Lucky Mr. Peters
Chapter 64
I groaned. “It’s this Paolo, am I right?” I asked.
“Yes, I got the report on the screen in front of me. He was thrown out of the house by his father some three months ago, but no reason was given. He’s been in a shelter ever since with clear signs of abuse that he won’t admit to,” Julia replied.
“You know I won’t take him in if he’s not gay,” I told Julia flat out.
“I know, that’s why I want to make an appointment for you to see him tomorrow morning WITH Rafael,” she said.
I asked her to give me a moment and put the call on hold. I told Rafael about his sister’s proposal and also reminded him that he and Hugo had planned to go see Johan and Karim the next day.
“I’m sure that Hugo will agree with me that saving a boy is more important than visiting his cousin,” Rafael stated.
I got back on the phone call with Julia and got all the information I needed for a visit to the shelter at 9:30 the next morning. As we ended the call, she assured me she’d be there also to make sure there were no hiccups.
By then, Rafael had already gone, presumably to inform Hugo about the change of plans for the next day. I thought it prudent to actually do the same with Allejandro, whom I found waiting for me in the living room. He didn’t think it was a problem as, assuming things went smoothly, we’d still have the afternoon to go clothes shopping. Just minutes later both Rafael and Hugo joined us and Hugo was adamant that he wanted to come with us the next morning also. He’d already called Johan to tell him that they’d either be late or would have to reschedule and told them why, they agreed and would wait to hear from Hugo what the outcome was. I knew there was no sense in arguing once a mind was made up, and Hugo’s definitely was.
“Are we really going to take in another one?” Allejandro asked as soon as Rafael and Hugo had gone down to the game room.
“I don’t know. I told Julia that we won’t take him in if he’s not gay. I can only assume that she thinks he is,” I replied.
As we went downstairs ourselves a little later, we found the boys had already started watching new episodes of the series we’d started the previous night. Allejandro and I just joined them until it was bedtime. As we made our way up to our bedroom, I had still not seen any lights come on in either of the two guesthouses.
Walking into the dining room the next morning, I could tell that at least Pietro was a bit hung over. We started eating our breakfast and some of the boys asked questions of Rafael about the boy in the shelter. It was quite clear to me that, at some point, Rafael definitely had had feelings for Paolo, but wasn’t going to admit to it in Hugo’s presence. Outside it was raining rather heavily, so after breakfast, the boys went down to the game room.
Knowing that the drive to the shelter would take about half an hour, I suggested to Rafael and Hugo we’d leave the house around 8:45.
All three of us were ready on time, Allejandro staying behind to keep an eye on our flock of boys. During the drive to the shelter, I could hear Rafael and Hugo whispering to each other from the back seat. I concentrated on the road, though, as the torrential downpour was impairing visibility. We ultimately arrived at the shelter parking lot at 9:25 and I could see that Julia was already waiting for us underneath the canopy at the entrance of the building. We got out of the car and hurried to join her, trying to avoid getting overly wet as I’d forgotten to grab umbrellas as we left the house.
After we entered the shelter, we were rapidly led into a small conference room and offered coffee or tea. Julia and I gladly accepted the offer of coffee, while Hugo and Rafael opted to have a cup of tea. Just a few minutes later, Paolo was brought in by one of the counselors and I immediately began to feel uncomfortable. The look on the boy’s face when he saw Rafael was far closer to contempt than any kind of relief. He didn’t say a thing, but stoically sat down on one of the empty chairs.
We quickly learned from the counselor that Paolo had been thrown out by his father for stealing. He’d also been caught fighting with other boys at the shelter and once was even found raping one of the younger ones.
“Remember that young boy working in the kitchen? That little faggot is here now too and really likes taking it up his ass,” Paolo spat hatefully towards Rafael.
Julia intervened and Paolo was quickly escorted out of the conference room as I watched Rafael grow pale.
“That must be Julio, he’s the son of one of the cooks. But he’s only 11 or 12,” Rafael softly stammered.
As soon as Julia heard that, she left the room also, leaving me and my two boys to process what had just taken place. I could only look on as Hugo put an arm around Rafael’s shoulders in an effort to comfort his clearly shaken boyfriend. I could hear noises coming from beyond the door but had no idea what was going on as we sat in stunned silence. Some five minutes later, the door opened again and I saw Julia coming in, holding the hand of a boy that, at first glance, reminded me of Carlos. The moment the boy saw Rafael, though, he let go of Julia’s hand and ran up to Rafael with outstretched arms, screaming his name. If it hadn’t been for the weight of the chairs, I think the boy would have knocked Rafael over as he jumped onto his lap.
“Julio,” Julia mouthed to me and I could see a tear trickle down her cheek.
