I put my Bluetooth ear piece in.
"Barb, dial Alex."
"Hello little brother," Alex replied.
"You know I am only three years younger and I am not the youngest of your brothers."
"You are still younger then me and always will be. I know you are not home as JR went to your place yesterday. He noticed there was a sign up for an auction at the old Kelly place adjacent to your property, I know you've wanted some extra acres. I know you didn't call me to check on JR or your house. So what is it?" Alex asked.
"Well, I need a bit of help. Last night I found two runaways behind my tractor, they were dirty and hungry, so I cleaned them up and..."
Alex cut me off before I could finish.
"Scottie, these are not the strays you used to pick up when you were younger!" Alex said as a matter of fact.
"I know Lex, but they are young boys, 7 1/2 and 10 years old. The oldest boy stutters."
"So what, they aren't the cats, dogs, birds or squirrels you used to get, these are boys. They need a lot more then just some food, water and a place to stay. Where are these boys from and why didn't you call the police?" Alex replied.
"They are from Illinois, I found them in Indiana. I called their mother, she is not interested in these boys, she was rather glad they were gone. She didn't even bother to report them missing. I know I will have to report them to some authority eventually. That's why I am calling you. Do you still keep in touch with Renee?"
"Sure, I had lunch with Renee two weeks ago. He's an area supervisor now." Alex said
"Could you contact him for me and ask him what I need to do to help these boys out?"
"I could do that but are you thinking what I think you are thinking?" Alex asked.
"Yes, if I can. I would like to make these two boys part of my life."
"You know what that means don't you Scottie, no more long hauls." Alex reminded me.
"Yeah I know. I've been working for 20 years straight, very little time off. It's time for a change. The company has asked me to become the director of their new in house training department. It would mean I wouldn't be on the road any more and it would be a 9 to 5 job. I have to give them my decision after this run."
"Are you going to take it?" Alex asked.
"You know having these two boys or not made me realize I've missed so much that I need to make a change. Regardless of the fact if I have these boys in my life or not."
"Well, that's true Scottie. I know Phil Kelly asked you three years ago about buying his place but you told him you'd think about it when you had at least 20 years in. Now his place is up for auction and those 20 years of being behind the wheel are here. If Renee is going to help you, you'll need to get me some information on them. Full names, dates of birth, mother's name, father's name, address."
"Alright I don't have all that yet, I will call you back here shortly with that information. Bye Lex, talk to you soon."
"Bye Scottie, hope those two can give you all the information you need." Alex hung up.
I had about another hour before I was going to pull in for a short break at the welcome center/rest stop in Mitchellville, TN. I finally pulled into the Mitchellville welcome center truck parking. I woke up the boys. They were ready to get up now and they got out of the bunk fairly quickly.
"Ok, first I need to punch in that I am taking a break into Barb the trip computer."
"Why?" Tommy asked.
"I don't want the stopping to count against my 14 hours of driving. So I punch my codes in and that I am taking a restroom break. That gives me a half an hour before I have to be back on the road."
"DRIVE TIME HALTED FOR 30 MINUTES, PRESS "OK" TO CONFIRM" Barb the trip computer stated.
I pressed the "ok" button.
"CONFIRMED," Barb stated.
Then boys and I made our way to the restroom and we did our due diligence to add to their septic tanks.
I always liked "Welcome Centers" better then rest stops. They usually had a tourist center that was manned 9am to 5pm and better amenities. Some had better vending machines. Others had real restaurants. It was nearly 10am the boys were behind me.
"Hey I'm hungry." Davy whispered to Tommy.
"I'm too, Davy." Tommy whispered back to Davy.
"Ok, you two I heard you were hungry. Here let's get some hot chocolate. Then we will go back to the truck and make some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and have them with the hot chocolate."
Both the boys marveled at the machine making the hot chocolates. When the second cup started Davy was already doing his impression of the vending machine making the hot chocolates.
I put lids on each of the cups and we headed back to the rig. I popped up the top bunk and pulled down the mini-table. I got the sandwich fixings out and the bread.
"Which do you want on your sandwiches boys, purpley grapety grape or luscious red strawberry weary?"
"He...he...he..grapety grape." Davy giggled.
"I'll have that too." Tommy said.
I noticed Tommy didn't seem so thrilled at his choice. So I asked him about it.
"Tommy did you really want strawberry?"
"Y....y...y Yes." Tommy stuttered
I put my hand on Tommy's arm. He flinched.
"Tommy, Davy I don't want either of you to think you can't have some food because of the choice the other made. It's only food not life or death."
"M...m...m..m...Mom said w..w..w...we had t...t...t...to finish the open one f..f..f..first."
"Tommy and Davy your Mom isn't here, I am, that means we go by what I say not by what she does. Ok?"
"Ok!" They both said.
"I need some information from you both so I can make sure you don't go back to live with your mom."
I got a post-its pad 1, a pen so I could write down what I was told.
"When were you born?"
"November 13, 2002." Tommy replied.
"December 2." Davy said. "What year was I born Tommy?" Davy questioned.
"2005," Tommy reminded Davy.
"Oh yeah I always forget the year." Davy said.
"What are your full names?"
"Tommy Mark Boxer." Tommy replied
"Are you sure it's not Thomas?"
"No, it's Tommy Mark Boxer." Tommy stated with more emphasis.
"See," Tommy said.
Tommy then proceeded to take out of his pocket some folded pieces of paper. He carefully unfolded each one. I sat with my mouth wide open.
