Harrovian Life by Jonah
It is a few years now since Nifty carried the story "A letter from America". A good few stories have succeded it and the action has moved about a bit too. In this one it is firmly back with Jonah in Harrow, but some twenty years later. Simon, Peter and Luke have grown up and in some cases have children of their own. This story comes immediately after "Whiteout". It is a work of fiction in every sense so, if you think you recognise yourself, or somebody else, in here - you don't. At least one of the characters was originally the creation of another author. I'd like to thank Jacob Lion, in the USA, for permission to use his characters. The story is about love - the real sort - so if you're looking for pornography, you'd best look elsewhere. Nifty doesn't charge either you or I to publish these stories, but it does cost money to publish them. Please consider donating to Nifty at https://donate.nifty.org/ so that he can keep these stories coming.
chapter 1
"Grandad, why doesn't Uncle Luke come to see us any more?"
Some questions just aren't meant to get a direct answer. I decided that Adam wasn't getting one in this instance.
"Have you been missing him?"
"Yes."
I removed the front paws of Flash, my golden retriever, from my lap so that I could turn to face the boy.
"Well Uncle Luke is having to spend a lot of time with Auntie Rikki at the moment. Auntie Rikki is going to have a baby, and you have to look after ladies who are going to do that."
Of course, I couldn't speak from experience there. I'd come by all my children, and grandchildren, by different means. Not that that made any difference to what was important. There had never been any question but that they were loved - nor had I ever felt short-changed in return.
"I cant wait to see the new baby."
"Yes, well you probably won't have to wait very long. It could be any time now. Have you eaten your jam sandwich?"
"Yes. Can I have another?"
"Your Daddy will be home soon. We'll be having our dinner then."
If Adam wasn't an advert for child obeisity (which he wasn't) it was not for want of trying.
"What are we having for dinner?"
"Stewed slugs with goose-grass and conkers."
Adam laughed.
"No we're not," he giggled.
"Well what's the point of asking me if you're not going to believe me when I tell you?"
"If I were you, Adam, I'd ask the judge to rule him as a hostile witness," said Peter as he closed the door behind him.
"Daddy!" cried Adam running to him. He wasn't alone. Flash ran to Peter also - he never ran to me like that.
"You see?" I said. "He runs to you, and he misses Luke, but he hasn't got a kiss for his grandad."
"Er, Jonah...." said Peter.
Adam had frozen. I walked across and ruffled his hair.
"It's OK Champ," I said. "We're all good."
A few years before, Adam's mother had very stupidly allowed her homophobia to turn to hatred. It had eaten at her until she had assaulted Adam, and set off on a career of violence. It was proved at her trial that the balance of her mind had been disturbed when she had tried to set fire to a police officer, so she was now confined, probably for the rest of her natural life, to a secure mental establishment. That was the reason why Peter, with Adam in tow, had returned to his childhood home - my home.
"What's for dinner Grandad?" the boy asked.
This nine-year-old was clever. It wasn't just that his father was a barrister. He had realised that my unwise remark had changed things and that I would not now dare to repeat the lie that I had given him the first time he asked.
I dropped to one knee and very quietly said to him,
"Don't tell your dad, but it's beef stew and dumplings and, if you're very good, there's some ice cream in the fridge for afters."
I stood up and Peter asked,
"Well? What is it champ?"
Adam didn't hesitate.
"Stewed slugs, with goose-grass and conkers," he giggled.
He got tickled for that, but he didn't complain. As with most children, any sort of attention from his parent was good.
I left them to bond while I served up dinner. It was a good dinner, if I say so myself. Well I don't make much from being an artist nowadays. I don't need much so I don't go round asking Derek Hepworth for extra work, though I 'm sure he would find me some if I asked. The big American contract that we had some years ago had run its course - mostly filled by Luke, who was still at school in those days. Once Luke joined the Metropolitan Police, Derek felt that he couldn't call on him so much.
The doorbell rang, followed by a sharp rapping. I opened it to find a smartly dressed man of about my own age. His thinning hair was neatly combed backwards and his brown eyes twinkled.
"Mr. Peter Khan?" he asked.
"No, my name's Jonah Cummings. Peter's here though. Why don't you come in."
I let him into the flat and Peter, who had almost finished his stew, stood up.
"Mr. Khan?" said the newcomer. "My names Steve Wentworth. I'm the school welfare officer."
"Is there a problem Mr. Wentworth?" Peter asked.
"Please call me Steve. There's a bit of one but I hope we can easily resolve it. You, young man, must be Adam."
The boy in question immediately vanished behind his father, who was not standing for that.
"Adam, say hello to Mr. Wentworth. You were taught better manners than that."
Steve smiled.
"It's alright Mr. Khan. I just need to ask Adam. Adam where were you most of today. Miss Faulds says that you were there when she called the register, but she never saw you after playtime this morning. You managed to disappear. Now you've never done that before and Mrs. Manners thinks we need to get to the bottom of it before it gets worse. Where did you go?"
"I was at school," the frightened boy said. "Miss Faulds just didn't see me."
"Why not?"
"I don't know."
"But when she took you all to the church this afternoon, she counted you all, except that you weren't there."
"I hid at the back of the church."
"Why did you do that Adam?"
"I don't know."
"Adam," Peter had decided it was his turn. "Do you know what a school welfare officer is?"
The boy shook his head.
