Date: Mon, 8 Sep 2008 07:01:46 EDT
From: Djedoric58@aol.com
Subject: THE BULL SINGER ,CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

THE BULL SINGER
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE


From chapter twenty eight

Within five minutes, Mz Welch had violated several hospital rules, had we
been in a public hospital, and shown her complete disregard for a patient's
safety; and all she said was, "That was fun."

I couldn't help laughing because I had enjoyed it as well. Once I could
breathe normally again, I glanced up at her, and found her hatchet face
back to its normally humourless expression. She turned down the sheets and,
with surprising strength, hauled me out of the chair and dumped me on the
bed. I guess her sense of urgency rubbed off on me and I scrambled into
bed. She straightened the sheets and, surprise, surprise, as we heard
footsteps approach the door, she leaned over and planted a kiss on my
forehead. Seconds later, with me I staring at her like a stupid fool, she
was back to her starchy old self and busying herself with retrieving
another pile of papers from her case. Then the door opened and Steve and
Derek walked in, deep in conversation. Behind them, walked a man even
taller than Benjamin with a shock of white hair and carrying a brief
case. Accompanying him, Marge only reached to his elbow but was obviously
in charge of the group. Then I got the second shock of the day as someone
pushed Elias Chambers' wheelchair into the room. "MAGS!"  Now read on

I threw the bedcovers back and made to scramble out of bed but Mz. Welch
stopped me. "Don't you dare get out of that bed. One of the conditions of
Mr. Alton visiting you is that you stay put. I've worked my guts out for
this meeting; just don't spoil things for everybody or I'll have your guts
for garters." Before I could protest, she turned to face my
visitors. "Gentlemen, this visit is for fifteen minutes only, as per Doctor
Jones's request. Joseph has just recovered from a heart operation and needs
to be calm and rested. You have five minutes to talk with him then I ask
that you give Mr. Alton the rest of the time to talk to Joseph in private
while you make yourselves comfortable in the lounge area." What a woman!
With the looks of an angry nanny goat, I wouldn't want to have crossed her
path in a hurry but she certainly seemed to have my interests at heart as
she accepted the nods of agreement from my visitors.

Doctor Jones was the first to come forward to check me over in case the
excitement was too much. Satisfied, he stepped back and joined Steve and
Mz. Welch at the foot of my bed, and let Mags wheel Elias to my bed. I
found it hard to take my tear filled eyes off Mags, but I had to for
courtesy's sake; after all it was Elias who was paying for my stay in this
clinic. We shook hands and I felt my hand being crushed as he held on to it
and said, "Whatever happens after you leave here, trust me and this white
haired beanpole behind me. Mr. Mornington is the best family lawyer I have
had the pleasure to employt. Listen to him and do as he tells you. Now, how
are you feeling?"

I shook my head and tried to dry my eyes with the backs of my hands,
failing miserably. I choked back a sob and said, "I'm okay, I think. I'm
just..." I lost it, and covered my face with my hands, not wanting people
to see me break down like this. Then a pair of strong arms enfolded me in a
crushing hug and I just let everything go.

"Hush now.  It certainly wasn't Mags who whispered in my ear. "Getting
yourself upset won't help, and Mr. Alton will be told to leave." I looked
up and stared into the craggy face of Mz. Welch, and that made me feel
worse. I just couldn't stop the tears, and I buried my face against her
chest as she rocked me gently. I felt my left wrist gripped by a thumb and
finger, and realised someone was checking my pulse, then I felt the cool
touch of a stethoscope thrust inside my pyjama top. She was right. I had to
pull myself together or have Mags thrown out, and I didn't want that to
happen. I battled against the gasps and the hiccups till I was able to sit
back and look at Mags with tear-filled eyes, and saw matching tears in
his. Someone thrust a bunch to tissues in my face, and Mz. Welch gazed down
at me, trying to hide a look of motherly concern with a frown. She thrust a
tissue up my nose and snarled, "Blow."  I blew into the tissue. "HARDER!" I
took a deep breath and almost blew my sinuses out of my head. "Now then,
boy. Pull yourself together and listen. Everyone in this room is on your
side and we all want to do what's best for you and Mr. Alton. You still
have a few minutes before your temporary guardian arrives, and I'm sure you
and Mr. Alton have a lot to talk about. Now you just lie back and rest for
a minute while I talk to Mr. Alton." She thrust a fresh tissue in my hands
and laid me back down with all the gentleness of a mother with a new baby,
and I was glad to do as I was told. Before she left me I whispered my
thanks and she rewarded me with a lovely warm smile, the first of many I
would receive from her over the next few weeks. She straightened u, turned
and glared at everyone, needing no words to convey her
instructions. Everyone drew back from the bed and headed for the couches
around the coffee table. Mz. Welch had a few hurried words with Mags before
she let him come to sit on the bed and gather me in his arms. At last, I
felt safe.

