For the Children part 8
At first Joanne thought that Chris' short temper and poor sleeping habits were due to his dealing with the shooting incident that had happened with the school. He had been one of the few children who had actually seen his gym teacher lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. He hadn't spoken to her about any of his nightmares, but she assumed he must be having them, since the rest of the family certainly was having bad dreams.
Then the notices started coming home from school; fighting at recess, swearing at the teacher, trashing his locker. When the notices first started coming home, Roy brushed them off and told Joanne not to worry too much, that things would sort themselves out soon. Still, he sat down with Chris and explained what had happened with Wilson and with his principal and teacher in terms that he felt Chris could understand. Chris seemed frustrated with his father, as if Roy was treating him like he was slow or something with his explanations, and was sullen and unresponsive.
Roy was at a loss and spoke with Joanne that evening when both children were in bed. "I don't know, Joanne. Maybe he needs to talk with one of those counsellors who came to the school or something. You're right, he isn't the same kid." He shook his head and sighed as he sat on their bed.
"I'm glad to hear you finally admitting that he's different, Roy. I've been trying to get you to see it for a while now." Joanne finished hanging up the freshly ironed shirts in their closet and closed the door.
"Yeah, sorry 'bout that. I guess it was wishful thinking on my part."
She came and sat down beside him on the bed. "Well, you haven't been the one answering the phone with dread every time it rings lately. Honestly, sometimes I think I want to take it off the hook when he's at school, and just deal with things after he gets home." She sighed despondently. "Where did my happy little boy go, Roy? How do we get him back?"
"I wish I knew, sweetheart. That's a question I'd really like to answer."
When the tones rang, Roy and John pushed back their chairs from the table and headed for the squad. Another aborted lunch, but that's just the way the grilled cheese melted…
"Squad 51, child injured, Gardenview Primary School…"
Johnny swore softly to himself. He really, really did not want to go back to the school, and he hated runs where children were hurt. He scrunched up his face, and Roy responded, "Yeah, I know."
"I just wish, Roy…" Johnny didn't finish his thought, but Roy nodded in comprehension anyway.
When they got to the school, they grabbed their cases and headed into the office area. Kathleen was standing beside her desk waiting for them. Gone was her usual cheerful smile; instead she looked discouraged and sad. Roy wondered if it was part of the aftermath of Wilson's work. She had never been fragile before, but now she seemed as brittle as fine china teetering on the edge of a table. "Roy. John. We're grateful you came. Mr Meredith would like to speak with you."
The principal had just exited a classroom and was walking quickly towards them. He seemed agitated, and drew them aside into a storage area to brief them privately.
"We have a situation." His jaw worked a bit, as if he was chewing up his words before spitting them out. "The boy isn't injured, per se." He was breathing heavily and seemed to be choosing what to say.
"What's going on, Mr Meredith?" asked Roy.
"Kyle. You know Kyle Raines? Nine years old? I think he's in the same cub pack as your son."
"Yeah, I know Kyle. Pretty well, actually. I've been on campouts with the pack a few times. Is Kyle hurt?"
"He's…uh…" the principal closed his eyes for a second and then opened them, saying very quickly, "He's standing on the teacher's desk with the blind cord wrapped around his neck, saying that he's going to jump off."
Johnny drew in his breath sharply, and Roy looked stunned. Meredith continued, "Mrs Harlin is in with him now, and we've been trying to find out what on earth is going on." He paused and then asked, "You guys deal with suicide attempts, don't you?"
Roy swallowed the bile that rose in his throat. "Yeah, we do. But it's not usually someone we know."
Johnny added, "And rarely a kid."
Meredith nodded, and motioned for the two men to follow him down the hall to the classroom. "D'you think this is somehow related to the shooting, sir?" asked John.
"I have no idea. My God, what is going on with these poor children?" The beleaguered principal's cry came from his heart.
"Where's the rest of his class?" asked Roy.
"We didn't let them back in after lunch – Mrs Gumby has taken them to the art room for an impromptu lesson. It's the best we could do under the circumstances."
