The Curse of Chindi Springs

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Chapter 9

At the park, Joseph quickly abandoned his brother and sister. He pulled out his sketch pad and pencils while making a beeline for the spring. A few people tried to talk to him, but he pretty much stayed to himself. He wasn't rude in doing so, however. Instead he just said he wanted to draw. He answered an occasional question and continued to work on the rock formation, the water bubbling upwards, and the way the rocks seeped water until the person talking to him finally went away.

The problems became two-fold. First there was no shade close to the spring and it was beyond hot. He had to keep wiping his face to prevent sweat from dripping onto his sketch. Second, he ran into the same problem with the water bubbling up as he did with the smoke around the plane. No matter how many times he tried, it just didn't look right. He used two full pages each with a half dozen attempts before he simply needed to get out of the heat. Even as he stood, he was glad Alex had told him to change shirts. He really didn't want to think about what it would be like to be in a black shirt under the intense sun.

He moved up to rocks and found the path to the mini-golf area while looking for a shady spot to sit. He quickly found one next to the small concession stand. There were a half dozen tables under a pavilion. With a great deal of relief, he bought himself a lemonade and sat down. There were a few kids around, but as normal, they were with others they knew and ignored an unknown kid. It also quickly dawned on Joey, those around him were handling the heat and sun better than he was. Even in the shade, it felt like he was cooking, while other kids were running around and playing. He also noted many adults wore more than he had been given. Over half the people around him had on long pants and some even wore long sleeved shirts. It sure didn't make much sense to him.

It didn't take long before he was once again busy with his sketchbook. This time he went to work on the pavilion. It was pretty old, but had some newer parts. In particular, some of the metal was new while the concrete looked old and cracked. This made for some very interesting drawing. The signs telling people to watch and listen for rattlesnakes and to grab the ball out of the cups with the scoops next to each hole to avoid scorpions only enhanced the overall ambiance. His pencils quickly came back out.

After nearly thirty minutes a kid with dark red hair and blue eyes who was about the same size he was sat down across from him. "Hi."

Joey looked up, totally startled by the voice. The boy across from him looked… well, sad was the best word Joseph could come up with. "Um, hi."

The boy pointed, "My uncle wanted to know if you wanted to play a round of golf with us."

Joseph looked in the direction the boy pointed and noted a man who had tried to talk to him when he was drawing down at the spring. Joseph glanced over at the stand noticing for the first time a round of golf was $6 for adults and $4 for kids. There was also an all you can play all day pass price of $10 for kids and $15 for adults. The lemonade had been a buck, and he was getting hungry which was going to run another $6 or so. This really didn't leave him much and this was the first time he didn't have his dad or mom to run to for more money whenever he needed or even wanted some.

He pulled out his remaining $19 and looked back at the sign, then down at his sketch pad. He realized it would be nice to take a break and do something fun. He also liked the fact it was a younger kid who didn't know how old or small he was. "I guess…"

The man the boy pointed to came up with another man and a woman, both of whom had attempted to strike up a conversation with him at the spring. "My nephew's friend got in trouble, so he's alone with us adults. I saw you sitting there and figured you may want to take a break from drawing. Although, what you are doing there is every bit as fantastic as what you were doing down at the pond!"

This got a grin out of Joseph who flipped the page back and slid the pad over so the kid could see. "I tried to do the water bubbles coming up, but they look bad, sorry."

The woman looked at the six attempts at doing the bubbles then flipped the page back and went wide-eyed when she saw the sketch of the whole pond, "Kid, I didn't get a good look when you down by the pond, but it sure looks great to me. Heck, I'd pay for a drawing this good!"

This caused the smile of Joseph to grow, "Thanks, but I really should do better. Something's wrong, but I don't know what."

The first man spoke up, "You know, there is a local artist we know who might be willing to give you some pointers."

This really cause Joseph's eyes to light up. "That would be awesome!"

"Well, you must be new here. But, anyway I figure Sammy would have more fun with another kid. I got a cell phone if you want to call a parent and ask. Let them know I could pay for a game or two if you would join us."

At this, Joseph cringed and looked away, "No, no one to call… Um…"

At this, the woman spoke up, "Hey, are you one of the kids from the plane that burned?"

Joey turned to the woman, "How'd you know?"

"Your accent. You sure aren't from around here."

"But you know about our plane?"

At this the man the boy called his uncle nodded, "Yeah, pretty much everyone does. It was in the paper. Good thing you all got out before the gas tank went up!" Joseph's eyes went wide, "It blew up? All our stuff was in it!"

"Oh, my!" The woman spoke sounding both surprised and apologetic. "You didn't know?"

Joseph looked down and shook his head, "We ran out when Dad landed and then got picked up… We were told the fire brigade was called, but we went to hospital."

The uncle spoke up again, "That was eight days ago, though…"

"We all got real ill. The doctor ladies said it was from poison smoke. Today is the first day out of hospital. The constable gave us clothes to wear, but didn't tell us about our plane blowing up!"

"How'd you get here and who's watching you?" the other man asked.

"The constable dropped us off at the car park. He said the doctor wants us to get outside. The constable assistant, um, Mr. Sauls, is here somewhere. We are supposed to find him if we need something."

The woman dug into a small pack on her side and pulled out her cell phone. She quickly scrolled down a list and speed dialed a number. After just a few seconds she spoke, "Hey, Irwin, it's Maggie."

Seeing Joseph look at the group in disbelief, the uncle spoke, "Small town, kiddo. Irwin's number is on my phone too!"

The woman looked down while still speaking, "Yeah, he said you were in charge of him… No…" she smiled, "Which one are you?"

"Joey… um, Joseph…"

She spoke into the phone again, "It's Joey… Yeah, hold on I'll give him the phone."

Joseph took the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, buddy, can you tell it's actually me, or do I need to come up there?"

"No, I can tell it's you by your voice, sir."

"Good enough. OK, you are with Ms. Walner, Mr. Phillips, his nephew Sammy, and Mr. McGrane. I know 'em all. If you want to hang with them, you can. However, if you decide to stick with them and they want to take you out of the park, come see me first, so I know where you are going. OK?"

"Yes sir… Um, thanks…"

"Have fun, kiddo, but you joining them means they are in charge of you. I want you to tell them they are in charge of you and you will do as you are told, so they hear it come out of your mouth. You also best follow through, do what you're told, and be polite!"

"I will, promise!"

"Your word is good enough for me. Let me talk to Maggie… um Ms. Walner again." Joseph handed the phone back, "He said I can join you, but can't leave the park unless I go see him. He also said I have to tell you all you are in charge and that I will be good and do as I'm told. He still wants to talk to you, too."

Maggie patted Joey on the back as she took her phone back. She spoke to Irwin for a few more seconds before sliding it back into her small pack. She then turned to Sammy's uncle, "It's pretty much what you just heard, Bruce. They lost almost everything since it was in the plane. His mom is still in the hospital and Irwin said the father had to go back to England." She then turned back to Joseph. "Irwin said you are a good kid and will follow any rules, so I think we ought to get to know you. I bet Sammy would love to know more about England, too."

Bruce nodded, "I agree! Why don't you stick with us the rest of the day?"

Seeing Joey look around like he was suddenly trapped into something he wasn't sure he wanted, Maggie didn't want to give him a chance to back out so she motioned for him to follow her. "Come on, Joey, I'll pick up a day pass for you and I'm sure we can get you drinks and food. It'll be a fun day and then we can talk to Deputy Sauls. I bet he'll let us take you down to the art studio. Once Carl sees what you can do, I wager we can get him to work with you some." She glanced back over her shoulder, "Hey, Norm, you're poker buddies with Carl, why don't you give him a call so he sticks around the studio and doesn't go to the bar after work."

The other man, Norm, pulled a cell phone off his belt and made a quick call, "Carl, I got someone you will want to meet… No, seriously… I've never seen pencil work like this… I'm telling you, what I've seen will make your head spin… OK, but Mags, Bruce, and Sammy are with me too… No, I am sure we can deal with your cooking… sounds great, see you at your place at about six."

Norm hung up and glanced over to Maggie, "Call Irwin and let him know Carl is willing to take a look at the boy's work and is going to fix spaghetti for all of us. We'll check in with him before we take Joey over there."

Hearing he was going to see an artist about his drawings cut deeply into Joey's reluctance, which was crumbling already. Joey looked up with wide eyes, "You think he could show me what I am doing wrong with the water and the smoke?"

Norm's eyebrows arched up, "What smoke?"

Joey flipped fifteen pages back in his sketchbook and showed the group the burning plane. "It's like the water bubbling, I can't get it right."

Sammy edged closer and uttered a single word, "Wow!"

"Well said, Sammy!" Norm spoke as he took the offered sketch pad and flipped though it looking at a couple of dragons, the plane, the hospital room, and the start of the pavilion. "This is truly incredible!"

Maggie and Bruce nodded even as Sammy looked up at Bruce with some concern. The man ruffled the boy's head and smiled, which seemed to relax the boy a great deal. None of this was picked up on by Joseph, who was quickly taken by Maggie to get a wristband showing he had an all day pass to play mini-golf.

Bruce looked over at Norm, "Sheriff Eaton nailed it on this one. A little praise, taking interest in his drawing, a firm hand, and a younger kid was all it took."

"Yeah, Bruce, we may have the kid eating out of hand, but I sure as hell don't need to lie about those drawings."

Bruce Phillips nodded, "No argument. I bet we could get his work in the gallery and maybe even sell it." He then looked down at Sammy, "And you did good, but I expect you to make friends with him. This means you are free to talk to him about normal stuff. You fuck this up, or give him any hints as to what is going on kid, and I'll take your ass right back to the bar."

The boy gulped and shook his head wildly and fearfully.

Bruce pulled him close, "Make sure he likes you then. If he wants to do something you do it and smile about it even if you don't like his ideas. We want to see who he is and find out just how much he likes younger boys."

***

Harriet exited the Blazer and looked around. She didn't see the beauty of the park, the amazing contrast with the desert around it, or the upside of being out of a hospital room for the first time in over a week. All she saw was sand, dust, and the waves of heat off the ground. The heat wasn't just bad, it was beyond oppressive. Before she even realized the Blazer had left, she was trying to figure out how to get inside to some air-conditioned place.

She noticed Brandon looking at her as if asking what he was supposed to do. She glared at him, "What in the bloody hell do you want?"

Brandon shrugged, "Want to go play golf?"

"No! I want to get the bloody hell out of here! Leave me alone and go talk to yourself or something, fucktard!"

Brandon's head drooped and he meandered toward the green area in front of him, leaving Harriet alone to wallow in self-pity.

Harriet made a mean snorting sound, making sure her youngest brother heard it before wiping beads of sweat off her brow. "This is stupid!" she muttered as she reluctantly made her way toward the nearest structure.

The smell of chlorine told her where she was headed was the pool well before she got there. The intense heat seemed to make the smell all the stronger, which was pretty gross, but there was nowhere else to go. Moving up to the fence, she looked in noticing there were only a handful of kids and a smattering of adults in the very nice full sized pool area. This should have surprised her some, but it didn't. She flatly didn't blame anyone for not coming outside on a day this stupidly hot.

She studied the pool area from the outside for over a minute. There was a large shaded area with a half dozen vending machines which looked promising enough. She just wished there was someplace inside, but figured this was not much different than being out on the brainless treasure hunting trips. At least sitting in the shade would be better than being in a hot car with the doors open.

As Harriet moved around to the entrance, a couple of teenage boys came out pushing and roughhousing. They bumped into her hard, knocking her bag out of her hand. They both saw the dirty look and apologized, but quickly went on their way without really stopping.

As promieced, the young guy at the booth saw her and spoke up, "You Harriet?"

Still annoyed about getting almost knocked to the ground, she only nodded.

"Sheriff says you have free entry and left towels for you and your brothers in case you showed up. He grabbed four large towels from under the counter. "Take your pick."

Harriet quickly picked the beach towel with the seashell on it, and went inside without thanking the young man. She then made her way toward the vending machines and dug into her bag for the twenty. It wasn't there. With pure panic, she started digging through the bag, then ran out the front to look at where she had dropped the bag. Nothing. She looked around for the two boys, but they were long gone.

Harriet stood there for almost two minutes, digging though her bag one more time before moving back into the pool are and staring at the vending machines with utter disappointment written across her face. She looked down thinking about what she had done with the money. She had it in her hand and she… what? She didn't remember what she had done with it. Why did she think it was in her bag? She dug in it again, found the ridiculous boy wallet and looked inside. As expected, it was empty. She hadn't used it. It was for boys after all.

She attempted to think backwards. She took the twenty before they got in the constable's truck, scrunched it up in her hand, and… Again, she came up with nothing. She had been to focused on the nasty temperatures and being threatened with having to walk to this shithole park. She couldn't help it, she again looked though the whole bag, taking everything out and shaking it. It did no good, the money simply wasn't there.

Had she even gotten out of the truck with it? She tried to remember, but all she could come up with was grabbing the cup from the back. Was it in her hand when she climbed into the back? She doubted it. It very well could be back with the peace officer or it could be blowing around in the desert since the kids had knocked the bag out of her hand and she kind of thought she put it in there. At this point it didn't matter. The park sucked, the town disgusting, the desert nasty, and the whole of the U.S. atrocious! All she wanted to do was go back to England. She should have never been forced to come in the first place and now she was stuck in this repulsive hellhole until Grams and Gramps sent for her!

Harriet stewed in her own misery for over an hour, paying no attention whatsoever as to what was going on around her. It actually came as quite a shock when a woman in her late thirties came up, put a hand on her shoulders and spoke, "Sweetheart, you look dreadful. Are you OK?"

Harriet's head jerked at the unexpected person touching and talking to her. She would have probably said something rude if it had been a guy, but seeing a woman looking down at her with concern allowed her to hold back. "I lost my money."

"Oh, my." The woman sat down across from Harriet, reached out and patted the girl's hand. "No wonder you look so miserable. Where are your folks?"

Harriet looked down, "They… Um, Dad had to go back to England on a… um… business thing… And, um…. Mum was hurt when the plane crashed…"

"So you are one of the kids in the plane that burned up?"

Harriet looked up and nodded, "It caught fire… Who told you?"

"A plane coming in on fire is big news around these parts, young one. It was the talk of the whole town for a couple of days. I heard you were all in the clinic though."

"Got out today and Doctor Hinson made us come out here. Constable Eaton drove us out here and gave us money… but I lost mine… Mr. Sauls is around somewhere and is who we are supposed to go to… But we were told once the money was gone… and…" Harriet couldn't help it, she made a sobbing sound even as she fought hard not to cry.

"Oh, honey, it's ok. How about I get you something to drink."

At this, Harriet blinked back a few tears, looked up with some hope, and gave a slight nod.

The woman all but pulled Harriet up and led her over to the vending machines. "Show me what you want."

Harriet pointed at a bottle of soda, and then looked over at the chips in the machine next to the soda.

The woman quickly stuck in a dollar into each machine and let Harriet select what she wanted from both. The woman then moved back to the table with the much happier girl. "So what's your name honey?"

"Harriet, but my brothers all call me Riet."

"What do you prefer?"

The question caught her by surprise. This got a slight smile out of Harriet, "My middle name is Gwyn. I like it way better and use it in school. Dad says it's gutter talk to go by a middle name though."

"Maybe in England, but not here sweetheart. Besides, Gwyn's such a pretty name for a lovely girl." The woman smiled while using her finger to wipe a tear off the girl's cheek. "My name is Nancy, Nancy Butler."

Harriet didn't care for the physical contact, but wasn't about to pull away. This lady was super nice and had gotten her soda and chips. She was going to deal with being touched, especially if she could figure out a way to get more out of Mrs. Butler. After all, it wasn't even ten in the morning and the constable wasn't going to pick her up until six! To this end, she looked up, "It's really hot. Is there someplace cool you know of?"

"Sorry, Gwyn, you are at the edge of Death Valley in late June, there are no cool places out here."

Harriet stuffed some chips into her mouth and sighed. "Why do people live here?"

This got a snicker out of Nancy, "There are a lot of minerals out here. I'm sure you noticed the our mine on the way to the clinic."

Harriet shrugged, "Just the gate."

"Just beyond the gate is a huge hill which is plum full of high grade iron ore and just a few weeks back we came across a large silver vein. My sampling suggests there may be almost as much silver as there is iron. We are still doing tests drilling, but it sure looks like a major find."

Harriet blinked in astonishment. "You work at the mine?"

"I'm one of the lead Geologists, hon."

"But you're a girl!"

"What does being a female have to do with this?"

Harriet realized she had accidently insulted the woman, and at the moment she baddy needed Mrs. Butler. She quickly changed her tone, "I'm… I never thought of a woman working in a mine."

"Kind of old fashioned thinking there, Gwyn. There as several ladies who are employed in the mine, and not just in the offices. We have women doing everything from driving the big ore cars to machinists working on the ventilation, drilling rigs, and even one who works in explosives. What plans do you have when you grow up?"

"Translator."

This caused Nancy's eyebrows to go up, "You sound real sure of yourself."

Harriet nodded, "I know French spoken and written and am decent at spoken Chinese. The written part is super hard, but I am starting to learn it. Then I will do Korean or something. Mum says I'll be able to find work super easy with companies doing business overseas, especially China."

"I am certain your mother is correct. Still, there are lots of other jobs women do now like me working with mining."

"You want to talk rocks, my brother Brand… um, Brandon… is around here somewhere. He's a super big rock-hound. Rocks, hunting and baseball are about the only things he'll talk to a real person about. When we were just outside El Paso, he found some kind of a ball of rock. He broke it open. Inside it was really pretty. Green and black crystals. He found some more, but spent all day looking. Me, I just want to have an inside job."

"He found an olivine geode. I bet Brandon would love to see the mine. How about you?"

"Brand would do anything to look at rock… Um, I'm not really into them, but would it get me out of the heat?"

