Tiger Paw

Can You Spare a Quarter?

Chapters 13-17

After sending Cindy out to run after Jamie, Graham moved quickly and put on his coat and shoes. Quickly grabbing Jamie's hiking boots Graham put them into a shopping bag and he then took Jamie's coat from the hook on the wall where it still hung next to the door and tucked it into the bag as well. Only a couple of minutes after Jamie had left at a dead run Graham was out of the house and looking for him.

Graham ran down to where the grass met the edge of the forest and then hurriedly followed the trail through the trees towards the Tomlinson's house. Graham was hoping that perhaps Jamie had gone to be with his friend Jason but that was just a faint hope. While moving along the trail Graham called out periodically to both Jamie and Cindy but there was no reply from either of them and Graham could not hear anything in the forest other than the sound of his own ragged breath and pounding heart. Much quicker than he usually managed the trip Graham was soon coming up the path to the Tomlinson's house and knocked frantically on the back door.

The door opened and Graham gasped almost out of breath, "Is Jamie here?"

"No, what's the matter?" asked a surprised Kathy as she looked on at Graham panting heavily.

"He's run off," said Graham while trying to catch his breath. "I was trying to tell him that I wanted to get him some help for the nightmares and when he realized that he was the reason I've been getting banged up he took off and ran. He must have thought I was going to beat him like his father used to do."

"Oh no!" exclaimed Kathy as she quickly went back into the house followed by Graham. "Frank! Jason! Come quick!"

Frank and Jason dropped what they were doing and ran to find out what the problem was. Moments later they were both in the kitchen seeing an exhausted Graham holding himself up against the kitchen counter still panting heavily.

"Jamie's run away," said Kathy excitedly. "You've got to get your coats on right now and help Graham find him."

"What happened?" asked Frank and Jason simultaneously while they began getting dressed for the cold winter weather.

"I was trying to tell him that I could get him some help for his nightmares and he got scared when he realized that he was the one that's been belting me," said Graham. "He probably thought that I was going to react like his father would. He's going to freeze out there, he was just wearing a t-shirt and some shorts – he doesn't even have shoes on. I sent Cindy off after him hoping that she might be able to find him."

"Oh boy it never rains but it pours. OK, let's do this logically," said Frank quickly taking charge of the situation. "Jason, you run up to the stream where you and Jamie go fishing together, I'll go east, and Graham you try towards the west. We'll all meet back at Graham's place in about an hour. Kathy you burn up the telephone line and get everyone you can out looking. Now remember, the temperature outside is almost at the freezing point so we have to move quickly. Whoever finds Jamie remember that the most important concern is exposure, you will especially need to check his fingers and toes for frostnip. When you find him, make sure you get him dry and protected against the weather as quickly as you can. Re-warming should be done slowly and preferably after you get him back home where we can call for help if there are any complications."

Jason started tying up his boots while he listened to his father but then pulled them off quickly and ran back up to his room calling out, "I almost forgot my day pack!"

Quickly returning Jason put his arms through the straps of his day pack and centred it on his back, bent down and laced up his hiking boots, and then went outside. After taking a quick look around, Jason ran into the forest at full tilt heading in the direction of the trout stream.

The moment that Jason closed the door behind him Kathy went back into the kitchen and sat down with the telephone and began to dial. The more people that were on the lookout for Jamie the better and Kathy knew almost everyone from having lived on the island for years. She'd start with Dave, the weather was getting too bad for him to use his floatplane but he would be able to borrow a boat to check along the shoreline.

Jason ran into the forest at full speed in the direction of the stream where he and Jamie had gone fishing several times. Crashing through the trees and jumping over fallen logs and branches he moved quickly. While running along however Jason could not help but feel that he was going about the search in the wrong way. Despite his feelings of misgiving, however, Jason pushed his worries to one side and kept going, calling out to Jamie and Cindy as he went.

Less than ten minutes after leaving the house Jason arrived at the trout stream. He ran around the area frantically looking behind trees and shouting out to Jamie and Cindy. Jason first ran upstream and then down again but there was nothing to find. Jamie was not there and Jason suspected that he had not come in this direction at all.

Once again the feeling that he was missing the obvious came to him and this time Jason listened to his inner voice. He then remembered what he had told Jamie when they first walked through the forest together – something very basic that Pony had taught him but in his panic had forgotten: 'The forest is never quiet if you know how to watch and listen'. Jason rebuked himself and vowed not to forget again. Too much was at stake and Jamie's survival might depend upon him using his head instead of running off without thinking.

The inner voice in Jason's head was that of his Indian friend Pony who had often remarked to him how people could not see the obvious for lack of paying attention. Jason realized now that he and the others were going about the search for Jamie all wrong. The trail that Jamie took was going to be easy to find but at the same time Jason knew that he needed someone much more experienced than himself to lead the search. Jason looked about for a moment to orient himself and then started out north at a fast run.

Jason was now moving rapidly in the direction of the small fishing village on the island where his friend lived. It was a poor village as many reserve settlements often were and Jason knew this was the result of many factors. Years of interference by the government, forced cultural assimilation, simple racism, encroachment by land-hungry people, and admittedly a few bad choices on the part of the tribal elders in the past had all reinforced each other with unfortunate consequences. Despite it all however they had always maintained their dignity and most still carried on their traditions in the old ways even though times had changed. Also many of the elders still carried the wisdom of their ancestors within them. Jason always felt a comfortable sense of calm and friendship whenever he visited the village. Today however Jason's mind was preoccupied and he did not feel calm at all.

When he reached the village Jason ran to the small house that Pony lived in and found him sitting outside on a log. Pony was concentrating carefully as he worked on carving the figure of a bear out of a small block of cedar wood. His strong hands moved the blade of his carving knife carefully but deliberately and he planed off thin shavings of wood from the block producing a natural smoothness on the surface of the emerging figure. Pony was not an overly talkative man but Jason had learnt that whatever Pony said was well considered and always worth listening to. Normally Jason would have sat and watched carefully for a while before speaking but today was not a normal day and Pony could sense the agitation in Jason.

"Hello Jay," said Pony. "You're in a very big hurry today."

"Pony! My friend Jamie that you met at the barbecue, he's run off scared and we're trying to find him. I need your help please."

"Do you know where he went?" asked Pony as he stuck the end of the knife firmly into the log he was sitting on and put down the half-carved block of wood.

I first ran to the stream where we go fishing because we thought he might be there," said Jason anxiously. "When I saw he wasn't there I ran up and down along the stream looking for him and calling out to him but there was nothing."

"And then?" prompted Pony.

"Then I finally remembered what you taught me," said a sheepish Jason. "I should have looked before I ran and then it would be easier to find him. I panicked and forgot. Can you come and help me? I'm still learning how to do it and you'll be able to help me find Jamie faster. He doesn't have anything warm on and he's going to freeze in the cold weather."

"You knew to stop and think so means you are learning my friend. That is good," said Pony. "We will go together and look at the signs. Then we will find your friend."

"Thanks," said Jason as he hugged Pony. "I knew you would be able to help me.

"Your friend is special to you isn't he?" said Pony as they began to walk quickly up the hill back towards the forest.

"You know?" asked a surprised Jason. "I didn't say anything because I didn't know what you'd think about that."

"I can feel your pain now and I could see the happiness that you were both feeling sitting next to each other at the Christmas Barbecue," said Pony. "Don't worry we will find him and then you will be together again. The Creator makes one special person for each of us and it is not for anyone to question who that special person might be. First we will go to where your friend started running and look carefully. Then we will be able to see in what direction he went. Once we know that then we will know what to do."

The two began to walk swiftly away from the village and back towards the southern side of the island. Despite being much older Pony moved as quickly if not quicker than Jason through the forest. Jason always was impressed how his friend, despite his age as indicated by his greying hair, always outlasted him on hikes.

Even at the rapid pace they were maintaining it took them about fifteen minutes to cross back to the other side of the island. Eventually however Pony and Jason came out of the trees next to Graham's house. They stood outside the back of it and looked around. Pony walked out into the middle of the grassy area behind the house and stood perfectly still while looking the area over slowly and carefully.

While Pony was scanning the area for signs of Jamie, Jason ran inside the house and wrote a short note for Graham explaining what they were doing. Writing quickly he indicated that he was going to continue looking with Pony's help and that they would be back before nightfall. Jason put the note in the centre of the kitchen table where Graham would be sure to see it and then went back outside. Joining his friend in looking carefully at the grass and the bush at the edge of the forest Jason began to get suspicious about one section slightly to the left when Pony raised his hand and pointed to the same location.

"There," Pony announced simply after seeing that Jason had focused on the same location.

"Are you sure?" asked Jason feeling embarrassed almost as he spoke the words.

"Don't doubt your senses because you are worried," said Pony kindly as he led Jason towards the spot they had both picked out. "Look at the grass here and here leading up to the underbrush. Then look at the small branches there at the edge of the grass."

Jason looked and what he had only intuitively sensed before now became easy to see. There were several small impressions of what could only be feet along the soft dirt and grass leading up to the underbrush where they appeared to end. There was only one possible conclusion – it had to be Jamie. Jason in his haste to rush off to the stream to check if Jamie might be there had not bothered to check. Of course neither had his father or Graham but Jason felt that he ought to know better.

"Do you think we'll be able to find him in time?" asked Jason with concern as they started into the forest after Jamie.

"Your friend is scared and running fast," said Pony pointing out disturbed areas on the ground and ferns that had been obviously stepped on as they began to follow Jamie's track into the forest. "You can see his trail easily. Don't worry we will find him."

"He gets frightened easy," said Jason. "When he first saw my dad he got scared because he reminded him of his own dad."

"The one that dishonoured him," said Pony with obvious disdain. "I could see the pain in the back of his eyes. He has endured a lot but still remains unbeaten."

"Yes," confirmed Jason. "Jamie's told me a little. Not a lot, but some. It was pretty bad."

"A person that hurts a boy like that wounds us all," said Pony. "Your friend's spirit must be very strong to have survived. We had a boy in our village like that once. His father had been hurting him but we didn't know."

"What happened? Did someone call the police?" asked Jason.

"Once we knew about it and we were certain about the facts we took care of it," said Pony.

"What did you do?" asked Jason.

"We held a council about it and the facts were discussed," replied Pony. "Afterwards the father was brought before the council and made to confess to what he had been doing. Finally a decision was made and he was taken to one of the distant islands far up north and banished for life. All of the tribal bands along the coast were informed and if he ever tries to leave none of them will allow him to stay within their lands."

They continued to talk about Jamie and how Jason and he had become close so quickly as they moved through the forest. Jamie in his flight had not thought to use any of the many pathways that wandered through the trees and underbrush and this made the tracking much easier. While following the trail that Jamie had left Pony pointed out the signs to Jason who watched carefully and learned. It began to rain and then got colder still. Soon the rain began to change into a wet sticky snow and wherever the forest canopy opened up even slightly the boughs of the trees below began to get lightly dusted in white flakes. If the situation had not been so dire the scene might have been beautiful to behold, however under the circumstances it merely added to the urgency because they knew that Jamie was not wearing anything warm.

***

Jamie ran blindly through the trees not seeing where he was going and without thinking. His head was rushing with a mixture of thoughts and fears. He remembered how when he did something at home or refused to submit how his father would beat him almost senseless in rage. When Jamie suddenly realized that he had been responsible for Graham's injuries he knew that he had to run because he knew what the penalty was going to be. His father would probably have beaten him to death if Jamie had done that to him even if it had been purely by accident. Jamie knew that Graham would not react any differently. All men were the same, if something went wrong or did not go the way they wanted they would lash out and anyone nearby would suffer the results.

As Jamie ran his mind was filled with a constantly shifting swirl of emotions. Large images of his father in blind rage fought for dominance against much smaller images of Graham's calm face. Crashing through the tree branches Jamie was getting scraped and cut on his arms and face. He had lost one of his socks some distance back and the remaining one was wet and dirty. Detached from what was happening or where he was going however Jamie did not notice and hurriedly continued to push on in fear. He had no idea what his destination was; he only hoped that if he could get far enough away maybe he would not get beaten this time. If only he could keep going and keep ahead of what he knew was coming after him.

Jamie ran hard and fast but eventually began to tire and as he did his pace began to slow down. When the rain gradually turned into snow the ground over which Jamie was running began to get icy and became increasingly slippery. In his flight Jamie ran straight over a ledge of flat rock that was covered in wet moss and slipped.

"AHHH!" cried Jamie as his legs slid out from under him and he began to fall. Landing heavily just below the moss-covered section of rock Jamie paused briefly to get his breath and then tried to get up.

"OWWW!" screamed Jamie as he put weight onto his left ankle while trying to get up.

Crumpling down in pain after a second and failed attempt to get up, Jamie realized that he was not going to be going any further. Jamie began to cry because he knew now that he was going to be caught and his father was going to beat him again. However as the pain began to push back against Jamie's fears he began to think more clearly and then he remembered that his father was far away back in the city and had no idea where he was. It was Graham that Jamie needed to worry about, but the question was did he actually need to worry? Jamie then thought back and could not remember Graham having ever been anything other than kind and gentle with him. Even when Jamie had accidentally dropped a glass on the tiled floor in the kitchen and it had broken the most that had happened was a calm suggestion that Jamie not carry too many things at once.

"Graham wasn't going to hurt me and now I've ruined everything," Jamie sobbed aloud to the forest. "He's going to send me away for sure now. How could I have been so stupid and screw up like this and ruin the only decent chance I ever had?"

Unable to move without great pain Jamie slowly pulled himself over to a downed tree that lay partially under the cover of the forest canopy to help shelter himself from the weather. He tried to get comfortable and rubbed his cold hands on his tender ankle.

"How dumb can I be running off like that," he said to himself with his head hanging down looking at the ground. "My dad is right. I am a good-for-nothing useless idiot. Now I'm lost, wet, and cold. I don't know which way to go to get back to Graham's house even if I could walk."

Jamie began to cry but was shaken out of his reflections on his misery and the freezing weather by a cool damp nose that was nuzzling up against his chin. A startled Jamie flinched back, wiped away his tears, and then seeing it was Cindy he wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"Oh girl, you came to be with me," said Jamie with tenderness as he hugged the big dog who then started to lick his face. "I'm glad you're still my friend. But we're lost now and I'm hurt and scared. What are we going to do?"

Cindy immediately moved in close and Jamie feeling her warmth against him hugged her all the more tightly in the slim protection provided by the forest against the worsening weather. Cindy laid down on the ground and snuggled up right against Jamie so his cold wet feet were underneath her. With no shoes, one sock missing, and the other only a tattered remnant Jamie's feet felt like two icebergs. Jamie kept his feet underneath Cindy and the big dog's body warmth soon had the circulation returning to his feet and slowly the feeling also began to return to his toes. However Jamie's lack of warm clothing could not be so easily taken care of and his teeth were chattering non-stop due to the early stages of what would shortly become hypothermia.

Jamie sat talking softly to Cindy who looked up at him thoughtfully as he spoke, "I've completely blown it haven't I? I'm going to be back on the streets now for sure. If I manage to live through this and Graham still wants me I swear I'll never run off again."

Getting a lick of reassurance from Cindy that they would be found Jamie huddled closer to her warm body. In spite of Cindy's warmth Jamie continued to shiver violently because of the freezing cold weather. Nevertheless Jamie tried to think about what he should do to try and get out of his predicament. He quickly realized however that he was not going to get very far with his ankle in its current state. Jamie could not tell if it was broken or just badly hurt but he concluded his best hope was to wait and hope that someone would find him. Resigning himself to his predicament a half-frozen Jamie clung to Cindy who licked his face and pushed herself up firmly against him.

***

"He's slowing down now," Pony said as he pointed to the depressions on the ground that had been made by Jamie's feet. Jason could see how they were gradually getting closer and closer together as Jamie had slowed down from a dead run into a fast walk. Coinciding with the slowing of Jamie's pace however the number of signs of his flight had decreased as well. Jamie was now pushing branches out of the way as he went rather than them snapping off as he ran into them. The falling snow was not helping either as it was starting to cover up the tracks on the forest floor consequently Jason was having difficulty seeing the evidence of Jamie's movements now. Pony's experience however kept them on the trail, his keen senses picking out the subtle clues, although even he now sometimes stopped in order to look carefully.

"Look!" Jason suddenly cried out as he spotted a dirty white sock on the ground just ahead. Jason quickly picked it up and he and Pony could both see bloodstains on it.

"Jamie's hurt," said Jason fearfully.

Pony looked at the bloodstains closely and said, "The blood is fresh but not dark. That means it is not a deep wound which is good. It also means that we are only a few minutes behind him now."

Jason and Pony continued following Jamie's trail through the forest as quickly as they could and eventually Pony stopped and crouched down and motioned to Jason to do the same. Jason knelt down and looked around but could not see anything. Pony pointed towards Jason's ear indicating that he should listen carefully. It was very faint but Jason could just barely make out something, a sound that was not quite natural in the forest.

Jason and Pony began to move forward carefully and quietly. Watching where they put their feet and what they brushed against to ensure that they remained completely silent they crept forward. After a few minutes of silently moving forward they could now hear the sound more clearly. It was the sound of a young voice crying – they had found Jamie!

Jason was about to jump up and run towards the sound of the voice but Pony put his hand on Jason's arm and held him back. Knowing it would be all too easy to scare Jamie and thereby cause him to run off again in fear Pony whispered, "You will scare him if you rush out too quickly and he could start running again."

Pony pointed at a location further along to the left of Jamie's position and then to Jason's ear. Jason then moved towards the spot that Pony had indicated carefully and quietly. At the same time Pony moved in the opposite direction stopping when he and Jason were positioned on opposite sides of Jamie but still remaining hidden. Once Pony was in position he made a bird call to alert Jason by putting one of his hands over his mouth and gave a short wavering whistle. Hearing the familiar sound Jason then stood up, made sure to step on several dead tree branches laying on the forest floor to make some obvious noise, and slowly moved out into the clearing in front of Jamie as if taking a casual stroll.

Jamie looked up in fear as he heard the bushes in front of him rustle and then felt a sudden flood of relief wash over him as he saw Jason coming out from behind the branches of the trees. When Jason emerged from the brush he could see Jamie shivering and sitting on the ground leaning up against a fallen tree partially sheltered by a tall Douglas Fir towering overhead. Cindy was snuggled up against Jamie to help provide warmth while the snow continued to fall down onto and around the two of them.

"Jay!" cried out Jamie.

"Jamie!" replied Jason as he then ran up and hugged Jamie and Cindy with obvious relief. "Are you OK?"

"I'm really cold and I hurt my foot but I'm OK," said Jamie through chattering teeth. "Cindy helped to keep me warm. How did you find me? I got lost and didn't know how to find my way back."

"Pony helped me," said Jason indicating his friend now stepping out from the trees behind Jamie.

"Oh hello again, sir. Thank you for helping Jay to find me. I'm sorry I've caused so much trouble but I got scared and…" said Jamie who began to cry again. "I've totally ruined everything haven't I? Graham's going to throw me out now for sure."

"No way Mr. M. would do that," said Jason comfortingly as he knelt down beside Jamie.

"And you would always be welcome in our village," added Pony.

"They wouldn't want someone like me there," said Jamie sadly.

"You have struggled and fought against an evil opponent yet remain undefeated," said Pony with great formality. "There is no one more worthy of respect than that. If you were unable to go back you would be very welcome amongst my people. I would be proud to call you a member of my family and you would do honour to my house."

"Thank you very much," said Jamie shyly, clearly affected by Pony's solemn declaration. "No one ever said something like that about me before."

"You don't have anything to worry about Jamie," said Jason. "My dad, and Mr. M., and everyone have been looking for you all over the island. They're going to be so relieved when they find out that you're OK."

"I don't know what I'm going to say to Graham though," said Jamie sadly. "He's always been so nice to me and I ran away when I found out I was the reason he'd gotten hurt. I thought he was going to beat me like my father used to do."

"The only thing Mr. M. is going to do is be really happy when we bring you home," said Jason. "You should have seen how worried he was when he ran over to our place to ask us to help look for you."

"I guess you're right but I was so scared," said Jamie shivering from the cold. "My father would have killed me if I ever put a mark on him like the bruise that Graham has."

While they talked Jason was checking Jamie over quickly and carefully. Opening up his day pack Jason pulled out and unfolded an emergency thermal blanket and wrapped it around Jamie. Jason then took off his coat and removed the thick flannel shirt he was wearing and helped Jamie to put it on in place of the thin and how soaking wet tank top he had. Jamie's fingers were too stiff from the cold to button it up so Jason helped him and then wrapped the thermal blanket around him once again. After he had Jamie taken care of Jason put his own coat back on again.

"You're taking really good care of me," said Jamie gratefully. "Won't you be cold without your shirt?"

"I will always take good care of my special guy," said Jason with a smile. "I'll be fine on the way back. My coat is really warm and we'll be back home before it gets to be a problem."

