Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Higher Ground characters. The Point of Hope characters are my own creation.
Point of Hope Part I
SparksJSH
"Peter," Hannah stuck her head in Peter Scarbrow's office. "You have a call on one. He wouldn't give me his name but he insisted that you would want to talk to him."
Peter set the file he'd been reading back on his desk with a sigh. The last thing he needed was an interruption. He looked at Hannah before picking up the receiver. "Thanks, Hannah." He opened the line. "Peter Scarbrow."
"Took you long enough. Put a man in the woods for awhile and he loses all his manners." The man on the other end of the line chuckled warmly.
Peter smiled. He recognized the voice right away. His earlier annoyance at being interrupted completely vanished. "Addison, you ole dog. What's up? How's Donna?"
"She's great. She sends her love. I know you're busy so I won't keep you long. Donna and I were hoping we could bring our kids up for a weekend quest."
Shaking his head, Peter laughed. "First you insult me, then you ask me for a favor and you have the nerve to say that I have no manners? Lucky for you, I'm a nice guy. How many kids are we talking about?"
"Five. Three guys and two girls. I appreciate this, Peter. I've been pushing a couple of them hard for a couple of weeks and I think we could all use the break."
"My kids wouldn't consider a quest a break. Do your kids have wilderness experience?"
"Not that I know of. Will that be a problem?"
Glancing at his calendar Peter realized the Cliffhangers were overdue for a quest. "Not really. Can you come up on Thursday where we can have a chance to do an orientation class with them before we head out? I have a group that can accompany us to help them out if that's okay with you." Peter wasn't really sure if Addison would want the Cliffhangers tagging along.
"Perfect." Addison didn't hesitate. "I really appreciate this, Peter. Donna, the kids and I will see you Thursday."
Peter said his good-byes and hung up the phone. Suddenly he found himself looking forward to the weekend. It had been a long time since he'd seen his old friend and his wife. Hannah entered the office.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, everything's fine. That was a friend of mine from college. Addison is a psychologist who specializes in emotionally disturbed teens. He worked strictly on an outpatient basis until about five years ago when he and his wife inherited a nice spread of property complete with a huge house. They decided to open the house to Addison's patients who for one reason or another couldn't live at home. I don't know how many kids he's treated that way since then. He's good though."
Hannah smiled. "He sounds like you."
"What I didn't learn from Frank I learned from him. Heck, I would want him to be apart of Mt. Horizon if he weren't so happy and successful with Point of Hope. Anyway, this weekend he and his wife are bringing five kids up for a weekend camping trip. I thought the Cliffhangers could go with them. Is that okay with you?"
"I'll tell them tonight." Hannah nodded.
**********
"What did Peter say?" Donna Micheals entered her husband's office and closed the door behind her.
Addison nodded. "We're all set. We'll load everybody up and leave Wednesday afternoon. We should reach Mt. Horizon by midmorning Thursday. By the way, Peter says hi."
Donna came around the desk and sat in Addison's lap. "Honey, does Peter understand about our kids?"
"Don, Peter works with kids just like ours, some even worse." Addison laughed. "Don't worry about it. I'm more worried about what the kids are going to say when I tell them."
Donna glanced down at her watch. "Well, it's four o'clock. The kids should be downstairs for group. I can't think of a better time to tell them."
"Join me?"
"Do I look crazy to you?" Donna kissed him softly. "Besides, if we are leaving Wednesday, I need to run up to the attic and start pulling down the camping gear. Maybe I'll even give Peter a call back and see what all we need for the weekend. You on the other hand better hurry or the kids will be on you about being late."
Addison laughed. "Coward. Okay, I'm going."
The tall man with sandy brown hair made his way down to the basement where his five charges had already gathered for their daily group session. At the bottom of the stairs, he paused to check out the kids.
Mindy MacIntosh was sitting daintily on the overstuffed rocking chair. The impossibly thin girl was carefully studying her nails as if trying to decide what she needed to do with them. Although he really had no idea how the kids were going to take the news he had a feeling that he'd get his worst reaction from her.
Danny Cooper was sitting cross-legged on the floor. The stocky boy with long scraggly hair would probably be the most accepting of the idea, at least on the surface. In the six months of living in the house, Danny had emerged as the most easy-going person Addison had ever met.
Lounging on the couch was Taylor Good. He was grinning sardonically at the two figures on the beanbags. Addison groaned inwardly as he wondered what the teen was up to. With Taylor he could never be sure.
Addison turned his attention to Kyle Sanders. The tall handsome boy with haunted eyes was shooting Taylor murderous glares from his seat on the red beanbag. Addison sighed. Normally he never had any trouble between Taylor and Kyle but that had changed two weeks ago with his newest arrival.
He saved LeeAnn Wimberton for last. He hoped for once that he'd see some spark of participation in the troubled young face. But she was sitting aloof from everyone else, her legs drawn up close to her chest. She appeared oblivious to the tension between Taylor and Kyle. She was off in her own little world, a world Addison had failed to reach so far.
"Yo, Addison, bout time you made it down here." Taylor shook his head. "If one of us was late we'd be in big trouble."
"Sorry about that. I was on the phone. I have an announcement to make but before I get to that, are there any gripes or praise anyone needs to get off his or her chest?" He looked specifically from Taylor to Kyle but he knew neither would bring up what was going on.
"Mr. Russell was giving me a hard time about my hair again today." Danny spoke up. "Can you talk to him for me?"