"I'm so sorry, Mags," I choked out as he crushed me to him. "This is all my
fault. If I hadn't gone for my mother, no one -."

"Hey, stop that." Mags stifled my outburst by pressing my head against
him. "What's done is done. We'll get through this, okay?"

"But I'm gonna have to live with some old guardian or other, and I'll never
see you for ages."

"Not so, sunshine. I can't come within five miles of you unless Mz. Welch
and another person is in attendance.  And you can see how Mz. Welch feels
about that. I'm just glad she a friend of Elias Chambers. You aren't the
first kid who's met up with Elias in this clinic." When I gave him a
puzzled frown, he smiled and said, "I'll tell you a story about two high
spirited ex-navymen who decided the world was bad. They devised a plan to
pool their money and time to try and help kids like you. The first two kids
they rescued from their sexually abusive families wanted to be doctors, and
these men paid for them to go to medical school, here in Manchester. One of
the men made a lot of money and built a clinic, the other went back home to
help his father run his farm, and used his wits to search out kids who
needed their help. The two young doctors took charge of the clinic and a
team of child experts was developed, complete with Social Workers and
Lawyers. Do you get the picture now?" Elias? Edward? Mz. Welch, Marge,
Derek, Sam and Steve? Were they all in this together? No, not Mz. Welch or
she would not have introduced herself to Marge in such a forceful manner;
and Marge wouldn't have been so shocked at her appearance in the recovery
room. It seemed she was the new addition to the team. "Joey?  Are you with
me?"

Joey blinked and looked up at Mags. "What? Oh, yeah. I'm just...just
stunned that's all. So that's why Gramps was so angry with the Bitch."

"Too right, kid. It looks Elias tried damned hard to keep you in his sights
every time she disappeared with you. But your mother was so good at
covering her tracks, he couldn't prove she was harming you. That's all
changed now. You're old enough and savvy enough to stand up in court and
tell the truth."

"But won't help you, will it?"

"No, but as long as you're safe I don't care what happens to me. Your
mother's had the dame restraining order slapped on her."

"Can't I live with Gramps?"

"I'm sorry, Joey. That bitch has implicated him as an accessory to my
crimes till we can prove otherwise, so he's off limits. The magistrates
decided your guardian has to be someone outside the family."

"That sucks." I lay back and closed my eyes, feeling suddenly tired. I
didn't want this to be happening. I heard Mags ask me if I was all right,
but his voice seems so far away. When I opened my eyes again, Derek was
studying a bleeping monitor by my bed, and there were contacts stuck to my
chest and a thing like a clothes peg pinching my left index finger.

Mags still sat on the bed, holding my right hand and gazing down at me with
eyes full of concern. "You had us worried for a moment. Derek's put you
back on the monitor just in case all this was too much for you. I said it
was too soon after your trip to theatre but I was voted down. Just as well,
I'll be on the road with Billy Junior tomorrow. The magistrates agreed it
`s the best way to keep your mother from causing me more trouble. But while
I'm away there's something I want you to do."

"What?"

Mags was about to answer me when the bedroom door open and Pete walked in,
looking very dapper in a business suit and a black overcoat. Mz. Welch
snarled, "Well at last! Where have you been?"

"Sorry Mz. Welch, the traffic was horrendous. Yours truly got court in the
middle of it." He came to sit on the opposite side of the bed to Mags and
took y left hand in his. "Have they tld you yet?"

"Tell me what?"

"Who your guardian is." When I shook my head at him he grinned and said,
"You're looking at him."

"You? But you have to be ancient to be a guardian."

"Nope. You just have to be over twenty-one."

My eyes filled up with tears of relief as I squeezed his hand hard. "And I
had the idea I'd be living with some old retired schoolteacher or
something. Thanks, Pete. With you at my back think I can survive. So what's
with the natty suit and coat?"

Pete grinned. "I had to impress the court didn't I?" He turned to
Mags. "Have you told him yet?"

