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“Well,” smiled Baptiste, “this is definitely an improvement from our first visit.”
“It’s wonderful,” said Ray, shaking his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever lived in anything so fine. Come on in. You gotta see this.” Baptiste grinned, nodding his head. Joshua was sitting in a chair with an open book but immediately stood, almost at attention.
“Good morning, Joshua. Nice to see you again,” said Rafe.
“Nice to see you again, sir. Saturday, sir. No school today.” Rafe and Baptiste laughed, nodding at him.
“We know, son. You don’t have to be so formal. We’re not here checking up on you. We just wanted to be sure the house turned out alright.”
“Oh, it’s wonderful! The new appliances are amazing. Grandpa doesn’t burn anything anymore.”
“Hey, I’m right here,” frowned Ray. “But he’s right. That’s the finest stove I’ve ever cooked on.”
“I have my own bedroom! I’ve never had my own bedroom,” smiled Joshua. “Even my parents didn’t have a big place, so I slept on a pull-out sofa. Now I have my own bed, dresser, and we have a real nice bathroom with a tub and shower. We don’t get any bugs or mice or rats, nothing. It’s amazing!”
Baptiste wanted to cry. The boy was excited for things that were so basic it shouldn’t have been a big deal. Instead, he was grateful for those basic necessities. They would make sure that this never happened to someone on their property again.
“Mr. Grant even let me paint it the color I wanted.”
“What color did you choose?” smiled Rafe.
“Dark green,” he grinned. “I always wanted a dark green room, you know, like one of those fancy libraries you see on television with all the dark wood and books. Hundreds and hundreds of books everywhere.”
“I love that,” said Baptiste. “Our mother has a library like that.” Joshua’s eyes grew wide, and his mouth opened in a gasp.
“Hey, are you guys going to look at the rest of the places?” asked Parker from the steps. He stared at the book in Joshua’s hands and smiled. “To Kill a Mockingbird. No finer piece of literature on the planet.”
“You know it?” asked Joshua excitedly.
“One of my favorite books of all time,” said Parker.
“We’re gonna leave you book lovers to gossip while we check out the rest of the places,” said Rafe. “Will you walk with us, Mr. Ray?”
The old man nodded, turning to give his grandson a smile. Stepping into the cold air, he wrapped his weathered jacket around him, and Baptiste made a mental note of the old man’s need for winter clothing.
“I’ll never be able to thank y’all enough for what you’ve done for him. He’s a good boy. Works hard, studies hard. I didn’t realize he was so lonely. He’s only been at your fancy school for four days and already has five new friends that he talks about all the time.”
“I’m glad it worked out for both of you. You promise everything is okay with the place?” asked Rafe.
“It’s heaven. Mr. Grant put that new television in there, and there’s so many channels a man would die before seein’ all of ‘em.”
“What about work? Are you back on the boats yet?”
“Mr. Matthew said he wanted to be sure all the vessels were up to code and safe. He’s paid us all through December. We don’t go back until January. Longest period of my whole life that I ain’t been workin’, but it’s the most damn money I’ve ever made at a job. Only period of my whole life where I’m gettin’ paid to do nothin’.”
“It’s not nothing,” said Baptiste. “You all needed a rest. Downtime is good for you every now and then. How are your neighbors doing?”
“All good,” said the old man, shaking his head. “We’re gonna do Christmas together. I can finally afford to buy some things for Joshua. That boy’s growin’ like a weed and needs new jeans and shoes. Headed to town tomorrow to pick ‘em up. Do I need to worry about them other boys?”
“No, sir. They’re all taken care of. Tolbert is in jail, so are some of the other boys. The younger ones are in juvenile detention but singing like beautiful canaries.” Ray nodded.
“Amazin’ how a boy who thinks he’s a man reverts back to a boy when facin’ jail time.” He pointed to a few of the other homes, all the owners sitting on their beautiful new front porches.
“Thank Mr. Matthew again for us!” yelled one older couple.
“Yes, ma’am. Yes, sir. We sure will.”
“Well, Ray. It looks like everything is good here. You enjoy these few weeks with Joshua before you have to get back on the boat.”
