Peer pressure is greatest between the ages of 12 and 15. Teens know the importance of fitting in and that they may be rejected if they look or are different. They want to be individuals, but have the desire to belong to a group where they feel secure and accepted. This feeling of belonging is very powerful and sometimes outweighs ties to church, school, family and community. It is therefore vitally important that parents take an active role in guiding and monitoring peer group interactions, as this is often the time where teens start to choose their path to adulthood. It may be a productive and positive path, or one that leads to much heartache for both their parents and themselves.
We had been careful with Sean and Jake to always find out who their friends and acquaintances were, so we had a sense of which path they were taking. It wasn't that we didn't trust them, but it was more a matter of being informed parents in case some 'corrective' guidance was necessary. Glen however, was proving to be quite a challenge, mainly because he wasn't in the school in town with Sean and Jake and partly because he was used to making many of his own decisions without parental guidance. His father had needed to spend time building his career as a chef and providing for his family and in the process, a lot of quality family time had been sacrificed. It was a tough go to be a single parent, especially in the business John Webster was in.
We had been called by Glen's school twice in two weeks for problems that he had gotten himself into. Once because he skipped some classes and the other time because he was caught smoking on school property. Both incidents were in the company of the boys I was not fond of. One of them, who Garth referred to as scary Larry, was a young offender who was on probation because he had been caught breaking and entering homes at night, as well as painting graffiti on the sides of buildings. I used my contacts at the police department to find out the details, which at once caused me concern. I had been picking up Glen and Garth each night after school, rather than following through with my plan of taxi transportation, because of this. Glen knew I wasn't happy with the group he was hanging around with, but rather than cause a confrontation that I knew would harden his resolve to continue with them, I chose my words carefully when I was talking to him about them.
In the meantime, I had looked at both Garth and Glen's OSRs (Ontario School Record) to get a sense of their academic abilities. Both were above average in intelligence, but Glen had been tested for giftedness in grade 3 and had been considered for the gifted program based on his exceptional creative and artistic talent. What had happened after that was not clear, as I wasn't sure whether the school had dropped the ball or it was a case of parental failure to act.
I was getting the boys one day and I picked up Garth first, as his school got out before Glen's. Garth was telling me about his day while we waited in the parking lot for Glen to come out.
"It was my turn to tell the class today about a book I read, so I told them about the 'Wimpy Kid'," he said with that wide-eyed innocent look of an eight year old.
Listening to Garth tell me about his day was one of the highlights for me of my new chauffeur duties and he would always share the details with Glen as well, then Dana, Sean and Jake when he got home.
"I'm sure you told them about all the important parts of the book," I said, as I gave him a smile, knowing full well he highlighted many of the parts with toilet humour.
Then he told me about his Science lesson that day.
"We learned about this funny looking thing that lives in the sea called an octopus. It has eight testicles," he said.
I was trying not to laugh as he was getting very sensitive about all of us making light of some of his naive statements.
"That sounds very interesting, Garth, but I think the proper word is tentacles," I said as I gave him a big smile.
I didn't know at the time how prophetic his comment was going to be. After a few moments, Scary Larry and his friend came out the door and for the first time I saw his haircut, which was a Mohawk, as he had always had his hoodie up. The two of them were laughing away and I noticed he was wearing a coat just like the one we had got for Glen. As they turned the corner of the school out of view, Glen came out the door. He wasn't wearing his coat even though it was -2° C and he was doubled over and in a lot of pain.
"What's going on?" I asked as he opened the door to the LX.
"Nothing. Let's go," he said, as he winced in pain and held his hand to his crotch.
I asked what happened and he finally told me that someone had laid a 'sack whack' on him. Neither Garth nor I knew what he was talking about and he explained that it was when someone caught another guy off guard and smacked him in the groin.
"That looks like someone gave you more than a smack," I said as I had turned to look at him in the back seat.
I also asked him what happened to his coat and he wouldn't answer. After a few more moments of questioning he finally told me that Scary Larry had 'whacked' him with his fist about 10 minutes ago and then stole his coat. It was obvious he needed medical attention. I started out of the lot and called Scott's direct line at his office on my cell, which was hooked up by Bluetooth to the LX.
"I need Dr. Nash to look at my foster sons. Can you squeeze us in?" I asked his receptionist.