Nancy squeezed the girl's shoulder, realizing the girl was a horrible manipulator, but was constantly going to try. It was almost too easy. "I think I can arrange something. The control rooms are inside and cool, and the touring areas of the mine are about 70 degrees [20°C]. Do you think Irwin, Mr. Sauls, would let you come with me after I do my laps in the pool?"

"I don't know… Hopefully…"

This got a snicker out of the woman who handed Harriet a five and pointed back to the vending machines. "Get yourself something else while I get in my workout, then we will go find Mr. Sauls and a couple of my co-workers. I bet we can give you a tour and maybe even buy you a good meal."

Harriet eagerly nodded, not even thinking about the fact she was fully trusting a complete stranger.

Nancy patted the girl on the back and moved toward the pool, using her own towel to hide her cell phone from the girl who wasn't even watching her. As soon as it was answered, she spoke, "It's me. Terry nailed it on Harriet. I have her all but eating out of my hand… She wants inside, so I talked her into a mine tour and buying her a meal… Yup, food is the key. One other thing, Irwin, I'm not sure who is interested in the youngest, Brandon, but I may have a new in… Yeah, Harriet just told me the boy loves rocks…" Nancy fought hard not to laugh, "If I was interested, I'd sure be the right person, no doubt. But if you know who wants Brandon, Ray or Helen might be able to help since I am locked on my target. Ray works with the teams, so he could be the prefect key."

***

Brandon really wished Alex hadn't been taken to help the sheriff, but he did and there was nothing he could do about it. At least he was outside and could walk around instead of being stuck in a hospital room bored out of his mind. Making matters worse, he couldn't risk talking to 'Hector' much in the clinic because adults hated when he 'talked to himself'. They just didn't understand. 'Hector' understood and was always there, never was mean, and gave him 'someone' to talk things over with.

'Hector' always helped him, too. He could be stuck on a math problem for twenty minutes, but a short talk with 'Hector' always got him to the right answer. The same happened in Russian, when he had to learn the cyrillic alphabet. Even when Alex got frustrated and needed a break from helping Brandon, he could always rely on 'Hector'. If it hadn't been for 'Hector', there was no way Brandon would be a straight A student.

Since there was so much open space and his siblings had all gone different directions, Brandon wondered, striking up a softly spoke conversation with 'Hector'. It was nice to fully talk again, and 'Hector' even complained about being bored since Brandon hadn't visited him in very much. After nearly an hour, 'Hector' tried to talk to him about the exam and the fingers up his bum, but Brandon didn't really want to talk about that. He also really didn't want to listen to 'Hector' about the black woman sticking him with a needle while Mr. Shock had his fingers in him.

'Hector' tried one more time, telling Brandon he was fine until after the needle, but Brandon shut down the talk about the exam by telling 'Hector' it was over. To make a point, Brandon decided he didn't want to talk to 'Hector' for a while, knowing that when he cut out his 'friend' for a while, the topic would not come up again, at least for a long while.

With nothing else to do and no longer wanting to hold a conversation with 'Hector', Brandon moved in the direction of the rocks. As he got closer, he looked over at the fenced in area. Sure enough, the rock wasn't there. In fact there was no sign the cup or rock had ever been there. This got a grin out of Brandon, who wondered if somewhere under all the sand was his father's 'treasure'. If people had really died in there, their stuff had to be somewhere down there too. With this in mind, he moved closer to the fence and watched to see if anything moved.

'Hector's voice came to him as he stared at the deadly area of sand. "Careful, Brand."

"I know, I'm not going in there."

"But there are dead people in there. Their ghosts may still be here. I get a bad sense from this whole place and this area is even worse. It feels like something is wanting to come out and it isn't wanting to do good."

"Ghosts?"

This got a grin out of Brandon, "Lex thinks you are a ghost."

"Maybe I am, but if I died in there I don't think I would be nice. I would be mean and bad after having my lasts breaths be sand and knowing I was going to die and not being able to do a thing about it. Who knows, maybe someone or even many were tricked or even forced to go in there. Remember what Constable Eaton said on the way to the clinic. There are Navajo legends about this place. If it goes back to before the Americans stole Native American land, than this place has been here for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands."

Before more could be said between Brandon and 'Hector', an older man moved up behind Brandon and physically pulled him back.

Brandon felt fear grip him, so he couldn't even let out a shout. A few seconds and fifteen yards further back from the edge of the fence, the man spun Brandon around and looked right into the boy's green eyes, "Kid, didn't you read the signs? That is quicksand over there!"

Brandon found it hard to find his voice and his heart was beating so fast he could feel it all the way up to his throat. He tried to take a couple of breaths but only ended up coughing.

Another man, in also in his early to mid fifties moved up, patted Brandon on the back, and glared at the first man, "Damn, Steve, you didn't need to scare the crud out of the little guy!"

"You saw how close to the fence he was, Greg!"

"Yeah, on THIS SIDE of the fence, geesh!"

Greg knelt in front of the boy, "Sorry may partner got a bit carried away, but he only did it because he was worried about you."

Brandon took a few more seconds to recover from the momentary panic of being so unexpectedly grabbed. Finally he found his voice, "I was just looking. I wasn't going in there…"

"Even looking is enough to worry us, young-an'. The fence is far enough out to where it should be safe, but the exact area hasn't been traced and no one knows if it moves around or not."

Brandon nodded in understanding, but his heart was still racing. "I'll stay further away from now on."

"Please do," Steve responded as he moved around to look at the boy more closely. "Why were you so close to begin with?"

Brandon almost said, 'Because I was curious', but 'Hector' spoke up, "Don't Brand, it'll get you a lecture on being too inquisitive."

Brandon smiled and let out a little giggle, which both men clearly found odd, but they were looking at him, waiting for an answer, so Brandon changed up what he was going to say a little, "Sorry, I was just thinking about what Constable Eaton said about people dying in there. I was really wondering if their ghosts were laughing at me for being so dumb."

This got a chuckle out of Greg and a shake of the head from Steve.

Brandon took a step back to get more personal space between him and the men before speaking, "Sorry if I scared you. I was really just looking for the rock Constable Eaton threw in there and told us to come back later and it would be gone. I guess I really didn't believe him. I do now."

Greg again chuckled, "Leave it to the sheriff to secretly find a way to scare the crud out of us."

This got a genuine smile out of Brandon. "I don't think he was trying to scare anyone."

Steve rolled his eyes, "You don't know the sheriff very well in you believe that."

Brandon shrugged, and started to turn away, but Greg spoke up, "Hey, you are from the plane crash, right?"

Brandon looked down, "Dad didn't really crash, it was on fire and he went off the runway…"

"OK…" Greg stared at Brandon with a questioning look, "What would you call it?"

Brandon's face scrunched up for a few moments. He really wasn't sure what to call it, but it wasn't a crash. He waited, hoping 'Hector' would give him something to say, but his 'friend' remained silent. "Um, we got down in one piece, so how about a bad landing?"

Steven busted up laughing, "I think he has you there, Greg."

Greg threw up both hands, "Well played, very well played. Anyway… How old are you?"

"Ten, why?"

Greg started to say something, but stopped and shook his head, "Oh, never mind, you wouldn't know anything about it since you are from England."

Brandon cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean, I wouldn't know about it because I am from Britain?"

Steven started to turn away, "We coach seven to nine and ten to twelve year old baseball teams and really need extra players for the ten to twelve year olds. We only have nine right now and if one gets sick or can't show we have to play with eight, but I'm sure you play soccer or some other English sport."

Greg quickly agreed, "We don't have time to teach a kid the rules and how to catch and bat before going to Brawly for the tournament on Saturday."

Steve edged back a bit further to gage Brandon's reaction. When he saw a hint of getting through, he decided to toss in what he hoped would be the new found trump card. "I sure don't have that kind of time, and we we'd have to get a parent to sign him up. Plus, his folks don't even know us, so they sure won't let him stay with the team and do the geode hunt we were planning for next Monday."

Seeing both men start to turn away, Brandon forced himself to find his voice, "Geode hunt? What kind of geodes?"

Steven fought hard not to pump his fist at how well the ploy had worked even as he turned, "Depends on the area. One of the guys from the mine is helping to chaperone and knows of a place. He'll be here in an a few hours since he helps with pitching practice. Without Ray, we'd never win a game." The two men turned to leave once again.

Brandon was badly torn. He really didn't want to get back on a team, and he was sure he wouldn't be here very long, but if he could finds some geodes… It just wasn't something he could pass up on, "No, wait, please?"

Steve stopped and turned around gain, saw the look of desperation on the boy's face and knew they had the boy on a hook. "What, you know something about baseball?"

"I was on a team back home! I'm a good shortstop and can pitch some…"

This caused both men to stop dead in their tracks. The two words, shortstop and pitcher, got their full attention. Even if they weren't interested in the boy before them, they were very much in need of both a decent shortstop and another kid who could pitch.

Greg blinked a couple of times hoping beyond all hope the kid wasn't giving himself too much credit, "OK, how do we find your parents so we can get them to sign you up?"

"Um… Mr. Sauls and Constable Eaton are in charge of us until mum comes back from hospital or Grams and Gramps gets us… I don't know if they can sign me up though."

"You have a phone to call one of them real quick? If we can get you signed up, we could let you practice with us at six today."

"No… um, Mr. Sauls is somewhere around here though!"

"If you can find him, bring him over to the baseball field so we can talk to him."

Brandon eagerly nodded and took off at a dead run.

Steven looked over at Greg with a huge smile, "Score one for Nancy. Get her on the phone and tell her we need Ray at practice and he needs to take a day off to go look at rocks in this miserable desert!"

"Judging on that reaction, it might be a whole lot less miserable real shortly."

Steven laughed, "True that!"

As Brandon ran to look for Mr. Sauls, 'Hector' returned to him, "Careful. You don't even know those guys, Brand."

"I know I don't, but if they are really going geode hunting, I want to go!"

"I know you do, but you don't even like being on a team."

"At least I know how to play and…"

"And you'll have to be around a bunch of kids, practice, and pretend to like them."

"Spence wasn't too bad, And Lonny's birthday party was kind of fun."

"What about the sleepover at George's house or the video game night at Tommy's where you were teased for talking to me, not knowing the controls, and being so small. And you don't even want to get into the horse riding at…"

"Come on 'Hector', stop. I am never, ever, getting near a horse again, no way! But you saw what I showed Dad on the computer when we were coming out this way. There are three really big geode beds close to here. If we are going to even one of them, it would make this whole trip worth it!"

"OK, Brand, but if something goes bad, don't make me say I warned you. You already know I don't like the way you are here without your mom or dad."

"And I'll ask you the same thing I did the last time you brought it up. What am I supposed to do about it other than be happy Lex isn't getting hit for me almost every day?"

"Other than hope it stays like this, I don't know, but something is wrong about this place and like it or not, the people in the clinic did bad things to you."

"Even if they did, 'Hector', I can't do nothing about it so let's drop it. If bad things are going to happen, they will with or without a trip to a geode bed, so help me find Mr. Sauls."

It took almost an hour, but Brandon finally found Deputy Sauls. It was actually a disturbance and some shouting that drew him to the man. Once he got close, he saw Mr. Sauls up in the rocks, gun out, watching over Mr. Shock and a female paramedic both of which were carrying a badly bloodied teenage boy down to a stretcher.

The rocky hills had posted signs warning of rattlesnakes, and Brandon heard one of the people looking on say someone had gotten bitten. This caused Brandon to move a little more cautiously, but he had to get signed up on the team if he was going to go look for geodes. Danger was secondary at the moment, and he told 'Hector', "stop," as soon as the voice inside tried to get him to back away.

Getting to Mr. Sauls was problematic, since he was busy looking around while keeping a couple of interested people back from a man with a long hooked stick and leather chaps. Off to the side, a girl of about eight stood with her arms crossed looking like she was about to throw a fit or just got done with one. Either way, the girl's nose and hair looked a whole lot like the deputy's, so Brandon guessed correctly, she was his daughter.

He started to move up only to have the deputy point at him, "Stay back, Brand. We got us a rather pissed off rattler up here. It already bit one and came close to getting me when I raced up here to help."

Brandon moved a few more steps back and watched with a great deal of interest. After almost five minutes, the man with the pole let a sting of curse words, but stood with a close to eight foot [2½ m] long snake in his hand. "Don't let them leave, the bastard got me too!"

Mr. Sauls let out a shrill whistle, getting Mr. Shock's attention, "Hold up! Max just got hit!"

Mr. Shock quickly sprinted back up the rocks while unwrapping a new snakebite kit. He stopped dead in his tracks as he saw the snake wrapped around the man's arm even as the guy kept its head tightly held with one hand while holding open a thick-looking cloth bag. "Get that bastard put away or kill it, Max. I'm not about to get within striking range of one that fucking big!"

As Brandon watched in both amazement and fear. The man tried one more time to get the snake into the bag without success, when, rather suddenly, Sheriff Eaton come up form the back side of the hill, grabbed Max's hand with his left hand, keeping pressure on the snake's head, pulled a knife with his right and with a remarkably smooth slice, lopped the snake's head off. At first Brandon was certain the sheriff had cut the other man's hand, but as the man shook his arm and the snake's body fell off, the hand was fully intact.

Sheriff Eaton then used his blade to slice the man's long sleeved shirt. Spotting the bite wood above the elbow, he dropped his knife and gripped the man's arm just below the shoulder with both hands. At the same time the man started to wobble. Terry brought him part of the way down the rocks, before the guy fell to his knees. "Holden, cut and drain it the best you can! It's already hitting him hard!"

Spotting Brandon edging closer, Sheriff Eaton jerked his head in the boy's direction, "Brand, get up here and give us a hand."

Mr. Holden glanced over at Brandon then back at the sheriff, "He's only got shorts and running shoes on, boss."

"Yeah, I can see that, but he's the only one coming closer and I need another set of hands!" Terry snarled, then looked back at Brandon, "Come on, boy, get up here!"

Brandon moved past a few people and up the rocks with wide eyes.

Sheriff Eaton jerked his head at his dropped knife. "Get my blade and get back down here as fast as you can."

As Brandon retrieved the knife, he noticed a cave further up the rocks, but it was well hidden from those below. Before he could try to get a closer look, however, Sheriff Eaton shouted, "Brand! I don't want you up there any longer than you have to be. This is a very heavy snake area and this man needs you to help me!"

Brandon all but forgot about the cave as he rushed back to the sheriff, who spoke with a great deal of urgency. "Cut off the rest of Max's sleeve off then use the cloth to tie it real tight right above my hands. We don't want any more poison moving up into the rest of his body until we can get him some anti-venom."

Terry talked Brandon through it and then kept having him pull tighter until Brandon literally couldn't yank on the ends any more. "Good, now loosen it up just a little so you can, with a bit of effort, get your thumb under it… Perfect, now finish the knot. You know how to make a square knot?"

"Yes, sir."

"Great! Make it a damned good one. I can tell by the marks on Max's bicep the snake chewed some, so it got in extra venom."

Terry only let go of the man's arm once he was certain the knot was right and was still decently tight. He then looked over to two adults, " This boy has bigger balls than the two of you. Now, stop your gawking and help get Max's ass to the ambulance."

Terry stood on the rocks looking down at those who were still gathered while giving Brandon a gentle shove to get off the rocks, "OK, anyone want to tell me who else got bit and what exactly happened."

A woman in her thirties spoke up, "It was Ivan, Sheriff. I saw him grab at his leg then he fell. He busted himself up pretty good on the rocks coming back down, too."

"Anyone with him, Julie?"

"Not when I saw him fall. Irwin was just down the hill, so I got his attention. I did see him and Cecil together earlier. Maybe he saw more, if not, I was the closest."

"Shit." Terry muttered as he picked up the snake catcher's pole and jabbed it down into a couple of rocky crags. Satisfied there were no more snakes in the immediate area, he glanced back at Irwin, "Look's like your day off just ended. Better call Barb and let her know Ivan got nailed and took a hell of a spill. While you're at it find out why he was up here and then round up Cecil and get his little ass to my office."

"Will do. At least it wasn't one of the younger ones. Ivan's big enough to have a good chance."

Terry nodded in agreement then picked up the huge snake by the tail, shook it, and glanced down at Brandon, "You want a real souvenir?"

Brandon looked up and started to shake his head, but 'Hector' spoke to him, "Take it, Brand. It may ward off some of the bad I sense in this place. Find a way to keep it with you. Ask for a necklace or something."

Brandon let out a long breath, "Can the rattle be made into a necklace?"

"Sure as hell can. Hand me my knife."

Brandon watched as Terry cut off the tail a few inches back from where the rattle started before tossing the rest of the body well off to the side. "I'll get it to you in a couple of days."

"Thank you… um sir?"

Terry motioned for Brandon to follow him as he made his way toward the mini golf restrooms. "Talk to me while I get the blood off." He looked down at the boy, "You know, I hate to kill a rattler. Did you know some Indian tribes worshipped them as good things?"

"No, why?"

"Because, they are good at rodent control and rodents carry sicknesses while reptiles don't. Most rattlers don't strike at people either. Normally they do it only if cornered, and the rattle is there to warn people away. We are way too big to be food, so there is no reason for it to strike unless it is defending itself. I bet Ivan stepped too close to its den and it struck, then… You saw it on Max's arm. It just wanted to be left alone. All in all, they are good critters. But I can't have them biting people so when one does, especially when it gets two of us, well it has to go. You'll probably never see a bigger one, either. Seven feet is about as big as they normally get, but we've seen some closer to eight or even nine in these parts, that one was well over seven so it was right up there!"

Brandon said nothing until Terry had washed his hands and arms. "Um, I don't really know who to ask…"

"About what, Brand?"

"Um, playing baseball… and um maybe going geode hunting with the team here…"

"How'd you find out about our teams?"

"The coaches… At least they said they were." Brandon cringed as he realized he only got one of their first names. "One of them is Steve… Sorry I didn't get their last names…"

"Steve and Greg Hughes. One of the just a handful of married gay couples in town. They do a decent job with our limited number of kids, but I sure don't see us ever winning much."

"They are married?"

"You have gay marriage in England, don't you?"

