The Boy At The House (18)

A couple of minutes later the whole gang is standing looking at the snoring figure in the couch.
"I wonder if he would wake up if we smashed saucepan lids", says Dilan.
"Shall we try it?", Luke says.
"No, stop it, he is sleeping deeply, but we must make up a plan", says Daniel.
They spread out in the room, maybe to make thinking easier, maybe to escape from thinking. There are plenty of windows and they can look out in all directions except towards the sea. Paula approaches a window. On the window shelf there are lots of tiny figures standing. They are warriors, soldiers, astronauts, ship captains, musceteers and lots of other small figures in plastic. Some are painted yellow, red, blue and green, some are fully grey.
"Is it you that has painted these?" Paula asks and looks towards Richard.
"Yes, most of them. Some dad has made."
Luke stands watching a little table, also on this are plastic figures, and there are also some small paint tins and a glass with brushes.
Suddenly the snoring stops and the man moves in the couch.

The Boy At The House (17)

Daniel approaches the stairs. But wait a sec? Isn't that snoring he's hearing? Yes, it is. He slowly sneaks down the creaking glossy-painted wooden stairs. Gina comes after him. Once down in the hallway they sneak towards where the snoring comes from - the big room. When they peek into the big room they immediately spot him. He is lying on his back in a brown couch and is sleeping. Daniel and Gina relax somewhat and look at each other, and then go a little closer to look at the figure in the couch. It is a big man, wearing carpenter trousers and a dirty white T-shirt with holes in it. A large portion of the face is covered with a grey-streaked beard stubble. At his side on the floor there is an empty liquor bottle. The room is messy and there are newspapers, beer cans, dirty plates, glasses and cuttlery on the sofa table and on the floor.
"Okay?" says Gina and smiles.
"Yeah", says Daniel.

The Boy At The House (16b)

Paula wakes up by a yelling seagull. The room is totally bright, and Gina and Daniel are standing at the window looking out. The window is wide open. Paula looks around in the room. Everybody is awake except Richard, who is totally wrapped inside a light-blue quilt. His blond, curly hair is sticking out.
"Okay, it's already late", says Daniel and smiles. "Time to do things."
Dilan bends over Richard. "Mmmmm", he says with a muffled voice close to the curly hair in some attempt to imitate an angry animal. The curly hair turns around and the sleepy face of Richard appears.
"Good morning Richard", Paula says and smiles.
Richard smiles back. "Good morning".
"You've got a mission", Dilan says to Richard. "Stand up, soldier."
"Okay, I was down out the hallway out here a little while ago, and it's totally silent down there. I think he's either gone or sleeping", says Daniel.
"Exactamente!!" Dilan says decisively and points with a finger right out in the air and then does a soldier's salute at his forehead with two fingers. "Let's rock and roll!" He ruffles Luke's hair and then throws himself towards Richard and ruffles his hair too. Both these throw themselves over Dilan and they whirl around in a wrestling battle.
"Shhhh", Gina says. "What if he is outside?" She points towards the window. The boys look up.
"So what?" "Y?" Luke says and they continue wrestling, tickling each other and giggling.
Daniel goes to the door and unlocks it. The boys ceise wrestling and get up one after the other. Suddenly all of them are standing up. Daniel disappears to the hallway.

The Boy At The House (16a)

"What did he look like?" Luke asks silently, so that it won't be heard outside the room.
"I don't know. I couldn't see really. Big, untidy. What can I say. I think he had blue clothes", says Daniel, almost whispering. "Some kind of beard."
"What did he break?" Dilan asks.
Daniel shrugs his shoulders.
"I'll kill him", says Richard.
"You won't", says Gina.
Daniel looks at Richard, who looks sad. He puts his arm around him, and so does Gina. And Dilan.
"Richard, we'll solve this. I think he's drunk, right? It sounded like it."
"Yes, he drinks", says Richard.
A tear is falling from Richard's eye.
"Okay", says Daniel and looks at the others. "Now let's go to bed and try to sleep. I don't think we should do anything as long as he is drunk. We wait till the morning and then we sneak down again and take a look. Okay?"
"Okay", says Paula.
"Okay", says Dilan.
Dilan pulls his arm away from Richard's shoulder and instead raises it up in the air with the inside facing Richard. Richard gets it and smiles. Silently but decisively their hands meet in a "High Five".