I explained what the problem was with Glen and then asked if he could also take a look at Garth while we were there. I had been meaning to get the both of them over to see him and now was as good a time as any. She told us he wasn't too busy and I said we would be there in about 15 minutes.
"I'm not sick," Garth said.
"We'll have him look at that sore throat you were complaining about today."
"They're no big deal. He gets them all the time and then gives them to me," Glen said, as he was still clutching himself and wincing.
On the way we had to make an emergency stop at a Tim Horton's because Glen was going to throw up. We just made it in time and I became more concerned than ever at the thought of the damage that had been done by the blow. When we got into Scott's office we had to wait about five minutes, as he was just finishing with another patient. Glen was clearly uncomfortable and was trying not to make his area of discomfort obvious.
"You stay here, Garth, with Ms. Jones while I go in with Glen," I said as we got up to go into the examining room, after his previous patient left.
"I'll pull the curtain, sport, while you drop your drawers and get up on the table," Scott said to Glen after I explained the problem.
After a few minutes, Scott was finished examining him. He came out from behind the curtain while Glen was getting dressed.
As usual, Scott didn't sanitize his language and said, "Ice and Ibuprofen. That was a nasty whack on the balls. They're pretty swollen and hopefully there's not permanent damage. I want to see him tomorrow."
He said that there was a risk with that strong a blow to the testicles, that there could be torsion or a rupture, which were serious conditions. He was sure there was some internal bleeding, as his scrotum had started to turn purple.
"That was beyond a playful prank. Whoever did that should be reported, as I consider that assault," he said to Glen, who had now joined us.
Glen became very nervous, as it was obvious he was afraid of Scary Larry and didn't want any official follow-up for fear of reprisals. I decided to leave this discussion alone as we would be having a more difficult and related one later after dinner. Glen left the examining room and the pain was starting to subside somewhat. Scott had given him some Advil and it would take some time to kick in. Scott's nurse then ushered Garth into the room.
"Let's take a look at that throat, young fellow," Scott said as Garth opened his mouth.
Scott said he had some inflammation and he took a throat swab, which Garth wasn't wild about.
"I thought I was going to puke," he said, as the swab had made him gag.
Scott and I chuckled at his uninhibited and informative outburst.
"I'm not sure if this is bacterial or viral, but this should give us the answer. If it comes back as bacterial, I'll prescribe an antibiotic," Scott said.
He told me that his tonsils looked a little inflamed and said to give him Advil as well. He also suggested for him to gargle with salt water and suck on popsicles. Garth wasn't crazy about the gargle, but he liked the popsicle idea.
"We'll make some juicesicles when we get home, but in the meantime we'll have to find who sells popsicles in the middle of winter," I said as I chuckled.
When we got home I decided to wait until after dinner to tell Glen that I was pulling him out of his school and transferring him to the school in town with Sean and Jake. I knew this wasn't going to meet with his approval and I wanted to have a peaceful meal before I delivered the news. In the meantime it was a little after 4 pm. and I knew that Lucy Smith, the Head of Guidance, would still be there. I had already done some preliminary work with her in case I needed to take action.
I got things set up for his timetable and I was pleased I was able to get all his subjects that he had now with the teachers I wanted. I was particularly pleased with his Art class, which was taught by Ms. Bell, who was a very talented painter in her own right. She often had shows in the local art galleries in the city, but more importantly, she was a great teacher and was as passionate about art as Dana was.
While I was setting this up, Dana had made up a salt water solution for Garth to gargle. He wasn't wild about the gargle part, but the popsicle afterwards seemed to erase the bad memory of the salt water.
About fifteen minutes later he said, "My throat feels better. I can swallow without it hurting."
At dinner, we were once again introduced to some more of Garth's eating guidelines as he didn't like the mixed carrots and peas we had for a vegetable.
"I thought those were two of your favourite vegetables and they're not touching anything else on your plate," I said.
"I don't like them together," he said as he hung his head and wouldn't look at us.
He explained that when they were together the peas tasted different. Dana suggested he eat all the carrots first and then the peas, but his silence made it clear that didn't meet with his approval.
"It's all going to the same place, Garth," I said, as we all chuckled.
We compromised with him and cooked some frozen peas in the microwave. He had been good at trying everything we cooked for him... as long as it didn't touch anything else, so we didn't mind. We also thought he would be very happy at the monster oatmeal cookie with raisins in it that Dana had baked that afternoon for dessert. When he hadn't started to devour it along with Sean, Jake and Glen, we knew something was wrong.
