The Last Phoenix

The first day at 'Haven', the boys were getting settled.  John made a point to get in his wheelchair and have Danny and Donny take him around the place to meet all of the boys.  The first, and closest group he wanted to visit was Squad Six.

Danny was pushing his dad and they went into the squad's common room.  Two young boys were sitting there looking pretty scared.  Donny went to get the others.

John smiled and said, in a gentle voice, "Hi fellas.  I'm Danny and Donny's Dad.  Are you Luke and Sean?"

They nodded.

"You look kind of lost and scared."

Nods again.

"Would you like to talk to me about it?  I might be able to help."

The boys looked at each other and shrugged, and then one of them said, "We don't know what's happening.  We're scared this place is going to be like the bad one."

At this point the two boys looked like they were going to cry, but they were saved by the arrival of the rest of the squad.

John looked around and quickly sized up the boys.  "You must be Bob, the Squad Leader," John said to the tallest and oldest looking boy.

"Yes, sir, I'm Bob Brown."

John sighed inwardly; these were a scared bunch of boys.  "Hi Bob, and you are Kevin, Justin and Brett, right?"

"Yes, sir," they chorused back.

John chuckled softly and smiled a big friendly smile.  "Well guys, I'm Mr. Gregory; I'm Danny and Donny's Dad.  I am the guy the owners kinda put in charge of the whole place.  I want all you guys to know, right from the start, that this isn't Juvy.  If any of you have any problems that Bob can't handle, then you can come to me.  I will be around here pretty much all the time.  I have a room right down the hall here and I will be living in The Phoenix House too, when it's ready.  I will not ask you to do things that are beyond your abilities or something I wouldn't ask my two sons to do either."

Keven asked hesitantly, "Umm, do we gotta, ah, umm..."  He couldn't finish, but the dread that was obviously showing on his face let John know exactly what he was asking.

"Kevin, please look at me," John waited for the boy to make eye contact.  "The answer to the question you tried to ask is, NO! That is NO, with a capital N and a capital O and a big fat exclamation mark after it. If anyone ever tries to force you into doing any of that kind of thing, I want to know about it, immediately, so we can put a stop to it, right away.  There is a huge difference between being curious about your bodies with each other, and someone like an adult or a much older boy, making you do stuff you don't want to do.  I will make a solemn promise to you right now; this is going to be as safe a place as I can possibly make it.  Don't think of me as some scary adult that controls everything. In the first place, I don't want to control everything, and in the second place The Phoenix house is controlled by the board, which is controlled by boys that lived through what you have, and they wanted things to be different for you.  Think of me like a friend's Dad or maybe an Uncle.  I'm here to help you guys not to order you around."

Danny giggled, "Oh he'll order us around plenty, but it's usually to do stuff we should have already done."

The boys were shocked that Danny had just talked to his dad that way.

"Danny?  Come here, right now."

"See guys, he's started already,"

"Danny, I mean it, Here, and Now."

"Sure, Dad."  Danny walked over to his Dad.

Danny stood in front of his dad.  Then John reached forward and gave him a big hug.  The boys were all watching very closely.  "See boys, I'm not ever going to punish you for telling the truth.  I probably will give some orders, but I am after all, pretty used to doing that.  I was a Cop for quite a few years, and that was part of my job, but so was keeping people safe. Sometimes it's hard to separate those two things."

Brett cleared his throat like he wanted to say something then pulled back.

"Brett, right?" John asked, and Brett nodded.  "Is it something you'd rather talk about in private?"

"Ah, well, I don't want to hurt anybodies feelings and well it's not anything bad, really.  It's just that well, Justin is always hanging out with Kevin, and well he's always trying to include me and... well I'd rather just read or listen to music.  And... well, I was thinking maybe they would like to be roommates and... well be able to hang out without trying to include me all the time."

The other boys stood there slack jawed.  John looked over at Bob, "Okay, Bob, you are the Squad Leader.  What do you think should be done?"

"Ah, ah, Justin, is what Brett said true?" Bob asked.

"Well, ah, we was trying to not like... ignore him.  Wasn't that the right thing to do?" Justin looked kind of lost and worried that he had done something wrong.

