"Disfrute de la vida. Hay tiempo de sobras para estar muerto."
"Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead"
The boy stirred in his sleep. He heard the voices of two women enter the room. He didn't open his eyes just yet.
"So Carol, what's the story with this little guy?" The one woman asked.
"You know that crazy lunatic Dominic Stark down the hall? Yea, well this is his son who was in the truck when it crashed. Yea, barely made it out alive," she answered heaving a sigh at the end.
The boy opened his eyes again as the sun cascaded in to the white room. "Hey there little guy, how you feeling?" the blonde nurse asked. It hurt to breathe along with the pain in his chest and right side. "Ouch," was all he could bare to say. She pet his head trying to comfort him.
"Oh, you poor thing. Well while you're here I'll be your nurse. My name is Carol, what's your name?" she asked him. "Psymon."
A young tall tan skinned woman knocked on the door of a residential home just outside of Saskatoon. A man of about 5'10 answered the door. "Hello, my name is Tamara Simez. I'm here about the adoption," the woman said. He smiled and welcomed her happily into his humble home. A woman sat in the common room fixing the coffee table up to look presentable. She stood smiling and introduced herself, "Hi, my name is Denise and my husband Tom."
"Yes and I'm Tamara Simez," she said again. Denise was a beautiful young woman who looked about thirty years old. She had long wavy brown hair. Her husband Tom was a handsome man with light brown hair and kind brown eyes.
They all sat down. "Ok let's get started. Are you both positive you can provide for a child right now?" they nodded yes. Denise spoke up; "We do have two daughters." Tom cut in, "Twins actually."
Dennis went along with procedure questions and evaluations. She had them sign a few papers and then tucked them away into her briefcase. "Ok well that should wrap it up. But umm…I usually don't ask personal questions but, this boy your planning to adopt…he's my nephew and-"
Denise smiled at her, "O don't; please ask any questions you would like." Tamara calmed herself then sat up. "Ok, umm…how do you feel about a biracial child?" Tom looked to his wife. "That makes no difference to us. We can not judge him until we meet him," he answered. "Good, because he's half white and half Dominican. He's a very good kid, and he has these wild blue eyes. Right now he's in the hospital. He was in a really bad car accident. Him and his little brother have had a very rough life so far. So Tom I forewarn you now, he may be very uneasy with you at first because of his abusive dad. Just give him time to adjust. His parents are just unable to care for kids right now."
Denise held Tamara's hand, "Don't worry, we'll make as many adjustments as possible for him. We understand." Tamara knew her nephew was in good hands. She would have taken the boys herself but she just couldn't afford kids and didn't have time to provide for them.
Tamara left after talking a little more in depth of Psymon physical health and the diet he needed to maintain a proper weight again. She explained to them that the period of adjustment was the hardest for everyone. She told them to just give it time. She explained more about the boys' strong heritage of her side of the family had and that he spoke another language. Tamara told them everything about him, from his pigmentless eyes to even the way he speaks. She made sure they got the DL on everything and anything about her sweet nephew.
"Oh, one more thing before I leave," Tamara said, "do you want a closed or open adoption? This means you can allow his parents to keep in contact with him or a closed which is to not give his parents information on where he is."
They contemplated for a few seconds and decided if his parents wanted to keep in contact and to se him grow up then so be it. An open adoption it is. "Ok great, I'll be back in a few with Psymon when he gets released ok? See 'ya then!" Tamara waved good bye getting into her car.
Within the next few days Psymon was finally released from the hospital and with his aunt T to his new home. He didn't like the idea of leaving his mama and brother. Aunt T told him everything. His dad was put into a mental hospital and his mother went into rehab for a while. Another family adopted his baby brother. This meant he was on his own now.
They finally arrived at the Combs residence. His black bangs hung in his face and he wore a green winter hat with the flaps of the hat hanging on the sides of his head. The hat seemed a couple of sizes too big, but he loved it. Tamara began to walk towards the house but stopped noticing her young companion not following.