"Thank you both for coming to find me," said Jamie. "I didn't know what I was going to do."

"Come on Jamie we need to get you back now," said Jason feeling Jamie's ice-cold hands. "You're stone cold and you're going to freeze out here."

Jamie tried to rise up but immediately cried out and fell back again in pain, "Ohhh my ankle!"

"You better sit down again so we can check it out," said Jason. "How did you hurt yourself?"

"I was running and slipped on the rocks over there and my feet went out from under me. I couldn't stop because it was slippery and I fell on it really hard," replied Jamie still wincing.

Pony knelt down beside Jamie and felt his foot and ankle carefully with his hands before saying, "It's not broken but you have twisted it badly. You are not going to be able to walk on it for a while."

"What am I going to do?" said Jamie as he started to cry again.

"Don't fear brave young one," said Pony. "We will take you back to my village and get your ankle looked after. Then we will take you back home safely."

While Pony calmed Jamie's fears Jason was once again at work and had pulled out a bottle of water and washed off Jamie's feet so he could check them for additional injuries. There were several fresh cuts but none of them were serious. Jason used a towel that he pulled out of his day pack to dry Jamie's feet and then he took out a small bottle of antiseptic and cleaned the cuts that Jamie had received. Once that was done Jason took off his own boots and removed his socks so he could put them on Jamie for partial protection against the cold. With Jamie now readied for the journey to Pony's village, Jason put his boots back on and laced them up.

"We're all ready to go now," said Jason standing up.

"But I still can't walk," said Jamie. "How are we going to get there?"

"I will take care of that for you," said Pony as he reached underneath Jamie and picked him up in his strong arms. Jason adjusted the thermal blanket around Jamie so it would keep him warm and then with Jamie comfortably settled in Pony's arms and with Cindy and Jason leading the way they all began the hike to Pony's village. After about ten minutes of breaking trail through the forest they came upon one of the narrow pathways that meandered about the island and then they made good time. When they finally emerged from the trees into the cleared area around the village, Jason ran ahead to find the village doctor.

Pony carried Jamie to the small clinic that was in the centre of the village and as he was entering Jason arrived with the doctor. A quick examination by the doctor confirmed Pony's onsite diagnosis and shortly Jamie had his ankle wrapped up securely with an elastic bandage.

"OK let's see how that feels," said the doctor as he and Pony helped Jamie off of the examination table and helped him balance on the floor with his good foot.

Jamie took a tentative step and gritted his teeth as he put a little weight on his hurt ankle. "It still hurts a lot but it's better than before," he said after a moment to let the pain subside.

"You will have to be careful with it for a few days and not walk on it very much," said the doctor. "After that, though, you should be fine. Your ankle just needs rest and not too much activity. I'll give you a couple of these pills to take right now and that'll help with the pain. Here's a couple of extra ones that you can take with you for later tonight before you go to sleep."

"Thank you very much," said Jamie as he took the pills and the glass of water being offered by the doctor and swallowed them.

"You should start to feel better soon now," said the doctor putting his things away. "In about twenty minutes the pain will start to die down."

"Are the pills expensive?" asked Jamie with concern. "I don't have any money."

"You're Pony's friend and Jason's," said the doctor. "That makes you an honourary member of our tribe as far as I'm concerned. This clinic is maintained for any of our people that might need help and since they brought you here that includes you now. When you are feeling better just come back and visit us again."

"I'd like that a lot," said Jamie with a smile. "Thanks very much for helping me."

Pony had gone over to his house while the doctor was examining Jamie and had now returned with a thick coat for Jamie to wear for the journey back across the island. After Jamie had the coat on Jason rewrapped the thermal blanket around Jamie's legs and feet to help keep them warm during the trip back. After thanking the doctor one last time Jamie let Pony pick him up and the trio left the clinic and began to head for Graham's house. Even with the added weight of carrying Jamie, Pony's pace did not slow down or slacken and he kept right up with Jason and Cindy as they hiked back up the sloping hill for the trip back across the island.

The winter sun sank down into the horizon and the trail gradually became more difficult to see but Jason and Pony both knew the route from memory and they arrived at Graham's house just before night fell completely. As they approached up the pathway the sliding glass door on the front of the house slid open Graham, Frank, Kathy, and Dave ran out to greet them. Speaking all at once to Jamie who was still being carried by Pony their relief over his safe return was clear for anyone to see.

"Jamie, you're OK!" cried Kathy as she came running up. "We were so worried about you."

"I found Jason's note saying he was going to ask Pony to help look for you but that's all we knew," said Graham with relief. "Then about half an hour ago Kathy got word over the phone that you had been hurt and were at the village clinic. What happened to you?"

"We were looking everywhere but we couldn't find any sign of you," said Dave anxiously.

The comments and questions were pouring out of everyone while they stood in the middle of Graham's backyard when suddenly Cindy barked loudly twice to interrupt and Jason who had prompted her then said, "We need to get Jamie inside now. All these questions can wait for a few minutes. Jamie has been out in the cold for way too long and needs to get in the house so he can start warming up."

Frank smiled broadly at his son seeing him taking charge of the situation and then helped by going ahead of the crowd and opening the sliding door leading to Graham's kitchen so Pony could take Jamie inside and sit him down on a chair.

Prompted by Jason's example Kathy started opening cupboards in Graham's kitchen and said, "Frank go and get the comforter off the sofa for Jamie, I'm going to make him a cup of hot cocoa to help warm him up."

"Jason, what happened to your shirt?" asked Graham seeing that Jason was bare-chested when he started taking his coat off. "I'd better go and find you something to put on you must be cold too."

As Graham rushed off to find Jason a shirt Frank and Pony both saw Jamie and Jason exchange a knowing look and smiled. The mother hens were in full feather now and both boys were about to get an overdose of fussing. Frank wrapped the comforter that he had taken off the sofa around Jamie to help warm him up and then walked over next to Jason.

"Before your mother completely smothers you with concern I want to tell you how impressed I am with you son," said Frank while giving Jason a hug. "What you did today is what makes the difference between a man and a boy. You kept your head in a crisis and knew when to do things your way and not to worry about what my ideas were. We're all very proud of you for how you handled this."

"It wasn't just me," said Jason. "Pony was the one that did the tracking."

"Jason knew what to do and how to do it," said Pony modestly. "He just wanted a little company from an old man while he was finding his friend."

"The thing is you knew that the approach I was taking was wrong, you knew what was needed instead, and then you went to ask for help," continued Frank. "If we'd just stuck with my plan Jamie would still be out there shivering or worse. You're the one that used his head and was thinking clearly."

Coming back into the kitchen with a shirt for Jason to put on Graham said to Pony and Jason, "This isn't the first time that the two of you have come to my aid and I can never thank you enough for what you've done. I don't know what I would have done without your help today."

Jason looked at Pony and nodded whereupon Pony then answered for them both saying, "You are helping our new young friend here and it is our honour and privilege to assist if we can. It was written long ago by men in another land that whomsoever would save a life it is as if he had saved the entire world. We are grateful that we have been able to be a very small part of what is happening."

"Cindy helped too," added Jamie as he ran his hand over her head petting her. "When I was running I wasn't watching where I was going and I slipped on some rocks and fell. I twisted my ankle and it hurt too much after that to keep going and that's when Cindy found me. She helped me to keep warm until Jay and Mr. Twofeathers found me."

"I knew you could find Jamie and help him. You're the smartest girl there is," said Graham to Cindy as he knelt down and gave her an enormous hug. The sparkle in Cindy's eyes and the rapid wagging of her tail clearly showed that she understood why Graham was thanking her.

"I'm really sorry I screwed up and ran," said Jamie nervously. "I was remembering when I accidentally hit my father once and after he was finished with me I wasn't able to move for a week. When you said it was me that hurt you I was so scared you were going to beat me like he used to. I'm sorry Graham, I really am."

"You don't have to worry about anything like that with me," said Graham kindly. "I could never do something like that to you."

Jamie looked at Graham's face carefully and then those of everyone clustered around him. There were no signs of anger or displeasure to be found anywhere, only happiness and enormous relief that Jamie had been found safe and sound. Jamie took the cup of cocoa that Kathy handed him and sipped at it for a minute feeling the warmth spreading through him while continuing to look closely at everyone.

Finally Jamie said, "I know that now. I was just so scared that you were going to do the same things to me that he would have done."

"Oh Jamie," replied Graham gently. "I could never hurt you. That's what I was trying to tell you. I want to help you so it can never happen again."

"I feel bad because you've been so good to me," said Jamie tearfully. "All of you have. Please don't send me back. I like it here a lot. I won't be any more trouble I promise."

"I'm not going to send you back so don't you worry about that," said Graham. "That's the other part of what I was trying to tell you earlier. I'm going to try and fix it so you can stay for as long as you want. I can't make any promises right now but I'm going to try and make it work somehow."

"Really?" asked Jamie hopefully. "I can stay here?"

"If you can be brave and tell them what was happening to you I think we can make sure that it never happens again," said Graham. "We have to get a complaint from you on the official record so we can get the police to investigate."

"But he'll kill me if I tell everything," said Jamie now shaking with fear. "He always told me that. And if it doesn't work they'll just send me back to him, I know they will. That's what they always do and then it just starts all over again."

"Don't you worry about that happening," said Frank with determination. "He'll have to get through me first."

Jamie looked up into Frank's face and saw a gleam that had not been there previously. When Jamie had first met Frank he had been scared of him because of his commanding size and appearance. However during his stay on the island, and with the time that Jamie had spent with Jason and his family, Jamie had learnt that Frank was in fact a very kind and gentle man and had come to view him as a friend. Seeing the look that was now on Frank's face however Jamie suddenly realized that if a confrontation were to take place this was not someone that his father would want to tangle with.

"If there are any problems I will be there for you as well," said Pony placing his hand on Jamie's shoulder. "My people and I will not leave you to face danger alone."

"And don't forget me," piped up Dave. "First sign of any trouble and I'll whisk you away in my plane and no one will ever find you."

"You won't let him get me?" asked a still fearful Jamie.

"I talked to a friend of mine back at my office who's a lawyer," began Graham. "He did some phoning around for me and found someone at the Department of Child Welfare that honestly wants to help you. Then he did some more searching and found me a lawyer that specializes in family custody cases. I've been talking with them both and we think that together with your help we can try to make things better for you."

"How would you like to live next to us permanently and have full family barbecue privileges?" asked Frank with a big grin.

Jamie got a confused look on his face and then his mouth hung open as he realized what was being said. "You mean…"

"You see Jamie, you have friends now that care about you," said Kathy who knelt down beside Jamie as he sat in the chair taking his hand in hers. "We're all going to help you so you don't have to be afraid any more. We don't want you to ever have to go back to living the way you did before."

"And I'm not going to lose my best friend to anyone now that I've found you," added Jason with a special smile that was meant only for Jamie.

Jamie looked around the room and saw so many people that he'd become friends with in only a short period of time. They all knew his past and what he had been forced to do in order to survive and yet none of that mattered to any of them. Each of them were smiling at Jamie, showing genuine concern and caring, and each of them declaring in their own way their unwavering support and willingness to help. For the first time in his life Jamie began to feel that maybe things might be able to be different, that a change for the better might finally be possible, and the flame within him that had always refused to die began to burn brighter.

"Can Cindy come with me if I go?" asked Jamie quietly.

"Of course she can come," said Graham.

"You won't let them take me again?" said Jamie trembling.

"Over my dead body," replied Graham.

Jamie looked around at everyone again, took a deep breath, and then said with determination, "OK, I'll do it!"

Chapter 14
If You Love Something, Set it Free

It took several days before Jamie's ankle was sufficiently recovered before the trip back to the city could take place. During that time Graham talked on the telephone several times with Matty at the Department of Child Welfare to keep her updated on Jamie's recovery after his panicked flight into the forest. He also spent a number of hours on the telephone with Timothy Smythe the lawyer that his friend Scott had found to assist them when they went in to make their case. Engaging a lawyer would not speed things up, nor would it open any doors automatically, but from the things that Jamie had told him Graham knew that Jamie's parents would fight hard. The consequences if they gave in and an investigation took place were too grave for them to let go easily. Having a lawyer present and monitoring everything would however ensure that nothing was missed, no shortcuts were taken, that Jamie's interests were protected, and that the authorities would not be able to simply go through the motions. As a result expensive as it was going to be, Graham viewed the cost as money well spent if it could help ensure Jamie's future.

Jamie had related to Graham how in the past he had attempted to convince various caseworkers that things were not quite right at home. However the combination of outwardly concerned parents, Jamie's officially spotty record of runaway attempts, plus the lack of investigation on the part of overloaded ministry staff had meant that Jamie's attempts to obtain help had always been rebuffed with terrible consequences once he had been taken back home. The last time it had been weeks before he had recovered sufficiently to even contemplate another escape.

Graham wanted there to be no chance of repetition this time. Additionally Matty had indicated that because of Graham's age supporting statements as to his character would be very beneficial. While times were changing and age or personal preferences were no longer an official barrier to fostering or adoption it was still all too easy for a malicious person to take advantage of stereotyped thinking and make something decent look bad. A long discussion with Frank and Kathy had ensued and the group decision was that Frank as a parent himself would come along with Jamie and Graham. In addition to being able to make the case for Graham stronger by appearing in person it would help Jamie to feel more comfortable with an extra friend and familiar face present.

Kathy had also been busy with the telephone once again. In Graham's briefcase were a dozen testimonial letters written by people from all over the island, a number of them very well placed with income levels that Graham could only fantasize about and could not recall ever having met. Graham marvelled at how Kathy managed to know people at that level of society but as Frank said to him, once Kathy put her mind to something it was best not to get in her way or ask too many questions.

Finally the big day arrived and Graham drove himself, Jamie, and Cindy back to Salish Bay where Dave's plane was moored. They parked up on the hill and saw that Jason, Frank, and Kathy had arrived before them and were waiting expectantly. While Graham and Jamie climbed out of the jeep Jason ran up to greet them.

"Hi Jamie, Cindy, Mr. M," Jason called out as he came up to the jeep.

"Good morning Jason," said Graham as he reached behind the driver's seat to pull out the suitcase that was sitting behind it.

"Hey Jay!" said Jamie picking up his backpack which had been sitting on the floorboard of the jeep as Cindy jumped out to greet Jason enthusiastically.

After retrieving the suitcase Graham closed the door on the jeep and then walked over to where Frank and Kathy were waiting. The morning sky was a beautiful blue with only a few white puffy clouds dotting the horizon and Graham took a deep breath of the cool winter air.

"It's going to be a beautiful flight over to the city today," said Graham putting the suitcase down on the ground next to them. "I must confess however to feeling rather anxious."

"Today's the big day that's for sure," replied Frank.

"I hope it goes well for you and Jamie," added Kathy.

"So do I," said Graham in reply. "I was a nervous wreck last night and didn't sleep a wink."

"Don't worry nothing will go wrong at the meeting," said Frank. "I'm coming along to help say all the right things about you. Not to mention that Kathy's got you signed letters from everyone on the island who has any influence back in the city."

"I know. It's just that I'm worried something will go wrong," replied Graham. "I don't want anything to happen and Jamie ending up getting hurt again."

"It's going to work out fine you'll see," said Kathy giving a somewhat embarrassed Graham a hug.

Still standing near the jeep Jason said to Jamie, "You watch yourself when you're in town and stay close to Dad, Mr. M., and Cindy."

"Don't worry I'm always careful in the city," replied Jamie hearing Jason's concerned voice. "Is something wrong?"

"I had a bad dream last night about you and I'm worried," Jason said hesitantly not wanting to scare Jamie. "I just want you to be extra careful. You're very important to me and I want you to come back so we can go fishing and do other stuff together."

Jamie found himself in the rather unusual position of trying to reassure Jason despite the fact that he was the one scheduled to meet with the Department of Child Welfare in just a couple of hours. The prospect of the meeting did not exactly fill him with positive feelings but he knew it was the only way. To date such meetings had always been the prelude to being sent home and being beaten over and over again. Despite feeling more confident with Graham, Frank, and Cindy going with him it still sent a shiver down Jamie's back.

Jason looked up and saw Graham and Frank coming towards them and so Jason suddenly put his arms around Jamie and gave him a quick hug.

"You come back to me," said Jason with marked emphasis.

"Everything will be OK. You'll see," replied Jamie with a smile as he returned the hug.

Jason went and stood next to his mother and waved as Jamie, Cindy, Graham, and his father walked down the ramp to the wharf and then went over to the floatplane and climbed into it. In spite of Jamie's reassuring words Jason still felt a lump in the pit of his stomach that ate at him and it would not go away.

Shortly Dave cast off the lines from the plane then stood on the pontoon next to the pilot's door while pushing the plane out and away from the wharf and then climbed into the plane securing the door behind him. A few moments later Dave had the engine started up and the sound filled the bay as the plane began to taxi out into the middle of the water in preparation for take off. Turning to face east the plane began to pick up speed and soon was skipping across the surface of the water. Just as the plane lifted into the air Jason saw Pony coming out of the forest behind him at a half-run. Looking around for a brief moment and then spotting Jason, Pony came up to him quickly. Despite having just come all the way from his village Pony was not out of breath.

"Have they gone?" he asked anxiously.

"Yes, the plane's just leaving," replied Jason pointing at the receding floatplane in the sky. "What's wrong?"

Pony's usually stoic face fell as he heard Jason's words.

"What is it, what is it?" asked Jason anxiously seeing Pony's reaction. "What's happened?"

"I had a vision," said Pony simply.

"You know something. What do you know?" asked a worried Jason.

"It is going to be a very long day for Jamie," said Pony who refused to say anything more but stood silently next to Jason and his mother as they all watched the plane fly out of sight.

***

Graham turned the steering wheel and the little white car pulled into the parking lot next to the dull cream coloured concrete building that housed the offices of the Department of Child Welfare. Graham, Frank, Jamie, and Cindy climbed out of the car and looked around for a moment. Jamie slung his backpack over his shoulder and knelt down to give Cindy a back rub. Cindy pushed back against Jamie's fingers and arched her back as she enjoyed the massage after the cramped trip in the little car.

"You know one of these days I'm going to end up being stuck inside that little sardine can of yours permanently," said Frank after barely managing to squeeze out.

"I didn't actually plan on it turning into a family car," said Graham with a chuckle. "I got it just so I could get back and forth to the airport. You're just too big is what the problem is."

"I can just imagine trying to drive it. My knees would be in my chest," said Frank while Jamie giggled.

Graham looked around carefully and said, "Can any of you spot Timothy Smythe, he's the lawyer we're supposed to meet here? I've talked to him on the phone but I don't know what he looks like in person."

"That's got to be him over there," said Jamie quickly spotting a man in an expensively tailored three-piece suit on the far side of the parking lot who clearly did not fit in with the surrounding environment.

They all walked over and Graham said, "Are you Timothy Smythe?"

"Yes that's me. You must be Graham Martin," replied Timothy stretching out his hand.

"Yes after all these meetings over the telephone we finally get to meet in person," said Graham stepping forward to shake hands.

"Pleased to meet you at last," said Timothy. Then turning to Jamie he smiled and said, "You must be the brave young man I've heard so many good things about."

"Yes sir," said Jamie very quietly standing back close to Frank while Cindy stood in front of him watching with alert eyes.

"We're going to do our very best to help you today. I've had a lot of experience at this sort of thing and I've not lost a case yet," said Timothy. "It's good that you've brought your friends with you to help out. Graham told me that you also wanted to bring your dog along so I've got something in my briefcase here that will make sure they let her in."

With that Timothy opened his briefcase and quickly pulled out what looked like a folded-up piece of cloth and handed it to Jamie. "Put this on her, follow my lead, and I'll take care of the rest."

"What is it?" asked Jamie.

"Oh I think I know," said Frank with a grin. "Let me give you a hand with that Jamie."

Together they unfolded the cloth and as they did they could see it was a jacket for a dog. On the sides of it was the logo 'Paws For a Cause'. Jamie looked up as he realized what was going on and smiled at Timothy saying, "Oh wow! This'll work great."

"It's important in this business to always be prepared for everything," said Timothy while he watched Frank and Jamie help Cindy into the jacket. "Now that we're all properly dressed shall we go in?"

After Jamie and Frank fastened the jacket onto Cindy using the tie straps the group walked into the office and Graham announced their arrival at reception, "I'm Graham Martin and we have an appointment with Madeline Thompson for one o'clock. Would you please let her know that we're here?"

"Have a seat and I'll let her know that you've arrived," replied the receptionist. Then noticing Cindy added, "You'll have to take that dog outside. We don't allow them in here."

Graham could sense the worry in Jamie but Timothy immediately stepped forward and said, "My name is Timothy Smythe from the law firm of Mason and Smythe. This dog is a certified assistance animal and is required by my client here. If you deny them access to this facility you will be in violation of chapter 29 of the Assistance Animals Act 1990. Any discrimination against my client in that regard by any individual or entity is punishable under section 8 of the act upon summary conviction in a court of law."

