"Well,…what do we do now?" Melania asked softly. "Guess we just…head home."
"Head on home?...No we won't!….Our plans are the same as ever!" George Jr. told her. "I want to adopt James as well."
"George….you really don't….a boy like that….the needs he has!" She stammered, tears flooding her eyes. "It's not like I don't want my own son! It's just…"
"I do, sweet thing….I want to adopt him. He and Paul will be like my own, I promise you that." He said, placing his hands on her slim shoulders. "He's a special boy, Miss Mason said….God only gives a child with needs like he has…to someone He knows can handle it."
"But are you sure we can?"
"I'm not sure…but He is." George Jr. said, pointing upward.
"But it's not like he was born into OUR family!"
"He was born to YOU…wasn't he?" He grinned.
"Well yes….but it's different."
"How so?" He asked quietly. "I don't see a difference….When I adopt him, he'll be my son!"
"You really want to do this, George?" Melania said, with tears in her blue eyes.
"I really do." He smiled down at her. George Jr. leaned down and kissed her soft lips. "I'm gonna telephone Walnut Grove and let Fred and my sister know that we'll be heading to Tama County…." He said, walking off to use the orphanage's telephone.
"Walnut Gro-ove!" Harriett Oleson's shrill and annoying voice was heard on the other end.
"Uh….um…could you be able to put Fred Lay on, please?" George Jr. was a little nervous and un-easy. He never used one of these contraptions before!
"Would I be able to put him on?..….Of course I can, it's my job…..Imbecile!" She muttered. "One moment, please!" Harriet spoke into the mouth-piece sweetly.
"Nels!" She hollered.
"Yes dear?" He asked, poking his head in the doorway.
"Is that Fred Lay at his sister's? Telephone call for him…"
"I don't know…They were headed over there. And they're not in their hotel room…"
"Nels, are they are not?" Mrs. Oleson hollered, annoyed.
"Go ring her place!" He hollered, and left the room.
"Nels!" She huffed, and turned her attention to the switchboard, and proceeded to telephone Barbara Guess' place. "Always yelling!"
"Hello?" Barbara answered the telephone when it rang. "Oh yes, Mrs. Oleson….He's here. Yes, I'll put him on."
"Telephone call for you, brother." She said. "From Sleepy Eye….I think they said it was your brother-in-law?"
Fred took the telephone and put his ear to the ear-piece….and spoke into the contraption. "Yeah, George….I'm on. Did you find the boys? Were they there in Sleepy Eye?"
"Yeah Fred…And we adopted Paul while we were here."
"Oh great!...What about James?"
"He's in Tama County, Iowa."
"At the reform school?"
"Reform school!" Harriett muttered.
"Did you hear something….or are you repeating yourself?" George Jr. chuckled.
There was dead silence as Harriett sat there, eyes shut tight….
"No…" Fred said. "Must be the connection or something…Anyway, why's he there? What did he do that was so wrong?"
"Nothing…He's not a bad kid. It's nothin' like that."
"Well, why's he there?"
"Well, they say the boy has….problems."
"Problems…" Harriett whispered, her eyes going wide, and her mouth gaping open a little.
"What kind of problems?" Fred asked.
"Mainly with his schoolwork…they say he's not…stupid of course, things are just harder for him to learn."
"They can't send a ten year old boy to a reform school for that…" Fred said.
"I'm getting to that…I guess the boy's…REALLY energetic….hard to handle, I guess."
Fred thought of something that could be used to send a child to a school like that…."Anger issues?"
"Not that we've been told." George Jr. said. "Guess we'll find out though…"
"Okay…so what are your plans?" Fred asked.
"Well, we're going to Tama County of course….to get James, take him back to Sleepy Eye, and adopt him there….Y'all can stay in Walnut Grove for a few more days….and then we can all take a train back home."
"Sounds like a good plan, George."
"Thanks…Well, we'll be seein' ya."
"All right…Bye."
As Harriett heard that the call had ended, she set down the ear-piece. She was itching to tell someone this gossip, so she got up, but when she turned around,…there was Nels.
"Not this time, Harriett….you've done it once with the Garvey's and then again with Sylvia and Mr. Webb."
"Oh, Nels! Must you always be so…."
"I'm not letting you do this to our friends….and complete strangers! We don't know the Gruber's from Adam! I'm not letting you ruin their lives too…"
"Nels…" She huffed.
…
The Gruber's took a train to Tama County, Iowa and made it to the Toledo Reform School. One of the teachers, a Miss Lehrer, showed them around the place, the boys there going about their business.
"We provide educational classes and Bible lessons for the boys. Sometimes the boys who come to live at this school make friends and are satisfied to live here. Other times they are very unhappy and run away…James is more of the latter rather than the former….He does like it here, and he has made friends….but he sometimes…from the few weeks he has been here, he has tried to escape."
"My word…." Melania gasped.
"It's quite all right, Mrs. Gruber…we've always managed to find him and bring him back here….and then he goes back into his routine. He even seems to enjoy himself…." The young woman went on, "The boys here learn how to make shoes and clothing. Like many schools of our type, we also have a farm, and the boys help with the farming. Some of the produce is used for their meals, and some of it is sold. They also learn school subjects. Each boy works four hours and attends school for four hours. On Saturday afternoons the boys have time to play and enjoy themselves and be with their friends. On Sunday they go to church and have outings."
"Seems like a very nice school, Miss Lehrer…." George Jr. said. "Good schooling for the boy, I'm guessing…"
"Education here is more than school subjects and job skills. The teachers here give moral leadership. And we teach the boys to keep themselves clean, to be polite, and to use good manners."