They entered the classroom, and there was Kyle – sure enough, the cord was not only around his neck several times, but he had tied it taut. If he jumped off the desk like he was threatening to do, at the very least it would seriously injure his trachea, and might damage his spinal cord.
Mrs Harlin looked at the men beseechingly. "I've been talking with Kyle. He says this is the only way he knows to stop the pain inside of him. I've asked him to wait and talk to you, to see if there was anything you could suggest to help him. Please, help him." Her plea was quietly desperate.
Roy gently put the med box he was carrying on the floor. He looked at the boy, and tried to make eye contact with him, "Hey, Kyle, remember me? I'm Roy Desoto, Chris' dad. We went camping, remember?"
Kyle looked at Roy, briefly, his young eyes seemingly aged well beyond his years. Roy recognized that look because he'd seen it before, in suicidal people who actively tried taking their lives. It was the look of utter despair. "Hello, Mr DeSoto. Please tell my mom I'm real sorry," Kyle said in a whisper.
'Hold on there, Kyle, there's no reason for me to tell your mom anything like that. Why don't you untie that thing and come on down off there and we can talk, hmm?"
Kyle shook his head as much as he could in his restricted state. His lower lip trembled. "I can't, sir. It just hurts too much."
Roy closed his eyes briefly, praying for inspiration on what to say to this child. He chose his words very carefully. "Don't you think your mom deserves to understand why you're doing this?"
A fat tear fell from the boy's eye and rolled down his cheek. "I guess."
Johnny had set up the biophone and the other equipment on a desk near the door, but he hadn't called in. Things could go either way right now, and he wasn't going to risk precipitating anything with an action that might incite the child to carry out his threat. Mr Meredith and Mrs Harlin backed slowly out of the room, to give the men room to work. Meredith asked Johnny briefly as he left, "Ambulance?" and John gave a small nod.
Roy continued, "We don't understand what you're thinking right now, so we can't tell your mom why you're sorry. Can you help us, Kyle?" When he gave a small shake of his head, Roy asked, "Why not?" and Kyle just shrugged.
Johnny casually made his way around to the other side of the desk, as if he was going to look out the window. Kyle threw him a panicked glance, but Roy distracted him. "Kyle, I remember you really like cooking spider dogs over the fire. Do you remember making them with me?"
Kyle looked at the paramedic with anguish. "I know you want to help, Mr Desoto, but no one can help me."
"I'd still like to try, Kyle. Why can't you tell me?"
Kyle sighed deeply, and then said something Roy almost didn't catch, and didn't really believe he heard right…"Ask your son. He knows."
Before Roy could reply or ask him to repeat, Kyle made a move to jump off the table. Johnny was behind him and grabbed his legs so he couldn't fall, and Roy reached up to cut the blind cords with his scissors, as Kyle struggled with the two men. He collapsed in tears, as Roy cradled him in his arms, with John still holding onto his legs with one arm while loosening the cord around his neck with the other. "It's okay, Kyle, it's okay. Hang in there, sport. We're going to help you out," Roy's words were a soothing background noise as Johnny worked on getting vital signs now that the boy was not in such an extreme state.
"Rampart, we have a young boy, age 9…"
"Did he say anything in the ambulance, Roy?" John asked as they were filling in forms regarding the incident. The police had contacted the boy's mother and she was being brought in to the hospital.
Roy shook his head. "Not a word except 'sorry' over and over." Roy closed his eyes involuntarily, his face grim. He opened his eyes again and looked at his partner. "Did you hear him say for me to ask Chris just before he jumped, or was that my imagination?"
Johnny pursed his lips together and shook his head slightly. "But I was pretty concentrated on catching him before he could fall. Um, sorry Roy, but I gotta ask – what the heck is a spider dog?" Roy smiled at bit at John's obvious confusion, but he felt no temptation to tease his partner. "It's just a hotdog cut into 4 sections halfway and cooked over a campfire – the pieces curl away, like spider legs. Kids love them."
Mrs Raines arrived just then, and Dixie met her outside the treatment room. She told the woman that a doctor would be out as soon as possible to give her an update on her son. Mrs Raines stood biting her fingers and pacing in small circles until she noticed Roy standing over by the nurse's station. She practically ran over to him. "Roy! Roy DeSoto!" He looked up from his form. "Was it you? Did you bring him in?" she demanded.
