D.w.

Friday

Last day, thought Douglas Wheeler as he exited the classroom into the locker lined corridor. The dark-haired, brown-eyed, six-foot-tall, one-hundred-fifty-pound youth looked around at the other students, none of them seniors as he was since all the rest of the senior class was busy practicing for the graduation ceremony, and realized that all of them would happily be back at the school next year. But, he wouldn't. He would gladly put the horrid place behind him along with all the rest of the last twelve years of his life plus part of the summer before. He still remembered that wretched day as if it was only a recent occurrence instead of the summer before starting first grade.

He was only six at the time, a scared little boy waiting in another corridor, but that one not lined with lockers. He sat on a short bench outside a closed door to a room that several "grown-ups" had entered, most of whom he didn't know. He had recognized a few like the man who delivered the mail and the woman from across the street, but the rest were strangers. And that included the woman who sat beside him with a very stern look on her face that said she would tolerate no horseplay. She was the representative for Child Protective Services and quite obviously did not enjoy her job, having long ago decided that all children were worthless, ungrateful brats. So, he sat there hugging his teddy bear, the only toy they had allowed him to take from his home when they quickly packed a small suitcase for him and ushered him away even more quickly three days earlier. Little Dougie knew that in the real world, mama bears could be mean and were very protective of their cubs, so he was sure that Kara, the name he had given the stuffed animal, would keep him safe.

Finally, the door opened, and the people started filing out. Most didn't even look his way. Those that did, looked at him sadly. Mrs. Benson, the lady from across the street, glanced at him and then started crying as she walked away. Then there was a woman standing in front of him. She had blond hair that was on the darker side and what Dougie thought of as sad and tired looking green eyes. Her long black dress made the smile she now painted on her face seem severe and maybe even a bit menacing. He cringed and tried to press himself further back into the bench.

"Dougie?" she said trying talk sweetly to not frighten him more than he already was. "My name is Brenda. I'm sorry about your mommy. We used to be very good friends. Did she ever tell you about me?"

Dougie shook his head, afraid to even think about speaking.

"She and I met in college. That's a type of school for older people. Anyway, we did a lot of things together and even shared a room in the dorm. She was a very good person, you know, and she loved you very much." While she talked, Dougie kept quiet, holding his bear protectively as he watched the strange woman. "She made sure that you were going to be taken care of, too. She knew that she had to leave you, so she left instructions for me to take care of you. Do you think that will be alright?"

"Mommy said I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," the boy announced as he found his voice at last. Then he turned to the stern looking woman. "I want Mommy."

Brenda's forced smile was replaced with the same sad look that the other people had had as the CPS representative gave a slight chuckle. "Here is his suitcase, Mrs. Townsend. I'm glad you have decided to take him. I'll leave him to you and wish you luck, then."

"Thank you," Brenda Townsend replied. As the CPS worker quickly walked away, she sat on the bench and Dougie scooted further away. "I'm sure all this is confusing. And it won't be easy, but we'll just have to make it work. Do you think we can do that?"

"No!" he answered. "Where's Mommy? Why did she leave and not take me with her? Didn't she want me anymore?"

"Oh sweetie. It's not like that at all. Your mommy loved you very much and she didn't want to leave you, but she couldn't control that."

"Where did she go? When will she come back?"

Not for the first time that day, tears filled Brenda's eyes. "She's in heaven, now. She can't come back, Dougie. Believe me, I know she wished she could have stayed and taken care of you, but she couldn't. So, what do you say that we do our best to go on without her and honor her by being the best we can?"

Eighteen-year-old Doug understood that Brenda Townsend had been trying her best to deal with trying to explain the realities of death to a boy who was too young to know what it really meant. There was no way for him to understand how cancer attacked a body. If he had been at the funeral, maybe he could have figured out some of it, but they had denied him that right. He didn't even know about the service or the burial and hadn't had the chance to say a final goodbye.