Jamie's mouth fell open and face of the receptionist blanched. Catching her breath she quickly replied, "No, that will be OK. Please take a seat. I'll get Madeline right away."

"That was close," said Jamie with a sigh of relief as soon as the receptionist was out of earshot.

"Hit hard and fast and don't give them a chance to think," said Timothy with a grin.

"The Assistance Animals Act?" said Frank dubiously.

"The Blind Person's Act 1979 actually," said Timothy with a laugh. "Of course no one noticed that Jamie isn't blind."

The group chuckled at Timothy's quick thinking and Graham knew that while the bill he was going to see later would be eye-watering, it was going to be worth the pain. Jamie sat down on one of the seats in the waiting room while the others stood next to him and Cindy sat in front of him moving her head to and fro watching everyone in the office carefully.

"Hello, I'm Matty Thompson," announced a voice coming from behind Graham.

Graham turned and shook the hand being offered by a tall heavy-set woman with dark hair and brown eyes.

"I'm Graham Martin. It's good to finally get to see you in person. Allow me to introduce my next door neighbour Frank Tomlinson," began Graham. "This is our lawyer Timothy Smythe, and of course…"

"You must be Jamie," said Matty completing the sentence as she smiled and knelt down facing Jamie.

"Yes ma'am," replied Jamie very quietly as he held Cindy close in front of him and refused to look up.

"Who's your friend here?" asked Matty.

"Cindy," said Jamie softly.

"Hello Cindy," said Matty cheerfully.

Cindy who was normally somewhat indifferent to meeting new people took her cue from Jamie. Both Graham and Frank were surprised when they saw the hackles on the back of her neck rise while she remained perfectly motionless and looked straight at Matty with cold eyes.

"Why don't we all go into my office and see what we can do," suggested Matty as she stepped back and stood up.

The group walked down the hallway to Matty's office and went inside. Jamie picked a chair in the middle and put his backpack on the floor underneath his chair. Timothy sat on his right, Graham and Frank on his left, and Cindy sat right in front of Jamie and watched Matty carefully.

After everyone was settled and the office door was closed Matty started by saying, "I've reviewed the old case files on Jamie and as you all know I've been talking with Graham and Timothy on the phone for the past week or so. There are only two main items that we actually need to worry about. The first of these is Graham's fitness to be considered as a temporary guardian for Jamie. Thanks to you both I have received all of the financial and personal background information needed, I've had it checked, and as expected it's all in order. I've also had the required background check performed by the police and that of course has also come back completely clean. So there remains the second matter of certification by our department of the home that Graham could provide for Jamie, and his standing in the community. Once we have all of that information then we can make the final determination as to whether Graham can be considered as a temporary guardian for Jamie while things get looked into."

"With regards to Mr. Martin's standing in the community he has brought with him a number of sworn statements," said Timothy taking the letters from Graham and counting them up. "Twelve of them to be precise. Additionally, Mr. Tomlinson here, who is Mr. Martin's neighbour and a parent in his own right, has travelled here at his own expense to attend this meeting in order to appear as an additional character witness."

"Twelve statements?" asked Matty a bit taken aback.

"My wife is rather industrious," said Frank with an embarrassed grin. "Particularly when it comes to the welfare of this young man here."

Matty took the statements that Timothy offered her and her eyebrows rose several times as she briefly looked them over and noted some of the names signed on the statements. Looking up with a smile she said, "You seem to have made a good impression on a lot of people."

"You see… that is…," stammered an embarrassed Graham.

"That's OK, I understand. We both want what is best for Jamie and statements like these always help," said Matty reassuringly. "With all of the information that has been provided there shouldn't be any problems but I do have to make sure that we follow all of the required procedures to the letter so if there are any disputes everything will work out the way we want it to. I have the authority to waive the requirement for a pre-determination onsite inspection as long as we schedule it to take place by the end of next week. That takes care of the issues regarding Graham being certified as an acceptable caregiver but of course that only leads to the final but much larger issue. We now need to address the matter of Jamie and the swearing out of a complaint regarding what has been happening to him at home."

"Jamie, Timothy, and I have talked about that and we think we can make fairly short work of it," said Graham while nodding to Jamie. "It's a bit embarrassing but it'll save Jamie having to answer a lot of even more difficult questions at least for a while. If you'll just look at this…"

At that moment Jamie stood up, dropped his coat, turned away from Matty, and pulled his shirt up exposing his back. Jamie remained motionless for a few moments as Matty's face whitened upon seeing the scars and then lowered his shirt and sat back down again. Jamie looked away as he sat down and Cindy who had stood up while Jamie had been showing the scars turned, put her paws up on Jamie's lap, and began to lick his face. Jamie then put his arms around the big white dog and buried his face against her while hugging Cindy close.

"Bear in mind," continued Graham with difficulty, "that Jamie has been living with me at my place for a few weeks now and his back has had time to heal. Those scars are permanent, the result of being beaten and whipped at the hands of his father and other people as well. Jamie has told me that there are scars in other places in addition to what you've just seen. I have not invaded his privacy to check personally but a doctor would be able to verify the facts if that were to become necessary. Lastly it needs to be remembered that the beatings that produced those scars usually happened when Jamie would refuse to submit voluntarily to his father or to the people that his parents would periodically give him to. Once again I've not invaded Jamie's privacy to ask about the unpleasant details."

Matty's face had turned white and she briefly stuttered before collecting herself, "I… I'm so sorry Jamie. I want you to know that I believe everything that your… Mr. Martin… Graham has told me. You understand though that I am required to ask you a few questions for the official records."

"Yes ma'am," said Jamie in a barely audible whisper.

"Mr. Martin and Mr. Tomlinson," said Matty with her professional demeanour now restored, "I know it's not necessary in this case but regulations require that I ask you both to leave the room for a few moments while I ask Jamie these questions."

"We understand," said Graham as he and Frank rose to leave the office. Seeing the look on Jamie's face he added, "We'll be just outside the door. Cindy and Timothy will stay right here with you to protect you. Timothy will tell you if it's OK or not OK to answer the questions and help you. It'll only be for a couple of minutes. You'll be fine."

Graham and Frank went out into the hallway and closed the door behind them. Graham's hands were shaking and Frank despite his obvious physical strength did not look any better.

"That's one brave boy you have there Graham," said Frank. "In his place I don't know if I could face down something like this."

"I know what you mean," replied Graham. "Having to deal with the questions, what people are thinking, how they look at you, I know I couldn't find the courage that he has."

After approximately ten minutes Frank was called back into the office. Graham paced in the hallway and kept wringing his hands and biting his lip. The clock on the wall seemed to be moving in slow motion and it felt as though time was almost standing still. Finally the door to the office opened once again and Graham was called back in.

After giving Graham a moment to sit down Matty began in official tones, "I now have a sworn complaint in my possession which I will be delivering to the Attorney General's office as soon as we wrap up this meeting. I also have in my possession an order for temporary guardianship for Jamie by Graham Martin. Although it's not strictly required, I will now ask Jamie to give his agreement to this arrangement."

"Jamie," continued Matty, "Do you request and accept that I should appoint Graham Martin as having temporary guardianship over you until such time as the matters contained in the complaint have been investigated and a final determination obtained?"

Jamie looked up at Timothy inquiringly and after receiving a nod said in a clear voice, "Yes ma'am."

Matty then continued, "Having received the additional consent of Jamie, this office having verified that Mr. Graham Martin is of suitable character and sufficient means to provide the necessary care required, I hereby grant temporary guardianship while the now duly registered complaint is under investigation. This order for guardianship will be reassessed when that complaint has been resolved at which time it may be modified, continued, made permanent, or cancelled."

"What that all means Jamie," said Matty in a more casual tone, "is that we are going to start an investigation into what your parents have done to you. That will take some time but once it's completed we will then be talking to the police about what we have learnt. That will eventually mean that your parents will be arrested, charged, and then a court trial will be held to present the evidence before a judge. Until all that is over with you will get to stay with Graham. Once everything is finished then we will meet here again and you can tell me what you'd like to do. Does that sound OK with you?"

"You bet," said Jamie with a big smile and a sigh of relief.

"Thank you very much," said Graham as he rose to shake Matty's hand. "I appreciate very much everything that you've done for us."

"I know it hasn't been a very fun day for you today Jamie," said Matty. "But I'm going to do my best to make sure that this is the last time you ever have to worry about things the way you have in the past."

"I sure hope so," said Jamie picking his backpack up off the floor. "I really want to be able to stay on the island if I can."

After they all filed out of the office and went back outside, Timothy pulled Graham off to one side to speak to him.

"I don't know quite how to say this," began Timothy. "I just want you to know that you won't be seeing a bill for this."

"You don't need to do that," replied a surprised Graham. "I'm able to cover the cost."

"I know you are but I want to help a bit if I can. I thought it would be a dramatic way to help Jamie avoid a lot of the questions as well as to make sure they'd take things seriously. When he lifted his shirt up… I mean you said he's been abused… but I never dreamt it was remotely in that kind of league," said Timothy. "His back… I've never seen anything like that in my life and believe me I've seen a lot."

"It's very kind of you," said Graham. "I wasn't expecting this at all."

"You'll be needing to get Jamie a lot of things to get him set up and to try and make up for the past. If you don't have my bill to deal with as well it'll help you out," said Timothy. "I'm not always a money-grabbing ambulance chaser but don't you dare let anyone else know, it'd ruin my reputation."

"Your secret is safe with me," replied Graham with a chuckle. "If anyone asks I'll tell them your heart is as black as they come."

While Graham and Timothy had been talking Jamie had taken the assistance jacket off of Cindy. Seeing them shake hands Jamie then came up and offered the jacket to Timothy.

"Thanks very much for helping me," said Jamie. "It was great that you were able to make them let me keep Cindy with me."

"I'm glad I could help. I know that today was very difficult for you but it's going to be worth it," said Timothy. "And later when the trial for your parents comes up I'll be back to help you again."

After Timothy left to drive back to his office Jamie looked up at Graham and said, "What happens now?"

"Now we go back home while Matty gets the investigation started," said Graham. "That will keep you safely out of the way and once that's done she'll let us know when we need to come back to town."

"If we're going back to the island then I should go and get something first," said Jamie.

"I can get you anything that you need," replied Graham.

"No it's nothing like that. I've got something hidden away that I need to pick up," said Jamie.

"Sure we can go anywhere you want," said Graham unlocking the doors on the car.

"No, I have to do this alone," said Jamie slowly.

"You don't want me to come?" asked Graham clearly taken aback.

"It's not like that, it's just something that I have to do on my own," said Jamie. "It won't work otherwise and I have to get it. This might be my only chance after today."

Graham started to protest again but Frank motioned him to one side, "I don't know what it is that he's after but you have to let him do this," said Frank quietly. "Jamie probably does have something stashed away but he also needs time to think. He's making a big decision that will change his life and he needs time to feel OK with it. If he comes back then you know for sure that he wants to go through with it. You also need to show you trust him. You have to let go and let him do this."

"I don't like it but you're right I suppose," Graham finally said reluctantly.

"Everything will be OK," replied Frank. "You'll see. This is just one of those hard moments of parental trust where a son needs to spread his wings on his own and you can't help him do it. You'll get used to them in time."

Graham looked at Jamie and asked, "You remember how to find my place?"

"Yes I remember where it is," replied Jamie. "It's not too far from where I need to go. Don't worry it should only be a couple of hours at most and then I'll be back."

"I'll be waiting for you too," said Frank as he smiled and held out his hand to Jamie.

Jamie shook Frank's hand and looked up in surprise as he felt some money being pressed into his own hand.

"Just in case you get hungry or thirsty on the way back," said Frank. "And remember to be careful."

Unsure what to do Graham extended his hand as well but Jamie ignored it and hugged a very surprised Graham tightly. Graham gently wrapped his arms around Jamie and felt his eyes beginning to tear up. Jamie did not look at Graham as they hugged and Graham feared that this might be goodbye.

Jamie reluctantly let go of Graham and knelt down and gave Cindy a big hug and whispered into her ear while she licked at Jamie's cheek. Graham could not hear what Jamie was saying but he could see that Jamie's eyes were cloudy with tears as well.

"I better get going," said Jamie huskily having some trouble getting the words out. He then took a last look at everyone before turning and starting to walk away quickly. Graham stood motionless watching Jamie leaving and wondered if he would ever see him again. When Jamie turned the corner Cindy barked and lunged to follow him but Frank held her fast by her collar and she howled plaintively.

Once Jamie was out of sight he wiped his eyes and then looked in his hand at what Frank had given him. Seeing the thick bundle of money and even a few bus tickets he realized that Frank must have given him everything he had in his pocket. Jamie decided that if he used the bus tickets he could get what he needed to do completed faster but he hoped to be able to give the money back to Frank untouched later in the day.

Jamie found a bus stop and climbed onto the first bus going to the lower east side of town. Ten minutes later he got off and was back where he had started out from less than a month ago. The difference between the streets of the city and the island where Graham lived could not have been starker. It was like night and day and it was very definite in Jamie's mind which of the two was the night. Jamie wanted to see his old friends one last time and began walking towards the intersection of Knight Avenue and Wharf Street where he knew they'd be. It was where Jamie himself had spent many months trying to eke out an existence against formidable odds.

Turning the corner he saw a boy only slightly older than himself leaning back against an old brick building watching the cars going along the street watching for any that might slow down. A cigarette dangled from his mouth and the clothes he was wearing were ragged and dirty. Watching the boy Jamie felt like he was looking into a time machine and seeing himself.

"Hey Mike!" called Jamie.

The boy leaning against the building looked up at Jamie without recognition and said in a challenging voice, "Who're you shouting at?"

"It's me, Jamie. Don't you recognize me?" said Jamie unaware of the magnitude of his change in appearance since he had last been in the city.

"I'll be darned," said Mike suddenly. "Look at you! We all thought you were lost for sure. Where'd you disappear to? What's with the new clothes?"

"I got really lucky," said Jamie. "A man found me that's going to help me get off the streets, his name is Graham. I've been staying at his place with him for the last couple of weeks. We just left the Child Welfare office and they're going to investigate my parents and then call the police on them."

"For real? You're going to be able to get them put away?" asked Mike. "If we could get your dad out of the way that'd sure help everyone down here."

"It sure would," said Jamie. "The woman at the Welfare office is really nice and Graham got a fancy lawyer to come and make sure that they can't ignore it like they did before."

"Taking care of this new guy will be way better for you than having to be stuck with your old man no matter what he's into," said Mike.

"Oh Graham's not like that," said Jamie. "The whole time I've been with him he hasn't touched me once. I dangled the bait, hinted, and teased – everything I could think of to test him to see if he'd bite. Nothing happened at all. Graham just wants me to live at his place as if I was his kid."

"Wow," said Mike astounded. "Hang onto him like glue. That's gold you've found there. If you change your mind let me know and I'll see if he'd like to take me instead."

"No way Mike," laughed Jamie. "Say have you seen John around?"

Mike paused and looked down at his dirty running shoes before answering, "Sorry Jamie, but 'The Blade' got him a couple of days ago. Andy found him in the alley behind the arcade. It wasn't pretty. He was already gone when Andy found him."

"No he can't be!" cried a shocked Jamie. "He helped me when I first got here. Showed me how things work, how to keep safe, who to avoid, safe places to sleep…"

"Sorry I had to be the one to tell you Jamie," replied Mike sadly. "I know you two were friends. He was careful, but in this business you never know. If we can't figure out who's doing it soon probably it'll be my turn one of these days. I just hope it'll be quick when it happens."

"Did the cops do anything?" asked Jamie.

"Oh they came and took some pictures just like they always do. Then they put John in the wagon and left," said Mike. "You know how it is. We're just throwaways and they don't really care. That's like nine of us now and they still haven't got any better ideas on who's doing it than we do. The only time anyone sees the guy, it's the last thing they ever see."

Jamie suddenly began to sway on his feet and his eyes started to lose focus. The news of John's death had hit him like a body blow and his knees felt like they were about to collapse.

"Jamie, snap out of it!" shouted Mike as he took hold of Jamie's shoulders and shook him hard. "Don't fall apart when you're so close to the finish line. You've got to finish this for yourself, for all of us!"

Jamie shook his head to clear his mind, steadied himself and thought for a moment, and then decided that Frank would approve and reached into his pocket and pulled out the money that Frank had given him. "I'm going to give you this," said Jamie handing over the bundle of cash. "Try and make it last as long as you can."

"Wow," said Mike with surprise. "You're serious about this? Where'd you get all the money from?"

"The man who lives next door to Graham came with us this morning to the Welfare office to help out," said Jamie. "He gave it to me when we left the office just in case something came up. I know he'd want me to do this to help you."

"Thanks a lot Jamie. John always said you were something special," said Mike gratefully. "I won't have to work for a long stretch now. Maybe I'll have a chance now to look for a plum spot like you've got instead of fighting just to eat."

"It's good to see you Mike," said Jamie. "I need to get going. I'm going to get my stash out from my hiding place at the house. I've got names and stuff written down that I'm going to hand over. My dad and my mom aren't the only ones that are going to pay."

"Be careful Jamie," said Mike. "That dad of yours is a crazy guy. If he finds you, especially with a list of names on you, you're going to be one dead kid."

"I know," said Jamie. "But I'm going to make sure they pay for what they did to me and all the other boys. I'm going to take them down and their creepy friends too. I always hoped and dreamed that this day would come eventually and now it's finally here."

"Want me to come with you and help?" asked Mike.

"No," said Jamie. "I've a better chance of pulling it off by myself. If the two of us try to do it the chances of getting caught are higher."

"Keep safe Jamie," said Mike. "Now that you've won the lottery don't lose everything by trying to be a hero."

"You be careful too," said Jamie giving Mike a hug. "Remember to make the money last."

"You can count on that," said Mike. "I'm not blowing this chance out of here."

The two boys looked at each other for a moment knowing that they would not likely see each other again and then hugged one last time. Afterwards they split up and both started walking in opposite directions each heading for a different destiny.

Jamie began walking to the east. After a few hundred yards he stopped and looked back around the old neighbourhood one last time. Bad as the area was and as dangerous as the life here had been, the streets and the other boys living on them had been his home and his family. They had lived, laughed, cried, and sometimes died together. Jamie knew that it would be different living with Graham, he would not have the total freedom that he had had on the streets. He would have bedtimes, schoolwork that needed to be done, chores to complete – but he would live. The streets were bad, very bad, but there had been a few good times mixed in with everything else that Jamie would always remember. Friends made and friends lost. A part of Jamie would always remain here no matter what the future might bring, but it was the future that Jamie was looking forward to now for the first time in his life. It all still seemed like a dream and he feared at times that he would wake up from it only to find himself shivering in a back alley. However there were things to do before the future could become reality. Jamie had one more stop to make before going back to Graham's place. Hearing about the death of his friend John only made him even more determined to see it through.

Jamie pulled another one of the bus tickets that Frank had given him out of his pocket. He stood at the bus stop and did not have to wait long for the one that would take him to the northeast side of the city. Just as the door for the bus was about to open, for a split-second in the reflection of the glass, Jamie thought he saw something. He was certain his eyes were playing tricks on him, but it looked like a young boy dressed in a camouflage-pattern hunting outfit carrying a bow was on the opposite side of the door waiting to come out. The boy had a determined look on his face and it seemed as if he was preparing himself to march into battle. The look of the boy made Jamie feel certain that in some strange unfathomable sense it was a reflection of himself and what he was about to do. Jamie even had the impression that the boy had looked at him and nodded. As the bus door opened Jamie shook his head to clear away the strange vision, deciding that it was the worry of anticipation and the fact that he had been reading too many of Jason's fantasy novels.

Jamie was heading for his old home now, although he did not think of it in those terms. It was simply the house that he had grown up in, and then later escaped from. It had not been a home in the normal sense to Jamie for most of his life unfortunately. Jamie had one goal in mind when he arrived at the house, if he could manage to pull it off. Under the floorboards in his room he had hidden a notebook. In it were names, dates, and events that he had written down. Jamie knew that the names were the big prize and he was determined that he was now going to pay everyone back for the things that they had done to him for so long. His teeth were gritted and his stomach knotted as he rode the bus and looked out the window, the only question was would he be successful?

Jamie's house was in the same part of town as Graham's apartment. Once Jamie had retrieved the notebook his plan was to run as fast as he could to Graham's place and then get Graham to drive for Dave's plane right away. Once safely out of town with his notebook that listed the names of people that his parents had let hurt him Jamie knew that he would be safe finally and at last. Jamie got off the bus and looked around carefully and began to walk the last couple of blocks to where the house was. The hair stood up on the back of his neck but Jamie forced his feet to keep moving.

