Published: 10 Mar 2022

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Billy said goodnight to Mark and went to his own bedroom. There the teen did close the door and then laid on top of the bed. He lay there thinking back to what happened to him that day. The tears came right away and he cried himself to sleep.

Sometime during the night, the almost ten-year-old snuck into the teen’s bedroom and climbed into the bed with his new ‘big brother’. Both boys slept very well that night.

Kieran stopped by Mark’s house at 9 a.m. that Thursday morning. He asked Mrs. Golderson if Mark was finished eating his breakfast, when he learned that Mark hadn’t come downstairs yet.

The woman asked the boy to come back in about an hour. Kieran was disappointed, as he was ready to do their exercises. He also wanted to be the first boy to meet Mark’s new ‘big brother’.

Miriam was curious why Mark wasn’t down for breakfast yet, so she walked up to his room to see where he was. When she got to her son’s bedroom, she noticed the door was open and her son was not there. She looked in the bathroom, but that door was also opened. Billy’s bedroom door was closed and she wondered if the boys were in there talking. She listened at the door, but didn’t hear any voices.

The woman was curious to know where her son was, so she gingerly opened the bedroom door to peek in. When she had the door opened far enough, she noticed Mark was in bed with Billy and had his arm around his new ‘big brother’. She wasn’t happy with what she saw.

The woman wanted to go busting in there and wake them both up, but she knew that wasn’t the right thing to do. So, she slowly closed the door and tried to figure out what to do as she walked back down to the kitchen.

When Miriam closed the door, the latch made a click and that woke Billy up for some reason. The teenager had slept soundly through the night and that slight noise, was just enough to wake him. When he did come awake, he found Mark was wrapped around him.

Now Billy had to decide what to do. Now that he was awake, he needed to use the bathroom as his morning friend was standing tall, and he didn’t want Mark to see it. He wasn’t sure if the boy was old enough to understand what that was all about yet.

So, Billy tried to slowly slide out of the queen bed while not disturbing Mark. But Mark felt the movement and came awake himself.

“Oh, you’re getting up. What time is it?” said a still sleepy Mark.

“Yes, I am awake. And what are you doing in my bed?” somewhat demanded Billy. “You know I could get in lots of trouble because of this.”

“Well … I … I wanted to be with you. I’ve always wanted a big brother for so long that … well now that I have you as my ‘big brother’ I wanted to sleep with you. I know if I had a big brother we’d sleep together sometimes,” answered Mark.

“Well, if your parents found us sleeping together … I don’t think they would be happy about it,” offered a concerned Billy.

“I don’t know why,” quickly replied Mark.

“It’s an adult thing. Now, I need to use the bathroom, so let me get out of bed,” spoke Billy, as he began to slip out of the big bed. And, lucky for him, his inflated member had begun to deflate as their conversation allowed it to do so.

Billy went to the bathroom and used the facility to relieve the pressure on his bladder. When he was finished, he opened the door to see if Mark wanted to use the bathroom now. The young boy did.

When Mark was finished, Billy asked his new little ‘brother’ where everything was so he could take a shower. Mark showed the teen where the towels were and how to operate the shower controls. Mark then asked his ‘big brother’ why he was taking a shower when he was going to get all dirty playing baseball later.

Billy laughed and said he always took a shower in the morning and if he got really dirty later, he’d take another one before going to bed. Mark just shrugged his shoulders and went to his room to change out of his pajamas and into play clothes. The youngster made sure he closed the door before doing so.

When Mark entered the kitchen to have his breakfast, he could tell his mom was not happy. She didn’t say anything to him. She just placed what she made him for his breakfast in front of him and then walked away. Mark knew something was up, but he didn’t have a clue.

In a few minutes, Billy came into the kitchen and asked Mrs. Golderson, what he could have for breakfast. She gave him the cold shoulder, too.

“Billy, mom’s mad for some reason. But she won’t say why,’ offered Mark.