Addison considered the boy's hair for a second. He secretly agreed with the high school principal's assessment that the teen needed a haircut but he at least understood where Danny was coming from. "I'll give him a call tomorrow but I can't make you any promises that it will do any good? Anyone else?"
There was several seconds of silence. Finally Mindy spoke up. "What's the big announcement, Addison? Are we getting a newbie or what? If we are I hope it's a girl. I could use someone to girl talk with."
Addison shook his head. "No, Mindy, we aren't getting someone new. We are all going away for the weekend."
"Great. Hawaii? Paris? Where?" Taylor sat up suddenly interested.
"Nowhere like that, Taylor. A friend of mine runs a school called Mt. Horizon. We're going there for a weekend of camping."
Mindy wrinkled her nose. "Camping? As in outdoors in the dirt, with bugs and wild animals? Count me out. Show me to the nearest hotel."
"Yes camping and Mindy, attendance is not optional. All seven of us are going and that's final. Peter Scarbrow, my friend, is even going to have a group of his kids come along to show us the ropes. They are used to going on outings in the wilderness."
Danny shrugged. "Camping sounds good to me. It's been too long since I've slept out under the stars."
"Sounds cool to me too, Addison." Kyle admitted. "I've always wanted to try camping."
Taylor snorted. "I've heard of Mt. Horizon. The kids there are delinquent freaks."
"Takes one to know one, Taylor." Kyle retorted.
Addison knew he had to stop the argument before it escalated. "Both of you can it before I put you both on report." He stared them down until both boys hung their heads. Then he looked over at LeeAnn. "What about you, LeeAnn? Have you ever been camping before?"
She didn't respond. Addison wasn't surprised. In the two weeks she'd been in the house, she'd barely said more than a dozen words. He only hoped the weekend getaway would provide him the opportunity to reach the troubled teen. Goodness knew that nothing else he had tried had worked.
Addison looked at each of the teens. They were all as different as night and day. Each had their own share of troubles, some he knew about and some were as hidden to him as LeeAnn's locked up emotions. Addison could only hope Peter was ready for them.
***********
"So, wait a minute, Hannah, you're telling us that Peter is sending us on a quest with a bunch of teens who have probably never been camping before?" Scott shook his head in disgust.
Hannah gave him a hard look. "That's enough of that, Scott. It's not like any of you started out as perfect campers. Peter and I will be going with you. Besides it will be a good chance to interact with other kids your age that are going through similar troubles that you don't see everyday. Who knows, maybe it will be fun."
Shelby looked up smugly from her seat on her couch. "You said this guy was a college friend of Peter's?" Hannah nodded. Shelby smiled. "So if nothing else, we'll get to hear what Peter was like in college."
The others perked up at this thought. Hannah hid a smile. Leave it to Shelby to think of something like that. She wondered if she should warn Peter of this development before Addison and his group arrived. With just a hint of devilment, she decided to stay silent on that one.
***********
Thursday morning the Cliffhangers were leaving breakfast when a navy blue van pulled into the grounds and parked next to Peter's office. A man Peter's age climbed out of the driver's side and a slightly younger woman exited and opened the side panel. Five teens slowly left the van stretching as they did.
Ezra eyed them carefully. "I guess they are our weekend guests."
Auggie rolled his eyes. "Way to state the obvious, EZ."
Shelby stared at the tall handsome boy with dark hair as the man disappeared inside Peter's office. She had to admit he was easy on the eyes. Maybe this weekend would provide more than just juicy gossip about Peter. "I think I'll go give them a friendly Mt. Horizon hello."
The others quickly knew she wasn't interested in the "them" but rather in the boy unloading the van. But they followed Shelby over anyway; curious about the group they would be spending the weekend with.
Just as they reached the van Peter emerged from the office with Addison. He wasn't surprised to see the Cliffhangers approaching even though they were due in class at any minute now. "Gang, I'd like for you to meet Addison Michaels. That's his wife Donna."
Shelby essentially ignored the adults and smiled her most winning smile at the boy who had grabbed her attention. "I'm Shelby. I'm sure we are going to have a lot of fun this weekend."
Peter steered Shelby back to the others. "Okay, Addison and his crew have been driving all night and they are all exhausted. Give them some time to get settled in. Besides, if my watch is correct, it's time for all of you to be in class. You'll have plenty of time to meet the others later."
With a collective groan the Cliffhangers reluctantly gave the newcomers a curious look before heading off to class. Hannah approached the van. She had been coming to round up the Cliffhangers when she saw that Peter had directed them all to class anyway. Peter quickly introduced her to the Michaels.
Addison shook hands with Hannah. "Nice to meet you. Peter, Hannah, allow me to introduce my kids."
Peter studied each teen as Addison introduced them. Fair or not, he allowed his first impressions to compare the kids to his own group. Kyle reminded him of Kat with his seemingly easy confidence. With his slight awkwardness, Danny brought Ezra to mind. One look at Mindy and her pencil thin frame and Peter immediately compared her to Juliette. The way Taylor was still checking out every girl that walked by, a mischievous gleam in his eyes made it obvious that Taylor was the Shelby of the group. The only one he couldn't compare was LeeAnn. Though she was standing not two feet from any one person there was an aura about her that suggested there was an impenetrable wall around her.
"I'm glad you are all here." Peter assured them. "I'm sure you are all tired. We'll get started with the orientation class after lunch. Hannah, can you show Mindy and LeeAnn to the girls' dorm while I show the boys to their cabin? Addison, I'll take you and Donna to my place after the kids get settled."
Hannah nodded. Somehow she had a feeling that this was going to be a long weekend.
TBC