Bob looked at Kevin, "You like Justin?  Want to room with him?"

"Ah, sure, Just' is Kewl."

"Bret that would leave you alone.  Are you okay with that?" Bob asked.

All the boys were grinning.  "See guys, talk to each other and your Squad Leader.  After all, you picked him.  Well, I'm off to check on the next squad. Remember, I'm always going to be around if you need me."

By the end of the afternoon, John had met with the boys in each Squad and his hours of studying names and faces had paid off.  When the twins wheeled him back to his room he was well and truly tired.

After a pizza feast for dinner, there was a New Year's Eve party.  The boys were polite, but they were bored almost to tears by the 'Old' music being played.  Then, this really white kid, climbed up on the stage and pretty soon he was being the DJ and the place started to really rock.  They were soon all having a good time and the little guys crashed around on some sofas and such and just before Midnight one whole wall showed the Big Ball in New York as it fell.  The cheers and screams woke everybody up and everyone hugged and then it was time to head to bed; there was some sort of court case they had to go to the next day. Tom had told them that they had all been subpoenaed by some smart ass 'lady' lawyer.

It was kind of weird that the boys were awakened in the morning by a voice calling them by name.  Right after breakfast, they all left for the court house.  Mr. Richards assured them that they weren't in any trouble; that this wasn't about any of them and was some kind of 'Stupid Lawyer Trick.' {For details see Haven, Book 2, Chapter 23}

Not long after the boys left, Becky and John were sitting in their room discussing how they wanted to run the everyday things at the new place.  One thing they agreed on was that there will be some chores that the boys would be responsible for.  They were working on this when they had a visitor.

When Becky answered the knock on their door there was a large black man with a wonderfully warm and friendly smile standing there.  "Hi, I'm Samuel Randall, the contractor who is doing the renovation work at The Phoenix House."

"Oh Hello, Samuel, please come in and have a seat.  What can we do for you?" Becky asked, smiling broadly.

"Well, we are finishing up the major renovations and I wanted to touch bases with you, and then there is the matter of furnishings.  There are some things that are still there that will be usable, but then there are some others that I think would be best sent straight to the dump."  Samuel brought out a notebook and unrolled the building plans.

"What kinds of things were you wanting to discard?" John asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, the main suite which is going to be your apartment, was decorated in 'French Provincial Whore House,' complete with the red brocade drapes and gold gilt magnifying ceiling mirrors.  Neal wanted to know why there were mirrors on the ceiling and if he could have one in his room.  I'm not sure how Mr. R answered, but so far I haven't been asked to install the mirror."

Becky laughed and held the side of her head, "Now, those are pictures I didn't want in my head."

All three adults laughed.  They spent the rest of the morning going over the plans and discussing the options.  Just before lunch, the TV screen in the room came to life and Santa himself appeared, well, not really, it was 'Shorty'.  'I couldn't help overhearing and I may be overstepping my bounds, but I think the boys need to have a say in their areas.  They are, for the most part, capable of painting their own rooms, the older boys will need to help the younger ones but that would be a good thing too.  Let the boys decide if they want twin beds, bunk beds, double or Queen size beds in their rooms and let them pick out the other furniture.  I will print out catalog pages from 'Furniture Haven' so they can select what they want. After all Haven enterprises is the major stockholder in that store, so we can get a pretty hefty discount.'

The three looked at each other and laughed.  John said, "Well, Shorty, you have hit the nail right on the head.  That sounds like exactly what we should do.  By the way I thought you tagged along with the gang going to court."

'That was Shorty, I'm 'Shorty'.  Hmm, now that is confusing, isn't it?  I am a version of Shorty, the person, that has been incorporated into the 'James Technology' from Watkins Enterprises.  I am kinda like 'Philip', but with  Shorties much more pleasant personality.  Samuel show them my new home please.'

Samuel unrolled the basement plans that they hadn't seen before.  A section of the area was built to resemble a vault at Fort Knox.  'This is where I shall be housed.  Basically, my home is a highly advanced super computer network that is tied into the systems of the household.  Like 'Philip', I will be everywhere but I am there to protect and assist the young ones, not to be an informant.  I will only share information if I have the permission of the youth in question, or if I feel there is a danger if I were not to share such information.'

