MC: LaPonte (21 page)

Little guy talks for all
of them. "That's Darren, he's Victor and I'm Aaron."

"Ok Darren, Victor and
Aaron. I'm Danny, we have some work to do, people to meet and
friends to visit. Are you ready to get started?" I sign, almost all
of it while talking. The little guys scream yeah, Darren nods with
a smile. Doc and Brian laugh. I turn around, "fuckin ice cream."
They laugh harder.

Meeting John at the
Women's Center I agree to add more panels to this building and all
the others that have the room. He tells me this will change the
amount of power generated and he can have Baxter's Engineer rework
the numbers for me. We walk across the street to the Bakery. I
introduce my new friends to Peg. She gives them a water to take
with us and promises to box up some breakfast for tomorrow morning.
Darren smiles when I tell him, he asks for muffins. I tell Peg, she
asks me how to say yes and signs yes to him making him laugh. It's
a funny sound but we understand what it is by the huge smile he's
wearing. I drive us all over to Jess'. While the boys are playing
with Jessie and Little Ben, Kate calls. Their mom has to spend the
night. She lost a lot of blood and they need to monitor her. I ask
if we can bring the boys after dinner. She'll find out and meet me
at the diner at six.

Little Ben pulls on my
belt. "Teach me to say friend. Uncle Danny." I squat down and show
him. He tries it out. I show him again moving his hand with him. He
does it by himself and smiles. He goes to Darren and signs friend.
Darren smiles and signs yes. Jessie looks at me. "He said yes."
Jessie signs yes. The boys sit in a circle and Darren tries to
teach them words. Jess watches holding Elizabeth with tears in her
eyes. I give the boys the words as Darren signs. Aaron picks
everything up quickly. I'm wondering if Darren has taught him this
before.

Steve and Ben pull in.
Steve takes Elizabeth and watches the boys. Ben sits on the side of
me. I tell them water and they all follow Darren's motions. Ben
laughs, "I didn't know you signed."

I nod. "Boy on Rich's
baseball team was deaf." I keep giving them the words and they keep
signing.

Jessie tells Darren to
stop. "We have to practice so we know it. Then we can do more."
Darren signs 'ok'. I don't tell them what he said; it's something
he showed them earlier. Jessie surprises Ben, "ok." He signs and
says back. I laugh. "Uncle Danny can you say a word and we'll move
our fingers for it?" I hold my hand to my face and
laugh.

"When you move your
fingers to talk it's called signing. It's a language like English
or Portuguese. It's called sign language. So Uncle Danny will give
you words and you will sign them for Darren." Jessie and Ben nod.
Arron and Victor just look at Ben.

"We'll get in trouble for
signing. But we want Darren to be strong so we'll do it today."
Aaron tells him.

"You won't get in trouble
here. You're brother needs to have people talk to him just like you
do. Can you imagine if no one talked to you for a long time? That
would be lonely. You'd feel like no one cared. When you learn, that
means he can talk too. He's your big brother. Brothers look out for
each other. He won't be able to do that for you if he can't talk to
you."

Aaron asks, "Are you
Brothers?" I'm just finishing signing what Ben said and tell them
to hold up to finish what Aaron asks. Fuck this is harder than I
remembered. I tell Ben to go ahead.

"We are Brothers. We have
a whole club of Brothers but these are some of my closest Brothers
right here. We look out for each other. When one needs something we
all help out." He waits for me holding his hand up before Aaron
says something else. I nod to Ben.

Victor surprises me, "Www,
we look ou, ouuu, out for each other." He turns around and lifts
his shirt.

"Fuck." Steve growls.
Victor scoots behind Darren.

"He's not mad at you,
grownups don't like seeing kids hurt." I say and sign it as best I
can. Darren signs back, 'he tried to stop dad from hitting me. I
told him he's too small.' I tell them what he said.

Jessie and Little Ben go
to them. Jessie holds Darren's hand, Little Ben moves Victor back
to his place and keeps his hand. "Sometimes you need friends to
help. We can't stop your dad but we can hold your hand. When I'm
scared Little Ben holds my hand. It always works. I can still be
scared but I'm not alone no more." I try to sign it all, I'm
blinking like crazy glad the guys are on my right. Darren signs,
‘thank you friend’. Little Ben says what he signed. Fuckin kids. I
check the time.

