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"Are you enjoying the book?" Spencer asked gesturing to the Lord of the Rings Harry had been reading earlier.
"Yeah, it's a bit hard for me but the story is terrific, I'm not allowed to read fantasy books at home, my relatives are very strange about anything that's not strictly normal. They go a bit mad about it to be honest," Harry replied.
"Are they religious?" Spencer asked.
"No just so insistent that everything have to be perfectly normal. Hobbits and wizards and stuff isn't normal therefore it isn't allowed," Harry explained. "It's one of the few things Dudley can't change their minds about, he's only allowed to watch shows that don't have any magicians or supernatural beings or aliens in them. He's not even supposed to watch the cartoons about superheroes, Aunt Petunia yells when she catches him and blames me when I'm around even though I'm not allowed to watch the tellie at all."
Spencer laughed and pulled out his maths books, "I have homework to do so you can keep reading if you like. Though maybe you should go and let your family know that you're okay."
"They won't be there, they had a booking to fly over the Grand Canyon today," Harry replied.
"And you're missing it! That's a pity, I've always wanted to go, but are you sure they would still go without you if you're missing?" Spencer said sympathetically.
"Oh, I wasn't going with them, it wasn't part of the holiday package they won. They would've had to pay to take me. I was supposed to spend the day staying out of sight so nobody noticed they've gone off without me so I can't go back there now until they come home to get ready to go out for dinner. I guess I'm doing what I am supposed to be doing," Harry said chuckling a little.
"Well, I'm glad of your company but I'm afraid I really need to get some of this homework done this morning while we've got enough light, this widow faces east so once it gets to lunch time it's in the shade and not much light filters through the boarded up bits. Some of the other rooms have more light but they aren't as secure and the wind blows in and makes everything dirty. It shouldn't me take too long, feel free to read my books," Spencer said.
"Thanks," Harry replied about to turn back to his book when he was distracted by Spencer's math textbook. "Wow! That's advanced work. Americans must be much smarter than Brits if you're the same age as me. I turned nine at the end of July." Harry was used to other children his age being much larger than he was and wasn't a good judge of age.
"I'm almost twelve my birthday is the 28th of this month, but I skipped a heap of grades, most of my classmates are seventeen," Spencer replied nervously. He liked Harry, he and the younger boy seemed to understand each other and he would have loved to have a friend but he expected the boy would at best lose interest now that he knew Spencer was so much smarter than he was. He hoped he was correct in his thought that Harry didn't seem like the type of person to bully anybody.
Harry smiled, "So your school noticed you were bored because you already knew what they were teaching and moved you up. That's really cool!"
"What grade are you in, have you been advanced like me?" Spencer asked. "You're pretty smart too to be reading the Hobbit."
"No, I've never heard of anybody being advanced above the grade their age puts them in, some of the really smart kids do different work than the rest of us, but I'm not allowed to do well at school, I'm just lucky they haven't kept me down a year. Though maybe it would be better if they had, at last then I wouldn't be in the same class as Dudley but knowing my luck they would've kept him down too," Harry replied matter-of-factly.
"What do you mean you're not allowed to do well? It's every student's job to do as well as they can," Spencer asked indignantly.
"I'm not allowed to be smarter than Dudley and I swear that he tries to be as stupid as he can. Even though I do his homework for him it's an effort to appear to be a worse student that he is, he'd be failing completely if it wasn't for the marks from me doing his homework assignments." Harry replied.
"What would your aunt and uncle do if you brought home better grades than your cousin?" Spencer asked curiously.
"Punish me for cheating even though he must've known I hadn't, and make sure I didn't have the time or the energy to do it again any time soon," Harry said evasively.
Spencer took the hint that there was something seriously wrong with Harry's upbringing and he didn't want to talk about it, and let him get away with it though he was smart enough to guess exactly what Harry was trying to avoid saying. "It sucks not to be allowed to be smart. My Dad didn't punish me for it but he didn't much like how smart I was or at least wanted me to pretend to be a normal kid more. He wanted me to like sports and stuff. I really tried. He coached my t-ball team, even when I broke my arm and gave up playing, he kept coaching it right up until he left. My Mom always insisted that I should do my best at school though and supported me when I wanted to give up sports for more academic extracurricular activities."
"Where'd your dad go?" Harry asked curiously.