As he approached the school office, he put his thoughts of the past back in the box labeled 'for personal use only.' He opened the door and walked to the reception desk while taking out a small piece of paper from his pocket.

"Good afternoon, Doug," said the woman behind the desk. "How are you today?"

"I'm fine, Mrs. Wright. I have an address for you. This is where you can send my diploma when it's ready."

"Send... you mean you're not going to go through the graduation ceremony with the rest of the class?"

"No, ma'am. Just send the diploma to me and that will be fine."

"Why aren't you going through the ceremony? I'm sure your family will want to watch you go across the stage."

"I have no family, Mrs. Wright. There is no one who will care about it one way or the other."

Mrs. Wright raised her eyebrows at his statement. She was sure that even if no one else came, Sabrina Townsend would want to see him get his diploma. "It's still a week away, Doug. Why don't you think about it for a while? If you change your mind, you can still be there. If you're not here, we'll send it to you."

"Thanks, Mrs. Wright. But I'm sure I won't be changing my mind. I'll be happy to say goodbye to this part of my life. Have a good day." With those parting words, Doug Wheeler left the office and walked out the doors of the school, intent on never seeing the place again. He didn't look back as he drove away in the Toyota Camry he had bought, paid for, registered and insured by himself.

It didn't take long for him to reach the place he had tentatively called "home" for the last twelve years. Nor did it take long to clear out the rest of his belongings from the room he had been allowed to use from the third night onward after he had moved there. Over the past few days he had moved what little he owned to an office in a warehouse that none of the family he lived with knew he had anything to do with. There hadn't been very much, and most of what he grabbed now was clothing. He stuffed it in his duffle bag and hurriedly moved it to his car. Once everything was packed, he entered the house one last time, took the key from his key ring and placed it on the table beside the chair in which sat the owner. The man just looked at it with a raised eyebrow as Doug walked back out for what was to be the last time.

He remembered entering that house that first day. It had been a three-hour trip from the courthouse in the town where he used to live to the new house. Long enough that he had fallen asleep. But when they had gotten there, Brenda had awakened him, and they went to the door where she took in a breath before swinging it open. She pushed him in before her and he took in the sight of the living room for the first time, and the bull of a man that sat in an easy chair while a girl with long very dark black hair and bright green eyes played quietly with some dolls in a corner of the couch.

"What is this?" the man bellowed.

"This is Dougie," Brenda replied. "He is Sheila's son and we are now his guardians."

"Are you nuts?" the man roared. "Why would you even consider this?"

"Sheila made it clear in her will that we are to take care of him, and I accepted that responsibility."

"You've got to be kidding. I told you when we first started going together that I didn't want kids. Ever. Then you go and get yourself pregnant with Sabrina, and now you're bringing home another one?"

"Whether you wanted kids or not doesn't matter, Roman. Not now, anyway. We have Sabrina and we are going to take care of Dougie. I thought it quite appropriate that she left him with us," she said pointedly and determinedly, stressing the word 'appropriate.'

Roman's face began to turn red as his eyes widened and a brow rose. It seemed to Doug that the man was getting angrier by the second. But when he finally spoke again, it wasn't what he would have expected. "Fine," he said in a quiet voice. "Just keep him the hell away from me. I don't want anything to do with it."

Brenda visibly relaxed. She raised her eyebrows and gave the barest of triumphant smiles before hiding her feelings once more.

"Where is he going to sleep, Mamma,?" asked the girl that had been keeping quiet all that time.

"We'll have to get him a bed and I'll clear out the sewing room for him. But for now, he'll have to sleep in your room."

"My room?! I don't want him in there. Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"You'll share for a couple of nights, Sabrina."

"But I don't want to sleep in the same bed as some boy. What if he has cooties?"

"It will only be a couple of days, baby. It won't be so bad.

"But, mommy I don't want some old dumb boy in my room."