I sign and say, "We need
to meet Ms. Kate at the diner for dinner. How about we wash up and
get ready."

"Little Ben goes to Steve.
"Can we go too dad? Our friends need us. Their moms sick and
they're scared." I see Steve's throat moving. He looks at
Ben.

"Yeah, we'll all go." Ben
tells him. The boys bring them in to wash up. "Fuckin kids." I
follow Steve in while Ben calls Tracy and Sam.

We meet Kate and Tracy at
the diner. Sam moved tables for us to sit together. Darren asks
Kate about his mother as soon as he sees her. "I was hoping to
bring you to see her after dinner. She's still very sick, I left
Doc to watch over her until we get you in to see her." She answers,
I sign. He looks scared. 'I tried to stop him. I know she hurt. He
hit me small, pushed me away. He hit her big. I'm sorry, I
tried..." Tears are running down his face. I stop his hands,
lifting him, holding his head into my neck. Ben is behind me, I go
around him and walk out the door." I walk him back and forth along
the side of the diner until he calms down. Little Ben brings me
napkins, puts his hand around my wrist giving it a squeeze and goes
back inside. He stays quiet for a couple of minutes. I put him down
and squat beside him cleaning his face. I sign, 'What dad did is
wrong. You and brothers little. Dad is big, strong. He wrong hurt
woman and kids. Wrong to make your fault. Mom hurt to help you.
Grown up means help kids and moms. Dad wrong not Darren. You brave
help mom, Victor brave help mom. Good try help but bad to be hurt.
I mad dad hurt you. Me and my brothers help you and brothers and
mom. Yes?' He signs, 'yes' and hugs me. I lift him back up and
bring him to the table. Jessie has two seats beside him. "Uncle
Danny this is for Darren." I nod and put Darren down, he holds my
hand while we walk to the seats. "Arron ordered Darren's favorite
chicken and mac & cheese, can you tell him?" I smile and sign.
Darren smiles and thanks them.

I sit blowing out a
breath. Kate grabs my hand, I look at her. "Doc called, mom’s in
surgery." Fuck!

Ben gives me a sad look.
"Is Doc still at the hospital?" He asks Kate. She nods. "Can you
keep them for a few days if they need it?" I look at
Kate.

"If my husband agrees, I
would love it, for however long." She smile but has question in her
eyes.

"As long as it takes." I
smile. She gives me that big fuckin smile.

"I'm going to have Doc to
get the lawyer there; he can do the paperwork so they aren't placed
with the other parental unit while she's out." Fuck. I didn't even
think they could go back to the piece of shit father. Kate
nods.

Jessie asks me to talk for
Darren. I kiss Kate and talk for Darren. Before we leave Doc calls,
the lawyer emailed the papers, mom's out of surgery and signed
them, the doctor witnessed, the lawyer is getting them signed by a
judge. With all the hospital paperwork and the warrant for the dad,
they say the judge will have no problem. Kate breathes a sigh of
relief. "It would have taken us days to get that done, thank you
Ben." He gives her a chin lift.

Thank fuck. We drive the
boys to the hospital to see mom. They crawl on the bed being
careful. It is a practiced move that pisses me off. I follow Doc
out to the hall, he hands me the paperwork. “It’s an emergency
custody order. They have no other family. Mom has a half-sister,
20, hasn’t seen her in years.”

“Thanks Doc. Victor has
some bruises on his back and kidney area. Darren is having trouble
walking. I don’t know what else is wrong with him. Can you look at
them?”

“I can take them in the
next room. Let me get a nurse to ok it.” I nod. Handing the papers
to Kate, I tell the boys Doc is going to look at them in the next
room. They look nervous but Darren signs ‘ok’ to them. They
calm.

Doc takes Aaron first I
sit on the chair beside the bed. He has a couple of bruises but
nothing too bad. It looks like normal 4 year old kid stuff. I take
him back telling Darren he is perfect. He relaxes. I take Victor
over. Doc sees his back and winces. When he touches a bruise Victor
sucks in his breath and tears fall. I hold his hand. “Doc.” He
looks at Victor’s face.

“Fuck.” He stands and
walks to the door. “I need to get a friend of mine up here. I need
tests run.”

