Nathan went to work and with each kid that came through his office he kept a record of the issue that had to be addressed. On some occasions there were multiple issues that a student faced so he invited each student to the youth group that Thursday night at the church. Most of the students said they would try to come but a few were adamant that they had no interest in talking about their problems in front of others.
Thursday night came and Nathan and Bill waited patiently on the front steps of the church for the first to arrive. “You told everyone 7:00 PM, didn’t you?” Bill asked as he looked down the street with his hands on his hips.
“Yes, I told them PM. Maybe they don’t know where the church is.”
Bill turned and looked at Nathan then laughed. “Ya maybe.” He looked at his watch. “We still have about ten minutes.” Just then a blue Chrysler Minivan came down the street and pulled in. Two teenage girls got out waved back at the van as they walked up to Nathan. “Hey Mr. Foster.”
“Good evening girls,” Nathan motioned at Bill, “This is Pastor Bill.” Then Nathan motioned at the girls, “This is Kelly,” he said pointing out the shorter of the two, “and this is Kimberly,” he said pointing at the other girl. Kelly was quiet and reserved but Kimberly was more outgoing, her constant jabbering was almost legendary among the faculty.
“So what do you have planned for us tonight Mr. Foster?” Kimberly asked enthusiastically.
“Well to be honest, we were planning on seeing where…” He began but was quickly interrupted.
“Because Kelly and I were talking before we got here and thought that if you didn’t have anything special planned, we might talk about the how to make friends, or the upcoming prom or any number of things. I wrote some ideas down.” She said digging in her Hello Kitty backpack.
“Whoa there, young lady, we have a pretty good idea what we’re doing, but I like where you're going with this. Maybe we can all discuss it sometime.” Bill interjected. “But right now we just want to get to know each other and set some ground rules for…”
“I think that it’s a good idea, we need to have some rules. I mean nothing to restrictive but without anything it will just be anarchy. Don’t you agree Mr. Foster?” Kimberly asked looking at Nathan.
“I do Kimberly. In fact, the first and most important rule is that we never interrupt someone else when they are talking.” He smiled at her knowingly.
She blushed, “Sorry.”
“No problem,” Nathan said
“Hey Nate, look.” Bill pointed down the street at a line of ten or twelve cars that were coming down the street toward the church. One by one they pulled into the church parking lot and began to let kids out. The kids ran to meet with friends they recognized. They laughed and ran around the parking lot and the lush grass surrounding the church. As they made their way to the front of the church Nathan noticed something interesting. The SUVs and minivans, cars and trucks, remained in the parking lot.
Eventually one woman walked up to Bill and Nathan, “Mr. Foster?” She asked looking for which of the men would answer.
“I’m Nathan Foster.”
“I am Susan Rutherford and this is my son Joshua.” The woman announced in a slow voice as if she thought either Nathan or Bill had some type of learning disability. Her bright eyes, hot rod red lips and hour glass figure gave the impression of a 50’s style, stay at home mother, plucked right out of Leave it to Beaver.
“Josh.” The boy corrected.
“Well it’s nice to meet you both. Josh you can go right in and have a snack, there are some other kids downstairs already.” Nathan said happily.
“Cool, thanks.” He looked up at his mother with his big brown eyes. “Can I mom?”
“Go ahead. Have fun and be careful.”
“I will.” He called back from half way up the stairs to the front door.
“Don’t worry Mrs. Rutherford. Josh is in good hands here.” Said Nathan.
“What exactly do you do here?” She asked as she looked around at the other kids running in and out of the church building.
Nathan looked at Bill and then said, “We wanted to give the kids a place to talk about any problems they might be having and try to give them choices on how to handle it. Also we think it might help them to know that they are not alone and other kids face the same things.”
“Well that sounds fine but Joshua doesn’t have any real problems yet. He’s only twelve.” She said indignantly.