"Not yet; I was waiting for you to arrive." Mags squeezed my other hand and
leaned forward to talk in my ear. "What I say is for yours and Pete's ears
only. I've had a call from Jeremy. He can't find any record of Pete being
adopted by anyone called Crayel. He's been searching for your own birth
record as well, and there's nothing in the birth indexes in London. My
theory agrees with Steve Parker's. Your birth certificate is a forgery and
I think Angela is at the back of it. Why she'd want to forge things we may
never know, but we have to start looking for clues. Is that metal box of
hers still at Top Farm?"

"Yeah, she never takes it anywhere. She thinks no one will interfere with
it while it's there."

"Well let's prove her wrong. Pete, can you get hold of a pair of wire
cutters and break into that case?"

"Yes, I guess I can. I'll ask Edward if he's got a pair. It shouldn't be
too hard. What are we looking for?"

Mags shook his head. "I'm not sure. Anything, no matter how trivial, that
may indicate where Joey was born. Elias said something about Angela living
Italy for a time before Joey was born. Jeremy is willing to go over there
to do some digging but he has to have some clues to work on. Billy's family
came from Italy and I promised him the day he died, that I'd look for a
missing cousin, so when you've finished at Top Farm I want you and Pete to
go over to Flixton and see what you can find there. Bill had a desktop and
so did Billy. Not knowing much more than how to switch a computer on, and
password being use to protect files, I've never checked them. I never heard
Billy talk about passwords and stuff so I don't suppose the files will be
hard to get into. There could be something on them. Pete, have you thought
any more about going to see Richard Crayel?"

Pete nodded. "I phoned Richard and asked if he'd see me but he refused and
cut me off. My best bet is to go and see Grandmother Crayel. She's pretty
much under Richard's thumb but she always had a soft spot for me. It's just
a case of getting to her when Richard or Ann aren't around."

"Okay, now you've got the keys to my BMW. Use that to get around in, and
you can use it to go and see Mrs. Crayel, but get to Top Farm and Flixton
first. Promise?"

"How do we contact you if we find anything?" Pete asked.

Mags searched his pockets for a pen and paper and wrote a number on it.
"Joey already knows it but here's my mobile phone number. I'll keep it
switched on at all times so call me any time, day or night. Okay guys? Now
I'm trusting you to keep your mouths shut. It's possible Angela will still
have her spies about. The less she knows the better." At this point,
Mz. Welch indicated that our time together had overrun its time, so Mags
and I had a few more minutes alone to enjoy an extra cuddle for which I was
grateful. Mz. Welch might have been a battleaxe in performing her job as
champion of abused children but to me she was a gem in a million.
Eventually, everyone but Marge and Pete left the room, Mags giving me a
wave and a blown kiss on the way out. Marge took me off the monitor and
Pete sat with me till I dozed off. When I woke up, Pete had gone and on the
bedside cabinet was a small parcel wrapped in gift paper with tag on it,
which read, "From me to you, Mags."

I ripped of the paper and stared at the box and smiled before opening it. I
lifted the sleek silver coloured electric razor and wished Pete was there
to show me how to use it. Instinctively, I rubbed at my face, feeling the
miniscule hair growth around my mouth and chin. My stomach grumbled and I
glanced at the clock on the cabinet. Four thirty in the afternoon! Wow! No
wonder I felt hungry. I rang my bell for assistance and a moment later,
Marge came in and two minutes later I had a tray of delicious food to tuck
into and later a male ward assistant to help me shower and use my new
razor. The next two days were spent wearing my ankle support less and less,
and having Physiotherapy for longer periods until I could hobble about
without the use of crutches.  Two days later, Pete drove me home to Top
Farm where I found that some angles had cleaned the place from top to
bottom and stocked the kitchen with food. When I found out from Gramps,
during a phone call, I phoned Aunt Mabel and Aunt Cissy to thank them.

Once we had eaten and cleared away our lunch, we tackled Angela's box.
Using a pair of Gramps' wire cutters, we brake the padlock and lifted out
the contents, only to find loads of receipts and documents to do with past
business transactions, all seeming at first glance to be above board. Under
them were two old black and white photographs. I studied the first one, a
faded portrait of a couple I recognised as Elias and his wife, my maternal
grandmother. I had never seen a picture of her before, but I knew the man
had to be Elias. The second photograph was of a young dark haired couple
holding three babies of similar appearance and age, and an older toddler.
While I studied this one I heard Pete give a gasp of surprise. I glanced up
at him and found him staring, white-faced, at the picture. "I don't get
it. I've seen that picture before, but why would your mother have a copy of
it?"

"Where did you see it before?" I asked him.

Pete's voice dropped to a whisper as he said, "At my grandmother's house."