"Yes, it was, Sophie."
"Oh, my God! I can't believe it! What was he doing? How is he? What on earth was he thinking?"
"The doctors will be able to answer your questions better than I can."
Sophie wasn't even looking at him. "I should have realized something was up. He's been strange for a while now. Loss of appetite, really moody, not sleeping at night – sometimes I go into his room and I can tell he hasn't closed his eyes a wink the whole night – he's so crabby and angry all the time…I thought it was something to do with this thing that happened, but now I'm not so sure. I think it started even before that Wilson shot up the school; there were things I should have paid attention to…." It was as if the two men weren't even there while Sophie was trying figure things out aloud. "…I started getting those phone calls from the school about Kyle fighting. He never fights!"
Roy felt a little dizzy listening to Sophie's rant….pieces of a puzzle he didn't even know existed seemed to be falling into place. "Uh, Sophie? What else has been going on with Kyle?" He needed to know everything – what was the link to Chris and his similar behaviours? Could his son end up threatening to jump off a desk with a cord around his neck too?
She looked at him without recognition for a second; then it clicked where she was and who she was talking to. "Roy. Sorry. I forgot that you know my son. After all, you've been helping out the cub leaders for a couple of years and you've been on several camping trips with the boys, haven't you?"
Johnny was very interested in the conversation, and his eyes were getting wider as he watched his friend become more agitated at Sophie's revelations about her son. Hadn't Roy mentioned just the other day that Chris was having problems at school and starting to be very irritable at home? What on earth was going on?
Dr Brackett came out of the treatment room. "Are you Kyle's mother?" he asked Sophie directly, and she nodded emphatically.
"Please Doctor, tell me, how is my son?" Kelly gave the paramedics a look that said, 'don't go away' and brought Sophie a little bit aside to talk with her more privately. Roy started to follow automatically, but John touched his arm, and when he turned and looked at Johnny without comprehension, John just shook his head very slightly in surprise that Roy would need reminding. Roy startled when he remembered that he had no right to intrude on Brackett's conversation with the woman. He turned away in frustration at himself and at the situation.
They could overhear Sophie telling Brackett, "Just ask that paramedic over there; he knows my son! He brought him in. Our kids know each other. There's something else going on, doctor, I just know it!"
Brackett motioned for Roy to come over. As much as he had wanted to overhear the conversation, Roy wasn't sure he wanted to be asked any questions. There was too much going on in his head right now. "Kyle's mother says that you know her son pretty well." Roy gave a noncommittal shrug that turned into a partial nod. "Is Kyle's behaviour today something that you would expect, based on your interactions with him?"
Roy shook his head no. "The last time I saw Kyle…" he stopped and thought about it. When was the last time? It was the overnight hiking trip about three months previously, just before the Wilson thing. The last time he had seen Kyle was coming back from a clean up at the river. Was he alone? No, an adult was with him. He remembered the adult putting his hand on the boy's shoulder and smiling at him…it was another one of the fathers on the trip, who often took care of kids whose parents couldn't or wouldn't come on activities. Kyle's dad was often away on business trips and never came on these kinds of things.
Roy looked at Sophie. "I saw him on the hiking trip with Billy Abel, they'd just come back from the river."
Sophie nodded, "Yes, Billy has been like a second father to Kyle, since his own father can't be bothered to spend time with his son. He brings him and his own son to all the activities, and Kyle often stays over at their house."
Roy thought about that. His son had also been to sleepovers at the Abel house, usually when he was working and unable to bring Chris back and forth to an activity. Billy Abel seemed like a good guy – always looking out for the boys and suggesting games and activities to the pack leaders, always ready to pitch in and help out when an extra adult was needed.
"Squad 51, what is your status?" John motioned the HT towards his senior, with a question in his eyes, and Roy nodded very briefly.
John replied, "Squad 51, available," and Roy apologized to Brackett and Mrs Raines.
"That's all I can tell you for now, but if I think of something, I'll let you know," Roy said. The two men left to answer the call from Dispatch.