"I don't know. He just said he couldn't cope with Mom's illness and my weirdness anymore and packed his stuff and left about a year ago. I haven't heard from him since," Spencer said miserably. "Mom said it wasn't my fault but I overheard her begging Dad to take me with him even if only for a couple of weeks but he wouldn't, so it must have been partly my fault he didn't want to stay with us. Mom tried to explain that she only wanted him to take me until she was well but she's never going to be properly well again. I know she loves me and it really hurt that she didn't want me either. She was right though, she isn't well enough to look after me every day and on her good days it makes her sad to remember the bad days."
Harry didn't know what to say so he just leaned over and hugged his new friend in silent support. He understood how much it hurt not to be wanted and it must be even worse for Spencer who had clearly loved his father and still loved his mother, while he had never loved or even liked his relatives. After a while Spencer got up and blew his nose and went back to his homework and Harry tried to stay quiet and not ask stupid questions that upset his new friend.
-o0o-
They had a great day together. Once the morning sun had stopped shining directly through the small gaps in the dirty cracked boarded up windows the light became too dim to read without a what he called a torch and Spencer called a flashlight, Spencer had pulled on some shorts and they'd gone out to find something to eat. Spencer showing him some of the cheapest places to get a proper meal, at one of the many casino buffets, this one allowing accompanied children to eat for free. "The trick is to look clean and tidy and to walk in with a couple about the right age and colouring and stay close enough to them that you've got your meal before the staff realise you're not with them, there's a kids table near the toy area so we can sit separate and most of the time the couple don't even realise they've been followed," Spencer said. "I'm sure some of the staff recognise me and a couple of the other kids that do this but as long as we don't look homeless and we don't create any trouble or come too often they're willing to overlook it so long as management doesn't notice."
Harry laughed, they found an appropriate looking couple and Spencer was right, the couple had no idea that some of the staff thought the four of them were a family. Spencer made sure they didn't run or push into get the food and they piled their plates with the types of food Harry had never seen before let alone been allowed to eat. Harry made sure to sit up straight and eat with his best table manners. He hadn't had much opportunity to learn them himself but he had heard Aunt Petunia trying to teach Dudley. Dudley of course only managed to follow her instructions until real food was put in front of him and then he was like a pig at a feeding trough and Aunt Petunia just sighed and gave up, she had no idea that Harry had even been listening let alone had learned the lessons she was trying to teach her son.
After a huge lunch, Spencer showed him around the neighbourhood then pulled out a pack of cards and began teaching him to play poker and blackjack, (and tried to teach him how to count cards). He said that no self-respecting tourist can come to Vegas and not play cards at least a little even if Harry wasn't old enough to play in the casinos. Spencer also said that he'd read that learning to count cards would help with his memory and observation skills so he could learn things easier no matter how much school he missed he'd be able to catch up again.
Harry thought that this was an excellent idea and resolved to practice as hard as he could.
"It's nearly five. I need to go home and help Mom with dinner," Spencer said.
"The Dursleys should be back soon too. I better get back to the hotel," Harry replied reluctantly.
"Will you be able to find your way?" Spencer asked.
"Yeah, it's down that street, somewhere. I can't get lost," Harry replied.
"Well if you find yourself out on your own during the rest of the week feel free to come back and read some more, I'll try to visit the hideout tomorrow depending on how Mom is and I usually spend an hour or so after school most days, but you're welcome to come and read the books even when I'm not here." Spencer said.
"Thank you Spencer, I'm glad I met you," Harry said smiling at his first ever friend.
"Me too… I mean… I'm glad we met too," Spencer stammered also looking pleased.
-o0o-
Spencer stayed back to put everything back into the airtight containers to protect it all from the rats and was about to leave when Harry turned back up, he was pleased to see that his friend had come back at first but then became worried when he noticed that Harry had a small worn hold all with him, it's broken zipper exposing that it was bulging with ratty clothing. Then he looked up and Spencer saw the black eye and realised Harry was walking stiffly to avoid aggravating other injuries.
"What happened?" he asked concerned.
"Vernon was angry that I'd been out all night, not that they wasted any time looking for me or worrying about me. I doubt it even inconvenienced them except they didn't like the possibility I was enjoying myself. They decided that since I found a place to stay last night, I could spend the rest of the holiday there, so they didn't have to put up with me sleeping in the bath. I just need to be careful to keep track of days and get back to the motel in time so they don't fly home without me next Saturday week," Harry said trying to be brave. In truth he was badly shaken and didn't know what he would do if Spencer turned him away.