“Mrs. Golderson … was that you who looked into my bedroom this morning?” simply asked Billy.

The lady didn’t answer, but her silence told Billy that it must have been her. Billy spoke up and told her that Mark came into his bedroom during the night, and he didn’t know about it until he woke up this morning.

Mark jumped in the exchange and said that was what happened. The woman’s son said he wanted to sleep with his ‘big brother’ and went to his room about a half hour after they went to bed.

All Miriam said was, “Kieran was here at nine looking for you, Mark. I told him to return in about an hour. As for you two sleeping together … we’ll talk about this later when your father gets home!”

Billy wasn’t sure what he should do for breakfast, as the woman walked out of the kitchen. So, he looked through the cupboards and found some cereal he liked. He found the bowls, took out the milk, saw there were bananas and then he sat down with all the things he gathered. Mark watched his ‘big brother’ make his breakfast.

“I never added bananas to my cereal. Does it taste good?” asked Mark.

“Sure. I showed my other ‘brothers’ and they started to eat their cereal this way too. Sometimes there were strawberries, or blueberries, to put on instead. They are all good and they add a nice taste to the cereal,” explained Billy.

It was then there was a knock on the back door. Mark figured it was Kieran, so he went to the door and opened it. It was the boy who came by earlier.

“Kieran, meet Billy. Billy, meet Kieran. Kieran is my catcher when we practice. He’s here for us to practice our arm, shoulder and leg exercises to help build them up so we can pitch and catch better,” was how Mark introduced the two new people to one another.

“Nice to meet you, Kieran,” offered Billy.

“It is good to finally meet Mark’s new foster ‘big brother’. That’s all he’s talked about getting for the last bunch of weeks,” replied Kieran, with a smile.

Just then, Miriam Golderson came into the kitchen to see who was there. When she saw who it was, she didn’t say anything other than to tell the boys that Levi would be home for lunch and that he wanted to talk to both of them, and for them to be there and not at the park playing baseball. The woman then walked out of the kitchen looking as if she was still pissed.

When Mark finished his breakfast, he left the dirty dishes on the table. Billy shook his head and when he finished his breakfast, he cleaned off the table and put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. He then went out to the garage to see what the two boys were doing.

Billy watched the two boys do the few exercises they had pages for. They did them the best they could and encouraged one another as they did them. Billy asked them where they got the exercise pages from. Mark told him they were off a web site, and that his dad had ordered the book and he hoped they’d have it by Friday, or early next week.

When the boys finished the few exercises they had, Mark wanted to go over to the park. Billy reminded his little ‘brother’ his mom wanted them home for lunch. Mark said his dad wouldn’t be home until twelve, so they had an hour. The three boys headed over to the playground.

“Hey everyone … I want you to meet my new ‘big brother’,” yelled out Mark, as the three boys approached the other boys playing ball.

Mark’s friends all stopped what they were doing and hurried over to Mark, Kieran and the new teenager with them.

“So, you’re the new big brother,” spoke up Briggs. “Kinda old for a twelve or thirteen-year-old,” laughed the sixteen-year-old.

“Yea, they tell me that,” smiled back Billy. The two boys shook hands and introduced themselves to one another.

“Guys, this is Billy. He’s my new foster ‘big brother’. Yes, he isn’t twelve or thirteen. He’s fifteen. He came to the house late yesterday afternoon, and then he and my dad went to my baseball game last night, and after that we talked as a family. That’s why I didn’t bring him around to introduce him to you last night,” explained Mark.

“Oh, and we have to be home for lunch. My dad wants to talk to us then, so we have to make sure we leave in time to be back there,” added Mark.

Briggs, being the oldest, asked Billy more questions about himself than the other boys did. The older teenager was interested in what he was interested in, what sports he played and why he was in the system.

Billy told the teen that he liked to swim, ride his skateboard and WaveRunners, travel and he wasn’t going to talk about why he was in the system, until he got to know him, or anyone else, better.