Brandon nodded, "It started in the middle of last year, but… I've never met any…" His voice stopped short and his face turned red.

"Well, now you have. A few folks didn't like them coaching kids at first, but most of us warmed to the idea quickly enough. Now it's no big deal, at least not here. I know they are always searching for new players. You really know how to play baseball?"

"Yeah… Yes sir, but I really want to do the geode hunt…"

"Brand, I am allowed to sign you up, and to be honest, you will be here for a while. Your Grandparents even paid tuition at the private school outside of town yesterday for all four of you, since you will be here at least until your mom is better…"

"So we can't go home?"

"Let's deal with one thing at a time, OK?"

Brandon bit on his lower lip nervously, but nodded.

"Good. Now, I'll put you in our tiny league and even pay for it. But if I do, it sure as hell isn't just to look for rocks. I expect you to go to all practices and games and be part of the team. Anything done as part of being on the team, like rock hunting, is an added bonus, not the reason I'm signing you up. Understood?"

Brandon nodded again, "I know how to play and am pretty good, really."

"Then Steve and Greg are going to be beyond thrilled to have another boy in uniform. Since I have to take you to talk to them, then over to the rec center, why don't you come with me and we can have you call your grandparents. They really want to talk to you."

"OK… Are they mad?"

"I think it is more like confused. They really don't realize how bad you all had been hit and they really are having a hard time with your father getting into trouble. But I really don't think they are angry at you."

Chapter 10

Alex agreed to help out around the Sheriff's Office while waiting for one of the people from the beer keg clean-up to pick him up. The conversation with his grandparents had left him reeling. His mind was thousands of miles away, thinking about his friends and activities he would miss back in England even as he washed down the walls in one of the four holding cells in the back. It had dawned on him shortly after he hung up, that getting some spending money was going to be pretty important, since neither Grams or Gramps mentioned sending any. To this end, he jumped at the chance to earn an extra twenty for giving the four cells a basic cleaning.

There was no one in the back, and it made him nervous to be inside a cell, but the front desk lady had given him the spare keys when she saw the nervousness in his eyes. At least this way he could get out if the doors closed and somehow locked him in. The cells were already pretty clean, but they were dusty, and this last one hadn't been fully cleaned since it was last used. There was some dried pee on the metal toilet, the sink had some hair from someone shaving, and the small trashcan had some paper in it.

Alex wiped everything down, and even took a scrub brush to the back wall since it looked a little dirtier than the others. He then picked up the trashcan only to see his father's name on one of the wadded up papers. He paused, pulled it out and opened it up. It was page one of eight of a plea agreement. He sat on the bed and scanned it:

The State of California vs. Benjamin Parsons CR 121-2015-CC
Complaint 1 of 8
Physical abuse resulting in injury of Minor 1: Joseph Parsons, age 14

This office does give notice of the testimony of Joseph Parsons to serious bodily injury resulting in class 1, class 2, and class 3 bruising. Minor 1 also states withholding of food, water and physical restraints being used…

Alex glanced around the small cell, realizing he was actually cleaning up after his father, and his dad had been forced to live in this room. He shuddered, suddenly very glad his dad wasn't around, because there was no question he would beat him and his siblings until… He decided he really didn't want to know. However, having the paperwork in front of him, curiosity took over. He continued to read until he got to the bottom

Mr. Benjamin Parsons (Defendant) does plead guilty under plea agreement and forfeits all parental rights of Joseph Parsons to the State of California with understanding of parental rights being re-established unto Sondra Parsons when/if aforementioned Sondra Parsons becomes physically and mentally fit to do so. With the surrendering of all parental rights to the State and/or its designated representative, the Defendant will be allowed to return to the United Kingdom to be prosecuted at the discretion of the Defendant's country of citizenship.

Addendum one to plea agreement:
Financial responsibility of Minor 1 Attending private school will be at the behest of the Parsons' family. At any time should financial support be discontinued, Minor 1 will be placed in the public education system. Communications between Minor 1 and Parsons family must exclude Defendant and be subject to monitoring as deemed necessary by the guardian(s) of Minor 1.

Alex noted his father had signed it. He shook his head and quickly dug through the other seven pieces of paper. He felt physically sick as he sat down and read them. Of the eight pieces of paper, three related to Harriet, two related to Joseph, one was about Brand, and one was about him. The final one was a charge of failing to render aid to his mother which, according to the paperwork, resulted in major injury and life-threatening blood loss. Of all the papers his dad had signed, the last one actually made the most sense. This also told Alex, his mum was in much worse shape than anyone had admitted.

The other thing the papers told him was why his grandparents were so mad. Joey had lied and even made up a few things included being tied up as he was hit. This had resulted in a False Imprisonment charge. Harriet had gone much further, saying Dad sprayed things in her eyes, hit her with a cane, and forced her to stand on hot sand in bare feet. Then there was a bunch of statements about being forced to stay in a hot car. Because of Harriet's statements, his dad had pled guilty to Child Endangerment and Child Emotional Abuse. Out of all of it, Alex was actually the most angry about the stuff about her saying she had been forced to stay in a hot car. She had chosen to do so, but somehow the investigators had found two people to say they saw her sitting in it just outside of Flagstaff. Alex bet it had been the two hikers who stunk like they hadn't bathed in weeks. This meant it wasn't just Harriet and there was enough truth behind her saying she had been forced to stay in the car to make it totally believable. Since there was at least some truth behind it, along with witnesses, their dad had been blamed hook, line, and sinker. Since the rest were all lies, he could at some point try to make it right, but there was no way he could fight witnesses who really didn't know what was going on and had to be homeless.

What really surprised him, was his father signing them all. It just didn't make sense. At least half were lies, and the greatest part of the other half were exaggerated to make him look worse. In anything good could be said, and it wasn't much, at least Brand had not joined in with Harriet and Joey in lying. The only thing Alex didn't like in the paper on Brand, was how his younger brother told of being made to thank Dad for hitting Alex instead of him. As best as Alex knew this was a lie. But then so was Alex saying his dad only gave him bread and water a couple of days. His dad had threatened it, but hadn't done it.

Alex was unpleasantly surprised to see his bread and water comments had made it into the paperwork. Since when he had said it to Sheriff Eaton, he really didn't think it would get his dad in extra trouble. At least he was given food, and he told Sheriff Eaton he had been really bad. What he said he did to get bread and water was not in the paperwork, however.

Hearing a door open at the end of the hall, Alex debated on keeping the papers, but just as quickly decided he didn't have a good place to hide them. He would be with people the sheriff knew the rest of the day and he sure didn't want to get caught with them. After all, the papers made it real clear his dad had given him and his siblings to the State of California, which he bet meant the sheriff.

Alex was also just intelligent and wise enough to realize, his grandparents couldn't come get them either. The words was either the State, its representative, or his mother. This left his grandparents out of any say in what was going on other than the paying for the school. The way he read it, and he did so eight times since it was on the bottom of all eight pieces of paper, his grandparents couldn't come get them even if they wanted to. However, after talking to both, he was certain they weren't about to come out here to get them even if they had been allowed.

A voice he recognized from the beer keg clean up caused him to stuff the papers back into the trashcan and put it out in front of the cell.

***

Up front Buck gave a nod to the woman behind the desk as he came in, "Hey Ashley, how are things goin'?"

"Same as always. Lots of registrations to process and Terry running around so I have to take them all."

"Sheriff said I was supposed to pick up Alex. Is he here?"

"The boy is in the back cleaning up the holding cells." She held up the boy's small bag of spare clothing and hygiene items. Buck shook his head and pointed for her to put them behind the counter. She nodded then spoke up, "Go ahead and go on back, Buck."

A second later the buzzer sounded and Buck pulled the door open, "Hey, Alex, Terry said you have never shot a rifle before. He's joking, right?"

Alex shook his head even as he dumped the trashcan into a large bin in the hall. "Mum hates guns. I know how to shoot a bow though."

"Terry told me you can learn firearms, but he wants it done right. This means both lots of classroom and range instruction. He wants you to get everything you need so you can get your Hunter's Safety Certification as well. Problem is, I'll need to spend some time at the brewery, Heather works evening shifts at the mine, and Todd is needed in the auto shop. This means we'll have to pass you around between us, so we can get you up to speed. You up for spending a few days bouncing around houses and staying with us desert folk?"

"Like stay in your flats?"

"Flats?"

"Oh, um… Flats… um, you know… homes… houses…" Seeing the man grin, Alex did as well. "Until I came here I didn't know just how different British and American English are."

Buck snickered, "Flats sure as hell don't sound like something you would call a house, but hey, if that's what you call 'em, fine. Anyway, yeah, that's what we are saying."

"So I spend the night at your flat… home?"

"Probably a night or two at my place, one at Heather's, and maybe one at Todd's. Todd gets up really early, and Heather doesn't get back till late, so my place is probably the best since I go in when I want to. It's good to be the boss."

This got a snicker out of Alex, "Um, I guess. Why not just stay in the clinic?"

"You want the honest answer, son?"

Alex cringed, but nodded after a few seconds. "Yes… Yes, sir."

"OK, I'm not sure how much you really know about living here yet…"

"I know we are here until mum gets better and it kind of sounds like she is still hurt bad…"

"Yeah, I'm hearing the same thing and I am very sorry. The thing is, your dad had to go back to England, too. This means you will have to live here for a while. Also, Terry said things are still being worked out for placement until your mom gets better, so us taking you will actually help out. And be honest, it's kind of expensive to keep you in a clinic room and have it feed you. Those beds are now being paid for by the county since you are the responsibility of the government. By us taking you in there is a big savings to Terry's budget and all three of us have plenty of room." Seeing some reluctance, Buck shrugged and decided to press the only real advantage they had found over the boy, "Up to you, but Terry made it real clear about you shooting. He's taking responsibility for letting you do this, so you either learn right or not at all."

"Can I go see Brand?"

Buck cocked his head to the side and thought it over. After a few uncomfortable seconds he gave a nod, "How about a bit of a deal, here, Alex?"

"Um… Like what?"

"You agree to stay with us this week and tomorrow, or the next day, I'll have your brothers and sister over for a meal. You can all spend some time together. I'll invite Terry over, too, so he can talk over what is really going on and you can ask all the questions you want."

"I kind-a knew we had to stay here… Sheriff Eaton said we'll all have to live in different places… So I stay with you and…" It was clear Alex was a bit confused and struggling with the situation he was in, so Buck put a hand on Alex's back, directed him back into the cell, sat on the cot, and patted the spot next to him.

As soon as Alex sat down next to him, Buck put an arm over the boy's shoulders, noting a great deal less resistance than he had felt earlier in the day at the truck. "I know this has to be hard on you, buddy. All I'm saying is by staying with us you are helping out Terry. Over the next couple of days we'll get you a chance to talk with your brothers and sister, and you'll learn to do something you want and can be very fun and challenging. All I want in return, is for you to be serious about learning the proper way to shoot, gun safety, and for you to obey when told to do something while staying at each of our houses…" He grinned, "or flats if you'd prefer."

This got a slight grin out of Alex who took a deep breath, "And I will really get to shoot a gun?"

"I'd prefer you stick to calling them firearms, rifles, side arms, or pistols, but yes. By this weekend, you'll have a hunter's safety card, will know how to handle several rifles, at least one shotgun, and if you are serious enough about safety and obey all the rules while staying with each of us, I'll go one better. If you are really good, I'll even go two better, with the last thing being something you may never get a chance to do ever again."

This really got Alex's interest, "What?"

Knowing he finally had the boy right where he wanted him, he pulled the boy a bit closer and ruffled Alex's hair with his other hand. "If you're good and if you are serious, I'll take you out pistol shooting. If you get your Hunter's Safety and obey the rules of each of our houses, I'll even break out one of the fully automatic weapons we keep at the range and let you fire it."

Alex's eyes went wide, "Really? A machinegun?"

"You have to be really good and super diligent about safety, but yeah, I think you could earn a chance at firing a machinegun."

"OK!"

"And I just want to make sure, Alex, you will obey rules at our homes?"

"Yes, sir! I'll be super good!"

"Good enough for me." Buck patted the boy's back while standing up, "Come on, let's get this trash out of here, mop stored, and get you to the classroom over at the range."

Chapter 11

Harriet went up to the mine, took a tour of the control room, was shown where some of the core samples were being examined, taken through the testing process of ore, and exposed to how different layers of rock were harder or softer. For her it was a double edged sword. She really didn't want to be doing any of this. It wasn't interesting. It wasn't fun. Even worse, she had to fake paying attention, so she couldn't use here MP3 player. The tour also included a ton of walking.

On the other hand, it was this or stay at the miserably hot park with nothing to do and no money. At least this place was air conditioned. There was also vending machines in a few areas and with a little bit of effort, she was able to get another pair of sodas and a package of chocolate cakes. When weighing the options, walking and listening to people tell her all about the mine operations in exchange for cool air and junk food was a decent enough trade-off.

Nancy continued to be very nice, but was pulled off to the side for a conversation. Harriet could tell the woman wasn't happy, but nodded. She came back to Harriet with a frown, "Sorry, honey, there are a few things I really have to take care of before the night shift comes in. How about I give you a tour of the air filtration and cooling system. We can grab a bite at the cafeteria, and I can let one of the others finish up the tour?"

It was hard for Harriet to not roll her eyes. The last thing she cared about was the air system for the mine, but if there was a meal afterwards, it meant a chance to sit down. Reluctantly she nodded, "OK, but I'm getting hungry."

Nancy chuckled, "I'm sure those snacks will hold you for an hour or so."

Harriet forced herself not to let out an audible sigh as she followed Nancy down yet another passage in the maze of the mining complex.

During the talk from one of the air filtration experts, Nancy got a call from Terry. After a few seconds she responded, "I'm not sure how much it is to call England on this cell, but if you all are picking up the cost, sure… Yeah, I can handle it… I'll have her sit down and be away from others… Sure thing, I'll let you know… Hold on, I'll ask."

Nancy glanced over at Harriet, "Do you know the phone number of your grandparents?"

Harriet looked instantly relieved, even as she shook her head, "It's in my cell phone… Um… I know it if I was there, but from America…"

Nancy pulled the phone back up to her ear, "How about texting it to me, Sheriff?"

A couple of minutes later Nancy led Harriet into one of the offices, double checked her cell reception, and tapped the texted number. It only rang a couple of times before a gruff sounding man answered with a thick British accent. "Yes, my name is Nancy and I am here with your granddaughter… Yes, and she is such a lovely girl… No, Sheriff Eaton already gave me the heads up. I'll be right next to her… No, I'm not going to listen in unless you want me to… I totally understand."

Nancy handed her phone over, "Your granddad."

Harriet eagerly took the phone and spoke, "Gramps?"

The smile faded and Harriet become wide eyed in a matter of just a few seconds. "But Gramps… No! You… you… heard?" Tears started rolling out of Harriet's eyes.

"But I was sick and I… But they made me!"

Harriet's arms started quaking, "No, they didn't hit me… they took me to the bathroom and washed me until… yes I was sick… But Gramps! You know… but it was a guy! Yes I told him to… But Gramps, it was a guy! No… no… he didn't do nothing like that! No, I never saw a lady nurse… I don't care…"

Harriet's eyes went even wider and Nancy could hear the roar of the man on the other end. The tirade the girl was hearing was pretty epic. Finally the man's voice faded.

Harriet pulled the phone closer even as she continued crying, "Grams?"

"Please, I'm sorry! I just want to go home!"

Harriet started fully sobbing, "So you can't even if you want to?… But Mum is in hospital… I have to say with someone else? Who?… No, no, no, please…. Do you want to… No, I… OK, OK, I just want to go home… No!… No, I don't want to live here! Grams? Grams? You still there? GRAMS!"

Harriet stared at the cell phone sobbing for over a minute, then hit redial. It was answered and Harriet started talking only stop in mid sentence and look crestfallen. She put the phone down, "Gramps hung up!"

Nancy talked the girl down and let Harriet cry herself out from frantic levels. It was clear by what Harriet said during the following thirty minutes, both grandparents were furious with her and to a lesser extent her older brother. The younger two were still in lots of hot water, but nothing like Harriet and Joseph. They also made it clear none of them were coming back to England any time soon and that Harriet's father had signed papers in such a way to where they couldn't get her even if they wanted to. They also made it abundantly clear, at the moment they really didn't anything to do with any of them. If there was any consolation, the grandmother was not nearly as angry as the grandfather, but they were not about to go out of their way to help and they wanted her to not call for a while. Schooling would be paid for as would books, projects, and money for any field trips.

Nancy gave Harriet time to absorb what she had been told, bought her a burger and fries at the cafeteria, and finally handed her off to one of the mine engineers. Mr. Hicks met Harriet and Nancy at the elevator leading down to one of the inactive shafts.

Mr. Hicks listened to Nancy as she explained Gwyn had just found out she would be here for a while and was pretty upset. To this end, Mr. Hicks, gave Harriet a light hug and a friendly smile, "I'm real sorry to hear about your situation, but there are people around these parts who will be here to help you and you'll be taken care of."

Harriet just nodded and let out a sigh. She was not at all happy to be handed over to some guy, but she was too tired and freaked out to complain much. Harriet did try once, however, by looked back at Nancy, "Can't a lady take me around?"

"Sorry sweetheart. But you will be fine. Mr. Hicks is a good guy and really knows the mine!"

Mr. Hicks quickly took over, "I understand, this has got to be hard, but hey, let's get your mind on other things and talk about the mining operations here."

Harriet really wanted to scream 'no more!' at this point, but she didn't want anyone else angry at her and she was starting to realize, short of running away into the desert, she was stuck here. Being rude was not a good beginning since she was pretty sure word would spread. After a few seconds she nodded and spoke in the least disgusted tone she could find within herself, "And this is where the mine starts?"

Mr. Hicks shook his head, "This is where we go down into one of the mine shafts. The original mine dates back to the late 1800's and you have actually been walking through it for the past several minutes just to get here."

"It looks new."

