Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 00:52:55 -0500
From: TgrPaw@gmail.com
Subject: Can-You-Spare-A-Quarter 11

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Can You Spare a Quarter?
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Dedicated to "D":

   We didn't meet this way, it probably wouldn't have been anything like
   this if we had met this way, but if we had, I hope it might have been
   something like this.   {{{{ hugs }}}}

Disclaimer:

   Names of people, places, companies, and so forth are completely
   fictional.  While this story draws inspiration from real events which
   involved real people, it is nonetheless a complete work of fiction.

Copyright:

   2002; All rights reserved.

Comments:

   Email can be sent to TgrPaw@gmail.com

   Flames, hate mail, and similar things will be ignored.

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11. A Decision is Made

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After getting Cindy to run after Jamie, Graham ran into the small room
next to the kitchen and put on his shoes and coat.  Quickly grabbing
Jamie's shoes, Graham put them into a shopping bag, and he then took
Jamie's coat from the hook on the wall and tucked it into the bag as well.
Only a couple of minutes after Jamie had left at a dead run, Graham was
out of the house and looking for him.

Graham knew he couldn't keep up a running pace for long, and settled into
a medium jog and headed through the trees in the direction of Freeland's
house.  Graham was hoping that perhaps Jamie had gone to be with his
friend Jason.  As he went along, Graham called out periodically to Jamie
and Cindy, but there was no reply from either of them.  Shortly Graham
was knocking on the Freeland's back door frantically.

"Is Jamie here?" Graham gasped, almost out of breath.

"No, what's the matter?" asked Kathy with surprise as she looked on at
Graham trying to catch his breath.

"He's run off," panted Graham.  "I was trying to tell him that maybe I
could get him some help for the nightmares, and when he realized that he
was the reason I'd been getting banged up he took off and ran.  He must
have thought I was going to hurt him back or something to punish him."

"Oh my god!" exclaimed Kathy as she went back into the house followed
by Graham.  "Frank!  Jason!  Come quick!"

Frank and Jason dropped what they were doing and ran to find out what
the problem was.  Moments later they were both in the kitchen to find
out what the problem was.

"Jamie's run away.  You've got to get your coats on right away and help
Graham find him," said Kathy excitedly.

"What happened?" asked Frank and Jason simultaneously while they began
getting dressed for the cold outdoor weather.

"I was trying to tell him that maybe I could get him some help, and he
got all scared when he realized he was the one belting me," said Graham.
"He must have thought I was going to let him have it or something."

"Oh boy, it never rains, but it pours eh?" said Frank.  "OK, let's
do this logically.  Jason, you head up towards where you and Jamie go
fishing, I'll head east, and Graham, you can head west.  We'll meet back
at Graham's place in an hour or so."

"He didn't even put on shoes or a coat," said Graham sadly showing
everyone the shopping bag he was carrying.  "I sent Cindy off after him,
so keep your eyes out for both of them."

After everyone ran off to find Jamie, Kathy sat down with the telephone
and began to call everyone she could think of in the surrounding area.
The more eyes that were on the lookout for Jamie the better.  She'd start
with Dave, if the weather didn't get too bad, maybe he could use the
float plane.  If things got nasty as appeared likely, maybe he could
use his boat to check the shoreline around the island.

                               *** *** *** ***

Jason ran into the forest and headed for the stream that he and Jamie
liked to fish at.  Crashing through the trees and jumping over fallen logs
and branches, he moved quickly.  As he ran along however, Jason couldn't
help but feel that he wasn't going about this in quite the right way.
Despite his feelings of misgiving, Jason pushed his worries to one side
and kept going, calling out to Jamie and Cindy as he went.

Less than ten minutes after leaving his house, Jason was at the stream.
He ran around the area frantically looking behind trees and shouting
out to Jamie and Cindy.  Jason first ran upstream and then down again,
but it was all to no avail.  Jamie wasn't here, and Jason suspected he
hadn't come in this direction at all.

Once again the feeling that he was missing the obvious came to him, and
this time Jason listened to his inner voice.  He then remembered what
he had told Jamie when they first walked through the forest together,
something very basic, and in his panic he'd forgotten: 'The forest is
never quiet if you know how to watch and listen.'  Jason rebuked himself
and vowed not to forget again.

The inner voice in Jason's head was that of his friend Pony TwoFeathers
who had often remarked how people could not see the obvious for lack of
paying attention.  Jason knew then that he and the others were going
about the search for Jamie all wrong.  The trail that Jamie took was
going to be easy to find, but Jason knew he needed someone with more
experience than himself to help.  Jason looked about for a moment and
after orienting himself headed north at a fast run.