The boy started talking at close to a hundred miles an hour as he had his arms around Rafael with a shocked Hugo looking on. It took a couple of minutes for Julio to calm down and then Rafael introduced him to Hugo and me.
“That there is Mr. P, but we all call him papi,” Rafael said as he pointed at me.
“Why do you call him papi?” Julio questioned.
“Because he takes care of me and all the other boys at the house,” Rafael softly replied.
“I like boys. That’s why my papi threw me out of the house,” Julio commented.
“My new papi doesn’t care about that. I love Hugo and he doesn’t mind. All the other boys at our house also like boys and that doesn’t matter a bit,” Rafael whispered.
“Here, all the boys hate me and they stomp on me when I don’t do what they tell me to,” Julio continued.
I could see the pained look in Rafael’s eyes at that last statement and knew I’d already lost the battle even before it had even begun. Then the counselor we’d seen before walked in with a folder and handed it over to Julia. She quickly flipped through the papers that were there before looking at me.
“He’s 12 and you’ve heard him say it yourself that he likes boys. This is definitely not a good place for him to stay,” she said in English.
“But what’s a 12-year-old doing, working in a kitchen?” I asked.
“I clean dishes,” Julio replied in heavily accented English, taking all of us by surprise.
When asked by Rafael, Julio confirmed that he’d learned English at school and at the restaurant, but it was clear his knowledge was rudimentary. I looked at the boy, then at Julia and I simply nodded my head.
“I’m placing Julio into the care of Mr. Peters as of right now. Would you please be so kind as to bring us his belongings?” Julia addressed the dumbfounded counselor.
It was clear that Julia had, on previous occasions, been throwing her weight around (no pun intended) and, wisely, the counselor immediately left to do her bidding.
“You’re coming with us,” I heard Rafael tell Julio, squeezing the scrawny boy tightly.
I took the opportunity to take out my cell phone and call home to let Allejandro know we’d be bringing a different boy home than the one that we’d come here to see. I could hear him snickering and he assured me that a reception committee would be waiting. In the meantime, Rafael was whispering to Julio, and from the smile growing on the boy’s face, I assumed he liked what he was hearing. Julia then nudged me, put a piece of paper in front of me and, handing me a pen, pointed me at a spot that awaited my signature. I signed the document and then Julia told me she was going to see what was keeping the counselor.
They came back a couple of minutes later and the counselor was carrying a garbage bag that presumably held Julio’s belongings. The guy definitely didn’t look happy, but kept his mouth shut as he left the conference room again.
“If you want, you and your new charge can leave now. I’ve got some more people I need to talk to here,” Julia said quietly.
It was Hugo that picked up the garbage bag as Rafael held his arm around Julio. Julia escorted us to the exit and as I got behind the wheel, I could see she’d waited for us to get into the car. I gave her a wave as we drove away and saw her waving back before she turned around and went back into the shelter.
In my rearview mirror I could see Julio’s eyes grow big as I drove through the car gate and then into the garage. We’d only just exited the car, when I saw Allejandro and Mauricio coming out of the house, carrying umbrellas. We quickly moved inside where I found the hall filled with a bunch of very curious boys. As soon as they got their first glimpse of Julio, I could hear them start whispering. All of the boys were smiling though, and I was relieved that Rafael took it upon himself to introduce Julio to the other boys, one by one. As usual, Carlos and Damarion’s dress code caused some minor consternation, but he looked relieved when Rafael re-assured Julio he could wear whatever he wanted here.
“Are they really all, you know, gay?” I overheard Julio ask Rafael afterwards.
I had to snicker and so did a few of the boys that had also picked up on Julio’s question. Next thing I knew, young Julio was whisked away, disappearing with the rest of the gang down the stairs to what I assumed would be the game room. Only Allejandro stayed behind with me and made it clear he wanted to know everything that had happened.
I gave him the rundown as I went through the content of the garbage bag we’d brought with us from the shelter. I must say that I was appalled when I saw some blood stains inside one of the briefs that clearly indicated that Julio had been raped rather forcefully. The other clothes in the bag were in a fairly bad condition and Allejandro agreed with me that Julio definitely needed a new wardrobe. At that moment, Hugo walked into the living room and told us that he’d rescheduled their visit with Johan for later in the week as Rafael didn’t want to let Julio be on his own in a strange house. It’s not that the boy would be on his own, but I knew what Hugo meant and I thought it was important for Julio to have a familiar face around.
“How are things going down there?” I asked Hugo.
“He’s quiet and a bit overwhelmed by being in one room with only boys that all have similar feelings,” Hugo replied, carefully choosing his words.
“Tell Rafael that we want to take Julio with us when we go clothes shopping with Carlos, Damarion and John this afternoon,” I told Hugo as he was about to return down to the game room.