Becky rolled her eyes, "I think Linda and I need to have a discussion on how to handle 'know it all computers'."

'Ho, Ho, Ho, Just leave my little Martha out of it.'

John gave a horrified look, "Oh my God, it's going to be like living at the North Pole!"

'No, it is much warmer here.'

Samuel chuckled, "You better watch out, he knows when you are sleeping, he knows when you're awake..." He quickly ducked to avoid the pillow John tossed at his head.

 Mrs. Johnson brought a tray of food up for the three adults.  "I thought you would prefer to eat up here.  The school kids are pretty wound up this morning.  They are all comparing their Christmas haul and then talking about the trial going on today."

"I certainly hope that the trial is going well," Samuel commented.

"I think Tom can handle things pretty well and I know that lawyer of his is pretty sharp."  John thought back to the conversation he had with Fred from the hotel last May.

About three o'clock the boys returned and were all chattering about some dumb lawyer chick and then about Jason and Travis really nailing the School Board guy.  John pulled Donny and Danny away and had them fill him in on what happened.  They got kind of uneasy at the end of the story.  John said, "Okay guys, something happened, and I get the feeling that it is something pretty important that I need to know about."

Donny took a deep breath, "Well, Dad, This is kinda like what I didn't want to tell ya.  See, Travis freaked when the scumbag dude from the school board took the stand and stood up and yelled at him saying he was one of the ones that did stuff to him, and then Jason, well, Jason yelled at him too."

"Ah, Jason, Squad Leader of Squad Two, that Jason?"

"Yeah Dad, that Jason." Danny said.

"Wow, the guy forced him, too?"

"No, but he forced Aaron.  And well, Aaron has AIDS.  And Jason yelled it out in Court, real loud, so everybody heard, and now Aaron is all crying and Glenn is pissed off at Jason and ... and ..." Donny ran down and stopped.

"Come on boys, I need to be there for them; get me out of this bed and into that chair."

"Dad, you're just in your underwear." Danny pointed out.

John grabbed his robe and just put it across his lap, "Get me to them.  Hurry."

Donny ran ahead, clearing the hall and Danny was pushing his Dad as fast as he could.  The Common room was empty four boys were standing outside the Squad Leader's room where a yelling match was in progress with crying from the room next door.

"Okay boys, go on back to your rooms, or wherever, and let me through.  Juan, before you go, you and Donny get those two to shut up, then bring them next door.  Danny, wait out here and I'll let you know when they can come in."

John opened the door and a boy he knew was Aaron was lying on the bed with his face buried in his pillow, just crying his little heart out. John wheeled up next to the bed and gently put his hand on Aaron's back.  Aaron jerked like he had been hit.  He then looked up.  "Oh, no!" and the tears began again even harder this time.

"Aaron, calm down, you have done absolutely nothing wrong." John said slowly and lovingly.

Aaron shook his head, "Y-you d-d-don't know.  You're going to hate me and make me go back."

"Oh, Aaron, it doesn't matter one bit.  I know you have AIDS, I know you have been raped, I know how guilty you feel about all this.  But you didn't do anything wrong, not one thing. Listen to me carefully.  You didn't do anything wrong to get AIDS in the first place, you were born with it, You didn't force anyone to have sex with you, they forced you.  You belong here, and didn't I promise everyone last night, that this was going to be a safe place?"

Aaron sniffled and nodded his head.

"Okay then, here, Son, wipe your face and let's get the two Bozos in here." John handed Aaron an arm of the robe to wipe his tears away.

Aaron wiped his tears and when he handed the robe back he giggled.  He pointed to John's Boxers, "Sponge Bob?"

John covered back up and whispered to Aaron, "Yeah, should have been briefs, huh?"

Aaron giggled some more and John opened the door.  His twins and the two older boys were standing there.  "Danny, Donny, get lost.  You two... in here, NOW, and not one word."

Glenn sat on the bed next to Aaron and put his arm around him protectively.  Jason sat in the chair on the far side of the room.  John sighed, "Jason?  Did you do what you did to embarrass Aaron?"

"Oh shit no!  I mean, oh man..."

Glenn smiled.  John wasn't sure if it was because Jason slipped up, or if he thought Jason was in trouble, or both.