Jason headed rapidly for the small fishing village on the island
where his friend lived.  It was a poor village, as most reservation
settlements were.  Jason knew it was a combination of many factors that
caused it, interference by the government, forced cultural assimilation,
simple racism, encroachment by land hungry people, and admittedly some
bad choices on their own part.  Despite it all though, they maintained
their dignity and most still carried on their traditions in the old
ways even though the times had changed.  Also many of the elders still
carried the wisdom of their ancestors within them.

As he reached the village Jason ran to the small house that his friend
lived in, and found him sitting outside on a log.  Pony TwoFeathers
was carefully carving the figure of a whale out of a small block of
cedar wood.

"Hello Jay," said Pony.  "You're in a very big hurry today."

"Pony!  My friend Jamie that I told you about, he's run off scared,
and we're trying to find him.  I need your help."

"Do you know where he went?" asked Pony as he stuck the knife into the
log he was sitting on and put down the half-carved figure.

"I first ran to the stream we fish at because I thought he might be
there," said Jason.  "But when he wasn't there, I remembered what you
taught me.  I should have looked before I ran, and then it would be
easier to find him.  I wanted to ask if you could help me, because I'm
still learning how to do that."

"You are learning my friend, that is good," said Pony.  "We will go
together and look at the signs.  Then you will find your friend."

"Thanks," said Jason as he hugged his friend.  "I knew you would be able
to help me."

"First we will go to where he started and look carefully," said Pony.
"Then we will be able to see what direction he went in.  Once we know
that then we will know what to do."

The two headed away from the village back towards the southern side of
the island.  Despite being older, Pony moved as rapidly as Jason through
the forest.  Jason always was impressed how his friend, despite his age
as indicated by the graying hair, almost always outlasted him on hikes.

Even at a rapid pace it took them about 15 minutes to cross back to
the other side of the island.  Eventually however, Jason led Pony to
Graham's house and they stood outside the back of it and looked around.
Standing perfectly still, Pony TwoFeathers looked the area over slowly
and looked closely at the forest and the grass surrounding the house.

As Pony was scanning the area for signs of Jamie, Jason ran inside
the house and wrote a short note for Graham explaining the situation.
He indicated that he was going to continue looking with Pony's help and
that they would be back before nightfall.  Putting the note in the centre
of the dining room table for Graham to find, Jason went back outside as
Pony finally pointed to spot in the surrounding trees towards the west.

"There," Pony announced simply.

"Are you sure?" asked Jason feeling embarrassed almost as he spoke
the words.

"Come and look," said Pony as he led Jason towards the spot he'd picked
out.  "Look at the grass here leading up to the brush, and then look at
the small branches at the edge of the forest."

Jason looked and saw the impressions of what could be feet in the soft
grass, and the broken branches of the underbrush where the footsteps
appeared to end.  There was only one possible conclusion, it had to
be Jamie.  Jason in his haste to rush off to where he thought Jamie
might be, hadn't bothered to check.  Of course, neither had his father
or Graham, but Jason felt he ought to know better.

"Will we find him do you think?" asked Jason with concern as they started
into the brush after Jamie.

"Your friend is scared and running fast," said Pony pointing out disturbed
areas on the ground and ferns that had been obviously stepped on.
"You can see his trail easily.  Don't worry we'll find him."

"He gets scared easy," said Jason.  "When he first saw my dad, he freaked
because he kinda looked like his own dad."

"The one that dishonoured him," said Pony with obvious disdain.

"Yeah," confirmed Jason.  "Jamie's told me some stuff.  Not a lot,
but some.  It's pretty bad."

"A person who hurts a boy like that wounds all of us," said Pony.
"Your friend's spirit must be strong to have survived.  We had a boy
in our village like that, his father had been hurting him over and
over again."

"What happened?  Did someone call the police?" asked Jason.

"The father had an accident," said Pony with finality.

They continued to talk about Jamie and what Jason knew of him as they
moved through the forest.  Jamie in his flight hadn't thought to use
any of the pathways that wandered through the trees and underbrush, and
this made the tracking much easier.  As they went along Pony pointed out
the signs to Jason who watched carefully and learned.  It began to rain
and got colder still.  Soon the rain began to change into a wet sticky
snow and where the forest canopy opened up, the boughs of the smaller
trees began to get coated by a thin layer of snow.  If the situation
hadn't been so urgent, the scene might have been beautiful to behold,
however, it merely added to the urgency knowing as they did that Jamie
didn't have anything warm to wear.