"Do you have food, or money to buy food?" Spencer asked alarmed. "You're not going to be able to go back to the buffet with your face like that."
"No but it won't be the first time I've gone hungry. The dumpsters behind the restaurants a couple of streets over look like a good place to find something to eat," Harry said flushing in shame.
"I'm sorry I haven't got much money to help you but things have been really tight financially since Dad left and Mom hasn't been well enough to work," Spencer said apologetically.
"That's okay Spencer, I'm used to looking after myself," Harry said.
"Are you going to be warm enough, it gets really cold here at night," Spencer asked anxiously.
Harry laughed, "Spencer I'm from England! And it's still almost summer! I was warm enough last night after I put on your hoodie."
"Summer ended weeks ago and I'm serious Harry, I know the desert is known for its heat but that's only during the day, it gets really cold at night it's because of the lack of humidity in the air, it just doesn't hold the heat once the sun goes down. I know it's warm here now but the temperatures will plummet at sunset," Spencer said. "I could bring you an extra blanket."
"I was fine last night Spence I slept the whole night through without even realising, I'm used to not being warm enough at night. It will be fine," Harry protested.
Spencer looked sadly at his friend who was so used to never having the things he needed, not even a warm bed at night, enough to eat or anyone to care about his wellbeing, even his own life dealing with the unpredictability of a sick mother and a father that had just walked away was better than this. But he realised his pity would be unwelcome, Harry was used to making the best of things and wanted him to be a friend which implied some sort of equality and shared enjoyment, not becoming someone who felt sorry for him and was just trying to help.
"I've really got to go, I'll try and see you tomorrow. Help yourself to the food in the box I showed you if you need it," Spencer said, reluctant to leave the smaller boy alone like this, but knowing that his mother would need him.
"I'll be fine Spencer, I was here all night last night and nothing happened. There's no way for an adult to get in here and I'm not scared of the rats or the spiders. I'll see you tomorrow or Monday," Harry said calmly.
-o0o-
It was after ten before Spencer's mother was settled and sleeping and Spencer could sneak back out with the blanket. It was also the new moon and full dark once you got this far away from the perpetual neon of the strip and commercial areas and Spencer was afraid of the dark and almost turned back in fright, but he was more worried about Harry than he was about himself, Harry was a little kid and with no body fat without even a decent coat, he would feel the cold terribly. He gritted his teeth with determination and made his way to the hideout, the streetlights were few and far between in the industrial area but Spencer knew the abandoned lot well and efficiently made his way into the derelict building in spite of his fear of the dark, he knew that as much as he wanted to turn on his flashlight, using it out in the open would only draw unwanted attention to a child out on his own. He was almost hyperventilating by the time he'd climbed through the pipe and could safely turn on the light. "Hey Harry it's just me," he called out, not wanting to frighten his friend.
"Spencer, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Harry asked confused. "Is something wrong with your Mom?"
"It's not that late, and I'm not here to stay," Spencer replied entering the small room he'd made his own and covering the younger boy lying on the old mattress with the blanket and handing him the hastily made sandwich he'd brought. "Stay warm and sleep well Harry."
"Good night Spencer, thanks," Harry said smiling brightly and snuggling into the blanket. It felt like Spencer was tucking him in for the night. Nobody had ever done that for him in his memory and the feeling of emotional warmth was even more welcome than the physical warmth of the blanket.
Assuming that Harry was just colder than he was willing to let on Spencer just grinned, glad that he'd overcome his fears to help his friend.
"Night Harry. I'll see you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow," Harry asked.
Spencer climbed up into the pipe and took a deep breath before determinedly turning off the flashlight and hurrying out across the abandoned yard and running as fast as he could towards the more lit up streets, and carefully made his way home.
-o0o-
"So, you and your cousin are not going to school while you're here?" Spencer asked.
"No, we're not going to be here long enough and Vernon and Petunia thought Dudley could learn more by going to all the tourist things and experiencing America. The teachers at home gave us a heap of extra homework to make up for missing classes. I've already done Dudley's," Harry replied.
"Don't they notice that both sets of homework are written by the same person?"
"No, I write mine with my left hand so it looks like I don't write as well," Harry said. "And I'll only do about half of mine. Dudley will try to wreck most of it anyway."