"Okay, well first things first; you need to tell Aaron you're sorry you embarrassed him."

Jason's eyes got big as he realized how Aaron must feel.  "Oh, God, Aaron I'm so sorry.  I mean that just came out in court.  That dude was such a jerk and then when I saw who he was and then Travis said what he said I just saw red cause he hurt me too when I was ten and I bet he did most of the older guys here."

"I don't care about that!  You told everybody I have AIDS!!!!"

John put a hand on Aaron's knee.  "Calm down.  Take a deep breath."

"Look, I'll do anything I can to make it up to you.  If you want a different squad or I'll leave and you guys can pick another Leader, tell me what you want."

John gave Aaron's knee a little squeeze.  "I don't think that is what should happen.  Glenn, you were pretty upset, too, mind telling me why?"

"Jason always lets his mouth go before he thinks.  He almost blew it at Juvy when he told Mrs. Harris off.  If Aaron and me hadn't talked to Neal he wouldn't be here now.  Then he goes and does this today.  Now everybody knows about Aaron and probably will know about me soon enough."  He suddenly clamped his own hand over his mouth.

"So 'Diarrhea Of The Mouth' isn't confined to Jason, huh?  Well the damage is done.  Now here are some things you guys don't know about.  Doc Turnman and I were going to call a meeting after school tomorrow to discuss this topic with you guys.  We talked a lot about this on the helicopter trip here yesterday.  Aaron, I already knew you had AIDS, so that doesn't have to worry you.  Now I know that the older boys liked to rape the younger ones when they were moved up.  That means that if HIV is in one, then all of them have been exposed."

"They didn't do me, they made Glenn do me." Aaron said.

John wheeled as close as he could to Aaron.  He pulled Aaron to him and gave him a hug.  He bit back a gasp of pain from his still very bruised and battered body.  Aaron melted, into Johns arms.

When Aaron recovered and sat back up, John said, "Jason, you need to do some work to mend what got broken today.  I am putting you in charge of protecting these two.  Also, right after school tomorrow, you need to see Dr. Turnman.  I want you to run tomorrows meeting with Dr. Turnman."

Jason paled, "But, but..."

"No buts.  Yes it will be hard to do, but the boys will listen if it's you up there much more than me.  Doc needs someone who can back him up and that's going to be you."

"Ah ... ah ..."

"Say,'Yes sir.'"

"Ah ... Yes sir."

"Good.  Now, Aaron would you walk with me back to my room, please?  And Glenn could you push this damn chair?"

With two more 'Yes Sirs' they were on their way.  Once they got back to their room John introduced the boys to Becky.  "Dear, this is Glenn and this is Aaron, boys this is my wife, Mrs. Gregory.  If you ever need anything and you can't find where I'm hiding, let her know."

Becky gave Glenn a quick hug and she held Aaron a bit longer.  "Thank you boys for bringing the old guy back.  Could you help me get him back into the bed where he belongs."

John made his voice go squeaky, "But dear they'll see my undies!"

Aaron broke up laughing.  Becky giggled, "Looks like it's too late, one of them already has."

When John tossed the robe across the foot of the bed, Glenn's eyes got big but he kept his mouth shut.  John said, "They were a present from the Missus at Christmas.  She said something about them being for my inner child.  Wouldn't you know they survived the crash just fine."

They were all giggling by the time John was back in bed.  "Thanks boys.  You have any trouble, let me know, anytime, and I mean that."

"Yes sir." they said and got another hug from Becky. 

They left and Becky sat in the chair next to John's bed.  "I take it that the crisis is over?"

"For now anyway," John sighed.  "'Shorty' can you fill the Doc in on what went on?"

'Of course, I'd be glad to.' came from the TV.

"Becky sweetheart, could you get me those pain pills?  I really need one."

When it was dinner time, the whole horde had gathered and was doing their best to make all the food disappear.  Only one table was subdued, Squad 2.  After the adults finished, Leo excused himself and went to the table.  The boys looked up and three of them had a look of dread in their eyes.  "Yes I came for you three, Jason, Glenn and Aaron.  Come on let's go, Can you other boys take care of their plates, please?  Thanks."

