At home, Sharon and Dawn helped Carlos bring the stuff in. I could feel my hand getting sore.
"I'm going to call Judge Morton," said Dad as he went to go make a phone call.
"Is it too early to call you Mom and Dad?" asked Carlos.
"No," said Sharon. "You can do that anytime."
I went upstairs to take Aleve.
"You can go take it easy while I take him to his new room, honey," said Sharon.
I was starting to feel left out because I was feeling helpless.
"It stinks that I can't do anything around here," I said.
"I know, but resting it is important," said Dawn. "Don't worry about us. We can take it from here."
"Hold on for a moment, Dawn. Mary Anne, I have something for you that you can use," said Carlos as he took out his ice pack.
"Oh, good, we don't have one of those. We use the facecloth," I said.
"Perfect," said Carlos. "Where do you want me to put this on?"
"You can just put it on the bandage," I said while he did that. "Thanks."
"No problem," said Carlos. "I'll have this in the freezer when you're done."
"Okay," I said.
"You can use it anytime," said Carlos.
"Are you sure?" I asked.
"Of course," said Carlos. "When Lily sprained her ankle, I let her use it for awhile, too. Only her ankle would get bruised. It comes in handy. This was given away for free."
At least Carlos did something to make me feel better.
"I just need to take out one more thing first I bring my stuff up," said Carlos as he took out his bus schedule for his school from his backpack. "I just noticed the nearest bus stop for my school is at the corner of our street. Is it okay if I go put it near the fridge?"
"Sure," said Sharon.
That's what he did before they brought his things up to his room.
"Wow," said Carlos.
"Mary Anne did this with her father and the rest of us girls did the wallpaper," said Dawn.
"I like it," said Carlos.
After they finished unpacking, they came down while Dawn was showing him my room. Tigger was keeping me company.
"I like your cat," said Carlos as he joined us.
"This is Tigger," I said.
Dad came up from the den after making a phone call. "I have some news. The judge and he will come over in an hour."
"That was fast," said Carlos.
"I just showed him around," said Dawn.
"I liked seeing your rooms," said Carlos.
"Do I have time to show him the barn or the family basement?" asked Dawn.
"You do," said Dad.
"I just let her use my ice pack," said Carlos.
"That's good," said Dad.
After I was done using the ice pack, I was removing it while Carlos went downstairs to go put it in the freezer.
Dawn brought Carlos outside and showed him the yard.
"That's a nice barn," said Carlos.
"That's Jeff's favorite place to play in," said Dawn. "You'll meet him when he comes down next month."
After that, she showed him to the family basement.
"This is where we do sleepovers," said Dawn.
"That's awesome," said Carlos.
Upstairs, the doorbell rang as Dad went to answer it.
"Hi, Rich," said Judge Morton.
"Hi," said Dad.
"And, you must be Carlos," said the judge.
"Yes," said Carlos.
"It's pleasure to meet you. I'm Judge Morton," said the judge.
"Same," said Carlos as they shook hands.
"How are things going in your new home?" asked the judge.
"I'm a little nervous," said Carlos.
"It's okay to be like that. I handle cases like that," said Judge Morton
"What helps me is that Mary Anne and I have been friends for a few years," said Carlos.
"That's a good thing," said the judge.
"Just like I was before we became stepsisters," said Dawn.
"Mary Anne is also welcome to join us," said the judge.
"She'd like to, but she can't. She needed to keep her hand rested like I mentioned about what happened on the phone when you asked me about her," said Dad.
"That's fine," said the judge.
"Carlos was a good helper. He just let her use an ice pack," said Sharon.
"Good," said the judge as they went to the kitchen to sit at the table. "Do you have any questions before we get started?"
"I only have one request. Can we keep my last name as a middle name?" asked Carlos.
"Of course. I do cases like that all the time, especially for foster care," said the judge. "We let them decide whatever they feel comfortable doing."
"I didn't think of it until now," said Carlos.
"That's okay," said Sharon.
"You can just fill the form on the adoption papers," said the judge.
Once the judge signed them, he said, "It's all set. Carlos is now officially Carlos Peters Spier."
"Thank you, sir," said Carlos.
"You're very welcome and it was my pleasure to come to sign them," said Judge Morton.