"It has been refurbished and strengthened at least half a dozen times. This mine has been closed down at least six, maybe as many as eight or nine times. The main problem is the community needed to support it is in one of the nastiest hottest places in the U.S. Each time the new owners think they have it figured out, but something goes wrong. The last time was when California opened a prison just to the south of the 1970's abandoned town and repaired all the buildings. A riot happened, people died, and because it was so far away it took law enforcement help too long to get here. A few men escaped into the mine and were later found dead. others got away, but probably died out in the desert.

"The prison was shut down and the place abandoned yet again. Six or seven years ago, the current owners got permission to send in a team to get samples. What they found was impressive enough to make an offer. In exchange for cleaning up the mine of some of the toxic byproducts of the earlier mining operations, the EPA allowed the investment group to reopen and even gave them the buildings of the two towns for next to nothing. We have now been going full bore for over three years and are starting to turn a real profit.

Harriet's eyes went wade, "People died in here?"

"In the mine, yes. Were, I don't know. I'm sure others died in this mine well before the riot too. Mining is dangerous and back in the day, it was done by hand. Cave-ins were always a danger and the there were no air purifiers, safety equipment was slim to none, and the first miners probably didn't even have electric power. Even if they did, it was by no means reliable."

"Why did they ever come to the place to begin with?"

"The very first miners found iron very close to the surface and dug in after it. Iron was badly need out west and without it places like San Francisco would have had to bring iron from much further away. This meant there was money to be made."

"I don't know if I want to go where people died…"

This got a chuckle out of Mr. Hicks who instantly saw the words for what they were, a really poor attempt to get out of continuing the tour. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, here, Gwyn. We have quite a bit to see and do, so let's start from the top and forget about the bad stuff, OK?"

Harriet didn't like this at all, but there was no way around it unless she threw a fit. This would not get good things said about her so she reluctantly looked up in defeat, "Sure."

"Good. So here we are, headed down into shaft three. And, Gwyn, as Nancy just pointed out, I'm Mr. Hicks, but I hate anyone calling me Mr. so how about we stick to first names?"

Getting a nod out of the girl, he ruffled her hair, noting a tightening up and a cringe as he did so. Although he didn't like this, he brushed it off. "Good, call me Mather."

He looked back at Nancy, "When do I need to have her back to you?"

"I'm going to have to do some analysis on the deep core sample taken from the silver vein. I figure about four hours for me to section it all, and then start the crushing so I can get a ore grade percentage reading. Figure about six hours total."

At this Harriet's eyes went wide. The last thing she wanted to do was spend six more hours in the place. She was missing a half dozen good shows on BBC as it was.

Mather noticed the look and gave Nancy a wink, "Oh, don't you go worrying none. There is way more than six hours of things to see down there."

Nancy saw the look of horror and busted up laughing, "Oh, now, Gwyn, he's just teasing you." She then turned still snickering, "Be nice Mather and remember, she just found out she is going to be staying here and we don't even know where yet since her mom is still badly hurt. This makes her pretty much an orphan. I told Irwin I'd have her back at the clinic by no later than seven, though. Any chance…"

Mather once again ruffled Harriet's hair. This time she didn't tighten up since she was annoyed at being teased and embarrassed about being called an orphan. "No problem Nancy." He then turned back to Harriet, "I'll take you though this part and we'll go grab some dinner. By then I bet we can get you back to the clinic. So, are you interested in mining?"

Harriet took a deep breath. At least there was another meal at the end of the day and it wouldn't be the bland clinic food. While she was not even slightly interested and wanted to sit down, she also realized she was stuck with this guy for a few more hours and figured she best be polite to everyone in this horrible little settlement. Like it or not, Nancy was Right. She was basically an orphan and the people here would be taking care of her.

She was sure Grams could get Gramps to settle down and eventually come for them. The problem was, she was told not to call them, so she had no idea how she was going to talk Grams into finding a way to get her back to England. Until then she would need to be a good which in this case meant answering the question without sounding nasty. "I really want to be a translator, but Mrs. Butler has shown me lots of neat stuff."

"Good to hear!" Mather patted Harriet on the back while motioning for her to enter the elevator in front of him. "You know, there is a need for translators in mining now-a-days."

This actually got Harriet's attention. "Really?"

"Oh yeah, ore is shipped all over the world and many mines are owned by companies in other countries." Mather pushed a button taking the elevator down. "The last mine I worked in back in Colorado was owned by a Russian corporation. They had a couple of translators on staff to talk to the people back in Kazan."

"Wow, both my brothers speak, read and write Russian."

"Very impressive. How about you?"

"Fluent in French and can speak Mandarin pretty good, but have a long way to read and write it."

"You sure picked a hard one, but I bet it will serve you well. Trade with China is big business. I'm sure you'll find a job if you stick with it."

Harriet was pleasantly surprised to find Mather was very intelligent. This allowed her to talk to him and he was actually interested in what she could do. Things got even better as the guy noticed Harriet was really starting to slow down.

"Lot of walking, huh?"

"Too much… and I guess talking to Grams and Gramps…" Harriet paused as Mather once again put his hand on her back and directed her down another offshoot of the upper mine. The turth was she was dead tired, her legs felt like she was wearing lead boots, and the talk of what carved and blasted out all the upper tunnels in the 1940's before the mine shut down for the fourth or fifth time was the last things in the world she cared about. Still, this was slightly better than baking to death in the stupid park.

Mather motioned to one of the electrical workers who was working on a power line, "Hey, Allen, how's it going?"

"Yet another old coupler from when this place was shut down in the seventies. They should have replaced all of these when they reopened the mine. It would save us a ton of back and forth. Who's the rugrat?"

This got a frown out of Harriet, but before she could say anything Mather moved between her and the mine electrician. "She's one of the kids from the plane last week."

"Oh, damn, that must have been scary."

This got a nod out of Harriet.

Mather put an arm around Harriet, "Just be glad you managed to get down before it totally burned up."

Harriet didn't catch the full meaning. Instead she eyed the electric cart with longing while she responded, "The smoke made us sick…" An idea came to her as she took a long breath. "Um… I am starting to feel kind of bad again, can we ride in the cart?"

Mather quickly nodded, "You better sit on the cart. As soon as Allen gets down, we'll head back up and have someone at the clinic give you a once over."

Harriet's eyes went wide, "No, ah, I um, just need to…"

Harriet's words were cut off with a screech of fear erupting from her as the lights in the tunnel went out. Being underground, there was no ambient light. This meant it was so totally dark, even pressing a hand up to her face didn't allow her to see it. Because of the total darkness she gripped onto Mather with everything she had.

A few seconds later there was a serious of clicks as the power coupler sent electricity back into the lights again. Even as the lights illuminated the area, Harriet held unto Mather with a near death grip.

Mather pulled her into his chest, "Hey, it's no big deal. Allen just had to activate the new coupler so he had to cut power for a few seconds."

"Please, don't do that again. I'll be good. I'll walk, just don't…"

The other man looked over with a smirk only to get a nod out of Mather. There was no question the girl was terrified of the dark. They had the final key to controlling her when the time came. But first they had to break her down a bit more.

Chapter 12

Joseph played two of the three eighteen hole mini golf courses with Sammy and the three adults before being joined by another man and a twelve year old by the name of Charlie. The problem was, Charlie was bigger than Joey, and he was pretty boisterous. This was not at all what Joey wanted to deal with, so he did his best to focus on Sammy. Some of the comments that came out of Charlie once it became clear Joey wasn't as outgoing only caused Joey to deal with Charlie less. Charlie continued to make comments about him and Sammy, which made Joey dislike the boy even more. Joey quickly figured Charlie was probably a bully. Fortunately, the adults were holding him in mostly check.

The group broke for a mid afternoon lunch. At first Joseph tired to avoid questions about himself, but it quickly became clear this was going to be impossible. Sammy was almost too eager to get to know him and Charlie kept teasing him about being shy. When he finally gave his age, he was both surprised and relieved when only Charlie commented about his size, or lack thereof. Even better, the man with Charlie flipped the boy hard on the ear, killing further comments. Sammy's reaction was really great, since the younger boy didn't seem even slightly put off to by the knowledge that the kid he was trying to befriend was almost three and a half years older than he was.

If anything, Sammy only became more talkative as Joseph opened up more and gave out more details. As he sat at the shaded table, ate a pair of hotdogs, a basket of fries, and drank another lemonade, it started to occur to Joseph those he was with knew a whole lot more about him than he knew about them. While not being outgoing, he did have a few questions and decided this was the time to ask. He wasn't even sure who he was asking, but just wanted someone to answer. "How come there are as many adults as there are kids up here during a weekday."

Charlie's guardian, Rudy, responded after finishing a bite of a burger, "Joey, this whole place is here because of the mine and the mine never shuts down. Most of the men and women up here are enjoying their day off or they work nights or swing shift. Just look at the four of us. We all work at the mine. I have swing shifts so as soon as I finish off this bite to eat, I'll be heading to the mine. Maggie's days off are today and tomorrow, so this is her weekend. Norm is a night guy. Finally, Bruce switched with another guy to have today off since he has Sammy today.

"As far as kids, many of them come early in the morning before it gets hot, or later in the day. With the rocky hills to the west, this whole course will be in the shade by about seven this time of year and much earlier in the late fall through Early spring. Also, keep in mind the town is almost a mile and a half [2½ km] from the park, so some parents don't let their kids walk out here by themselves. Last year a girl was bit by a rattler and died because she walked out here alone and decided to walk too close to the ridgeline. She died before anyone even realized she was missing."

Joseph cringed, "Is that why so many people are wearing long pants and sleeved shirts?"

Maggie snickered, "No, Joey. The extra clothing cuts down on sun exposure. Wearing lightweight light colored clothing protects from sunburn and holds moisture in. When you get inside and cool off, you will find you have sweated so much it will make your skin fell nasty. It's one of the reasons Bruce and Norm have made you take drinks at each and every water fountain out here. You are losing way more liquid than you realize and will probably be somewhat dehydrated tomorrow. Sammy, here, has gotten more used to it since he has lived around here for a few years now, right Sammy?"

Sammy nodded, but glanced over to Bruce.

Bruce spoke up, "Sammy's always been kind of weird. He likes to wear shorts and short sleeved shirts, so that's all we really get him. He's had a few sunburns too, one real bad. I know he has one good set of clothing and in the fall we'll have to pick up a few warm things for him to wear because it can get pretty cool, especially at night."

Joseph cocked his head to the side as he saw Sammy nod, "So how come we only got shirts and tees?

Norm snickered, "You'll have to ask whoever gave you the stuff, Joey, but probably because it takes some time to get used to being here. You find a lot of kids showing more skin than the adults. We tend to buy lots of sunscreen for the young of this town.

Maggie gave a snort, "Speaking of which," She pulled a tube out of her side pouch, "Boys, put on another coat. Touch each other up. I want another coat on all three of you. No way are any of you ruining such good looking skin.

Seeing Joseph frown, Norm nodded, "Yeah, sunburn is bad for you and the lotion will keep your skin hydrated too."

Sammy grabbed the tube and moved behind Joseph. Getting a stern eye from Bruce, the younger boy spoke up just as Joseph tried to wave him off. "When I first came here, I missed a spot and it burned so bad I got a blister. Other kids had to stay in the clinic from bad burns. Let me get you and then you can do me.

To keep Joseph from refusing, Norm nodded, "Sammy, goop him up good get under the shirt color some and the same on the legs. Joey, you do the same for Sammy. I don't want either of you getting burned because we took you out for the day."

"Very true," Maggie added. "We told Deputy Sauls we'd take care of you, and you agreed to do as you were told. Don't go messing up a good day over some sunscreen Joey."

Seeing Joey lower his head so Sammy could start putting the lotion on the back of his neck, Rudy glanced at the other adults, shook his head, then glanced at his watch, "Charlie, you're with Mags the rest of the day. Any lip and your night will be spent working."

Charlie went a bit pale, but Maggie spoke up, "He'll be fine, Rudy. Since we are going to take Joey over to the studio, why don't I just keep Charlie. You can pick him up tomorrow."

"Sounds good, and thanks, Mags. Charlie, be good. I've got to get going. Joey, really nice to meet you. Hope to see you around."

Joey nodded and gave the guy a shy grin as the man stood and patted Joseph's shoulder.

Since Maggie got up to talk to Rudy, and Joseph didn't really want to focus on the Sammy all but giving him a rubdown with sunscreen, he turned to Bruce, "When we were going through town, it looked like there were two towns. One older than the other. How come?"

Charlie actually spoke up, "One town was built by the government for mine workers during World War II, the other was done about twenty years later when the mine was reopened by company who tried to make it a total company town. The museum by the post office has all sort of pictures and history. This place has been shut down and abandoned all sorts of times. Some of us like to go into the desert around the old town. Sometimes we can find old coins and junk."

"That was what Dad came out here for. He's a professional treasure hunter."

Charlie seemed a great deal more interested all the sudden, "You mean like American Digger?"

"What's that?"

Sammy moved his hands down the front of Joey's shirt, "A TV show about a family of treasure hunters. They look for old things all over the US."

Joseph started to grab at Sammy's hands but a clearing of Norm's throat and a shake of Norm's head stopped him. He gulped slightly at seeing the very annoyed look, so he put up both palms as way of showing he wasn't going to complain any further.

To keep his mind off the fact he saw no reason why Sammy needed to put sun lotion half way down his chest, under his shirt, he returned to the conversation. "Sounds like a good show and it would be kind of fun to poke around out there and draw some of the old buildings. But I still don't understand. I know Constable Eaton said something about it, but why make a whole new town?"

"Water," Bruce answered. "The old town drilled down into an aquifer that wasn't getting any new water and was running dry. By the time the second town was built, technology allowed the new owners to realize this and find an aquifer that was getting replenished. When the place was reopened this last time, new pumps were installed and a couple of new wells dug, so water is now available to the second town. Even today, though, we are still careful. No lawns are allowed in either section, and only native desert plants are allowed. Down behind the baseball field is a large public garden. Anyone who wants to plant non-desert or vegetables does so there."

"My mum would go nuts without a garden."

Norm snickered, "When she gets better we'll get her a plot or two. There are always some left."

Sammy moved around and knelt so he could put more lotion on Joey's legs. A single look from Norm was all it took to comply, even though Sammy pushed his hand well up under his shorts and almost to his briefs. It was hard not to argue, but he really liked Sammy and didn't want to get Bruce or Norm angry. Since it was clear this is what the adults expected and even Charlie, who he was certain would tease him, said nothing, Joey reluctantly accepted it without comment. Instead he continued with the current topic. "I bet mum will take us back to England as soon as she is better."

Bruce glanced over to Charlie and gave the boy the slightest of nods.

Charlie quickly piped up, "Not what I heard."

Joey's head jerked, "Huh?"

"Not what I heard."

"What did you hear?" Joey pleaded to know.

"Gee, you are a wuss." Charlie snorted at the whining sound coming out of Joey, but a warning finger form Bruce changed his tone. "Um, Rudy's neighbor works at Eagle Hollow. He said you Brits were going there this fall."

"What's Eagle Hollow?"

Norm responded even as Sammy moved over to Joey's other leg. "A very expensive and prestigious private academy. Charlie, you sure?"

"Yeah. Mr. Preece said all four were admitted and someone paid for tuition and home schooling for the entire school year. He didn't like it since the guy who runs the place bent the rules to let them in. Mr. Preece says none of 'em are smart enough."

Joey frowned deeply, "Not smart enough?"

Bruce spoke up, "Joey, Eagle's Hollow is for very gifted kids and is normally an invite only school. If you are really going there, the schoolwork and pace are going to be very hard. Even if I could afford it, which I can't by a long shot… but even if I could, there is no way Sammy is smart enough to make it there and last year he got all A's.

Maggie came back, "Eagle's Hollow? Did I just hear you are going to go to Eagle's Hollow?"

"Charlie say he is," Norm spoke up again. "If you really got someone in your family with that kind of money and they got you in, it would sure be a heck of a feather in your hat if you could handle it."

Joey closed his eyes for a second, "I need to call Grams and Gramps."

Maggie glanced down at Charlie, "You best not be joking, and before you answer, remember, you are staying at my place tonight!"

Charlie shook his head and it was clear to Joey the kid was suddenly very afraid, "No! No joke! I heard it right from Mr. Preece!"

Norm pulled out his cell, "I have no clue what it will cost to call England, but feel free, Joey."

Bruce motioned for Sammy to come sit next to him even as Joey looked at the cell phone that was slid over to him. "Are you sure? Mum and Dad had special plans to call home."

"Kiddo, even if it runs me thirty or forty bucks it's not going to kill me. If you are really going to be around here, you can come over and work it off around my place or something.

Joey didn't really like the sound of that, but nodded in agreement anyway. He quickly tapped in the number. After just a few rings his grandfather answered, "Gramps it's Joseph…" Joey both cringed and wilted at the response. He didn't even try to interrupt. After almost two minutes he finally spoke. "Gramps they saw the bruises and I didn't lie…" Joey's head lowered as the man on the other end verbally ripped into him.

This continued on and off for over ten minutes before Bruce moved over, pulled up the phone, and listed for a few seconds before interrupting, "Hey, what the fuck is your problem?"

Joey looked up in complete shock and shook his head.

Maggie moved behind Joey and wrapped her arms around him. "Hush, boy, let us handle this."

Bruce listened for a few seconds then spoke. "Yeah, I am with Joey, and I think he is damned sweet kid… Sure, I get it. But if his father beat the hell out of him… No, you need to chill the fuck out and let the boy talk. He's a kid and you're the adult for fuck sake. Yeah, whatever. Now be an adult and at least act civil. This poor kid looks like he just got hit by a freight train… Yeah here he is."

Joey very reluctantly took the offered phone back with something akin to terror written on his face. He had never heard anyone talk to his grandfather like Bruce just did. "Hello."

This time there was a great deal more back and forth, which Joey was constantly on the losing end of, but at least he was able to talk. The exchange between him and has grandmother went much better, but it was clear as he handed the phone back to Bruce, neither of his grandparents were happy with him. "Gramps want to talk to you."

"Me?"

