you all when you get in the truck." Alejandro stands there looking at him. "Well, get in the truck." He says laughing. Tran is out next and has a few people around him talking as he comes out. Then Joey comes out in a throng of students. Eric whistles as Joey hasn't noticed him. He looks over and smiles. He races over to the truck and they all get in. Eric turns and looks at the boys the best he can from the drivers seat. "She is OK. However last night on her way home from work Maria got robbed and was beaten up pretty badly. I went out last night and found her. I want you guys to think on the way to Walmart what to get her for a present." "Shes OK?" Alejadnro says worried. "Yeah buddy she is OK. She is pretty bruised up. But, they didn't break anything. So she will be fine in a couple of weeks she will look like her normal pretty self again." "Did they catch them?" Tran asks. "Not yet." "I want to hurt them. Maria is really nice." Joey says. "Yeah thing is if they would have asked her for the money. She probablly would have given it to them." Eric says. "Yeah she would have. Those fuckers." Alejadnro says. "Alejadnro!" Eric says. "Sorry poppi." "Its alright. I understand your mad. I want to call them fuckers too. But, your still a little guy no saying fuckers for you." "I know poppi. I just love Maria though." "I know you do buddy. I do too." They head to the store and they all look for something for Maria to cheer her up and say hey we love and care about you. Eric gets a massive box of chocolates. Its five pounds. He figures her brothers will help her eat it with no problem. Alejadnro gets her a cute t-shirt. Tran gets her a cute little nail set with several colors in it. Joey decided on a pretty little gold chain with a cross on it. Eric gets her a couple of books and a few game books as well to help her pass the time and not be so bored stuck in the bed all day. When they get there Alejadnro says. "Poppi I wonder what its like not to go to the hospital all the time." "Don't know buddy but, lets try it for a while after this." He says with a smile. They head to Marias room and its filled with flowers. She is laying on the bed and watching a novella on Telemundo. When she sees them she smiles and turns off the tv. "Thanks Mr Eric for findng me and well, for the flowers too." "I wish I didn't have to find you. You don't have to worry about walking home anymore. I have it set up so anyone that closes and doesn't have a car gets a taxi ride home. I don't want this to happen ever again." "Its my fault. I shouldn't have cut down the alley." "Its not your fault. Someone should be able to walk home and not be accosted." Alejadnro has scooted up on the bed next to her and she has wrapped her arm around him. "I was scared when poppi told us. Are you OK?" "I will be fine. I had a hundred dollars they stole though." She says with a frown. Eric pulls out his money clip and starts to hand her some money." "No Mr Eric its OK." "I want to give it to you. I know how hard you work for your money. I am giving it with a happy heart. Please accept it with such." She smiles and takes the bills he hands to her. She puts it on the bedside table. "That looks like a lot more then a hundred dollars Mr Eric." "It is. I figure you need a new purse now too. I'm sorry I should have thought about people walking home before. Its my fault." "No its not. How many times has it happned?" "Just this once so far as I know. But, it wont happen again that's for sure." They sit and visit with Maria for a few hours. Her mother shows up as they are about to leave. They found out that Maria will get out of the hospital tommorrow and Eric says he will pick her up so her mom doesn't have to miss work or anything. The boys head home and walk in to hear Miss Julia singing in the kitchen. Joey goes in and starts singing with her. Alejadnro wants to see what she is cooking. When Eric walks in he sees Alejandro is cutting up some vegetables. Miss Julia is showing him the easiest way to cut them so one it is the fastest way. Two and most importantly so he doesn't get hurt. They are singing three little birds. It seems to be Miss Julia's favorite song. Its certainly in Eric's top 20 favs for sure. Its a good song. The evening carries on without any excitement or incidents. Eric and the boys after they have dinner just hang out and play some games on the game console. Eric as hard as he tries cant seem to get it. "There are just too damn many buttons." Eric says. "There isn't too many