A Little Common Sense

Chapter 7
Part 7

Mary, with Paulie in tow, entered through the back door. "Good morning, Kevin. Where’s my husband?"

"He’s with Mark and Michelle, they’re new."

"Michelle?" she asked, with a new gleam in her eye.

I looked at Paulie and said, "I think we’ve been replaced."

"Never, you are both my boys now," she said but hurried off to find the others.

Paul walked right up to me and hugged. I patted his back for a second. "I missed you," he said. "I’ve got a new Mom, and a new life, and you did it. Thanks."

"I’m not going anywhere, but we’re gonna go take a look at our new house."

Someone knocked on the door. I opened it to find my daughter, Carolyn standing there. "Hi, are you Kevin? I’m Carolyn Henderson. My father is the one that took you in. Is he here?"

I shook my head. "No, and he didn’t tell me where he was going, either. Hi," I said and shook her hand. "This is Paulie."

She dropped to one knee, and hugged me. "I don’t know where you came from, or why, but you are exactly what my father needed. He really has needed you. You’ve opened up his heart again, and taken his mind off his work."

"He’s going to be busy with all of us, and the new house. Are you moving with us?"

She laughed, and shook her head. "That’s your Aunt Mary’s thing. I have enough trouble with my own."

I spent the next couple of days ending my ties to my old life. I spent quite some time with the realtor going over everything the Baldwin place would need, and the staffing requirements I would have to help Bobby and Mary with the kids. I went to the office a couple of times to officially announce my retirement and introduce the new management line up.

Pete turned out to be a genius with flavors. Once we got the ’lab’ set up it was all I could do but sit back and take notes. In spite of finding several flavor combinations that I thought were great, he kept working looking for the perfect taste. Most of the other kids joined us, from time to time, and either helped, or tasted.

Until the day I looked up from my notes as a new kid wandered in through the kitchen door. It took a couple of seconds before I recognized Bobby as a kid, again. Two seconds later, I gave him a high five.

"Robert, my man, glad to see you. You hungry?"

He looked at me, then nodded. "Starving."

"There’s the fridge, help yourself. That’s Bobby," I told Pete. "He’s a friend of mine from before, you know."

Pete nodded, and held out a beaker. "What do you think?"

"Whoa, that’s good."

"Still not what I want," Pete said, slowly. "I know I can get it."

Bobby took a sip, and nodded his head. "You want it better than this?"

"Gotta be perfect or kids won’t stick with it. I know," he said with a grin.

"He’s right, but wait until I give all these other flavors to Mr. H."

Mary walked in, with Michelle in her wake. Cleaned up, and in girl’s clothes she was quite pretty. I saw Mary walk passed the table and freeze. She turned around, stared at Bobby, and shook her head. "Do I know you?"

Bobby shrugged. "I’m with him," he said and pointed at me. "He said it was okay."

"Me? I’ve never seen this kid before in my life. Except that time, nevermind, you don’t want to know about that time, or the other time, either, but he’s with Pete."

"Try this," Pete said, totally nonplussed.

"I took the beaker, sipped, and handed it to Bobby.

"That’s fantastic," Bobby said. "I love it, but is it perfect?"

Pete tasted it again, and shook his head. "Close, really close."

"Mom," Michelle said. "There have been so many kids through here that I think they all look alike."

"I guess you’re right, sweetheart. It’s just that...."

I heard a squeal of brakes outside, and looked out the window as a car skidded to a stop in front of the driveway. I ran outside as someone inside threw a bag of trash out the door. The car revved it’s engine and took off like a drag racer. I made a note of the tag number, then walked over to the trash. It was a kid. A small kid, no older than four. His face was covered with bruises and blood.

"Mom!" I called out at the top of my lungs. "Mom, help."

At first, I thought the child was dead. His body was covered with uncountable bruises and cuts, and his arms and legs were broken. Yet, as I held him, I felt him deep inside, huddled in a dark corner, hiding from the hurt. David, that was his name. I felt a flood of warmth flow through me and into his chest. The child was slipping away.

"Davey," I whispered to him. "Don’t go. Please don’t go. You came here for a reason, and we can help you. Please, listen to me."