“Mrs. Rutherford,” Bill started, “Many of these kids have issues that you or I might not see as a big deal but since their lives are so well guarded, every little thing seems much larger to them. Things like not having friends or disagreements with the ones they do have. Struggling with classwork and bullies or even not getting along with their teachers or parents. I realize that most people think it’s just being a teenage,” he said as he put his hands up and made air quotes. “But we think that they just don’t know how to work out their issues, so they become frustrated which leads to acting out. Perhaps we can give them an outlet so that they don’t take it out on you, the parent, their teachers or even each other.
“My goodness, I thought the kids were just coming here to hang out with each other.” She giggled a bit. “You sure have your hands full.”
“Well,” Nathan said in a sly tone. “We are always looking for volunteers Mrs. Rutherford.”
“Oh no,” she laughed a little more. “I’m afraid I wouldn’t be much help there.”
“Ok. But if you ever change your mind you just let us know. We’d love to have some of the parents get involved.”
“Would it be alright if I sat in tonight? Just to satisfy my curiosity.”
The men looked at each other and Bill shrugged his shoulders. “Sure.” Nathan said. He looked up and noticed that there were a few parents standing around with their kids and conversing with each other. “If there are any parents that want to come in and join us tonight, you are more than welcome.” He announced to the people still in the yard.
Mrs. Rutherford walked in while Nathan and Bill stood beside the doors and welcomed in the rest of the guests. When everyone was inside and had made their way to the rooms downstairs, Bill asked the parents to take seats around the perimeter of the main room and the kids to make a horseshoe in the middle. Then he and Nathan took seats in front of the kids and began.
“Well, this is quite a surprise. Bill said looking over the assorted faces that sat before him and Nathan. “Tonight is the first time we are getting together so there are a few things that we are going to do. First, we are letting your folks join us tonight to get a feel for what we are doing. Second, we are going to spend a little time to get to know each other and then later we are going to have an open forum to discuss whatever you want. So far are there any questions.”
The room remained quiet, so Nathan stepped up beside Bill, “Ok, my name is Mr. Foster. You can call me Mr. Foster.” A few soft laughs rose up. “Good, I thought you might have fallen asleep.” He said smiling then continued. “This is Pastor Bill. You can call him…anyone? Pastor Bill. Come on guys we want you to interact with us. Tell you what, why don’t we go around the room and tell each other our name and our favorite thing to do in our spare time.”
He walked to the first girl at the end of the horseshoe on his right. “Let’s start here. What’s your name?”
The girl stood up and smiled, “My name is Kimberly and I like reading and hanging out with my friends and meeting new people.” She sat back down and Nathan laughed.
“Nicely done, that’s how you do it.” Nathan said as he walked over and gave her a high five. “Ok who’s next?”
The girl sitting beside Kimberly stood up and in a much quieter voice said, “I’m Kelly.” Then she looked at Nathan for his approval.
“Hi Kelly,” he said, “And what do you do in your spare time?”
The girl shrugged her shoulders. “Oh Come
on. You have to have something that you like to do in your spare time.”
She looked at the kids in the room and then at the parents and shrugged again, “Nothing really.” She said.
Nathan continued to try and coax a response from the shy girl. “Kelly,” he said in an affable voice. “You are among friends here, and we would really like to know something about you.”
“Painting.” She breathed.
“A little louder if you wouldn’t mind.” Nathan invited again.
“Painting, I like to draw pictures and then paint them.”
“What types of pictures?” He probed.
“Mostly animals. They’re not very good but I like it.”
“I bet they’re beautiful. Thank you.”
Kellie smiled and sat down placing her hands folded neatly on her lap and her eyes filled with excitement. It was not her intent to feel like this but she had never been pushed to express herself before and she liked it that way; or rather she had become accustomed to being in Kimberly’s shadow and never felt worthy of the attention. It felt good to have someone show interest in just her even if it was only for a short while.
Nathan moved on without missing a beat. He met George who liked to practice magic, Brad who liked woodworking, Emily who liked fishing and then he met Clayton, a boy two years larger than his age, with acne and scruffy black hair. When he stood up he was more than a foot taller than any other kid in the room. He placed his polar bear paw hands on the seat in front of him. As if his size and appearance weren’t enough for a young kid to deal with on a daily basis, he stumbled his way through his introduction with an obstinate tongue.