                               *** *** *** ***

Jamie ran blindly through the trees not seeing where he was going.
His head was rushing with a mixture of thoughts and fears.  He remembered
how when he did something at home, or tried to refuse something, how
his father would beat him virtually senseless.  When Jamie realized
that he had been responsible for Graham's getting hurt he knew that he
had to run, his father would probably have beaten him to death if Jamie
had done that to him.  How could Graham react any different with Jamie
having done something like that?

As Jamie ran his mind was a swirl of emotions.  Images of his father in
blind rage and Graham's calmness fought for dominance.  Crashing through
tree branches and mindless of where he was going, Jamie pushed on.
Jamie had no idea where he was going, but he hoped that if he could get
far enough away, maybe he wouldn't get beaten this time.

Gradually Jamie began to tire, and as he did he began so slow down.
As the rain gradually changed into snow, the ground became increasingly
slippery.  In his flight Jamie ran over a section of rock covered in
moss and slipped.

"AHHHHHH," cried Jamie as his legs slid out from under him and he began
to fall.  Landing heavily just below the moss-covered section of rock,
Jamie paused briefly to get his breath and then tried to get up.

"OWWWWWW", screamed Jamie as he put weight onto his left ankle while
trying to get up.

Crumpling down after a second failed attempt to get up, Jamie realized
that he wasn't going to be going any further.  Jamie began to cry and
think the worst.  Jamie now knew that he was going to be caught and his
father was going to beat him again.  However as Jamie began to think
more clearly he remembered his father was far away back in the city
and had no idea where he was.  It was Graham that Jamie needed to worry
about, the question was did he really need to worry?  Jamie thought back
and couldn't remember Graham being anything other than kind and gentle
with him.  Even when Jamie had accidentally dropped a glass on the floor
and it had broken the most had happened was a suggestion that Jamie not
carry so many things at once.

"Graham wasn't going to hurt me and now I've ruined everything," Jamie
sobbed aloud.  "He's going to send me away for sure.  How could I screw
up like this and wreck the only decent chance I ever had?"

Unable to move without great pain, Jamie slowly crawled next to a downed
tree that lay under the cover of the forest canopy to help shelter
himself from the weather.  He tried to get comfortable and rubbed his
tender ankle.

"How dumb could I have been to run off like that," he said to himself.
"Now I'm lost, cold, and wet.  I don't even know which way to go even
if I could get back to Graham's house."

Jamie was shaken out of his thoughts on the cold wet weather and his
state of affairs by an even colder wetter nose that was nuzzling his chin.
Jamie jumped back startled and then realizing it was Cindy, Jamie wrapped
his arms around her.

"Hey girl, you came to be with me," said Jamie with deep tenderness as
he hugged the big dog who started to lick his face.  "I'm glad you're
still my friend.  But we're lost now and I'm hurt and scared.  What are
we going to do?"

Cindy immediately moved in close and Jamie feeling her warmth against
him hugged her all the more tightly as they sat in the slim protection
of the great fallen tree.  Cindy laid down on the ground and nestled up
close to Jamie who tucked his cold wet feet under her.  Clad only in socks
which were now soaking wet, Jamie's feet felt like two icebergs. Cindy's
warmth however soon had the circulation returning and them feeling better.

Jamie sat talking softly to Cindy who looked up at him as he spoke,
"I've really blown it now haven't I?  I'm gonna be back on the streets
for sure.  If I manage to live through this and Graham still wants me,
I swear I'll never run off again."

Getting a lick of reassurance from Cindy that they would be found, Jamie
huddled closer to her warm body.  Shivering now from the chill of being
wet all over, Jamie thought about what he should do to try and get out
of this predicament.  Jamie knew that he wasn't going to get very far
with his ankle, and so he decided the best thing to do for now was to
wait and hope that someone would find him.

                               *** *** *** ***

"He's slowing down now," Pony announced as he pointed to the marks
on the ground that had been made by Jamie's feet.  Jason saw how they
were gradually getting closer and closer together as Jamie had slowed
down from a dead run into a fast walk.  Coinciding with the slowing of
Jamie's pace, the number of signs of his flight had decreased as well.
Jamie was now pushing branches out of the way as he went, rather than
them snapping off as he ran into them.  The falling snow was helping in
some ways too, but it was also starting to cover the tracks.  As a result
Jason was having difficulty seeing the evidence of Jamie's movements now.
Pony's experience however, kept them on the trail, his keen eyes picking
out the clues, though even he now stopped from time to time looking
carefully.