David’s breathing grew easier. I kept pressing my hands on his chest, and back. I knew exactly what I had to do, and for the first time I had a glimmer of understanding as to what had happened to me. I could stop now, let the kid go, and everything would go back to normal, me as an old man with no ability to change. If I continued both of us would be changed, but I would stay a kid, no growing up allowed. I would be called to help kids, everywhere if necessary. The decision was immediate and easy. This was my life now.

Bit by bit I felt Davey’s bones and body knit back together. Piece by piece I found the black marks on his soul, and released them. The anger, the hurt, and constant pain were leaving him. I cried my eyes out for a kid who barely talked or cried himself.

Somewhere in the background, I heard an ambulance pull up. There were voices, some harsh others hushed, but they left me alone. "Davey?" I managed to croak out.

The boy opened his eyes and looked at me. What looked to be a golden glow surrounded both of us. "Are you an angel?"

"Not me. I’m just a kid that really loves you," I said without hesitation. "You okay now?"

He threw his arms around me and hugged. I hugged him back, and I realized I had a name and memories now. I looked up at Mary. "I don’t feel too good." I pointed at my stomach and saw blood oozing through my shirt.

"Over here, quick," she told the ambulance crew.

"I’ve got two kids, hurt." She tried to take Davey from my neck, but he screamed and held on tighter.

"That was a miracle."

I shook my head. "No. Just helping." I thought I was going to throw up. I felt dizzy, and closed my eyes.

When I came to, I found myself in a hospital room. Mary and Davey sat together in one chair, while Bobby paced the room. I groaned as I felt the burning pain in my gut, and tried to move my arms.

"Kevin?"

I didn’t recognize the voice. I looked around and focused in on an older man in a white lab coat. "Huh? What happened?"

"You had a gunshot. Nothing serious, as gunshots go, but it started bleeding. How long ago did you get that?"

I shook my head. "Don’t know. Can’t remember."

"What’s your last name," he said, and bluntly.

"Don’t gotta last name," I said, feeling sullen.

"They’re my family now, that’s what matters."

"Son, I know this is hard for you, but please, we have to know. Someone shot you, and we need to know who."

"That didn’t happen today?" Bobby asked.

"No," the doctor said, but kept his eyes on me. "It’s an old wound, and I bet it hurts."

"It’s okay. Look, doctor, I know you’re trying to help me, but Davey needs help more than me, so can I go home now?"

"The people who did this to you aren’t going to hurt you again," he said quietly.

I snapped. "They killed a kid, I saw them do it. They shot me and threw me on a garbage heap with the rest of the trash. No one’s making me go back there."

Mary passed David over to Bobby, and walked over to the bedside. She sat down, took my hand in hers and squeezed. "Kev, it’s okay. Whatever you say isn’t going out of this room. That must have been terrible," she said, changing the subject on me. "What happened after that?"

"I woke up and no one was there. I stopped the bleeding and I took off. Been on my own since then. I don’t know how long ago it was."

"What’s your last name?" She asked me.

"I don’t gotta last name," I insisted. "I had one when my Mom and Dad were alive but they’re dead, and I wish I was, too. I didn’t expect the Spanish Inquisition, either."

"Kevin, please, you know Bob and I are here to help you. We won’t let anything bad happen to you. It already has. It can’t be worse."

"I know, Mom. Okay, okay. My last name is Turner, it was. My Mom and Dad died in a car accident and I had to go live with a foster family. They came and got me and it was horrible. I had to change my name to ’Grady’. They had this kid, Stevie with them, but he wasn’t theirs either, and I saw them kill him. Both of them. It was bad. I tried to run, but he shot me, and I woke up on the garbage heap. I’ve been running since. Mr. H., took me in but I’m not telling the cops, and I’m not going back there."

"They weren’t your foster family," the doctor said. "They were kidnappers. Kevin, the whole country has been looking for you."

"Me? What for? I’m not rich or nothing. I got no family until now."

"But your parents were good people," Mary said. "They loved you, and they may not have been rich, but that money. Their lawyer..."