"Raisins look like rabbit poop," he said, as once again we tried to keep from laughing.
Dana fortunately had made two different batches of cookies at the same time and had frozen the other one.
"I might have one with some chocolate chunks in it. Does that break the rules?" she asked. He gave her a big smile in return, as she thawed one in the microwave for him.
I asked Glen to come to the Den with me after dinner. Sean and Jake were in their rooms, but I had given them a heads-up what was happening, as I knew I would need their help after I told Glen. When I delivered the news that I had enrolled him in the school in town he predictably started to protest.
"I'm not going to go. I don't want to be with all those snobby kids," he said, with an air of defiance.
"Are Jake, Sean, Charles and Stéphane snobs?" I asked.
By now he was standing and was starting to get wound up.
"You're just doing that to take me away from my friends," he said as his voice got louder.
"Friends don't steal the coat off your back after they've assaulted you."
He also brought up a few other things such as the fact that he wasn't going to be with Garth every night on the way home, he probably wouldn't be able to get the subjects he had now and the fact that he would have to make new friends. He started to say something else but stopped short of completing his statement and just looked at me.
"We're you going to say that you'd miss your girlfriend?"
It apparently was plural and from the ensuing conversation, they weren't just platonic relationships and were devoid of any real love. It was obvious he didn't need the birds and bees talk from me or Scott.
"I think you and I have some more talking to do about relationship commitment, but for now we have to resolve your school transfer. Garth will be fine, as either Dana or I will be picking him up every night and as to your subjects, I've already arranged your timetable. You have all the same subjects and someone you know is in every class except for Art, but you'll be very pleased with your teacher."
He was quiet for a few moments, as he was contemplating what I had said.
"I'll just have to go back to my old school when my dad gets better," he said with an air of resignation.
"Glen, one way or another, you're not going to be living back in your old neighbourhood."
It hadn't sunk in that his family's financial position and their lives would be very different, until now. He finally sat back down in the chair and was much calmer. He didn't say anything for a few moments as he was thinking about what I had just told him.
"What if I can't fit in with those kids?" he asked, as I could see a vulnerability I hadn't seen before.
There was enough room on the small sofa for the two of us and I motioned him to come over and sit beside me.
I put my arm around him and said, "You're a smart, talented boy, who has a very sensitive and caring side, whether you want to admit it or not. You're going to be just fine. You already have friends there; two that live with you now."
It was as if a heavy weight had been lifted from his shoulders, as I felt him relax beside me. We had a very fruitful discussion about his new school and how his life and Garth's going forward would change.
"Your father's getting stronger every day. When he's able to take care of you and Garth again, we intend to stay in your lives and help him wherever we can," I said, with a reassuring tone, even though I wasn't convinced that John would ever fully recover. I was hoping he would gain enough function back so they could live together as a family.
When we got up and went out into the hall, Sean and Jake were standing there.
"We didn't know if you needed help or not," Sean said.
"Why don't we tell Glen about his new school," Jake said as the two of them gave Glen a big smile.
"Good idea, boys. It's my turn to read with Garth before bedtime, so why don't you guys go downstairs and talk."
When they left, I went into the living room and Dana was watching TV and waiting for me to tell her what happened.
"It was a bit of a bumpy road, but he's come around."
"Bumpy? I had to send Garth downstairs. Glen was really wound up and we could hear him out here," Dana said.
She was glad to hear he was finally accepting of the change and that Sean and Jake were helping him. It was getting near Garth's bedtime so we went and got him from downstairs to get ready. We were having him read to us each night and it was my turn that evening.
"I have a new book for you, little man. It's called 'Captain Underpants and the Attack of the Talking Toilets'".
I knew my reference to him being a 'little man' would get a rise out of him.
"I'm not little. I'm eight years old," he said, as he took great offence to my comment.
I laughed as I ruffled his hair and said, "My mistake. I forgot you're almost grown up."
I read the first page to him and I was almost regretting giving him the book, as he was giggling so much I was afraid he wasn't going to get to sleep that night. He wanted to read it by himself, so I told him I would be back in 10 minutes and then it was lights out. We could hear him in the living room giggling and laughing away. Dana and I went back in after about 15 minutes and he wanted to tell us all about the chapter he had read.
"These two guys make these toilets attack their school, so they have to save everybody," he said as he laughed and giggled.