When Mark heard Billy mention his riding his skateboard, he told everyone they should see his skateboard and the ramps he had where he used to live. He then asked Billy to bring out his cell phone and show them the pictures of what the ramps looked like.

Billy smiled at the request and took out his cell phone. He searched through his pictures and then showed everyone the ramps that Mr. Ken had built for Robert. As everyone looked at the ramps, Mark was telling them that there were upwards of forty-four boys there sharing the ramps.

“Wow, dude, that’s a lot of friends,” spoke up Spencer. “Were they all your friends?”

“No. Where I used to live … there were five other boys and we all had our own friends there sharing the ramps,” offered Billy.

“I bet you didn’t get to use them all that often with that many people trying to use them,” said a laughing Taylor.

“Yea, it was a pain in the ass trying to use them,” began Billy. “Since I was the last foster there, they already had established a method of sharing them so, me and my friends, we had to join the queue. In the beginning, it wasn’t too bad, but as I gained friends, we had to wait a long time for our turn.”

“How many foster boys were at your last house?” asked Glenn.

“Oh, there were six of us boys. Two were the man’s sons. I was one of four foster sons,” answered Billy. “It is a long story.”

“I’ll bet it is,” chuckled Briggs. “But we all have the time, and we hope you’ll tell us over time.”

“Yea, I probably could and will. It’s just … well … I still need to learn who you all are before I … before I tell you too much about myself. Give me time. I just got here yesterday and I’m still … well, I’m still getting to know my new foster parents and my new little ‘brother’ here.” Billy then ruffled Mark’s hair, who smiled at the interaction.

Since Kieran met Billy at Mark’s house, he took center stage and spoke up and introduced Billy to his brothers. “This, as you already know, is Briggs. He’s my oldest brother. This is Reese, he’s ten and I have a thirteen-year-old sister. Her name is Sydney. If you get to go swimming with us later, you’ll get to meet her.”

Spencer then introduced himself as a fourteen-year-old and then his nine-year-old brother, Corey. Fourteen-year-old Taylor introduced himself and his nine -year-old brother, Tanner. Dana stepped up and introduced himself and told Billy he was ten and had a fourteen-year-old sister, Alexa, who would be fifteen very soon.

Drew then introduced himself as a fifteen-year-old, then brought his ten-year-old younger brother Darren over to him, so they could meet. Patrick came up to Billy and told him his name and that he was nine and that Glenn was his older brother and he was thirteen.

The last two boys, Jerry and Carter, had waited until everyone else had introduced themselves to the new teenager before they came over to Billy to introduce themselves to him. Jerry told Billy that he was nine and Carter told the new teen he was eight and had a five-year-old sister whose name was Ella.

Billy thanked everyone for introducing themselves to him. Billy then told the group of boys that he turned fifteen back in April, that he didn’t know where his real dad was, but that his step-dad was dead and his mom was in prison and that was why he was in the system.

The boys thanked Billy for telling them that much about himself. They then talked some more and before Mark and Billy knew it, they saw it was time for them to head home to talk to Mark’s mom and dad. The two boys told the group they would try to come over and swim with them later, but it would depend on what Mark’s parents wanted them to do.

When the boys entered the house, they could tell Miriam was still mad. Billy had no idea why she was so pissed. He didn’t do anything wrong, but he told himself with that attitude he’d be gone by tomorrow, so he’d better not get to comfortable, yet.

When Levi came home, he smiled at the boys and invited them into the kitchen where they would all have lunch. He knew why they were all there, so he waited for his wife to start the conversation.

When after ten minutes Miriam still hadn’t said anything, Levi decided to get the discussion going.

“Boys … my wife tells me that she found you two … that she found you two in the same bed this morning … when she went looking for our son. So … what do you have to say for yourselves?” directly asked the man.

Billy started to say something, but Mark interrupted him.

“Dad … I went to Billy’s room not too long after we went to bed last night and … and I got into bed with him. He … he didn’t know I was there. He was so sound asleep that he never moved when I got in there with him. I’m … I’m sorry, dad, but I … I didn’t think I did anything wrong,” blurted out the youngster, who was beginning to cry.

