Saving Danny (18 page)

‘Why?’ Adrian asked.

Danny turned away and made no attempt to answer, then he began downstairs. And I knew, possibly from years of fostering or having seen something in Danny’s body language, that whatever had happened to make George scared had been very traumatic for Danny.

Chapter Fifteen

Danny’s World

George stayed in the house, downstairs, running up and down the hall with the children in attendance, while I began the preparations for dinner. After about fifteen minutes Danny came to me and said quietly, ‘George go in hutch now.’

‘All right, love.’ I went into the hall and explained to Adrian, Paula and Lucy that it was time for Danny to put George away.

‘Oh, can’t he stay out a bit longer?’ Lucy asked.

Danny shook his head.

‘It’s Danny’s routine for George and we need to keep to it,’ I explained.

George seemed to know his routine too, as he was already heading for the back door. We went outside with Danny and George and onto the patio. It had stopped raining now. Adrian, Paula, Lucy and I watched as Danny opened the hutch door and George immediately jumped in, far more compliant than he had been with me when I’d had to entice him up the garden and into his hutch with a carrot.

‘See you after dinner,’ Danny said easily. ‘Bye, George.’

‘Bye, George,’ the rest of us chorused, for he really was like a little person.

We returned indoors; Adrian and Danny to the living room and the girls to their bedrooms. It was Friday evening, so we could be more relaxed in our routine without the pressure of having to be up early for school the following morning. I suggested again to Danny that he might like to play with something different as a change from Lego. His toy box from home was in the living room but had been left untouched. Danny didn’t reply and went to the Lego. ‘I’ll stay with him for a while if you like,’ Adrian said, sitting on the floor beside him.

‘Thanks, love. I’ll be in the kitchen.’

When I called everyone to dinner Danny was still playing with the Lego and I wondered if he would ever tire of it. Adrian had, and was sitting on the sofa reading a book. I thought that Danny’s interest in the Lego was starting to seem a little obsessive.

He was quiet at dinner. Without George beside him he’d retracted into his shell again and couldn’t – or wouldn’t – talk, despite our encouragement. As we ate we said things like, ‘You must be very proud of George.’ And Paula asked Danny if he’d taught George to do little tricks, like jumping over a low fence as our rabbit had done. But Danny kept his head down and concentrated on his food – as usual arranging and eating it in colour-graded order. Danny was the last to finish and the rest of us sat with him and talked while he ate. As soon as he’d finished he said, ‘George,’ then slid from his chair and went to the back door.

It was now time for George’s bedtime routine, and Lucy and Paula, still intrigued by George, went with Danny to fetch George’s food bowl from the hutch and then waited as Danny carefully measured three scoops from the bag of rabbit food stored in the cupboard under the stairs. As George’s water bottle needed topping up, I positioned the kitchen stool in front of the sink so Danny could reach the taps. Then we filed outside and stood in silent awe as George and Danny kissed each other goodnight, their special relationship so very touching to see.

That night as I bathed Danny he again threw himself back in the bath and lay submerged under the water, pretending he was drowning, as I now knew he did with his mother at home.

‘Danny drowning,’ he said as he resurfaced, furtively glancing at me to see my reaction.

‘No, you’re not,’ I said lightly. ‘You’re safe. You’re playing.’

‘Danny drowning,’ he said more firmly, jettisoning himself back and under the water.

‘Danny playing,’ I said as he came up. ‘You’re safe. I wouldn’t let you drown.’

He did it twice more, each time glancing at me as he rose from the water to see if he’d managed to provoke a reaction. I smiled and said it was nearly time for him to get out of the bath and dry himself, but I was wondering how much of his negative behaviour at home was about trying to elicit a response from his parents. Some of Danny’s conduct was beyond his control, but not all of it.

It was nearly 8.30 p.m. by the time Danny was in bed and I said goodnight to the lump in the duvet. I came out and went downstairs. Adrian, Paula and Lucy were in the living room playing whist and I joined in on the next round. Then we had a game of Scrabble, which Adrian won. Before they went to bed I reminded them that I’d be taking Danny home for contact in the morning and asked if anyone wanted to come with me, but there were no takers understandably, as they preferred to have a lie-in on a Saturday morning.

