Our Boys

The First Week

The still nameless boy ended up sleeping for a few hours that first afternoon. When Simon checked in on him around 5:30 p.m, he found the child blinking owlishly back at him.

"Oh, you're up. Good timing. Dinner will be ready in a little while. You hungry?" Simon questioned, sitting down on the edge of the lower bunk.

Simon absentmindedly began petting the yawning puppy, which slept at the child's side and had woken at the sound of his voice. A small rumbling emitted from the boy, causing Simon to grin.

"I'll take that as a yes." He ruffled the soft black locks, causing the boy to jerk back and glare at him while attempting to tame his hair.

Simon picked up the boy and Molly and carried them both downstairs, setting Molly down at the bottom of the steps, and continuing on into the kitchen with the child.

"Hey, Jide, look who's up," Simon announced.

The black man looked up from putting two more frozen pizzas into the oven. "Hey kiddo! Did you have a good nap?"

The still sleepy youngster rested his head on Simon's shoulder.

"I think he's still a little tired," Simon told him, rubbing the child's back.

"Aww," JJ cooed, and then looked down at the exploring puppy. "Oh, think it's about time for Molly to eat?"

Chocolate brown eyes narrowed in thought, then the small head nodded.

"Okay." JJ quickly threw together the 'recipe' in a plastic dish and placed it into the microwave for a minute. While it was heating he put down a water dish for the dog, which Molly headed right to and began lapping up.

"Someone sure was thirsty," Simon commented.

"Aww man, the ends of her ears are floating in the water," JJ groaned, picturing how the ears would soon be dripping all over the floor.

"Well, find a bowl with a smaller circumference and that wouldn't happen," Simon mock scolded.

"Yeah yeah. Really easy to point that out now," JJ grumbled as he ripped off several paper towels for the mess.

The boy gave a small, amused grin at their playful arguing.

A week later...

The youngster was finally cleared to move around on his own, as long as he didn't put too much weight on the injured foot. He'd been given a child-sized pair of crutches, but for a boy so small he didn't have the coordination to move well with them. Scared the child would further injure himself, Simon and JJ asked him to only use the crutches when he had to go to the toilet. It wasn't easy for him, but the two adults could tell the boy was very relieved to at least be able to go to the bathroom on his own. But otherwise, one of the adults would carry him wherever he needed to go.

The entire gang, including their new addition, had soon settled into a new summer routine.

Every morning, Simon would get up at six a.m, dress, then get Molly from the youngster's bunk and let her outside to 'take care of business'. Together, man and puppy would head to the stables to check on the horses and stable hands, while the blond took the peaceful time to think up new ideas for the camp or videos. Approximately an hour later, Simon would return with Molly to the house.

He'd fix Molly her morning meal, then start making the first round of breakfast. Josh would come creeping into the kitchen a little after seven and father and son would enjoy a quiet breakfast together, watching the news and discussing plans for the day. With breakfast done, Josh would then head outside to do his chores.