Wednesday, December 26, 2012

CHANGE OF LIFE - Chapter 18

    Saturday Willard went with Mr. Sedlof to El Dorado where they were going to work on a Habitat for Humanity house. Willard wore his work clothes and brought his paint brushes and some rags. The house they were going to be helping with was almost completed. It needed painting inside and outside.

After painting his own house, Willard felt competent to do the various painting jobs they assigned him. It was an ideal situation for when you don’t know the other people. You can keep busy working and maybe make friends with whomever is working alongside of you. Mr. Sedlof was a real klutz at painting. They kept him busy with “go fer” duties.

While Willard was painting this new house, an idea struck him. Those boys he arrested both lived in houses that looked pretty run down. What if he kept them busy this summer fixing up their homes?

When he and Mr. Sedlof returned to Prattsville that evening, he hurriedly changed his clothes and drove over to the street where the boys lived. Both houses had clapboard exteriors that had not been painted in years. The gutters were sagging. This is déjà vu, he thought.

He felt like celebrating and went to the Acropolis Café for a gyro plate.

“How’s that crazy guy, Sergeant O’Reilly?”

“I don’t know. We took him to the hospital.”

The word “hospital” reminded him of Corporal Butcher. After he ate, he went to the hospital and asked about Corporal Butcher. He was told that he was now in Rehab which was in another building. The Rehab unit was stricter about visiting, but they made an exception since Willard is a police officer.

Corporal Butcher was delighted to see Willard. Willard told him that he had been off the job himself for two weeks, but that he was back to work now.

“Between my wife leaving me and then that incident we were involved in, my nerves were shot to pieces.”  He told the Corporal about painting his house and then taking a trip back to Baltimore where he grew up. “How are things going for you?”

The trooper told him that the break in his leg had healed better than the doctor expected. With some therapy the doctor said that he would release him to go back to work.

“Hey, that is really great news. Listen, since you are a grass widower like myself, why don’t you come over to my house some evening. We can watch a game on television and tell “war stories” during the commercials.”

“That sounds great, and I’ll do that. But I’m not a “grass widower” any more. When my wife got back to her parents’ home, her mother really raised holy thunder with her, asked her what she thought she was promising when she said “for better or for worse, in sickness and in health.”  She sent her back here begging me to forgive her. I asked her to forgive me and I am going to do everything I can to make our marriage work.”

“Corporal Butcher, I am going to church tomorrow and I will have a lot to thank God for.”

They shook hands and he left.

At home there were dishes to wash and clothes to hang up. There was a lot of washing to do. He might take it to Comet Laundry and Dry Cleaning on his way to work on Monday. He had to find some dress clothes to wear to church tomorrow. He might have to polish a pair of shoes.

On Sunday he was eager to go to church. The church in Baltimore was Methodist so he decided to go to the Methodist church. The service in Baltimore had opened his eyes to a void in his life or maybe inner life. He didn’t know anything about God, but he wanted to know about Him. He had never prayed or given thanks to God before, now he had things that he needed to pray about, he had so many things to give thanks for, but he didn’t know how.

Was it a coincidence or was God listening to his thoughts? That morning in the Methodist church in Prattsville the minister preached on the text, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  The service was like food for his hungry spirit. Outside, his elation came crashing to the ground. One of the other policemen was standing outside. He had already lit a cigarette.

“Hi Willard, did you come to church to find a replacement for Dolores?”  Some of the other men around him snickered. Willard would have liked to punch the jerk in the nose. People like him kept a lot of people from ever  going back to church after their first visit!  Well, it wasn’t going to keep him away. He had found a fountain of water to quench his thirsty spirit. He would come back to quench his thirst again and again.

He saw in the bulletin that it was the Fourth of July. He remembered  reading in the newspaper that there would be fireworks at Husted Lake. Why not take those boys and their mothers out to see the fireworks?

