Jolene considered the splattered pears and wondered what she should do. She wondered if she, in fact, had enough strength to love Matthew. They had adopted him about seven months earlier, but the twelve year old child did not seem to be adjusting to life with her, her husband and their daughter Sammy. His sister Sammy, she should be saying. This morning all had seemed well. Matthew was busy switching off between reading Harry Potter and building the crazy house-like contraption in the back yard that consumed most of his days. But she had gone downstairs to change the laundry, and during that brief time, Matthew had taken all the pears from the bowl on the dinner table and pitched them onto the roof of the garage. Birds and yellow jackets were already flying in for the spoils. Matthew himself was nowhere to be seen. She did not have the energy to search for him. She sat down at the table and stayed sitting for several hours, feeling as limp as a punctured balloon.
In the evening, Matthew reappeared just before Jolene’s husband Jim arrived home, having picked up Sammy from Day Camp on the way home from work. Matthew said nothing about his day. Jolene waited until everyone was gathering for dinner before asking Matthew about the pears and about having gone off all afternoon without having said a word to her. Matthew’s response was to start barking like a dog. Maybe it was supposed to be funny. He was actually quite proficient at sound exactly like varying dogs, and his barking could be quite entertaining. This time, however, Jolene surprised herself by completely losing her cool. She shrieked. Matthew barked. She shrieked louder. Matthew switched dogs and barked louder. Finally, Jim put a stop to the noise and they all ate dinner in silence. After dinner, after Sammy and Matthew had both gone to bed, Jolene and Jim had a long talk. They decided this was the time to take up Child in Motion’s standing offer of respite care. Child in Motion was the care facility/orphanage/child welfare agency from which they had adopted Matthew in the first place.
So the next day, after Sammy went to Day Camp and Jim to work, the two of them found themselves waiting on hard plastic chairs at Child in Motion. They had filled out the paperwork requesting a two-week foster placement and were waiting for the social workers to come for an interview. Plans would have to be made. Matthew was quite quiet. Jolene felt herself fidgeting more than Matthew. They didn’t chat. It seemed that hours went by. Hours did go by. While they waited, they observed many dramas involving clearly disturbed children. Arrangements were being made. Tears were being wiped away. Terrified youngsters cowered. Belligerent youngsters said scary things to the terrified ones. Jolene thought, “Child in Motion” sure is a good name for this place.
Finally it was their turn. A foster placement had been found. They found themselves seated in a circle of chairs that included a bewildering number of professionals seeing to their welfare. It was rather like a group therapy session, except that, instead of having one therapist and many patients, there were two patients and many therapists. Matthew stayed silent and did not look at her. Jolene suddenly knew what she had to do. It was hard. It was embarrassing. It was, however, the only right thing at that moment. Before the lead social worker could get the session going, Jolene took a deep breath and stammered in a barely audible voice, “we’ve decided that we don’t actually need respite placement at this time. Matthew and I would just like to go home.”
There was dead silence. Jolene snuck a glance at Matthew and physically felt the warmth and happiness radiating out from him. So it had been the right decision. She apologized profusely for having wasted everyone’s time, and, miraculously, the two of them got out of there without a long conference, just a simple question, “are you sure?” She was. They stopped at a supermarket on the way home and Jolene bought a big bag of ripe pears. As they drove away, she pulled one out and started eating it. “I want to eat some before they go to other uses,” she told Matthew. He got a pear for himself and started eating.