Leo led the boys out of the dinning area, down the first floor hallway and into his clinic.  He offered them seats as he closed the door with the DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging on the knob.

"Jason, your outburst today blew that rotten prick away, which was a good thing.  But you put a boy in your care in a very bad position.  Now most of the older boys also know what Glenn had to do to Aaron.  And most, if not all the boys ten and older, have had some kind of sexual contact and may well have been exposed as well.  Until today, we had been able to keep all of this low key and not alarm the boys unjustifiably." Leo was talking directly to Jason.

Aaron broke in at this point, "Jason did okay, Doc.  I've been thinking about this and I want to tell my story to all the guys.  They need to know and they need to know it isn't hopeless if they have HIV.  There is HAART and it can keep the bad stuff away a long time.  It may be too late for me now because those people stopped it for so long, but for the rest, like Glenn, there is some hope."

Glenn hugged Aaron, "What do you mean too late?  We are getting back on the HAART drugs; you are going to get better.  You got to.  Please."

Aaron smiled at his friend, "I'm going to try, Glenn, but I'm pretty sick.  I want something good to come from my life and if I can help these guys, my brothers, I want to do that."

Leo wiped the tears from his eyes and then with the three boys' help, began planning the program for tomorrow afternoon.

Tom had two shadows follow him from the dining room.  Howie and Artie wouldn't let him out of their sight.  He went into his suite upstairs and sat on the sofa in the sitting room.  A boy climbed up on either side of him.

"So, guys, how did it go today?" Tom asked.

"That lady was funny.  She made the judge make funny faces." Howie said.

"It was kind of scary at first.  Then funny and at the end I wanted to cry for Travis and Aaron.  He was a real mean man.  I was afraid that, that was going to happen to us.  I think he wanted to, a couple times, but we managed to hide." Arty said.

"Your foster father?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, I saw him playing with his thing a couple times while watching Howie.  That's another reason we ran." Arty explained.

"Do you mind if I tell that to Mrs. Harris?"

"S'kay, as long as we ain't got to go back." Arty leaned into Tom.

"You are both safe now.  We're your family and we love you already.  We won't let you be taken away.  Mrs. Harris is really good at her job and we are working on a few things too.  Your lives are different now so just relax and be boys.  Okay?"

Howie looked confused, "I don't know how to be anything but a boy."

Tom gave him a big hug and Arty turned on the TV.

Fred Clemets was talking to Nick, "Yes, I know Nick, and yes they are very cute and sweet.  We need to verify all the facts, so I want to check out this Sergeant Major White person. After all, it's not like he's going to walk into my office right out of the blue and say, 'Well hello, here I am.' Howie seems awfully sure he isn't dead, and they were not taken to his funeral like they were for their mom."

"I hate to ask this but," Nick whispered to Fred.  Then louder he said, "Oh, 'Philip'?  Do you think you could help out with checking of records and see just what you can find?"

The plasma screen in the room lit up and 'Philip's' grumpy image appeared, 'Certainly, Nick, already on it, actually.  Someone has tried to delete Master Sergeant Dennis White from the data base, but has done a remarkably poor job of it.  I should have his complete record rebuilt by morning.  It is interesting that a death announcement is on record, but never a death certificate and the survivor's benefit has never been paid. Quite a substantial amount of it too.' the curmudgeon then faded from the screen.

Fred grinned, "Well, there you have it.  Looks like the faith of a six year old may be rewarded."

"I'll see what I can trace on Mrs. White and this so called foster family.  It really gets to me when the very system that is supposed to protect kids is the very system that's abusing them."  Nick was making some notes of things as he thought of them.

Linda and Martha were watching the boys in the suite's common room.  "I wonder if they are going to feel lonely when we move into our new place."

Martha smiled at her, "Only a little, when they realize that they have us all to themselves I think they will be happy enough."

"You mean when they realize they don't have to share your cookies." Linda laughingly replied.

 "Yeah, and besides, they can always visit with their friends here and at the Phoenix House whenever they want or whenever we need a break."

"Yes, there is that, too."  Martha chuckled.

At nine o'clock John had Donny push him down the hall to say good night to the boys.  By the time he got back to his room, he was pretty worn out.  Becky was concerned about how tired he was.  "John, honey, you have to stop pushing yourself so hard."