The Boy At The House (15)

Daniel and Richard carefully walk down the stairs. The first steps don't sound, but then the creaking begins. They have to take one step, then stop, then another and stop again. Each time they stop they hear the sounds of him downstairs. But they have to go all the way down to be able to see anything. Daniel reaches first and sticks out his head and peeks through the hallway. He hears somebody slamming and pottering about in the kitchen. Suddenly a giant man comes out of the kitchen and Daniel immediately pulls backhis head. His heart beats ten times over, but the man doesn't seem to come towards the stairs at least. After a little while he sticks out his head again. Nobody in sight, but now you can hear the man is in the living room. Suddenly there is a sound of a crash and glass breaking.
"Arghh!" a rough voice says.
Daniel turns around and looks at Richard. Richard doesn't look happy. Daniel swallows.
"We'd better go up", he whispers.
"Yes", Richard whispers dejectedly.

The Boy At The House (14)

Out on the sea it is dark by now. The wind has increased a little and the waves strike the rocks a little harder. Up in the sleeping room the six figures are lying totally still, spread out partly under the quilts. From five of them regular breathing and mild snoring is heard. Between Dilan and Paula are some comics. From Daniel neither hearable breathing nor snoring is heard, but his eyes are closed.
Suddenly a rasping sound is heard. Daniel's eyes open. It becomes silent again. But then there's another sound, then some more. Daniel sits up and listens intensively. He stretches towards Gina and pokes at her. She immediately opens her eyes.
"Listen", he says.
Gina blinks sleepily some times but tries to concentrate. Yes, there is a sound. There is no doubt it is from the bottom floor.
"What do we do?" says Daniel.
Gina looks at him.
"I think it's better if everybody is awake", says Gina.
"Okay." They poke at the others, and soon everybody is sitting up, tense, listening.
Daniel takes a deep breath.
"Okay, this is what we do." I'll sneak down carefully to see what he's up to. Then we'll make a plan."
"Shouldn't Richard go down instead, he knows him", says Dilan.
Everybody looks at Richard.
"You don't have to", says Daniel.
"I'll follow you", says Richard. "If he sees something, we pretend it's only me."
"Exactly", says Daniel.
"We'll stay here and pray for you", Gina says.
Paula shuffles towards Gina and puts her arm around her. Daniel and Richard raise up. Richard carefully unlocks the door and he and Daniel sneak out in the entrance of the second floor.

The Boy At The House (13)

Some hours later the whole gang is gathered in one of the sleeping rooms on the upper floor. One of the walls has an orange surface because of the setting sun. The window is a slightly open and the seagulls are heard from a distance. On the floor there are four worn matresses and some quilts.
"Are you sure he won't come up here?" Paula asks.
"Stop it, Paula, okay?", says Dilan. "He's already said like five times he never comes up here. And the door up here is locked."
"But what if he starts beating on it?"
"We have to trust God will protect us, Paula", says Daniel.
"He's not even here. He might never come back", says Luke.
"Shall we pray a little as we said?" says Gina.
"Good idea", Daniel responds.
They gather in a little circle on the floor and pray. When they are finished they pull the quilts over themselves.
"Sure the door is locked?" says Paula.
Dilan rolls with his eyes. He makes an scary face to Paula and grabs her shoulders and tickles her. She laughs.
"Shhhhhh!" says Paula.
"Okay, now let's calm down", says Daniel.

The Boy At The House (12b)

A little later the whole gang sit in the sun on the stairs at the front of the house and drink syrup.
"But don't they tell others about you?" Dilan wonders.
"No, they know I like it here. As long as I like it and am fine they give me some food. They knew my parents, so I think that's why they want to help me. And they know my dad was the same. He liked it at the sea and wanted to live at the sea. And mum also of course. I am just like my dad, I want to live of the sea, that's how I like it. So I don't need that much food. Not in the summer at least. In the winter I get some more. But I usually save some things too. Like things that don't get bad that quickly.
They sit silent for a while and only the roar of the sea and the yelling of the sea gulls surround them.
"But what do we do if he comes?" Paula wonders.