He drove over to the street where they lived. He went to Mrs. Mulcahey’s house first. He knocked at the door and she answered,

“Mrs. Mulcahey, I was wondering if you and your son and Ms. Simpson and her son would like to go to the fireworks display at Lake Husted. It is free. Just take a blanket and cushion or a folding chair. I’ll be glad to take you if you would like to go.”

“Have you asked Ms. Simpson?”

“No, I came to you first.”

“Let me talk to her and I’ll call and let you know. Give me your phone number.”

Willard went home and looked in the refrigerator and the pantry for a meal he could fix. After eating and washing the dishes from breakfast and lunch, he went into the living room. He wanted to look up that passage, “Lord, teach us to pray.”  He wondered if they had a Bible. He went to the spare room and there he found a Bible. It had Dolores’ name inside but it did not appear to have been used very much. He took it down to the living room. He eventually was able to find the verse, using the reference in the bulletin.

Mrs. Mulcahey called about 4:00 PM

“Officer O’Reilly we would like to go to the fireworks. Neither one of us have seen fireworks in years except on television and neither of the boys have ever seen fireworks. What should we bring?  We have some folding lawn chairs, would you have room for those?”

“Absolutely. I’ll come by for you about 6:30PM.”

That night Willard was happy to see how excited the boys were watching the fireworks display. He had brought a cooler with sodas and passed them out about halfway through the show. The excitement in the boys’ voices, “Wow, did you see that?” gave him one more thing to be thankful for.

Going home Mrs. Mulcahey said, “Officer, we don’t know how we can register our boys there at the YMCA. We have to leave for work a little after seven.”

“Tell the boys to be ready about 9:00AM.  Unless I am out on a call, I will meet them at the front door of the YMCA at that time. They can bring any papers home for you to sign and take them back the next day.”

After roll call the next day, when they were out in the patrol car, Willard told Ginger, “Unless we are on a call, I need to stop at the YMCA at 9:00AM.”

At 9:00 AM he parked the cruiser outside the main entrance to the YMCA. Trey Mulcahey and Lance Simpson were waiting outside.

“You boys wait out here until I find out what the deal is. You might have to wait until they have your mothers’ permission before you can start.”

He was glad that he had the boys wait outside. The woman at the desk threw up every obstacle under the sun – the program had already started three weeks ago, there was no more money for kids who couldn’t pay. The parents have to accompany the children to register.

“Lady, I’m draining my reserves of patience. You go find the Director of this YMCA branch and do it fast. I am on call. I might have to leave at any minute. But before I leave those two boys are going to be enrolled in this program. You can count on that.”

Mr. Howard came down the stairs from his office looking very annoyed.

“Officer, my name is Mr. Howard. I am the director of this branch of the YMCA. How can I help you?”

“Mr. Howard, there are two boys outside whose mothers are single parents. They are poor. Neither of those facts are the fault of these boys. They need supervision while their mothers are at work or they will be getting into trouble. I want them in this summertime program and the lady at the desk says it is impossible. How can you and I make this happen?”

“I can make an exception and let them into the program late. They will have to have their mothers sign a permission slip before I can let them start. I do not have any more funds for scholarships.”

“How much is the program?”

“$180 for each of the boys.”

“I’ll bring you a check before the end of this day. Give me the permission slips. I’ll give them to the boys. Their mothers will sign them tonight and the boys will be here tomorrow.  What time does it start?”

“Eight o’clock.”

“Thank you, Mr. Howard. I knew we could make this happen.”

He walked out of the building smiling, holding two permission slips in his hand.  “Get these signed, bring them back with you at eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”

He walked back to the car. Ginger asked,

“What was that all about?”

“Just some preventative maintenance. Let’s wait here until the boys leave.”

When the boys had started back to their homes, he pulled his checkbook out and wrote a check to the YMCA for $360. He left the car and went back into the YMCA. Smiling he handed “Ms. Impossible” the check.

“There’s the money for Trey Mulcahey and Lance Simpson.”

Back in the patrol car he drove along one of their patrol routes. He varied it every day so that a would be criminal wouldn’t be able to predict when the patrol car would go past.