"Uh huh. Gramps said he wants to talk to the guy who cussed him out."

Bruce took the phone back with a smirk, "This is Bruce Phillips."

After another couple of minutes he handed the phone over to Norm, "The old guy wants to talk to someone else who knows me."

Seeing Norm cringe, Maggie grabbed the phone, "YO! This is Maggie. What can I do you for." Maggie snickered at what was said, "Yeah, Bruce is a prick, but he's my kind of prick… Yeah, I can be a point of contact if you really don't have the balls to talk to your grandkid… Oh, stop. Being pissy with me will get you even less far than it did with Bruce. Besides, if what I heard is right Joey's dad plead guilty. If he wasn't then why'd he plead to it?"

Maggie nodded and got a look of total malice on her face, "So Joey had belt marks on him and you want to defend his father? I don't care if Joey said his old man beat him with a chain, your son left belt marks on a kid who can't even be seventy five pounds [35 kg] soaking wet. Is that the kind of man you raised?"

Joey slapped his hand on his head as he heard something akin to a bellow over the phone even though Maggie was a few feet away from him at this point.

Maggie finally got a chance to talk again and fired both barrels. "You owe this kid for raising such an asshole son…. Oh, screw you… You ought to be nicer to this little guy… Knock it off. He's a lovable kid with a big heart… Yeah, well he has spent the greater part of today playing with a kid over three years younger than him and even showing him some drawing tricks. I'd say you got a better Grandson than Son."

Maggie let out a loud mean sounding laugh, "Yeah, I get it. You care more about saving face than your son putting belt marks on his kid. Maybe Joey did embellish things, so the fuck what? Sounds like your jackass son deserved it… Does it really matter at this point?… Yeah, there are people here who will happily give him all kinds love while his mom is out of action… OK, paying for school is great, but the least you can do is cut him some slack… OK, fine, Me and Bruce will be more than happy to keep an eye on him. Sure, here he is."

Joey took the phone, "Gramps?… Yes… No… So you can't come get us and we are stuck here, I… OK, yes, we stuck ourselves here… OK, I won't call again…" Joey looked over at Norm, "Gramps wants to know if he can call this number if he decides he wants to talk to me." Norm nodded, "Sure he can."

"Norm, um Mr. McGrane said you could. Yeah, hold on a second."

Joey handed the phone back over to Norm, "He would like your address too."

Norm took his phone back. After another three minutes of back and forth, Norm snorted. "Yeah, send me the e-mail of the plea agreement and I'll talk it over with Joey so he understands that he can't come back… I'm sure he gets it. You want to say bye? OK, then, have a good, um, whatever time it is over there. OK, goodnight then." Norm put his phone back on his belt and glanced over at Joey, "He said your grandmother would send you something, but you are going to be living here for quite a while. He also said you are going to go to Eagle's Hollow and not to call him again until he calls you."

Joey let out a long breath, "He is probably even more mad now."

"Maybe at us," Maggie snickered while moving behind Joey and giving him a kiss on the top of his head. "And yeah, he is angry with you, but I think Bruce and I redirected some of it in the right direction. You OK?"

Joey chewed on his upper lip for a few seconds before nodding. "He is going to blame me for the way you talked to him, though."

"Then he can talk to us again," Bruce stated. "Norm, if he calls, I want to know and I want to be around when he talks to Joey."

"Me too," Maggie responded instantly.

Norm cocked his head, "So Joey, how about the truth, did you lie about your dad hitting you and stuff?"

Joey looked down, "Kind of…"

"He either hit you or he didn't, Joey."

"He hit me. I didn't lie about that… I kind of lied though… I said he tied me up and hit me and stuff, but he did roll me in a bedspread and hit the back of my legs one night when I told him he was being a jerk. I should have known better, but it just came out."

"Close enough for it not being a lie for me, Joey," Norm stated while patting the boy on the shoulder.

"Yeah, well, when I was in hospital I was sick and said some things I don't even remember saying. Constable Eaton had it on a recording though, so I guess I said some other stuff… It was my voice and so I just said I did say it… But Gramps is really mad about me telling on dad for hitting Lex so much, too. I didn't lie about that at all."

This seemed strange to Sammy, so he jumped in. "Your dad hit your younger brother more than you?"

"Tons more. He hit Lex way more and harder than the rest of us combined. On the plane, just before the engine went out, my brother Lex even smarted off to Dad, saying next time he would prefer to be blue and black instead of back and blue because he liked blue better."

Across from Joey, Charlie choked on his fries. As he recovered he looked over with wide eyes, "Your brother have a death wish or something?"

Joey shook his head, "He took beatings to get them away from Brand, our youngest brother and sometimes even for me and Riet. A couple of days before we set down here with the engine fire, we landed and Brand spilled grape juice on the seat of the plane. Dad went off when he saw the stain. Lex stepped between the belt swing and Brand, took the hit, and told Dad he hit like a five year old. Dad lost it and hit him so hard it drew blood like four times. It was the first and only time he ever hit one of us that hard… But in doing so Dad totally forgot about how mad he was at Brand and even me for giving him the grape juice just before landing."

Joey shook his head and rolled his eyes, "That night in the hotel, Lex could barely take off his shirt, but showed off the marks on his back and side like he was proud of them. He even said if Dad tried to hit either one of us that hard to run to him and he'd take it. Although, he would never let Dad get to Brand with a belt, and if he did, Lex would keep dad mad for days so Brand wouldn't get hit again…" seeing the looks he was getting Joey shook his head, "Don't think he liked it. I've heard about those people. Lex isn't like that. He will stay away if he can, but he keeps Brand safe first and like I said me and Riet sometimes too. When he can't stop Dad from hitting Brand, he finds a way to get dad mad so Brand gets forgotten. First time I remember him doing it was at my eleventh birthday party. Brand knocked the cake off the table and Dad went off. Lex put his arm in the way and took the belt hit. Dad blew his top and beat Lex instead. When he was done, he forgot about Brand. Lex has done the same kind of thing ever sense."

Maggie looked for any signs of deception from Joey. "And you said Lex is two year younger than you, so he was nine?"

"Eight, he turned nine eight days later."

Seeing the boy only nod at the expressions of those looking at him, she summed up what the others were all thinking, "Sounds like a tough little bastard!"

Joey let out a snort and sighed while nodding, "Sometimes I hate Lex. He is bigger than me, stronger, knows how to get under my skin, and always get the better of me. On the plane Lex flipped me off then, when I tired to punch at him, he blocked my fist with the cooler lid causing my hand to swell up. It isn't fair… I'm over two years older than him… the oldest… But without Lex, my back and legs would have had way more marks of them, so Gramps can be mad all he wants. If Dad got in extra trouble because I blamed my hurt hand on him and a few other things and me and Lex don't get hit with a belt no more, than good."

Joey looked up, "I'd prefer to be going home to England, but I'm not and I don't have many friends anyway. I'll probably be a baby and cry about it or something stupid like crying sooner or later. Lex won't. But right now, I… I'm… I don't know… At least I won't have to worry about being hit because something went wrong and Dad got mad again. This trip was the worst, since mum was worried about Americans and their guns. She made us stay close all the time. We all stayed in the same hotel room, on the plane or in a vehicle pretty much the whole time. Anything went wrong and Dad would take it out on one of us… well usually Lex, but only because Lex made sure he was the target."

Norm broke the several seconds of silence, "You know, you will have to live with someone and you will have to deal with their rules or get punished, right?"

Joey thought it over for a few seconds before nodding, "I guess I better follow the rules and hope they are nicer than Dad, then."

Bruce pointed to the sunscreen, "Well, right now you are under our rules and I'm telling you to do to Sammy what he just did for you, so you can think about something other than getting hit. We have enough time to play another game or two before we go to the studio."

Although it was embarrassing, Joey picked up the squeeze tube without complaint and got to work. By the time he was done he had rubbed well over half of Sammy's body. He started to hand the tube back, but Maggie pointed to Charlie, "Get him too, then we can do the third course and then you can pick which one you want to do a second time."

Charlie saw the look of reluctance coupled with some fear, "You'll be living here with the rest of us, you get used to it."

Although it didn't make sense, the bigger boy was not embarrassed, or unwilling, so Joey went to work. All the while he tried to figure out why they weren't allowed to put on their own sunscreen, and why so much had to be put on under clothing.

Chapter 13

Brandon stayed with Terry, went to the rec center, got signed up to play baseball, and dug though the uniforms. After trying on the two smallest, the man at the rec center handed him a few uniforms meant for the seven to nine year olds. One of the bigger ones fit pretty well. The nice thing was the two teams wore identical uniforms and the number six was not being used by the older kids. This meant there was no real way to tell he was in a uniform of the younger team.

Terry then took him to the sporting goods store, picked up a glove, bat, a couple balls, helmet, batting glove, and baseball bag to put it all in. Terry looked over Brandon for a few seconds before getting him a cup and a low end set of cleats. Once satisfied, he jotted down everything and handed the paper over to the cashier. "Jackie, this is Brandon. He likes to be called Brand. He's joining the Eagles ten to twelve's and I am picking up the stuff he needs since there are some parental issues. Take it out of my cut for this month."

The woman nodded, "Not a Problem, Sheriff. I am sure Greg and Steve are going to be thrilled to get another player."

"Yes, they sure are."

The young woman smiled, "Welcome to the Desert Eagles, Brand."

Brandon smiled shyly, "Thank you."

On the way out Brandon turned to the sheriff, "Are Grams and Gramps paying you back?"

"Honestly, I doubt it. But don't worry about it, Brand. You play hard, go to all the practices, games, and behave for Greg and Steve. Nothing more needed."

"I will, promise. Oh, and Thank you too."

"I'm just glad I can help and you are willing to join our little community."

Brandon jumped into the Blazer, buckled his seatbelt, and looked over. "When do I get to talk to Grams and Gramps?"

Terry pulled out onto the main street. "Let's go do that now. But, Brand, remember what I told you. They really don't know what to think about your father getting into trouble and are upset."

"I know. But when do I get to spend time with Lex?"

"We'll figure something out. Let's get this taken care of first."

Brandon followed Terry into the sheriff's office. A man and woman were filling out paperwork at the desk while the lady behind the desk took their fingerprints and asked them some questions about if they still owned the same cars, had anyone else living with them, and other questions Brandon found odd. The woman kept glancing over at him, too, but didn't say anything.

Terry took him into the back office, and pulled open his desk. He punched in a number, and spoke after only a few seconds, "Yes, Mr. Parsons, It's Sheriff Eaton again… No, I have Brand with me. I think he knows something is going on, but no, I haven't told him much… He has asked some questions and I think he is afraid you are mad at him… Nope, I'm sure there is no need to listen in. I'll be at my desk tidying up some paperwork and he'll be talking to you on my phone though… Totally understand, and there will be no recordings or speakers… Yes, he is. Here you are."

Brandon nervously took the phone, "Gramps?"

A few seconds later Brandon nodded, "Yes, I know Mum was hurt bad and Dad got in trouble for hitting us… I only had a few, but you know Lex got hit real bad, right?… No, way worse. His side had a blood marks and so did his back… He did. I saw them…Yes, I told… But you told me to tell the truth to constables… Yes he did, Gramps. He even said I was lucky and… No, I was lucky, not Lex!… Gramps, I didn't even mention Hector!… No I didn't. Hector didn't want me to… He is real… Yes, I talked to Hector at the park today… Yes I did. He is real… OK, yes… I don't want to come home unless Lex does… I'll stay in the desert, yes… Not too bad, just hot. I joined the baseball team… No, first practice is tonight… OK, love you too… Uh huh."

A few seconds later Brandon cracked a small smile, "Hi Grams! Yes, Gramps said we are going to go to school here… I know, but I didn't lie… No, I am not making anything up. Lex's shirt even had blood on it!… Oh, come on Grams, Riet likes to lie, you know how she is… She hates it here… Joey didn't get tied up!… He did?… No, that was a big lie… Hot car?… Oh, she stayed in the car cause she didn't want to hunt for treasure… No, she did and the doors were all open. It's hot here, but she didn't have to be in the car… Sprayed her eyes? No!… You would have to ask her… Lex wouldn't lie!… No, no I won't, Grams. I'll hang up first!… I will too!… THEN DON'T TALK BAD ABOUT LEX!…"

The tone, the look of total malice on Brandon's face, and the boy's heavy breathing got Terry's full attention. He studied the boy's face and noted the hand holding the phone was white from holding it too hard and the other was balled into a tight fist. The next words only confirmed what the body language was already saying, "If you don't want Lex back you don't want me back either Grams. No, I don't care if I ever go back to Britain!… Um, bread and water? Um, Dad threatened him with it a bunch and didn't let him eat dinner one night… We had pizza. I like it better then Pizza back in England… I don't think he was given anything… Maybe, but I didn't see it… Yeah, no food for dinner and if Lex said it, then it is TRUE!… You should know by now; Lex; he was happy it wasn't me… Yes, I snuck him an apple the next morning… No, Grams, I didn't tell them I got hit for talking to Hector. They don't even know about Hector… I wish you could talk to him. He is great and he didn't want me to tell about getting hit for talking to him so I didn't…" Brandon let out a long breath, "Yes, he is with me here and I told Gramps I talked to Hector today… I know, but he really is real… He got me an 'A' in Russian… No, it wasn't me, it wasn't even Lex, it was Hector… Lex and I talk in Russian sometimes, so yes I am practicing… OK, who do I live with until mum gets better?…"

Brandon eyed Sheriff Eaton with wide eyes even as he nodded, "Yes, the Constable is nice. He gave us money for the park today, paid for baseball, and got me new stuff so I could play… Yes Grams, I am sure he would… The uniforms are kind of ugly… I love you to, here is the constable."

Terry took the phone back. "Hello… Yes, he is a very kind boy… His love of Alex is total, no doubt… To be honest this is the first I have heard him mention Hector… No, I don't see any harm… No, no need to pay me back… You want to make a donation and get the kids new uniforms, I'll be happy to… Yes, ma'am… I am sure he will be loved while his mom recovers… Yes. How about we let him settle in and then we'll set up times for him to call…"

Terry gave a friendly sounding snort, "I spent almost half the day with Lex. I think he is a hell of good kid. He helped us clean up and worked his tail off… OK, yes, but I really think it best to give him and Brand, here, a chance to really settle in. Getting them homesick isn't going to help either of them… Absolutely. You send money earmarked for any or all of the four and I will get it to them… I'll get any or all of them any cards or letters… Yes ma'am… I really think letters and cards are the best for a while…"

Terry busted up laughing, "Oh, that would be Maggie, we call her Mags, and yes she will speak her mind… Bruce and Norm are both with him from what I heard… Either one of them could have. They and Mags are peas of a pod… Yes, but I think you could see it in the other light of them being concerned about Joey… Yes, all of the kids are getting to know some town folk today and it won't take long at all for them to become well known… No, Brand is not about to be left out. Our youth baseball games are a big deal. Over half the town will know him by name, jersey number, and position within a week or two. If you like I will have one of the parents shoot some vids of him… Absolutely… I'll tell him… have a good night."

Terry put down the phone and glanced over at Brandon, "Mind telling me why you didn't mention your imaginary friend?"

For the first time since Terry had started talking to the boy, Brandon firmed up over something other than his brother Alex. Actually, if looks could have killed, Terry was pretty sure he would have been turned into a pile of ashes on the spot even as Brandon growled, "Hector is real."

The look in the little guy's eyes alone told Terry he had crossed into totally forbidden territory. "OK, Brand, Hector is your friend. I get it. But did your dad hit you…"

"Hector says not to talk about it, so I won't. I don't want to talk about it anymore, either. Dad's back in Britain and we are here. Lex won't get hit no more, so I'm happy."

Terry blinked a couple of times. So the boy had two forbidden things and he was now certain there was little to no emotional attachment to either of his parents, but there was enough toward the grandparents to be a possible cause for concern. Whoever took in Brandon would have to do three things. One was to further strain or even break the ties to the grandparents. The second would be never talking bad about or threaten Lex. Brandon's devotion to his brother was total. The last was to be ultra carful about broaching the subject of 'Hector'. He would have to warn the others of just how deep this bizarre little quirk went. "OK, Brand, but if you ever change your mind, let me know."

"OK, but I won't."

Terry nodded, "Got you loud and clear, Brand. Looks like we have an hour and a half until practice. Let's get you a meal, a decent amount of fluids and some Gatorade or something so you can stay hydrated. Also, let's get another coat of sunscreen on you."

Brandon shrugged, "I could do it myself."

"I think I should. The baseball field will be in full sun until at least seven, and that means another full hour out in the sun. As you get used to it, maybe, but your skin is too white after eight days in the hospital and you will burn way too easily."

Brandon stood, "OK. But 'Hector' says I should be allowed."

"Tell Hector I am just being careful."

"He hears you."

"OK, I'll keep that in mind. I had no way of knowing."

"He says you don't believe in him either, but I should stay nice, try hard, and thank you for not making fun of me or telling me to stop talking to him."

At this, Terry smiled and ruffled Brandon's hair. "Brand, if you want to talk to your friend, I sure don't see any harm. But, kids on the team might make fun of you."

"Most kids make fun of me anyway, with or without 'Hector'. Most people do, too. Lex doesn't. Lex actually believes in 'Hector'. Lex thinks he is a ghost."

"What does Hector say about being called a ghost?"

"He isn't sure what he is, but he is real."

"Well, I'm not going to argue. If Hector helps you, than good. Now let's get a meal and I'll take you to meet the team." Even as Brandon walked out of the office in front of him, Terry ran a hand over his face. He had seen some weird things before, but never had he been around a kid so dead set on a imaginary friend. He didn't think it would be a big deal, but it wasn't something he really knew how to handle or what it meant for those who wanted to enjoy the kid.

Partially because of this, Terry decided to stick with Brandon through the practice. As a totally secondary reason, he wanted to see if the boy really knew how to play baseball and how the other kids would react to him.

He parked himself on the bench and took a swig out of a two liter bottle of water. He noted Richard, Will, and Marge, all people who were interested in Brandon, also in the stands along with a couple of others who had passing interest. They all nodded to him, but moved to vantage points so they could see the boy better, not the whole team.