"That's enough, young lady. The decision is made. I suggest you get used to it. Do you understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Sabrina sighed in defeat. Then she turned to Dougie as she got up and walked towards the hallway. "You better not wet the bed, boy."

Not wanted, Doug thought as he turned onto a state route that would take him away from the place he had lived in for over twelve years. Definitely not wanted, although Sabrina did start treating him alright after that first night.

The first night, little Dougie lay in bed, thinking about what was happening. He could hear that Sabrina had fallen asleep, her breathing deep and regular, but he was wide awake.

Heaven, the woman named Brenda had said. That was where Mommy was? But that was where Mommy said that Spot went when he died. Then she had Mr. Benson dig a hole and he put him in it and covered him up. Did that mean that Mommy was covered up like that, too? As he realized what had happened, the tears came. He did his best to keep them quiet, letting out only a few sniffles. Hopefully the girl wouldn't wake up.

Roman Townsend's dislike of Doug led to Brenda doing only what was necessary to keep out of trouble with CPS when it came to caring for him. By the time he was eight, he started working anywhere he could to make some money for himself. At ten, he began investing with the help of a broker, who decided to help him build his business. By the time he was sixteen, Doug owned a thriving business focusing on lawn maintenance and landscaping in the summer, and snow removal in the winter. Further services included stump removal and gardening. The business had several trucks, step vans, and trailers that were housed at a warehouse which had his and John Branham's offices. John had quit his broker position to help run the business, and never regretted the move.

Since Roman Townsend had never wanted children, he wasn't happy that he had two of them in his house. But, as long as they didn't bother him, he didn't much care about what went on with them. Only when he found it necessary to punish one or the other or sometimes both did he ever do anything. Doug always got the worst of it. Like the time he had just gotten his license and borrowed the car late one night to go to a party to pick up Sabrina who had gone with a guy and thus didn't have her car which she wouldn't have been able to drive anyway since she had been drinking. Roman was waiting for them when they got back, and both of them were grounded. Sabrina for drinking when she was not yet twenty-one, as said birthday was still a couple of months away, and Doug for borrowing the car without permission. She was grounded for two weeks, he for two months. In support for him, she continued her grounding until his was done. About a week after that, she moved to her own place, though she would still show up after she got off work as a personal assistant for a man who was the second in charge of a successful business. Each night, she would enter the old house and cook dinner for the family, having it ready when Brenda got home from her job, and see to it that any help that Doug needed for school work was taken care of.

Doug made another turn, following the route of the Google Maps app on his phone. It was a good thing he had it to remind him as he hadn't been thinking of looking for the turn, though he knew that he had to make it, having done the same trip a couple of months back along with John Branham searching out contracts for expanding the business in the area and visiting a grave site for the first time in his life. His head was filled with much more urgent thoughts. It had been a few months earlier that he had found out about what his mother had left for him. On the day after his eighteenth birthday, a lawyer had come to the house to meet with him and explain everything his mother had set up for him.

When J.A. Keller visited him, Roman Townsend was still at work and thus couldn't hear a thing that was being said. It was a fact that Doug found reassuring. The Townsends had been given quite a bit of money over the last twelve years to help defer the costs of his care from a trust fund set up for that purpose, so they didn't need to know about what else was available. They didn't need to be told about the trust fund that Doug was to get when he turned eighteen if he had graduated high school. The fact that he was still in school made it so that he wouldn't get that money until he did graduate, or at the age of twenty, whichever came first. Likewise, they had no need of knowing about the next one that was to be given to him upon completion of college if he was at least twenty-two years old, or age twenty-five if he chose not to go to college. It wasn't any of their business that he would get a final trust fund at the age of thirty. And Doug was very happy to know that they wouldn't have any idea about the house that became his when he turned eighteen, graduate or not, and the remains of a trust fund that had been created to take care of the taxes and upkeep of the house.