We had to coax the book away from him, as he wanted to read some more, but it was already passed his bedtime.
"The talking toilets will be here tomorrow for you to read about," Dana said, as she tucked him in and gave him a kiss.
About two o'clock in the morning we were awakened by a knock on our bedroom door.
"Garth's sweating and shivering like crazy and he can hardly swallow," Glen said, with a very concerned look.
When we got into their bedroom, Garth's face was flushed and he had chills. Dana put her hand on his forehead and it was obvious he had a fever, as he was burning up. We bundled him up and I took him to the emergency department.... with Glen. He insisted on going with his little brother, even though Garth was Ok with me taking him by myself. Despite some of Glen's shortcomings, he was a very good brother to Garth and in some ways was acting like his parent.
Dana and the boys stayed at the house, even though they were concerned and wanted to come. When we were finally seen by the doctor, he was able to locate the throat swab that Scott had taken and sent to the hospital lab for analysis. He rushed it through the lab and it turned out he had a bacterial infection and his tonsils were quite inflamed. They gave him an IV dose of antibiotics and when we returned home at 7 Am., the pain and inflammation had eased. Needless to say the three of us went to bed for some needed rest as Dana got Sean and Jake off to school.
"I'll take the boys to school today and get the prescription filled on the way home," Dana said.
Glen had told us that Garth had already had three sore throats that year, but none as severe as this. I was also wondering if this was the source of some of Garth's peculiar eating habits, as I had suffered as a child with sore throats and tonsillitis that turned me off certain foods. As the sore throats became more infrequent as I grew older, I started to eat foods that I hadn't liked as a kid.
When I got up in the late morning, I took a trip down to Glen's old school. I picked up his things from his locker and took his books back. I also dropped in to see the principal, Rick Hunter, who was one of my former students from years ago. He called Larry to the office and was very forceful in the way he questioned him.
"We can do this the hard way or you can admit you assaulted Glen and stole his jacket," Rick said.
After some back and forth and the threat of searching his locker and calling other potential witnesses down, he confessed the theft and the assault. Rick didn't waste any time and called the police, which didn't really scare Larry at all. He then escorted Larry down to his locker and got Glen's coat back. At that point I left, as Rick had things under control.
It was that time again for the interim reports to come home from school, which had letter grades instead of numerical marks. This report was only an indicator of how the student was doing in the first five weeks of the semester. The grades weren't as important to me as the comments the teachers made. Sean and Jake's reports were excellent, not only from a letter grade point of view, but from the comments made by their teachers.
Sean was excelling in Science and Jake had glowing comments from his History teacher. Both Dana and I were very pleased at their progress and gave them a lot of praise.
"It's no surprise you two are doing so well in Gym. You're both great athletes," I said.
"It also looks like we have a budding Scientist and Historian," Dana said as she looked over their reports.
Glen wasn't saying too much as he didn't get one as he had only been there a week. However, I had managed to pick up his report from his old school when I went to pick up Garth that day. There weren't any surprises, unfortunately, as his report wasn't very good, which is what I expected. Sean, Jake and Garth went to their rooms to have some down time before dinner and we asked Glen to come with us to the Den.
"I stopped by your old school today to pick up your report. I'm not going to mince words, Glen, when I say that it was a big disappointment."
Dana was looking at it while I was talking to him about the comments from his teachers and his attendance.
"This looks like you've skipped a few more classes than we knew about," I said.
"There's no big deal," he said with that look of defiance we had seen before.
By now Dana had read the report and asked, "How did you manage to only get a B- in Art?"
She was very unhappy and was loaded for bear, which surprised me, as it took a lot to Get Dana angry. He paused for some moments without saying anything, but Dana demanded an answer.
"I didn't hand in a major assignment," he said, very softly.
"Are you talking about that drawing you worked on for hours?" she asked.
Again he hesitated and finally shook his head yes. After some very pointed questions from Dana he told us Scary Larry had grabbed it out of his locker before school started and made a paper airplane out of it. He then proceeded to throw it back and forth to one of the other losers Glen called a friend. By the time he got it back it had landed in the drinking fountain and was ruined.
There was a deafening silence as Dana was now glaring at him. Finally she broke the silence and asked him why he didn't tell us. He didn't want to talk about it and was trying to be evasive.
"You were afraid of Larry, weren't you?" I asked.