“Ginger, I’ve thought a lot about that traffic stop when Corporal Butcher was hit by that truck. If we are ever in that type situation again, I think both of the patrol cars should be behind the one that is stopped. Walking toward the front of a vehicle that has been stopped puts the officer in too much danger.”

“I don’t think we should be involved in such things. We are just supposed to protect and serve the townspeople.”

“If the lieutenant didn’t think we should be involved, he wouldn’t be sharing intelligence from the Memphis Police Department. If our officers didn’t think we should be involved, that is what they would have told the dispatcher when we called in for instructions. If you wanted a safe job, being a policewoman was the wrong choice.”

“That is chauvinistic!”

 

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

CHANGE OF LIFE - Chapter 17


On Monday Maggie, the two girls, and I went to the police station which had answered my call. At the police station Maggie talked to the desk sergeant.

“Sergeant, I need some advice concerning the law. I don’t know who to see to get an order to protect my daughters. Last Friday, my husband showed up at the house demanding to see his daughters. He was going to take them with him. He was drinking and mean.  He slapped my babysitter, knocking her to the ground.

“He left us last year, the day before Thanksgiving. I haven’t heard from him since then. He hasn’t sent any money to help support our daughters. The policeman who responded to the call said that I need a court order or else he has a legal right to see them or take them with him. Who do I see to get a court order?  I can’t afford a lawyer; I am barely able to support us. I have to work, but now I am afraid to go away from the house.”

“Go to the Department of Human Services. Ask to speak with a Child Protection officer. Tell him or her what you have just told me. Let me see if that incident report from last Friday has been typed. If it has, your babysitter can sign it; I’ll give her a copy. Take her copy with you.”

He went into another room.

“Sit down and wait just a few minutes. I told them to put that report on the top of the pile. Someone is typing it as we speak.”

In about ten minutes, a middle aged woman came out of the other room with several copies of a form. She had me sign the report and then gave Maggie a copy. The sergeant gave us directions to the nearest DHS office. The house was on the way. We stopped and fortified ourselves with milk and cookies and freshened up before continuing on our way.

The DHS office was very busy. The waiting room was filled with people of all ages. They were all alike in one respect – they were poor and losing hope. Maggie went to the reception desk and told them that she wanted to see a Child Protection officer.  She was given a number.

Apparently the crowd was not waiting on the Child Protection officer. Her number was called in about five minutes. A kindly woman with grey hair, frameless glasses, and a neat blouse and skirt stood up to greet her. Later Maggie told me what happened.

“Mrs. O’Toole, my name is Martha Kappell. An officer from our Department, Mrs. Elizabeth Shepherd, visited with you a week or so ago. I have her report here on my desk. How can I help you?”

Maggie told her what had happened on Friday. She gave her the police report.

“Mrs. O’Toole, there are several ways that we can help you. First, you can apply for food stamps. That will ease your economic pressure somewhat. With this police report, our legal staff can get a protection order for you, your children, and whoever cares for your children while you are working. They can ask the judge for an order of supervised visitation. Your husband would have to visit the girls at a place and time we specify and he would be supervised by one of our employees. Finally, they can ask the judge to order your husband to pay child support. If he doesn’t start paying in a reasonable time, then we will go after him for it ourselves.

“I want you to know that Mrs. Shepherd said many good things about you, about your home, and about your two girls. We want to help you in every way we can. Being a single mom is difficult under the best circumstances. You don’t need to be worrying about money and worrying about the safety of your girls. I’m going to take you over to the food stamp worker. I will make a copy of this police report so I can return this copy to your babysitter. I will also tell our legal staff to get a copy of the missing person report you filed and the result of it.”

I waited with the two girls for over an hour. When Maggie came out she was smiling.

“These girls have been so good I would like to treat them and us to some ice cream,” I said.

In the days and week to follow, Maggie’s visit generated a half dozen letters from the DHS: A letter summarizing her visit, a letter from the legal staff telling her when Family Court would be hearing her complaint against Sean Casey O’Toole. She received a temporary order of protection. Then she received a card containing her food stamp amount for the month. It would be reloaded every month.