When Jamie reached the corner of the street that the house was on he pushed himself inside a large hedge that was growing alongside the sidewalk and hid while watching the street closely. His father's car was parked outside the house alongside the curb. That was bad luck but not seeing any activity Jamie slipped out of the hedge and crept closer using the other cars parked along the street as cover. When he got close enough to the house he could see that the curtains were drawn across the window at the front and Jamie sprinted to the walkway that went up along the right side of the house.

Jamie paused for a moment to try and calm his heavy breathing but he knew that every minute he remained in the area increased the danger so he moved quickly. He reached up and tested a window at the side of the house and it was unlocked. Taking a quick peek and seeing the room on the other side of the window was empty he slowly pushed the window up and then jumped up and slid into the room. Jamie did not waste time and immediately went to the loose board in the floor at the back of the closet and pulled out the notebook he had hidden underneath it. He wrapped it in an old shirt that he picked up off the floor and quickly pushed it into his backpack which he then tossed out the window into the bushes at the side of the house. Jamie lifted his leg up to begin sticking it out the window to leave when he suddenly heard the floor creak behind him and he looked up.

"You think you can run off on me and get away with it?" said an ominous voice.

Jamie turned his head to look up into the eyes of his father and his heart sank.

***

Graham looked at his watch for the tenth time in as many minutes as he continued to pace back and forth in his apartment. Cindy was laying on the floor unmoving with her head between her paws with her eyes locked on the closed door. Frank continued to pretend he was reading an article in a magazine while trying to ignore Graham's constant pacing. Finally realizing he had read the same paragraph five times he gave up and put the magazine down.

"Here why don't you have another one of these," said Frank offering the candy dish to Graham again. "Wearing a hole in the rug and giving yourself an ulcer isn't going to make the time pass any faster."

Graham took a candy from the dish, unwrapped it, and began to suck on it noisily. "He said he wouldn't be long and it's been more than four hours now. What am I going to do? Something has happened to him I just know it."

"Don't jump to conclusions," said Frank carefully. "It hasn't been that long yet. I'm sure he's fine. We have to do the hardest job there is to do; we have to wait. Jamie has to make this decision himself. You've provided him with the opportunity, he's seen what you're like at home, and he knows pretty much what it'd be like to live on the island. Nevertheless, he has to make the decision to come back and walk through that door. None of us can make that decision for him as much as we might like to."

"But what if he doesn't come back?" asked Graham plaintively, finally sitting down in despair.

"If he doesn't come back, then he doesn't come back," said Frank. "You can't force yourself on Jamie or make him want to be with you. If it's meant to be, it will happen. He probably just needed to walk around and think things through. I know I would if I were him. Remember this is probably the biggest decision Jamie's ever had to make except for running away in the first place. Besides you don't know boys as much as you might think. Remember I have one at home, there are times when Jason completely loses all track of time; a few hours is nothing when something big is on his mind."

"Yes, yes. You're right of course," grumbled Graham. "It's just that it's driving me crazy."

"Why don't we look and see if we can't stir something up in the kitchen," suggested Frank. "It'll keep your mind occupied and you could do with something to eat."

"How can you even think of food at a time like this?" exclaimed Graham. "Jamie's out there who knows where and you're thinking about your stomach!"

With great patience Frank replied, "It will give you something to do and you need that right now."

"I can't think about eating or food! Not right now," snapped Graham irritably.

Frank was about to comment when he suddenly motioned for quiet, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Graham skeptically although noticing Cindy's ears had perked up.

"It almost sounded like something scraping on wood," said Frank with a fearful look on his face. "There it is again!"

Frank and Graham looked at each other and just as they were about to say something they both heard it again. This time it could be clearly made out as a knock on the door, very faint and trailing off almost instantly. Cindy began to whine and slowly crawled towards the door. Graham's complexion suddenly changed and he looked white as sheet. Frank's blood ran cold and they both ran for the door.

Reaching the door first Graham threw it open, looked down, and then exclaimed, "Jamie!"

Chapter 15
Fight for Life

Graham's legs turned to jelly and he fell to his knees as he looked down at Jamie's crumpled body laying just outside the door. Jamie had managed to limp and drag himself there with the last of his strength but now was laying motionless on the ground. There was fresh blood on Jamie's swollen face where he had been beaten and his nose was bent to one side. Graham reached down and tried to lift Jamie up but pulled his hands back in horror as he suddenly realized that Jamie's shirt and jeans were covered in blood as well. Clutched tightly in Jamie's left hand was his old ragged backpack that he carried everywhere. For Graham it felt as if time had frozen but in only a second or two he found his voice.

"Call an ambulance!" shouted Graham but even as he was saying it Frank was already running for the telephone.

Graham frantically felt along Jamie's throat for a pulse and eventually found it although it was very weak. Jamie's breath was faint and shallow and Graham looked up at Frank helplessly who had just returned from calling for help.

"What can we do?" asked Graham shakily as he tried to brush the blood-encrusted hair away from Jamie's forehead.

"I don't know exactly," replied Frank uneasily. "But let's move him inside out of the cold. Leaving him laying on the ground out here won't help him any."

Frank moved next to Graham and together they carefully took hold of Jamie, lifted him gently through the doorway, and laid him on the floor just inside the door. They both knelt down on opposite sides of Jamie and Cindy crept up close to Jamie and began to lick at a bloody hand that lay limply at his side.

"Jamie, can you hear me?" said Graham gently while bending his head down towards Jamie's.

Jamie stirred slightly and said weakly, "I'm sorry…"

"You've nothing to be sorry for," said Frank gently. "We're getting help for you."

"He… he caught me," said Jamie barely above a whisper.

"Who caught you Jamie?" asked Graham. "Who did this to you?"

"Couldn't get away…" said Jamie struggling, his hand reaching out and falling on top of Frank's. "My backpack… notebook inside… don't let him win…"

"Your backpack is here Jamie," said Frank opening the backpack, looking inside, and finding a notebook wrapped in a T-shirt with fresh blood stains on it. "I found your notebook."

"Get him…" said Jamie his fingernails suddenly digging into the back of Frank's hand in a violent spasm of pain.

Frank glanced inside the notebook and saw a page filled with names and dates in Jamie's roughly printed script. He understood then why Jamie had gone back, made a decision, and said, "I'll take care of this for you Jamie."

"Couldn't get away from him. My f…" said Jamie as he finally fainted trying to get out the last words.

Silence lay heavy as Graham and Frank looked down at Jamie. Frank spoke first, "Did you make out what he said at the end there?"

"I'm not sure," replied a shaken Graham. "Did it sound like the word 'father' to you?"

"That's what I thought I heard too," said Frank bitterly.

"I'll lay odds that's who did this," said Graham angrily.

"He's going to regret this day," said Frank darkly. Glancing down at Jamie's backpack Frank spotted an address tag and turned it over to look at it. Seeing that Graham was concentrating on Jamie, Frank yanked the tag off with a quick jerk and pocketed it.

"I'll go out and lead them in," said Frank getting up as he heard the distant wail of an approaching siren.

Less than a minute later Graham looked up to the banging of feet as the ambulance crew led by Frank burst through the door. Frank moved Graham and Cindy back so the paramedics could work and they began to assess Jamie's condition professionally.

"What happened here?" demanded one of them with suspicion in his voice.

"The boy dragged himself here after being beaten," said Frank seeing Graham was not able to speak. "We were waiting here for him to return when we heard something at the door. When we opened it we found him like this. We just moved him inside out of the cold."

"Did you call the police?" asked the paramedic obviously unconvinced.

"At the same time that I called for an ambulance," replied Frank hearing a second siren rapidly approaching. "That's probably them now."

The paramedics worked rapidly trying to stabilize Jamie and prepare him for transport. At the same time Graham and Frank quickly tried to explain what they knew to the police who had rushed into the small apartment in response to Frank's urgent telephone call. Fortunately one of the patrolmen recognized Matty's name when Frank mentioned it and showed him the guardianship papers that Graham had received earlier in the day.

"Please I have to go with you," said Graham as the paramedics made ready take Jamie out to the ambulance.

"We don't normally allow that," said the paramedic on the left as they both lifted Jamie onto the stretcher.

"But he needs to have someone with him that he knows and trusts," pleaded Graham.

Seeing a nod from one of the patrolmen the paramedic relented and said, "All right but keep out of the way and don't interfere. If he gets into trouble on the way I might have to do some things that will upset you."

"Don't worry I won't cause any problems," replied Graham.

"Let's move it then," said the lead paramedic as they ran out of the door pushing Jamie along on the stretcher ahead of them.

"Give me the key to the place Graham," said Frank he followed Graham and the paramedics out. "I'll wrap up things here, take care of Cindy, and then meet you at the hospital afterwards."

Graham threw the keys to Frank and got into the ambulance after Jamie had been loaded. Frank watched the ambulance leave its sirens blaring and then answered a few more questions for the police.

"Do you know who might have done this?" asked one of the patrolmen.

"I know Jamie's father has beat him in the past. I would be willing to bet that this is probably another sample of his handiwork," replied Frank.

"Did you say 'Jamie'?" asked the older of the two patrolmen.

"Yes, his name is Jamie," repeated Frank. "Do you know him?"

"I didn't recognize him at first with all the blood," said the patrolman that had recognized Jamie's name. "But I've seen him around before. We've had suspicions that there's been something going on with that family for a while but we've never been able to get anything solid on them. Every time we've had them downtown for a talk the parents have been the picture of sweet innocence, telling us about how the boy is a problem and won't stop running away. And then the kid's got a record of petty stuff from while he's been on the run and so naturally it looks like he's the problem. You know how it goes."

"Perhaps instead of talking with the parents downtown you should go and see them at their place this time," suggested Frank. "You might find something that would help make a case."

"Jamie's injuries mean that we have solid cause for suspicion this time and that makes a big difference," replied the patrolman. "We're going to go over to the hospital now and get more details on Jamie's injuries and what happened to him. We'll also write up a report and get the duty sergeant to request an investigation be initiated. Once that gets going they'll pay a visit to the parents and get to the bottom of this. I sure hope Jamie's going to make it he didn't look very good."

"How long is all that going to take?" asked Frank. "By the time you get reports written up they could be long gone."

"Writing a report doesn't take as long as you think," said the patrolman. "I'll have it done on the computer in the car by the time we hit the hospital and it's all transmitted electronically now. You're going to see uniforms coming out of the woodwork less than an hour after I press the button."

"I'll see you at the hospital then," said Frank. "I need to close up here and do a couple of things and then I'll be there. Thanks for all your help."

"We'll see you shortly," said the patrolmen and they walked out the door.

Frank went over to the bookcase at the side of the living area and pulled out Graham's address book. After quickly looking in it Frank picked up the telephone and dialed.

"Dave, is that you?" asked Frank.

"Yes, what's up?" came Dave's voice over the telephone.

"Something's happened to Jamie," said Frank. "Looks like his father caught him and he's been beaten up pretty bad. The ambulance just took him to the hospital."

"Oh no!" gasped Dave. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes," replied Frank. "I need you to come out to Graham's place and meet me – fast. Cindy is here with me and I need you to take her back to the island for me. We're not going to be able to handle having her here now with all this happening."

"No problem at all. I'm actually just at the mall near you so I can be there in just a few minutes," said Dave.

"Make it as fast as you can," said Frank. "I don't have a lot of time. When you get back to the island Jason will look after Cindy until we get back."

"Alright Frank," said Dave. "I'm running for the car now and I'll be there as quick as I can."

Frank put down the telephone. He paused for a moment and then picked it up again and dialed.

"Kathy?" said Frank.

"What's wrong Frank? Something's happened, I can tell from your voice," came Kathy's voice anxiously over the telephone.

"It's Jamie," said Frank slowly. "His father caught him and… well the ambulance just left for the hospital."

"Is he going to be OK?" asked Kathy in a scared voice. "What happened?"

"He looked really bad, there was blood everywhere," replied Frank. "I think you'd better say something to Jason. Jamie didn't look good at all."

"Oh no," said Kathy softly. "On top of everything else that's happened to him… that poor, poor boy."

"I'm not going to leave until I know what happened," said Frank determinedly. "Then I'm going to the hospital and I'll stay there with Graham. I've called Dave and he's coming here to pick up Cindy and bring her back to the island. Tell Jason so he can pick her up when Dave flies in and take care of her while we're away."

"Frank…" began Kathy with a note of warning in her voice. "Don't you do anything you're going to regret."

"It'll be OK," said Frank. "I'm just going to see what I can find out."

"Please be careful," said Kathy hearing something unsettling in Frank's tone of voice. "Jason and I need you too."

"Don't worry," said Frank. "I'm coming back but not until Jamie is able to come back too. I have to go now. Tell Jason I love him and I love you too."

"We love you," said Kathy. "Please come back to us soon."

After putting down the telephone Frank moved about Graham's place quickly and located an old pair of gloves and squeezed his large hands into them. He then picked up Jamie's backpack up off the floor, made sure the notebook that Jamie had retrieved was inside it, and then went outside with Cindy locking the door behind them.

Frank walked over to Graham's car, pulled out the street map that Graham kept in the glove compartment, and spread it out on the hood of the small car. Frank referred to the address tag in his hand and then checked the map again. The address was only a few blocks away. Dave drove up in his car while Frank was refolding the map to put it away.

"Any news Frank?" asked Dave as he jumped out of the car.

"No, the ambulance just left a few minutes ago," replied Frank. "Thanks for coming to pick up Cindy. I called Kathy and she's going to talk to Jason and tell him what's happened. He'll pick Cindy up from you when you get over to the island."

Dave noticed the folded map laying on the hood of the car and said, "You're not going to do what I think you're going to do, are you?"

"I can't let this ever happen again," said Frank avoiding Dave's eyes.

"You're not going to be able to live with yourself if you do it," warned Dave.

"It won't be anything that permanent," said Frank. "He's not worth it. But I'm going to make sure that Jamie is safe from now on."

"Sounds like the right thing to do to me," said Dave nodding agreement. "Need any help?"

Frank looked up at Dave with surprise and then replied, "No I can manage."

"OK," said Dave. "Later when you've taken care of things if you want to get it off your chest remember that I'm a good listener."

"Thanks," said Frank. "I'll probably need to do that."

"When it's all done and you're ready just let me know and we'll sit down over a few pints," said Dave as he opened his car door to let Cindy jump in.

Dave got back in the car, started the engine, and then drove off down the street and quickly disappeared. Once Dave had left with Cindy to take her back to the island Frank opened the door to Graham's car and climbed inside. After adjusting the driver's seat back so he could fit Frank started the engine and backed the car out onto the street. The tires squealed as Frank gunned the engine and a few minutes later he pulled over to the side of a street lined with rundown houses one block short of the address that was on the tag in his pocket. Frank parked the car and shut off the engine. This was not something that Frank was particularly looking forward to but it wounded him to know that after all the effort that everyone had made trying to help Jamie that it might be in vain. Frank knew that he would not sleep for several nights afterwards but he was determined that Jamie would never again have to worry. Frank got out of the car and moved to the sidewalk on the wrong side of the street and began to walk.

Frank approached the address that was on the address tag from Jamie's backpack from the opposite side of the street in case anyone in the house was watching so he would have an opportunity to look it over without appearing suspicious. It was an old decrepit bungalow that desperately needed a coat of paint. There were shingles missing on the roof and in a couple of places the eavestroughs were hanging loose. Carefully looking about Frank checked that no one was watching and then walked up to the end of the block. He crossed the street and then headed back down toward the house this time on the correct side of the street.

Just as he approached the house Frank saw a walkway that went down beside the house towards the back. Checking once again that he was not being observed Frank quietly slipped along the side of the house. Approaching an open window Frank peered in and saw what he guessed to be Jamie's bedroom. There was a small bed that was messed up, a couple of torn posters on the wall, and a few clothes strewn randomly about on the floor. Frank then noticed the dark stains on the bedclothes and the smears along the floor leading in the direction of the window. There were stains on the windowsill as well and Frank could see the outlines of small fingerprints in the now dried blood. Frank realized that the stains on the bed marked where Jamie had lain after being attacked and the others traced his escape route afterwards.

Frank pushed the partially open window up higher in the wooden frame slowly to avoid making any noise and then carefully climbed through the window into the bedroom. He tried to avoid disturbing the marks Jamie's fingers had made on the windowsill but he smudged one partially. Frank quickly looked about and saw Jamie's name on a few scraps of paper laying on an old TV tray which confirmed for him that this was Jamie's bedroom and the blood stains were silent witnesses to what had taken place here not long before. Moving quietly to the bedroom door Frank slowly turned the doorknob, pushed the door open slightly, and peered out. Loud snoring sounds could be heard coming from outside the bedroom. Frank pushed the door open further and saw the back of a man's head leaning off to one side of a reclining chair in the living room. An empty bottle lay on the floor just below an arm that dangled down over the side of the chair.

Frank crept quietly across the badly chipped hardwood floor and as he got closer to the man the smell of alcohol assaulted his nose. Realizing that the man would be out cold for a while Frank decided to do a quick survey of the rest of the house. It only took a couple of minutes in the main bedroom to discover what Frank was hoping he would not find but nevertheless felt certain that he would.

In the closet of the master bedroom were box after box of DVDs, as well as a collection of CDs, all of them labelled in black felt pen in the same crude handwriting. Frank did not want to look but he knew he had to in order to be certain. Moving over to the computer that sat on one side of the bedroom Frank popped in one of the CDs and quickly had a list of files displayed on the screen – they were all image files. A few seconds more work with the computer confirmed Frank's feared expectations – the pictures were of Jamie. The face in the pictures was not smiling in the couple of images that Frank checked but there was no doubt as to the identity of the boy that they showed.

Returning the CD to where he had found it Frank pulled out one of the DVDs at random and inserted it into the player located next to the desk that the computer was resting on. Turning the sound down to zero and then switching on the TV attached to the player Frank pressed fast forward for a minute and then hit the play button. Frank felt his stomach begin to heave the moment the DVD began to play on the screen and he quickly stopped the player. Removing the disc from the player Frank returned it back to where he had found it in the closet.

Standing up Frank walked to the doorway in the bedroom that led back to the sleeping figure in the living room and then paused for a moment. All that Frank could see as he contemplated what he was about to do was Jamie lying beaten and bleeding on the floor of Graham's apartment. While it was wrong by conventional standards of measurement Frank also knew that this was something that needed to be done, that the time had now come for a balancing of the books where Jamie's life was concerned. His eyes dark with anger, Frank pushed the bedroom door open and began moving towards the living room.

***

When the ambulance arrived at the emergency entrance to Children's Hospital the paramedics pushed Graham aside in order to get Jamie's stretcher into the building quickly. Once they were through the doors of the hospital the already alerted and waiting trauma team took over from the paramedics and began to quickly determine the extent of Jamie's injuries. One glace at Jamie's ghostly pallor and his blood soaked clothes was all they needed and he was rushed through the swinging doors of the arrivals area and into one of the available trauma bays. Graham attempted to follow along behind but found his path quickly cut off by a polite but firm nurse wearing a tag that was engraved with the name Melody Schrader.

"I'm sorry sir but you will have to wait out here," said Melody in a serious tone pointing towards the chairs in the waiting room.

"But I need to be in there," pleased Graham. "He'll be afraid if there isn't someone that he recognizes with him."

"The doctors will do everything needed for the boy," replied Melody calmly as she escorted Graham over to the waiting room and then went back through the doors into the trauma ward. One look at the boy lying on the stretcher had told Melody that he was in no condition to be scared or anything else. The quantity of blood on Jamie's clothes and her experience told her that this could easily be over within a matter of a couple of minutes.

The logical side of Graham knew that Melody was right and that there was not anything he could do, nevertheless Graham could not sit still. He got up and began to pace back and forth just outside the doors to the trauma ward and as a result could overhear the urgent orders coming from within.

"His blood pressure is 60/palp… It's the blood loss. Hang four units of O-negative on the rapid infuser and get a central line going. Type and cross-match for six, he's going to be needing a lot more from the looks of this."

"Where the hell is all the blood coming from? It's everywhere!"

"Respiratory arrest! Intubate and bag him until you get the oxygen going – 20 litres!"

"Look down here it's just pouring out of him. Get another four units on the infuser now!"

"Pack it off and get me an OR! He's got to go in NOW or we're going to lose him."

"What about the arm?"

"It looks like a clean break. We'll worry about it later."

"We'd better do a head series."

"I said later! We've got to get that haemorrhaging stopped or the only X-rays he's going to need will be for the autopsy report."

"Look at his back. Are those… some of them look fresh…"

Graham peeked through the glass on the swinging doors of the trauma ward and saw one of Jamie's arms dangling over the side of the stretcher at a odd angle. Blood was running down his fingers and a small red pool was forming on the floor below. Graham finally could not take it any longer and moved away from the doors back towards the waiting room. Graham heard the entrance doorway to the emergency department slide open and looked up to see the patrolmen that had arrived at his place coming through the doorway.

