Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2023 11:43:16 +0000
From: Jonah
Subject: A Seat of Learning      chapter 15

A Seat of Learning
by Jonah

More of the adventures of Simon and Garret and their boys.  This is a
loving story of good people.  It features men looking after boys but do not
expect to find any indecency here.  Only genuine love.  Not one of the
characters in this story is a real person or is, in any way, based on a
real person.  At least one character, however, is the creation of another
author.  I wish to thank Jacob Lion, in the USA, for his permission to use
his characters in my stories.

I hope you will enjoy this story, and I'm grateful to Nifty for enabling me
to bring it to you.  Nifty does not charge either me or you for doing so,
but it does cost money to do it.  Please consider donating to Nifty at
https://donate.nifty.org/ to help keep this site going.

Chapter 15.

Sunday was Sunday, with Luke joining us for Church and for dinner.  After
dinner the steam engine came out from the shed and the boys were having
rides.  Barry hadn't realised that there was a steam engine in there too.

On Monday we were all back at school.  I reported first to Jean, who was
not - as I expected - surprised to learn that I had home-schooled two boys.
Denzil, it seemed, had got to her first and had apologised for his
misbehaviour in the past.

It was another fortnight before we got a report from Superintendant
Greenwood that the so-called reverend had been convicted of nineteen counts
of abusing boys, four of them amounting to grievous bodily harm, and
another eight counts of mental cruelty.  As a result the rev. had been
sentenced to twelve years at His Majesty's Pleasure and nobody expected him
to survive it.  He had already tried to harm himself whilst in police
custody, and it could only be a matter of time.  In the course of the
investigation, separate investigations were begun on twelve sets of
parents, including Barry's.  It looked as if we would be fostering Barry
for some time to come, which none of us minded.  There was no question, for
the moment, of a formal adoption.  He wasn't up for adoption for a start,
but we loved having him with us.

Lloyd, at ten years of age, was getting too clever by half and Simon came
up with a startling proposal.

"How about I enrol him in the Junior Club at the railway?" he suggested.
"They've been trying to get me to help lead it for some time and, if I do
it, I could take Lloyd with me.  He's old enough now."

The truth of course, as no parent likes to hear, was that he had indeed
become "old enough".  If I had my way, of course, Lloyd would stay at home
but, it was not my way that mattered. Of course, if Simon could take him,
he should go, or..... wait a minute.... aren't I missing a trick here?
Simon already had a job on the railway.  What if I got a job with the
Junior Club.  It is not written anywhere that primary school teachers can't
be railwaymen too.

Well, the times they were a-changing, but it was change for the better
after all.

Then there was Denzil.  That Saturday afternoon visit to Carrow Road was
not the last.  Mick Thorpe had discovered that, not only did he like being
a parent but, unexpectedly, he was good at it.  Denzil discovered that he
liked being Mick's son, and that he liked being a member of the human race.
He also discovered that he liked football, or at least that he liked
Norwich City, which isn't always the same thing.  Since Denzil and Barry
had become best friends, it was inevitable that there would be more
barbecues and evening meals , and even the occasional sleepover.

And so, we approached Lloyd and Philip and Barry's last Christmas as
primary school students, but that's another story.



The End