Which was where he was now headed. A three-hour trip would take him back to the place he had spent the first six years of his life: a two story, four-bedroom house with three full baths and two half baths, plus quite a few other amenities. It was the place who's address he had given to the school receptionist. It was the place he would be living in while he expanded his business to a second city. It was the place he would call home while he furthered his education to get his degrees in landscaping and business. All the money, while nice to receive, was secondary to him. He already had money from his business. But a place of his own to live was something else indeed. The only downside to all of this, in his mind, was that he would miss Sabrina. She was the only one of the Townsend's that had been willing to help him or even really befriend him. Roman had wanted nothing to do with him from the start, and Brenda was too busy with her own job and too scared of her husband to show him much consideration. Sabrina had been different. She was always there for him when he needed someone. Always willing to help when there was something troubling him. Yeah. He would miss her. A lot.

Just under three hours after he began the drive, Doug found the address of the house and pulled into the drive. He gazed at the well-maintained home he barely remembered. The company that had been hired by his mother's lawyers had done a good job of keeping it in relative good condition. He pulled his duffle from the car and made his way to the front door. Once inside, he found that not everything had been so well maintained. The house seemed clean enough, but the furniture didn't look at all trustworthy. Still, the place was his.

He moved what little he brought with him unto the living room and went through all the rooms of the house looking to see what needed to be replaced or thrown out. Most of that would have to wait, but he thought he could get it done in a couple of weeks. For the night, he decided to set up camp on the floor of the living room. Tomorrow, he thought, he would have to move into a hotel, since there were no utilities, but for the night, here would be just fine. Once he had everything set up, he used his laptop to get information on places he might need to visit over the next few days and make a reservation at a hotel starting the next night.

Saturday

Doug didn't wake up as early as he usually did. It was just after eight when he finally did. After his morning routine he then proceeded to pack up his meager belongings to move to a hotel. He almost had it finished when he heard a car door shut. He walked toward the window to see what was going on, but the knock on the door came first. Opening the door, he found the strikingly beautiful, black-haired woman that Sabrina had become standing there, her green eyes flashing angrily and a rather stern look on her face. "Good," she announced as she looked into the house just past him and seeing his computer already packed. "I see you've already come to your senses and are packing."

"What are doing here, Brie?" Doug asked.

"I came to get you and to take you home, of course."

"This is home."

She looked at the dilapidated furniture. "Right," she said. "So, you want to bed down on someone's old couch that's falling apart instead of in your own bed? And on top of that, you won't do the graduation ceremony? Not on my watch, sweetheart."

Sweetheart,he thought. That sounded nice. If only. "How did you even find me?" he quickly questioned while burying his thoughts.

"Mrs. Wright, of course. Did you forget that I use to work in the school office? I've stayed in contact with her. When you didn't show up for dinner, and Roman told us about how you left the key, I called her for information. What the hell, Doug. You have to go to the graduation ceremony. And I'm not leaving here 'til you come back."

"Really?" Doug's eyebrows raised. "Did you bring clothes with you?"

"No. It's only a three-hour drive. We can be back before lunch. Speaking of three-hour drives, can I use the bathroom? I really need to go."

"I haven't had the utilities turned on yet. You'll have to go out back."

"Are you kidding?"

"No. I'm not. But don't worry. There's plenty of cover and I'll stay in here. Back door's through there." He handed her a container of baby wipes he had used to clean up with that morning and pointed the way.

Sabrina moved through the house into the backyard. What did he mean that this was home? How could he live here? Whose house was it anyway? He had to see reason and come back with her. It simply wasn't possible for him to stay here. He would need money to survive and clothes. And it would take a lot to make that house livable again. So, if he was planning on resisting he had another thing coming. No. He was definitely not going to be allowed to stay here, even if she had to drag him kicking and screaming back home. And she would see to it that he took part in the graduation ceremony, too.

When she returned inside, Doug was just finishing a call on his phone. She heard him agree to something before he hung up and she was ready to start in on him again.

"So, you are adamant about not leaving here until you can talk me into going back?" he asked before she could start arguing again.