Bad Behavior 24
Knocking Heads
Trekking through the house for his morning cup of java, Sandy was stopped at the kitchen doorway by the sight lurking at the kitchen table.
"Are you in the right house? This is my house isn't it?" Sandy asked glancing down at his watch.
"Very funny Sanford. I'm waiting for Ki Ki," his father-in-law growled. "She's got some paperwork that I need and then I'll be on my way."
"Good to know," Sandy mumbled, slipping away from the kitchen for a moment to locate his wife. The sooner his father-in-law was on his way out, the sooner Sandy could enjoy his weekend with his family.
It didn't take long before Caleb's quiet time with the morning paper was interrupted for a second time. The patio door swung open and a young man in dark blue work pants and a tank top strolled in, flicking his eyebrows at Caleb before moving across the kitchen to the refrigerator. The boy helped himself to the carton of orange juice, filling a tall glass for himself and just as he was about to reach for a bagel, the stranger spoke.
"Excuse me, you're responsible for your own meals. We don't feed the help. You work for us, not the other way around. I'll allow you to finish that orange juice but then you better get back to work if you want to get paid."
Just outside the kitchen doorway, a returning Sandy sat glued to the wall, eavesdropping on the conversation. This was gonna be good.
Dropping his hand to the counter, Ryan narrowed his eyes at the stranger. "Who the hell are you?"
"Who the hell am I? Are you insane?"
"Apparently," Ryan mumbled reaching for a bagel.
"Look boy, you're really trying my patience."
"'A'…I'm not your boy. And 'B', I don't work for you so why don't you just cool your jets old man."
"Old…man!" Caleb fumed.
"Don't call me boy, I won't call you old," Ryan pushed pouring more orange juice into his glass.
Caleb sat at the table stewing in his own juices and frowning at the difficult 'boy' standing behind the counter. Who was this kid? And why was here even here?
Meanwhile in the hallway, Sandy was smiling from ear to ear, enjoying the drama going on in the next room. His bubble nearly burst though when Kirsten walked up and caught him having too much of a good time.
"Sandy, what are you doing?"
"Shhh! Ryan and Caleb are going at it in the kitchen," Sandy whispered.
Gasping, "We can't let my Dad talk to Ryan alone," she warned attempting to move past Sandy.
"No, no, no. Ryan's got this. You've got to hear this."
"Look young man," Caleb vented, his tone making his frustration more than obvious. "I don't know where you came from, but I'm not someone to be trifled with."
Raising only his eyes up from the counter, Ryan scowled at Caleb. "Neither am I."
The comment set Caleb back. No one stood up to him, ever. Well, there was Sandy of course, but if it weren't for the arguing, they'd have no relationship at all.
"Alright," Caleb said, rising from the table. "We've obviously, gotten off on the wrong foot. Maybe we should try this again."
Ryan's glare persisted.
"I'm Caleb Nichol. I'm Kirsten's Father," he explained offering a handshake that Ryan refused to accept. Pulling his hand back he stared at the boy whose look was cold and calculating. Clearly his first impression was a lasting one and a simple handshake wasn't going to erase it any time soon.
"I find it hard to believe that you and Kirsten are cut from the same cloth," Ryan antagonized, holding his ground.
"Ooooh boy," Kirsten moaned from behind Sandy.
"Have faith Honey, Ryan's got Caleb second-guessing everything about himself right now."
"Yes, well, Kirsten…Kirsten is a little softer than me."
"Clearly." Scrunching up his napkin and tossing it in the trash, Ryan grabbed his glass of O.J. from the counter and headed back to the patio door.
"Wait," Caleb called after him. "Who did you say you were?"
"I didn't."
The confused look on the old man's face told Ryan he'd defeated him, at least this time. Sighing loudly, Ryan leaned on the door handle.
"I'm Ryan. I live here, at least, for this week."
"You're Ryan?" Caleb answered, shocked at the realization. "So you're the long story?"
"You have no idea," Ryan said flatly before passing through the patio door and letting it slam behind him.
Caleb watched through the windows as Ryan hurried up the steps and into the pool house.
Sandy looked at his wife, rubbed his palms together and stuck out his tongue in mischievous fashion.
"Sandy…Sandy no. Don't you dare! Sandy!" Kirsten shouted in a whisper, but it was too late. It was going to be a long morning.
"So Cal, I see you've met Ryan," Sandy poked.
Caleb only stood in the kitchen looking back and forth between Sandy and the pool house. "Will someone please explain to me what the hell is going on? Who is this kid and what is he doing here? More importantly when is he leaving?"
