The Boy At The House (7)

"Where is he?" Daniel says.
"You made this up", says Gina. "Because you wanted us to get up!"
"No, stop it. We have to search for him. Walk around shouting 'Richard!'"
They spread out and start shouting. Paula approaches a group of trees where the beach ends and changes into stones and grass, and where all the boats are lying. "Richard!" she shouts.
"Here", a weak voice is heard from the leaves.

The Boy At The House (6)

Daniel and Dilan stand silent for a moment.

"What shall we do?" Dilan says.

Daniel looks at him, then he looks at Richard.

"I don't know. Shall we contact the police?"

"No, don't do that. You understand what will happen. They will put me in the orphanage again. Please don't do that."

"But what did you have in mind then? How will you do with your uncle? How does he get liquor by the way? Won't he be sober when he's out of liquor?"

"He goes and buys new. I don't know. Somehow he gets it", Richard says.

The three boys stand silent for a moment and look down a little in the sand.

"Let's get the others", says Daniel.

"Yes", says Dilan.

"Do you wait here while we get them?" says Daniel. He starts walking towards the village. Dilan starts following and then turns around.

"Wait here!" he says to Richard. Richard looks at him.

Ten minutes later Daniel, Gina, Dilan, Luke and Paula are on their way through the reed that separates the shore from a parking place. They take off their shoes and come out barefoot on the beach. Daniel and Dilan looks towards where Richard and the dinghy were.

"What?" says Daniel?

"Eh, oh", says Dilan ominously.

Both Richard and the dinghy are gone.

The Boy At The House (5)

"I came out of it. I... I fled. But don't tell anybody. Then they'll come and get me and put me there again, I'm sure. I don't want to live there."

Daniel and Dilan look at Richard.

"Okay", says Daniel. "We won't tell anybody. Not today at least", he says and smiles and looks at Dilan. "But again, what was the problem you had?"

"You know, I live by myself out there, but then my uncle came and visited me the other day. The problem is that my uncle is an... idiot."

"Nobody is an idiot", says Daniel.

"No, but he's dangerous."

"Dangerous?"

"Yes, he drinks. Gets drunk. And destroys. He destroys the house and mistreats Bob... He..."

Richard has difficulty to continue. Daniel and Dilan see that he is almost starting to cry. They wait a little.

"Who is Bob? Is that the dog?" says Daniel as soft as he can.

"Yes", says Richard and dries a tear with his dirty fingers.

The Boy At The House (4)

Richard tells his story. This is how it is, according to him: He lives in a house on a rock out at the sea. He has lived there a couple of years now. Totally alone? Yes, indeed. He is only 16 years old but lives alone anyway, because his parents are not alive. And he doesn't want to be taken care of by anybody, but manages well through fishing and cultivating a little. But he also receives some gifts by kind neighbours.

"Wow", says Dilan. "You live alone. Isn't that boring?"

"No, I have a dog that is giving me company. But sometimes it becomes a little boring."

"But what happened to your parents?" Daniel wonders.

"They... they got sick. And died."

"But... wasn't there anybody taking care of you?"

"I was put in a orphanage."

Daniel and Dilan look at him.

"And?" Daniel says.

"And?" Richard responds.

"What happened then?"

The Boy At The House (3)

They boy rubs his head and raises up slowly. He sits down in the dinghy and looks around.

"Where am I?" he says after a while.

"In Fair", Daniel says.

"Fair?"

"Little Fair", says Dilan.

The boy looks around again.

"I must have fallen asleep", he says.

"Where are you from?", Dilan wonders.

"I... live at the sea. In a house. I was on my way to Longharbour. Can't see how I ended up here. I must have fallen asleep."

"Pretty lucky not to have drifted out on the sea", says Daniel.

"Who are you?" says the boy.

"My name is Daniel."

"And I'm Dilan."

"We live here", says Daniel.

"Who are you?" Dilan asks.

"My name is Richard."

"But where do you live?" Daniel asks. "You said in a house, right? But why were you going to Longharbour?"

The Boy At The House (2)

This has happened:

Dilan, a member of the "Bible Gang", was out on the shore one morning. There he spotted a dinghy that came floating from the sea. I the dinghy there was a boy!