She turned around, "Psymon come on. What's wrong? Are you scared?" He nodded and held out his hand. She walked back and took his hand gently guiding him to the front door. Denise opened it before they even knocked.
She looked down at the little boy in front of her and knelt down to his height. "Hey," she smiled and said in her quiet voice. He didn't know how to respond exactly. He just squeaked a, "Hi." Denise lead them inside and helped Psymon take off his coat and hat.
He looked at the family before him. The two young daughters, Melissa and Alyssa, who looked slightly older then him in matching outfits and dirty blonde hair. He took in Tom's father like stance and Denise's motherly looks and attitude. Feeling a little braver he removed his hat. His black hair was shaped into hat hair with flared ends. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.
After a couple of hours Tamara had finally left. Psymon had hardly said two words. Tom went into the other room and the girls ran off somewhere. Denise sat down with Psymon and held his hand. She almost melted into his precious blue eyes as he looked up at her.
"It'll be ok dear. I know it's hard to leave all you know. But we'll make sure your happy here. We want you to accept us and join our family," she told him, "My goodness, we were just as nervous and scared as you." He never thought of it that way. They were nervous too? He couldn't help but smile a little bit.
Even with her kind words he was still uneasy. This new life that was beginning for him wasn't appealing as it sounded. Sure it was nice, but he never wanted to leave his biological family, no matter how many bruises he received or how many times he cried. It was all he knew and cared about.
Denise pulled him into a hug, "Trust me hunny, it'll be ok. Now let's go get you ready for bed." He hopped up off the couch and followed her to the bathroom. She turned the knob of the tub and waited for the water to warm. She walked out to the hall and called for Tom to bring up Psymon's bags.
As Tom began to bring up the luggage he peeked into the bathroom and saw Denise gently pulling his shirt off. His chest and mid section were wrapped in gauze. Tom noticed the multiple bruises allover the small child's body. Denise undid the gauze as easy as possible without hurting him. As the gauze came off, Tom saw the way his ribs were bent and broken.
Moving Psymon hair from his face she saw the stitches on his forehead along with a few cuts here and there across his face. She had him fully undressed and helped him into the tub. Tom closed the door and picked up the bags again. He couldn't imagine ever treating his own precious daughters like that. No wonder Psymon was scared of him.
Denise gently bathed him and helped him relax a little. She poured some shampoo into her hand and went to put it in his thick hair. He saw her intentions and put his hands atop his head yelling, "NO!" and began to shake a little. "I'm not gunna' hurt you. It's ok, it'll feel good," she cooed. "You're not gunna' pull my hair?" he asked in a small voice. She shook her head no and he slowly removed his hands and let her massage his scalp.
Tom walked into the girls' room and helped them get settled into bed. "Dad, what's wrong with that kid?" Melissa asked jumping into her bed. "Nothing is wrong with him. He's just…adjusting to the way we do things around here. He's only been here for like five hours."
"Looks like he's got a couple of screws loose," Alyssa said picking out a book for Tom to read. "Alyssa," he scolded. 'Calm down, they just don't understand,' Tom thought to himself trying to not yell at them. He was glad Psymon was here now. He loved his daughters to death, but he's always wanted a son.
Denise kissed Psymon goodnight and let him get some rest in his new room. As scary as it was he was brave and closed his eyes. The Combs were generous enough to provide a night light for him. Soon enough the door opened again and Tom came into the room.
Psymon sat up in bed wincing and watched his new father sit next to him. Psymon began to shake a little from fright. He was alone with this new man. When his father did this it usually meant going to bed with a new wound.
"It's ok Psymon. I'm not here to hurt you, I just wanna' talk," Tom started seeing the boy calm down a little bit, "Listen, I know what its like being new to a whole different family. I was adopted too. But I never met my parents like you knew yours. It's ok to be scared, but just know you will never be harmed again while your living under my roof ok?"
"I think I wanna' stay here. I like the idea of a real family," Psymon said. He lay back down easily. Tom laid a hand on his stomach with Psymon's hands laid atop his own big hand, "You'll be happy here Psymon, I swear it."