The Boy At The House (12)

Richard walks first, then Daniel and the others. They walk through the entrance hallway and look into the different rooms. The first room to the right is empty, there is a sofa and an old TV. Then a door to the left that is open. It leads to a little kitchen, and it is equally empty there. Then they come to a big living room. Many windows make the room bright. Here is a sofa, some comfortable armchairs, chairs and tables. But no human being. Richard stops and looks around, and so do the others. On the walls there are paintings depicting sea scenes - a sailing ship, a fisherman, sea birds and so on. Richard passes the others, towards the hallway again, and disappears up in some squeaking stairs.
"Wait!" says Daniel and follows him.

Soon the whole gang is on the second floor. Here are a couple of sleeping rooms with sloping ceilings, but no human being.
"He's not here", says Richard. The others look at him.
"Where is he then?" says Paula.
Richard doesn't respond.
"Probably he's gone somewhere", says Daniel.

The Boy At The House (11)

The gang and Richard trudge towards the house. The house is really worn and torn. No renovation here for a long time, that's for sure. On many places flakes of white paint hang down from the house wall so that the grey wood is seen. The front of the house faces the sea, towards the point of the cape, and is on the opposite side from where they landed with the boat. The whole bunch carefully sneak towards the corner of the house. Daniel walks first and looks around the corner.
"Come", he says and disappears behind the corner, and soon the whole gang has sneaked to the front of the house. Stairs of stone protrude from the front door. The door is closed.
"He was here when I left", Richard says.
"I suggest we spread out and look into the windows", says Daniel.
"How can we reach?", says Paula, who is the shortest.
They look around. At a corner ther are some old boxes of wood. That will do. Daniel, Gina, Paula take one side, and Richard, Luke and Dilan the other. Carefully they take the boxes and then sneak around the house on each side.
Soon everybody is back at the front.
"Seems empty, right?" says Daniel.
The others look at him.
"What's in that house?" says Gina and points towards the red outhouse down at the sea.
"Tool shed and toilet", says Richard. "I mean outhouse".
Gina walks towards the outhouse and the others stay and watch her. They see her approaching, stopping and listening. Then she walks to the side of the house and stands on her toes and carefully looks into what must be small windows. The others watch her disappearing behind the house, towards the sea. After a little while she's back.
Now they all stand gathered at the front of the big house again. Dilan looks towards the main door.
"I'm going in", Richard says.
"Wait", says Daniel. "Couldn't he be inside? We haven't seen all the rooms from the windows, have we?"
Richard looks at him. Then everybody looks at each other.
"We have to go in", says Richard finally.
"Okay, let's do it carefully", says Daniel. "Paula, Luke and Dilan, you might want to wait outside here meanwhile."
"Why? I'll go with you", Dilan says.
"Me too", adds Luke.
"Me too", Paula says.
"Okay, but Richard, me and Gina go first", says Daniel.
Richard walks up the stairs, towards the door, and presses down the handle. It is not locked. The door squeaks when he slowly opens it.

The Boy At The House (10)

They row and row, and soon the tree-clothed cape is beyond them and a new cape shows up, but this cape mostly consists of rocks, and almost at the end of it is a white house with two stores.
"There it is", says Richard.
Just at the end towards the water is a red little outhouse.
Everybody looks tensely towards the cape and the houses to see if there is somebody there. A man. Or a dog. But no living creature is to be seen. Except the seagulls.
"We can land there", says Richard and points to the left. "Then we can't be seen from the house."
The oar forks squeak. But the seagulls yell pretty loud too.
Finally they reach land, and they fasten the stern to a pink buoy and the front at at minimal wooden jetty that is totally gray due to weather and wind. Luke pulls in the oars and cautiously puts them on the benches.
"Shouldn't we call the police instead?" Paula says.
"Are you dumb or what? There's no phone here", says Dilan.
"Now you are dumb, says Gina.
"Sorry", says Dilan and smiles at Paula. Paula smiles back.
"What shall we do?" Luke says.
Everybody looks at each other again. They become silent for a while, nobody says anything. All seem a little unsure of what to do.
"We have to trust God. Haven't we managed through a lot of other things before?" says Daniel.
"Yes, lots of... scary things too", says Paula.
"Exactly", says Daniel.
Richard goes on land and the others follow. They throw the life jackets in the boat.

The Boy At The House (9)

The motor that drives Gina's dad's boat is white and it says "Evinrude 10" on it. The boat is dark brown and smells tar. Now the whole Bible Gang is gushing forward over the sea in the boat. Richard instructs them where to go.

