The following Saturday Johnny was going to leave his house like he usually did on weekends, in order to avoid being beaten. It was about nine a.m. Johnny looked out the window. It seemed like a really nice day. Johnny opened the window and stuck his head out. He liked how the warm spring breeze felt against t his skin. Johnny's parents were drinking the night before so they were not up yet, and Johnny needed to get out before they were up.
He got dressed and was about to leave, when the door bell rang. Confused he came to the door. "Who is it?" he asked.
"CPS," a female voice answered. "Is this the residence of Mr. Jonathan Cade?"
"Yeah, it is."
"We are here, because of a recent child abuse call we received. Can we come in?" Johnny opened the door, not saying anything, and starting to nervously bite his nails. Two people walked in, and introduced themselves.
"Hi, are you Jonathan?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"Hi, I'm Mrs. Collins and this is Mr. Hoover. We have received an anonymous call indicating that you have been abused by your parents. We are going to evaluate your living conditions and interview you and your parents." Johnny instantly remembered when his father was beating him outside of the house a woman in the other house looking out the window. She must be the one that called CPS.
At this point the door to the kitchen opened and Johnny's dad walked in, wearing only his boxers. He clearly had a hangover, and he had a headache. "What's all this noise?" Johnny's father demanded. "Who the hell is this?" he barked, pointing to the social workers. He didn't even care that he wasn't wearing anything decent.
"I am Mrs. Collins and this is Mr. Hoover," Mrs. Collins repeated. "We are from CPS - child protective services. We have received a call recently, indicating child abuse and endangerment in this household. We are authorized by the state to assess …"
"This is my house," Mr. Cade's voice roared before she could finish her sentence, "and I don't need no shit social workers here." The social workers seemed unfazed by Mr. Cade's outburst. They pushed past him, and were making their way to the kitchen, which was closest to the door.
They were clearly appalled by what they saw – empty beer bottles everywhere, ashes from the cigarettes on the floor, full ashtrays with cigarette butts and the smell. They were nearly gagging. It was a mixture of smell of beer, smoke and garbage that had not been taken out. They opened the fridge. It was empty, except for a six pack of beer on one of the shelves. Johnny was watching in silence, leaning against the wall in the kitchen, and biting his nails.
The social workers were now going from the kitchen and into the living room, while Johnny's father was still in the kitchen. "You, little shit," he yelled, "You called these pieces of shit on me! You are going to pay when they leave. You will know better next time." Then he stopped talking abruptly realizing that what he just said confirms that he beats Johnny, but it was too late the social workers heard him.
To be truthful, Johnny was terrified of what would happen when the social workers leave. "After all the trouble you caused us," his dad continued, "and all the money we spent to raise you, this is how you appreciate it," he kept yelling. Upon hearing this, the social workers exchanged worried looks. They were starting to get a picture of who they were dealing with. They had noticed Johnny's bruises and his black eye right away when they walked in, and now Mr. Cade literally confessed to beating his child, when he threatened that Johnny would pay when the social workers leave.
In the living room, the social workers observed the same picture as in the kitchen – beer bottles everywhere, cigarette butts on the floor. In addition, all the furniture was off center. It looked like someone bumped into it and moved it around.
"Hey Johnny," Mr. Hoover spoke up, "can you show us your room?" Johnny gasped nervously and led them to his room, which was all the way at the end of the hallway. They followed him to the small room. There was only a simple desk by the window –the one that doesn't have any drawers. There was a small bed next to the wall, and a really small dresser, no mirror or anything like that. It caught their attention that the blanket that was covering the bed was kind of thin and it had holes in several places.
The room didn't look like an average teenager's room. There were no posters on the walls, no sports items such as a baseball bat or glove. The room seemed to convey that whoever occupied it was not very happy.
"Hey son, we need to talk to you," Mr. Hoover said carefully, as to not scare Johnny, "and you need to be completely honest with us."
"Does your father hit you?" Mrs. Collins asked without beating around the bush. "These bruises that you have, did he do that? You can be completely honest with us. We are here only to help."
Johnny was silent. He was terrified of being put to a boys' home, maybe even more so than being beaten by his dad. There was an awkward silence, and then he nodded, looking down.
"C'mon you need to go with us. You can't stay in this house," Mr. Hoover said. Johnny felt every muscle of his body tense up. They were taking him already, right away. He thought it would take some time for them to get their findings to their agency or whatever it was, and then come back and get him, but they were taking him right away.
"We heard what your father just said to you. We don't need any more evidence. It's clear that it's not safe for you to stay here. And we don't want anything bad happen to you after we leave," Mrs. Collins explained. Johnny felt like he lost his ability to speak. He opened his mouth, but the words didn't come out. Finally, he cleared his throat and said in a really small voice, "Where are you taking me? What's going to happen to me?"
"We'll take you to the facility for kids whose parents' custody had been revoked. It's a boys' home, and it's rather nice. Certainly, better conditions than here. You will be staying there until we can find a nice foster family for you."
"So why don't you go pack some of your belongings? We are going to wait here and make sure your dad is not going to hurt you." Mr. Hoover advised.
"Can I go say good-bye to my fiends first?" Johnny found the courage to ask.
"That wouldn't be possible right now, but you can call them once you are all settled down, and they can come visit you," Mrs. Collins informed Johnny.
So Johnny tried to pack whatever few belongings that he had. Once he was ready, he got out of his room. They all started walking towards the door. As they were passing Mr. Cade in the kitchen, he tried to block their way.
"We are taking the child with us," Mrs. Collins said, looking at him with disgust.
"You can't take him," Mr. Cade barked.
"Oh, sure we can," Mr. Hoover responded, walking right past Johnny's dad.
"And don't think that this is the end of it for you either. Charges will be pressed," Mrs. Collins added. When Johnny was passing his dad on the way to the exit, Mr. Cade was cursing at him and was calling him names. Johnny walked past him, following the social workers, his head down.