The patrolmen began to ask Graham questions and disturbing as the questioning was it was almost a relief for Graham compared to what he had just seen and heard coming from the trauma ward. As predicted more police began to arrive quickly, some in uniform and others while not in uniform might as well have been since their bearing fooled no one. One of the newly arrived police officers, who was wearing sergeant's stripes, went up and talked to the admitting nurse but received a firm headshake to his request to enter the trauma ward. He then looked through the glass in the middle of the doors. A few moments later he stepped away shaking his head and stood motionless breathing heavily. After a moment the sergeant began issuing orders to organize the police to begin the investigation into what had happened to Jamie.

The gathering crowd of police was beginning to interfere with passage through the corridors and finally the duty nurse picked up the telephone and made a short call. A couple of minutes later Melody came out of the trauma ward and walked up to the police sergeant.

"You're going to have to move somewhere else," said Melody to the sergeant. "You're clogging the hallway and we can't move patients with all of you in the way like this."

"Excuse me?" said the sergeant towering over Melody by at least a foot and obviously trying to impress her.

Not intimidated in the least Melody pressed on, "You know the rules as well as I do so don't try any of that stuff on me. Now all of you get into the waiting room right this minute. As soon as we have any information for you about the patient we will let you know."

Hearing the commotion Graham paused and looked up from answering questions and smiled. He was taking an instant liking to Melody and how she was handling the police. Physically it was a total mismatch but in just under a minute powered solely by the authority of her white nurse's uniform she had the corridor cleared. The job completed, Melody then went back through the doors into the trauma ward.

Graham got up and began to pace while continuing to field questions from the police officers. The fact that he did not have many answers did not slow the police down. The questions were asked repeatedly with slight changes in wording and all designed to trip Graham up and find out if he knew more than he was saying or to see if his story would start to vary. From time to time Graham glanced over towards the doors of the trauma ward and saw nurses running in and out almost constantly. Sometimes it was extra equipment being rushed into the room and other times it was a nurse running out with a vial for analysis. The level of activity however was not decreasing and everyone was moving at a dead run. That alone said everything – Jamie was still hanging on and fighting but nevertheless Graham's fears only grew.

A couple of minutes later the doors to the trauma ward burst open and Melody ran all the way to the end of the corridor to call the elevator. A few seconds later the stretcher bearing Jamie came out of the trauma ward with doctors running alongside and followed rapidly along right behind her. Jamie lay on the stretcher his lower body covered by a blue sheet that showed bloody stains in several places. His upper body was uncovered but was also bloodied and dark-coloured bruising could be seen in multiple locations. Jamie's face was almost completely obscured by a ventilator with two hoses leading away from it and both arms had intravenous lines leading into them connected to plastic bags hanging overhead filled with blood. A monitor hooked up to Jamie was sitting between his partially spread legs and beeped very slowly.

As the stretcher with Jamie went past the chatter amongst the police died down and one of the older officers closed his eyes and looked away. The questioning ceased and a silence hung over the entire room. Graham tried to follow after the stretcher but was immediately intercepted by a doctor that had come out of the trauma ward just behind the stretcher.

"You're the boy's father?" asked the doctor as he gently took Graham by the arm and led him back into the waiting room.

"I'm Graham Martin," replied Graham. "Just this morning I was made Jamie's guardian."

"Do you understand what has happened to Jamie?" asked the doctor kindly as he encouraged Graham to sit down next to him.

"Not precisely," said Graham slowly. "But I think I can guess at least some of it."

"There is no nice way to tell you what I need to," began the doctor as two of the police investigators took out their notepads, stood nearby, and began to take notes rapidly. "The only way to do this is to just come right out and tell you. Jamie has been raped and beaten and very severely so. That however is not the worst of it. The bruising, the broken arm, the nose, at least one of his ribs… everything that you can see – none of it is life threatening even though it looks bad. If there is time we can fix those things and he'll heal."

"What do you mean by 'if there's time'?" asked Graham picking up on the significant undercurrent in the doctor's tone.

"Jamie is suffering from massive internal hemorrhaging," continued the doctor. "It looks like his colon has been torn open, most likely by a foreign object having been used on him. With damage like that frankly it's a miracle he even made it to the hospital. We started blood transfusions right away but almost immediately it just began to flow out again. His blood pressure is very low and his pulse is extremely weak. He's now being rushed up to an operating room to try and repair the damage in order to stop the blood loss."

"Is he going to…" said Graham unable to complete the sentence.

"I'm sorry to have to say this but I think that if there is anyone that should be notified you need to get in touch with them right away," replied the doctor. "His chances of survival are not good at all."

Graham's face turned even paler and his shoulders slumped. The sergeant, who had arrived to take charge of the investigation and had been standing nearby listening, handed Graham a glass of water.

After a moment Graham managed to collect himself and asked weakly, "There's no chance at all?"

"There is always a chance," said the doctor kindly. "For Jamie to have made it this far is amazing. However I'm not going to deceive you about the danger. Nevertheless some people can fight back against incredible odds. I hope as you do that he will make it but I want to be honest with you about how things stand. It's always much worse if we tell you a happy story and then later have to give you bad news."

"I don't have to like hearing it but I appreciate the honesty doctor," said Graham.

"It isn't any fun having to tell you all this," replied the doctor sadly. "But I think the worst part is seeing a youngster who has been brutalized like that. Does anyone know who did it?"

"I'm pretty sure it was his father," said Graham angrily.

The doctor shook his head, sighed, looked up at the sergeant, and said, "We have some evidence that your people will be wanting to have analyzed. You're not going to have any trouble doing a comparison against a suspect when you find them."

"Are you sure?" asked Graham looking up.

"Oh yes. The evidence that we collected will be conclusive even if Jamie is unable to testify," said the doctor. "We'll organize everything related to that with the police. I have to go now to help out in the OR but I promise you that I or the emergency surgeon will let you know immediately when there is any news to give you."

"Thank you very much doctor," said Graham as the doctor shook his hand and left running quickly for the same elevator that Jamie had gone into only a few minutes before.

Graham slumped back into the chair and cradled his head in his hands. The police continued to mill about and converse quietly but gave Graham a respite from their questioning. They too had heard the doctor's bleak prognosis and knew what it meant. After a few minutes Graham got up and went up to the patrolman that had first arrived at his place.

"Excuse me… Constable Murphy," said Graham reading off the name tag on the patrolman's uniform.

"Logan," replied the patrolman. "Call me Logan."

"Logan," began Graham again. "I think we need to notify the Department of Child Welfare. The lady to get in touch with is Matty… Madeline Thompson I mean."

"We already have," said Logan kindly. "She should be here any time now."

Graham went and sat back down. He tried drinking from the glass of water that was sitting next to him but choked on it sending water spraying in all directions. No one laughed. Most of the men had sons or daughters of their own and many were considering how well they would be handling the situation if it had been them instead of Graham.

Graham tried looking through an ancient issue of National Geographic that was laying on a side table. He also tried a Time magazine from two years ago but he was only turning the pages and not actually reading them. The minutes stretched like hours and Graham kept looking up at the doors to the elevator but they remained closed. Graham felt certain that at any moment the doctor was going to reappear with the news that would destroy him.

Graham heard running footsteps and his stomach lurched as he looked up to see someone running towards him. He breathed a sigh of relief and stood up – it was Matty.

"Have you heard anything?" she asked breathlessly as she skidded to a halt and then gave Graham a supportive hug just before they both sat down.

"Not a thing since they took him up for surgery," replied Graham. "It's been almost two hours."

"Waiting is always the worst part isn't it?" said Matty. "I've had to come down here far too often in my job and it never gets any easier."

"It's killing me," said Graham. "If only I had insisted that he not go off by himself. If I could've somehow talked him out of it."

"You can't blame yourself," said Matty gently. "This isn't your fault at all. There'll be plenty of time later to deal with whoever did this. All that matters right now is Jamie."

Just then the elevator door opened and a doctor still wearing his green scrubs walked out and looked around for a moment before walking towards Graham. Graham's stomach twisted itself into knots and he tried to read the doctor's face to determine what the news was. The doctor however kept his face clear of all signs and Graham was unable to guess what the news was going to be.

"You're Jamie's guardian?" asked the doctor.

"Yes," said Graham anxiously. "Is he…?"

"He's alive," replied the doctor with a tired sigh. "I didn't think he'd make it through the surgery but somehow he did. His heart stopped twice and we revived him both times. As far as the injuries are concerned his lower rectal area was torn open badly. It took over an hour to do the repairs that were needed. If he hangs in there and stabilizes we will need to go back in later and tidy things up but for now we've just tried to deal with the worst of it. He also has extensive bruising over his abdominal area and head, a fracture of the left arm, broken nose, two broken ribs, and a hairline fracture of the skull. The latter of those injuries while very graphic sounding are not life threatening. The major concerns we have right now are shock, the massive loss of blood, and especially peritonitis. The next twenty-four to forty-eight hours are going to be critical. He's in the intensive care unit now and under constant watch."

The doctor's words detailing the injuries each impacted upon Graham like body blows. He looked up into the face of the doctor wanting to see some hope but found none.

"Do you think he'll make it?" asked Graham fearfully.

"I would like to remain optimistic," replied the doctor carefully. "However, the injuries are so severe and the blood loss so great that the chances are not in his favour at the moment."

"Can I see him?" asked Graham.

"Not just yet," replied the doctor. "In a few hours if he remains stable we can maybe let you in for just a minute but absolutely no more than that."

The doctor rose from the chair he had sat down in and Graham stood up and thanked him for helping Jamie. After shaking Graham's hand the doctor walked down the corridor towards the trauma ward and Graham slumped back down into his chair. Eventually after giving Graham a few minutes Matty suggested that they go over to the cafeteria and have a cup of tea.

Several cups of tea and a few hours later found Graham and Matty pushing the crumbs of a half-eaten muffin back and forth across a cafeteria table absentmindedly. Melody walked into the cafeteria, spotted Graham, and came over and sat down next to him.

"If you would like you can come and see Jamie for just a minute now," said Melody with a smile.

"How is he doing?" asked Graham.

"He's very weak and is still in critical condition but he's holding on," replied Melody trying to cheer up Graham. "He must be a very determined young man. Most people wouldn't have gotten this far."

"He's strong deep down inside where it counts," said Graham with conviction.

Melody led Graham and Matty to the intensive care unit that was located several floors up in the hospital. In the observation room Melody assisted Graham as he donned a gown and mask before being allowed inside the restricted area. Matty waited outside and watched through the glass as Graham and Melody went inside.

Graham followed Melody past a number of beds, each of them an individual tragedy for some family, but he was not focusing clearly on the surroundings. Graham almost missed Jamie's bed because he did not recognize him underneath all the tubes, wires, and bandages that covered a significant portion of his slim frame.

"Has there been any change?" said Melody quietly to the nurse standing next to Jamie's bed watching him closely.

"None at all," replied the nurse evenly.

"You can stay for just a minute," said Melody as she backed off a couple of steps to give Graham a symbolic sense of privacy while remaining in fact only a few feet away. The nurse watching Jamie did not move at all and continued to check Jamie and the slowly beeping monitors on the wall above him regularly.

Graham approached the bed and looked down at Jamie. Jamie's eyes were closed and his face was swollen. There were IV tubes going into both arms supplying him with blood and other fluids, most of his face was still covered by a ventilator which was helping Jamie to breath, and there were bandages seemingly everywhere. Graham was not a doctor but even he could understand some of the numbers on the overhead monitors that beeped slowly and knew that Jamie was in bad shape. Graham collected himself and gently touched Jamie's hand.

"It's me Jamie," said Graham softly. "It's Graham. You're safe and the doctors have fixed you all up. You beat him. You made it."

Jamie did not move or react at all and the heart monitor display did not register the slightest change in its abnormally low readings. Graham knew that Jamie probably could not even hear him but despite that Graham hesitated only for a moment and then continued talking to Jamie.

"You're going to get better soon," said Graham. "When you're back on your feet we'll go back to the island and you'll be able to have fun with Jason again. You'll be able to go fishing and out for walks with Cindy. Now that we have the papers from the Department of Child Welfare you don't have to go back to your parents and can stay with me if you want. Everything is going to be fine, you'll see. You just need to be strong right now and hang on. Please Jamie, hang on."

Graham lips moved but he found he could not say anything more and looked up helplessly at the nurse watching Jamie and she tried to smile back at Graham but failed. There had not been a single visible reaction on Jamie's part to Graham's presence or his words. Melody moved back beside Graham and taking his hand led him out of ICU and back into the observation room.

"How is he?" asked Matty anxiously when Graham came through the doors.

"It's like he's completely lifeless," said Graham fighting back tears. "He didn't blink. He didn't move his hand. Absolutely nothing."

"That's to be expected at this point," explained Melody gently. "He's so weak right now that what seems like something very minor to you and I like moving a hand or just his fingers is completely beyond his ability. His body is totally concentrating on just staying alive. It's unlikely that we will see any reaction from Jamie for a number of hours still. My recommendation is that you go home, rest, and then come back in the morning."

"But I need to be here just in case he needs me," protested Graham.

"There's no chance at all of him coming around for some time yet," said Melody kindly but persuasively.

"I'm not leaving," said Graham defiantly. "I'm going to wait right here no matter how long it takes."

Seeing Graham's determination Melody led Graham and Matty back down to the waiting room. Graham's reaction was not unusual in a case like this and Melody understood. In order to retain her objectivity it was necessary to try and maintain a sense of detachment with each of the individual tragedies that passed through her department. Despite this however Melody knew that Jamie was going to be one patient that she was not going to be able to forget anytime soon. What she had seen in the trauma ward and then later the operating room was not something soon forgotten.

"I should get back to the office now," said Matty. "There are several reports that I need to file about this so we can get the right people involved. I need to coordinate the police investigation with the Attorney General's office and ours, make sure the doctor's statements are filed correctly, and of course check that everything is done up nicely in triplicate to keep the auditors happy."

"Thanks for coming," said Graham. "I really appreciate it a lot. It's good to know that someone does care."

"I always do," said Matty. "It's just too bad that sometimes things go this badly before we find out or can do something about it."

Graham shook Matty's hand and then watched her leave. Graham walked back to the waiting room and pinched a doughnut from a box that had materialized in the middle of a table that formerly had only been covered in old magazines. Graham could not remember seeing the box arrive but he smiled and mused wryly to himself that there was definitely some sort of deep-seated symbiosis between policemen and doughnuts. After eating it while pacing about Graham then walked over, stretched out on a sofa, and closed his eyes. He did not expect to be able to sleep but he was exhausted and the bright fluorescent lights were giving him a headache.

The police presence in the hospital had not decreased and in fact was now almost mounted as a guard around the waiting room. Some officers were writing up reports while others were on telephones or radios checking with colleagues in the field or back at headquarters. All of them made sure that Graham was given space and quiet in which to rest and all discussions were carried out at a respectful distance and volume in recognition of the stress that Graham was undergoing. Graham managed to doze fitfully for a while but then came instantly awake when he heard footsteps approaching and opened his eyes to find Frank standing in front of him.

"How is he?" asked Frank as he sat down heavily next to Graham.

"Just barely alive," replied Graham. "They let me see him for just a minute a while back."

"How bad is it?" asked Frank.

"Broken nose, broken arm, broken ribs, a skull fracture, cuts, bruises…" began Graham.

"And…?" asked Frank slowly.

Graham hesitated and then broke down saying, "The bastard tore him open inside!"

After a moment Graham continued describing the details to Frank but then suddenly noticed Frank's hands. They were cut and swollen around the knuckles. Then Graham looked at Frank more closely and saw a large bruise forming on the side of his face.

"Where were you? What happened to you?" asked Graham quietly so the police would not hear.

"Can I see Jamie," asked Frank quickly changing the subject.

"I don't know," said Graham realizing that Frank did not want to discuss the subject. "I'll go and ask. I don't know if they'll let you or not."

"Tell them I'm his long lost uncle," said Frank with a poor attempt at humour.

Graham went up to the admissions desk and asked the duty nurse if he could speak to Melody again. Graham then went back and sat down again with Frank. About fifteen minutes later Melody came in and stood next to Frank.

"I hear that Jamie's uncle wants to see him," said Melody with a slight grin and a questioning stress on the word 'uncle'.

"Please if it's at all possible," said Frank standing up.

"We usually only allow immediate family," said Melody completely unfazed by Frank towering over her.

"I am immediate family," said Frank. "As close as Jamie has except for Graham. We live right next door to them and my son will never forgive me if I don't see Jamie. It's very important that I see him. And I have something that I must tell him."

"He's non-responsive right now," said Melody still unconvinced.

"I have to see him," pleaded Frank. "It will only take a minute."

"All right but only for a minute," said Melody finally giving way. "Jamie is being examined by one of the doctors right now but wait here and I'll come back and get you in about half an hour."

When Melody returned three-quarters of an hour later she led Frank from the waiting room to the elevator and once upstairs they went down the corridor to the intensive care unit. When they arrived in the observation area Frank quickly dressed in the required gown and mask. Melody then led Frank into the restricted area and down to Jamie's bed. A quick visual inspection told Melody that nothing had changed in the couple of hours since she and Graham had come to see Jamie earlier.

"Jamie's uncle," said Melody in reply to the unspoken question on the face of the nurse keeping watch over Jamie.

Melody saw the nurse's eyebrows rise and smiled back. Frank was not fooling either of them but they both understood. Melody moved to stand next to the other nurse and they both saw the large frame of Frank move very carefully alongside Jamie's bed. Frank placed his hand next to Jamie's and leaned over him.

"Jamie, it's Frank," said the large man with surprising tenderness. "I want you to know that you're safe now. He'll never be able to hurt you again. I've made certain of it. It's over for good now and it will never happen again. Rest and get strong and you'll soon be out of here and back on the island with all of us."

Frank raised his head back up and then quickly looked down as he felt something brush against his hand. The heart monitor machine suddenly beeped slightly faster and both nurses looked up and saw the digital display of Jamie's heart rate begin to rise. Then they followed Frank's sudden glance down and watched with astonishment as they saw Jamie's hand move ever so slowly and deliberately before finally coming to a rest on top of Frank's hand. Frank felt Jamie's fingers close on his hand with the strength of a feather and he looked up with amazement at Melody while tears rolled down his cheeks unashamedly.

Chapter 16
A New Beginning

By the time that Frank had been returned to the waiting room by Melody the number of police had thinned somewhat but Logan was still there along with the sergeant overseeing the case and several corporals that were assisting with the investigation. Working with the hospital staff they were coordinating the various reports that had to be filed on Jamie's case, cataloguing evidence samples for analysis, and ensuring that the necessary statements were taken from the doctors that had initially examined Jamie and those that were with him in the operating room saving his life. Frank saw that Graham had laid down and fallen asleep on the sofa and sat down in a chair next to him.

About twenty minutes later another corporal ran into the waiting room the group had appropriated and went up to the sergeant and began talking quietly but urgently with him. The corporal was arguing with the sergeant in heated but quiet tones and this caught Logan's attention and he went over to listen. Several times they glanced in Graham's and then Frank's direction while continuing to argue. At one point the corporal pointed directly at Frank but the sergeant shook his head and it was clear that the corporal did not agree. Finally, his efforts to convince the sergeant exhausted, the corporal left. Logan spoke to the sergeant for a moment then looked at Frank and finally motioned him off to one side with a sideways nod of his head.

"I thought you might be interested to learn that a raid was just carried out on Jamie's parent's house and the investigators found something very curious inside," said Logan quietly.

"What would that be?" asked Frank innocently.

"Seems they found Jamie's father there. He was beaten up pretty thoroughly, knocked out cold, and whoever he was fighting gave him a busted jaw," began Logan. "In one of the bedrooms they found a big collection of movies and pictures with Jamie in them being abused by his father as well as other people. They also nabbed the mother who was making a break for it out the back way with a fully packed suitcase. A nice tidy package all wrapped up like it was still Christmas. They're not going to have a prayer at trial between what we found and what the doctor's here have for us."

"You don't say," remarked Frank. "That is good news."

"I don't suppose you would know anything about any of that would you?" asked Logan gently. "The father was a very big guy I've been told. It would have to have been someone that was pretty strong themselves to be able to manage doing that to a guy his size."

"I'd never do anything that wasn't appropriate to the situation," said Frank keeping his face expressionless.

"That's what the sergeant thought too," whispered Logan. "By the way, did you know that soft earth retains footprints? Unfortunately however it seems that one of the fellows didn't watch where he was walking and messed them up so it wasn't possible to get a proper set of impressions."

"That's too bad," said Frank looking at Logan with surprise.

"You might also want to get your hands looked at. You don't want to get an infection from having touched anything unpleasant," added Logan.

"Yes I'd better go talk to one of the nurses," said Frank. "I cut myself shaving this morning."

"If it'd been my boy I'd have cut myself shaving too," said Logan quietly as he walked away to get himself a cup of coffee.

Frank breathed a sigh of relief and looked up to see the sergeant looking pointedly at him. Frank nodded nervously at the sergeant who smiled, returned the nod, and then turned back to the report he was working on.

