Boy Scout Lover

Chapter 4: Surprise Gift and Talk

Mike woke up groggy in his basement bedroom. Well almost bedroom, Landon was still converting it from the storage room so it had several boxes in it. Mike looked at the alarm clock next to his bed and it said 11:27 am. He had slept almost 12 hours and felt a panic thinking he had missed school before realizing he is still out on bereavement thanks to his dad killing his mom.

Mike slowly made his way upstairs and saw a note on the counter.

"Mike,
I got called into work and will not be back until supper. Luke has basketball practice and will not be home till late. Liam should be home around noon due to career day for him. If you need anything call or text me. My brother, Mr. Debber, lives across the street and should be home if you have an emergency. Also, there is leftover breakfast casserole and meatloaf in the fridge if you are hungry before Liam gets home. Sorry I wasn't here when you woke up.

- Landon"

Mike thought that a meatloaf sandwich sounded good so he made him one and put a nice helping of ketchup on it. He then put sour cream and onion dip on the plate for his potato chips. He devoured the sandwich and most of the chips and got more. He was halfway through his second plate when Liam walked in the door.

"Hey bud, how are you feeling today?" Liam asked sincerely.

"I am ok. I keep sleeping a lot and do not know why." Mike said in-between bites.

"In my psychology class we learned that physical and emotional trauma can cause exhaustion where your body physically shuts down and will basically put you in spurts of hibernation. You been through a lot these last couple weeks. You doing ok?" Liam replied.

"Not really but I am managing. It just hurts so much. Plus I do not know when I can go get my things from my old house or anything. I would kinda like a nice picture of my mom." Mike said saddened.

"Maybe we can figure something out for that. Or better yet how about you unwrap this present I had Caleb do up for me." Liam said with a smile. Mike looked at him weird before he unwrapped this huge gift.

"It's a box." Mike said sarcastically,

"Nice eye there kiddo, how about you open the box and see what is inside." Liam said in an equally sarcastic tone. Mike did just that and immediately bursted into tears falling to the floor muttering,

"Wha... what... How... why?" Through sobs he was able to finally say, "How did Caleb know what she looked like? And why did you do this for me?" Liam smiled looking at the beautiful portrait that Caleb did of Mike's mom.

"You probably do not remember because of all that happen but Mr. Mason took a nice picture of you and your mom when she dropped you off at camp. He does with all new scouts on their first campout for the troops history book. I got him to get another copy and give it to me for you, but first I got Caleb to make this for you. I had him add 'In Loving Memory of Ruth Pike' in the bottom right corner. Hope that is okay. Also you should know Caleb did this as a school project and got a 100 on it. His teacher then gave him extra credit when he told her it was for a younger scout who lost him mom in an accident when she asked who she was." Liam replied. Mike was still in tears and sat up to hug Liam who had sat on the floor with him. He latched onto Liam tight who gave him a tight hug back.

"But why would you do this for me? And also why would Caleb agree to this, was it just for his school assignment?" Mike asked.

"First off Caleb refused to do it as a school assignment at first. But then his teacher assigned them to do a memorial project and he immediately thought how better to honor your mom than a memorial portrait. Second, you are my brother now and I look after my brothers. You are also one of the younger scouts and I do my best to help and protect any of my fellow scouts, especially the younger ones." Liam replied. "Caleb will do almost anything I asked. Plus he is our SPL and finds it his duty to do all for any scouts in our troop." Mike smiled and gave Liam another hug.