"Well, there's good news and there's bad news," Sandy egged on, enjoying every minute of it. "The good news is he really is a great kid. You got off to a bad start with him by basically calling him hired help. Maybe he'll warm up to you in time…then again, other than Kirsten I really don't know anyone that's really all that warm and fuzzy around you Cal."
" Enough with the jokes Sanford. So what's the bad news?"
Kirsten and Sandy exchanged a look before jumping into tag team event to bring Caleb up to speed.
"Well, let's see," Kirsten began. "We brought Ryan here straight from a Juvenile Correction Center in Chino…"
"He's a hoodlum? A delinquent?" Caleb squawked.
"He had served some time for getting caught stealing a car," Sandy added.
"Right," Kirsten agreed, embracing her cup of coffee with both hands. "But it wasn't his first car. He's stolen about four of them but only got caught with the last one."
"That's right. So we brought him home and at first he was not at all happy about being here," Sandy continued in a mocking manner. "He'd sneak out and come home drunk. That one night he threw up in the foyer when he got home…"
"Uh huh. That was the same night I had to hold him up in front of the toilet in the pool house so he could pee."
"He urinated in front of you Ki Ki?" Caleb asked, astonished and horrified.
"He did, but I tried not to be offended. He was really drunk and even he was horrified the next morning when he learned about what he did. He apologized."
"He ran away twice," Sandy continued. "But the one time, he did call and say it was a mistake and that he wanted to come home."
"He was drunk that night too, that's when he threw up in my car," Kirsten explained, sipping her coffee nonchalantly.
"Thank God you had that bucket in there," Sandy reasoned.
"Okay, okay, stop!" Caleb yelled out, putting his arms up in the air before placing them on his head in anguish. "I think I've heard enough."
"Really that's the gist of it Cal. There was some skipping school in there and a couple of fistfights, really good ones. Ryan can definitely fight. He did go out with Seth and steal a bottle of booze and then proceeded to get Seth drunk."
"Oh and the girls! We can't forget the girls. Turns out Ryan is quite the ladies man, at least with one night stands that is," Kirsten pointed out.
"Enough! I feel sick already. I think I need a drink."
"Gladly," Sandy said enthusiastically reaching for a whiskey bottle in the cabinet. "Besides, you're gonna need this for the last part of the story."
"I can't wait," Caleb groaned, rubbing his forehead.
"Dad it's eight-thirty in the morning," Kirsten reminded him.
"Ki Ki, anyone absorbing news like this first thing in the morning should be allowed a drink or two first."
Snatching the glass off the table, Caleb took a generous slug and crumpled his face. "Alright. Let's get this over with. How does the story end?"
"Well…Dad…" Kirsten began, coughing to clear her throat. "If the story ends the way we want it to…Ryan will be a permanent member of this family. Sandy and I want to adopt him."
"You're out of your minds! Both of you! Do you understand what someone like him could do to this family?"
"Cal you've been gone for quite some time. Ryan's been here a while now and even though the two of you knocked heads this morning. He really is a good kid."
"Impossible. You heard the lack of respect in here this morning."
"He's sixteen Cal…I'm an adult and I don't respect you."
Caleb could only frown at his son-in-law as Kirsten approached him with something.
"Let me show you something. This is the only childhood photo we have of Ryan," she said offering the Batman photo to her Father. "His own Mother did that to him. Ironically, Ryan was sporting a similar black eye when we brought him home from Juvie."
Raising his eyes off the photo, Caleb looked at his daughter. For the first time that morning, his demeanor softened and he put his anger in check.
"He's had a terrible life Dad. Sandy and I want to give him something more. In Chino…In Chino he was a very bad boy. He stole things. He hurt people. But he wants this. He's a completely different kid here. He's good here. He listens to us."
Setting the photo down on the table, Caleb rubbed his face again. "How do you know? How do you know he won't steal everything in the house? How do you know he's not here for the money? How do you know he won't wake up one day and try to kill all of you?"
Kirsten offered her Father a sympathetic face. His ramblings were that of any concerned Father.
"Like Sandy said, Ryan's been here for a while and he's never shown any aggression towards any of us. He can throw some nasty dirty looks when he wants to, but that's the extent of it," Kirsten explained. Continuing, "As for the money, Ryan's never asked for a single thing since he's been here. Not new clothes, not a cd, not even a pack of cigarettes. And anything he did want, he'd go get it himself, he'd never ask for it."
"You're saying he'd steal it?" Caleb confirmed.
"Yeah."
"Give him a chance Cal," Sandy cut in. "He comes for a place where people treated him…well, a lot worse than you did this morning. But your tone definitely took him back to his past and that's why he's not giving you an inch now. You're going to have to give him some space if you want him to come around."
