Give me a Chance

Chance

It has been four years since Ben decided to go to college, so that he could work at the Teen Center full time. We had both graduated and were loving our new roles at the center. Ben was especially proud of Jordan, with the support of his dad, he had just graduated from high school and was going to art school, Ben and his dad actually became good friends.

Because of Ben the center had added a lot of options for the kids, in addition to art, they now have music and band for any students interested. It really increased the number of kids coming in each day, which in turn increased donations, that of course made the board of directors happy. Ben started having art shows every month, open to the public and they were also holding several music concerts every year.

My dad had gotten serious with his friend, and they decided to move into a new condo when my sister left for college. With both Ben and I working full time we decided we could afford to buy my dad’s house and get out of our small apartment, he gave us a good deal.

We continued our Sunday night suppers with Jeff & Lynn, Dad & his gal, and sis when she was home from college. We took turns hosting, and in the past six months, Josh and his now wife, Ally had moved back to town, they started to join us each week.

Lynn had called us and told us that she had a few things for the house if we wanted to come over on Saturday to pick them up. Ben and I headed over about mid-morning and knocked and walked in the side door. Lynn was making cookies with the help of a little girl standing on a chair next to the counter.

Ben said, “Hey Lynn, looks like you have some help baking today.”

Lynn was beaming, “Ben, this is Abby, she just moved in with us yesterday.”

Ben smiled, “it’s nice to meet you Abby, I am Ben, and this is my friend Chance.”

Abby looked at Lynn, “Is he the one you said was going to be my big brother?”

Lynn looked at Ben, "yes, he lived with us a few years ago just like you are now.”

Ben asked Lynn, “so you have another foster child? That is so great Lynn.” Ben and Lynn hugged, I gave a her a hug too.

Abby grabbed Ben’s hand, “come on in the living room so you can meet our little brother, Zach.”

We all went to the living room, Jeff was on the floor playing with Abby’s 3-year-old brother, he was beaming as he was driving hot wheels all over the floor.

Ben said, “Hey Jeff, how are you?”

He answered, “doing good Ben, this is Zach.”

Ben got on the floor, “hey Zach nice to meet you.” He gave Ben a car so that he could play with him and Jeff, Abby joined them.

I stood back next to Lynn, “so this is great, I didn’t know you guys were thinking of getting another foster kid.”

Lynn said, “we really weren’t, but when Josh called us and told us about these two, then he brought them over for a visit, well Jeff and I just both fell in love with them.”

I was stunned, “you mean our friend Josh?”

Lynn nodded, “yes, he just started as a social worker at Child Services, these two were his first case. The mom was arrested and is probably going to jail for a long time.”

I said, “I knew Josh was a councilor, but I didn’t know he was doing this.”

“Well, he is, and he was great with the kids, he is working with the mom too, he is sure that once she is sentenced, she will sign over her parental rights and we have a really good chance to adapt both kids.”

I gave Lynn a hug, “that is so great Lynn, we are so happy for you.”

The timer on the oven went off, Lynn said, “Abby, our cookies are ready, come help me put some on a plate so we can all have some milk and cookies.”

We all went to the kitchen and ate warms cookies, Jeff and Lynn were the happiest we had ever seen them, and the kids were great too.

We had plans to go out with Josh and Ally that evening. When we got to the restaurant, we had all kinds of questions for Josh.

I asked, “so when did you decide to be a social worker, I thought you liked being a counselor?”

He said, “I did, but I was working with a lot of kids, and the last social worker was leaving. My boss said that he thought I would be a good social worker, so here we are, so far so good.”

Ben said, “Lynn and Jeff are so happy.”

Josh said, “yeah, when I saw Abby and Zach, the first people I thought of were Jeff and Lynn. They weren’t on our active foster list, but I took a chance and gave them a call. Then I stopped by with the kids, I knew they were right for each other.”

I said, “good for you Josh.”

Ally said, “yes, I am so proud of this guy.”

Ben added, “you know Josh, you were a big jerk in high school, but you have turned into one of the best guys I know. Thank you for helping Lynn and Jeff like you did, they will make great parents.”

Josh looked at Ben, “yeah I was a jerk to you, I am sorry about that, but I think you are one of the reasons why I changed.”