Once introductions were made, Steve decided to simply go with what Brandon had told him. He stuck him on the field as a shortstop and did some field practice. As usual, the ten to twelve year old Desert Eagles did sub-par, but there was some noticeable improvements. During this first thirty minutes Brandon did better than hold his own. His glove work was decent and his throws to first were right on the mark. The only problem was his small stature allowed a couple of balls to go over his head. Brandon still tried, however, jumping as high as he could and managed to snag a ball no one thought he would be able to.

If there was ever an ice breaker for the other kids on the team, the first half an hour in the field took some sizable chunks out. The kids around him grinned at him, and all nine players were calling him by name as fielding practice came to an end.

The next part of practice was batting and fielding. One by one, the kids went to the plate and positions were rotated in the field. After the fifth player, and only a handful of ground balls and two of them getting hits, Brandon started shaking his head. The boy on second, glanced over, "You think you can do better Brand?"

Bland glanced over, realizing he had all but been caught talking to 'Hector'. With a long breath, Brandon almost said no, but 'Hector' stopped him. "You know I don't like the feel of this place, Brand, but don't back down on your first practice. He isn't being mean to you."

Brandon shrugged, "Coach is only throwing fastballs, and not real fast, so yeah, George, I can!"

Greg started to call up the next boy on his list after the boy at the plate only made contact twice while getting six strikes in the strike zone or missed swings. But George spoke up, "Coach Greg, Brandon says you're only throwing wimpy fastballs, and he can hit the crap out of you."

This got some shocked looks out of most and a trio of whistles out of the others.

Greg turned and raised an eyebrow, "Is that so, Brand?"

'Hector' spoke up, "Don't back down, Brand. This is your chance to get some respect."

Brandon forced himself not to cringe, "I didn't say it was wimpy, and didn't say crap, but pretty much, yeah. That's what I just said."

Next to Brandon, George's eyes went wide. This was clearly not what he expected to hear out of the small new kid.

Greg laughed, "OK, Brand, let's see your bat in action. Remember this is six strikes. Foul balls don't count and pitches out of the strike zone that are not swung at don't count either."

Brandon grabbed his new bat, battling glove, and helmet, took a couple of practice swings and listened to 'Hector', "He throws inside then comes outside. He's better high than low too. Be ready for outside it if he misses inside and any sidearm is going low."

Brandon simply muttered, "got it." then stepped up to the plate. The first pitch was high. Brandon didn't bite. The second pitch was just a hair outside, but still too close to take so he fouled it off. The third was well inside, causing him to jump back. The next one was right were 'Hector' said it would be. He crushed it down the first base line causing Danny to chase it all the way to the fence.

Behind him, the team's best catcher stood, "Holy crap, Brand! Nice hit!"

Brandon smiled and turned his attention back to Greg, "Let's do this."

Greg glanced over to Steve, only to get a shrug, so he threw the next pitch a bit harder, but right down the middle. This time Brandon totally nailed it. It sailed all the way to the fence and came very close to going over, but bounced off. Once again, Danny had to go run it down.

Behind Brandon, the catcher blinked, "Damn, Brand!"

The next two were purposefully thrown out of the strike zone, but the next was lined between the first and second baseman. Greg nodded, "OK, Brand, I'm going to turn up the heat on you."

Hearing Hector tell him not to back down yet again, he nodded, "Bring it."

The next ball came inside, but was again too close to take so Brandon fouled it off. Already expecting the next one to be outside, he readied himself. The pitch came in fast, and left the bat faster. Greg hit the dirt as the ball was ripped right back at him. George at second and the replacement shortstop, Graham, didn't even react before the ball went skipping into deep center field.

One of the men who came to watch Brandon, slid up next to Terry as the next pitch was sent into left field. "Sheriff, is he talking to himself?"

"I think he is, yes. It's his imaginary friend I was telling you about, but…" Terry stopped as the smallest boy on the team sent another ball deep, forcing the next smallest kid, Danny to chase yet another one to the fence.

Steve stood and moved out of the dugout and shouted, "Danny, just in case you haven't figured this out, he is creaming these things. Back up!"

Terry glanced over, "You and I may think its imaginary, but he doesn't and he also thinks 'Hector' helps him.

"Well, if he can get hits like this, then I say, let the kid talk!"

"No argument from me, but pass the word, Brandon firmly believes in this 'Hector' and trying to tell him otherwise is a solid no go. Timid stops at Alex and 'Hector'. Everything else, timid is pretty much the word… Although…" another ball was skipped past George who stood back up after the failed dive and stared with growing astonishment. "We may want to add baseball to the list of things we can't mess with him about. And after tonight, the kids on this team will revolt if he is kept away from practices and games."

Seventeen pitches later, Brandon finally got his sixth strike, three of which were foul tips caught by the catcher. He pulled off his hat, and wiped his brow while looking back at the very husky boy with a dark complexion behind the plate, "Good catching, Tommy."

"Not as good as your hitting!"

Brandon grinned as 'Hector' spoke to him, "Hey coach, can I pitch for a batter or two?"

Greg rolled his arm got a nod from Steve, and pointed to the mound, "Yeah, after that slugfest, I could use a water break. Besides, by now, everyone out here, including those in the stands, want to see what you've got." Greg then turned to a large brown haired man in the stands, "Ray, this is all you."

Ray moved down and patted Brandon on the shoulder. "Hey, kiddo, I'm Ray, Coach Ray. I handle the team pitching."

Brandon looked up, "Are you the one taking us to find geodes too?"

"That I am. I'm the lead Hydro Geologist for the mine. Right now though, I want to focus on pitching."

"No problem, coach… Um, what do you want me to throw?"

Ray cocked his head to the side, "Since I don't know a thing about you other than you can hit like a madman, and field with the best on the team, give me what you think is your best. I'll just watch today, and maybe make an adjustment if I see something really wrong."

Brandon nodded and moved back to his bag. He snickered as 'Hector' told him to start out the next kid with a curve ball. Most of kids on the team noticed this, but just as quickly brushed it off.

Brandon took a half dozen of practice pitches and looked over to Ray, "I'm ready."

Keith moved up to the plate, "Hope you can throw harder than that, Brand."

A smirk crossed Bandon's lips and he launched a breaking ball. It dropped just as it got to the plate, and as 'Hector' expected, Keith swung wildly over the top of it. Tommy had to block the ball since this was the last thing he expected. Seeing Keith's jaw fall open and Tommy pull off his mask and stare, Brandon couldn't help but smirk. Hector's guess about the kids seeing little to no breaking pitches was instantly confirmed. Seeing the befuddled look on his new teammate's faces Brandon smiled, "Hard is overrated, Keith."

In the stands the adults all looked at each other in shock as Brandon threw eight more pitches. Keith managed to foul one off and two were out of the strike zone, but as he swung way to soon at a very nasty off-speed pitch, he tossed he bat down, "Coach, he needs to be starting pitcher!"

Brandon shook his head, "Sorry, I'm too small. I got about two inning at most then I get a little wild as my arm starts to hurt." He quickly got two more kids to six strikes, then once again snickered as he listened to 'Hector'. "Um, there is one other thing I can do though."

Ray moved back up to the pitching mound, "I think you have our total attention tonight, Brand."

"Can I bat one more time, please?"

Greg looked around, "We were getting some great fielding practice with him up. What do you say guys?"

Seeing the others nod, Greg pointed to the plate as he moved up to take the mound again. Brandon moved back to his bag and spoke when his head was down, "I feel like I am showing off, 'Hector'."

"You are, but it's working. No one knows you here and you have everyone's attention. This place may have evil in the air, but if you are known, some of the wickedness may be able to pass by or at least not be as awful."

Brandon moved back up to the plate, but this time took a left handed batting stance.

Steven let out a light whistle, "Switch hitter?"

Brandon said nothing. Instead he let the bat talk for him. This time it took twenty one pitches for him to get six strikes. None of the balls went as far as when he hit right handed, but he gave the left fielder, third base and shortstop a real workout. He put the bat down. "Not quite as good, but…"

George shook his head as he moved up to his new teammate, "Brand, you got more hits off of Coach Greg wrong handed than any of us has ever got off of him with our regular hand. You got to teach us how you do that!"

Brandon had to fight hard to keep a straight face as 'Hector' spoke to him. He cringed and looked down, but figured it was a totally different approach than he ever tried before. "I'll show you what I was taught, but need to warn you, I'm weird. I like to speak to a ghost before I hit or pitch. Sometimes in the field too. If I need to see something or change how I am playing a batter, I talk to him."

A couple of kids busted up with laughter while George, who was the biggest kid on the team, moved up and gave Brandon a light punch on the shoulder, "You talk to whoever or whatever you need to, Brand. If you can give us half of what you are showing tonight at our next game, we'll all have your back!"

Brandon's awkward cringe changed to a grin as a several of the other kids nodded and give him a friendly light shoulder punch. Only a couple of kids didn't, but nodded in agreement as the other kids all looked at them. Brandon realized 'Hector' had been right once again. He could be himself, seem strange and still be accepted if he played it right. Talking to 'Hector' would soon be seen as himself doing some game ritual. He trusted Hector and figured something must be wrong for Hector to be this spooked, but it was better than being the freaky outcast he was at home. The bad would come or it wouldn't, but at least he had a few kids who would deal with his strangeness.

In the stands, two of those interested in Brandon got up and left. Having control over a kid who talks to a imaginary friend and who would certainly gain the attention of a good portion of the surrounding towns made him too much of a problem to deal with. The very fact the kid had told the others he talked to a ghost and the kids had accepted it was the final straw. He was adorable, but with it came a level of complexity and oddness they simply didn't want to hassle with. Richard, on the other hand, only became more intrigued, but realized it would be very hard to get the boy since Steven and Greg both were intent of keeping the little prize player for themselves.

As practice broke up, Terry moved up to Steve and Greg and spoke with them for a few seconds, He then let out a whistle, "Hey, Brand, come here a minute."

Brandon moved over with a great deal of concern, "Did I do something wrong?"

"Wrong? Hell no!" Terry stated loudly. He looked at the other kids on the team, "Any of you see anything wrong with Brand here?"

Nine boys and almost double that number of adults all shook their heads.

"Lots right, nothing wrong!" George shouted.

This got some laughter from others and caused a slight, yet nervous, smile on Brandon.

Terry looked down at Brandon, "How about staying with the Hughes' tonight?"

Brandon looked up, "Um… I guess…"

Steve spoke up, "We could work with you on some of our signs and get you more up to speed on the team. Plus, Sheriff Eaton says it is really expensive to keep you in the clinic. You staying with us will save lots of money and we have room."

Hector spoke up, "Brand, I really don't think they are giving you a choice, but I don't like it."

Brandon nodded, which the three adults took as a yes to the question instead of him agreeing with 'Hector'.

Terry lightly pushed Brandon over to the two men. As he did so he spoke with a sternness in his voice, "Brand, I am sure you will, but you better be on your best behavior tonight and do as you are told."

Steve put his hand on Brandon's shoulder, "I'm sure he'll be good, Sheriff."

Terry watched as Brandon went with the two men before making his way over to Richard, "Where are the others?"

"Too much off about the kid to risk getting him and not really wanting him. There is a long waiting list for boys in that age range, so taking him would mean a really long wait for the next one."

Terry agreed, "Unless you really want him, or something very close to him, they're right. I gather you are still interested?"

"Hell yes."

"Fine, then tomorrow evening I'll pick him up and drop him off with you. Steve and Greg will just have to have a business meeting or something planned. You have him back here for the next practice then we will see where you all stand."

Chapter 14

Harriet was exhausted after walking the mine for over six hours. Seeing the clinic in the window of Mather's jeep was a very welcome sight. She would soon be in bed watching the BBC America.

Those thoughts were quickly crushed as a woman stepped out of her car and walked up to the driver's side window.

Mather pushed a button to lower his window and spoke up, "Hey, Shirley, what's up?"

"Is that Harriet Parsons with you, Mather?"

"Sure is. There a problem?"

"No, I'm just here to pick her up and take her to the shelter."

Harriet's eyes went wide, "Who are you and what shelter?"

Mather looked over, "It's OK, Gwyn. Shirley is our child welfare officer."

"But I was supposed to come back here…"

"And you did." Shirley stated. "But you have been medically released, so you have been handed over to me. I'll get you settled in at the shelter until we can find a placement."

Harriet looked horrified, "What shelter?"

Mather reached over and patted Harriet on the shoulder, "Relax, Gwyn, she is just talking about getting you over to the youth shelter."

Harriet shook her head, but there was nothing she could do other than go with the lady, even as she begged to stay at the clinic.

Shirley got Harriet in the back of her car then came back over to the jeep and raised an eyebrow at Mather, "I thought you were supposed to offer to take her."

"I was, but after talking with Nancy and Allen, we'd prefer to be seen as rescuers. We'll each offer a night after a couple of nights in the shelter and see how she acts. Allen may not even bite, though. He wasn't exactly thrilled with her whiny voice."

"Sure thing. So I need to make sure it is not the greatest experience, then?"

"Such is our hope."

"No problem. Let's do this right. Why don't you make a couple of calls and have a few of the older kids dropped off before I take her over there. It'll let you set the stage for her wanting to be anywhere but there. While you do, I'll take her to pick up some used clothing."

Mather snickered, "Perfect! She'll freak out. I bet she has never had a used anything her entire life… Hey, any idea if my buddy has been approved yet?"

"Nothing yet. His probation is almost done, and the mine has a place for him, but we are still checking on his cellmates. We need to make sure he can keep his mouth shut before making an offer. He'll also have to agree to the basic rules, agree to be fully monitored, and live in old town."

"I'm sure he will, and I already said I'd help him out."

"I know, and things look good. The fact he didn't give you or anyone else up while spending five years behind bars is great, but we still have to make sure he is who you think he is. The feds crimes against children taskforce is going after informants, so we have to be one step in front of them if this community is going to succeed."

An hour later, Harriet was dropped off at the youth shelter, her bag had a couple of outfits, but they were used and old. Trying on used clothing was the most horrible and embarrassing thing she had ever had to do. Walking in to the build, however was a great deal worse. There were five teens in the main room, all of them looked… the only word she could think of was hoodlums. Three boys were cleaning the main room while two girls were working on dishes in a small kitchen. Making matters worse, the talk between the kids was filthy, and the adults showed no signs of caring.

Two adults were in office situated to where the wire reinforced windows had a full view of the entire building other than three side rooms. the door was open, so they had to hear the talk, but showed no indication of it bothering them.

Even as Harriet was led in, one of the boys looked over and nudged the nearest boy, "Looks like we got a fat ass heifer coming to join us!"

The third boy made a couple of 'oink' sounds, "Good thing they lock the fucking fridge, or we'd all starve!"

The female adult came out from the office and smiled at Harriet while waving shaking her head at the boys. At the same time a mouse scurried around a corner only to be kicked at by the smallest of the three boys who excitedly called out, "Hey, Linda! Our friend is back!"

"Tanner, watch where it goes and fill the hole with the foam spray I bought. If it found a way in and out so can other things. Jared, if you guys want TV time, I need this room cleaned. Girls, same for you!" She then turned back to Harriet with a smile, "Let's get your information and get you settled in."

Harriet shook her head.

The woman shrugged, "OK, I'll get your info from Shirley and we can talk later. The girl's room is through the door on your left. There are two beds available, take your pick. Girl's bathroom is on the left wall. You look like you need a shower so get one…" She stopped and turned sharply as the youngest boy held up the mouse by the tail, "Tanner, stop playing with it!"

Harriet turned to run out the door only to find Shirley blocking it, "Where do you think you are going young lady?"

"I'm not staying there!"

"Yes, yes you are, unless you would prefer juvenile detention and spend the night in cell with some juvenile delinquent who will not be nearly as nice as these kids are."

Tanner walked by, getting the mouse way too close to Harriet's face for her comfort. Still holding the mouse, he smiled, "You end up there, they strip search your ass. The food is better here too." He then ducked under Shirley's arm and made a throwing motion while shouting, "And don't come back!"

Shirley chuckled and ruffled the boy's hair as he came back inside, "Tanner go wash your hands. Mice don't have a bladder so they pee all the time. You should of just killed it!"

"I can't kill it; it's cute!" Tanner grinned showing he was missing a tooth to the right of his upper four front teeth.

Shirley let out a long breath, "Boys…" then turned to look Harriet straight in the eyes, "Look, young lady, you stay here or I take you to a locked down facility. It's the only choices you have at the moment. Now either get your tail into the girl's room, take a shower, and settle down, or we go for a ride you don't want to take… Oh, and as Tanner so crudely put it, you will be forced to undress and be searched there, plus you will get a mark on your record that will make it much harder to place you with someone which means this could be your home until your mother gets better."

Seeing tears well up in the girl's eyes, Shirley's stare got even harder, "You have to the count of five to get into the girl's bathroom and start a shower. If not, I will take you to our detention facility. Five… Four… three…"

Next to Harriet, Tanner moved closer, "She means it. Run!"

As Harriet heard "two" come out of Shirley, she bolted for the girl's room. A couple of seconds later the door to the bathroom slammed shut to the sounds of crying."

Shirley gave it a few more seconds. Once the sounds of water hitting the tub could be heard, she dug into her purse and handed each kid $10 then looked down at Tanner, "Was that really a mouse?"

"One of my gerbils. Jess let me get a couple since I don't cry no more." He then held up his little pet to show he really didn't throw it.

"Well done." She dropped an extra $5 on the floor. "All five of you get another ten and a free day at the park if the next two days makes her want to stay anywhere and do anything if it keeps her from staying here."

Even as the other kids nodded, Tanner grinned, "Can I get a scorpion for her shoe?"

The man came out of the office chuckling, "You get it, you have cut the stinger off. There is a chance, no matter how small, she could be allergic to its sting. You know what, though, I like your thinking, Tanner. If you get her to scream and run out to the main room not fully dressed in the next two days, I'll even give you an extra free day at the park and a couple of nights off, too."