The girls and I resumed our daily walks. I found a used clothing store and was able to buy several nice dresses, some skirts and blouses, and a pair of blue jeans. On Friday I took the girls on the el to the Lincoln Park Zoo. We spent the whole day there.

On Saturday, at Story Hour, there were even more children. This day I read the book The Story of Babar the Little Elephant.  After reading each page I would show the illustration on that page to the children. I would ask questions to see if they were understanding the story. I was surprised that the older children liked the book. Afterward, I showed them the other books about Babar that the Library had to loan. Then I read The Giving Tree, the book I had picked for the older children.

I felt good about how well the children were responding to Story Hour, at how well behaved they were, and how I was learning the children’s names and developing a real bond of affection for them. I had never been a mother, but the maternal instincts in me were awakening.  

On Sunday I took the girls to Sunday School and church at the Methodist church. In the women’s class a woman came up to me,

“You are the woman that all the kids call ‘Dolly’.”  My name is Mrs. Victoria Halstead. I have a girl who is in the fourth grade, Linda. Her reading is so poor that they were going to hold her back. I begged them not to do it. They are going to give her a reading test when school begins. If she doesn’t pass it, she will have to repeat the fourth grade. I was wondering if you would give her reading lessons this summer?  I believe God has sent you to us. Will you please?”

“I will have to talk to Mrs. O’Toole. I am watching her girls when she is at work. Give me your address and phone number and I will be in touch with you.”

My heart nearly took wings. I didn’t have a day of college, but here I was reading books to children, and now a mother was asking me to help her daughter with reading. I had set out to find if I had worth as an individual. Already I was finding experiences that made me feel worthy. I am valuable to people besides myself.

 Monday was my day off. I decided to go to some department stores and furniture stores to look at futons. I went to a number of stores and finally found what I wanted. It had a wood frame and arms. There were springs in the frame and it had an 8” thick mattress. I inquired about delivery schedules and put a deposit on the item. I took the el back to my bank, withdrew $550, and took the el back to the store.

That evening I talked to Maggie about tutoring Linda Halstead.

“I wanted to talk to you about whether it would be all right to have her here with the girls for an hour.”

“I have no objection to her being here with the girls. However, I think it would be asking the girls to schedule her tutoring into their day. They look forward to the walks they have been taking and other ways that you interact with them. I think a better solution would be for you to go to the Halstead’s house in the evening, after I am here to watch the girls.”

I decided to go to the Halstead’s then, before it was dark.

I walked the four blocks to the Halstead’s house and knocked on the door. A man answered the door.

“I came to talk to Mrs. Halstead.”

“Why?  What are you selling?”

“I’m not selling. Mrs. Halstead talked to me at church and asked me to come and talk to her about Linda’s reading.”

“Well, I’ll call her. V-I-C-T-O-R-I-A”

Victoria Halstead appeared and her husband stepped away.

“Dolly!  I’m so glad that you came. Please come in. We can go into the kitchen. My husband is watching the evening news.

“I wanted to talk to you about helping Linda with her reading. Maggie and I talked it over. Could I come to your house Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings?”

“That sounds fine to me. Linda is at her girl friend’s house for a sleepover. I’ll tell her when she comes home tomorrow.”

“Good. I’d better be heading back to Maggie’s house before it gets dark.”

“Thank you for coming. I’ll see you tomorrow night.”

I walked back to Maggie’s house. The only thing about this that made me anxious was that I would be walking home after dark,

I asked Maggie if I could use the washing machine and dryer tomorrow. I had quite a few pieces of clothing to wash, including most of what I bought at the used clothing store.

“I will try to finish my washing tomorrow. Then on Wednesday I will have the girls help me to wash your family clothes and linens. If I teach them how to do it, that could become a routine chore for them.”

“That would really be nice.”

By then it was time for Maggie to read the Bible to her girls. I usually sat in with them.