Danny was awake at his usual time the next morning and I again explained to him the arrangements for the day: that I would take him home and he would spend the day with his parents. Then they would bring him back to me at six o’clock.

‘Six o’clock,’ Danny repeated, and opening his wardrobe door he began choosing some clothes to wear.

After some time he eventually selected a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, so I gently explained that they weren’t suitable, as it was cold outside, and he needed to choose something warmer – suitable for winter. I wasn’t sure why Reva had packed shorts and T-shirts – there were quite a few in the case – unless she’d decided that Danny would definitely be staying with me for summer, which was a possibility. Danny didn’t like being told what to wear and rejected all the trousers and jerseys I took from his wardrobe and placed on his bed, pushing them aside. He then threw himself on the floor, his body tense and his eyes screwed shut ready for a tantrum, which would certainly wake Adrian, Lucy and Paula. Thank goodness for school uniforms, I thought.

‘Get dressed, please, Danny,’ I said, firmly. ‘George is waiting to see you.’

Danny lay still, his eyes closed, but clearly having heard what I’d said.

‘Come on, quickly, or there won’t be time to see George before we have to leave,’ I added for good measure.

Danny opened his eyes, hauled himself from the floor, then took one of the jerseys and pairs of trousers I’d put on the bed and arranged them with his vest, pants and socks in order, ready to dress.

‘Good boy,’ I said. ‘George will be pleased.’

Paula, Lucy and Adrian were up and in their dressing gowns when it was time for Danny and me to leave, and they called, ‘Goodbye, Danny. See you later. Have a nice day,’ as we went out.

Danny didn’t reply and looked confused, so I explained once more that he would be spending the day at home with his parents and then they would bring him back to me at six o’clock. I avoided calling my house ‘home’, which might have added to his confusion.

‘Six o’clock,’ he repeated, looking no less confused.

From past experience I knew it took children coming into care many weeks to adjust to the changes that contact brought, and much longer for special needs children, who relied heavily on familiarity and routine and had limited understanding of their situation. Danny was silent in the car as I drove and whenever I glanced at him in the mirror he was staring blankly through his side window. Twenty minutes later I pulled into the end of the drive that led to his house and stopped. The security gates were shut. Danny leant forward in his seat and tapped me on the shoulder to gain my attention.

‘Yes, love?’ I asked, turning.

‘Danny going home?’ he asked anxiously.

‘For today, yes. Then you will come back to me at six o’clock.’

‘Six o’clock,’ he repeated. He couldn’t tell the time but at least this gave him some reference point and was marginally better than me saying ‘later’ or ‘this evening’, which were vague terms and not very helpful.

The security gates didn’t open so I lowered my window and pressed the call button. After a few moments Reva’s voice came through: ‘Sorry, Cathy. I’ll open the gates now.’

‘Mummy?’ Danny asked, hearing her voice. Perhaps he’d never heard his mother through the intercom before.

‘Yes. Mummy is in your house waiting for you,’ I explained.

The gates opened. I drove through and they closed automatically behind me. There were no other cars on the drive, so I parked where I had done before, close to the house.

‘Six o’clock,’ Danny said as I cut the engine.

Unfastening my belt I turned to face him. He was pale and anxious and I could see the uncertainty in his eyes as he stared through the windows trying to make sense of what was happening.

‘Danny, love,’ I said. ‘You remember you came home for tea on Thursday, and then came back to my house? Well, now you are staying for the whole day. Then Mummy and Daddy will bring you back to me at six o’clock.’ I didn’t know how else I could explain it. I’d tried everything.

‘Mummy!’ he suddenly cried, his face brightening.

I turned to see Reva coming out of the front door. I got out of the car and called, ‘Good morning,’ then went round and opened Danny’s door. He scrambled out and ran into his mother’s arms, much as he had done on that first morning in the school playground, very pleased to see her. She picked him up and smothered him in kisses as he clung to her, his arms and legs wrapped tightly around her.

‘He’s missed me,’ Reva said, as though this was a revelation.

‘Of course he has,’ I said. ‘Far more than he can say.’

‘Would you like to come in?’ she asked.

‘No, this is your time with Danny.’

‘All right, thanks. I’ll bring him back later.’

‘Bye, Danny,’ I said, but he didn’t answer.