"Mr. Vincent?" I asked. "He was like Dad’s friend from school." The man in my dream. The one at the funeral. That was his name.

"Yes, Mr. Vincent. He hired those people to take you from the house, and demand ransom. Mr. Vincent would have sold the estate to make up the money, because he expected half when the Grady’s killed you."

"They thought you would be an easy target."

"Bob, please, he’s only eleven."

"Ten and a half," I admitted.

"What was he to do? Kids get used to doing what grownups tell them to do, and these people marched into his home, told everyone they were sent from social services and they told Kevin he had to go home with them," Mary said and brushed the hair out of my face.

"You need a haircut, sweetie, and as soon as you’re better your going to get one, too. But, the lawyer had cold feet - he couldn’t go through with his plan, and told the police. Word got out and the Grady’s got rid of you and Steve and took off. They were caught a day later. The police found Steve’s body, but no one ever found out what happened to you. The whole country has been looking for you, or your body."

"That happened about six weeks ago, you’ve been running for a while," the doctor said. "The wound was fairly well healed, but there was a massive amount of infection underneath there. You will be fine now, but we need to give you antibiotics for the next few days."

"I didn’t see anything when I gave him a bath the other day," Bobby said,

"It was a small caliber bullet, and a small wound. Unless he was willing to point it out at the time you probably wouldn’t have seen it."

A nurse came in to change the dressing on my side. Mary took David out of the room. The doctor left, and as soon as the nurse finished, Bobby pounced on me.

"Kevin Turner?" he whispered. "What’s with that?"

"It’s who I am. Bobby," I said and took his hand. He held mine, surprised. "I was given a great gift, and I’m being called to use it. You can’t bring a kid into the world without some records, and apparently, I have Kevin’s memories, and body, too. I think he died, and I was given his body, and now his name. It happened when I was helping Davey. I became Kevin Turner for real, and your father’s memory is going to fade. "He went on a cruise, and won’t come back."

"I see. Is this what you want, Tiger?"

I nodded. "It really is. Say ’good bye’ to Carolyn for me, and Geoff if he ever gets out of jail, and good bye, yourself. I am proud of you, and always have been."

"But, where are you going?"

"Home with you, Dad. Hi," I shook his hand several times. "I’m Kevin Turner, and I’ve never been anyone else."

"Good bye, Dad," he whispered back to me as Mary walked back into the room.

"Is Kevin better now?" Davey asked.

"Not yet, sweetheart," Mary said. "It won’t be long before he comes home with us."

"Are you okay now?" I asked Davey.

"I’m all better cause you’re my angel and you made me better." He struggled until Mary put him down. He ran over to the bed, climbed right in and hugged me.

"There are a lot of people that want to ask you questions if you are up to it," she told me.

"If I say ’no’?"

"They will keep coming back until you say ’yes’."

"Cops?"

She nodded. "You can talk to them. They aren’t taking you away from us."

I relaxed, and nodded my head.

Officer Green walked into the room, followed by a couple of guys in suits. "So," he said looking down at me. "My little fawn has a name after all."

I blushed, and nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for sending all those other deer to me."

"You want to tell me what happened?"

"No," I said, bluntly. "But they’ll make me if I don’t."

"I’m Officer Green," he told Mary and Bobby. "I know your father, sir, and Kevin." They shook hands. "Go ahead, just tell me everything."

I did. I started with my life with the Turners, and how much I missed them. I told them about the accident, and how the Grady’s came to pick me up. I described how they killed Stevie, and shot me.

Officer Green moved Davey a bit so he could sit down on the bed. "You’ve got guts, kid, real guts. You’ve been carrying that bullet all this time, and all you can think about are other kids. The press is calling you ’The Miracle Boy’ for saving this one’s life and almost losing your own. When they find out who you are, there could be a riot."

"I’m Kevin Henderson. Isn’t that right, Dad?"

"Everything you’ve said matches what we’ve found out about the Grady’s, but do you know anything about this one?"

"I saw him thrown out of a car at our house.... And I got the tag number, too." I gave it to him. "He’s in a lot worse shape than me. I think they thought he was dead when they threw him out."

"Do you want to tell me who hurt you?" he asked Davey.