Tuesday, after putting a load of wash into the machine, I took the girls to the library. While the girls were looking for books for themselves, I consulted with the Librarian about books to read on Saturday at the Story Hour and also a book to use with Linda Halstead. When we returned from the Library, the first load of laundry was complete.  I took it out and put it into a basket. Then I put my other load into the washer. I carried the basket downstairs and hung the clothes on the clothesline in the back yard.

By then it was time to make lunch. I let the girls make a slice of toast by themselves, spread peanut butter on it, and then slice a banana on top of that. I called it a Monkey Butter Sandwich. The girls giggled. By the time they had finished lunch, the second load of wash was ready. I carried it outside and hung it on the clothesline.

The girls read books that afternoon and I prepared for my first lesson with Linda Halstead. When Maggie returned from work, I went outside and took the clothes off the clothesline. I took them to my room, folded them, and put them in the chest of drawers or hung them on a hanger on the clothes rack. Then I went upstairs to help with supper. The girls had already told their mother about their Monkey Butter sandwiches.

When I arrived at Linda Halstead’s house, she met me at the door and took me into the kitchen. Mrs. Halstead was there seated at the table.

I said, “Mrs. Halstead, I think it would be easier for Linda if we could work in private.”

Mrs. Halstead scowled and said, “I’ll have to go to my bedroom then. Harry likes to have the living room to himself.”

I had brought along the book The Story of Babar. I asked Linda to read the first page. Linda was squinting, hunching over the page, and struggling to read one word at a time.

“Linda, I want you to bring me a notebook and a pencil. Do you have them in your room?”

Linda ran up the stairs and came back down with a notebook and pencil. I copied the first page of Babar using letters with the capitals two lines tall and the other letters taking the space of one line.

“Now, Linda, try reading this page that I have written in your notebook.”

There were still words that Linda needed help with, but her reading had improved 100%.

“Linda, call your mother down here.”

When Mrs. Halstead came into the room, I said,

“Mrs. Halstead, Linda needs eyeglasses. Her reading is so poor because she cannot see the words clearly. That is why she squints. She still needs help with reading even after she gets eyeglasses because she has fallen behind by not being able to see the words. I am going to try to find a book at the library with large print to use until you can get her some eyeglasses.”

Mrs. Halstead did not look happy about the news I had given her.

“Well, I’ll be seeing you both tomorrow evening.”

Walking back to Maggie’s I was puzzled by Mrs. Halstead’s reaction. I thought that Mrs. Halstead should be happy that I had found the reason for Linda having difficulty reading.

 

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

CHANGE OF LIFE - Chapter 16


 

Tuesday night the freshly painted house welcomed Willard home. He was happy to be back to work on Wednesday. The trip made him appreciate his home and the small town where he lived. He was grateful for the break from work and routine, but now he was eager to get back to it.

At roll call the lieutenant again warned them about the smugglers. Ginger had been riding with another patrolman while Willard was gone. At roll call the lieutenant told her that she would be riding with Sergeant O’Reilly. It was plain to see that she was not happy about that;. The first couple hours they rode around the town, then went out into the residential areas. She asked a few polite questions about his vacation and complimented him on the new paint job on his house. Willard asked who she rode with while he was gone.

At 11:10 AM they had a call about a disturbance at the Acropolis Café. When they arrived, they saw a man with disheveled long hair and dirty clothes standing in the middle of the café ranting and raving that food was a right not a privilege.

“I should be fed whatever I order whether I have money to pay for it or not. That is why we elect presidents and governors and judges so they can protect the rights of the downtrodden. If you don’t serve me like you are supposed to do, the President will send tanks and fighter planes to destroy this building. Judgment is coming for everyone with a fat belly.”

Demetrius was ringing his hands.

“I told him that I would fix him a nice sandwich – he could have it for free – if he would just go away.”

“You cannot bribe me out of my rights. I shall be served at a table with a waiter at my beck and call. It is my right as an American citizen.”

