Shadows In The Hall

Chapter 6

Shadows: Hard Changes: Part 3 of Becoming a House Parent

When we arrived back at the house, it was dimly lit, deathly quiet…... no one home. Before climbing the stairs to the front room, I opened the door to the Dorm…. It was empty, where were my boys? I thought for a second…. Wondering…. I really didn’t know what to think. I was still dumbfounded by the accident, and meeting Tommy’s Grandmother. this had never happened to me before in the 27, what REALLY seemed like now, ‘very short years ‘of my life.

I trudged up the stairs to the front room. Reaching for the phone, I found a note from Henry:

“Dear Linda and Family: Take the rest of the evening to yourselves, the boys are staying overnight at the other houses. See you tomorrow, Henry"

The next morning, I called Henry relating my story of the visit to the hospital, seeing Tommy, and meeting his Grandmother. When I was done, I thanked him for this great experience and relayed to him that I felt my time was done here, I could no longer stay. Even though his Grandmother didn’t blame me in any way, the pain was still just as strong. I promised him to wait until the end of the month to leave to give him time to replace the boys in other homes.

My boys would be home soon, and I needed a walk to think things through, what was I going to tell them? How was I going to tell them?

While walking on the grounds I ran into the Teacher and the Probation Officer. They both asked questions about Tommy and told me how sorry they were that this happened. I told them both that I had given my resignation to Henry, that I wouldn’t be staying on.

They both answered, “If you’re leaving so are we. This place has been so much better since you came, when you leave it will go back to the same old thing, maybe worse!”

A short time later, when I returned, my group showed up, grinning from ear to ear, happy to see me, giving me hugs, asking about Tommy. I asked them to all set down, relaying the experience of my visit yesterday while they listened intently. When I was finished, with a heavy heart, fighting back tears, I told them I was not going to be able to stay here any longer. A large moan broke out! They began chattering among themselves.

Quieting them down, I reminded them that my oldest daughter would be starting school soon, naming off as many things as I could think of in my personal life, and telling them how much I loved working with them and how proud I was of the progress they had made. How I wanted them to continue doing good, working to get home to their families.

They all starting talking to me at once, agitated at this news, I knew they might not be happy about it but I wasn’t ready for this…... again I tried to console them with telling them about Henry asking me to stay until the end of the month until he could find placement for them in other homes. “Liar! Liar! He’s a fucking liar!” Screamed Larry.

I took a step back, this kid was so quiet, I hardly ever heard him speak but he was talking now! “What are you telling me Larry? You’ve been here longer than any of us in the room, what are saying?”

“Henry knows everything that happens in this place! He knew Andy was abusing me! Keeping me in that room! He didn’t do nothing about it! He’s just telling you that!! He’s going to send me right back to Andy’s place, I’m telling you! When you’re gone Mom, Andy is going to make me pay twice as bad, I know it! I’d be safer at CYA right now!”

My legs weakened, I quickly sat down on the sofa. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Gary and Juan starring at each other. Oh My…. what did I do now? Was I leaving them to a worse fate?

I wanted so badly to cry…... I had to think about my own children as well. What was I to do? Suddenly it dawned on me, “Larry… do you have your Probation Officer’s Number?”

“Yeah sure! Larry answered, “Why?”

“Get it now!! I commanded, “We’ve got some phone calls to make. I need to talk to him and let him know what is going on. From everything I’ve seen so far, I believe you Larry. We have to be the ones to let him know what’s going on, they aren’t going to, and I have to protect you. You normally live with your Uncle, right? You have a good relationship with him?”

“Yeah! He wants me to come home.”

“Let’s see what we can do OKAY. I reassured him.

Dialing the number, his Probation Officer answered the phone. I began relaying the story of everything happening here at the grounds and what we expected might happened to Larry when I left, when suddenly, the phone went dead! I hit the buttons and nothing. I tried dialing again, nothing. The phone was dead.

A few minutes later, the phone rang. Quickly I picked it expecting it to be from the PO, only to hear Andy’s voice on the other end, reminding me that we were on a Party Line. With that news, the phone went dead again. I was without communication. Cutting me off also meant I couldn’t call the office either. We didn’t have cell phones in those days, everything was land line.

There was a phone booth down at the Gas Station. We piled into my station wagon heading there. I had to do this today, there was no choice anymore. I was able to speak the PO this time without interruption, and he promised me he would pick up Larry in the morning to take him back to his Uncle. What a relief!

When we got back home, I looked for Gary and Juan to tell the exciting news, we looked everywhere. I asked Dale where they went, he said he thought they were in their room. Where were they? This wasn’t like them to just take off…… not with me! My heart raced, where were they? I drove down to the office to talk to Henry, when I arrived, a Police Car was parked in front. Oh No! What now??

I went into the office to find Gary and Juan in the office with cuffs on. Shocked I asked, “What is going on here? Why are they in hand cuffs?”

Looking at them, “Where did you two go? What happened here?”

“Mam… mam?” The officer cautioned.

Surprised I looked at him. He continued, “Mam, the boys are being charged with armed robbery, they robbed the grocery store.”

“What!” I exclaimed, “Armed? With what? We don’t have any weapons in my house except the knives for cooking in the kitchen……. They used a knife?”

With a smile curling on his lips, he assured me, “No mam, they used a gun.”

“A gun? Where would they get a gun?” Shocked at this news

“They stole it from one of the other houses Mam.” He continued

I glared at Henry, “You let the House Parents have a gun? With juvenile delinquents in the house? Oh My God Henry! What the hell is going on here?” My voice getting louder.

Gary quickly interrupted, “Mom, we didn’t want to stay here without you, sorry. It’s all we could think to do”

Calming down I announced, “Henry, I am leaving tomorrow. There is no need for me to stay any longer. Tommy’s in the hospital, Juan and Gary are headed to Jail and Larry is being picked up in the morning by his Probation Officer”

“I know” he answered, “I just heard from him a few minutes ago. I agreed that sending Larry home to his Uncle was the best move for all concerned”. Handing me a check, “Here is your severance pay. Thank you for everything Linda”

I quickly left the office and headed back to the house. I updated Dale on the situation, …. he couldn’t wait to pack. I reminded him we weren’t leaving until tomorrow.

When morning arrived, the station wagon was packed and ready to go, the kids were excited to go somewhere new, we were heading to stay with my sister for a few days in Suisun CA. I asked him to drive by the office on the way out, I wanted to see if Larry had left yet. When we got there, he was setting outside smiling broadly and waved goodbye to us. I felt better leaving now, knowing I had done something to protect him from further abuse.

To this day, I have never seen or heard from or anything about any of the boys in our Group Home. My best wish is that they are doing well. The Group Homes as a whole didn’t fare as well, when we applied for unemployment, 2 weeks later, the he facility was closed.