By then, it was a little past 11 and I was in definite need of another cup of coffee. I was quite happy to let Allejandro get it for me as I tried to wrap my head around what had happened. The sneer from the delivery boy I’d overheard the previous evening had definitely given me the impression that Paolo would be gay. It somehow didn’t rhyme with the boy’s reaction that morning and that incongruity was really bugging me. Had the sneer been a false accusation, just to shock Rafael, or had Paolo put up a front in the presence of the counselor.
When Allejandro returned with our cups, I discussed my misgivings with him and he suggested we might want to talk to Julio about it. I liked his idea but I didn’t think we should do so just yet, keeping in mind that he’d only just joined our little family. Any type of confrontation could cause the boy distress and I wanted to prevent that at all cost. I might give Julia a call later to get her take on it, as she’d been there after all.
It was close to 12 o’clock, nearing lunch time, when Jordan put in an appearance. He was slightly red-eyed, causing me to conclude that he and Aidan had gone a bit overboard the previous evening.
“Did you have a good time, last night?” I asked, only trying to be slightly ironic.
“I don’t understand how Aidan was able to still get up this morning and to go to work,” Jordan groaned as he sat down with me and Allejandro.
“Well, we’ve already had plenty of action this morning,” Allejandro commented with a sly smile.
We told Jordan about Julio and that we’d rescued him from a shelter earlier that morning. There was no time to elaborate further as Pietro stuck his head around the dining room door and told us that lunch was ready. Jordan mumbled something like “breakfast” as he got back up. I followed him into the dining room while Allejandro took care of informing the boys down in the game room.
Soon we were all sitting around the table and Julio had found a seat in between Rafael and Hugo. As the meal started, I told the boys that would go clothes shopping that I wanted to get underway right after lunch. As I’d expected, Carlos and Damarion weren’t too happy since they’d have to change into their regular clothes for the trip. Rafael announced that both he and Hugo would also accompany us, and I think that was mainly to put Julio more at ease. When Jordan said that he’d keep an eye on the others, it caused some snickering around the table from the intended boys.
When lunch was over, Damarion and Carlos immediately went upstairs to get changed. As we waited for them to return, I could overhear Julio tell Rafael that he didn’t have any money to buy new clothes. I had to smile when Rafael told him not to worry about that as we were quite rich. It made me think back to the first time that he, Carlos, Allejandro and I had gone to a restaurant that he thought was extremely expensive. He had definitely come a long way.
Carlos and Damarion returned quickly and before leaving, I made sure that we had enough umbrellas with us to keep us from getting soaked. The eight of us climbed into the SUV and I thought it best to first get the shopping for Julio done before going to the clothes shop that Will had recommended.
When we arrived at the mall it was quite busy and it took me a while to find a decent parking spot. Luckily, the parking lot was underground, so we didn’t need our umbrellas to get to the shops. It took well over an hour before we had everything that I thought Julio would need. It was a bit overwhelming for the young lad, but the other boys helped him out as best they could. I definitely wasn’t the one to give fashion advice, but I think the boys did a pretty good job at that. With each carrying a bag, we made our way back to the car, stored the bags and got back in. The clothes shop was in another part of town, so I put the address into my navigational system and waited for it to calculate the route there.
It took about 15 minutes to get there and I found a spot to park the car not too far from the shop. This time, I was glad we had taken our umbrellas with us as we had to walk back to the store and it was still raining heavily. As we entered the store, I was surprised to note that we were the only customers there and a store clerk hurried over. I told him what we were there for and, of course, that Will had recommended them to us. I could see the euro-signs in the clerk’s eyes when I informed him that there’d be 5 more boys I’d bring by the next day for similar attire.
We were led into a part of the store where there was a huge selection of white suits on offer. It was quite amazing to see John actually taking charge, rejecting at least four types of jackets before being shown one that he liked. The boy definitely had taste as I, too, liked it far better than the other ones. John then indicated that two were needed with white bowties and cummerbunds, three with red bowties and cummerbunds and the rest, 8 in total, with black accessories. That’s when the store clerk called in the help of a colleague and faster than I thought could have been possible we were all provided with items to try on. These people knew what they were doing as only Carlos’ pants turned out to be a bit too long, but even that was fixed within a matter of minutes.
I was extremely proud to note that, without giving it a second thought, John had clearly included Julio in the number of boys that needed to be outfitted. Our next stop was the shoe department and John was adamant that 5 pairs of white and 8 pairs of shiny black shoes were needed. Then, of course, we needed special, white dress shirts to accentuate the bowties and even that caused little problems. Once we were all kitted out, John provided the store clerk with the approximate sizes of the boys I’d bring in the next day, so he could prepare the necessary items that would be needed for them.