dad. Its just your old." Joey says giggling. "I will show you old." Eric tosses the control aside and pounces on Joey and starts tickling him. The other two boys are laughing their butts off at Joeys predicament. Eric tickles him until he says he has to pee. "You know brother for as much talent as you have you aren't very smart messing with Ba." Tran says giggling. "Pshaw." Joey says as he races to the bathroom. "Why do you guys always say pshaw." Tran asks. "Its poppis way of saying bullshit." Alejadnro says giggling. Tran laughs at this. "You know little man that's twice today I have heard you curse. You must be punished." Eric says with a serious face. Alejandros eyes get wide. "Yes sir. I think you must be...... TICKLED!!!!!!" He says and pounces on him. Alejadnro squeels with delight as Joey gets back he is laughing at Alejandro. "You need more of this?" Eric says smiling at Joey. "Oh no." Joey laughs back at him prepearing to run. When Eric finishes with Alejadnros tickle punishment Alejadnro is out of breath. "Poppi. I really do love you." He says between breaths. "I love you too." He says and kisses Alejandros forhead. "You know. I am really so happy now. I knew I wasn't happy before. But, now I know I was really sad and lonely. I tried to ignore it and it worked most of the time. But, now I am part of a family. It makes me feel so good." Tran says. "I'm glad your happy now. I think everyone should have others to love and be happy." Eric says. "How about some popcorn?" He is met with three very enthusiastic yeses. He heads downstairs and he gets out the popcorn maker. He decided that the microwave stuff is fine. But, it has so many chemicals in it he doesn't want to give it to the boys anymore. Not to mention that the bags produce more waste then if you just buy a 2 pound bag. So he makes a big bowl of popcorn he adds a cup of peanuts and a bit of butter, and salt. After Eric goes up he sees Joey is sitting on Trans lap. Tran has his arms wrapped around him holding him. Eric smiles a she feels they are truly accepting each other as brothers. As boys who love each other. They have only been together a very short time. But, they have been through a lot in that short time. "Dad I was so embarassed at school today." "Why buddy." "Well, the teacher made a big fuss over me being on TV and now all the other kids in the class want to be my friend. But, they didn't before. So she had me get in front of the class and tell about it. It was embarrasing." "So what are you going to do about the new people that want to be your friends?" Eric asks. "I'm going to be nice to them. Because that's the right thing to do. But, I know they aren't really my friends. They just think I'm famous and stuff is why. I'm not though I'm just me." "Buddy I hate to tell you this. But, you are kind of famous right now. Maybe down the road you wont be. But, they say everyone has fifteen minutes of fame. Who knows maybe you will only be famous until your voice changes. That happens sometimes." "Dad I don't really care about all of that. Its really not important. You guys are important to me." He says. "I tell you boys sure are all mushy tonight." Eric says smiling. "But, I love it. It makes me know that you three know that you are not only happy. You know you are loved." They all roll their eyes at him and bust out laughing. "You boys are smart asses." Eric says laughing. Tran says. "Pshaw." Which makes them all laugh hard. "Guys I hate to say it...." "Bedtime?" Alejadnro says. "Yepper." "Go take showers and I will be in to tuck you in shortly." They all do as they are asked and Eric walks into the kitchen. He sees Mis Julia has put some Diet Cokes in the fridge. "Why not?" He says and grabs one and a handful of white grapes. He eats the grapes and takes a sip of the soda. "Well, you sure aren't Coke." He says looking at the can. Eric takes the can and heads upstairs. He comes to Trans room first. "Hi Ba." Tran says from his bed. He is already under the covers. Eric sits on the side of the bed. "You know I am really glad you have come to be in our family. I dont know what we did before you got here. I thought our lives were full. But, now they are with you in them." "Thanks Ba. I know you mean it too." "Of course I do. I don't lie to my boys." Eric bends down and kisses Tran on the lips. "I love you and sleep well." "You too Ba." Eric walks out turning out the light and shuts the door. Next is Joey. Joey is in his bed already as well. Eric take a seat next to