He didn't say anything, but his silence spoke volumes about his feelings.
"That's bullying, Glen. You keeping silent allows it to continue," Dana said.
I reminded him that the government had introduced the Safe Schools Strategy and that there was a bullying prevention program in place in all schools in the Board to handle situations like this. He told us that he had heard about it in one of the opening assemblies, but he didn't want to be seen as a suck and 'rat' on his friend.
"Well the problem with Larry is resolved and I hope if there's a next time that you tell us, or a teacher you trust. However, I don't believe for a moment that he caused the other poor marks or the skipping," I said.
"We have two rules in this household, Glen. We want you to be the best person you can be and always do your best. You haven't lived up to either of them. Those are our expectations and I'd like to hear from you how you're going to meet them," Dana said very calmly.
Glen was taken aback, as he had never seen this side from Dana. He didn't quite know what to do, but finally he said that he was going to try harder. He knew enough not to give her any more attitude, as he could see she was really angry.
After dinner the next evening, I decided to tell the boys about our plans for the March break, which was coming up the next week. I had just finalized everything and it was time to tell Garth and Glen that we were going to Naples for the march break and make a side trip to Disney for a couple of days. Sean and Jake knew what was planned, but I asked them not to tell Garth and Glen as I wanted to surprise them.
"Have you boys started to get things out to pack for our trip to Naples?" I asked Sean and Jake.
Glen and Garth had puzzled looks on their faces.
"Do we get to go too?" Garth asked.
"No, I'm sorry, Garth. We're leaving you and Glen with a mean nanny," I said, with a straight face.
He was crestfallen, but then he heard Sean, Jake, and Dana laughing and his face lit up like a spotlight.
"You were kidding.... weren't you?" There was a bit of a pause and then he asked, "Where's Naples?"
Dana was now bringing out some cookies she had baked, that looked like Mickey Mouse.
"It's right near where Mickey lives," Dana said as she gave Glen and Garth a big smile.
Glen figured things out but it took Garth a few moments longer. However, when it finally sunk in I thought he was going have a heart attack he was so excited.
"That's the bestest place in the whole world. My friend told me about it. He went there last year," he said, as he was bouncing up and down on his chair, as we all laughed.
The next day I took Sean, Jake and Glen to Lou's to get a suit for Glen. I also had to get some new dress shoes for Sean and Jake.
"You have another son, Mr. Burger?" Lou said as he greeted us.
"Actually, Lou, I have two more," I said, as I chuckled at poor Lou's expression.
After he recovered, he turned to Jake and asked, "Come sta, Giacomo?" (How are you, Giacomo?)
"Bene grazie, signore." (Fine thank you, sir)
After about an hour, we were getting ready to leave the store when Lou remembered Jake was quite a soccer player.
"Are you interested in trying out for the select soccer team this summer?" he asked.
He was going to coach the team and was encouraging Jake to come out for the spring tryouts. Jake was very interested and Lou gave him the flyer with the information.
While we were at Lou's, Dana took Garth to the boys' department of The Bay, to get Garth a jacket and dress pants. When we got home we had to have a fashion show, as Garth was very excited about his new clothes.
"Well you look all grown up in those fancy duds," I said as I gave him a big smile. "You won't be able to keep the girls away from you."
"Yuck. I don't like girls," he said as he screwed up his face.
"What about Dana, or your girlfriend that sits behind you in school?" I asked as we all laughed. He wasn't amused.
We decided that we would make an effort to go to the contemporary service at church the Sunday before we were leaving for Naples. We hadn't been since Garth and Glen had been with us, as Sunday morning was when we usually took the boys to see their father. We told the boys the night before that we were going to go as a family the next day.
"We don't go to church," Glen said with a scowl.
He told us that they hadn't been to church for years and that he thought it was boring and a waste of time. Both Sean and Jake got on his case and told him that the contemporary service was different and that Reverend McLaughlin was cool.
"We sing neat songs and you don't have to get dressed up," Sean said.
"They've got a band that plays and Reverend McLaughlin talks about real-life things, not churchy stuff," Jake said.
Garth was quiet and I could see he had something on his mind.
"I don't know what I'm s'posed to do in church. My friend Miguel told me he does this thing with his hand on his chest. Is that what I have to do?" he asked.
The four of us chuckled and Dana put her arm around him and gave him a squeeze.