I nod and explain it to
Victor. He cries silently, just like Darren. I lift him and hold
him against my chest pacing back and forth. Doc comes in with
another doctor. He sees the bruises on Victor’s back coming closer
to me he pulls the band of his pants lower. He calls a nurse in and
tells her what he wants done and walks to the door. “Can you check
his brother before you go? He’s having trouble walking. Walks with
a limp. It would be easier to do tests if I was with both of them.
The older boy is deaf.” He looks pissed but nods. I carry Victor
over to get Darren. When he sees the lower bruises he cries. Fuck I
should have put his shirt back on. I explain and he walks with me.
The doctor calls another nurse. He examines Darren and orders more
tests.

Fuck I want to kill their
father. I carry Victor over and let Kate know where we're going.
She nods with tears in her eyes. I kiss her, she hugs me loosely
with Victor between us. Doc stops in collecting us. I walk behind
the wheelchair Darren is in. When we get to X-ray I explain what
the tech says to him as best I can. I step out with Victor for a
minute then I put Victor on the table and push Darren out. While we
wait he tells me he's sorry. He didn't know Victor got hurt bad.
These kids have tears in my fuckin eye again. I hug him to me then
sign it's not his fault. We go back in for Victor. I carry him back
to the room while Doc pushes Darren. Kate is in the hall holding
Aaron. Her eyes are red. Aaron is asleep on her shoulder. Fuck
we've only been gone maybe an hour. Darren wants to know what
happened. "She's back in surgery. Her heart stopped." She tells me
softly. Fuck I look at Doc, I don't know what to do here. He talks
to a nurse and comes right back to us.

"I need help here Doc."
I'm really begging him to fix this.

He nods and brings us into
the room the boys were checked in. He looks at me. "She had massive
amounts of internal bleeding. Her heart stopped. She's back in
surgery but it doesn't look good. I would soften it but tell them
the truth. You need to keep their trust."

I look at Kate. "Please."
Tears are running down her face.

"If ever I needed advice
it is right here, right now. I wish Little Ben and Jessie were
here." I look at Darren. He's watching everything, he looks
terrified.

"I'll call Ben. I think
your right. The boys can help." He walks out.

Darren signs, 'talk me.'
Fuckin hell. I put them both on the bed. I talk and sign, "mom is
bleeding inside. She lost a lot of blood. Her heart is having
trouble working. They have to operate again to try and fix her.'
Victor cries, throwing himself at me. Darren asks if she'll be ok.
I sign I don't know. He cries grabbing my waist. I sit and pull
them both to me.

The doctor finds us this
way. Doc explains what's going on. "I need consent to treat them."
Doc shows him the custody papers. He hands a clipboard to Doc.
"Darren has an old injury. The top of his femur healed wrong. To
correct it he needs surgery. This is not a new injury. This needs
to be fixed but it doesn't need to be fixed today. He is bruised on
his lower back like Victor. That is probably causing the limp to be
more pronounced." Fuck, thank God. "Victor has trauma to his
kidney. I want a urine sample. There is no internal bleeding. I
just want to be thorough. His lower back shows swelling. They
shouldn't do strenuous activity. Without additional trauma, the
lower back will recover fine." He touches Darren's head. "You have
very brave boys. I'll send the nurse in for the urine sample and
with some paperwork."

I thank him as he walks
out. I take a deep breath and let it out. Kate gives me a sad
smile. "It's not so bad, right?" She asks, I can only nod. It's
fuckin bad, his leg was broken and never set, both with bruised
lower back is probably from being kicked, but they're not
dead.

Darren asks what the
doctor said. I turn so I can see him and sign to him all that was
said. He takes a breath and ask if Victor is good, no blood means
good. I smile telling him he is good. He nods. Fuckin seven years
old worrying about his brother bleeding internally.

The nurse comes in, I take
Victor to the bathroom doing what the nurse said and getting the
sample. I hope to fuck there's no blood. We get all the paperwork
and are taken to the surgical waiting room. Ben, Tracy, Steve,
Jess, Little Ben and Jessie are waiting for us. I sit Victor on a
seat and sign to Darren why we're here. Jessie holds his hand,
Little Ben hold Victor's. Tracy takes Aaron from Kate and sits
beside them. Thank God he's sound asleep. Doc comes in and sits. I
hold onto Kate, I don't know what the fuck I'm supposed to
do.