"Mr. Larabee, this is Bucklin Wilmington. Buck, this is Chris Larabee," said the social worker, when Chris Larabee answered the front door one month after Matt had been arrested.
"Hi Buck. Come in and meet the family," greeted Chris in a friendly manner. Chris had helped the police find Buck after he had seen the boy several times after the supermarket incident. Now in a strange twist of fate, his next foster son was the boy himself.
Chris led the two into the house - they were here to introduce Chris to the boy he had agreed to foster.
"Hi, I'm Ezra," said the short boy with chestnut-brown coloured hair who stood at the bottom of the stairs.
"I'm Buck. Do you live here?" said Buck, looking at the boy warily.
"Yes - Chris is my father."
"Your real father?"
"No, he's my temper-airy father while my mother is in hop-sital," answered Ezra; that was as much as he'd been told, although she might not really be in hospital - it seemed like she'd been in hospital a long time.
"Ezra, why don't you show Buck your room while I talk to Miss Wells?" asked Chris politely - the young social worker needed to talk to Chris about a few things.
"Okay, Father."
Ezra grabbed Buck's hand and pulled him upstairs after him. Chris noticed and spoke, "Ezra, don't do that, just let him follow you."
"Okay," said the boy, and let go of Buck's hand.
Chris walked into the family room as his wife Sarah was putting a tray of coffees on the coffee table. As Sarah straightened up, Chris gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
"Chris, we've got company," scolded Larabee's embarrassed wife.
Chris smiled and sat down to face Miss Wells.
"Mr. Larabee, we think that Buck may have been stealing from stores. We know that his mother didn't have much money and Mr. Smith wasn't earning regularly so we suspect that the boy had to steal to eat," explained Casey Wells as she recalled the details of Buck's file.
Chris remained silent about witnessing the boy shoplifting at the supermarket; he wanted to help the boy reform and bringing up the past wouldn't help.
"Mr. Smith has been arrested for stealing before and it seems very likely he was making Buck steal food for them. This is all speculation at the moment because Buck hasn't ever been caught, but you'll need to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't take anything he's not meant to." Casey looked at the blond; he looked like he would make a good father for the boy and she hoped that it worked out for Buck. "He was mistreated while he was staying with Mr. Smith and he'll need to have sessions with a child psychiatrist to make sure it hasn't caused any long-term damaging effects to him."
"I said I'd take on any difficult cases and I will stick to my word, Miss Wells. I'll take very good care of Buck, I promise," replied Chris.
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Two weeks after Buck's arrival at the Larabee house, the ten-year-old had settled in well, getting along with the adults and his foster-brother. Sarah had to do her weekly grocery shopping at the supermarket where Chris had first seen Buck, so took both boys with her.
"Sarah, can we look at the toys then come and find you?" asked Buck.
"Sure, honey. If you can't find me just wait at the front of the store," Sarah replied as she trusted Buck to look after his two-years-younger foster brother who was still in their care. Buck had already proved that he was responsible and quite independent.
Sarah collected a shopping cart, then pushed it to the first aisle she needed, while Buck walked with Ezra to the toys, a few aisles over.
"Do they sell packs of cards?" asked Ezra, who loved playing card games, but had lost his last pack of cards.
"Sure, d' you want some?" asked Buck who was fond of Ezra and liked helping the boy - including giving him presents; he'd never had a brother of his own before. Buck led Ezra over to the games section.
"We would have to ask Sarah," replied Ezra looking longingly at the cards.
"If you really want them we'll take some; just keep a look out for the guards," Buck instructed.
Ezra nodded and watched for Security while Buck put two packs of cards in his pocket. The younger boy believed most things Buck told him so thought that maybe it was okay for his brother to take the cards.
Buck walked over to the action figures. "Would you like an Anakin Skywalker?" he asked, as he admired the toy.
"I'm perfec'ly happy with cards," answered Ezra, who was still watching for Security.
"Okay." Buck put one in his pocket for himself, folding the card on the back of the packaging so it wouldn't stick out. Buck was glad he'd thought to wear the coat with large pockets that day.
The boys finished looking at the toys and found Sarah in the frozen food section. They soon finished shopping and headed for the check-out. Buck had told Ezra to keep quiet about their presents.
Sarah walked over to Buck and took the winter coat off of the boy, thinking the boy must be hot in the very warm store. Two packs of unopened playing cards and a still-packaged action figure fell onto the floor and Sarah gasped.
"I was gonna give them to you, Sarah," explained Buck.
"If someone else had found them in your pockets you would've been in big trouble, Bucklin," she warned and gave them to the check-out lady to be put back on the shelves.
"I'm sorry, Sarah," apologised Buck, realising he should've put them in his jeans' pockets.
"We need to have a talk when we get home," stated Sarah as she paid for the groceries.
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"Son, you and I need to have a little talk," said Chris after he had come home from work that day and Sarah had told him what had happened at the supermarket.
"Do you re'wire me as well?" asked eight-year-old Ezra.
"No, Son - you can go upstairs and play and I'll send Buck when I've spoken with him."
"Okay, Father." Despite Ezra calling Sarah by her first name rather than Mother, Ezra had never had a father and liked pretending that Chris was really his father.
Ezra ran upstairs while Buck sat down in a chair facing his father who remained standing.
"Buck, why did you take those things from the store today?" asked Chris, his green eyes looking into Buck's eyes for an answer. Sarah and Chris were both pretty sure that Buck had intended to sneak the items out of the store without asking Sarah if she would buy them.
"So that me and Ezra could have them," answered the boy matter-of-factly.
"Why didn't you ask Sarah if she'd buy them for you?"
"I didn't think she'd buy them for us. They're only cheap things anyway and the store makes plenty of money from more expensive things," answered Buck remembering the information his friend Matt had taught him.
Chris sighed then told Buck; "Son, we love you and Ezra a lot and can buy things for you if you ask us first. Sarah would've bought you the playing cards and action figure if you'd asked her nicely. It is wrong to take things from stores without paying for them and I don't want you to do it again." Chris paused to study Buck's expression but it was blank, so he finished with "Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sir. I will ask Sarah next time," replied Buck.
"One last thing; Can you tell me if you used to steal things for Uncle Matt? If you did then no-one else has to know, as long as you don't do it anymore." Chris knew that Buck had taken things without paying for them, but wanted the boy to admit that he had.
Buck looked at Chris; unsure if he would stick to his word. "Yes - he said it was okay to do it coz we was poor and couldn't pay for things. If I didn't do it, he threatened to hurt me and even if I was good he still hurt me sometimes," said Buck, tears starting to appear in his eyes.
"Yes, Miss Wells said they thought your bruises were from Uncle Matt, but they had no proof. Thank you for telling me, Buck; it's important for foster parents to know a bit about their children's past. I'm not going to punish you for stealing this time, because you didn't realise you weren't supposed to. But now you know it's wrong, if you do it again I will have to give you a punishment," said Chris.
After talking he put out his arms to Buck and Buck stepped forward eagerly - he had no reason to think Chris would hurt him as he hadn't so far, so he trusted that Chris wanted to hug him and not hurt him. His Uncle Matt had never shown any affection toward him and he was desperate for a hug from someone who loved him.
Chris hugged Buck tightly to him; everything was going to be all right for his newest charge from now on.
The End