THE BEGINNING- CHAPTER 2

Lily heard that Rose had given birth to a baby boy.She wanted desperately to see her friend but Jake would not allow it.He became abusive and threatening when she turned up  unexpectedly to see Rose.The house was in an even worse state of disrepair with old bits of cars and engines scattered in the yard.The mess was unbelievable and Jake seemed drunk although it was early in the day.

From inside the house Rose heard Jake shouting at Lily, she badly wanted to see her friend , to see anyone.She felt like a prisoner in her own home ,Jake 's friends were the only visitors and she had never felt so lonely in her life.The only good thing in her life was her baby , littly Scotty, she tried to be a good mother to him , but had no experience of family life herself to draw on.She loved Scotty , but sometimes she was too tired or drunk to get up to him straight away,Jake would get angry then , and usually by morning she was nursing sore ribs or a black eye.As much as she loved Scotty she hated Jake.With his demands in the bedroom , his constant complaining and his violent temper, but she saw no way out, she had no friends now , no family , no money and where could she go with little Scotty , Jake would only find them and drag them back.

Scotty grew into a sturdy toddler.He learnt to be wary of his father , but sometimes dad could be fun, picking him up and hoisting him on his shoulders ,laughing and playing with him.His behaviour mirrored his father's and he learnt by the time he was three that shouting at mum , kicking and screaming got results, asking nicely meant you were ignored.Mum didn't really smile much and just mostly sat in her chair watching day-time television , so Scott amused himself playing in the filthy yard and doing much as he pleased.

To her horror Rose found out she was pregnant again , she spent most of her time thinking about leaving Jake , deep down she knew she would never do it , she was too afraid , but somehow the new baby took away the last shreds of hope that her life could ever change.As her belly grew so did her resentment of the new life growing within her.If it wasn't for this baby they could have got away , just her and Scotty , started life afresh , now those dreams were no longer possible.Jake was pleased about the new baby , he would have someone else to control and own , it made him feel powerful-a real man.

The baby was small , not as blonde as Scott , but with the same blue eyes, their father's eyes.It was amazing how quickly he learnt not to cry , because noone would come.Jake soon lost interest in him and complained about the noise , the nappies , everything.Rose did not feel the same surge of love with the new baby that she had when she held Scott . But Scott was pleased he would have someone to play with , someone smaller and weaker who could not hit him, someone to share the pain with.

They called the new baby Kane, by the time he was three and Scott nearly seven he had learnt not to disturb his mother.She didn't want to know.If he fell over and hurt himself then he would wait for Scott to come home from school and show him , Scott would ruffle his hair and suggest some game to play and Kane would forget what hurt him.He wouldn't get a response from his mum when he was hungry or cold and Scott was the one he turned to.Scott liked having a little brother , he knew his mum loved him and could manipulate her to get his own way , he could always blame Kane for any naughtyness , his mum always believed him.And when he felt that rage surging up he could always take it out on Kane, he was so much bigger and stronger than his little brother so he was in no danger of being hit back.And when their parents were having a blue it was nice to have someone in the little bedroom to whisper to , it wasn't as scary.And when their dad came home from the pub ranting and raving it was now Kane that got dragged out of bed , slapped and shaken and locked out of the house.Yes , it was good having a little brother.

Jake took no notice of the boys most of the time , but occasionally when a dodgy deal had come out right he would come home beaming and play with them,tickling and play-fighting and the boys would be happy, there would be food on the table and life seemed sweet.But those times were rare and never lasted , most of the time he ignored them or worse took his frustrations with life out on them using his large fists to make himself feel powerful.His rows with Rose were constant , they never spoke and only rowed or sat in stony silence.The boys spent as little time as possible in the house roaming the neighbourhood and town , getting into petty mischief.

When he was four Kane started preschool.It was attached to the school that Scott attended and Scott walked him there while giving him advice on how to act, their mother never left the house now so Kane was glad Scott was with him.

Kane couldn't believe his eyes when he entered the classroom , it was so clean and bright and there were real toys there.His blue eyes darted around the room , unable to take it all in at once.A girl of about eighteen came up to him,

"Hi I'm Kaitlyn," she said. "I'm here to help you , Mrs.Bromley is the teacher," she pointed at the middle aged lady sitting at a desk. "Shall I put your lunch box with the others."

"What  lunch-box" thought Kane , but kept his eyes fixed firmly on the floor .

"Did you forget your lunch?" she asked.

Kane shrugged , he wasn't sure what she meant.He never ate until Scott came home from school he hadn't got a lunch-box.

Mrs. Bromley came over, she was a bossy old fashioned kind of teacher , counting the days to her retirement and pension.

"I don't suppose this one's got any lunch," she made no attempt to lower her voice, "his brother's in the school , he was just the same, it's a problem family, as if we don't all have problems!Let's hope this one's not as bad as Scott."She turned to look at Kane.

"Kane , isn't it, well I don't put up with any nonsense in my class , do you understand?"

Kane understood that tone of voice and stared even harder at the brightly coloured floor, Kaitlyn felt sorry for the little boy , it was hardly his fault if his mum didn't pack him a lunch and if his older brother was a handful.

She attempted to make eye contact , but Kane continued to stare at the floor.

"Would you like to play with the construction kit on this table?" she asked.

Kane's eyes lit up , he had always wanted to play with these type of toys but they had no toys at home.

He shrugged his shoulders , which Kaitlyn took to be a sign that he was interested and she showed him where to sit.He was soon absorbed in building a car and she smiled to herself , poor kid was probably just shy.But just five minutes later she looked round in alarm.The boy sitting next to Kane was crying.

"He hit me!He hit me!"

Kaitlyn rushed over, "We do not hit each other in this class!" she hadn't shouted ,but had raised her voice and was horrified when Kane raised his little hands to cover his head and pleaded with her, "Don't hit me, please!"

It tore at her heart that this little child was afraid of her, afraid that she would hit him.What sort of a home did he come from, what sort of parents did he have to provoke such a reaction?

Kaitlyn tried to reassure him that noone ever got hit in this class , but  that that meant that the children could not hit each other either.Kane was puzzled , what sort of a world was this , it wasn't like his world.Could he trust this lady? What she was saying was too strange to trust , a place where you didn't get hit.He wasn't ready to believe it yet , such a place couldn't exist, even if he wanted it to.

"Now say sorry to Dougie," Kaitlyn told Kane.He looked puzzled again , but did as she said , she was the grown-up ,he wasn't going to risk testing out if she was telling the truth about not hitting him.Dougie grinned at him , his tears forgotten and gave Kane back the piece of construction toy he had taken for his model.

"Here you have it, your cars way better then mine anyway."

"Thanks," said Kane and the two little boys became friends.

Kaitlyn went over to Mrs.Bromley and told her what had happened.

"So it looks like Kane Phillips is going to turn out to be a little thug like his brother," said Mrs.Bromley.

"But that's not what I'm worried about ," Kaitlyn tried in vain to get her to understand. "It was he way he reacted to me, he thought I was going to hit him.It makes me worried about his home-life."

"Look Kaitlyn , they are a problem family.The father is a drunken thug , the mother, well who knows, she doesn't seem to go out.The social workers investigated the family and while there were concerns they decided the boys were best off in their home environment .The boys just probably take after their father.There really is nothing we can do except try and keep his behaviour under control so that the other parents don't complain."

Kaitlyn was not satisfied with Mrs.Brumley's response , and worried annd wondered about Kane all the way home.She resolved to do something about it , but was not quite sure what yet.