"Why do your family dislike you so much? And why didn't they leave you in England if they didn't want you with them?" Spencer asked.
"Uncle Vernon's boss delivered the tickets to him at the airport so I had to be there, Vernon's been claiming child allowances for me so they were expecting him to bring two children. If his sister would have taken me while they were away, they would have brought Dudley's best friend instead but they couldn't think of a reasonable reason to leave me behind."
"So, they brought you and let you roam the streets here instead," Spencer said sarcastically. "You didn't tell me why they dislike you so much. Or why they took you in at all if they weren't prepared to care for you."
Harry looked at his friend, the impulse to confide in him was strong. He wanted to be totally honest with the older boy who had tried so hard to help him and when he was kicked out by his relatives, helping him find food and easing the unbearable hurt of knowing his relatives didn't just dislike him but truly hated him. That it was only their fear of the opinions of the neighbours that stopped them from dumping him in an orphanage every time they threatened to. But he was afraid too, his relatives hated him because of the freaky things that happened around him and Harry had managed to not have anything like that happen when Spencer was there. Would Spencer also turn on him when he knew, would he even believe him or think he was making up stories. Something told him Spencer would not react well if he thought Harry was lying. Still the chance of it happening here were pretty high when he was frightened or upset. He'd already had something freaky happen with the old fireplace during the night when he was cold and scared. It would be better if he warned his friend, than if it occurred when Spencer was there without him expecting it.
"Freaky things happen to me and around me and they say it's my fault," Harry blurted outlooking at his feet.
"What do you mean? What sort of things?" Spencer asked.
"Well I tried to jump behind the bins when I was running away from Dudley and his friends just before we came and ended up on the roof, I have no idea how I got there. My hair grows back like this overnight no matter how short it's been cut, a jumper I hated and would've been picked on by everyone for wearing shrunk while Aunt Petunia was trying to force me into it and once when a teacher was yelling at me for something Dudley did her wig turned blue, sometimes when I drop something it won't break, even Petunia's fancy glasses on the tiles though they break so easy normally, and I heal really quickly, sometimes overnight, not just scrapes and bruises but serious things like when I thought my hand was broken. I don't know how it happens or if it's my fault but I've never heard of things like that happening to someone else," Harry blurted rapidly. Anyone else wouldn't have been able to understand with the speed Harry was talking but Spencer's mind worked even quicker.
"That doesn't make sense, I don't know how those things could even happen, much less how you could be responsible for them, maybe they're just blaming you like you said they do for everything else," Spencer said blankly. As incredible as the story was, he never once doubted that Harry believed what he was saying. His logical mind pointed out that a child's belief in something didn't necessarily make it true, one only had to look at Santa Clause, the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy to be aware of that, and children often misunderstood things the adults around them said, or in his experience adults frequently lied to children thinking it wasn't necessary for them to know the truth.
"I know it doesn't and I thought it was just my aunt and uncle being mean, blaming me for things I didn't do again, like they do when Dudley breaks something or gets in trouble at school, but now I think they're right. It must be my fault though I don't know how I'm doing it, it happened here last night and nobody else was in the room. I was still a bit cold and I could hear something moving about in the dark too big to be the rats and got scared and the next thing I know the noise is gone and the rubbish in the fireplace was burning brightly, lighting up the room. The fire burnt all night though there wasn't anywhere near enough stuff in the fireplace to fuel it and such a small fire shouldn't have made that much light," Harry replied.
Spencer looked at the fireplace and saw that the rubbish that'd been there was burnt, but he couldn't smell smoke which didn't make a lot of sense. The chimney didn't work. He'd tried to burn things in the fireplace during the winter and the room had filled with smoke. He was grateful that the stuff in the fireplace really had all been rubbish. Though a lot of it was plastic and should have given off toxic fumes.
"So, whatever it is that you make happen, you don't really have control of it but it usually does what you want or helps you when you need it and you've never actually hurt anybody with it?" Spencer clarified.
"Well yeah!" Harry admitted.
"Then I don't think there is a reason to be afraid of you or for me not be your friend because of it. If you don't want to hurt me, then from what you've told me I shouldn't be hurt by it, whatever it is," Spencer declared.
"No of course I don't want to hurt you, I want to you to like me," Harry said smiling relievedly at his friend.