"You really want to do this? You really want to take in this scrapper?" Caleb asked, knowing full well what the answer would be.
"You don't know the things we know Dad. I can't bare the thought of sending him back to his Mother."
Ryan had spent most of the day hidden away in the pool house. Since no one really came around to check on him he assumed Mr. Nichol was still in the house and the Cohens were doing everything they could to keep him away from Ryan…or so he thought until the door opened.
When Caleb walked in, Ryan pursed his lips in disgust and rolled his head to the side, ignoring Caleb as he approached. He finally spoke when his visitor's shoes came into view as he stared at the floor.
"You'll want to sit in that chair," Ryan explained, pointing. "That's the Warden's chair. All lectures come from there."
"Is that why you think I came in here? To lecture you?"
"Well isn't it? I don't see any other reason for you to be in here. By now you already know what's going on and you're here to warn me about hurting your family."
Caleb sat down in the opposite chair, immediately drawing Ryan's attention. He could tell the boy was just waiting for a reason to pounce.
"You seem to be a smart boy," Caleb said, watching Ryan carefully. "I think you already know that I took one look at you this morning and had preconceived ideas in my head about who you were and what you were doing here. After taking with Kirsten and Sandy, I now realize I…made a mistake."
Ryan sat bone chillingly still and furled his eyebrows at the old man's comment.
"I owe you an apology and…I'm sorry."
Tucking his lips in, Ryan blinked and looked away. "What are you sorry for?" he asked, returning a sideways glance at the guest in his room.
"What do you mean?" Caleb asked, confused by Ryan's question.
"Are you sorry for the way you treated me? Or…are you sorry that I had such a horrible childhood, which I'm sure you've learned about by now? Maybe you're sorry that I ended up here and it's your family that got stuck with me. Maybe you're sorry you weren't in town when I first got here so you could have stopped it all from going this far. Maybe you're sorry you can't talk them out of adopting me. See what I mean?"
Caleb stared back at the boy, unsure of his response. Ryan was smart enough to pick up on things Cal hoped he wouldn't touch on.
"I'm sorry for the way I treated you this morning. I placed a judgment on you without giving you a chance." Caleb could tell the boy wasn't really absorbing the apology. They were just words. With his background he'd probably heard 'I'm sorry' so many times he was callous to it.
"I'd be lying, and I think you'd know it, if I didn't admit I have concerns about…the arrangement. But then again, you've been here for months. All of this is only four hours old to me. Like any Father, I just want what's best for my family."
Sighing, "And I'm not…the best choice for your family," Ryan said quietly.
"I didn't say that Ryan."
"You didn't have to. Nobody really wants me. Kirsten, Sandy, Seth…they made me feel important. They made me feel wanted. I've never had that."
"I didn't realize…"
"You should lay off of Sandy and Kirsten for right now. We go back to court next Monday for my custody hearing. If my Mom decides to be a bitch, she'll say she wants me back, mind you, she's had thirty days to think about it. You have any idea how it feels to have your own Mom use her full, court appointed, thirty days to decide whether or not she wants you any more? Anyways…if you hold your breath just a little longer and she refuses to sign my papers, I'll be gone and you'll get your wish."
"Ryan…"
"Mr. Nichol I've got a lot on my mind these days, not to mention a huge decision that lies in other people's hands that will affect the direction of my life forever as of Monday. I don't need, or want, to fight yet another person."
Nodding, "I understand. I'm supposed to bring you back into the house for lunch…Kirsten's orders." He watched Ryan still not moving, not acknowledging. "Right. I'll um, I'll tell her you're not hungry." Rising from his chair, Caleb looked down at the boy before him, now it was clear to him he was in fact just a boy behind the tough exterior. "For the record Ryan, I hope your hearing goes…the way you want it to. I can see that my family really cares about you and I know they would be devastated if you left. If you change your mind, I would like…you to join us for lunch."
Ryan dropped his head to the floor as Caleb quietly exited the pool house. Ryan looked up finally and threw another sideways glance at the door. The old man was hard to read. Ryan wasn't sure just how much of his conversation was genuine and how much was bullshit. One thing he did know, he was starving. He knew he wasn't going to be able to brood for too long, his stomach wouldn't hear of it.
After roughly fifteen more minutes had passed, Ryan stood up, used the bathroom, took a deep breath and opened the door. With only a week left with the Cohens, he wasn't going to let Caleb keep him stuck in a corner.
Stacking the dishes in the dishwasher, Sandy eyed his Father-in-law. "Whatever you said to Ryan must have sunk in. I really didn't think you of all people would get him to come to lunch."