Eventually Pony stopped and crouched down and motioned to Jason to do
the same.  Jason knelt down and looked around but could not see anything.
Pony pointed towards Jason's ear indicating he should listen carefully.
It was very faint, but Jason could just  barely make out something,
a sound that wasn't quite natural in the forest.

Jason and Pony began to move forward carefully and quietly.  Watching
where they put their feet and what they brushed against, to ensure they
remained silent.  After a  couple of minutes they could hear the sound
more clearly.  It was a young voice - Jamie's.

Jason was about to jump up and run towards the sound, but Pony held him
fast and whispered quietly to wait.  Pony knew it would be all too easy to
scare Jamie and thereby cause him to run off in fear again.  Pony pointed
at a spot further along and Jason moved towards it carefully and quietly.
Pony  moved in the opposite direction until they were positioned on either
side of Jamie, but  still remained hidden.  Jason then waited until Pony
was in position and then hearing a whistled bird call purposely made a
noise and moved out into the open as if taking a casual stroll.

Jamie looked up with fear as he heard the bushes in front of him rustle
and felt a sudden  flood of relief wash over him as he saw Jason coming
through the branches.  As Jason came through the brush  he could see
Jamie sitting up against a big downed pine tree with Cindy huddled
against him as the snow drifted down around the two of them.

"Jason!" Jamie cried out.

"Jamie!" replied Jason as he ran up and hugged him and Cindy.  "Are you
OK?"

"I'm really cold, and I hurt my foot, but I'm OK," said Jamie with his
teeth chattering a bit.  "Cindy helped keep me warm.  How did you find me?
I got hurt and I didn't know how to find my way back."

"My friend Pony TwoFeathers helped me," said Jason indicating his friend
who then stepped out from the trees behind Jamie.

"Oh.  Hello sir.  Thank you for helping Jason.  I'm sorry about this,
I got scared and ..." said Jamie who began to cry again.  "I've really
ruined everything haven't I?  Graham's going to kick me out."

"No way Mr. H. would do that," said Jason comfortingly as he knelt
beside Jamie.

"And you would always be welcome in our village," added Pony.

"They wouldn't want someone like me," said Jamie.

"You've struggled and fought against an evil opponent yet remain
undefeated," said Pony with great formality.  "There is no one more worthy
of respect than that.  You would be very welcome amongst my people.
I would be proud to call you a member of my family, and you would do
honour to my home."

"Thank you," said Jamie shyly, cleared affected by Pony's solemn
declaration.

"Come on Jamie, we need to get you back, you're going to freeze out here,"
said Jason.

Jamie tried to rise up, but immediately fell again in pain, "Ohhh
my foot."

"What happened to it?" asked Jason with concern.

"I was running and I slipped on some rocks and did something to my ankle,
it hurts really bad," said Jamie.

Pony knelt down beside Jamie and felt his foot and ankle with his hands
and said, "It's not broken, but you've twisted it badly.  You're not
going to be able to walk right now."

"What am I going to do?" said Jamie as he started to cry again.

"Don't fear young brave one," said Pony as he reached under Jamie and
picked him up in his strong arms.  "We'll take you back to the village
and get it checked.  Then I will bring you back home safely."

With Jamie safely in Pony's arms and with Cindy and Jason leading the way
they all headed back towards Pony's village.  After about ten minutes
of breaking trail through the forest they came upon one of the paths
that wandered about the island and then they made good time.  When they
finally broke through the trees into the cleared area around the village
Jason ran ahead to find the settlement's doctor.

Pony carried Jamie to the small clinic and as he was entering Jason
arrived with the doctor.  A quick examination confirmed it was a twisted
ankle and shortly Jamie had his foot wrapped up securely.  Jamie tested
it carefully and  found that he could put a little weight on it, but it
still hurt.

"It's better but still hurts a lot," said Jamie.

"You'll have to be careful with that for a couple of days, but you should
be fine afterwards," said the doctor.  "It just needs to rest for a bit."

"Is this going to cost something?" asked Jamie with concern.  "I don't
have any money."

"No, you're Pony's friend and Jason's," said the doctor.  "That makes
you an honourary member of tribe.  It would be wrong to help one of
our own people in exchange for money.  When you are feeling better,
just come back and visit us again."

"I'd like that a lot," said Jamie thanking the doctor.

