Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2021 11:00:58 +0000
From: Isuccum <Isuccum@protonmail.ch>
Subject: what came next 5

What Came Next
A sequel to `The Valley Cottage'

Chapter 5

On our way home I asked, "What's going to happen to Martin? He can't go
back. His dad might kill him next time."

"I don't know, but I've spoken to your father and to the police and told
them he can stay with us until he gets sorted. Whether that's when he gets
a job and goes off to live on his own or sooner doesn't matter. He's got a
home with us as long as he needs it. But Social Services will have to get
involved, and they might have other ideas," Mum told me.

"We'll just have to make sure that the social service people do what we
want. Thanks, Mum. I've really only got two friends; that's Martin and
Tom. I don't want to lose one."

"We will do our best, but we can't make promises. We might have some more
news by the time you go to see him tomorrow. But don't go getting your
hopes up, young man. A lot is out of our hands. And don't even think about
suggesting it to Martin. You mustn't say anything to him until we know for
sure."

When we got home we found Dad and one of the workers he employs busy
clearing out the spare room. It was where we just dumped stuff we weren't
using but didn't want to get rid of.

"What are you doing, Dad?" I asked, rather surprised that he wasn't out on
the farm doing something with a higher priority.

"I'm getting a room ready for Martin, in case he can come to us."

"But can't he share my room?"

"I'm not against him sharing your room. But I'm not sure the social
services people would be too happy with that. So I'm going to show them
that we have the space and are ready for Martin to come and stay with us,"
Dad said.

"Oh, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks, Dad. You and Mum are very special
people, and I love you so much," I said and gave Dad a hug, something I
hadn't done for some years.

"And now that you're home, you can dig in and help too. Grab that box and
bring it out to the back shed. We'll sort out what to do with it all once
we've got the room sorted," Dad told me.

With the three of us working we got the rest of the junk out the room
pretty quick. There was a single bed in the room, but when dad pulled the
cover off the mattress he said it wouldn't do and got in his truck and took
off.

"Come on, Rick. We can get a fair way into painting the room before your
dad gets back if we don't sit around," Will said. Will was my favourite out
of the four men Dad employed on the farm. At twenty-five, Will was the
youngest of the employees. He always was kind towards me and treated me as
an equal. He was also the most willing and reliable of the four employees.

We didn't waste time. Dad had some paint left over from another paint job
in the house. As it was a pale blue, it would be good for a boy's
bedroom. Will showed me where the stuff was and I helped to pull out dust
sheets, which we carried upstairs and spread over what furniture was still
in the room and the floor. Then I helped carry up the paint, rollers,
brushes and the pans for the rollers.

"Have you helped with painting a room before?" Will asked.

"No, the last time we did some decorating I was away with my cousins for
part of the school holidays. When I came home it was all done," I answered.

"Okay. I'll give you some tips. I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly."

Will explained what I needed to do and said that as he was tall enough he
would do the cutting in around the ceiling so we would not need to use a
ladder. I had to go around the skirting boards and window and door frames
and do the cutting in there before we began to paint the walls. We were
lucky that there weren't any holes to fill in, as the filler would have
taken time to dry.  Will's prediction that we could be nearly finished by
the time Dad got home was a bit out. He had finished cutting in around the
ceiling, but I was still going around the skirting boards. Will had also
nearly finished around the window. But the rest of the walls were still a
dirty magnolia. Dad was still impressed and complimented both of us on
getting on with the job so well. I was quite surprised at how quickly the
rest of the painting got done once we had finished all the fiddly bits. Of
course, dad had got stuck in too and had taken off the light switch and
socket covers so we could paint under them rather than cutting into
them. Then with three of us painting we had got the room finished in time
for our tea. Will declined the offer to eat with us, as he was meeting up
with his girlfriend to go to a movie. She was a nurse, and this was one of
her nights off.

After we had eaten, Dad had me help him get the dust sheets out of the room
and give it a clean. I helped him carry the new mattress into the room and
then helped Mum to make the bed. Mum had found some curtains that went with
the blue walls that were still in a good condition, and we put them up
instead of the ones that had been there. Dad had also bought new pillows
for the bed and a rug for the floor. He dug a bedside light out of
somewhere. Once that was on the cabinet, Martin's room was ready.

When I went to bed that night, I was a happy boy. My friend, although sore,
was going to be alright. If things worked out he would come to live with
us. I was pretty sure we would enjoy some special times together. Thinking
about that led me to my nightly ritual, which helped me into a peaceful
sleep.