"I think that's all wonderful…" Melania smiled.
A group of boys ran past them. One of the male teachers stopped one of them. The freckled-faced young boy huffed and his shoulders sank. He said something, and tried to go past the man, but he stopped him again, and he guided the boy over to Miss Lehrer and the Gruber's.
"No! No, I wanna go play!" The boy whined. "I wanna go outside with my friends!"
"James….don't you want to meet your folks?" The man asked.
"It's Jimmie!" He hollered, and pushed the man and went running.
"I'll be right back…." The man said, and went running after the boy.
"Does he always act like this?" Melania asked, her eyes widened.
"He has his good days…and his bad days." She sighed. "He'll get in with your family and he'll get used to things….I hope."
The young man and James soon returned, James whining all the way. "Lay off Mr. Taggart!...Let go! Let go of me!"
"Nope kid…you are going to meet your folks."
"I wanna go play!" He whined.
"Maybe you can later…don't you want to meet your Ma and step-Pa.?"
James didn't say anything, but he still put up a bit of a fight against the young Mr. Seth Taggart. "C'mon James…"
"Jimmie!" The ten year old hollered.
"Okay, c'mon Jimmie…."
"That's better now…." James, or should we say, "Jimmie" was satisfied.
"Jimmie…you're too funny." Mr. Taggart chuckled a little. "C'mon, let's go meet your folks….."
"James…." Melania smiled, getting down a bit so she could be near eye level with the boy.
"It's Jimmie!" He whined.
"All right, Jimmie." She smiled. "Honey….you're so handsome, my little boy…..So healthy!" Melania smiled, hugging her youngest child. Jimmie lightly pushed her off of him. "I'm not little!" He whined, crossing his arms.
"No….No you're not, sweetheart." She smiled. "Here, I want you to meet someone…." Melania said, bringing her daughter over. "This is Mary Jane…"
"Don't you want to hug her, Jimmie?" Mr. Taggart whispered.
"Me? Hug a girl?...Nah, no way! No mushy stuff!"
"Jimmie, she's your sister…." He whispered.
Jimmie stuck his lower lip out, his chin scrunched, and he shrugged his shoulders. "Well,…okay!" And he hugged his older sister, to which Mary Jane giggled a little.
"Hey Jimmie…Can I talk to you a bit?"
"Sure Mr. Gruber!" Jimmie was opening up a little, surprisingly.
George Jr. sat down with the boy on a bench and put an arm around him. "Do you know why I'm here, Jimmie?"
"Nah…why Mr. Gruber?"
"I want to adopt you, son….I've adopted your brother, Paul."
"Paul's here?" James said excitedly.
"Yup, he's outside…with the buckboard we rented." George Jr. said. "Jimmie, did you hear what I said?"
"Yeah, yeah…you said you want to adopt me or somethin'…." He said loudly.
"How do you feel about that?"
Jimmie shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, I guess."
"Which means you'll have to leave this place, Jimmie."
"Okay…" He said, and he didn't seem too disappointed.
"All right, buddy!" George Jr. said, ruffling the boy's head of light brown hair.
"Can we get outta here now? I wanna see Paul!"
"Okay, Jimmie…." George Jr. chuckled.
"Well, guess this is good-bye, Jimmie." Mr. Taggart said, shaking the boy's hand.
"We'll miss you, James." Miss Lehrer smiled.
Jimmie's green eyes got wide! "Oooooo!..You're standing next to her all close-like! Are you in love?...You gonna ask to marry her, Seth?"
"Jimmie…"
"Well, are ya, Seth?"
"It's Mr. Taggart to you." Seth replied.
"I'm getting out of here before James says anything more!" Miss Lehrer said, and smiled at Seth.
"Bye Clara." He smiled.
"Well, are ya, Mr. Taggart?"
"I think it's time for us to leave, James." Melania said quickly.
"Okay Ma….See ya, Mr. Taggart!" And so James, Melania, Mary Jane and George Jr. went outside to the buckboard.
"Paul!" James hollered as soon as he saw his brother, ran to him and clung to his torso.
"Hey James…." Paul laughed and patted his brother's back…he was used to this. It was just the way James normally acted. Sometimes it was funny, other times….it was a little annoying.
"I missed you, Paul!...But it was fun here! We got to work on the farm! And I went hunting!...I caught a fox in a fox trap the other day!"
"Neat…" Paul smiled.
"So could you tell us about your stay at the Sleepy Eye orphanage, Jimmie?" Mary Jane asked him.
"I hated that that place!...I hated that place, don't make me go back there!" James said, clinging to her and he pulled on her arm. "Some blond girl named Nancy was there! She was a maniac! She bit me! I thought I was gonna die!...I really thought I was gonna DIE!" He panted, his eyes going wide as he was looking at her.
"It's okay, Jimmie…" Mary Jane said.
"Well, I really thought I was gonna die!" He said quickly and then laughed.
Paul, Mary Jane and James all hopped in the back of the buckboard. And they set out. They took a train back to Sleepy Eye, Minnesota and made it there in a few days. They went to the orphanage….and it was there that James took on the last name of Gruber.
A/N: Well, Seth Taggart and Clara Lehrer are my own characters! :)
Hmmm…some blond girl named Nancy at the Sleepy Eye Orphanage? Can you guess who that is? Lol.
Remember the LHOTP episodes "Crossed Connections" and "Sylvia" where Mrs. Oleson listened in on the telephone calls? Yeah, just had to put that in there. :)