“M…M…My name is, Cl… He took a deep breath. “CLAYTON!” He blurted out.
“Great to meet you Clayton and what fills your spare time?” Nathan asked the boy.
“I like h…helping my D…D…Dad work on my K…K…Car. When he h…h…has time too.”
“That’s sounds great. I like hot rods myself. Maybe we can talk about cars later.” Nathan said.
“I doubt it.” Said a boy from the other side of the room.
Two other kids chuckled at the comment and Clayton took his seat. The smile on his face vanished. Nathan walked over to the three boys hanging their heads and laughing. “Really?” He asked in a disciplinary voice. Bill stepped up beside Nathan. “Get out.” The boys looked up and stopped laughing.
“Ok.” The ringleader said putting up his hands and smirking. “Sorry.”
Bill leaned his face within inches of the boy. “We’re not in school punk. This isn’t a government run organization and it’s not a democracy. Get up and get out.”
“You can’t just kick us out.” One of the other boys said.
Just then a door closed in the back of the room and a man came out of the bathroom wiping his hands on a paper towel. The boys looked up and stopped talking. When the man saw the boys and Nathan and Bill, he tossed the paper towel in a large trash can and came over.
“What’s going on?”
The boys lowered their heads. Nathan asked, “Do you know these boys?”
“Ya, they’re my boys, Jimmy, Danny and Bo. I’m Billy Joe Mercer. What did they do this time?” The man put his hands on his hips and glared at the boys.
“Making fun of other kids and we don’t have time for that here.” Bill said.
“I’m real sorry for that. I thought I could bring them here and maybe get ’um straightened out a bit.” The tone of his voice grew harder as he became more frustrated and embarrassed. “Let’s go!” He kicked the chairs under the troublemakers and one by one they jumped up like grass hoppers. Then he grabbed the leader by the collar. “I should have known better.”
“Pop, it was just a joke.” The boy pleaded.
“Everything’s a joke with you kids.” The man said and shoved the boy towards the door to the room. Then he kicked him in the rear. “Get going.”
Nathan ran to the man. “Hang on a minute. These boys do this type of thing a lot?”
“Every time I turn around they’re getting in to something.” The man said.
“Well I’m one of the counselors at the high school and I’m sorry but I don’t recognize the boys.”
“That’s cause we’re from Adamson County.”
That stunned Nathan, since Adamson County was twenty miles away at least. “What brought you all the way out here?”
“You did. That night at the bar when you came to talk to Joe, I was there. I used to go there and have beers with Joe and some other friends but after you came by to talk with him, he spends his time at home and things seem to be going better for him. So I wanted to see if you could help me and my boys out too.”
Nathan looked at Bill and the look was obvious. Bill said, “Forgiveness, right?”
Nathan turned and faced the room full of kids and parents that were watching everything intently. “Does anyone have a problem with giving these boys a second chance?” A few soft voices mumbled but no one objected. “Clayton.” Nathan called. The boy looked at him. “Are you alright with them staying?” Clayton jerked his shoulders. “That won’t do. I need you to tell me. If you want them to go, then I’ll have them leave.”
Clayton considered the boys carefully. “It’s F…F…fine. They can st…ay.”
“Good man Clayton.” Bill commented.
The boys went to their seats and were met by Bill. “I don’t think so.” He looked at Clayton, then the boys. “You’ll be sitting with your new best friend. You guys will be doing everything together while you're here.”
“WHAT?” Bo whined. Then WHACK! Billy Joe smacked the boy across the back of his crew cut head. Bo grabbed the back of his head.
“You do what you're told boy!” Billy Joe scolded.
“Mr. Mercer. Thank you for your assistance, but if you don’t mind we’ll need you to refrain from draconian motivation while you are here.”
“Oh; of course, sorry.” He wasn’t sure exactly what draconian meant but he got the drift. Billy Joe went back to his seat and the boys took seats by Clayton. The Mercer boys made their introductions and as Bo looked around, the back of his head glowed red like sunburn on a pig’s rear end but they remained on their best behavior for the rest of the evening. It even seemed as though Clayton had truly become ok with them staying.
