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.He picked up a towel off the bathroomfloor, used it to wipe out the sink, and hung it on the rail.Notperfect, but hopefully good enough.The woman s knock sounded on the door.Tony opened itand held out his hand. Hi, I m Tony Hart.Come in.96 Kaje HarperThe woman shook his hand with an almost imperceptibledelay. Sheila Burns. Are you here for the home visit? Tony asked. I was toldthere would have to be one or two more.You should know thisplace is only temporary.I m looking for a bigger apartment rightnow. Where is Ben? the woman enquired.Tony gestured to the bedroom door. He s in there killingaliens.After he wiped the floor with me half a dozen times hedecided it would be fun to try playing against the computer.He paused. Not that I ll let him be on the screen too long& He let his voice trail off as the expression on the woman s faceregistered. What s wrong?Sheila Burns sighed. I m here to pick Ben up. You re what? There was a complaint, she said, pulling out a form. The boy s maternal grandparents are applying for custody,on the grounds that living with you will expose the boy to a,quote,  neglectful, promiscuous, and deviant lifestyle that willbe unhealthy for him, end quote.The department has to takecomplaints like that seriously. But&  Tony couldn t grasp it. I m not promiscuous, andhow would they know since they see me about once a year?Anyway, where are they if they re so concerned about Ben? Theyhaven t come by or even called to see how he s doing.And I knowthey have my number. Look, Burns said in a calming voice. I m just doing myjob.I m not in a position to make any decisions.If there is thepossibility of harm to the child, we have to take steps.Since youare not an approved foster parent or a relative and don t havelegal custody, it s my job to be sure Ben is somewhere safe until ajudge can make a ruling. Jesus, Tony breathed. The boy just lost his mother, he sscared, he s not sleeping well, and you want to place him withstrangers, just on someone s baseless complaint?BREAKING COVER 97 I want him somewhere I know is safe, Burns said flatly. That s the first priority.I ll let you fight it out in front of thejudge. Can he at least stay with the Thompsons? Tony asked. Imean, I don t like them much, but they are his family and he atleast knows them.It would be marginally less traumatic for him. That s not possible.As I understand it, the mother s willspecifically says the boy should not live with her parents.In fact,she alleges that she was emotionally abused and neglected in thathome as a teenager.A judge will have to make a ruling, and Benneeds to be somewhere approved until then. Okay, Tony said. Okay.No way around it.Do you have totake him now?He thought she looked a little sympathetic when she said, Yes. Let me tell him about this, Tony asked. He s going to bescared, but he trusts me. Bring him out here and we ll talk to him together.Tony nodded and headed for the bedroom.For a momentafter he opened the door he just watched the boy play with hisgame, putting body English into the controller.Then Ben lookedup and spotted him. Hey, Tony, he called eagerly. Look how good I m doing! That s great.But I have to talk to you out here.Could yousave your game? I guess, Ben agreed, turning back to the screen.After amoment he put down his controller and came to the door.Tonywalked the boy out with a hand on his shoulder. Ben, he said. This is Sheila Burns from Child Protection.They re the people who take care of kids that are in a badsituation. Ben turned to look up at Tony, and he could feel thesmall shoulders tense but the boy said nothing. Come and sit down, Ben, the woman urged softly.Bendidn t move until Tony gave him a little push.Then he perched98 Kaje Harperon the couch as far from her as possible.Tony knelt beside Ben. Listen, Benny boy, Tony said. You know I want to haveyou with me forever, and that s what your mom wanted too. Orat least what I got her to put in writing.In fairness, Sandy had alwayswanted what was best for Ben. But I m not your family and I mnot approved to take care of a little boy yet.Miss Burns says thelaw requires her to make sure you are safe while they check meout to see if I m a good person to take care of you. But I m safe with you, Ben said thinly. You know that and I know that, Tony agreed. But theydon t know me.The Child Protection people need to check meout, to be sure I don t break laws, or keep dangerous stuff likedrugs in the house, or drink too much. Like Mom and Grandma sometimes? Yeah, like that.They want to be sure I m the best person totake care of you. You are the best, Ben said. Mac s a cop.He could tell themso.Tony turned to the woman. Mac is a friend of ours.He worksHomicide. He turned back to Ben. If I need someone to giveme a good report, I might ask Mac, but we still have to follow therules.And that means you have to go stay with someone else fora little while, while they check me out. I don t want to, Ben whined. I want to stay here. I know, sweetie.But it won t be for long and then hopefullyyou ll be back here with me forever. The foster family has a dog, Burns put in hopefully. And acouple of other boys you can play with. I don t care! Ben wailed.Tony hugged him firmly and sethim back in his place.Ben knuckled his eyes. You can do this, Tony said. You re a strong kid.It won tbe long. Why can t I just stay here while they do the checking stuff?BREAKING COVER 99Ben demanded. Because if I was a bad person I might hurt you before theyfound out about me.They want you with someone they alreadyknow. But you re not a bad person.Tony sighed. Ben.It s the rules.We have to follow the rules. I bet Mac would make them stop.Tony winced.He wasn t sure whether to be glad or worriedthat Ben looked on Mac as their protector. Mac has to followthe laws too, even though he s a cop.He ll help us all he can, butwe have to do this right. You ll like the foster parents, Burns said. They re verynice. I don t care, Ben repeated mulishly, holding the edge of thecouch cushion with both hands.Sheila Burns turned to Tony. Why don t you pack up Ben sstuff while I talk to him?Tony didn t want to.He really didn t want to.He made himselfget up and pulled his favorite backpack out of the closet.Inthe bedroom he carefully packed the new shirts and shorts andunderwear in it, the toy racing car, the books, the stuffed dog.Hecould hear the woman s voice, low and coaxing, in the other room,but nothing from Ben.He hefted the backpack and grabbed Tedin his free hand.On the way to the bathroom, past the couch, hestuffed Ted into Ben s arms.The boy didn t look at him.Toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, hand towel with the firetruck on it& he felt like he was erasing the little boy from hisbathroom.The water toys, the toothbrush holder shaped like atruck, it couldn t all go along.How had Ben become so firmlyrooted in here in just a day?When the backpack was full he lugged it back to the livingroom [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]