"Well, they need a good male role model that they can identify with and feel safe around.  I wish we had a Drill Sergeant handy to help keep order and provide guidance." John replied.

"Well maybe not a Drill Sergeant, a Master Sergeant would be nice. These are after all, little boys.  What they need is a Dad, and that is you.  Love them, John, that's what they need most." Becky told her husband.

"Oh I know that, sweetheart, but they need a man who can keep up with them and lead them.  I don't know if I'll ever be recovered enough for that.  Hopefully next week I can begin my physical therapy, but I'm not expecting to be the man I was before." John said.

Becky came to him and gave him a gentle loving hug, "You know there is more to being a man than being able to run a race or lift huge weights.  You are a MAN and don't you ever forget it.  And more than that, you are MY man and forgetting that could cost you dearly."

"Yes Ma'am...  'Shorty'?  Can you place an add in the paper for someone?" Lee asked.

'Certainly It will be in Friday's paper.'

"Now, Love, help me into bed and we'll discuss this man thing some more."

Becky smiled a wicked smile, licked her lips and replied, "I like discussing your 'man thing'."  Very little coherent conversation followed.

The next morning at breakfast, everyone was talking about their school.  The Phoenix boys were going to spend the day taking evaluation tests to get them properly placed as to their grade level.  'Philip' was the one administering the tests.  By lunch time, they were all tired of sitting and were excited that they were going to the gym and getting to swim in the pool.

It was at lunch that little David came to the adult's table and asked Tom, "Are the new guys going to go to Scouts tomorrow night with us."

Tom gave David a hug, "Oh yes of course, I had forgotten about that, thank you for reminding me."

Before the mob was dismissed from lunch, Tom stood and asked for everyone's attention.  "I need to see the Phoenix boys before you go.  It will only take a minute.  I also need a piece of paper and a pen."

Soon Tom was making a list of the boy's name age and shirt size.  After he had his list he said goodbye to the other adults and took the van.  He went directly to Scout Headquarters.  When he walked in, the lady in the Scout Shop recognized him, "So, Mr. Richards, How many new boys today?"

With a completely straight face he said, "Forty."

She laughed, thinking he was kidding her back.

He placed his list on the counter, "I really do have forty.  Here are their ages and shirt sizes.  I think we probably want a size larger so they have growing room.  And I need books for them too."

She looked at the list then picked up the phone, "I need some help here."  She replaced the receiver and started making notes on the paper.  When the man who Tom now recognized as the Council Executive came in, Tom shook hands and then a couple more people came in and Gloria took command and had one lady pulling shirts (Tom asked for short sleeve for all), another getting the appropriate book.  Will Keeney was handed a 'Sharpie' pen and was writing the boys name on the shirt and the book.

When that was done they counted out council patches for the shirts and Universal Scouting patches to go above the left pocket.  The WEBELOS Scouts got the ribbons device to put their pins on.  Then there were hats and neckerchiefs and slides, 6 Tiger, 4 Wolf, 5 Bear, 8 WEBELOS, and 17 Boy Scouts.  Gloria was furiously scanning all this into the register, Tom handed her his Haven Enterprises Charge card and he went looking around.  This was the first time he had been in this place without a boy or two with him.

He didn't add too much to the pile, just a couple of adult handbooks that looked helpful, the Scoutmaster Handbook and a committee handbook and several Merit Badge Handbooks that caught his eye.  He handed these over and then asked Mr. Keeney if they could have a few words in private.

When they were in the executive's office Tom began, "Will, I want you to know what is happening so you won't be blindsided.  Through a weird set of circumstances, a couple of my boys and Lee Harris's twins became owners of a despicable youth group home, which they closed and brought the boys back here and formed The Phoenix Foundation.  All these boys are from there.  I feel like Scouting has a lot to offer these guys and if it doesn't work out with 316, I will sponsor them myself."

"Okay, but I don't see Jeff or Mike having a problem with suddenly having the biggest units in the area." Will reassured Tom.