The boy nodded eagerly, "Wow, thanks, Jess!"

Chapter 15

Joseph entered the small art and graphic design studio with a great deal of relief. The inside was seventy five degrees [24°C], a good thirty five degrees [almost 20°C] cooler than the outside. He took a couple of deep breaths of the cool air before moving deeper inside and looking at the paintings on the wall. Some were pretty good, others he was not impressed with. Seeing one he was certain he could have done better with little to no effort priced at $180, he let out a light snort and shook his head.

A man in his mid forties came from around a wall divider with paintings covering it and cleared his throat, "Not impressed?"

Joey shook his head, "Not even a little. Are you sure there isn't an extra zero needed on the price, with a decimal point before the first zero?"

Behind Joseph both Charlie and Sammy jaws dropped open and the moved to stand behind the three adults, but remained silent. At the same time Maggie smirked, Norm winced and Bruce shook his head.

"Pretty strong opinion and not giving the artist much credit."

Joseph was still totally focused on the painting, so he didn't notice the reactions of those he came in with. He moved a little closer and pointed to the rocks, "Credit for what? Those rocks look like grey globs in the sand, and they don't even cast a shadow. The lizard's tail does not curve in line with its spine, and the cactus looks like a stick figure with green splashed on it and the spins on top makes it look like it has a reverse Mohawk. It doesn't have a shadow either. I could redraw this and make it ten times better. Give me a couple of days with a full paint pallet and canvass and I would smoke whoever tossed this together."

The man rubbed his chin for a few seconds even as he looked over Joseph's head and back at Norm. "And this must be the little artist you wanted me to see?"

"Indeed it is, Carl. Standing in front of you is Joey, age fourteen, and I'd put money on him doing a better job with his pencils. This is the first I've heard about him painting, though."

Joseph looked back with a smile, "I like pencils better, but Grams paid for me to get a year with an oil painting artist, so I can do almost as good with paints, but it takes way longer since some of it has to dry." His smile faded as he looked at the expressions on the other two boys, "Oh, geesh…" He turned back around with wide eyes.

Carl busted up laughing, "Oh, I didn't paint that, don't you go worrying none."

Joseph gulped and let out a long uneasy breath. "Good…"

Carl moved up snickering, "This is an open art studio. I sell paintings on commission. However, I need to tell you, the man who painted this normally sells his works for the listed price within a few weeks."

"Can you sell some of my stuff, then?"

"Possibly. Very possible if what Norm was telling me over the phone is true." Carl pointed to paintings on the far wall, "Before I look at what you have to show me, however, I want you to critique those three paintings."

Joey walked up to the wall and scanned all three. After about five minutes he spoke, "The Eagle is really good. I love the clouds and the hills in the distance. I would prefer the eagle being bigger and less background, but that's because I like raptors. I can't do feathers like that yet, but could come close. The rattle snake… it's OK, but I have a much better one in my sketch pad. It's eyes are lifeless and the nose is wrong. And sorry, but the tail sucks. Whoever painted this got sloppy on the rattles. The fish tank is really cool, but there is something wrong with it. I… the water… um… I've never seen a fish tank this small with blue water. I know why it was done. The artist wanted to show water, so he made it blue, but it's just wrong. Something else is off too, but I can't really figure out what. The way it sits on the table is… um… not right, but I sure can't quite see why. I just know it's off somehow."

Carl walked up behind Joseph and put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "I painted the eagle. The man who painted the rocks, lizard, and cactus painted the rattler, and a woman dropped off the fish tank a week ago. You are totally correct about the table and tank. The tank is at the opposite angle of the tank so when she put it together, it looks totally wrong."

He rubbed Joseph's shoulders, noting a little tenseness, but no resistance. "As far as the snake goes, I totally agree with you on the rattles, but the eyes and nose aren't that bad." Norm couldn't help but speak up, "Carl, dig into that backpack he is wearing and pull out the blue sketch pad. Then tell him those eyes and nose are OK!"

Carl quickly unzipped the top of the pack and pulled out the sketchbook. He thumbed through the first four drawings and let out a light whistle, "Son, I could sell all four of these dragons as is. He then looked over a couple of abandoned and falling down structures and shook his head, "OK, I'm getting goosebumps here. You really drew these?"

"Yeah…" Joseph turned and looked up just as Carl flipped over to the rattlesnake. Seeing the man take a step back, blink, and turn it so he could look at different angles, Joseph smiled. He had seen the same look in the eyes of the art teacher his grandmother had hired to tutor him privately. The guy was impressed.

"How long did this take you?"

"The snake took me over two hours to draw then six hours to really finish. I added the rocks over the next couple of days."

"Beyond extraordinary. But, I'm a bit confused. Norm was saying you needed some help. I am seeing a couple of minor things, but those are more about style and practice. I can see on your dragons where the muscular structures give you some problems, but your touch-ups tell me you already know this and just need practice."

Joseph's smile faded "Go a couple more pages and look at the smoke around the plane engine and the bubbling water right after the drawings I did inside hospital."

Carl moved over to a counter and flipped though until he found the aircraft and the spring. After flipping back and forth he put the book aside. "OK, now I am starting to see a few things. You are trying to do something different with the smoke and the bubbles than what you did with the rest of the work. The blur is off and the swirls are not giving you what you want, right?"

Joseph nodded vigorously.

"Yeah… OK, I think I can help you if you are really willing to listen and deal with some difficult exercises."

Joseph's eyes got a look of excitement to them, "Really? I'll do whatever you want If you can help!"

"OK, but if I get any arguments from you, I'm done. You are way too good to give me any hassles."

"I will do whatever you want, as long as it helps my drawing!"

"I'll be holding you to that. What do you say you go get washed up, we eat, and I can go over a few things."

"Can't we do some stuff now?"

Carl shook his head, "Food is almost ready, and I don't really think you want body oil and sun lotion on any of these drawings or the stuff I have in mind either. Charlie, you have been over here before. Show Sammy and Joey to the bathroom. I want all three of you cleaned up before sitting at my table."

Joseph deflated some even as he nodded in understanding and followed Charlie into the back of the studio.

Carl gave the boys a full minute before speaking, "The kid is phenomenal. I could sell the rattler as is for well over four hundred. The dragons for over a hundred each, and the buildings for two to two fifty. If he can come close to his pencil work with oil, then we are talking serious money and notoriety if you want it."

"One thing at a time Carl," Maggie stated. We need to break down some barriers first."

"Most of them are so weak, you could easily crush them… for a boy of fourteen, he has little to no independent longing and he's amazingly compliant… I'm going to test him though so I need Sammy in on this."

Bruce spoke up, "Sammy will do whatever we tell him. If not he goes to the bar permanently."

"Good. It will be a hell of a test and let us know how easy it will be to crush the boy."

Norm shook his head, "Good to hear, but…"

Carl's eyebrows went up, "But you don't want to pound him into surrender, do you?"

"No." Bruce shook his head. "Look, Carl, one of the three of us are going to take him. We all want him badly. We've already worked out an agreement so the other two are going to get some enjoyment out of him as well. Rudy bowed out since Joey isn't even a challenge to control. It would be just as easy to step on a bug as it would be to wipe out all resistance within him. And there is the problem, crushing him would be a waste. We'd end up with a Sammy. He would certainly lose some of the desire to draw or at the very least not take so much pride in it. We need to keep that part while molding him to our desires. We know you prefer much younger, but you could have some fun with this too."

Carl nodded, "I already planned on it… OK, I have do have one thing I could do, but it would require you reeling him in for me after I set the hook, cause weak willed or not, he's going to wiggle."

Norm and Bruce both turned with a great deal of interest.

Maggie glanced at the three men, "I'm game, but first things first, who gets him tonight?"

Carl grinned, "No one, we all get to purge him of unwanted morals for a day or two and you all get to help me break down everything but the artist inside. After that…" Carl ginned, "How about a game of poker with a hundred ones each? Winner takes him home first along with the cash."

Maggie grinned, "Sounds fun, but what it you win?"

"Then I get all three boys for a day and second place gets him after my twenty-four hours of specialized attention.

The other three nodded after only a few seconds.

Chapter 16

Brandon entered the home of his new baseball coaches with a great deal of trepidation. The two men seemed nice enough, but there was something off. Yes, 'Hector' had warned him about the feel. This wasn't about 'Hector', though. It was something about the two men. The problem was he couldn't put a finger on it.

Steve led Brandon into the house, giving him a quick tour as he did so while Greg said he was going to start dinner. The upstairs was really straight forward. The living room and kitchen were right off the entryway and opposite of the door to the house was the door they had come in from, which lead to the garage. The entryway had a shoe stand and coat rack. Seeing Steven kick off his own shoes, and noting Greg's were already on the rack, Brandon kicked his off and slid them off to the side. Steven shook his head, "Brand, this is a desert. Shoes always go up on the racks. This prevents scorpions and spiders from getting in them. Rule one in this house is actually two fold. No shoes worn in the house passed this point and they always go up on a rack. Every closet also has a shoe rack. Those are for shoes like your cleats. If Greg or I find your shoes on the ground, there will consequences, understood?"

This was the first indication from either man that there might be some kind of discipline should he not follow the rules, so he nodded, grabbed his shoes and put them on the rack.

"Good. Rule two pretty much follows the same lines. We won't tolerate any clothing left on the floor. We hire an extermination company, but there is still an occasional spider or scorpion that gets in. Neither one of us wants to see you get stung or bit because you left clothing on the floor, something crawled inside, and then you put it on. Dirty clothing goes in the hamper and clean clothing gets put on the bed and gets put away in the dresser or hung up."

Brandon once again nodded. He could tell the house was very clean, so he guessed the rules had as much to do about the house as spiders and scorpions, but it was a good reason and made sense. "I can do that."

Steven smiled and ruffled Brandon's hair, "I'm sure you can, just make sure you do."

Before more was said, Steven jerked his head toward the door opposite the entryway. This led straight into a combination living room and dining room. I nice wooden table with six chairs was on one side while a couch, two lounge chairs, a glass coffee table and a TV cabinet dominated the other half. Toward the back of the house was a nice kitchen and a sliding glass door that was mirrored on the outside to reflect the sun, also making it impossible to see in. Out back was a rock path leading to a large gazebo with a grill, fire pit, and hot tub.

A hall with five doors came off the living room. The doors were open to the first two. The right door turned out to be a full bathroom. The left door was a small spare guestroom. It had a queen sized bed, a dresser and a desk. The closet was decent sized but was half full with Christmas decorations. "You'll be staying in here for now. Put your bag on the bed in there until you can put it away. Shoes go in the rack in the closet though. No shoes on the bed."

There was no question just by Steven's tone of voice, this was to be done right away, so he pulled his cleats out of the bag and put them on the rack. He then put the small bag on the bed. Getting a nod of approval, Brandon followed Steven back out into the hall. The next two doors were not opened by Steven, but he did point to the one on the right, "This is the master bedroom. If you need us in the middle of the night, we won't be angry, but you have to knock first."

Seeing Brandon nod, Steve looked him square in the eyes, "Knock first, Brand. Got it?"

"Yes, I'll knock before going into your bedroom."

"Perfect." He then moved to the one at the end of the hall, "This is a linen closet. There are extra blankets, pillowcases, sheets, and even pillows for the guest bedroom on the second shelf. We want the sheets changed twice a week and expect the bed to be made every morning. The bed spread gets changed on the first of each month unless it happens to get dirty. That shouldn't happen though."

Steve then pointed to the other door, "There is no reason to go in there, Brand. We haven't finalized what exactly we are doing in there. Hopefully we are getting close to adjusting it to what we envision for it, but we have some work to do in there before it is ready, so for the time being, it says shut."

This really peeked Brandon's curiosity, but he wasn't given time to dwell on it. Instead, Steve led him down spiral steps that was just the other side of the entryway.

At the base of the stairs there were four more doors. The basement hall doors consisted of the laundry room, two small studies, a small three quarters bath, and a big storage area with over twenty plastic tubs stacked in it. It also held the water heater and furnace. There was another door in the back of the storage area, but it wasn't mentioned. The hall then opened up into a large open recreation room with a massive flat screen TV on one wall, a full sized pool table in the middle, and a bar with a second TV behind it. The decor was set to look like it was in some kind of old wood sailing ship or something along those lines. The bar stools were barrels, the walls held items found on an old ship including a spyglass, a sextant, a flintlock rifle, two flintlock pistols, a harpoon, and several things Brandon couldn't readily identify.

Brandon looked it all over even as he moved over to the red velvet pool table, "Wow, this is awesome!"

Steven smiled as he put his hands on Brandon's shoulders, "You know how to play pool?"

Brandon shook his head, "No… I mean I know you hit the white ball with the stick and knock other balls into the holes, but not like rules or nothing."

"That is pretty much the basics. Greg is really good at it. Me, not so much. Maybe he can show you some of his tricks one of these days."

Even as Brandon nodded, Steve kept his hands on the boy's shoulders and led him back to the guest room. "Before we eat, I want you to get a shower and out of those sweaty clothing. Put your dirty stuff in the hamper. Make sure to put your uniform in there too. There is no telling how long it has been in the rec center. Bathroom is right across the way."

Brandon looked at the bag on the bed then turned his head to look back at Steve, "Without the uniform, I only got a couple extra shirts…"

Steve shrugged and guided Brandon over to the bag. He dumped it out the contents on the bed and looked it over. The whole time he kept a hand firmly on Brandon's shoulder. As he spoke he squeezed to make it just a little uncomfortable. "First off, you need to do what you are told, Brand. So what you have or don't have doesn't really matter. However, you got a clean set of underwear and a tee-shirt. That will be fine for tonight. At some point I'll do a load so you have clean shorts and socks."

Although not happy about it, there was not much he could say. The shorts were pretty dirty, and he had sweated a lot, so the socks were nasty. The uniform looked clean, but it did come out of the back of the rec center. He probably should have worn the briefs and not the swim trunks under his shorts, but he hadn't so the swim trunks were sweaty too. He could also tell, this flatly wasn't something Steve was willing to bend on. The hard squeeze on his shoulder only confirmed this.

With a sullen look on his face, Brandon nodded, grabbed a tee-shirt and set of briefs then went into the bathroom. Even as he closed the door, 'Hector' spoke to him, "I think by the way he was talking, they are planning on keeping you."

"I kind of got that, 'Hector', but I don't want to live here. They seem nice, but something is strange here."

"I agree. Something is badly amiss about this whole place, but as you like to tell me, Brand, you don't have much choice. The constable gave you to them. You have to stay where he puts you. Where else are you going to go?"

"Nowhere, but I want to be with Lex."

"The team still needs players and Lex helped you with pitching, catching and hitting…"

Even as Brandon started the water, his face lit up. "He could be on the team with me!"

"Only if the constable and coaches let him. I really don't like any of this, but the only way I see you getting to spend time with Lex, is to be nice to this Steve and Greg. It will be up to them to let him be on the team with you. Lex will have to be put with someone too, and I bet these two will know who. They could make sure you never see Lex if you don't do what they tell you."

"I never thought about that… As long as they don't try to take you away or hurt Lex, I better be good then."

"I don't think these two only have nice plans for you, though."

"I really doesn't matter. Gramps said I'm stuck here…"

"Actually he said you stuck yourself here and Dad doesn't want you back. About the only thing you could do now is go demand to call the constable and ask to be moved."

Brandon shook his head, "He gave me to them. He could get mad at me. If he does, he could stop me from seeing Lex too!"

"It would also mean Coach Steve and Coach Greg would never let Lex play on the team. "

"I can't let that happen, 'Hector'."

"As Lex likes to say after getting hit for you, 'this sucks, but I guess it could be worse'."

Brandon gave a little snort as he stepped into the shower, "Yeah, Lex could be getting belted because of me right now, so yeah, it could be worse." Even as he turned his face into the spray he wondered if this was going to be his home.

Chapter 17

Alex ended the long day at the range by passing a pair of written tests. Because of this, Heather let him take his first shots. He was shown how to load, aim and shoot a .22 rifle. Heather stood right behind him. "I'll give you twenty shots tonight. If you are good over at Buck's and do as well tomorrow morning in the classes you'll get to shoot a whole lot more tomorrow afternoon, before spending the night at my place. OK?"

Alex nodded eagerly. He followed everything he had learned, step by step, making sure the rifle was always pointed down range, the safety was on, and everything was perfect. The last thing he wanted to do was screw up a chance to do something he had wanted to do for almost as long as he could remember. He flipped the safety off, breathed like he was supposed to, and looked down the barrel.

The first shot came as a bit of surprise. Since he was wearing a headset for hearing protection the sound wasn't as loud as expected and there was almost no kick. He put it back on safe and looked back, "Is that it?"

Behind Heather, Buck laughed, "Lex, you have a very small rifle. In a couple of days you very well could be firing much bigger, more impressive, long arms. In the mean time, take a careful look at the target. You hit the paper, but didn't even get it in the targeting circle!"

Alex looked down range and frowned, "But I did everything you told me!"

"No you didn't." Heather stated. "Now try again."

Alex fired three more shots. Each one hit the paper, but only one hit just inside the outer most ring. He put it on safe again, "I have it pointed right at the middle and I keep missing way right!"

Heather moved up and knelt right behind him. "Keep it on safe and talk me through the steps again, this time with the rifle in your hand.

Alex took a deep breath, "Align site, Picture the sight. Breathing pause. Keep focus on front sight and keep it on target. Squeeze the trigger, don't jerk or pull. Stay on target."

"Good, now let's do this step by step. Align the sight to the target. Now picture the sight on the center of the target. breath normally, now pause. Keep focused on the target, not your pause of breath. Squeeze the trigger. Hold with trigger back while staying on target. Now safety off, and try again."

The next shot hit the second ring in, but still three rings form the inner circle.

Norm spoke, "Lex, that was better, but what are you doing?"

Alex turned to look back at Norm only to get a hard flip on his ear from Heather, "Safety!"