Ben asked, “how was that?”

“You had no reason to trust me after what I did to you, but the minute I came to you and told you that Chance needed our help, you didn’t even hesitate. You just got on the car with me, and I could have pulled some shit on you. I saw how you cared, I knew that you are a good guy and I decided I could be a good guy too.”

Ben looked into his eyes, “you are a good guy.”

I finally said, “ok enough of this mushy shit, we came here to have good time, we now know we are all good guys.”

We all laughed and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

The next morning, I woke when Ben crawled out of bed to go the bathroom, God he was sexy, I just loved to watch his hairy little ass as he walked away. He finished in the bathroom and walked back to the bed, he kissed me, “good morning you big dumb jock.”

I kissed back, “same to you, you skinny little runt.”

Ben took my hand, “I’m going to take a shower, care to join me?”

I jumped up, “like you had to ask.”

We headed to shower, both hard before we even turned on the water. We soaped each other up and rinsed off, a quick blow job later we were drying each other and getting ready for work.

We got to work, and I went to be with my kids and Ben was with his group. It was early afternoon when Ben came into the gym, he was between classes and was just watching me work with the basketball team. I told the kids to practice shooting free throws and went over to talk to him, as we were talking, Josh walked in the gym, he had a kid with him.

Josh waved, “hey guys, I was hoping to find you both here.”

Ben said, “Hi Josh, who is your friend?”

He said, “this is Trevor, I came to see if he could join your basketball team.”

Chance said, “of course he can, how old are you Trever?”

Trever looked down and quietly said, “13.”

“Well, you can go over with the group shooting free throws if you want.”

 Still not looking up, “ok.”

Ben asked Josh, “what’s his story?”

Josh said, “he was being raised by his grandmother, his parents were involved in drugs and had disappeared. Grandma died a few months ago and he was in a foster home, I did my first check on him and found out that he was being abused by a couple of the older kids. I took him with me right then and there.”

I shook my head, “God Josh, that is awful.”

“Yeah, I know, that is the part of this job that I hate, to see a kid treated that way. I am looking for new a foster home for him now, he told me he likes basketball, so I thought I would bring him here to meet some other kids.”

Ben asked, “where is he staying now?”

Josh said, “we have a group home, he can stay there at least temporarily, it’s safe but not the ideal situation.”

I asked Josh, “have you and Ally ever thought about taking in a foster kid?”

Josh said, “yes we have, and Trever was going to be the first that I suggested to Ally, but we just got some news that makes it hard for us right now.”

Ben asked, “sorry Josh, was it bad news?”

Josh Smiled, “no not at all, we just won’t have room for a kid in five months when the twins get here.”

I said, “Josh, are you kidding me, you guys are pregnant?”

Josh grinned, “yep, twins, due in September.”

Ben shook his hand, “congrats Josh, that is great news.”

He said, “yeah, we are pretty excited.”

I said, “Yeah, that is awesome, we are happy for you guys.”

Josh said, “thanks, but now I have to find a good home for Trever.”

I nodded, “Yeah, the poor kid has been through some tough times.”

As I was talking to Josh, Ben wandered over and was talking to Trever, they sat on the bleachers and Ben was making Trever look him in the eyes.

Josh said, “I have a confession, Chance.”

“What’s that?”

“I wanted to ask you and Ben if you would ever consider being foster parents?”

“What?”

“Look, you guys are really good with all these kids, I think you would make good parents.”

“You want us to take Trever in?”

“He really is a good kid, he just needs someone to care about him.”

I was stunned, “Josh, I don’t know, we have never really talked about anything like this, I will have to ask Ben what he thinks.”

Josh said, “I think you guys would be great with Trever, I know Ben can relate to what he has been through.”

“Man, that is a big decision, I really think we might need some time to talk about this.”

Josh cut me off, and pointed toward Ben and Trever, “I don’t think Ben will need much time to think about it.”

I looked over and Trever was laughing, and he and Ben were just talking up a storm.

I sighed, “I guess you’re right, it looks like they are already bonding. What do we have to do get this started?”

I just need your signatures and a few papers. I already have them filled out, we can have Trever moved by the end of the week.

The End.