Levi went to his son to console him. As he did, he told the boy, “Mark …you should have waited and asked if that was okay to do that. Billy may not have wanted you in his bed with him. Plus …your mom …she didn’t know where you were this morning, and she was very upset that you were in Billy’s bed.”

“But … but, I … if I already had a ‘big brother’ I’d have been sleeping with him some times, so … so what is so different now?” asked a still crying Mark, through his tears.

“Mark … it is because we don’t know Billy all that well yet. So, you should have asked …” began Levi, and was interrupted by Miriam,

“Mark, honey, I was very mad that you were sleeping in a stranger’s bed, when I found you this morning. I had no idea why you were there and … and what may have happened in that bed. All I could think of is what might have happened between you two,” chastised Miriam.

“Mom, nothing happened! I wanted to sleep with my new ‘big brother’, so I jumped into bed with him. He didn’t even know I was there until he woke up this morning. He was even mad that I was there,” argued back Mark, through his tears.

Billy just sat there listening to what was being said. They didn’t ask him for his side of the story, and he was happy about that. But even if they had, there wasn’t much more he could add. He didn’t know Mark was there until he woke up this morning, and he told the boy that his parents wouldn’t be happy. And this talk was proof the mom was definitely not happy at all.

Levi did eventually ask Billy to tell him what he knew about Mark being in his bed that morning. When the man heard what the teenager had to say, he concluded that Billy didn’t know Mark was there, and that the teen was innocent of anything his wife may have thought happened between their son and their new foster son.

Before Levi went back to work, he had Miriam talk to both boys about what she perceived she saw that morning. She told them what she expected them to do from now on, and that she didn’t want them sleeping together.

Mark asked his mom if that was going to be forever. The boy’s mother said that it was for now, but she would see in time. That put a smile on Mark’s face and Miriam knew that was what her son needed to hear.

After Levi left for work. Mark asked his mom if he and Billy could go over to Dana’s pool to swim. Mark told his mom he introduced Billy to all his friends and their brothers at the park, and told them they would try to come over and swim. Mark said if they go there, that way Mrs. Wrockman could meet Billy.

Miriam told the boys to go swim and not to be in the way. Mark told his mom they would be back right after 5 o’clock as that was when the parents closed the pool, so that they could have a quiet dinner.

It was well after 1 p.m. when Mark and Billy arrived at the Wrockman’s pool to swim. Mark immediately introduced Billy to Kimberly Wrockman, Dana’s mom and then to Alexa, Dana’s older sister. Billy’s eyes lit up upon seeing the voluptuous fourteen- almost fifteen- year-old girl.

“So, you’re Mark’s new ‘big brother’,” offered a smiling Alexa to Billy, as she extended her hand to shake.

“And you’re Alexa. I am very pleased to meet you,” said an equally smiling Billy, back to the very pretty girl.

Alexa was immediately smitten with Billy. As the two teens talked, she learned Billy would be a sophomore that fall and she told him she would be too and would be happy to show him around the high school and introduce him to all of her friends.

Alexa then asked Billy if he’d put suntan lotion on her back. Billy smiled and took the handed lotion and did as the young lady requested. The teen took his time as he rubbed the suntan lotion into her already well tanned body. The other teen boys were extremely jealous.

Sydney, Reese’s sister was a bit miffed that she didn’t get a personal introduction to the new fifteen-year-old. She felt she was just as good a girl as Alexa was and maybe even better, because as a younger girl, she should be more appealing to an older man.

All the boys watched and listened to the two teenager’s verbal exchange and they saw how they looked at one another. They then teased Dana about him gaining a new brother-in-law, and soon. Dana told them all to shut up, and walked away.

While the teens talked, Kieran asked Mark when would they get to practice. Mark asked Kieran if they could maybe meet at the park about 6:30. Mark said that he’d try to get Billy to come along and watch and maybe help them. The would-be catcher said that sounded good to him as he felt they needed to practice as much as they could.