"Have you always lived with your Aunt and Uncle?" Spencer asked.
"Ever since I can remember, my parents died when I was one," Harry replied.
"What did they do for a living? What happened to them?" Spencer asked.
"I don't really know. My aunt and uncle said Dad was a wastrel and a drunk and took drugs and Mum was a whore and they died in a car accident because Dad was driving drunk. I don't want to believe them but I don't know anybody else that knew them," Harry said sadly.
"I'm sorry Harry. I shouldn't have asked," Spencer said.
"It's okay, you had no way of knowing," Harry said embarrassed.
"You know that your aunt and uncle are terrible people! Nobody should say things like that to an orphan about his parents, even if it was true and considering all the lies they tell people about you they could easily be lying about your parents too," Spencer said indignantly.
"You really think so?" Harry asked hopefully. "But why would they lie like that? It wouldn't make them look better. If they wanted to use me to make them look superior to the neighbours, it would've been better for them to claim my Dad was a doctor or barrister or something important, and more upper middle class."
"Yes I would've thought so too, except that if your parents were known to be respectable people, everyone would've expected they'd have money to leave you and it would look odd that you were always dressed in rags and hand-me-downs, and it would make you more upper class than Dudley. I'm sure they couldn't stand people thinking that," Spencer pointed out. "I'm surprised that people don't question why they don't buy you new clothes anyway. If they've got money for overseas holidays they could easily afford to dress two children properly."
"My parents didn't leave me anything so Vernon and Petunia are probably telling the truth," Harry said hopelessly.
"I'm not so sure if that's true Harry, you only know that's what your aunt and uncle said," Spencer said. "You were too young to remember a will reading or to manage your own bank accounts or the sale of your parent's house and car and other assets. Your aunt and uncle could've told all those lies about your parents so that they didn't have to spend the money they get from your parents on you."
"But they're always complaining about me being dumped on them without a penny and how much it costs them to look after me," Harry said.
Spencer frowned, "Maybe that's because they're horrible people that would say anything to make you feel bad. But you already know that they're lying about how much of a financial burden you are. You don't cost them much. They don't buy you clothes and I bet they don't buy you toys or books either and you go to a public school so they don't have school fees for you and Britain has free health care. And you've actually put weight on this week even though you're mostly eating out of dumpsters so they're not feeding you anywhere near enough, and from the callouses I can see on your hands it looks like you do a lot of chores for your keep. It would cost them very little to have you and if you weren't there they'd have to either do the work you do themselves or pay someone to do it," Spencer said astutely.
"Yeah, all of the cleaning, laundry and gardening and most of the maintenance and cooking," Harry replied.
"That's slave labour! Some of those things wouldn't be safe for a kid to do!" Spencer exclaimed horrified. "Though I shouldn't be surprised they mistreat you this way too considering the malnutrition and the bruises you had when you got back here that day we met."
"Yeah, that wasn't bad though, we could hear the people moving about through the walls and he couldn't risk the people in the room next door hearing him hit me," Harry replied.
"You ought to go to the police when you get back home, even foster care has to be better than that," Spencer said.
"I don't know…" Harry said hesitantly. "What if it's not better? There's some horrible stories about foster care and orphanages."
"And I'm sure your relatives make sure that you hear all of the worst stories so you will put up with the way they treat you and be grateful to them for not sending you to one. There's some horrible stories about living on the streets too but this week hasn't been so bad, has it?" Spencer felt guilty saying this, he knew that Harry's week living in the abandoned basement hadn't been typical of most people's lives on the street and that there were a lot of people involved in the foster care system for the money they were paid that didn't care about the welfare of the children in their care but there were also a lot of people that did, that took in children out of a desire to give them a home. Harry could get lucky and even most of the bad foster homes would be better than what he described about his life with his relatives as long as he wasn't sexually assaulted.
"No, this week has been great, but it's warm here. I wouldn't survive a British winter on the streets and I don't think I'd be lucky enough to find a hideout like this, and a friend to help me," Harry said.
"So, you must admit that you might be wrong about foster care too," Spencer said.
Harry sighed, "I don't want to find out. The Dursley's aren't that bad, not when we are at home at least. They wouldn't hurt me enough to draw attention."
"I hope you're right about that," Spencer said worriedly.
A/N: Thank you to all those who reviewed followed and favourited this story for your support.