"Don't be ridiculous Sanford. He didn't believe a word I said. He only came in here to flex his neck."
"Excuse me?" Sandy asked with a dish in each hand.
"He came in to show his dominance. I pushed on him this morning and he's still pushing back, showing me he's not giving any ground away. He knew avoiding lunch really meant he was avoiding me, letting me win. He's not that type of kid."
Sandy closed the door to the dishwasher and gawked at Caleb.
"Don't look at me like that Sandy. I can recognize dominance when I see it."
"Well then I better pray that Ryan's attempt at dominance becomes nothing like yours or we'll all be in a lot of trouble and that includes you Cal."
Setting down his cup of coffee. "He doesn't trust anyone, does he?" Caleb inquired.
Shrugging his shoulders, "He picks his battles just like everyone else. A kid with his background…trust is definitely an issue. When he first came here, you'd say something to him and you could just see it in his eyes that he was analyzing how much of it was bullshit. He's been through an awful lot."
"I guess the real question here is, do you trust him Sandy?"
"I do. It was rough in the beginning. We didn't know anything about him or how to handle him. Adding to that, the only thing he knew was that he wanted out of here. He felt caged. Just like anything else, it took time. Time for us to understand why he did the things he did and time for him to understand he would be safe here."
Caleb tapped his fingers against his cup. "Is there anything I can do? To help?"
"I'm speechless Cal. You're actually offering assistance to bring another alpha male into the house? You know he's going to give you a run for your money…and I'm going to enjoy that."
"There's no need to squeal with glee Sanford. Who's the Judge on the case?"
"Whitney."
"Ouch. She's tough." There was a long pause. "Want me to talk to her? Talk to his Mother?" he offered, casually raising his coffee cup to his mouth.
"Cal, I don't want to strong-arm anyone into making this decision. Judge Whitney is a good Judge, I have faith her decision will be the right one. And Dawn may have her flaws but at the end of the day, that's still his Mother."
"Well, if you change your mind, you know where to find me."
"I don't want it done like that Cal. We want Ryan here because he wants to be here and because we want him here. We love him."
"As you wish. I have to get going. Say goodbye to Ki Ki for me."
Just out of view, Ryan leaned against the doorframe on the patio, stunned by the conversation he'd just overheard. He knew the Cohens cared about him, even loved him, but now even the old man who'd locked horns with him just hours ago was considering drastic measures to help keep him in the family. He was startled when Sandy stepped through the door.
"Hey. Didn't mean to scare you, I didn't know you were there."
Ryan nodded and looked down at the ground right away. "Do you think we should let him talk to Judge Whitney?" Ryan asked, much to Sandy's surprise.
"No, I don't." Sandy watched Ryan's body slump in defeat. "Ryan, I know you want to stay more than anything. And believe me when I say we all want you to stay…but threatening people, or in Caleb's case, buying people's decisions is not the way to handle this."
"Why not?" Ryan asked flatly, still engrossed at staring at the concrete under his boots.
"Because then you're here for the wrong reasons. You aren't here because the court felt this is best or because your Mom agreed you deserve better. You'd be here as the result of someone's fear or a payoff. That's sounds very Chino to me and I thought we were past all of that."
Ryan allowed a crooked smile to flash in Sandy's direction. "I know. I'm just at the end of my rope. What you guys know about my Mom isn't good…what I know about my Mom is even worse. I already told Seth this isn't going to have a happy ending."
"You don't know that Ryan. You can't give up that hope."
"I wish I could believe you…but I can't."
For the first time in a long time, Sandy saw the broken soul of a boy defeated. It was rare that Ryan showed this side of himself, especially to another male figure. Ryan didn't cry out for help often but right now, he was screaming. Sandy reached out and gave Ryan a hug. His only response was turning his face into Sandy's shoulder.
"Keep that strength kid. It's gonna work out. You'll see."
When Sandy released his grip Ryan nervously walked away and disappeared into the pool house. He wished there was more he could do…and then the devil on his shoulder started jumping up and down.
Hurrying back into the kitchen desk, Sandy snatched up the kitchen phone and started dialing. He glanced out the window to make sure Ryan wasn't coming in, or standing next to the door again for that matter.
"Yeah it's me. Okay you win. Leave the Mother alone but just feel out our cloaked friend and see which way she's leaning. Don't do anything stupid and leave me out of this."
With a click of a button, Sandy set the phone down on the counter and worried about the decision he'd just made.
"You're bad habits are rubbing off on me Ryan," Sandy mumbled out loud to himself in the kitchen. "Let's just hope they work this time."
TBC
