A New Family (A Ghost Bird Story)

Meeting the Boys

****

Mr. Blackbourne

I look at Dr. Green to try and get him out of bed and help with this discussion. Mr. Lee at least is a little more alert when starting the day.

"Hey, Doc! Sang is going to need another pill soon right?"

"Yeah, we should eat something with this one," Dr. Green replies.

I clear my throat. I am not sure how this will go. "If we could get the preliminary conversation with Miss Sorenson over with, there are six other people anxious to find out what is going on. Since Mrs. Lee is not here to cater to your whims, Dr. Green, we should head over to Mr. Griffin's home to eat."

"Erica isn't here? She makes the best pancakes!" he whines. "Wait. You told them about Sang? She is in a delicate position right now, Owen!"

"I might understand that better than you do at the moment Dr. Green. I had Mr. Morgan do a background check on her family last night and there are some things we need to discuss; like how to get Miss Sorenson out of her home as soon as possible." I let out a sigh. "But it would be better if we had the whole team here to help figure it out. Some of our choices will take multiple favors from all of us and that will need to be voted on. Mr. Morgan called this morning to tell me what he found and he is picking up Mr. Coleman. Misters Taylor are retrieving Mr. Korba and we will all meet at Mr. Griffin's house as soon as we have talked it through here."

I look again at Dr. Green. He is alert this time and paying close attention to me. I try and tell him how special this girl is. But from the way he is stroking her back I think he already knows.

"Miss Sorenson would you come and sit here please?" I stand and hold out my hand to her.

She grasps my hand with her tiny, soft fingers and rises from the trundle next to Dr. Green. I guide her to the desk chair and hold onto her hand as she sits. She takes a deep breath as she comes close to me. I feel like I need to keep touching her. That is absurd. I shake my head and pull my hand away.

"Dr. Green?"

He gets up and sits on the other edge of the bed leaving a space for me so that the three of us can all sit facing Miss Sorenson.

She flushes and starts to wring her hands.

"Miss Sorenson," I begin. Dr. Green clears his throat and elbows me in the ribs. "Sang. We belong to a school of sorts that helps people like you. All of us, and our brothers, who you will hopefully meet later, come from some kind of broken home. My first impulse is to try and get your mother to sign over custody of you to the school until you are eighteen. That way you are out of that house and somewhere safe."

I saw hope flare in Miss Sorenson's eyes, then dim as she started to shake her head. "She, my mother, will never go for that. I know she won't let me leave."

So she is not unwilling to leave, she just doesn't think it is possible. Some people in abusive positions don't want to leave for the unknown, but Miss Sorenson seems amenable.

"If we had to, we could just remove you from your home. There are extenuating circumstances that makes this possible, but it's dangerous, especially if your mother were to decide to call the police on us."

"What circumstances?" she asked in a small voice. She sounded like she didn't really expect an answer. I wanted to be upfront about this. I needed her to trust us from the beginning if we had any hope of her staying with us long term.

I clear my throat and straighten my tie trying to buy time. I can see both Dr. Green and Mr. Lee looking at me out of the corner of my eye. They are surely wondering what these circumstances are as well. "While we were checking into your family we were unable to find any records for you. Do you remember going to the doctor as a child?"