The Happiest Days by Jonah
This is a story about love - real love - at work in the lives of good people. It follows on from "Halls of Academia," but the story really began many, many moons ago with "A Letter from America". There are no real people herein so, if you think one of the characters is based on you, or on somebody you know, have another think and come up with a different answer. Having said that, I didn't invent every character. A couple of them were originally crafted by another author. I have to (well, actually, it is my pleasure 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 2 A Tangled Web
I pulled up at Sprowston Police Station alongside Garret's car. In the lobby I found Garret sitting on a bench talking with Linda Knight, of Social Services. Sergeant Robins was talking to a senior officer. He broke off and came to meet me.
"Mr. Khan," he greeted me, "it's good of you to come."
"What's the problem?" I asked.
"We were called out to a home in Hellesdon by your partner," he replied. "We've been keeping an eye on Ben East for a while now because we suspected he was dealing in class A drugs. It looks like he was using them too. He's badly battered his wife - we think while under the influence, and we've locked him up for GBH. I'm sure there'll be other charges. When your partner arrived at the home he couldn't get an answer, so the boy went in and found his mother bleeding on the floor and his father weeping beside her. Your partner phoned an ambulance, then us. We called Social Services and Miss Knight is trying to sort something out now."
"Where are the boys?"
"They're in the interview room. A couple of our officers are looking after them."
"Can I see them?"
"Yes, we'd like you to, but there are a few things to sort out first."
"Such as....?"
He glanced over at Garret and Linda. Linda stood and walked over. I saw Garret bury his head in his hands.
"It's good to see you Simon," Linda said through a forced smile. It was certainly the smile of one who currently has little to smile about, and her words sounded as if she wanted something.
"Thank's Linda, I..."
"Simon, what..."
We had both spoken at the same time. I flashed her a quick smile and motioned for her to continue.
"Simon, we've got a few problems at the moment, but the most urgent need is a pair of registered foster parents who can put Philip up for tonight at least, and possibly until his mother gets better."
I could see all sorts of problems with that but, in the circumstances, it would have been churlish to refuse. After a few moments thought, I heaved a huge sigh.
"Of course," I breathed.
Until that moment I hadn't noticed that she had been holding her breath. I saw her let it go as relief flooded over her. Sergeant Robins stepped in front of her.
"Now that's settled, I think it's time the boys saw a friendly face," he remarked as he guided me to the interview room door.
As soon as I stepped inside, Lloyd ran over to me and clutched my waist. I saw the male and female officers who had been entertaining the boys slide out of the room at a nod from their sergeant.
I sat down opposite the other boy.
He was a small child who would probably, in other circumstances, have been good-looking. His blonde hair surmounted eyes that would normally have been dark blue, but currently looked a bit bloodshot. His face was streaked by tears and his shoulders looked stooped in a way that I would normally have associated with a much older person.
"Is Philip coming home with us?" Lloyd asked.
"Yes he is Lloyd," I replied. "At least for a day or two."
I noticed that, in spite of all the trauma, there was no evidence that Lloyd had been crying. He looked very serious, but flashed a quick smile at my reply. It was not a smile of triumph, or even particularly of happiness. It merely signified approval that, in his opinion, I had done the right thing.
The other boy looked straight at me as I answered Lloyd, but he made no remark. From the look that crossed his face, I judged that he believed himself parentless and was prepared to just let the grown-ups sort out what was to happen to him.
Garret slid into the room.
"I've signed all the paperwork," he told me. "Linda just needs a couple of signatures from you. I'll get these two home."
"OK," I said. "Are you boys going to go with Mr. Ito?"
Lloyd nodded and reached over and took Philip's hand. Philip said nothing but allowed Lloyd to lead him.
After I had signed Linda's forms, I drove straight home.
"I've ordered pizza," said Garret as soon as I got there. "I don't think any of us want to cook, and it's almost the boys' bed-time. I've sent them upstairs to get changed."
"Has Philip got anything to change into?" I asked.
"He's nearly the same size as Lloyd," he replied. "I'm sure Lloyd will offer his spare ones."
"What a mess," I commented.
"I phoned Annabel at home," he told me. "It's only fair to let her know. She said she'd leave it to my judgment whether to send him in in the morning."
"It would hardly be fair on her," I remarked. "It wouldn't be fair on the rest of his class either."
"I told her that. She said, what if she arranged for him to sit next to Lloyd."
I shrugged.
"Well, if she's game, I suppose we might as well be," I said.
Secretly I felt a flutter of pride that his class teacher thought enough of our little boy to trust him to that extent. Not that I, for one moment, questioned that her trust was justified.