It was then Mark remembered what his coach told him last night at his game, so he told Kieran that his coach told him they were to keep practicing and he was to bring him to try-outs next spring so he could see if he could put them on the same team together. Kieran was ecstatic over hearing that.

Billy was enjoying himself as he swam with Alexa and got to know her better. He made sure he had her cell phone number before he left that afternoon. She also made sure she had his. They even made a test phone call to make sure they didn’t put them in their Contacts wrong. They both had a smile when the call went through.

“Boy, you and Alexa had a good time together, didn’t you,” said a smiling Mark to his ‘big brother’, as they walked back home.

Billy didn’t say anything to the youngster about his and Alexa’s getting to know one another. All he could think about was that he didn’t have the restrictions here as he did at The Cove and he felt that it might be a good thing. At least here, he didn’t have to worry about anybody trying to kidnap any of his ‘brothers’.

Dinner wasn’t as fancy as Momma Maria’s would have been, but Miriam was a good cook and they all enjoyed a good meal of a side salad, roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans and bread and butter. The conversation around the table was light and there was no mention of what transpired that morning. Even Miriam was joking around with the boys, which was a relief to them.

As they ate, Mark told his new foster brother that they almost accepted a thirteen-year-old female, whose name was Caroline. The youngster added that he was now happy they didn’t take her and that he now had his ‘big brother’ as he always wanted.

Billy sort of snickered when he heard Caroline’s name. Miriam asked the teenager if he knew something about the girl and, if he did, she wanted him to tell them about her, since they almost took her into their home.

The foster teen said that Mr. Ken had fostered a girl whose name was Caroline, but couldn’t verify if it was the same girl. Levi then asked the teen to tell them what they knew about her.

Billy told the family that a thirteen-year-old girl named Caroline was only at The Cove for four days before she was sent away. Miriam asked the teen to further illustrate what she had done to get her removed from the home.

Billy told them that his ‘brothers’ told him she was a thirteen-year-old going on thirty. The teen added that on her first day at school she invited seven girls over to The Cove the next day without even asking Mr. Ken if she could. She just went and did that. The teen clarified that his ‘brothers’ and he were only allowed to bring two new friends at a time to The Cove and they had to get Mr. Ken’s OK first.

The foster teen continued and told the family that she felt the rules weren’t for her and she would do as she pleased. Billy said his ‘brothers’ told him she wanted to be treated differently than they were. The teenager added that Caroline wasn’t averse to using foul language.

Miriam and Levi looked at one another and sort of gave a sign to each other that said they ‘dodged a bullet’ with not taking the girl in. But Levi felt there was more to the story, yet he didn’t persist and figured he’d ask his foster son at a later time.

After dinner, Billy helped clear the table and place the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. Miriam was surprised at the help, and she appreciated it as it made that chore go faster.

When that was finished, Mark asked his mom if he and Billy could meet Kieran at the park so they could practice pitching and catching. The almost ten-year-old explained they hadn’t’ done that today and they needed to train. Levi told them to be back by 7:30.

When the boys returned from their practice session at the playground, Levi and Miriam wanted to sit down and talk to Billy some more. They wanted to talk as a family, so they retreated to the Family Room to get to know the teenager better.

“Billy … you said something to me yesterday at the game that I … I just have to ask you to tell us more about Mr. Ken. You told me… you said he was … not married. Can you tell us more about that?” stammered out Levi Golderson.

“Oh, yes, Mr. Ken, he, ah … he, ah wasn’t married. As a matter-of-fact … he, ah … he is in his early twenties. I’d say he is only about twenty-six,” answered Billy.

“Twenty-six?” voiced a disbelieving Miriam Golderson.

“Yes, ma’am, Mr. Ken … he is very young,” replied Billy.

“That is hard to believe, and they allowed him to foster young boys and then adopt two of them!” offered a still disbelieving Miriam.

