Just
then there was the sound of shattering glass in the window in the
dining room at the front of the house.
“Sounds
like the kids are home and they’ve heard the news”,
observed Justin.
A
tense hush overtook the staff meeting, which had already been less
than relaxed listening to Councillor Sharp explain the possibilities
of the home’s closure.
“Justin,
you love drama,” said Sarah calmly. ”Vinney,
will you and Justin go and see what was the cause of the noise?”
When
they got to the dining room Vinney and Justin found a large brick
lying in the middle of the floor.
Through
the jagged gap in the glass they saw Dwain staring at the house
with a glazed look in his eyes.
“Stay
here, Jason, I will go out and try and talk to him”.
Vinney
walked quickly round to the front door and out of the house.
“Oh
hello, Dwain, what are you doing there?”
“F
– off,” snarled Dwain.
Vinney
continued walking slowly towards Dwain in a calm non-threatening
manner.
“I
can see you’re very angry and I think I know why Dwain,”
Vinney said quietly.
“Well,
if you know why I’m angry, why didn’t you tell me before
I heard it at school?”
By
now Vinney was close enough to touch Dwain.
“Because
we didn’t know someone would put that story in the papers.
And we were going to tell you all at your meeting today.”
“It’s
true then; it’s true….,”said Dwain and
he began to sob uncontrollably.
Vinney
put his arm around Dwain’s shoulders.
“Dwain,
it’s not as clear cut as that… Nothing ever is”.
The
young people’s meeting began soon after everyone was home
from school.
Vinney,
Sarah and Janice were the staff representatives.
“Well,
there is no point in beating about the bush”, began
Sarah. “As you know the Council owns this home and
they have decided to look into the possibility of closing it.”
“
I thought this was our home, that’s what you tell us”,
challenged Jilly.
“Yer,
how can they close our home? The b..’s; that’s what
I want to know,” added Dwain.
“Well,
it’s is your home, in as much as this is where you are living
but ultimately it belongs to the Council,” Vinney said,
feeling that even he didn’t like the sound of the explanation.
“Look,
before we get too much into who owns what, let me just state the
facts so that everyone will know what we have to deal with”,
interrupted Sarah.
“Go
on then, give us the facts”, said Abdul.
“Well,
that story in the paper was wrong. The Council have not said they
are going to close this home.... They said they are looking at the
possibility of closing a number of homes but have not yet decided
which.”
“That
sounds decent of them—like the farmer saying he is not going
to kill all of his chickens for now, just some,” said
Dwain.
“What
will happen to the staff if this place closes?” asked
Gary.
“They
will all get the sack and a good thing too”, snapped
Dwain.
“Look,
don’t worry about us.”
“We’re
not”, insisted Dwain.
“The
thing is, nothing is going to happen, if anything, for at least
six months. So let’s keep calm. No one is going to be put
out on the street and some of you already have care plans that mean
moving on in the near future,” said Vinney, trying
to reassure everyone.
“Yer,
but even when we are not living here, we wanted to know you were
all still there if we needed you and now you won’t be, or
might not be,” sighed Angi.
“I
thought some of you said this place was a dump anyway, - so you
should be pleased it might close”, observed Janice,
trying to provoke some further thought and getting a harsh look
from Sarah for her troubles.
“Well
,everyone says that don’t they, but we don’t really
mean it, and what if it is a dump? It’s our dump and them
b… Councillors have got no business to take it back from us”,
said Nickki.
“Yer,
it’s like that song, init? You know where that girl laughs
at the end …about a parking lot and ‘You don’t
know what you’ve got till its gone’”, observed
Abdul.
“You’re
so right, Abdul, and so are you, Nickki”, said Vinney.
“Well,
they ain’t going to make this place no parking lot,”
affirmed Jilly. “This has been my home for
three years”.
“No
one has said why they should want to close this place,” observed
Gary.
“One
word, Gary, MONEY,” quipped Abdul.
“You’re
joking”, said Angi.
“I’m
afraid he’s not. The Council are short of money, and if they
sell this place and put more children in foster care, they will
save money,” agreed Sarah.
“So
it’s our lives or their money then,” said Gary.
“Well,
let’s see what we can do about it then,” invited
Vinney.