At that point the doorbell rang and our pizzas were delivered. Two boys thundered downstairs - Lloyd in his green pajamas and Philip in tight, white underpants. I made a mental note to have a word with Lloyd about that.
We soon settled down to eat. The boys had claimed the settee so Garret and I had the armchairs and pizza was chomped. I noticed that, while Lloyd sat upright on the settee as he always had, Philip laid longways with his bare feet on Lloyd's lap. Lloyd said nothing but, with one hand, was gently caressing Philip's feet. Since Philip had evidently initiated it, I saw no reason to comment.
In fact, I said nothing to either boy until after they had finished eating.
"Philip," I began, "how do you feel about going to school tomorrow?"
The boy shrugged. Lloyd was fondling his feet with both hands now, and it certainly did seem to be helping to relax him.
"Does that mean that you want to go?" I asked.
This time a vigorous nodding of the head.
"Miss Hutchins says you can sit next to Lloyd so, if you don't feel alright, tell Lloyd and he'll tell Miss Hutchins. OK?"
Another nodding of the head, and then a sound.
"OK!"
It was little more than a whisper, but at least he had made the effort.
I ruffled his hair and said,
"OK boys - bed. We'll be up to tuck you in in a minute."
I watched them start up the stairs and then, as an afterthought added,
"Oh, Lloyd..."
He stopped and came back, leaving Philip to patter up the stairs on his own. I pulled him close so that I didn't have to raise my voice enough for Philip to hear.
"Why don't you offer Philip your other pajamas," I suggested. "They'll fit him you know."
"I did," he replied. "He says he can't get to sleep in pajamas, so he won't wear them."
"OK," I said," What was the foot-rubbing thing?"
"He likes games where his feet get tickled or his socks get taken off," he answered. "Sometimes, when it's just me and him, he asks me to rub his feet like that because it relaxes him."
OK, well given the current traumatic situation, that could be worth knowing.
"OK, Up you go", I said, ruffling his hair. "We'll be up in a minute."
As soon as he had gone I poured two tots of whisky and sat down with Garret.
"What do you think?" I muttered.
"I think Annabel must love our boy almost as much as we do," he replied. "She certainly trusts him to help her deal with difficult situations."
"On the evidence I've seen tonight, I'd say she was right to do so," I remarked.
"I don't think whipping Philip's socks off in class will be an option,"he commented.
"Idiot!" I retorted as I drained my glass.
As I slid into the Lloyd's room I discovered that the boys had elected to top-tail in Lloyd's bed. Well Philip would be having a good night then. Possibly Lloyd would as well. I didn't know. Although Lloyd had what I considered cute feet, I would never take advantage of the fact. In fact I would never touch him at all in that way. I didn't have his permission because I had never asked for it. If I had asked for, and been granted it, I would doubt his motives for granting it. He would be sure to say yes to oblige me, and that would be the wrong reason.
"You boys OK?"
"Yes," from both boys. That was progress.
I tucked in the blankets all the way down. It was too warm for a duvet.
"Sleep then boys. Be good to each other, and I'll see you in the morning. Dad'll be in in a minute."
I kissed each boy on his forehead. I had almost used Garret's Christian name just then. Only just in time had I remembered that he was one of Philip's teachers. He was one of Lloyd's too, but that was different. I tiptoed out just as Garret tiptoed in. It was only a few minutes before he joined me in bed.
"They OK?"
"As they will be. We can't expect too much after a drama like that."
"Well today's drama is over, but there'll be plenty more to come. Do we know if he has any other living relatives?"
"I rang the school and asked about that. They don't know of any. We can't ask him because he might not know. We can't ask his mum, because she's unconscious in intensive care, and the police have emphasised that we are not to ask his dad. They say that, even if we did, they wouldn't trust his answer."
"Why not?" I was genuinely curious.
"They say that it would be too easy for him to get us to deliver Philip into the hands of somebody who could later use him as a hostage to try to get him sprung from prison."
I was shocked.
"But that would never work," I exclaimed.
"Of course it wouldn't, but could you vouch for the boy's safety while they were finding that out the hard way?"
"So he stays with us," I said.
"Linda's working on that. She thinks it's the best thing. Even so, we don't know how long for. We don't know if, or when, his mother will recover for a start."
"But I DO know that on any other day, Philip would have caught the bus to Hellesdon and gone home on his own," I took a deep breath and carried on. " He could still be sat there, traumatised, not knowing what to do, while his mother bled to death and his father slept it off. But it didn't happen on any other day. It happened on the day that you took Philip home. Perhaps we need to trust that God knows what he's doing. He's always been there for us so far."
Garret was a Christian too - in some ways a more devout one than I was - but he didn't take well to sermons.
"Amen!" he breathed, then, turning over, "Goodnight Simon."
"Goodnight Garret."