“You are under arrest for disturbing the peace. These are your Miranda rights……”

He cuffed his hands behind his back and led him out to the squad car.

“Ginger call the dispatcher. Tell him that we have a “mental client”. Ask if we should bring him to the jail or take him to Emergency. They will probably want a doctor to see him first.”

They took him to the Emergency Room. The doctor wanted him taken out of his handcuffs. When Willard did so, the man went berserk. He grabbed anything loose in the examining room and was throwing them at the doctor, the nurse, the policeman, and the policewoman. Willard grabbed hold of him and held his arms back. Then the man tried kicking.

“Doctor, either sedate this man or restrain him. Otherwise he is going to hurt one or more of us.”

The doctor said, “Why did you bring him here?  We are not a mental hospital. We don’t have a locked ward or a psychiatrist on staff.”

“I brought him here because I was told to do so. I brought him here because he has a right to be seen by a doctor. There could be some medical reason for his bizarre behavior. I brought him here because you can order him to be taken to a mental hospital for psychiatric observation.”

“Very well. You can put the handcuffs on him. You will have to stay here with him while we run some tests.”

After several hours, the doctor signed an order to take him to the regional  hospital (which has a psychiatric ward, a psychologist on staff, and a psychiatrist on call). A nurse fed him before they sedated him.

By then it was near the end of shift. The regional hospital was more than an hour’s drive.

In the patrol car Willard said to Ginger,

“I can manage him alone if you want to go home at the end of shift.”

“That’s kind of you. My son’s counting on me to take him to Scout meeting.”  

“Call the dispatcher and see if that’s all right with him.”

The dispatcher answered, “The lieutenant says that you can let your partner out at the station and then transport the mental health client to the regional hospital solo.”

 Willard drove the man to the regional hospital, waited until they accepted him and signed off for him. Then he drove back to Prattsville. By then it was between 7:30 and 8:00 PM.

 Willard had not done any grocery shopping so he drove through McDonald’s and got a meal for his supper.

    When he arrived at home, he noticed that the grass had really grown high in his absence.  He went into the house, changed into his work clothes and was soon mowing his lawn, even though it was now dusk. As he was mowing, Mr. Sedlof from down the street stopped on the sidewalk and called to him,

“Mr. O’Reilly!”

Willard turned off the mower and came out to where Mr. Sedlof was standing.

“Mr. Sedlof, how’re you doing?   It’s been a long time since we talked.“

“Well, I don’t usually see you, except when you are going to work or when you are on the job. The reason I stopped is that I saw you fixing the gutters, caulking the frames of the windows and doors, and then painting. I belong to Habitat for Humanity. We build houses for people who can’t afford decent housing.

“They have a unique program. The houses we build are inexpensive because they are basic housing, built with volunteer labor, and some of the supplies are donated. The people who buy these houses make their down payment through sweat equity. They have to work so many hours helping build houses for other people. The amount of time they work is converted into its value as a laborer. That is credited to their account toward a down payment. When they get a house they have a mortgage for balance.”

“That sounds like a great program.”

“Here is where you can come in. We have a chapter in El Dorado. We meet on a Thursday evening once a month. Then we volunteer to work on building a house, usually on Saturday.  If you want to go, our next meeting is tomorrow night. I’ll be glad to pick you up and take you there if you would like to go and see if it is something you’d like to get involved with.”

“Sounds good. I’d like to go with you, with this caveat. I’ll go if nothing comes up at work.”

“Oh sure. I understand. I’ll pick you up at 6:30 PM. The meeting starts at 7:30 PM.

The next day, work went routinely. Ginger was gradually becoming friendly to him, and also beginning to respect him. There weren’t any incident calls. That night he went to the Habitat for Humanity chapter meeting with Mr. Sedlof. It was in many ways like a civic club.

He was gradually able to figure what the various committees did. One was responsible for raising funds and also the donation of building materials, another one ran a store where recycled building materials were sold , still another committee was responsible for scheduling workers. Before he left, he had volunteered his next Saturday off to help paint a house that was nearing completion.