"Ouch… Oh, crud!" Alex flipped back on the safety then looked over to Heather with a guilty look, "Sorry…"

"Sorry does not cut it with firearms safety, Lex." Buck barked. "Don't let it happen again. Whenever you turn your focus away from shooting the firearm goes to safe first and your trigger finger stays outside the trigger guard until you are ready to shoot again."

Alex nodded, "I won't do it again."

"You do, and we start putting chores on a list," Heather warned. "We then add one for each and every time you mess up. You then don't get to shoot again until all the chores are done and you retake the safety portion of the test. Now, you need to answer Todd."

He had already been told this, but hearing it and seeing just how easy it was to mess up on being totally safe made his eyes go wide. It only took a second to make a mistake and none of the three adults were going to cut him any slack at all. He took a moment to make sure he was being totally safe before he looked back at Todd again, "What I did? You mean I did something wrong?"

"Yes." Todd stated with some annoyance in his voice. "Two of the six steps were just half-assed by you."

Seeing the other two nod, Alex frowned. "I… I don't get it. I thought I was doing all six steps."

Heather moved right behind the boy, "Not even close, Lex. This time I want you to let me shoot with you. I will talk you though each and every step and my finger will be over your finger. Let me fire the shot. The aim still has to be with you, though."

Three more shots were fired, each one getting closer to center. Heather backed off. "What didn't we do together that you did by yourself?"

"You held the trigger longer after the shot…"

"There is one of the two," Buck praised the boy's observational skills.

"What about the second thing." Todd demanded to know.

Alex put the weapon back on safe even as he spoke, "Um… I kind of got two more things."

Heather smiled, "Let's hear them."

"You held the rifle a little tighter to my shoulder, but that is not really part of one of the steps… um, the second was the trigger… you pulled it back super slow and even."

"Squeeze, not pull, Lex." Buck nodded. "Any idiot can pull a trigger. It takes a marksman to evenly and firmly squeeze one while controlling breathing and keeping the sight picture perfect. The holding of the rifle more firmly, however, is going to be key when we feel you are up to firing larger caliber rifles. The kick will really hurt your aim and your shoulder if you don't put it firmly into your shoulder."

Heather slid back, "OK, let's see you work on those skills. Tomorrow we will move into other aspects of hunter's safety and get you a whole lot more time with this rifle."

Alex fired just over a dozen more rounds, having to safely reload once. By the time the last five shots were fired he was inside the third ring consistently, but had yet to hit the small center circle. He put it back on safe and double checked to make sure there was no more rounds inside before he stood. "OK, that was like the best thing ever!"

The three adults all laughed while Heather took the rifle. "I'll clean it tonight, but tomorrow you will learn how to care for rifles as well. Go home with Buck, be good, and I'll see you back here tomorrow morning."

Alex couldn't help but talk to Buck about shooting all the way to the man's house. Entering the man's house, he found it was in various stages of being fixed up. The floors were all new hardwood, most of the walls had new paint, and the kitchen was brand new, but the rest look in various stages of repair or replacement. Had he done the walkthrough with Brandon, he would have found the house was identical in layout save for the extra door in the large room in the basement. Only the master bedroom and the master bath were totally finished. The living room was pretty close, but there was some shelving units which needed to be assembled, and the ceiling light was missing. Wires hung down and there was a ceiling fan in the corner. The hall bathroom had new tub, but the toilet was missing and the hole in the floor was covered with what looked to be a big rubber ball. The sink was nasty and cracked. A new toilet and sink were in the room across the hall along with boxes of tile and grout.

Buck snickered as Alex looked around, "If you think this is bad, you should have seen it before I bought it for next to nothing. This place hadn't been touched since the seventies up till two months ago. Had to get it fully exterminated, the doors replaced, roof redone, cracks filled, and some of the damage done from looters fixed before I could even move in. I am working outward from the master bedroom and the kitchen. I'll put the fan in tonight, so we can have a meal over here with your brothers and sister in the next couple of days. Should be able to get the tile, sink, and toilet in by then too.

"In the room with the water heater there is all my hunting stuff. There is are cots and sleeping bags down there. Go ahead and set up a cot in the master bedroom. My rifle safe is down there, too. It's locked, but I expect your hands to stay off."

Alex nodded and went down stairs.

Seeing Alex bringing up a cot and sleeping bag, Buck nodded, "Perfect. Once you get it set up, get yourself a shower and toss all your dirty stuff in the basket in the laundry room. Make sure you put shoes up on the rack in my closet, since it stops things from crawling in them."

Alex paused, "My bag is at the sheriff's office."

Buck shrugged, "Well, you sure as hell can't put that back on after the day you've had. You'll just have to grab a towel out of the linen closet and wear that until I wash what you have on."

"But… Um…"

"Lex, it's getting late and I have a dinner to cook us. Now get goin'."

"But…"

"Alex, I thought we had an agreement here. We'd teach you how to shoot, you'd stay with us and do as you're told. You ain't backing out over a shower and wearing a towel when you are the one who didn't bring your stuff, are you?"

Alex hung his head, "No…"

"Good, then get movin'. I'll get your stuff done tonight and you'll have it back in the morning. I have a couple of emergency kits in the basement in my hunting packs. There is a shave kit in one of the side pouches of the black backpack. You can have the toothbrush, soap shampoo and stuff out of there. He then smiled, "Might be a year 'er two before you need that razor though."

Alex managed to force a slight grin before heading back to the master bathroom. He sure didn't like the idea of wearing a towel, but the choice had been super clear, either do it Buck's way or forget shooting. Plus, Buck was right, he was the one who left his stuff in the sheriff's office. Still, it seemed kind of mean of Buck not to go get it. The town was real small.

After a dinner of steak and baked potatoes, Buck had Alex help him on the house. This was difficult with only a towel to wear, and it slipped several times. Once was pretty embarrassing, since he was up on a ladder holding the fan while Buck wired it. Buck's knee bumped the towel from the opposite side of the ladder and it fell to the floor. This left him naked while standing with his hand holding up the lamp. There was nothing he could do about it, since Buck needed him to hold it while the man screwed it in.

Buck didn't seem to notice Alex's predicament. Instead he growled, "Boy, this is a seven hundred dollar fan, if it falls, I'm goin' to be less than happy with you! Now push it back up here so I can get these screws in."

After almost a minute Buck shook his head, "Damn, holes are stripped, I need anchors."

He hoped down, noticed Alex helplessly standing there and chuckled, "Sorry, buddy, but you'll have to hold it there while I go grab some stuff from downstairs."

"Can't I put it down and grab the towel?"

"Sorry, only have one screw in, so no. I can put it on for you or you can just deal with it for a couple of minutes."

"Can't you…"

"Lex, are you going to give me problems over this?"

"No…"

"OK, then. Do I put it on or do you just forget about it for a few."

Alex let out a one aggravated breath, "Just go!"

Buck returned a couple of minutes later and moved back toward the ladder getting his first good look at the boy he was determined to have as his. What he saw only made this more of a priority. The boy was splendid front and back, thin, yet well muscled and his tits were nothing more than small bumps. He was circumcised with a three inch [8 cm] penis, and his nuts were just starting to drop, which was also perfect. He would have liked to see between the boy's butt cheeks, but they were firmly closed as the boy struggled to hold up the fan.

"Hurry, this is getting heavy!"

"You're doing great. Be just another minute or two." Buck took his time. He was in no hurry and was kind of hoping Alex would drop the fan so he could go off and make the kid do something to repay him, but the boy's stubbornness came to the forefront. Even nude and being forced to hold a fifteen pound [7 kg] fan and light fixture over his head, the boy managed to keep it in place for another three minutes. Buck finally put in a couple more screws and giggled it some. "OK, I can get it from here. Great work Lex."

Alex moved down and rolled his arms and neck before he grabbed the towel and put it back on. "I didn't think I was going to be able to hold it while you were gone."

"But you did and I'll be paying you for all your help. How about you give me a hand with the shelving tonight before bed so I can get my entertainment cabinet centered and built tomorrow?"

Alex was tired but nodded without any complaint. By the time Buck called it a night, all Alex wanted to do was get to bed. He didn't even fight or argue when Buck took the towel from him so he could wash it with the rest of his clothing, forcing him to sleep naked in the sleeping bag.

Buck dropped the load in the washer and cut off the air conditioning. As the house got warmer, Alex did exactly what Buck expected the sleeping boy to do. The boy flipped open the bag so he could get cooler leaving him fully exposed over half the night. This allowed him to get some good pictures and videos. He was sure more and much better would come with a bit more manipulation.

Chapter 18

After dinner Joseph was taken into a back room of the studio. Carl set up an easel in front of some blue drapes and put up a large sketch pad, along with a brand new set of pencils, Carl also broke out a hand sharpener, electric sharpener, a small knife and a file in case Joey liked to sharpen pencils in different ways. "Joey, before I can help you with the smoke or the bubbles, I need to see just how accurately you can draw something."

"You saw one of my sketch books…"

"Yes, and the work is very good. The problem is, I wasn't there to see what you were drawing. I need to see your attention to detail of something I have actually seen. This will allow me to compare what you draw to what you were in reality drawing."

"OK, what am I drawing?"

Carl looked over to the three adults and two younger boys, "I've never had a student this young, I am really not sure he is up for it. Also, even if he is, I'll need some help from the other two boys."

Bruce gave Sammy a little push while Maggie did the same to Charlie. Both looked a bit concerned, but both reluctantly move to stand next to Carl.

Joseph remained undaunted, even as the other two looked at him hoping he would say no to whatever was coming, "I can, do this, please! Give me a chance!"

"And if I do, you will not back out on me?"

"No!"

"Then you won't argue when I give you something complex, very difficult, and a bit uncomfortable for most fledging artists, right"

"Anything!"

"Good. If you back out of this, then, I am done with you."

Joseph shook his head. "I won't!"

"Promise?"

"Yes! Really, I'll draw whatever you give me!"

Maggie spoke up, "Joey, you are giving your word to him, which is the same as obeying us. If you decide you won't you'll have to explain to the sheriff why you went back on your word and be in lots of trouble with all three of us."

"Oh, come on! I said I'd draw whatever it is!"

Carl let out a long breath, "Very well. When you had lessons in the past, did your teachers ever tell you what the hardest things were to draw?"

Joseph nodded, "My favorite teacher said eyes, so I worked on those a whole lot. One of my other teachers said hands were hard. At school, the art teacher said background surrounding the main focus was the hardest."

"But your pictures of dragons tells me you have problems with muscular features."

"Muscles are real hard, yeah."

"OK, so I am going to tell you what most of the best artists find as the hardest thing to draw, and it includes all of those things. Once I say it, I'll expect you to do it, so now is the last chance to just go away and never come back."

"I'll do it!"

"Very well then. The hardest thing is a person, and not just any person but a nude one. Even harder is two who are intertwined."

Joseph's jaw dropped open, "You mean like… naked together?"

"Yes."

Joseph blushed badly, "Oh, gee… Um… OK, so you have a picture or something?"

"No, no, no, Joey." He then moved to the back of the studio, pulled back the drape and showed a king sized bed with a fancy head board and mirrors around all three sides. He turned to Sammy and Charlie. "You two, strip. Charlie I want you to hold onto Sammy while he licks or sucks your tit. Both of you need to have your fronts fully exposed, and Sammy, your butt needs to be visible in one of the mirrors so he can draw the reflection in the mirror. Charlie, if you need to spread his cheeks some, do it. Joey needs a full view."

Joseph's eyes went wide and his cheeks flashed bright red, "You mean I… but…"

Bruce moved up and put a hand on Joseph's shoulder, "Boy, back at the park you told me you could draw anything. Now's your chance, and I expect to see your best work in this. After all, that's my nephew, you're about to draw, so you best make him look super real."

Rudy ain't going to be happy if Charlie doesn't come out real, either," Maggie added.

"This is…" Joseph realized no one else seemed to have a problem with it, so he looked around in a near panic. Finally he tried to get out of it in another way. "This is going to take hours!"

Norm looked over, "You know he's right and I really don't think you want those two on your bed after being at the park all day, Carl."

Joey let out a sigh of relief, only to see Charlie shake his head and Sammy cringe.

Carl rubbed his chin, "No reason the three of them can't stay here tonight."

Joseph felt like he was only digging a deeper hole for himself. "Um… wait… ah… I… um… but I need to get to the clinic."

Maggie pulled out her phone and dialed a number, "Hey, Irwin, sorry to bother you so late… No, we just want to keep Joey at Carl's studio tonight. Carl is really impressed… Yeah, but he wants to see the boy draw a nude… yeah, a nude, is that OK?…" She started laughing "No, not one of us!" Sammy and Charlie both volunteered… Yes, it will be a great learning experience for him. Terry never called him about the change of placement though…. Sure, here he is."

Joseph took the phone. Since it had all been laid out for the man, he struggled to come up with something that would make the man say no. "Mr. Sauls?"

"Hey, buddy. I hear you are getting to do a major art project with Carl. You ought to be thrilled!"

"I… um…" he looked over and saw the four adults staring at him, "yeah, I guess…"

"Guess? Oh, come on! Mr. Brooks is a really well known artist. There are people who would pay through the nose for what he is offering you!"

"But he wants me to… Sammy and Charlie won't have no clothes on!"

"Yeah, well, a real artist does those kinds of things. You told me you wanted to be the best. Don't let being a prudish rich boy Brit screw up your entire future!"

"I'm not a prudish Brit!"

"Oh, really? You're sure sounding like one. Or are you just being a spoiled rich boy throwing a temper tantrum?"

"No!" Joseph started getting angry, "I'm not spoiled either!"

"The what's the problem, Joey?"

Joey looked around wildly for a second, before he realized there was nowhere to go and he was looking like a five year old in front of everyone in the room. It took some effort but he forced his voice to calm, "They… um… I'll have to draw them without clothes… Ah… gee… isn't this wrong?"

"Mags said they volunteered, so no. They obviously want to help you out. You ought to be happy to have such good friends so fast."

"I… um… What about the clinic?"

"Oh, Mags just told me you don't know yet, sorry. Sheriff Eaton was going to call and tell you, but must have forgot. He is dealing with a bad snake bite investigation. You were released since you did good today. Sheriff Eaton said you could stay with Mags, Norm, or Bruce until we find you a long term placement. You can take your pick who you stay with most, but you may need to bounce around some depending on their work schedules."

At this Joey cringed, "Um… so…" He looked up and realized all three of his choices were expecting him to follow through with his promise. "So I am staying with one of them?

"Yup. Bruce said you were great and your grandmother told Sheriff Eaton they really stuck up for you. Did you hear what they told your grandparents?" "Yeah, I've never heard no one talk to Gramps like they did…"

Irwin snickered, "Such is what I hear too, buddy. So you can either stay at the studio and work with Mr. Brooks or go home with one of those three, OK?"

It was official, there was no way out. If he kept arguing, he would get the three people who were going to take care of him angry and he would still have to stay with them. Even worse, he had to do what they said, so they might still make him and would be irritated at him over trying to back out "OK, I'll stay at the studio tonight and work with Mr. Brooks."

"I think you are making a real good choice. Carl can be pretty stubborn, but he will sure teach you some pretty cool stuff. Listen and do what he tells you, Joey."

"OK, I will. Bye."

Joey handed the phone back with look of dread on his face. "I guess it's OK."

Bruce looked over at the bed, "Carl, I know you want them to get started, but judging by Joey's lack of enthusiasm, they are a bit grumpy and tired after being in the park all day. They not only need to get cleaned up, but I really don't think Joey's going to be able to give you his best tonight.

Carl chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment, "Yeah, good point. OK, Charlie, run a bath. The three of you can take one together. This will give Joey a chance to really see both of you. As a matter of fact, Joey, I want you to wash both of them head to toe. This will give you some insights on how to draw them. I'll give you some pointers. Then we'll pick up first thing tomorrow. The three of you can sleep in that bed tonight. I'll go grab some things to make a big breakfast and we can get started in the morning."

Seeing Joseph look like he wanted to jump out of his skin, Norm moved up to the three boys. "Joey, I'm expecting good things out of you."

Carl nodded, "Me as well. I am taking a hell of a risk, trying to take a mere boy under my wing, but I'll throw out a bone for you Joey."

Joey looked over, "Um, OK, what?"

Carl grinned, "You give me a good sketch, something both Bruce and Rudy would be happy to own, and I'll let you put some of your work up for sale in my studio. I have to approve the work, but I've seen a few things in your sketch book I would be willing to display in my studio already. As with any artist I allow to sell in my shop, I get fifty percent of any sales, you get the other half."

Joseph let out a long breath. The man was offering a whole lot, but to get there… It seemed so wrong and he had to do things he wanted nothing to do with. The problem was, everyone willing to take care of him expected, demanded, he do it and they didn't see it as wrong. Making matters worse, he begged to be told what he had to do. After a couple more seconds of indecision, his shoulders dropped. "OK, I can do this…"

"Now there's the artist I felt was in there!" Carl praised Joey, even pulling him in and giving him a hug. "Now get into the bathroom. I'll be in there in a few so I can talk you though some of the things on both of their bodies I want you to look at and focus on."

As Carl went back into the main house, Joey looked over at Norm, who seemed to be the most reasonable of the three who would be taking care of him for the foreseeable future, "Do I really have to wash them?"

"That's what Carl says is best, so yeah." Seeing the look in the boy's eyes, he grabbed Joseph's chin so he couldn't look down or turn away. "I know this seems kind of… off… I can't blame you for having seconds thoughts, but Carl gave you plenty of chances to back out. He didn't even really want to give you a shot, but you begged him. Now he sees an opportunity to turn you into something very special. Don't ruin a once in a lifetime chance to work under one of the best."

While Norm was talking to Joseph, Bruce slid into the bathroom. "I hear of either of you giving him any hints or warnings about his future here, you will be black marked. In fact, I'll move you straight down to bar duty in old town for as long as you are useful."

Both boys looked at Bruce with wide eyes.

"Glad I am getting through to you both. Charlie, I want Sammy close to Joey all night, real close. Give Joey a good reason for it to happen."

NEXT PART