Once again Pony picked up Jamie and the trio began to head for home.
As before, Jason was impressed by the strength and stamina of Pony.
Even now with the added weight of carrying Jamie, Pony's pace didn't
slow down and he kept right up with Jason and Cindy as they headed for
Graham's house.

As the winter sun sank towards the horizon, the trail was getting more
difficult to see, but they managed to arrive at Graham's house just before
night fell.  As they approached the house, the back door burst open and
out ran Graham, Frank, Kathy, Dave, and several other people.  They all
clustered around Jamie who was still being carried by Pony.  They were
all clearly worried but relieved at the same time to see him safe.

"Jamie, we were so worried about you," said Graham as he ran up with
the rest of the people who had been searching.  "You must have almost
frozen out there.  Please everyone, let's go inside so Jamie can get
warm."

"I'm sorry Graham," said Jamie as they all went into the house.  "When
you told me I was the one that had been hurting you, I got all scared.
But I'm OK, Cindy found me and helped keep me warm."

"You don't have anything to worry about," said Graham as he knelt and
gave Cindy a big hug for looking after Jamie.  "I just wanted to get
you some help so that you'd not have the nightmares any more."

"I know that now," said Jamie.  "I'm sorry Graham, I really am.  I was
just so afraid you were going to beat me like my dad used to when he
got mad at me."

"Oh Jamie," replied Graham gently, "I could never hurt you.  That's what
I was trying to tell you.  I want to help you so that it can never
happen again."

"I feel really bad because you've been so good to me," said Jamie
tearfully.  "Please don't send me back, I really like it here."

"I'm not going to send you back so don't worry about that," said Graham.
"And that's the other part of it, I'm going to try to fix it so that
you can stay."

"Really?  Like all the time?" asked Jamie.

"I can't make any promises, but I'm going to try," replied Graham as
Pony gently set Jamie down on a chair in Graham's kitchen.

"What happened to your foot," asked Graham with concern.

"I was running and not watching and I slipped on some rocks and fell.
I twisted it bad," said Jamie.  "But Mr. TwoFeathers and Jay took me to
his village and the doctor there bandaged it up.  He says I'll be OK in
a couple of days."

"Thank you so much for helping to find Jamie and looking after him,
if there is ever  anything I can to return your kindness please let me
know," said Graham to Pony while shaking his  hand.

"Jason knew what to do and how to do it," said Pony modestly.  "He just
wanted a little company and some advice from an old warrior."

"I'm very proud of you son," said Frank to Jason while hugging him.
"What you did today, is what makes the difference between a boy and a man.
I'm very impressed and so is your mom."

"How can I stay with you though if you tell anyone about me?" asked Jamie.
"I mean, they'll send me back I know they will.  That's what they always
do and then it just starts all over again."

"Well I talked to a friend of mine back at the office who's a lawyer,"
began Graham.  "Then he put me onto a friend of his at the Ministry of
Social Services, and then I talked to my own lawyer and ..."

"How'd you like to have us as permanent neighbours?" asked Frank with
a big grin.

Jamie got a confused look on his face and then said, "You mean ..."

"If you can be brave and tell them what's been happening to you, I think
we can make sure it never happens again," said Graham.

"But he'll kill me if I say anything," said Jamie shaking with fear.
"He always told me that."

"Don't you worry about that," said Frank with determination.  "He'll have
to get through me first."

Jamie looked up into the big man's eyes who had so scared him when they
first met but now looked on as a friend.  Jamie had learned that Frank
was a very kind fellow, but his eyes now gleamed and Jamie realized that
this was someone his father would not want to tangle with.

"I will be there for you as well," said Pony placing a hand on Jamie's
shoulder.

"And don't forget me," piped up Dave, the pilot who'd brought them in
on the day Jamie had first arrived.  "First sign of anything, and I'll
whisk you away in my float plane."

"You see Jamie, we're all going to help you, and keep you safe," said
Kathy who knelt down beside Jamie.

"And I'm not going to loose my best friend to anyone," added Jason.

Jamie looked around and saw so many people that he'd become friends with,
every one of them smiling as they looked at him.  Each of them declaring
their support and willingness to help.  For the first time in his life
Jamie began to feel that maybe things might be able to be different,
that a change for the better might just be possible.

"If I go can Cindy come with me?" asked Jamie quietly.

"Of course she can come," said Graham.  "And tonight Cindy's getting
steak for dinner for taking such good care of you until Mr. TwoFeathers
and Jason found you."

Jamie looked around at everyone again and then said softly to Graham,
"OK, I'll do it."

[to be continued]