After a few more hours of pacing, dozing, and leafing aimlessly through old magazines Melody and Frank finally managed to convince Graham that he needed to go home and get some rest. Graham only relented when Frank pointed out that when Jamie did finally awake it was not going to do Jamie any good if the first thing he saw were Graham's bloodshot eyes from having had no sleep. Graham was emotionally as well as physically exhausted from the traumatic series of events and he let Frank drive him back to the small basement apartment.

***

"Wake up," said Frank shaking Graham's shoulder.

"I'm tired… what do you want?" said Graham groggily. Then suddenly remembering everything Graham sat up and said quickly, "What's happened? Is Jamie OK?"

"You better believe he's OK," said Frank with a big smile. "He's awake and we're going to go and see him."

Hearing the news Graham stormed out of bed and set a new record for getting ready. While Graham was organizing himself Frank folded the sofa bed back together and then rolled up the sleeping bag that he had used during the night which had been laying next to the bed. Then Frank picked up Jamie's backpack which was sitting on the floor next to where he had slept and took it outside and put it in the back seat of the car.

"Where'd the sleeping bag come from?" said Graham coming out of the bathroom.

"You were out like a light when we got here," said Frank. "So after I opened up the sofa and dumped you on it I called up Dave and he had a spare sleeping bag he brought over for me. He keeps one tucked away at the office for emergencies."

Less than half an hour after being woken up Graham and Frank were out the door and getting into the car. Graham fired up the engine and the little car's tires screeched as they turned onto the street and then headed for the hospital.

"Take it easy! We want to be going in the front door of the hospital and not end up being taken in the rear entrance," joked Frank.

In less than ten minutes Graham was pulling into the parking lot at Children's Hospital and parked the car. Frank reached into the back seat and grabbed Jamie's backpack and then Graham locked the car up.

"Why are you bringing that with you?" asked Graham.

"Jamie is going to want it," said Frank simply without further explanation.

The two men then ran towards the hospital entrance. Less than a minute later they were both standing in front of the admitting desk slightly out of breath.

"Is Melody on duty today?" gasped Graham.

"Yes she is," replied the duty nurse. "I'll page her for you."

Graham paced back and forth while waiting for Melody to come downstairs and seeing that he was preoccupied Frank walked over to the waiting room and spoke quietly to a police investigator who was still sitting inside the waiting room cataloguing the various reports related to Jamie's case. The investigator listened carefully to Frank and then picked up his radio and made a quick call. Frank then walked back to the entrance to the hospital and waited just outside. Several minutes later a police car pulled up and the sergeant in charge of the investigation got out and talked quickly with Frank. Both of them then went back into the hospital and waited with Graham for Melody to arrive.

About ten minutes later the elevator doors opened and Melody emerged.

"How is he?" asked Graham anxiously.

"The improvement is remarkable," replied Melody with obvious pleasure. "He's off the ventilator and breathing on his own now. He's still very weak but he's awake and responsive. We still have a nasal cannula attached but that's just to give him some extra oxygen to make his breathing easier. He's a hundred times better than he was when he was brought in."

"Oh that's wonderful!" exclaimed Graham while Frank and the sergeant stood nearby with big smiles on their faces.

"Can we go and see him?" asked Frank.

"If you don't he's going to drive the staff in ICU crazy," joked Melody. "He's pressing the buzzer every couple of minutes asking if you've arrived yet."

"Sounds to me like he's definitely on the mend," said the sergeant with a grin. "It's when they don't say anything that you have to worry."

"Jamie's voice is going to sound a bit raw," cautioned Melody. "It's nothing to worry about however, it's just a temporary side effect of him having been on the ventilator."

The group walked to the elevator and went up to the intensive care unit. While they were putting on the protective gowns and masks they all looked up as an electronic tone sounded.

"You'd better get in there," chuckled the watch nurse. "He's going to wear out that button if you don't."

Melody led Graham, Frank, and the sergeant into the restricted area and they walked down the row of beds. This time Graham had no problems knowing which one was Jamie's. It was the only bed where there was a patient who was trying to sit up, let alone moving at all. Approaching the bed they could hear a nurse admonishing Jamie to not move around so soon after surgery.

"You've got to be still," she said anxiously. "Your doctor's going to skin me alive if he sees you moving around like this."

"Jamie!" said Graham, perhaps a bit too loudly for the environment.

"Graham! Frank!" said Jamie with a very hoarse voice which while weak was only slightly less enthusiastic.

"How's it going there Tiger?" asked Frank.

"They've got me all wired up," said Jamie huskily. "If I move my fingers just right I can change the channel people are watching on the TV in the waiting room."

"That's so they can monitor you while you get better," said Graham with a gentle laugh.

"You look just like the back of the computer in Jason's bedroom," chuckled Frank.

"The way they've got you hooked up if I get you a headset I think you'll be able to help take our police calls," said the sergeant.

"We're so relieved that you're doing better," said Graham. "If you keep on improving like this it won't be long before you'll be able to leave."

"The doctor said he has to do a couple more things but he wants to wait for a few days before he does them," said Jamie.

"They need you to be a bit stronger first," said Graham. "Then you'll be able to handle it OK."

"It won't be too bad," said Frank. "They just want to give you a new coat of paint and polish up the chrome on your bumper."

"I think my bumper could use some polishing after what happened," said Jamie with an embarrassed smile.

"I brought this for you," said Frank pulling Jamie's backpack out from underneath his protective gown. "I think there's something in it that you meant to give to the sergeant here."

"You have it!" exclaimed an enormously relieved Jamie. "I've been scared that I'd lost it after everything that happened. Can you get it out for me?"

Frank reached into the backpack and pulled out a dog-eared notebook and passed it to Jamie.

Jamie took the notebook, quickly opened it, and checked inside briefly. Then he closed it and held it out towards the sergeant and said, "When you talk with my dad ask him about some of the people that I've got written down in here. That should keep him busy trying to explain everything."

The sergeant took the notebook from Jamie and opened it and read the first few entries and his eyebrows went up. He then flipped a few pages and read some more.

"You made these notes?" asked the sergeant. "These entries are records of what these people were doing to you?"

"Yes sir," said Jamie. "I wasn't able to all the time, but when I could I tried to write down the people's names and what happened."

"This is why you went back isn't it," said the sergeant clearly impressed.

"I wanted to make sure he knew I hadn't forgotten him," said Jamie darkly. "I hoped that one day I'd be able to pay him back for what he did to me."

"You're an incredibly brave young man," said the sergeant. "I'll make sure that this is put to good use immediately."

"I think Jamie needs to rest now," said Melody.

"You take it easy Jamie," said Graham with a smile. "We'll have you up and out of here before you know it."

"And stop flirting with the nurses," said Frank with mock seriousness. "We're getting complaints from their husbands."

"Awww," said Jamie with a good imitation of a pout.

Graham, Frank, and the sergeant began to leave when Jamie said, "Can Frank stay for just a minute? I need to ask him something."

"Only for a minute," said Melody putting just strong hint of mother-knows-best into her voice as she escorted Graham and the sergeant out towards the observation room.

"What is it Jamie?" asked Frank leaning over Jamie's bed.

"I heard one of the nurses talking and I sort of remember something but I don't know if I was just dreaming or not," began Jamie. "Did you… I mean, did…"

Frank understood what Jamie was asking and placed one of his hands on Jamie's and said, "You will never have to worry about him again now."

Looking down at the cuts and scrapes on Frank's hand, which was resting on his own, and his bruised face, Jamie said softly, "You didn't have to do that. I know you're not that kind of person, not like he is. You're going to feel bad about it later."

"I wanted to make sure it would never happen again," said Frank. "It's worth it to know that you're safe and that it's over with for good."

"Thanks," said Jamie feeling a massive weight lifting from his shoulders. "It's going to be good to not keep wondering when the next time is going to be."

"Never again Jamie," said Frank with kindness. "Never again."

***

Jamie's progress was rapid and word spread quickly through the hospital staff about the newest patient in ICU. When he had first arrived the staff that had worked to save him had fully expected the worst but now it was as if a dark cloud had lifted from hanging over the hospital and the positive feelings quickly spread throughout the entire facility. With Jamie improving each day and now able to receive visitors for short periods of time he was being visited frequently by police investigators. Graham or Frank always sat with Jamie while the questions were being asked so he would not feel alone and it hurt them to hear what was being said but they never left his side. Even some of the older well-seasoned officers sometimes had to pause as they took notes based on the information that Jamie was giving to them. After a couple more days in intensive care with no signs of complications appearing Jamie was transferred to a private room. This afforded him with more privacy and also gave more space for visitors.

The morning after Jamie had been moved, Graham and Frank arrived at the hospital only to find Pony and several other members from Pony's tribe all standing just outside the door to Jamie's room. The men were all tall, well-built, and had stern expressions on their faces. They scanned the hallway with their eyes constantly watching everyone that was walking on the floor.

"Hello Pony," said Graham. "I didn't know you had come over from the island. Have you been in to see Jamie?"

"We came last night after we were alerted," said Pony. "Then this morning we went in to see Jamie after he was awake."

"What's going on?" said Frank immediately sensing that something was not right.

"We're here to make sure that Jamie remains safe," said Pony. "We won't let one of our own stand alone against danger."

Just then the door to Jamie's room opened and out came a police superintendent in full dress uniform, brown boots shining, and buttons blazing. Inside the room Graham could see three other officers in regular uniform, one talking with Jamie, and the other two standing off to the side, one taking notes while the other was talking on the telephone.

"What's happened?" asked a worried Graham. "Something isn't right here."

"You are Graham Martin?" asked the Superintendent.

"Yes, I'm Graham Martin and this is Frank Tomlinson my neighbour," replied Graham.

"You have a very brave boy in there," said the Superintendent. "I came in this morning to congratulate him personally. I thought putting on the full uniform with all the bells and whistles would be a nice touch for him after everything he's been through."

"That's very kind of you," said Graham. "Can you tell me what's happening?"

"That notebook that Jamie gave us a couple of days ago is causing quite a stir," said the Superintendent. "We got right on it and began quietly investigating and identifying people based on Jamie's notes and from the things that we found at the house. Starting last night we began to pick people up for questioning and now charges are starting to be laid. Some rather important people in this town are beginning to get very nervous and we don't want anything to happen to Jamie. Your boy has helped us to uncover a very nasty mess. I was going to assign a couple of men to stand guard outside the door as well but your friends arrived last night and after talking with them we feel comfortable that they will handle things appropriately. I'll also have one of my men stay here for a few days as well, just in case."

"Is it that dangerous?" asked Graham anxiously. "You're expecting that someone might do something to Jamie?"

"No, you don't need to worry," replied the Superintendent in a reassuring tone. "By us making a big show like this, no one will be silly enough to even think about trying anything. Besides the big fish are too busy now trying to cover up their tracks and come up with explanations for their involvement. It won't help them however. We've already got a couple of the key figures and they are trying to save their skins by talking. That combined with what your boy has given us means that it's not going to take very long to get to the bottom of what's been going on."

***

The following couple of weeks were active ones for the police, Graham, and Jamie. The police were no longer stationed inside the hospital but that was because they had cast a wide net over the community based on the information they had collected from Jamie and elsewhere. The danger to Jamie had passed because those that might have been in a position to do something were now in windowless rooms trying to explain away their activities to unsympathetic ears. In more than one instance there had been desperate offers to trade information for leniency but the police and the Attorney General's office knew they had the upper hand and no lack of evidence. What some former pillars of the community failed to realize is that they had very little with which to bargain and those on the other side of the table were in no mood to go easy. They had all seen the pictures of what had happened to Jamie and other boys and several of the officers now asking the questions had been at the hospital.

A few days after Jamie had been attacked Graham took a couple of hours and went to his office to request an extension of his vacation time. While the request had been granted it had also been the source of a significant amount of grumbling on the part of Graham's boss. Later that same night after leaving Jamie at the hospital Graham and Frank had talked over dinner. The last lingering doubts were swept away and Graham finally knew for certain what he wanted after so many years of sitting behind a desk. All that remained was whether or not Jamie would ask. If he did Graham had his resignation written out and it was ready to be sent in.

Jamie had been kept busy as well during this time. While he had been moved out of intensive care Jamie was still being watched closely. Each day there were tests, dressings being changed, examinations, and yet more tests. At first Jamie submitted without complaint but over the last few days he had become increasingly irritated with the constant poking and prodding. For the doctors however this had been the final sign they were waiting for before scheduling the necessary follow-up surgery. Once a patient was well enough to start complaining that confirmed they had regained sufficient strength to handle a second procedure. The initial hasty job of internal repairs to Jamie had done the job of keeping him alive but now it was necessary to tidy things up so there would be no difficulties in the future as Jamie grew into a young man.

The next morning after being moved back into his room after the follow-up surgery Jamie was resting in his bed with Graham and Frank sitting next to him. Jason had sent over a card which Frank had picked up from Dave and Jamie blushed as he read it but refused to let Graham or Frank see it.

"You know you're probably going to be able to be out of here very soon now," said Graham. "Yesterday was the last of the surgery that they needed to do."

"I hope so," said Jamie. "Everyone here is really nice but I'm getting tired of just laying here all the time and being a pin cushion."

"I talked to Jason on the phone last night," said Frank. "He said he's been getting in a lot of practice on that computer game you both like and he said he's going to finally beat you when you get back."

"No way," said Jamie with a laugh. "I'm going to toast him good."

While they were talking the door to Jamie's room opened and in came Jamie's doctor and a nurse. Jamie looked up and groaned as he realized that he was going to have to submit to the inevitable once again. Graham and Frank got up and stepped outside of the room to give Jamie some privacy while he was being examined. After about twenty minutes the doctor and nurse came out of the room. The doctor stopped to talk with Graham in the corridor while the nurse continued on towards the elevator.

"So how is Jamie doing Doctor?" asked Graham as they stepped away from the door and stood nearby.

"The sutures are healing very nicely," said the doctor. "I'm very pleased with his progress. He has excellent recuperative powers especially considering everything he's been through."

"We've been doing our best to keep his spirits up," said Frank. "It's not always easy of course."

"I just told Jamie some good news," said the doctor. "We just received the final results of the second set of STD tests we did and they're all negative. So there won't be any lingering issues like that for him to worry about."

"Oh that's wonderful," said Graham with a visible sigh of relief. "I've been afraid to ask about that."

"He will have ongoing nutritional issues however," said the doctor. "He's been mistreated for many years and then when he was on his own, his food was irregular and not at all well balanced. So he'll need nutritional supplements for some time to come in order to try and make up for those years of neglect. Overall however I think he should do quite well. I'll be giving you some prescriptions and a list of the things you'll need to get for him."

"He's going to be eating properly from now on," said Graham. "I'm going to do my very best to make sure things are completely different for him."

"I have no doubt at all about that," said the doctor kindly. "If the next few days continue like this I think we're shortly going to be able to consider when Jamie can be released."

"Really?" said Graham.

"It will all depend on Jamie's progress continuing as it has after this final bit of surgery and of course where he's released to," said the doctor.

"What do you mean?" said Graham. "He's going to go back home with me isn't he?"

"Yes of course he is," said the doctor hastily. "I didn't mean that. It's just that for the first little while Jamie's progress will need to be monitored regularly and so it will be important to have a doctor nearby."

"That's going to be a bit of a problem then," said Graham with disappointment. "I live on Valdez Island and it's not exactly the big city there."

"I had a brief chat with Mr. Twofeathers about that and we think that we might have a solution to the problem figured out for you," said the doctor with a smile.

"What's that?" asked a mystified Graham.

"He told me about how Jamie hurt himself a few weeks ago and then had to go to the little clinic that they have in their village," said the doctor.

"That's right," said Frank. "He hurt his ankle and the village doctor fixed it up for him."

"Exactly," confirmed the doctor. "I've already had a talk on the phone with the doctor there and he's indicated that they would be pleased to have Jamie come and stay there for a couple of days for some extra observation before he goes home with you. He could also do all of the required follow-up examinations in the weeks to come. That way you wouldn't need to come back here for those."

"Are the facilities there adequate for what Jamie will be needing?" asked Graham.

"Mr. Twofeathers and I talked about that as well," said the doctor. "That was one of the reasons that he went back to the island after things settled down here. We both wanted to make sure that the clinic had everything that might be necessary before Jamie is released. Neither of us has said anything to Jamie yet however, we did not want to presume or force the situation on you. We simply wanted to check that it would be possible if you were willing."

"I think it's a wonderful idea," said Graham with a smile. "It's only about a twenty minute hike from where my house is to the village. When would Jamie be able to come home then?"

"First he would have to be transported from here to the island," advised the doctor. "Then he will need to stay at the clinic there for a few more days just to make sure everything remains OK. After that he could go home with you. The important thing to keep in mind is that Jamie is still quite weak physically and needs a lot of rest. His injuries are all healing well but his body has been through a great deal of trauma and I don't want him exerting himself for a while yet. So that means initially at least you will have to find another way to get back and forth to the clinic than by hiking."

"That won't be a problem," said Frank. "We've both got vehicles and we can drive him down to Salish Bay and then go around to the village by boat from there."

"That should work just fine," said the doctor with approval.

"But when can he go?" asked Graham sounding very much like an anxious child pestering a parent.

"What do you think of this coming Friday?" asked the doctor with a smile.

"That's just five days from now!" exclaimed Graham happily. "He's doing that well?"

"All indications are that he's bouncing back even better than expected," replied the doctor. "When I examined him just a few minutes ago everything was looking great."

"This is wonderful news," said an excited Graham walking over to the door to Jamie's room. "I'm going to go in right now and let him know."

***

Late Thursday afternoon a gentle knock came on the door to Jamie's room. Graham got up from his chair where he was sitting next to Jamie and went to check. Matty was standing outside in the corridor with a distressed look on her face.

"Why are you knocking?" asked Graham surprised at seeing Matty's discomfort. "Come on in."

"Can I talk to you for a minute out here?" asked Matty quietly with worry written all over her face.

Graham turned his head back in towards Jamie and Frank and told them he would be just a few minutes and stepped out of the room and into the corridor. Matty walked down the hallway a dozen or so feet, stopped, and then finally looked back at Graham.

"I don't know how to tell you this exactly," said Matty haltingly.

"What is it?" asked Graham getting worried. "Is Jamie in danger? They're not going to give him back to his parents are they?"

"Oh no, it's nothing like that," said Matty. "But it is something that's going to upset him."

"What is it?" demanded Graham. "What's happened?"

"His parents were brought into court today for the preliminary hearing," said Matty. "The charges were read out and on the advice of their counsel they've agreed to plead guilty to most of them. The mother has also agreed to assist with testifying against some of the others that have been picked up."

"But that should be good news," said Graham. "That means Jamie probably won't have to testify."

"Yes that is good of course," said Matty. "With all the physical evidence, the depositions we have from the doctors here, the lab results, and everything else that the police have found their lawyer is basically going to plead for the mercy of the court. They'll try to bring extenuating circumstances into play for the sentencing hearing, how their clients had a bad childhood, and all that sort of thing."

"Are you worried that they're going to get off easy?" asked Graham trying to think ahead.

"Oh no. I'm familiar with the judge who's presiding," said Matty. "He'll throw several books at them. I've also talked with the fellow that's leading the prosecution and he said that he's going to apply for dangerous offender status on the father. So that'll basically guarantee he'll never see daylight again in this lifetime."

"Then what is it?" asked an exasperated Graham. "Everything you've said sounds like it's going better than expected."

"It's this," replied Matty holding a sealed envelope in her hand.

"What is it?" asked Graham.

"It's a letter from his mother," said Matty. "After she wrote it her lawyer gave it to the court and the court has ordered that it be delivered to Jamie."

"Oh no," gasped Graham now understanding. "He'll just get scared all over again. Can't we just get rid of it or something?"

"Unfortunately I can't," said Matty almost in tears. "I'm a servant of the court and I've been ordered to deliver it. I don't want to do it and I feel horrible knowing what this will do to him but I have no choice."

"So Jamie has no choice then and has to read it," said Graham with resignation.

"No, I didn't say that exactly," said Matty somewhat coyly.

"You've got an idea then?" asked Graham hopefully.

"I have been ordered by the court to deliver the letter," said Matty with careful precision. "Those are my instructions."

"Wait a minute now," said Graham slowly starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel. "You're saying that you have to bring the letter here. Jamie has to know you've brought it to him."

"I am required to deliver the letter to Jamie," said Matty treading very carefully.

"I think I understand now," said Graham with a knowing smile. "Let's go back in and see Jamie."

Graham and Matty both took a deep breath, opened the door, and walked into Jamie's room. They sat down in the chairs that were on both sides of Jamie's bed. Graham sat up at the top of the left side and Matty sat next to Frank on the right side near the bottom of the bed.