As I returned to my car Reva was carrying Danny indoors, with him still clinging tightly to her. It was such a pity he couldn’t tell her how much he loved and missed her, for Reva certainly needed to hear it. I hoped she understood it from his actions.

When I arrived home Paula, Lucy and Adrian were still in their dressing gowns but at the table, tucking into a cooked breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausages, baked beans and hash browns, which they proudly told me they’d cooked together. I was impressed – even more so when Adrian took a plate from the oven for me. ‘Thank you very much,’ I said, sounding like Danny, and I joined them at the table. I love a cooked breakfast at the weekend when we have time to enjoy it, and it’s especially nice when it’s cooked for you!

With Danny at his parents’ all day it allowed me the opportunity to give Adrian, Lucy and Paula my full attention. Although we all thought the world of Danny, he was hard work and took up most of my time. We had a leisurely breakfast and then the kids finished their homework while I cleared away. In the afternoon, as they were in the mood for cooking, we baked some cupcakes and also made an apple crumble for my parents’ visit the following day. As Danny wouldn’t be home while it was light, we let George out in the garden for about half an hour and were very vigilant. Paula, Lucy and Adrian had great fun, but then had to spend a long time enticing George back into his hutch with a carrot and then some cabbage leaves.

‘Why doesn’t he do what we want?’ Paula moaned. ‘He does what Danny wants straight away.’

‘They have a special bond,’ I said. ‘They’re very close.’

‘Danny seems to like George more than he does us,’ Lucy commented, much as Reva had done.

‘I think Danny finds it easier being with his pet, because he doesn’t make any demands of him,’ I said. ‘I’m hoping the educational psychologist will be able to help Danny express himself and lose some of his distrust of adults.’

‘Why doesn’t he trust us?’ Paula asked. ‘We haven’t done anything to him.’

‘No, but we’re part of a world Danny doesn’t understand and it scares him. He’s the same with his parents and the other children at school.’ Although I’d talked to my children about Danny’s difficulties, and we’d fostered other children before who’d been on the autistic spectrum, it was still hard for them to fully appreciate how differently Danny perceived the world around us, as indeed it was for his parents and me. While Danny hadn’t been diagnosed with autism (we were waiting for the educational psychologist’s assessment), he displayed many of the traits of autism.

I wondered if Danny’s father, Richard, would bring Danny home – I still hadn’t met him. But when I answered the door shortly after six o’clock it was just Reva and Danny. They came into the hall, Danny holding a new toy: a maze game where the aim was to pot silver balls into holes by tilting the box.

‘That’s very nice,’ I said, admiring the game. ‘Lucky boy.’

Reva gave a small sigh. ‘He doesn’t deserve it, really, but he made such a fuss in the shop I had to buy him something to keep him quiet.’

I thought it was just as well Lucy hadn’t heard this, as clearly Reva had rewarded Danny’s negative behaviour.

‘So you all went shopping?’ I said to Danny. ‘Did you have a nice day?’

Danny didn’t answer but put down the toy and began undoing his coat. ‘It wasn’t good,’ Reva said quietly to me. ‘We were going to buy him some new shoes, but he made such a fuss we had to leave the shop. Can you get him some new shoes? I’ll give you the money.’ She began opening her shoulder bag.

‘I can buy Danny some new shoes if he needs them,’ I said. ‘But I can’t take your money. I’m given an allowance from the council, so I’ll use that.’

‘But I want you to buy the best,’ Reva said, taking her purse from her bag. ‘I take him to –’ And she named a children’s boutique in the city that sold designer clothes and shoes for kids and was exorbitantly expensive.

‘I’m afraid my allowance doesn’t stretch that far,’ I said. ‘But I really can’t take your money. If Danny needs new shoes either you can buy them or I’ll buy him some good ones, although they won’t be designer.’ I also had a moral objection to buying designer wear for children when they would outgrow them very quickly and there were so many families with so little. It just didn’t seem right to me.

‘He doesn’t really need new shoes,’ Reva admitted, looking at the nearly new leather trainers Danny was now taking off. ‘But I wanted to buy him some stuff, I guess to make it up to him for not being with me.’

I hesitated and then said, ‘Reva, can I give you some advice?’