Mr. Matheson pulled Savannah and Leslie aside, walking past rows of curtained-off hospital beds. When they’d almost exited the Emergency wing, Mr. Matheson stopped. “Before your mother died, we’d thought about becoming foster parents.”
Leslie and Savannah looked up at him in shock. Neither of them had been told any of this.
“We wanted it to be a surprise, for you to find out after the months of paperwork and background checks but before we were assigned our first foster child. Then, two years ago…” Mr. Matheson stopped. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes.
“Mom died,” Savannah finished.
Mr. Matheson nodded. “I couldn’t go on with the registration. I did not consider myself emotionally fit to be a foster father. But now, with Gray’s situation, I feel we must let him come home with us.”
“So…” asked Savannah, “he’s going to be our brother?”
Mr. Matheson nodded. “I’d like you to think of him as family and treat him as such.”
“But what if Leslie falls in love with him?” said Savannah slyly. “That’d be weird, falling in love with your brother.” Leslie blushed and slapped Savannah’s shoulder.
“I’m not adopting Gray, not unless he wants me to,” said Mr. Matheson. “And I won’t get in the way of love if that happens.”
Leslie’s blush deepened. “Stop it,” she hissed. She continued, “All I did was save him. I’m not in love with him.”
Savannah shrugged.
* * *
I should not be here. That was the only thought running through Gray’s mind as he tried to listen to what Castillo was telling him. Apparently, boys did not become men here until they reached their eighteenth birthday. And, apparently, boys could not think for themselves until that time. He was to be put in the care of the Matheson family. Nice as they were, Gray could not allow himself to stay with them.
I should not be here. People are dying.
Castillo placed a paper in front of him. She asked him to read what was on the paper. Gray couldn’t. Their alphabet is strange.
Sensing Gray’s inability to read, Castillo explained the paper. It was just a form letting government officials know Gray understood what was happening and that he was being placed with a family. It was a polite way of saying, “We know you’re old enough to understand what’s going on, but we think you’re too young to take care of yourself. You’re still just a child.” She told him to sign on the bottom line.
Gray signed his name, the familiar characters comforting him. Castillo looked at the paper and frowned. “This is how you sign your name?”
Gray nodded. “That is my signature.”
Castillo took the pen and wrote something short next to his name. The letters matched the strange characters on the rest of the page. Then she left, taking the paper with her.
A nurse came in, pushing a chair with wheels in front of her. “Come on, it’s time for you to leave. You’re well enough to go home now. Just remember, keep it easy for the rest of the day, and drink plenty of fluids.”
Gray almost objected to sitting in the wheeled-chair but decided against it. He did need to regain his strength. The nurse gave him some privacy as he changed out of the flimsy gown into a short-sleeved gray shirt and thick black pants the man they called Gary Matheson had brought. He wished he was wearing his normal clothes, but they were still repairing themselves. Plus, they smelled like seawater.
The nurse re-entered, helping him into the wheeled-chair. She handed him a brown sack. Inside were his clothes and soul binder. He placed the soul binder around his neck and slipped the tube he must protect into the sack. The nurse wheeled him out of the curtained room.
Flameless lights shone from the ceiling, and beeps and buzzes sounded all around Gray. Don’t show your curiosity, he reminded himself. Act as though you belong. He clutched the brown sack tighter.
Matheson and the two girls were waiting by a pair of glass doors. Matheson smiled at him. “Well, Gray, I guess it’s time to go home,” he said.
Home. I wish this were home. Gray smiled and said, “Thank you, sir.”
“Call my Gary.”
Gary and Gray. I can’t decide if that’s ironic or not. Gray kept quiet as the nurse pushed his wheeled-chair outside, following Matheson. Rows of steel and glass carriages sat on a long black sheet of concrete. Matheson led the way to a smaller green carriage. Leslie opened one of the doors and Gray climbed onto the cushioned seat. Leslie walked around the carriage and got in opposite Gray, while Savannah and her father climbed into the front. The nurse took the wheeled-chair away.
Where are the horses? thought Gray. Matheson inserted a small key somewhere into the carriage and turned it. A rumbling filled the cabin of the carriage. Gray let out a gasp. Then, with a jerk, the carriage started moving. Gray clutched at his seat.
Leslie looked at him curiously. “Here,” she said. “Let me help you with your seatbelt.” She tugged at a long flat strap and placed it around Gray, latching it into a small metal clip by his waist.
Savannah turned around in her seat and stared at Gray with narrowed eyes. She knows, he thought. She knows I’m different.
By the end I was smiling with a "Oh, boy, does Savannah know and won't let you get away with ANYTHING, Gray." ;->
ReplyDelete