"That's crossing yourself, Garth. You do that if you're Catholic, but this is a United church. You just watch us and we'll tell you what you have to do," Dana said.
"It's easy. You just sing when they put the words on the screen at the front and you stay quiet when everyone prays," Sean said.
Garth enjoyed the service the next day, right from the start, as he really enjoyed singing and listening to the band.
"This isn't like real church. It's fun," Garth said as he leaned over and whispered to me after about 15 minutes into the service.
Glen was a reluctant participant, as he didn't sing the first song and didn't put himself out to shake hands and greet the people around him, which was the custom at the beginning of the service. Finally during the second song he loosened up and sang, when he saw Jake and Sean singing away. He had a good voice, even though he wasn't projecting very loudly, as he was still a little reserved about the whole experience.
Randy's sermon was about how life changes and he went on to say how we dealt with those changes determined whether we were happy or not. After about the first minute I could see Glen was paying attention and seemed interested in what he was saying. Much of what Randy was talking about was something that he could relate to and it appeared he was seriously taking in the message. I wasn't surprised as I knew that there was an intelligent and caring individual beneath that hard exterior he projected.
As was Reverend McLauglin's custom, he chose a fitting song for the last one we sang. It was 'On a Day Like Today' which was written and recorded by Bryan Adams. It was about how life changes and how one adapts to that change. It must have been one of Glen's favourites, as I could finally hear him singing.
John Webster was coming along slowly with his recovery and was in the rehabilitation ward of the hospital. The broken bones were almost healed but there was some paralysis on his left side from the stroke and his speech was somewhat affected as well. The doctors were keeping a positive outlook, given his age, that he would be able to overcome most of these problems with a lot of physiotherapy, but only time would tell.
Over the weeks we got to know a little bit more about him and the family dynamic. Both boys looked forward to their visits with him, as did he. I had to see him a few times without the boys, as business from the settlement arose that needed to be taken care of. The insurance company had made an interim payment of $200,000 to him and there would be much more when the full extent of his recovery was known. Ray was confident that it wouldn't reach court, as the police department was trying to keep it out of the papers.
It was obvious from the visits with Garth and Glen and from conversations I had with him, that he loved his boys very much. He had a lot of regrets with his childrearing abilities but he was hoping that the new found wealth would allow him to change his lifestyle and be a better father to them.
"I owe you a very big debt of thanks for taking my boys in and being so good to them," he said, one day when I had some business I needed him to attend to.
"We're happy we could help you out. Your boys are wonderful young men," I said.
I didn't want to mention anything about the problems we had with Glen and I really did mean that both of them were wonderful. Despite Glen's challenges, he was a good kid that hadn't had a lot of guidance and had been influenced by a very bad peer group. Both Dana and I saw a lot of good in him and we were confident that he would turn out to be a fine adult.
"I hope Glen isn't giving you too many problems. We've had our conflicts over the years, as he's a very headstrong young man," he said.
I smiled and told him that I had many students that were much more challenging than him over my years in the classroom. He then told me a little of his background. He was thirty-three years old, which meant Glen was born when his was nineteen.
"Glen's mother and I weren't married," he said.
He went on to tell me that he had little in the way of parenting skills and that Glen had gotten away with a lot over the years. He told me that he got frustrated a lot with him and didn't really know how to handle him. The fact that he had to spend a lot of nights in the restaurants he worked in didn't help, as he had an older lady in the neighbourhood look after the boys when he was working.
"Mrs. Martino wasn't the nicest person, but she was all I could afford," he said with a lot of regret in his voice.
That night after dinner, Dana and I were talking about John and what his future would hold.
"My daughter, Susan, worked as a waitress in the same restaurant as John for a few months," she said.
She told me that he had been a sous chef in charge of salads and desserts and was extremely talented. She also told me that Susan had told her that the head chef had been very lazy and it was well known that John ran the kitchen, even though he was the sous chef.
"Susan and I have been talking about an idea involving my catering business that John might be interested in, if he makes a decent recovery," she said.
She had piqued my interest and I started to quiz her as to what she was thinking. I was really curious as to what she had in mind, as I wanted to offer her any help I could give her. She was being very coy and wouldn't tell me any of the details.
"Susan and I have done some research, but were not ready to go public with our idea just yet," she said with a wry grin.
Canadian Youth Criminal Justice Act
Bryan Adams - On a Day Like Today
Ontario Safe Schools information