him. "Dad it really bothers me that all those people want to be my friend now." "Joey, unfortunatly with what is happening in your life you will get that a lot. You just have to be selective who you let into your life. There are a lot of people out thhere that will try to take advantage of you. I will do my best to protect you from that. But, I wont see them all right away. The ones that want to be your friends now are probablly mostly fake. But, some may be real that they just didn't notice you before." "Yeah. One boy was trying to make fun of me today." "Yeah how so?" "Well, he was trying to make me feel bad for you being rich. Saying how you are so rich that you can just donate a million dollars like its nothing." "Being rich is nothing to be ashamed of in itself buddy. If you are rich and don't help people then you should be ashamed. Becasue I just don't see any reason to be wealthy and not help people. I mean whats the point of having money then. I mean how many houses can I own? We can only live in one at a time. Besides you are rich to according to that boy." "No im not dad. I just got like a hundred dollars." "No son. You got like a million dollars." "No I don't." "When we signed the contract Mr Diamond gave me a check for you that's a million dollars." "Cool I can buy anything now." "No you cant. I am in charge of it and I will make sure its properly invested for you. So you will still be getting your $20 week allownace young man." "Think I can have a raise?" "Um no." Eric says laughing. Joey laughs at this. "Its OK I don't ever spend my allowance anyway. You always buy everything we are going to get anyway. I know Alejadnro has been giving most of his to a boy in his class for lunch money. Becasue his dad lost his job and his mom is trying but, just doesn't make enough for eveyrthing." "Why didn't he tell me this?" "I don't know dad. You have to ask him." "You think I wont?" Eric says smiling. "I know you will dad." "I love you buddy. Sleep well." Eric says kissing him on the lips and heads to Alejadnros room. "Hey sweat heart how you doing tonight?" Eric says as he sits on the edge of the bed. "I'm good. Poppi why do people steal?" "Good question. Well, some people steal because they need something. If you remember Joey came into our lives because he was stealing for food. Now stealing is wrong no matter how you look at it. But, if your hungry at least then its for a good reason. Some people steal for drugs or other additions like gambling. Some people steal out of greed because they want more then what they have. Others steal to see if they can get away with it. I'm sure there are a lot of other reasons but, that's the main ones I would think." "But, why did they beat her up though. I mean there were two of them they could have just taken it and not hurt her. Shoot she probablly would have given them most of it if they just asked. Shes really nice like that." "Yes she is. I cant answer the others because I just don't know. Sometimes people are just mean is all." "I don't want to be mean." "Buddy I don't think you could be if you tried." Alejadnro smiles. "Probbly not." "Before you go to sleep I wanted to tell you I am raising your allowance $15 a week." "Cool. Is it cuz I came up with the idea?" " No its so you can pay for your friends lunch and still have your allowance." "Joey cant keep anything secret." Alejadnro says a little irritated. "Why didn't you tell me you know I would have helped him." "I just wanted to do it on my own is all. Because he is right in front of me. You help all kinds of people. I just wanted to help my friend." "So you don't want the raise?" "No poppi I don't. I want to do it on my own." "Can I pay half would that be OK? Or even give you say $5 more so you can have $10 a week after you help. Is that OK?" Alejadnro smiles at this thought. "Good. You know I'm proud of you right?" "Poppi you would be proud of me no matter what." "True. But, this is so nice of you. Your a good boy." Eric says and kisses his lips goodnight. "I learned from you." "Pshaw." "Pshaw." Eric heads to his room and turns on the TV and tries to watch the news. He just cant stand it and turns it to an episode of That 70s show. He sits back and enjoys the episode and finishes his Diet Coke. He heads to bed after as he knows he is going to be a bit busy tomorrow. As he is almost asleep he feels Tran climb into bed with him. "I just wanted to be close to you Ba." "I love you Tran." Eric says as he drifts off into the land of slumber.