"Jamie we have a bit of a problem," began Graham. "Matty here has been given an envelope containing a letter written by someone. That someone's lawyer gave it to the court and the judge has ordered that the letter be delivered here."

"It's from them isn't it?" said Jamie like he was spitting out poison.

"Yes I'm afraid it is," said Graham. "Matty didn't want to bring it but she was ordered to and so she doesn't have a choice."

"I have to read it?" asked Jamie with obvious disgust as his eyes grew dark looking at the envelope that Matty was holding.

Graham looked straight at Jamie and said, "She was only ordered to bring it here, nothing more."

Jamie quickly noted Graham's phrasing and suddenly his eyebrows went up. Jamie then looked over to Frank who smiled back at him with a devilish grin.

"Get me some matches," said Jamie with a voice that could barely be heard.

Matty opened her purse, reached inside, produced a book of matches, and handed them over. Frank got up and fetched a wastebasket from the other side of the room bringing it around to the side of Jamie's bed.

"Do you need any help?" asked Graham gently.

"No," said Jamie firmly while striking a match. "I'm going to do this myself."

Matty held out the envelope while Jamie put the burning match underneath it. Once it caught fire she let go and the flaming envelope fell into the wastebasket. Jamie, Graham, Frank, and Matty watched as the fire on the surface of the envelope spread and then the sheet of paper inside it began to curl and burn. Graham looked up as he heard Jamie's teeth grinding and saw his lips twisted into a snarl while the envelope continued to burn in the bottom of the wastebasket. Jamie's eyes did not blink once as he watched the flames completely consume the envelope.

When the flames died down and the envelope and its contents had been reduced to ashes Jamie said angrily, "Get that thing out of here."

Frank picked up the wastebasket and began to walk to the door with it. At the same time Matty stood up moving her chair out of the way and held open the door for him.

"How did you happen to have matches with you? I didn't think you smoked," said Frank as he went out into the corridor.

"I don't," said Matty with a meaningful smile on her face. "I just like to be prepared."

***

The floatplane touched down gently on the surface of the water and Dave guided the craft towards an old wooden wharf that extended outwards from the small native village located on the north side of Valdez Island. Taxiing in Jamie could see out the side of the plane that there were people clustered all along the shoreline and on the wharf itself.

"What is everyone doing out there?" asked Jamie.

Graham looked over at Frank and smiled before saying, "I think they're out here for you."

"For me?" said Jamie with surprise. "But why?"

"Oh I don't know," said Frank with a grin. "Maybe it's because they think something important is about to happen or because someone special is arriving."

The plane slowed and then finally bumped up gently against the side of the wooden wharf. Dave jumped out and tied the plane up securely and then opened the passenger door on the side. Dave helped Graham out first and then Frank. Finally Dave stepped up into the plane, lifted Jamie up, and passed him down to Frank who then helped Jamie to stand up on the wharf. Once Jamie was steady on the wharf, Dave passed Jamie's backpack out to Frank who then held it for him.

Jamie got his footing and looked up to see that the entire village and a good portion of the other residents of the island had turned out and were gathered around the wharf and were also spread out along the shoreline in both directions. Just as Jamie was looking everyone over wondering what was happening, the large crowd of people parted in the middle and Pony began to walk very slowly through the crowd and onto the small wharf where Jamie was standing.

Pony was wearing a blue ribbon-shirt that had yellow and red coloured bands going horizontally across it while others hung down. He also had on a black Navajo-style hat with a beaded hatband that went around it with intricate workings displayed on it; an eagle feather was sticking up from the hatband. In addition Pony wore a hair-pipe choker that went around his neck. When Pony finally arrived in front of Jamie he stopped.

"We are here today to welcome you back from your difficult journey," said Pony in a loud voice that carried and the large crowd immediately went silent. "You were taken against your will to the darkest of places. The Windigo tried to steal you away from us but you fought back. It tried to destroy you but you fought back. You almost left us but you still fought back. You have proven yourself to be strong and courageous and have returned from a place where no man should ever be taken."

Jamie looked up at Pony as he spoke the words and felt their rhythmic tone calm his nervousness at being the centre of attention. There was something about Pony's manner that made Jamie feel as if Pony knew everything about him and his past and respected him all the more because of it. Despite feeling that Pony could look inside him and knew the terrible things that had happened to him Jamie nevertheless felt no shame.

"It is given to a very few of us by the Creator to face a supreme challenge," said Pony. "This is how the great leaders of tomorrow are selected and tested. Out of difficulty comes strength, out of struggle comes understanding, and out of victory comes compassion. It is only with all of these qualities that a leader has the wisdom to counsel the people. You have shown that you have all of these and we honour you."

"Yesterday you left us as a boy," continued Pony. "Today you have returned as a man. You have proven your bravery and beaten that which tried to conquer you. We now invite you to join us and become one with our tribe. We ask you to honour us by adding your name to the long list of those that have gone before. We ask you to add your experience and wisdom to ours in council. Will you accept to join with us?"

Pony's words were unlike anything Jamie had ever heard before. Despite everything that had happened, everything that he had been forced to do in order to live, everything that others had done to him – despite it all and in fact specifically because of it, Jamie now realized that these people looked up to him for having survived. Shame at what he had been forced to live through had always lurked in the background for Jamie but looking into the smiling faces all around him the feeling now left him. Jamie with the unspoken question on his face looked up at Graham who was standing behind him. Graham smiled back at him and nodded.

"I accept," said Jamie with a voice filled with new-found confidence.

Pony then took out a necklace made of glass pony beads. The beads were in alternating colours of white, yellow, red, and black. Hanging from the necklace was a small circular pendant with regularly spaced spokes that radiated out from the centre of the pendant to its edge.

"With this necklace of the medicine wheel as token of your bond with us I declare you now and forever a member of our tribe," pronounced Pony as he placed it around Jamie's neck. "You are of us and we are of you. An offence against you is an offence against us all. We are now one and will stand together."

"You began your walk on the trail of life alone. It was a long and difficult journey filled with danger and enemies. But now you have friends who will walk with you. You will no longer face the dangers alone. You will no longer struggle without help. The days of pain are at an end.

"We welcome you today as one of our own. From this day forward you will be known as Myeegun, Great Wolf. Your days of walking the Red Road alone are now at an end."

After Pony spoke the final words he whispered into Jamie's ear explaining the background behind his new name and why it had been chosen for him. Pony then placed his hand on Jamie's shoulder and the deep echoing sounds of a drum began to be heard. Jamie looked about for the source of it and saw four men near the shoreline beating on a large drum with what looked like oversized wooden drumsticks. As the men began to beat on the drum the entire village began to chant in rhythm.

"Turtle Island is happy again," said Pony as the drum continued to sound rhythmically and the villagers sang along with the drum. "His heart beats strong as our brave one comes home at last."

Jamie looked around and everyone was smiling at him and he smiled back. Jamie who was normally shy with people he did not know felt comfortable and at ease. Graham put his arms around Jamie from behind in a gentle hug and he could feel the tension leaving Jamie as the sounds of the drum and the villagers continued.

"What's Turtle Island?" whispered Jamie.

"It's what the native people call the North American continent," replied Frank quietly. "According to legend the land is a living being, a great big turtle. We all live on the back of the turtle as it swims along through the universe which is a vast ocean. The beating of the drum represents the turtle's heart beating."

Listening to Frank's explanation Jamie could feel his own heartbeat keeping time with the drum almost as if the drum controlled it. Jamie felt his breathing calm and he looked up at Pony with a surprised look on his face and Pony touched his hand to his heart, nodded knowingly, and smiled.

Jamie looked back towards Graham a bit overwhelmed by all the attention but proud at the same time of the honour that had just been done to him. Graham returned the smile and hugged Jamie again. Just then there was the unmistakable sound of loud barking accompanied by confusion as a young boy in the middle of the crowd standing along the shore finally lost his struggle to contain a large white dog.

"Cindy, come back here!" called Jason but to no avail.

In an instant Cindy had broken out of Jason's arms and went bounding through the crowd of villagers. She ran out onto the wharf barking frantically, rushed up to Jamie, leapt up placing both front feet on Jamie's chest, and began licking his face enthusiastically. Graham quickly put his arms up to support Jamie so he would not fall backwards under Cindy's weight as Jamie was still weak. Jamie for his part returned Cindy's greeting in kind by petting her using his unbroken arm and attempted to hug her with his other arm even though it was in a cast.

"It's good to see you girl," said Jamie happily as he rubbed his one free hand up and down Cindy's back as she continued washing Jamie's face.

While Cindy was busy greeting Jamie, Jason came down and gave his father a hug to welcome him back. Jason's mother Kathy also came out and down from the crowd, gave Frank a kiss, and stood close by.

When Jamie finally managed to get Cindy settled down Jason came up to him and at first stuck out his hand but then seeing Jamie's right arm was in a cast lowered it again. Jason then tried a couple of times to say something and getting more and more flustered finally gave up and wrapped both arms around Jamie in a big bear hug.

"I'm so happy that you're OK Jamie," said Jason while still hugging him. "If you'd been… I don't know what I would have done. I'm not going to ever let you go away alone again."

"I'm really glad to be back Jay," said Jamie happily. "I lost the bracelet that you made for me though. It got torn off when my dad caught me at the house. I'm really sorry about that."

"That's why you're back here now and safe," said Jason. "It came off so your wish came true. So now you can stay here with me always."

"Well that part is extra special," said Jamie with a smile. "I don't ever want to have to go back there again."

"And I don't want you to ever get hurt again. You're too important to me," said Jason softly as he gave Jamie a kiss right on the lips. Then realizing what he had just done in front of everyone Jason blushed furiously and ran over to his father and hid his face against Frank's stomach.

Frank looked down at his son with surprise while putting his arm around him and then looked over to Jamie who now had a calm happy smile on his face. Then Jamie blushed when he noticed Frank looking at him in a curious yet pleased sort of way.

"Maybe it's about time I had the father-son talk with you," said Frank quietly to Jason.

"Awww Dad," replied Jason now completely embarrassed as Jamie looked up at Frank with a shy grin.

"On the other hand perhaps it's too late," reflected Frank with a smile.

Finally the village doctor that had looked after Jamie when he had hurt his ankle came up and announced that Jamie needed to rest. The drumbeat reached a crescendo along with the villager's chants and then the ceremony was over. Jamie was a little shaky after all the excitement and Pony quickly moved to his side and picked him up in his strong arms and began to carry him off the wharf and towards the clinic.

"Can you teach me the things you taught Jason about your… our people?" asked Jamie as Pony carried him along.

"Now that you are one of us that is my great honour," said Pony. "I will teach you the ways and stories of your new people. Our history and traditions will become yours and we will be a part of your new family. You have come through a great struggle and bring great honour to us by joining our tribe. Our fathers and our forefathers before them have fought many battles against evil and now your victory will be remembered as theirs have been."

"I've never had a family before," said Jamie softly. "At least not what you'd call a proper one."

The doctor opened the door to the clinic and Pony carried Jamie through the doorway and set him down on the bed that was waiting for him just inside. Jamie's strength was not fully recovered yet and everyone could see that he was starting to get shaky from the exertion and stress of the trip back to the island. It was going to be many weeks yet before Jamie regained his former strength and everyone realized that Jamie needed rest and they all got ready to make their way back home. Cindy settled down on the floor next to Jamie's bed. Graham tried to convince her to leave but she refused to move. Graham put his hand on Cindy's collar to give her a little tug but her lips pulled back slightly and she showed her teeth to Graham along with the gentlest of growls. Graham understood then and let Cindy stay. Now that Jamie had returned Cindy would never leave his side again.

"I guess I should go and get some rest too," said Graham. "I hope you won't mind if I go home and get some sleep. All the excitement this past month has taken a toll on this old guy."

"That's OK," replied Jamie. "I never had a chance to say it before but thanks a lot for looking after me and getting me to the hospital Graham. I knew if I could just get back to your place somehow everything would work out."

"Everything is definitely going to be OK now," said Graham. "I'll ask the boss at work for some more time off so I can be here to help you while you get better. He'll probably get upset about it but you're more important to me than keeping him happy."

"You don't have to do that," said Jamie worried that he was going to be a burden on Graham. "I don't want to cause any problems for you."

"It's no problem and I'm looking forward to it," said Graham reassuringly. "I've been waiting a long time trying to find something that I really cared about but I think that what I'm looking for is sitting here right in front of me. I wasn't positive at first but I knew it for sure when I opened the door to the apartment back in the city and saw you lying there on the ground hurt. Now that everything has been settled do you think you could get used to having me around helping you?"

"I was doing a lot of thinking while I was in the hospital and I was kind of wondering if… like well maybe if you could…" stammered Jamie. "What I mean is… no you'd never want a kid like me. Not after all the stuff I've done."

"Go ahead Jamie," said Graham softly. "Ask."

Jamie took a deep breath and with his head looking down said softly, "Could you like… be my dad maybe?"

Graham had hoped that Jamie might ask, he had even thought of what he might say if Jamie did ask, but now that the moment had arrived Graham found the enormity of the situation had left him speechless. Graham tried to speak but found that he had to pause for a moment.

Clearing his throat and finally finding his voice Graham said, "It'd be the most wonderful thing in my life Jamie. Matty said that I shouldn't be the one to suggest it to you. She said that I had to wait and let you bring it up if you wanted to. She did say though that if you did ask that it shouldn't be hard to arrange now after everything that's happened."

"I'll be really good," said Jamie tentatively looking up at Graham finally. "Please? Pop?"

Graham's self-control totally left him in that instant. He put his arms around Jamie, held him tightly, and with tears in his eyes said, "Yes Jamie, I'd love it if you were my son."

Chapter 17
Epilogue

It was mid-afternoon and Graham was lying on the sofa with Cindy sitting on the floor next to him. Graham was caressing her head gently as she laid it on Graham's chest. The stereo was playing one of Graham's favourite discs and he closed his eyes while listening to the music. It was an old disc but Graham was getting older now too. He still found the music profound however even if had not been current for a number of decades. As he listened the melody burst forth out of deep slow guitar chords and interleaving drumbeats and the music filled Graham's mind. He turned his head and looked out the window at the cold winter wind blowing the barren tree branches to and fro. When Graham went out for walks now he felt the cold wind more than he used to. That was the way of things however, time passing and never stopping, always moving forward, and never standing still. Where did all the time go? It seemed like only yesterday that his second life had begun when a light had come along and had shown Graham the way and in doing so changed everything for him… but that was eight years in the past now.

Graham and Cindy looked up as Jamie came into the room. He was carrying a tray with cookies on it.

"I've invited Jason and a few others to come over for tea," said Jamie as he placed the tray on the coffee table.

Graham was about to respond but Jamie was already walking out of the living room. It had been the same every day for the last couple of weeks. Graham could sense that something big was brewing inside Jamie but he did not know what it was exactly. Jamie had grown and come out of his shell enormously during the years since he had first come to live with Graham permanently as his son. There had been the terrible trauma at the beginning when everything had almost ended before it had even begun. Then later there was the adoption and the two of them slowly getting used to each other and both learning how to be a father and son and then becoming a family. There were the trials as they both worked to exorcise the demons that had been planted deep into Jamie's psyche by his parents, working to reduce the nightmares, and to lay to rest Jamie's terrors at night. All of these steps had been hard, sometimes exceedingly so, but through them all they had always stood by each other. Each time difficulties had come up Jamie worked and overcame them, making yet another positive step in his journey towards adulthood.

Suddenly however that gradual but always positive trend had seemed to reverse itself in the last several weeks. Jamie had become much quieter, keeping to himself a lot more, talking less, going for long walks by himself, and also withdrawing from Jason. Even Cindy had noticed, no longer being allowed to go along when Jamie would go out and hike sometimes for the entire day alone. Cindy was getting older now too but she had helped just as much as Graham while Jamie was growing, maturing, and learning to move past what had happened to him. Jamie had been somewhat hesitant with Cindy's boundless enthusiasm at first but once they got to know each other they had become inseparable friends soon afterwards.

Graham was worried for Jamie but at the same time he had seen these reflective periods before. They were the norm at the beginning and then gradually less so over the following years. Now the moodiness seemed to be coming back again and stronger than it had ever been previously. Graham sensed a turning point was arriving and for the first time in a long while he felt scared. Not for Jamie this time however but for himself.

Jamie was not a boy anymore. Indeed Graham had realized from early on that Jamie had never truly been able to be a boy – that part of his life had been irretrievably stolen from him. Graham noticed quickly that Jamie seldom laughed and played with the same carefree abandon that the other youngsters who lived on the island did. Once he started going to school with them, even while enjoying being with them, he was always much more reserved in his demeanour and watchful of his surroundings and people that might only be casually walking by. Jamie had always shown a maturity far in advance of his years from the first day that Graham had met him and Graham knew that this was the result of Jamie having had to fend for himself from a very early age. Graham now suspected that the time was fast approaching when Jamie would complete the final and much more difficult transformation into manhood. Much as he wanted that success for Jamie, Graham knew that when it happened he would hurt inside. The scared, hurt, young boy that he had met, helped, and then taken care of since that time would be gone forever when that day arrived.

Despite the difficulty however there was nothing that could be done. Only Jamie would know when the time had arrived for his transformation. The day could not be hurried and it could not be delayed – nor should it be. Graham knew that the most important job for him at this point was to do nothing. Nothing – the hardest thing of all to do when someone you cared about was troubled. Graham knew however that all things came in their time. It was a lesson that he had learnt while living with Jamie. A knock on the front door stirred Graham out of his contemplation and he got up to open it.

"Frank, Kathy, Jason," said Graham seeing the Tomlinson's standing just outside. "Please come in."

"Do you know what's going on?" asked Jason in a concerned tone. "There was a note from Jamie under our door when we woke up inviting us to come over for tea this afternoon."

"No, Jamie won't talk about whatever it is," replied Graham. "He's in one of his quiet phases so I've been trying to give him time to work through whatever it is."

"He won't talk to me about it either," continued Jason. "He's got me worried. Whenever I try to ask what's going on he refuses to talk about it."

"He's not usually like this," said Kathy. "Jamie's had good times and bad ones too but he's usually so positive and happy."

"He'll let us know when he's ready to," cautioned Frank. "We just need to give him space and let him know we care."

"I'll go up and let him know we're here," offered Jason as he went upstairs to Jamie's room and knocked on the closed door.

"Please come in and sit down," said Graham. "Jamie's put out some things and I'll go and see about making tea for everyone."

Graham went into the kitchen and busied himself with making the tea. He filled a kettle with fresh water and put it on to boil. Then he filled a large brown earthenware teapot with hot water from the tap to warm it up. Graham finally opened a cupboard and took out a tin of Earl Grey.

Jason came down from Jamie's room and walked into the kitchen where Graham was pouring the warm water out of the now heated teapot and spooning in some of the Earl Grey tea. Jason wordlessly picked up the cups and saucers that Graham had laid out and took them into the living room. Just then there was another knock at the front door and in the living room Frank got up off the sofa to open it.

"Dave, Pony, how are you doing?" said Frank letting them into the house. "What brings you over to this side of the island today?"

"Jamie left a message on my phone machine saying that I should come," said Dave.

"There was a note under my door this morning when I got up," said Pony.

"Do you know what this is about?" asked Dave. "We were talking with each other as we walked over from the village and neither of us knows what's going on."

"Right now you know as much as we do," said Frank. "Whatever it is though I think we're going to find out shortly."

Jason went back out into the kitchen, collected two more settings for tea, and brought them into the living room. Hearing the kettle whistling Graham took it off the stove and poured the hot water into the teapot over the tea leaves. Graham then set out cream, sugar, and some teaspoons that Jason then carried into the living room. Graham finally came out carrying the teapot and put it down onto the coffee table.

Graham and Jason sat down heavily after the tea was laid out. Silence hung heavy over the room and everyone looked at each other but no one spoke.

"Shall I be Mother?" said Frank finally as he reached for the teapot and began to fill the cups and hand them out. The plate of cookies was passed and all that could be heard was the ticking of the clock on the wall as everyone sat quietly and drank their tea.

"Pop?" said Jamie.

Graham turned along with everyone else and looked towards Jamie who was standing at the foot of the stairs at the back of the living room.

Pop. Graham loved when Jamie called him that. He thought that name to be the highest honour that he had ever had bestowed upon him. At the same time however Jamie never used it unless something very big was on his mind. Then Graham noticed that Jamie was holding something in his right hand – the backpack. The same backpack that Jamie had had with him when Graham first met him, the same backpack that Jamie had kept with him through all the years that he had lived with Graham, the same backpack that had been clutched tight in his hand on that terrible day eight years ago when Graham had found him collapsed outside his door almost dead. A cold chill ran down Graham's back. The time had arrived.

"Yes, Jamie?" replied Graham sitting up in the armchair. "We're all here."

Jamie came fully into the room with the tattered backpack clutched tightly in his hand. Cindy sensed the tense mood in the room and moved close to Graham and began to whine. Graham placed his hand gently on her head to comfort the big white dog. Jamie placed the backpack on the floor between himself and his adopted family and looked down at it.