The next morning when Will arrived for work he had some news for me. "Janet
is one of the nurses who's been looking after Martin. She told me that they
don't think he will have any serious problems from what was done to
him. They think he was probably concussed by his father hitting him on the
head. And he was severely dehydrated and hungry. He'd had nothing to eat or
drink since you guys got caught. Just the beatings and the yelling. Now
that he's getting fluids and food he's showing signs of a quick
recovery. Janet thinks it will only be a matter of a day or two before he's
allowed to go home."

"You mean come here," I corrected him.

"If that's allowed, this will be his home," Will said.

"They'd better allow it. No point in him going into one of those group
homes when we've got the space and want him," I said.

"I agree, but not everyone thinks like that for some unknown reason," Will
said. "By the way, I understand that you and Martin are closer than most
good friends. You'll get no hassles from me over it. I don't think the
others will say anything either. They will be aware that your dad is okay
with your relationship, and it could put their jobs at risk if they show
any animosity over it. You're a good kid, and I'm sure Martin is too. If it
works out that he can stay here, then I'll have two extra sets of hands to
help me with my tasks." Will was smiling and chuckled as he finished.

"Or you might have two extra bosses," I replied. Will just laughed and gave
me a high-five.

It was a good job that we got a room ready for Martin. Mum had approached
the authorities. It was very hard to place teenagers, plus the homes for
teenage children were bursting at the seams, so they were only too pleased
to do an inspection and a rushed DBS check to speed through the approval of
our family to foster. Less than twenty-four hours after the room was
finished, an employee of the Social Services had phoned and made an
appointment to view the house and get the paperwork underway. They must
have had a high up contact at the Criminal Records Bureau, because the DBS
check was done in two days, when it normally takes a couple of weeks for a
new application. With a clean DBS check for both of my parents, they were
granted temporary custody of Martin. Martin had already spent an extra day
in hospital while they dotted the i's and crossed the t's. I had been in to
see him every day and was with Dad when we went to collect him. Because we
had been unsure until that day if we would get permission to have Martin
stay with us, we had not mentioned anything to him. Martin was aware that
both his parents were `assisting the police with their enquiries' and that
his sister was staying with a friend who would be going to the same
university as her. What Martin did not know was that both his parents had
been arrested: his father for the assault, and his mother for aiding and
abetting his father. There was no doubt that his father was going to get a
prison sentence; we didn't know yet just how long it would be. His mother
might also end up in prison.  As I helped Martin to get into our car, I
could tell he was getting very anxious. I worked out why and quickly told
Martin that he was not going home to his parents but was going to stay with
us.

"Martin, we have been granted custody of you. You can stay with us for as
long as you want or need to. If that's until you go off to college or get
married, it doesn't matter. We're glad to have you with us, and we'll help
you as much as we can," Dad told him.

Although Martin could have left the hospital a day earlier, he was still
quite weak and had a lot of tender spots. He moved carefully to keep the
pain to a minimum, so he didn't do anything very fast. I was very patient
with him and insisted on carrying the little Martin had brought with him
from the hospital up to his room. Mum had been waiting when we got home,
and she followed us boys up to the room we had prepared for Martin. Martin
was quite moved by it all and needed to sit down on his bed as soon as he
got into the room.

"Tomorrow we will be meeting some officers at your house." Mum said. "They
will let you in and you will be allowed to take whatever you want from your
own room and then possibly some things from the rest of the house. But
until your parent's cases have been decided they have to preserve the house
for them to return to."

Martin sat on the bed and was clearly bewildered by everything that had
happened to him that morning. "I think you need to rest a bit now. Do you
want me to stay with you or leave you for a bit?" I asked.

"Stay with me, please. Thank you, all of you. I'm very lucky to have you
for friends," Martin said.

Martin lay down on the bed, and I sat beside him on the edge of the bed. We
talked for a bit, but it was mostly me talking and Martin making odd sounds
every so often to show he was listening. After a bit I noticed the sounds
weren't coming anymore; when I looked I could see that Martin was asleep. I
stopped talking but remained on the edge of the bed and spent some time
looking at Martin, being thankful that he had come through the ordeal
without any major injuries. How he would deal with it emotionally and
psychologically was yet to be seen.

I must have sat there about ten minutes before I carefully moved from the
bed to a chair at the table that would be Martin's desk at first. I got out
my phone and texted Tom, inviting him to come round the next day. Martin
had agreed that I could tell Tom what had happened, but I hadn't told him
that Martin was now staying with us. I thought I would surprise Tom with
it. Just before I finished the text I remembered Mum saying that Martin was
going to be able to collect some stuff from his house. I added that Tom
should come around after lunch. I also mentioned that Martin was out of
hospital. Tom had been up to the hospital to visit Martin once, and I
didn't want him going there when Martin was no longer there.