"Oh don't expect any problems there.  The older boys have had it very rough.  Look, to be blunt, they have been raped on a regular basis since they turned ten.  I know one of them has AIDS and another is HIV positive and we don't have the results back on the others.  This community hasn't had to deal with this issue much and I'm not real sure just how well it is going to go when the word spreads."

"Man, Tom, you sure attract problems.  I think there may be some issues but not with Scouting.  Also, I don't want to know if any of the boys are homosexuals because it has no place in Scouting."

"What?!"

"That didn't come out right.  Sexual orientation is an adult issue and has no business being an issue in a youth program.  Just like we don't encourage heterosexual activities even in the Venturing program that is co-ed.  There just isn't a place for that, period.  Anyone who wishes to make it an issue is welcome to leave and if they want to force the issue, I will remove them from the program."

"Thank you, Will.  It means a lot to know you will stand with us."  Tom shook his hand and then they went and loaded the van.  After everything was loaded Will gave Tom a card that he had written on the back of.  "When the Scouts need camping equipment, this is a great website and they carry good stuff at decent prices.  Honestly, our stuff is good too, but a bit pricey."

Tom shook his hand (left hand shake) and was on his way back to Haven.  It was amazing to Tom that such good people were really around.  All you hear about are the bad things and the hate; you don't hear about good people doing good things.  Even an organization like the Scouts is thought of by so many as a hate organization and his experience has been so different.

As he passed the mall, he thought about having to sew all those patches on all those shirts.  He pulled in and parked near the sewing store.  An hour and a half later, he left with three sewing machines a bag of thread and other miscellaneous items.  He arrived back before dinner.  When he had enlisted several boys who were playing tag outside to help carry all the things into the formal dining room.  Their eyes were wide at seeing all the Scout uniforms.

After all the stuff was carried in Tom went looking for his better half.  Leo was in their suite, stretched out on the bed, reading a book.  "Lazy!  I been out shopping and spending God only knows how much, and you are just laying around doing nothing!"

Leo laughed, "Don't I wish.  Jason, Glenn and Aaron have been working me pretty hard all afternoon trying to get a program put together about HIV and Aids.  Those three are amazing.  I got the results today from some of the tests we did on them before leaving and hopefully tomorrow their meds will arrive by overnight shipping and we can get them started."

"They will be great!"

'Excuse me sir,' the very British butler 'Philip' voice said, 'Mr. Clemets is on the line for you.'

"Thanks, 'Philip', I'll take it up here."  Tom picked up the receiver.  "Hi, Fred, what can I do for you?"

"How about dinner, for me and a guest?"

"Are you sure?  You remember we have like a herd and a half of boys."

"No problem we'll be there at six o'clock."

Author's Notes:
I wonder who Fred could possibly want to bring to dinner.  Does he have a girlfriend?  Boyfriend?  Could he have found some legal trouble that Ms Pason put in motion?  Or is it something else entirely?
Why did Tom buy three sewing machines?  Who is going to sew all those patches on all those uniform shirts?  That is a lot of work.  I know from experience.  
John is really trying to be a good Dad to the boys and I think he handled the situations pretty well, but it is a BIG job.  Hopefully he can get the physical therapy going and that will help things along.  Samuel seems to be moving right along, and things may be ready for the boys sooner than expected.  Wouldn't that be nice?
As always let me know what you're thinking.
            Str8mayb

Editor's Notes:

Oh my God! What have we done to deserve this?  Who is Fred going to bring to dinner? Oh wait someone already asked that. Hey, nothing says I can't be redundant. Believe it or not this is not a cliffhanger.  No one is going to die... yet.  Maybe lots of people will die in the next chapter, you never know. I'm sorry Arli, I know you hate it when people die. Maybe we can do something to prevent the useless carnage, and then again maybe not. We will just have to wait and see won't we?

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Fort Chief Editor's Notes:

Okay just as soon as things start to down they get crazy again oh well that is life. It is good to see that all of the kicks that were delivered to John have taken effect. I think that Phoenix House now has a chance to become a viable Safe Haven.

            Str8mayb and his Evil Twin Sidekick TRR have done another wonderful job.  Just to let you in on a Big Secret there are two Top Secret Projects being worked on at this time and there will be a contest to see who out secreted who. <grin>

The Story Lover aka TSL