Dilan looks one more time. Yes, it is a boy! Or, rather, a youth. Can he be fifteen maybe? He is wearing worn, a little torn jeans and a yellow, pale T-shirt. And he has long, tousled, curly hair that seems to be full of salt from the sea. And he is just lying there! Dilan doesn't know what to do. He grabs the dinghy and starts to lead it towards towards the shore. At the beach he pulls it up a bit so that it won't float away. Then he bends down and pokes on the boy. He seems to be dead!

Dilan's heart bets fast now. He must find Daniel! Or somebody at least! Daniel is the oldest and the most wise in the Bible Gang, something of a leader. So Dilan starts to run towards Daniel's house, that is at the outskirts of Little Fair.

Once at Daniel's house he walks around it to Daniel's bedroom window and knocks on it. Slighty after a sleepy-looking Daniel sticks out his head.

A couple of minutes later Dilan and Daniel arrive to the dinghy on the shore. Daniel sees the boy. And now he is moving!

The Boy At The House (1)

Let me tell you about The Boy At The House. Actually this is the story about "BG". Or the "Bible Gang" as they also are called. A rather powerful name, since the Bible is something of dynamite you could say. A book with power. Anyway. The "Bible gang", who are they? Well, they are a bunch of youngsters who live at the sea. Would you like to live at the sea too? Not? Well, read another story then!

Okay, who are they then, so we can start the story some time? Well, they are Daniel, Gina, Dilan, Luke and Paula. And what then is so special with them? Well, first hand, they solve all kinds of problems! But not just any way, but with help from God himself. Because the Bible Gang is, as you might have understood, Christians. When they face a problem they pray and search in the Bible after advice about what to do. And then problems get solved! Most of the time at least. But not always exactly the way they thought they would of course.

How old are these youngsters? They are around 12. Daniel and Gina are the oldest, they might be even 13. Luke and Dilan, well, they are just a little bit younger. And Paula is the youngest, she is only 10. I think. It doesn't really matter for now. Because they are young, yes, you could almost say they are kids. But then again, maybe not totally, because they usually face things that only grown-ups should face. And sometimes they might be even wiser than grown-ups, but I suppose that's because God himself helps them.

No, now you must hear this story. BG, let us call them that, live at the sea. In a little village called Fair. Fair is situated at a quite rocky coast, and in "Little Fair" as people usually call this little fishing village, live quite many fishermen. Daniel, Gina and all the tothers live with their families, who live in Fair.

One morning the sun was up early. Well, maybe because it was summer. All BG:ers were sleeping except Dilan. He couldn't sleep this night. Maybe because he was invited to drink a cup of coffee yesterday? So grouse! But he acted as if he liked it. Anyway, what to do when you can't sleep? Go to the beach of course! Especially when the sun is up. So Dilan went down to the beach. There is a beach in Fair, a rather long one, almost half a mile. Well, that's long at this coast that is rather rocky elsewhere. Dilan actually liked just to hang out on the beach, and this morning he thought he would collect some shells or just look for interesting things that might have been washed up on the beach by the waves.

So Dilan sits there and has collected quite a bit of shells and petrified animals or fossils as they are called, when he suddenly catches sight of a little boat on the sea. Yes, a little boat, not bigger than a dinghy it seems. Dilan stairs. The seagulls sail around and and block the sight a little, and the sun isn't that high yet, so it's not that easy to see. But surely it is a little dinghy bobbing out there! Dilan thinks. Why is a dinghy bobbing a hundred yards on the sea just like that? No clue!

He stands there and waits for a bit. The dinghy actually is coming closer slowly. The waves slowly push it towards the shore. Or if it is the current, because there are hardly any waves at this time. But after a while it is defnitely closer and Dilan wades out in the water to meet it. "Can I take care of the dinghy?" he thinks. "It might need an owner?" And directly he wonders if that was a too egoistic thought. But no, he concludes, there was something good in it too, and he smiles.

Now the dinghy is very close. It's going to be exciting to see what there is in it! He wades out just a bit more. And looks in it... And then Dilans's heart beats twice and he gets totally cold.
There, on the bottom of the dinghy, is a boy.