"I’m okay. Kevin saved me."

"Officer Green, let’s use a little common sense here," Bobby said.

"Hey, that’s my line," I cut in.

"I know that, but Davey’s only four. I don’t think he really understands what happened and it may be months before he’s willing to talk about it."

I looked down. "It was horrible. I can tell you - later."

"What do we tell the press?" one of the men with

Officer Green asked. "There will be quite a few legal issues with the lawyers for the Turner Estate, as well."

"Mom and Dad left me stuff?" I blurted out. "I’ve got books and clothes and...."

The two men looked at each other. "Son, your Estate is worth millions of dollars.

"What? Since when? We had had a nice house and stuff but Dad wasn’t rich."

"You’re lawyer had convinced your parents to take out life insurance policies, very large policies. You were the beneficiary... Your name was on the policy as the person who gets the money if they died, okay? The plan was that that money, when the insurance company paid off was going to go for your ransom. The police department has reopened the investigation into the accident to see if it was an accident. The doctors here will send some of your blood samples for DNA testing to prove that you are who you say you are, and the legal people can get this straightened out eventually."

"In the meantime," Mary said. "There is something else that will need to be addressed." She walked over to the door and held it open. "It’s okay, Peter. You can come in now."

I managed to sit up a bit as Pete entered the room. He had the biggest smile on his face, which dropped when he saw me. "Oh, man, I’m sorry, Kev. I didn’t think you were hurt. I got it perfect."

"Yes!" I said and managed to give him a low five.

"Can I try it?"

He nodded, and looked up at Mary. He held out a plastic bottle filled with a golden orange liquid. "I haven’t let anyone else taste it, either."

"Thanks," I said and took a sip. At first, I didn’t taste much, then my whole mouth exploded with flavors. Vanilla, orange, blueberry, all at once. I took another sip, and it happened again. Different flavors replaced the first set. "You wrote this down, didn’t you? You can make more?"

Pete rolled his eyes. "That buddy of yours, Bobby? He wrote it down and told me how to get the flavors to explode like that. He didn’t get a chance to taste it."

I looked at Bobby, and grinned. "Can’t have any of this, either. Hire him, right now. Pay for his college and graduate school right now, and stand back. This is gonna be a lot bigger than ’Choco-Ice’."

"What is it?" Davey asked.

"It’s the first healthy drink made by kids for kids. Try it." He took a sip, and I watched his expression as it hit his taste buds. "It’s mine," I said as he tried to gulp the rest of it.

"I’m sure Pete can make more of this," Mary said and took the cup from Davey. She took a sip herself, and another. Without a word, she passed the cup to Bobby.

Bobby took a sip. "I’m adopting both of you. Pete, pack your things and tell your folks you’re coming to live with us. "This is going to be the biggest thing we’ve ever done."

Officer Green took a sip. "Son, you are going to be famous."

Pete shook his head. "Kevin did it. I just mixed the flavors until we got the right one. He got me the flavors and showed me what to do. I never thought I could make a drink until he said I could."

"It’s ours," I said. "Someone take him home so he can make me a couple of gallons of that stuff, and bring it back here."

"What do we call it?" Pete asked.

"Good one. I don’t know yet. See, I can use Mom and Dad’s money to form a new company just to make this...."

"Over my dead body, young man," Bobby said, quietly.

I sighed. "Okay, but it would be so great - made by kids, for kids and owned by kids. We could still do that. I’ll work on it."

"I’d believe him, too," Officer Green said. "I think this kid can do anything he sets his mind too."

"If you gentleman can keep the press away from this for a couple of days, or, at least today, we will have a press conference on everything when Kevin is up to it," Bobby said. "Pete, I need your telephone number."

"You’re gonna pay me for this?" Pete asked.

"Yes," Bobby said, and dialed the number.

"A lot?"

"Yes," Bobby answered again.

"You mean I could get a bike like Kevin’s?"

"Yes, you could get one for every day of the week."

"Cool," Pete said and slapped my hand again.

I looked at Mary. "I don’t feel too good."

"Get the doctor, or someone, now," she said. "He’s pale as a ghost."

 

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