After I had sent the text, I started to play a game of Tetris on my phone
while I waited for Martin to wake up. I was concentrating so hard on the
game that I didn't realise Martin had woken up until he made me jump when
he asked, "You got porn on your phone?"

I looked at Martin. I was red in the face, but he was smiling and I could
see that he had enjoyed catching me out. "I was playing a game of Tetris
while I waited for you to wake up. How're you feeling now?"

"With these two hands, but there's nothing close enough to feel," Martin
replied. It took me a few moments to realise what he was suggesting.

"Do you think you're up to it?" I asked. I hadn't even realised the pun I
had made, but Martin laughed and then grimaced.

"I'm up, but I don't know if the rest of my body is," he said.

"I could help you out, and you don't have to do anything back. We can do
that until you're feeling stronger. My hand's been taking care of me while
you were in hospital, and it can do it for a bit longer. But we will have
to wait a bit. I'm sure mum will be looking in soon to see if you need
anything," I told him.

"You'd do that for me?" Martin asked.

"Of course. We're friends and that's what friends do. Remember how you guys
spoilt me at the cottage?"

"Thanks. That means a lot to me. I've never really had a good friend
before, and now there's you and also Tom."

"Oh, I've also invited Tom to come round tomorrow after lunch. He doesn't
know you're staying with us, so it will be a bit of a surprise for him."

"Cool. It'll be good to see him again. The last time my eyes were still
half closed."

"What do you want to do now? Stay here, or get up and go downstairs?" I
asked.

"I'd like to go outside, but I'm not sure how long I'll last. Apart from
the journey here I haven't been outside for about a week, I think."

"Okay. I'll be there to help if you need it. We can just go down and sit on
the patio. I'll get us some drinks and see if Mum has any snacks we can
have."

Lying on the bed had allowed Martin's body to stiffen up a bit, and he
groaned as he tried to sit up. I jumped over to the bed and helped him to
stand up, but then had to help him to sit again while I got some slippers
onto his feet. Mum had bought him some for while he was in hospital. I
helped him to stand again, and we slowly made our way out and down the
stairs. The slight jolt his body got with each step down clearly hurt him,
but he didn't complain. We made it out to the patio, and I got him seated
there before going back in to the kitchen to get some juice. Mum was
already getting supper ready, and I asked her if there were any snacks. She
handed me a couple of packets of potato crisps and said that was all we
were allowed or we'd spoil our appetites for our dinner. I didn't argue and
thanked her before taking them and the drinks out to Martin.

Will was talking to Martin and I heard him tell Martin that he was with a
great family and they would do all they could to help him. Then Will said,
"Don't be too proud to let them help you. You need it now, and someday in
the future you will find something to help them with." He bent down and
said in what was supposed to be a whisper but was loud enough for someone
close by to hear, "Even if it's taking that pesky son of theirs off their
hands."

I guessed that Will had seen or heard me approaching as he had a huge grin
on his face as I stepped out the door while he straightened up. "You
slacking off again?" I asked. "I better tell Dad to cut your pay." I was
also grinning. Then I turned to Martin and said, "You know that pretty
nurse that was chatting you up? Will thinks she's his girlfriend, but we
know better."

"Janet wouldn't waste her time chatting you two pipsqueaks up. Not when
she's got a real man to love," Will returned.

"And who's that?" I asked.

Will stepped around Martin and got me in a head hold and gave me a
nookie. I was laughing too much to try and get away, so I ended up with a
bit more of a tender spot than normal. When Will let me go, I straightened
up and introduced Will to Martin, explaining that Will had helped to get
Martin's room ready and had taught me how to cut in when painting.

"Thank you," Martin said, looking at Will.

"No problem. Let me know if I can help in any way," Will said. As he turned
to leave he added, "Goodbye. I'm off to see Janet before she goes on duty."

"Please tell her I said thanks for taking care of me," Martin asked.

"Sure. I'll do that. So many patients just leave without saying anything to
the nurses. When a patient does say something, they really appreciate it,"
Will said and walked off toward his car.

We sat and talked for a bit while we waited for mum to call us to get ready
for our meal. While we were eating, Mum suggested that I stay in the
bathroom with Martin while he has a shower or wash in case he needed any
help. Dad told us that we should wait until Martin was more on his feet
before we think about him sharing my room.