NOTES & EXPLANATIONS ALSO A DISCLAIMER: First to dispense with the disclaimer. What you are about to read is fiction. Very little of what you read is based on actual fact and the story in and of itself is like I said fiction. The characters are based on real life people but details have been changed. Now to explanations and notes. First, sorry I haven't written in a LONG time. It's amazing how life can get crazy. Second, the characters in this story and all subsequent stories are the same as I have used in previous stories but I'm reversing their ages backwards to make things more logical in my mind. Now on with the story.
My name is Steve. That's all you really need to know right. I'm 26 years old and I've taken in four boys. David, who is 14. Josh, who is 12. Shawn, who is 11, and last but not least Cody who is 9. All these boys came to me through different circumstances but all were related to my job. I'm a police officer.
David was the victim of severe physical abuse at the hands of his step-father. Josh was abused by his mother's boyfriends on a regular basis. It was still unapparent to me if he had been _s_e_x_ually abused because Josh had managed to block out alot of his past and we had long since given up on counseling. Josh didn't want to deal with his past at this point in his life and I wasn't about to force him. Shawn was removed from his parents care due to neglect and some abuse although neglect was the more pressing problem. Cody's parents had voluntarily released their parental rights to me upon their divorce. You see I was a family friend.
There is one more important background detail that you need to know before I go into my story. Josh and Shawn were both physically handicapped. Although Josh had a lot more going for him than Shawn. He could get around with crutches that fit onto his wrists. Shawn was confined to his wheelchair. Totally dependent upon me to lift him in and out of it when necessary.
I got all of these boys within six months of each other. David came first then Cody and Josh and Shawn came within days of each other. It was a major adjustment for everyone because I had been a bachelor and still was one but now I had three adolescent boys and one pre-adolescent boy to parent. There were adjustments for everyone but the one thing I always maintained was discipline.
I lived too close to the school for the boys to get bus rides home so they walked. David being the oldest got out of school first and he went over to the middle school and picked up Josh and Shawn. They were all required to wait the additional hour before the elementary school dismissed for the day and to pick up Cody. Then they were to all go home and do their homework and chores. When I got home I would make dinner or order it in. We'd eat together. I would give the younger three boys baths and David would take a shower before they could watch an hour of TV and then it was off to bed.
TO BE CONTINUED...... (Probably tomorrow)