They all took turns introducing themselves before they started with an open forum. “So what is tonight’s topic?” Nathan asked the group of kids but no one responded. “Tonight is all about you guys, but if you need me to pick a topic…” he said raising his eyebrows and shoulders.
Kimberly through her hand up. “Yes?” Bill asked.
“What about how to make friends?” she said excitedly.
A wave of mumbling came from the room. “I like it, but, we are looking for something a little more…” Nathan started.
“In depth.” Finished Bill
“Exactly,” Nathan said. “So let’s see if we can dig a little deeper.”
“Abuse.” A voice called out.
“Good! What type of abuse? Verbal, physical, drug abuse, what?”
“Verbal” said the same voice, but this time Nathan spotted the speaker.
“Alex is it?”
“Yes sir.”
“Ok, can you give me an example?”
“My dad is always yelling at me and my brother. I don’t care much cause he’s a hot head anyway, but then he gets going on my mom and that does bother me. Sometimes I want to hit him in the head with a shovel to get him to stop.”
Bill noticed a woman in the back squirm in her seat. “Ma’am, is that you?”
She nodded, “Ya.”
“Ok, I think you all need some family counseling, but that’s later. Right now we need to work on this from your perspective.” Nathan walked around the front of the room as began. First we need to see what, if anything, sets your father off and how we
can minimize it. So do you know what his trigger is?”
Alex looked at his Mom, “Usually he just comes home angry. He’s ok on the weekends but through the week he’s just mean.”
The discussion continued as Bill and Nathan asked the kids for their input as well as gave out their advice. In the end it was Kelly that made the observation that Alex’s dad was angry with his job and not his family. The fact that he drove a tractor trailer to the slaughter house with cattle, then had to clean and scrape the trailer clean and then do it again, sometimes eight or nine time a day, was getting to him. He had been doing this now for more than ten years and wasn’t only filthy work but it seemed that he felt as if it was a poor man’s way to earn a living.
“His self-esteem is damaged.” Nathan began, “Perhaps you could let him know that you appreciate him doing what he has to do in order to take care of his family. Or, maybe it’s time for him to find other work. Who knows, it may be time for him to move up in the company or find a new company altogether. But for the next week, until we meet again, I really want you to go out of your way to let him know how proud you are of him and how much you love him. Then next week we’ll see where you are, ok?”
When they were leaving, Billy Joe came by to apologize once more as did the boys. Nathan assured him that all was forgiven, but there was a need for some maintenance around the church, if he could spare the boys for a few Saturdays. Billy Joe agreed to let them come by this Saturday and Nathan offered to give them a ride home when they were done for the day. The boys were distraught about giving up their Saturdays but assured Nathan and Bill that they would be there.
Clayton came up to Nathan, and simply said, “T…thank you.” His mother came up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder and they turned and left.
Next Mrs. Rutherford came up and just stood there for a moment before she said, “You know, I wasn’t expecting quite this much excitement from a church group, but, I guess there’s bound to be some hick-ups on a first night. I was concerned about letting Joshua come back when all that mess went on with that stuttering boy, but...”
“Clayton.” Nathan interjected.
“Right, Clayton. But after seeing how you handled those hoodlums, I believe that he really is in good hands.” Joshua smiled at the idea of having some time away from his loving but sometimes overbearing mother.
Nathan put his hand on Joshua’s shoulder, “Ya, I think we’ll have a good time. I realize that there will be a few glitches to deal with, but in the end I think we have a good group of kids here.
When all the kids and parents had left Nathan and Bill started to clean up the cookie crumbs and wipe down the chairs. “I think this was a pretty good success.” Bill said, tying up a bag of trash.”
“I would have to agree.” Nathan said, stacking some of the chairs in a corner. “I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the whole Clayton thing, but, I guess all in all it turned out alright.”
“Ya, especially when Billy Joe popped Bo on the back of the head. I though he was going to take his head clean off.”
“Spare the rod, spoil the child, right?”
“Ya, but I think we might need to look into that one and see about having a parent’s group one night.”
“Agreed.”
They finished up and turned off the lights to another good day.
Chapter 18
A Glimpse Of Tomorrow Page 22