To be sure, the kids had told their parents they might camp out this night. Having done it so many times before and having come safely back, their parents usually allow them. But they always add "Now remember to listen to Daniel".

After about half an hour the gang approach a cape covered with trees.
"Drive around that cape and you will see it", says Richard.
"Is... he there now?" Paula asks.
"I don't know." "But actually, what do you have in mind doing?"
"Maybe it's best that we turn off the motor", says Daniel and turns it off. So far they don't see any house or anything else interesting because of the cape that is in the way.
"We have to take forward the old oars", says Dilan. "We've used them before!" he says and smiles at Richard.
Dilan and Luke prepares for the rowing and soon they have started. The oar forks squeak a little.
"Shouldn't we have some kind of plan?" Gina wonders.

The Boy At The House (8d)

"Here!" Gina shouts. She gets up from the ground, brushes some sand off herself and approaches them under the leaves. She reads loud.
"If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you."
"Okay, okay", Dilan says smiling and looks at Richard.
"Caring for orphans in their distress", Daniel repeats and looks at the others. They look at him. Daniel, Gina, Luke, Dilan and Paula look at each other as if they had a secret code to communicate only with a facial expression.
"This can only mean one thing", says Daniel.
"Let's go!", says Gina.

The Boy At The House (8c)

"Richard, this is how it is -" says Daniel and smiles. "We usually try to find something in the Bible that tells us what to do in different situations."
"And then we usually find a way", says Paula.
"In the end", says Dilan.
"Okay", says Richard.
"Somebody has a suggestion where to read?" Gina says and opens the Bible randomly.
Everybody stands silent.

"Richard doesn't have any parents. Isn't there anything about that?" Gina says. "Kind of like to help them or something?"
Daniel smiles.
"Wasn't there anything about orphans in the text we read last week?" says Dilan.
"Psalms, was it?" says Daniel.
Gina starts to browse. She browses forth and back through the Psalms.
"Here I found something we read last week", she says.
She reads the text intensely.
"Father to the fatherless, defender of widows - this is God, whose dwelling is holy" she reads.
"But that isn't what I thought of", says Dilan. What I thought of is in Jacob, I think."
Gina browses and finds Jacob's letter.
"Wait", she says and walks away and sits down on the ground a couple of yards away and reads.
Daniel smiles and looks at Richard. "This is more or less how it usually is", he says.
A tiny, tiny smile breaks through in Richard's face.

The Boy At The House (8b)

"Can't we do as we usually do?" says Daniel.
"Pray and read the Bible!" says Paula.
"Exactly", says Daniel. "Gina, is it you that has the Bible now?" says Daniel.
"Yeps", Gina says and from nowhere takes a red book that has the text "Living Bible" on its front.
"Okay, Richard, don't worry. We will pray for you. I don't know if you have experienced this before, but that's what we usually do."
"Sure, do that", says Richard.
Daniel, Gina and Dilan bend their heads and close their eyes. Luke watches. Paula closes her eyes so hard that her whole face becomes wrinkled.
Daniel begins. "Father, we pray for Richard. You see what he has gotten into". Take care of him and solve this. You see that he is in a little... jam. Help us to help him if we can. You know what is best."
"Father we pray for Richard. Help him", says Gina.
Richard watches them while they are praying.
"God, help him and help us to know what to do!" says Paula.
"Amen", Daniel says after a little while.
They stand silent again and look at Richard, who just looks back at them.
"Okay, and what do we do now?" says Paula.
They look at each other again.

The Boy At The House (8a)

"Richard?"

Paula approaches the foliage and inside there stands Richard.

"Yes, it's me."

"Hello! You others!" Paula shouts.

In a moment all are gathered around Richard, hidden behind the leaves of the big branches of an elm.

Paula looks at Richard. A dirty, worn boy about 15-16 years old. His blond, curly hair is partly hanging down over his eyes.

"So you hid?", says Daniel.

Richard looks out towards the sea as if he sees something out there, in spite of that the leaves are blocking the sight. He doesn't respond.

"Where did you put the dinghy?" says Dilan.

Richard points. "I hid it between the fishing boats."

"Smart", says Daniel. "You really don't want anybody to see you, right? Somebody grown-up or a police?"

Richard looks down towards the ground.

"They told us about you", says Gina.

Richard looks at her.

Then everybody stands silent.

"Okay, and what do we do now?" says Paula.

Everybody is silent again.