In my mind it was incredible that all eight of us were fully provided for in just a little over two hours. As I was paying the hefty bill, the boys each got handed a fairly big bag with everything they needed inside. After the charge on the credit card got accepted, I was handed my own bag and we were ready to go home. The store clerk held open the door for us, wished us a good day and with a happy smile, told me he looked forward to seeing me again the next day.
We hurried over to the car, cowering under our umbrellas and quickly got in, the boys all keeping their own bag with them. I handed mine to Allejandro as I got in and after making sure the boys were all buckled up, I began the drive home.
It was already getting close to 5 o’clock when we arrived back at the villa and the rain had finally stopped. Without actually thinking about it, I told the boys to take their individual bags up to their rooms. That’s when Julio piped up and said that he didn’t have a room. He had, of course, he just didn’t know it yet.
“Rafael, can you show Julio his bedroom? It’s the one that Jordan used to sleep in,” I said, trying to omit my oversight.
“Sure, papi,” Rafael smiled and handed his bag to Hugo to take to their room.
I took mine and Allejandro’s bags up to our own bedroom as Allejandro volunteered to bring the bags with Julio’s new wardrobe from the car into the hallway. When I came back down, Allejandro had just carried in the final bag and told me that he’d seen Aidan arrive home too. I suggested to Allejandro he go get a bottle of wine and glasses from the kitchen while I waited for Julio and Rafael to come back down. When they did, together with Hugo, I asked them to take Julio’s bags up to his room and, if possible, help him put everything away. They clearly had no problem with that as they grabbed the first few bags and started back up the stairs.
As I walked into the living room, Allejandro had already poured me a glass of wine, so I joined him on the couch. I had to admit that I was pretty tired, having been on my feet for most of the afternoon. Just a few minutes later, Aidan walked in and he looked pretty out of it also.
“Remind me never to go out again when I have to work the day after,” he groaned as he sat down.
“Will it work?” I asked, grinning.
“No, probably not,” Aidan laughed.
“Well, you’ve missed out on all of the excitement of the last 24 hours,” Allejandro commented.
“What have you been up to?” Aidan asked.
I gave him the abbreviated version, from hearing the sneer of the delivery boy to meeting first Paolo and then Julio at the shelter. I also shared with him the uncertainties that I felt with regards to Paolo’s behavior. Aidan agreed that it was all a bit suspicious and that he’d learned from Jordan that some boys would do just about anything to keep their homosexuality a secret.
At that moment I received an IM from Julia, telling me she was on her way over to drop off Julio’s school records, which would be needed to enroll him at a school. It was something that, in all consternation, I hadn’t even thought about. I just hoped that she’d have some time for me to talk to her. I went outside to open the car gate and just a few minutes later, Julia drove her car into the courtyard. She stepped out of the car holding a folder that I assumed contained Julio’s school records. I immediately asked if she had some time to talk to me and she readily agreed.
As we walked through the living room towards the study, I picked up my glass of wine and asked Allejandro to bring one for Julia into the study. Julia greeted both Allejandro and Aidan before following me into the study, where we sat down on the couch.
I quickly began outlining my apprehensions as to Paolo’s reaction to Rafael that morning and why I thought things weren’t adding up. I also told her about the bloodstained underwear that I’d found amongst Julio’s belongings. Julia calmly listened to me and sipped the wine that Allejandro had provided her with.
“Well, Rudee, as you know, I stayed behind when you left the shelter with Julio. I happen to know that there have been a lot of complaints about this particular shelter, which is why I wanted you there first thing this morning. Once you and the boys were gone, I tried to have another talk with Paolo, but he refused. In fact, most of the boys there weren’t willing to talk to me. A good few of them looked truly scared of some of those so-called counselors. I’d really like to have a talk with Julio once he’s got settled here,” Julia said.
“Yes, I came to that same conclusion. But we don’t want to rattle him right now, by confronting him outright. I may ask some of the boys to carefully talk to him when they’re down in the game room. I’m sure he’ll be more comfortable with boys nearer his own age and also Jordan as he has had some extended experience with shelters,” I suggested.
“That could work,” Julia said thoughtfully. “If you learn anything though, I want you to let me know as soon as possible. There are a lot of suspicions, but without proof or an eyewitness there’s nothing we can do.”
“Don’t worry, you know I will. Now, what have you got for me?”
Julia handed me the folder and told me it contained Julio’s school records, his birth certificate, as well as the official document appointing me his legal guardian. As always, she’d been thorough and had made sure I’d have everything I needed to take care of the boy.
“Well, I’d better go home now, I don’t want Ronaldo to get worried,” she smiled.
When we stepped out of the study, a bunch of the boys had gathered in the living room, all waiting to see her. It easily took another 15 minutes before she was finally able to walk out the door and get back into her car. When I walked back into the house after seeing her off, I could just overhear Damarion saying that she really had a big belly.
TBC