The next day, he and Ginger were patrolling in a residential neighborhood. He saw a front door open and heard the voices of boys yelling and laughing.  He stopped the car.

“Ginger, The people who live there don’t have any children. I’m going around to the back. I want you to go up to the front door, bang real hard, and say, “THIS IS PRATTSVILLE POLICE. COME OUT RIGHT NOW!  I think that they will run out the back.”

Officer O’Reilly was right. The boys, in their early teens, came running out the back door. As they did so, he managed to grab each one by the arm.  He called for Ginger.

“I want you to cuff these young men, one at a time. Then we are going to take them to jail.”

“Oh, please, Officer, please don’t take us to jail.”

The other one said, “Please, please.”

“Where are your parents?”

“I don’t have a father. My mother is at work. If you call her at work, she could lose her job.”

“The same with me. I don’t have any father. Our moms work at the same place. Their boss is mean. He’ll fire you for the least little thing.”

He took them both to the squad car. After they were inside the car, he sent Ginger inside the house to assess the damage and to lock up the house when she left.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               .  They went back to the station. He asked the jailer if he had an empty cell, because he didn’t want juveniles mixed with adult offenders. He handed them over to the jailer who uncuffed them and put them in a cell away from the adult offenders.

“Ginger, how much damage did those boys do?”

“I don’t think they had a chance to get started. They probably were intent on mischievous vandalism. As it is, they threw some pillows on the floor, upset a magazine rack, and overturned a flower pot.”

“I’m going to talk to their mothers, bring them down to the jail, and then take them over to that house and make them apologize to the people. You go ahead home. I’m going to see this through to the end.”

Willard drove back to the house that had been vandalized. He went to the door and knocked.

“Ma’am, I am Sergeant O’Reilly of the Prattsville Police Department. Earlier today I apprehended two boys who had been inside your house bent on mischief. I have them in a jail cell now. If it is all right with you, I want to bring the boys and their mothers here and have them apologize to you. In order to do it that way I need you to sign a “Refusal to Prosecute”. By the way, what is your name?”

As she signed the form she said, “I am Elizabeth Treadwell. About noon my husband Homer thought that he was having a heart attack. That is why we rushed out of here and I must have left the door unlocked.”

“Mrs. Treadwell, may I have your permission to bring the boys and their mothers here tonight to apologize?”

“If you think that is the best thing to do and if you will promise me that there won’t be any dramatics. My nerves are shot.” 

“I thank you for your cooperation. I’ll be back with them in an hour or so.”

He drove over to the street where the two boys lived. He parked and waited. Soon a beat up old Chevy pulled in and parked at a house. Two women got out.

“Are you Mrs. Mulcahey and Ms. Simpson?  I am Sergeant O’Reilly.”

“Yes, we are. Is there trouble?  Were our boys hurt?”

“Your boys are both in jail right now. They went into the house of an elderly couple and were beginning to vandalize it when my partner and I caught them in the act. The first thing I want to know is why you have left your boys alone all day, bored, ready for whatever comes along.?”

“We don’t have money for babysitters or summer camps or anything else. We just have to trust them.”

“Ladies, if you told that to a judge he would call it child neglect. I want you to enroll them in the program at the YMCA which runs all summer and is designed for families where the adults have to work and there is no one at home to watch the children. If you can’t afford it, they know ways to get someone else to pay.

“Right now, I am going to take you to see your boys in jail. I am going to release them to your care. The next time, it won’t be that easy. From jail I am going to take the four of you to Mrs. Treadwell’s house to apologize to her. You mothers need to apologize to her also. While your boys were in her house intending to vandalize it, she was with her husband at the hospital. After this I am going to be checking with you about those boys. They are at an age when they could turn in either direction.“

When the boys saw their mothers, their faces turned white as a sheet.

“Boys, you are going back to that house with your mothers and you are all going to apologize to Mrs. Treadwell. She had rushed her husband to the hospital several hours before you walked into their home uninvited.”

The apology went well. He drove the two young men and their mothers home.