Hidden Burdens (working title)

Chapter Three

Once they got back to the truck, Ben realized he had forgotten to take his phone off vibrate when they had gotten out of the movie theater. Though he had checked once they had gotten in the truck. But it had been a quick glance while they were deciding where to eat. So, when Ben checked again, there was a missed call and a voicemail from a caseworker. 

He listened to the voicemail first. The case manager was an old-fashioned, formal man, named Leonard, whom they had worked with about a year ago, when one of his kids stayed with them for a month.

"That phone is wasted on you," Claudia remarked towards the smart phone in his hand, and how nice it was.

"And why is that?" he asked her, glancing up from the screen.

"Because you don't even use social media."

Ben slipped the stylus back inside the phone before he pressed the call-back and put the phone to his ear. "Well, I was told it had the best note-taking features." And it did, in his opinion. Of Android anyway. Kayla was the Apple user of the two, and Ben once tried it, but eventually went back to Android. He wasn't a technology idiot. Ben just wasn't into owning something that did not interest him, and the phone he had now worked for him the best.

It rang three times before Leonard answered.

"Hello, Leonard. How are you?" Ben asked formally, while opening his door to step out.

"I am doing well, Benjamin, and how about yourself?" He said in return.

Ben shut his door and walked towards the back of his truck to speak in private, since confidentiality was a huge must. "I'm doing well, myself. I apologize for missing your call. We played hooky from school today and went to the movies for a mental health day, and I guess I never took my phone off silent afterwards."

"No problem, Benjamin. It happens to the best of us," he assured. "I was just calling to see if you had an open bed at the moment."

"We do, actually."

"For a nine-year-old girl?" He asked.

"Uh, we might have to make arrangements. I can check with my wife and get back to you," he suggested.

"No problem. Just let me know, as soon as possible."

"So, what's her name?" he asked, getting to the usual new placement questions.

"Kimmy Dooley."

Hearing the older man use a nickname took Ben by surprise. He wasn't sure if he heard that right. Leonard was so old-fashioned and formal, he never used nicknames, even if the person preferred it. In fact, other than his parents, Leonard was the only one who called him Benjamin. "Come again?"

"Kimmy Dooley," Leonard repeated.

It was clear this time, but Ben still did not believe. "Not Kimberly?"

"Says Kimmy on her birth certificate," the older man said, as if missing what Ben was getting at. "She has an older brother named Zach, as well, about two years older."

Ben turned halfway to lean his arms on the truck. "They're not staying together?" he asked.

"Zach has special needs that require around-the-clock care. Otherwise, we would keep them together," Leonard explained.

"So, why were the kids removed from their home?"

"Neglect," he answered and filled Ben in on the condition of the family's apartment, with mold and a roach infestation, and Zach found sitting in his own feces. "On top of that, Kimmy had quite a few absences from school to the point the vice principal was showing up each morning to make sure she went to school."