“Mrs. Golderson … Mr. Ken … he ahh … from what I was told, he, ahh … he saved a teen’s life, twice, and from then on CPS allowed him to foster more boys. I actually met Collin a few weeks ago and got to know him, some.

“Mr. Ken … he also was allowed to adopt two of the boys he fostered. He sat down with me once and told me that with my age and, with not knowing where my real dad was, that it was probably something that would not happen for me.

“Mark … you asked me yesterday what made me like my last foster home so much. Well, it was the way Mr. Ken treated me. The man never yelled at any of us. When we made a mistake, he always pulled us aside and told us about it. He never did it in front of anyone including our ‘brothers’. I never knew what living in a ‘real’ family was like, until I began living at The Cove,” finished Billy.

“The Cove?” asked Mark.

“Yes, The Cove. That was the name of where I lived. Well, actually it was originally called Three Finger Cove. But they shortened it to The Cove,” clarified Billy.

“Billy … did this Mr. Ken … did he ever … date?” asked Miriam.

“While I was there, I never saw him date anyone. My ‘brothers’ … they told me about some of the women he had dated, but you have to remember, I was only there for three months,” answered Billy.

While Billy answered Miriam’s questions, Levi took out his cell phone and Googled Mr. Ken’s name and Three Finger Cove. He quickly read all he could and he was amazed at what he found. When Billy was finished with his last answer, he told Miriam and Mark about what he found.

“Miriam, Mark … this Mr. Ken … his full name is Kenneth Richard Thomas. I thought his name sounded familiar to me for some reason. But I … I never figured it would be the same person. This man … remember that huge storm of about four, five years ago? He was personally selected, by the governor mind you, to help in rebuilding the area. That is who this Mr. Ken is.

“He is also said to have taken a bullet for his foster son, from the men who killed his parents in front of the boy, and were after him to kill him, as well, so he couldn’t testify against them. Mr. Ken … he was also given the Red Cross Life Saving Award for helping save a teen’s life last summer.

“And there is much, much more here for you to read, so when you get the time you may want to Google his name and where Billy used to live to get a better perspective of what Billy had before coming to live with us.

“Now, I understand why the man wanted Billy moved away from his home. The man had a reputation to uphold and … well, if he had expressed his disdain for illegal drugs, he very well couldn’t allow Billy to remain in his home after finding them in Billy’s room; whether or not they were his,” was how Levi Golderson put into plain words for his wife and son.

“Billy … how big was the house you lived in?” asked Mark.

“I think he told me it was something like 18,000 square feet,” answered Billy.

“And you each had your own bedrooms?” again asked Mark.

“Yes, we each had our own bedrooms. They each had twin beds, though, and a walk-in closet. And because I was the last foster boy, I had to take care of Chief. She was the resident pet,” added Billy.

“I wish I had a dog,” lamented Mark.

“Now, Mark … we talked about us getting you a dog a couple of times,” began the boy’s mother. “We aren’t home enough to give him enough attention. And we’re afraid he would become bored and would only cause problems when we aren’t here.”

“Billy … what does this Mr. Ken do for a living?” asked Levi.

“Well, from what I know … he owns four amusement parks and a construction company. He just built the Lakeside Hotel and is building an eight-story office building right next to it. I heard he paid to build the Lakeside Water Park for the county, and he also built the Lake Water Safety and Rescue Team Headquarters right next door.

“He just bought two more WaveRunners and three sailboats for his sons and foster sons and their friends to use. And last year … he took them to SeaWorld for Halloween and Six Flags for Christmas. I’m really going to miss living there,” finished Billy, as the tears began to fall.

Mark went to his ‘big brother’ and hugged him tight. The parents watched on as their son hugged their foster son and the two cried together. The older one crying for what he used to have. Their son for what he knew his ‘big brother’ was missing.

The saga of Three Finger Cove continues. Let Chowhound know you are reading his story: Chowhound at CastleRoland dot Net

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