All through the years that Jamie had been with Graham he had always kept his old backpack. It had been Jamie's safety net whenever he had needed to run in the bad old days. It had saved him several times in those days when things had become unbearable and he had had to flee. When that happened Jamie would grab his backpack and run. Run as far and as fast as he could. No matter how safe he might have felt for a period of time somewhere, Jamie had always ended up having to run and then his backpack and its contents had taken care of him. Whenever people or events had turned on Jamie his wits and his backpack had saved him. After he had come to live with Graham he still kept it and it laid underneath his bed, ready and waiting in case it was needed. It had been a long time now without any need for Jamie to worry or run but he had still kept it. Now it was sitting on the floor of the living room and everyone was looking at it.

"Thank you all for coming," began Jamie. "Eight years ago the world totally changed for me. I was lucky enough to get a second chance at life. I gained a new family – a real family – something I'd never had before. Since then all of you, each in different ways, have become that new family for me. It hasn't always been easy for me and each of you have helped me through a lot of difficult times and there is no way I can ever say everything I want to for what you've done.

"When I initially came here I thought at first that I would be free from the past. But the chains they used were still inside my head holding me down. Over the years you have all helped me to gradually break the links in those chains one by one. Sometimes without meaning to I lashed out in anger while you were helping me to do it and I'm sorry about that but through everything you all stood by me and never left. I never knew anyone before that didn't leave when things got difficult.

"This house has been my home since I arrived here. I never had what you would call a real home before. I never had a place where I felt safe and wanted, a place where I didn't have to sleep with one eye open, or a place where I could actually relax and not have to watch my back constantly. This has been a place where I wasn't afraid for my life if I broke a plate or forgot to take my shoes off and got dirt on the kitchen floor. It's been a place where I learnt that a man could be a friend and a father, not an enemy to be feared. Instead of those things it's been a place of healing and caring. It's been a place where a very special man gave me something that I had never experienced before – understanding and kindness.

"Each of you has given me something that has meant more than anything else to me, your time and your love. Being paid attention to before only meant one thing and so it was always my hope to be invisible and forgotten. I was never invisible for very long but it was what I longed for, to be forgotten so I wouldn't get hurt anymore. That all changed though when I came here. You've all helped me and there was never a bill waiting to be paid at the end of the road. That was the hardest thing of all for me to learn, that there wasn't a bill waiting for me. There always had been before, absolutely nothing came for free. It took me a long time to learn that you weren't quietly tallying up the price and eventually going to want to be paid back. You gave your time and your love without thinking or counting and that was something that was so different for me.

"And of course on top of all those things that have been so precious to me I found something that I never dreamed I would in my entire life. I found love and someone special. I found someone that doesn't care about my past, what I had to do, or what was done to me. Someone that never takes, never demands, is always patient, and makes me complete."

As he spoke Jamie stood in the centre of the room and in turn looked upon each of the people that had become part of his new family. Graham who had first taken him in and then later given him a home, the Tomlinson's who had shown him by example what being a family really meant, Frank who had given Jamie his first real job which allowed Jamie to learn self-confidence as well as a trade, Pony who had given him new roots to call his own in place of those that he had lost, Dave who had listened endlessly when Jamie needed to talk as well as given him adventure by teaching him how to fly a plane, and of course Jason who had taught Jamie that love meant accepting a person as they are regardless of their past or their problems. Kathy and Graham wiped at their eyes openly while Frank and Jason swallowed hard and breathed heavily. Only Pony remained an oasis of calm. He smiled back at Jamie while watching the amazing growth in spirit that was happening to the former youngster that he had first met at one of the Tomlinson's Christmas Barbecue's years before and then once again a few days later in the forest when Jamie had hurt his ankle while running away from his fears.

"The time has come to take one more step," said Jamie as he knelt down and unzipped the top of the backpack. "This backpack was my old life. It held everything that I had in the world. I always kept it close to me just in case I had to run again. For a long time, even here, I didn't let it get out of my sight."

Everyone sat frozen in place and could hardly breathe. Cindy was motionless, alertly watching Jamie's every move, her muscles tensed, and her ears up.

Jamie reached into the backpack and pulled out a small old pair of blue jeans. Tattered and shabby, torn in spots and dirty, they had a distinct odour about them that instantly took Graham's mind back in time, back to a walkway leading to a subway station. Looking at the jeans distantly for a moment Jamie wordlessly set them down onto the floor.

Reaching again into the backpack Jamie removed an old jean jacket that he then placed on top of the blue jeans on the floor. A couple of pairs of underwear emerged and joined the small pile. Then an old T-shirt came out of the backpack with dried bloodstains covering one side of it. Jamie looked at it for a long time, his eyes staring right through the stained shirt and into the past.

Putting his hand into the backpack again Jamie brought out a couple of instant photographs of a young boy. Graham caught a glimpse of one of them and the boy looked like Jamie when Graham had first met him. Kathy noticed the same face on another of the pictures. The boy in the pictures was naked and the face was not smiling. Jamie dropped the pictures on top of the pile of clothing.

Silence hung heavy in the air as Jamie got to his feet and then bent down to pick up the collection of items up off the floor. He carried them over to the far side of the living room next to the woodstove and put them down again. Jamie opened the glass door on the front of the woodstove's firebox and took the pictures from the top of the pile and looked at them one more time. After a long and silent minute Jamie dropped them into the woodstove. The images on the pictures faced outwards as they landed in the smouldering embers of an earlier fire. For a fraction of a second Frank saw the pained face of a hurt boy in one of them before they shrivelled up and then burst into flame.

One by one Jamie slowly dropped into the fire the old clothes that he had taken out of the backpack. Clothes from when he had been that hurt young boy in the pictures. First the old jeans went in, then the jacket, and finally the underwear. When only the T-shirt remained Kathy broke the silence when Jamie started to move his hand to add it to the flames.

"Please Jamie, could I have that?" asked Kathy. "I'd like to keep it so I will never forget what it means if a child is hurt."

Jamie looked back towards Kathy and saw tears rolling down her face. He smiled at Kathy and then walked over towards her and placed the shirt in her hands.

Turning back towards the now empty backpack that was sitting on the floor Jamie walked over to it and picked it up. Jamie walked slowly back over to the woodstove and hesitated for a moment and then pushed it too into the flames and closed the glass door on the front of the woodstove. He stared into the fire as the flames licked over the surface of the backpack and then engulfed it in a bright burst of light.

Jamie stood in front of the woodstove a long time looking into the fire, watching the flames erase the final traces of the life he had been forced into leading long ago. The flames were taking with them the final traces of the demons that had haunted him for so long and now Jamie was consigning them to the past for good. Jamie knew now finally and completely in his heart that he no longer needed to be ready to run, that finally he was safe at last.

Jamie walked back towards the armchair that Graham was sitting in and then sat down very carefully on Graham's lap. Jamie was no longer the short thin undernourished boy that he had been when Graham had first met him. He was six feet [1.80 m] tall now and a strong muscular young man. Graham barely came up to Jamie's shoulders when standing next to him and with advancing age was depending more and more upon Jamie even as Jamie became increasingly self-sufficient.

Graham could not recall Jamie ever having sat on his lap before, even when he was much younger. For this one moment however, despite their size and weight difference, Jamie felt as light as a feather to Graham.

Cindy pushed her muzzle against Jamie's leg and looked up at him with her deep brown eyes. Jamie reached down and petted her affectionately on the head. Then Jamie put his arms around Graham and said, "It's good to be home, Pop."

Afterword

written Spring 2016

The story of 'Jamie' that you have just read, is based upon the true-life experiences of a real young man. Many of the events described actually occurred (with suitable adjustments for dramatization and privacy), while others were inspired in general terms by what took place. The main characters in the story aside from Jamie (i.e., Graham, Kathy, Frank, Jason, Dave, and Pony) are composites of the various people who were involved.

The author would like to salute the real-life young man upon whom the story is based. In the author's eyes he truly embodies the virtues of courage and bravery.

Although the story ends here, the real-life inspiration for 'Jamie' continues to live on with his new family and friends. He has gone on to accomplish many wonderful things along with his life-partner 'Jason'. While still troubled at times by the past, it grows continually weaker and dimmer as the years go by. Even though as all survivors of abuse can attest it never completely leaves, the shadows and demons are no longer in control. Jamie has moved far beyond anything he ever expected he might accomplish and continues to impress those of us privileged enough to know him each and every day.

Epilogue by Jamie

The events that follow are a continuation of the life of Jamie written by myself. Names and places are suitably changed to keep me somewhat anonymous, even though I really am not. I wrote this because I wanted adults as well as kids to know your life does not end just because you were abused. It moves forward, you get to choose though how well and what you want to do with it. For me it is no longer about survival, it is a happy life, a new life, and always changing and full of new adventures every day. I'm not a great writer and have to thank Tigerpaw for his guidance and editing for me. This is condensed I did not want to do a day-to-day thing. It just sums up that even after living in a nightmare I came out the other end a winner.

A Continuing Life

I have finally grown up. Now looking back over the last seventeen years of my life, I am amazed I am still alive. The first thirteen were brutal, with the last two years also bringing on some serious changes in my life. Living on the streets had given me a new outlook and cynicism to my life. I questioned every move, learned to fear, and not trust anyone but my own self. Would that ever change? It did when I turned thirteen and made an escape with an adult and friends, who seemed to be able to help me out. While giving my trust, was, and is still hard to this day I finally was able to trust Graham, Jason, Frank, and Kathy, along with several others with all my heart. My life on the island had seen many changes over the next years. I have become stronger, more fit, and most of all more sure of myself. While there are still ups and downs, the ups outweigh the downs. So here is how it has gone over the last seventeen years.

I never left my new home and eventually Jason and I decided to share a room. Mostly the whole upstairs since as Graham got older it became harder for him to climb the stairs. During those early years Jason and I went on to finish secondary school. Not really able to keep up because my smarts lay elsewhere, and having missed almost thirteen years of school, I had to play a lot of catch up. As a result I more or less finished up where I was already at. On my own I also studied Karate and Jujitsu. Jason went on to university and studied for a degree in business. Finding a great job doing what he loved, working at a small chain of sports stores on the mainland.

For a few years Jason and I had grown apart trying to find our place in this world. Jason took to his job so well he advanced over the time we were apart. He is now a district manager. It took about eight years for us to come back together and realize we were meant to be together forever. So Jason, with my help sold his small home on the mainland and moved back to our humble place on the island. Our home is now once again filled with the sounds of all of us, the laughter and joy, some pain and sorrow.

As Graham, Frank, and Kathy have gotten older and do less we have picked up the slack. Between both of us working together, we managed to get on with a life of our own, as well as to be able to help at home. I took over Jason's old job on the island, as I seemed to have the knack for growing plants and doing landscaping. I have built some great new water features and managed to grow grass in areas where I was told it would never grow. Of course it took me several years to get it to grow but it finally did.

During the secondary school years Cindy had passed on so I got a beagle pup, and named her Angel. She was my pride and joy. I had to join a hunt club in order to handle and own guns. Frank was key in helping me with that, and even betting me I could not teach a beagle to point. When I graduated secondary school the owner of the club gave me a job helping out. Soon he took me under his wings and taught me gunsmithing. I had a real knack for it, and took to it like a salmon swimming upstream to spawn.

I was not quite as good in math, spelling, writing, and reading due to significant dyslexia but I am great at about anything else I put my mind to. I have overcome more challenges than most kids and even adults go through during life. Mostly in the first thirteen years, I had already out of necessity lived as an adult when on the streets. Later when at the gun club I worked with the owner and I got to know his kids. He had a young son named Caleb, who liked to play with Hunter Dan action figures and toys. Since I missed out on most of what should have been playing with other kids my age, I started to play with his son Caleb. Since there are not a lot of kids around I started playing with him on a regular basis. Even coming in on my days off just to sit in the lawn and pretend we were hunting the big elk and bear found on the mainland.

While training my beagle to hunt Frank challenged me to a bet, he said "a beagle has a great nose, too bad they can't point." So with the bet in place, I found the books I needed to train what are known as versatile gun dogs. During this time I bred Angel with another beagle named Bucko. She had a litter of three pups, one I gave to a friend (I regret that decision now, it haunts me to this day. I would go into details but it is a story all of its own. I really do not want to revisit that spot), and one was given to the owner of Bucko instead of cash in exchange for breeding. I kept the third and named him Crystal who would become my star beagle. I started working right away with all the information I had learned on training both a scent hound and a versatile gun dog, and ended up with a beagle who was able to run rabbits as well as hunt and point game birds.

Over the next five years after secondary school I stuck it out working at the club and continued working my hounds. At the beginning of my sixth year I was no longer able to do the hard work at the club. I started to have more medical issues crop up that I already knew were in my future as a consequence of the problems earlier on. So I had to quit and rely on a disability allowance. The good part was because I had worked I had built up some credits with the federal government and this resulted in them also assisting me which was a huge help to me and my family. I also got another beagle pup at that time, a male, and I named him Sammy. He clearly had to be a mix because he was a great bird dog right from the start, not a pointer but a flusher. I remember one summer day we were out training and he flushed a duck, the duck flew low and we were sure he would catch it jumping almost high enough to grab the tail feathers. Both Jason and I had a huge laugh about it!

Life has been going good for me during this time. I seemed to excel at almost everything I tried outside of school work. Graham says I have a 'gift' like an artist does, something you're just born with. I spent a lot of time with Frank working on cars and trucks, I could never pass the tests to become certified as a mechanic but I can pretty much fix every problem a car can have. I even rebuilt one of my first trucks, a 1985 Chevy pickup, which became my pride and joy. I have this thing about camouflage. I didn't like the colour of the truck so it got a new paint job and was all camouflaged. Heck to this day I think I have two pairs of jeans that are regular colour the rest is all camouflaged. So when I die and people come to pay their respects they won't see me ha ha.

Over the seventeen years since my life changed I became a beagle expert continually learning new skills. Teaching, training, and even doing some guided hunts. This was also during the time Jason was off to university as well as having a new life of his own. I pretty much became a loner, even after work, unless I was spending time with Caleb. I spent the rest of my time working with my dogs, as well as hunting and fishing. I think those are my two top priorities in life. Graham even helped me get a camper so I could travel a bit and be able to camp out and not sleep on the ground. I learned wilderness survival as well. I think I can safely say you could blindfold me and drop me anywhere in North America and I could find my way home – unless I decided I liked the spot then I might just build a cabin and stay!

During my secondary school years I played a lot on the web as well. This was back before Facebook and in the days of Geocities, I built my first web site there. Eventually we had cable to connect to the world with instead of dial-up modems. Things like AOL died, and new companies like Facebook came along. I still managed my page switching it to the local cable company's service. And have had it there now for fifteen years. Need I say what it is about? OK it is all about beagles. I even started a small Facebook page in 2012 to promote my web site. I started off with about thirty members and as word spread have grown to over twelve hundred and still growing. I have 'likes' and followers from around the world which is kind of neat. I never really expected to be running a full-fledged beagle site with all the training and other information I have learned over the years. I still spend most of my time hunting, fishing and camping. Now that Jason and I are together again, he has become the biggest and best part of my life, and he is still working and has moved to up be a district manager in control of several of the stores in the sporting goods chain. We both really enjoy each other's company and love getting out as often as we can.

It took a few years to really get Graham out of his drone state and into feeling comfortable with being retired. Working at a company in a cube doing the same things over and over takes a toll on one. He now is enjoying the little things in life. Helping with the gardens, and working on his love of computers. It is funny but over the seventeen years I have been with him we have both had the same tastes in movies, music, and TV shows with some of our favourites like Monty Python's Flying Circus. It is also funny we can start talking and suddenly something will be said and soon we are acting out a Python sketch. We do have differences but we have a lot of similarities, more than I can count anyway. Graham had seen enough rough years to have all but give up on humanity until he saw one bright shining star, and that was me. His whole life now has changed for the better. Each day he smiles when he sees me. I sometimes wonder if I should put puppy training pads out for when he gets too excited when I come home after being away hunting or fishing (inside joke).

While there have been rocky roads in my life one of the hardest are the occasional parole hearings for the people who were sent to prison. When these come up I am always sent a letter. I can either go in person for these or send a letter back. Knowing how much this has always bothered me, Graham with the help of Matty finally got it put to rest. I don't know any of the details all I know is they are buried so deep that the next time they see the light of day it will be from their coffins. Thank whoever for that one!

I still have my moments, although they are getting fewer and further in between, but every now and then the monsters still break out and then all hell breaks loose. To be honest I still have occasions where I wet the bed, wake up dripping in sweat, screaming at the top of my lungs. I have even run away in my sleep to be found miles down the road. A few times in just my underwear even. Once I came close to walking out the door in just my birthday suit, now that would have been em-bare-assing (pun intended)! So for my safety we have installed bells on the doors so late at night when everyone is asleep if I open the door the bells will ring. Luckily it has not happening in a while.

I continue to move forward with my life. Spring of 2014 my nightmares skipped me. But I think that was because a major storm came through and destroyed one room on the second floor of our home. Between my work repairing it and the insurance company, I managed to convert a crappy little junk room into a nice den that Jason and I use often. I even have my toys (yes you heard right) to play with in there. I also keep my guitars as well in the same room. Oh another thing I picked up while learning my new life was the guitar. I became great at it, even though I cannot read a lick of music due to my dyslexia. I also still have my moments where I am all of thirteen years old – I will set up all my Hunter Dan toys and play for hours at a time. I love to read now and am a great reader. I have read a lot of great books over the last few years something I never thought I would get into.

Hunting is probably the number one thing in my life at this point, spending close to five months in and out of the woods each fall and winter. I have gotten plenty of game over the years, this past season 2014/15 was a very good year. Unfortunately, in the spring of this year I noticed Crystal was starting to go downhill. I had planned on retiring him but kept taking him since I knew deep in my heart his time was soon to come. In the early morning hours of April 28, 2015 he took his last breath in my arms in front of the fireplace. He almost made it to the age of sixteen just shy a month and a half. He is buried in the yard next to Angel who died five years earlier. During the fall of 2014 I got a new pup his name is Lucky, by four months of age he ran and caught his first rabbit. He has been a joy to have, yet I still have a couple holes in my heart from the loss of Angel and Crystal.

I have even started a new hobby, since my time on the streets I learned how to juggle, and was always good at it. So recently, thanks to a movie I saw, I started to play with poi (no not the Hawaiian food). It is a form of juggling but with strings attached, I use a few styles from LED to fire poi. If you want to see what it is check out YouTube, just enter 'poi'. You might even find me in a video there (grin).

My worst time was December of 2014. I think due to all the turmoil of the spring it all just came out and I fell back a few hundred steps curling into my shell and having a rough go of it. From around Thanksgiving time to Christmas I started having horrid nightmares, to the point I was wetting the bed nightly. Thanks to some help from Graham we found some good underwear and stuff for adults that was a lot better than buying adult diapers, thank goodness for that. With the nightmares in full swing the past crept back in and I started another old habit I had broken, I began to cut again. I had hoped it would take away the pain but it did not. I even left some bruises on Jason this time around. Finally after a lot of counselling, we got through it all. I'm pleased to say that 2015 has been a great year so far. Barring the loss of Crystal. I am enjoying life to the fullest.

I have come a long way from the scared little boy sitting and begging for coins to get something to eat. To being what I hope is a kind gentle man who has a love for life instead of a wish for death. This is the rest of my story as it now goes on into the future. I now look forward to waking up the next day and seeing what adventures I have in store for myself and for the love of my life Jason. I spend a lot of time with Graham, Kathy, and Frank as well. Even though they do not get out and do much because of age, they are still loved by both Jason and myself, and always will be there when we need them; hopefully for many years to come.

So that is it, I know this isn't written like a great novel, but it is what I have done in those years between the epilogue and now.

Now my life goes on what will happen tomorrow is an unknown but it will be a good day.

I would say the end but really this is a 'Neverending Story'…

written November 10, 2016

The story you have just read was finally completed in the Spring of 2016 but only given limited circulation. I regret now to have to let you know that 'Jamie' of the story died on November 6, 2016 of cancer in his stomach. He was two days short of 32 years old.

The symptoms came on suddenly and without warning, and it was over before much could be done. To say that I and everyone else are shattered does not even begin to touch the matter. Any light in the world for me has gone out.

Ironically this year had been his best; he had put behind him finally the lingering nightmares of his youth, and had even begun to try his hand at writing with impressive results in my own and the opinion of others. Sadly the couple of works he began were not completed, as none of us knew what was coming.

For those that might ask what else I have written or might write, the answer is that this is the only thing I have ever done, and now… I shall never write again. 'Jamie' was the most wonderful, brightest, and beautiful soul I ever encountered. I was honoured beyond all measure by the title that he bestowed upon me and used until the last.

"He was a man, take him for all in all,
I shall not look upon his like again."