"Well a school welfare officer is like a sort of policeman. He's here to help you, but you know how telling lies to me or Grandad is bad,but telling lies to policemen is so much worse? It's a very bad thing to do and can lead to all sorts of trouble."
Well, I expect Adam felt better after that.
Steve decided to take back the initiative.
"Mr. Khan, I have to confess that I told a lie too. Adam, Miss Faulds didn't take your class to the church this afternoon, but you didn't know that because you weren't there. Where were you"
"I....."
"Oh, and Adam, please don't say you don't know. That would mean you are either dishonest or stupid. I don't think you are either of those things."
The boy looked at the man in silence.
"Adam," Steve resumed, "you've never gone missing from school before so you must have had a reason for doing it. There are a few reasons why children do that and, if it's one of those reasons, it's very unlikely that you would want to tell me about it. It's even more unlikely that you would want to tell your father or your grandfather. I guess you don't want to tell us, right?"
The boy nodded vigorously. Steve sighed.
"I was afraid of that. Never mind. But Adam."
The boy gave him his full attention.
"You will be in school tomorrow, won't you?"
Adam nodded.
"All day?"
Another nod.
"I'll be checking up to make sure you are. There must have been some sort of a problem that made you run out today. If it happens again talk to your teacher about it, or ask to talk to Mrs. Manners about it. If you'd rather not do that, ask your teacher to be allowed to talk to me. We're there to help you."
Steve turned to Peter.
"Do you usually leave the boy at the school gate?" he asked.
"My father does at the moment," Peter replied. "I'm defending a case at the Old Bailey."
Steve turned to me.
"Instead of leaving him at the gate tomorrow, can you take him in to see Mrs. Manners. She'd like to have a word with you both. I don't think we need upset Adam about it any more tonight."
"I'll do that," I replied. "Thank you."
"It's alright Mr. Cummings," he said. " There is some sort of problem here that we need to know about but we won't find out by asking Adam about it. He's too frightened and interrogating him will frighten him more. Mr. Khan."
Peter put on his most attentive face.
"No cross-examining Adam tonight. We'll sort it all out tomorrow."
As I showed Steve out I reflected that he had left us with an impossible task. Now that we knew that Adam had been missing from school for most of the day, how could we possibly not talk to him about it?
Peter had switched on the television, a thing that I seldom did, and was obviously expecting Adam to watch it with him. I headed upstairs to my bedroom. Steve had said that there were a few reasons why children truanted. I could do with knowing what those reasons were, and I knew just the person to ask. They'd have finished dinner by now. Just the time for a friendly call.
"Simon Ito."
"Hallo Simon, it's Jonah. Is Garret there?"
"And I was thinking that my favourite guardian would want to talk to me," he replied.
"i do, but something's come up and I need Garret's advice."
"Well you can have mine. Don't do it or, if you do, don't get caught. Here's Garret."
"Hi Jonah!"
Well at least I could deduce from that that Simon hadn't any other favourite guardians.
"Hi Garret. I could do with the benefit of your experience."
"How can I help?"
"We've just discovered that Adam played truant today. He's never done it before and he won't tell us why he did it this time. The SWO told us that there are a few reasons why children do it, but it occurs to me that I could do with knowing what they are."
"Is the SWO gone now?"
"Yes."
"Have you checked that Adam won't talk to one of you now that he's not there?"
"The SWO effectively told us not to do that."
"He would do, but what he doesn't know isn't going to hurt him. Anyway, he's right. There are a few reasons but mainly it boils down to fear or accute embarassment which, to a child, is as serious as fear. Bullying is one possibility, particularly since Adam is small. Now that he's nine it is possible that the early signs of sexual stirrings are beginning. Would there have been a PE lesson today. If so, is there somebody who he wouldn't want to undress in front of? Has he developed a crush, or has somebody else developed a crush on him? His family has included a number of gay people. Is Adam showing any signs? Given his mother's violent homophobia that could be frightening for him. There is also, I have to say, the possibility of sexual abuse by an adult. Now can you understand why it would be upsetting for him to talk about any of these things?"
"I'm afraid I can."
"It's a pretty horrific list isn't it?"
"Yes indeed."
"And it's horrific because it is a list. The truth will be one and one only of these things, not the job lot, but none of these are questions that you or Peter can put to Adam. Leave it to the experts. I'm only telling you so that you can understand what Adam might be going through."
"Thanks Garret. Now I'm going through it too."
"You're an adult - deal with it. Have a word with your son."
"Hi Jonah."
"Hi Simon. I guess you heard all that."
"You guess right, and Garret's right too. You do your job as parents but, the complicated stuff, you leave that to the professionals. It's not going to be easy but there's one more thing that Garret and I both want you to know"
"What's that Simon?"
"We're both praying for you - and it wouldn't hurt Adam to know that either."
"Thanks son."
It was very rare that I called either Simon or Peter that. I just didn't want to usurp the position of his real father. Vijay Khan had died a hero, but neither his sons, nor I, believed that he wouldn't be watching over them.
"No problem," said Simon. "Speak again soon"
So that was that.
There was a sudden cacophony of barking from downstairs.
"JONAH!"
I dropped the phone and lurched for the door. Peter's cry had sounded that urgent.
"JONAH!"
I was halfway down the stairs and still going. Emerging in the living room I couldn't immediately see anybody other than Flash, who was barking at something behind the kitchen counter..
"JONAH, here," Peter called from behind the kitchen counter.
I looked over the counter. Peter was down there kneeling beside Adam. There was blood everywhere.