"W...w..w...what's wr..wr..wr..wrong?" Tommy asked.
"Nothing, Tommy, you've just given me two of the best things that I could use to help you both out."
"W...w..w..Why?" Tommy asked.
"These are certified copies of your birth certificates. They have some information on that I can use. It means I only need to ask you one more question. What was the address you lived at before I found you at the truck stop?"
"56722 Lot #2 College Lane, Aledo, IL 61231"2 Tommy said.
"Thanks boys now let's finish our snack and hot chocolate and we can get back on the road."
I took what little trash we had and put in the trash containers outside of the welcome center. I got back to the truck and got in. I punched in my codes and started the rig up and we were off on our journey once again.
I explained to the boys I was going to call my brother Alex and give him the information he needed so I could help you both out. I put my Bluetooth back in my ear.
"Barb, dial Alex."
"Hi, Little Brother, do have any information for me?" Alex asked.
"Yes, I do. Best I could ever."
"Oh? What kind?" Alex asked.
"First I thing I should tell you is that the boys are awake, up and listening to our conversation. Say hello to Alex boys."
"Hi Alex," the boys said at the same time"
"Do you want to tell him your names?"
"I ' m..m...m. T...T...T.. Tommy," Tommy replied.
"I'm Davy." Davy said.
"Nice to know who I am talking to. I'm Alex, I am Scott's older brother."
"Tommy has certified copies of their birth certificates."
"That's just great, great job Tommy. How did you get those?" Alex asked.
"Mom always said they were important. So I got them out of the special paper drawer in her room before we left." Tommy replied.
"That is really good you got them Tommy. They are going to help us out a lot; it was very smart of you to think about taking them." Alex reassured Tommy.
"Tommy why don't you read off the information Alex asks for. Start out with your name and birthday then Davy's. Don't read too fast, Alex is old and he writes slowly."
"Ha...ha..ha..ready when you are Tommy." Alex laughed.
"Ok, Tommy Mark Boxer, November 13, 2002." Tommy slowly read off.
"Thank you, Tommy. Are you sure it's not Thomas?" Alex asked.
"No, Lex, that's what I asked when Tommy first told me. That's what his birth certificate states."
"Alright Tommy is it then. Now Tommy, can you give me Davy's information?" Alex asked.
"Davy Stewart Boxer, December 2, 2005." Tommy replied.
"You had better tell Alex how Stewart is spelled."
Tommy gave me this odd look but complied.
"S...T...E...W...A...R..T." Tommy rattled off.
"What about your Dad's name on the certificate?" Alex asked.
I decided to reply instead of Tommy.
"It says "unknown" on both the certificates."
"Well that makes a few things easier, how about your address?" Alex asked.
"56722 Lot #2 College Lane, Aledo, IL 61231"2 Tommy said.
"That was a good job giving me that information Tommy, thank you." Alex replied.
"Is there anything else you need, Alex?"
"Yes, their mother's full name?" Alex asked.
"Anna Marie Boxer." Davy added
"How did you know that?" Tommy asked.
"When Mom was on the phone, she was always tellin somebody when she called em." Davy said.
"Do you have your Mom's birth date?" Alex asked.
I told Tommy to look on the birth certificate.
"It says September 11, 1987." Tommy replied.
"Tommy and Davy, I know this might be difficult for you to answer but I want to tell me in your own words what your mom did or didn't do and I am going to record it. Davy you can go first."
"Ummm..She'd hit me lots. Even if it was just for a question. She'd hit me for wanting stuff to eat. She hit me one time cuz she said I sweared at her. She said I said shit but I said shirt then she hit me and locked me in the closet for three days. Then when she let me out she hit me lots cuz I peed and pooped in a corner. She made Tommy clean it up. Sometimes she had guys over and they would touch my dink or make me touch theirs." Davy relayed to Alex.
"Now you go Tommy." Alex prodded.
"Like Davy told we got hit a lot. When school was open we'd only eat breakfast and lunch after that there wasn't any food at home. On weekends she'd kick us out of the house on Friday night to Sunday night sometimes to Monday morning. A lot of the time Mrs. Chupnick would give us food or we'd stay at her house. Sometimes mom would drink and get funny and then the guy she was with would drink the same stuff mom did and he'd get funny. Then the guy he would try to do sex stuff to me, sometimes they did. But I always made sure Davy was hid so they wouldn't get him. Sometimes the guy fell asleep after he did the sex stuff with me. Then Mom would come in and she'd hit me for stealing her man. One time the guy stopped her from hitting me. She yelled at him to get out and he left. After that she came and hit me more. Then she threw me out of the house for a week. I only had a shirt on." Tommy relayed to Alex.
"Ok thank you for telling me boys. Now the next questions I am going ask you are extremely important for you to answer and to tell me the truth." Alex stated.
"Has my brother Scott Winslow touched you or done sex stuff to either of you." Alex asked.
"No way," Tommy replied.
"No." Davy echoed.
"Has Scott Winslow given you anything like money, toys or other things so you won't tell me or anyone about sex stuff he did to either of you?"
"He bought us clothing, food and he put some money in our wallets." Tommy said.
"But that wasn't for sex stuff that's because he was bein nice and said we needed them he wouldn't even stay in the shower when we were at that truck stop place." Davy added.
"Why did you go with Scott?" Alex asked.
"He was nice, he said he'd help us, and he didn't do sex stuff to us." Davy said.
We all heard a click of the recorder.
"Thank you Tommy and Davy. I think that will be enough. That should be all I need for now. It is alright if I give Renee this recording, the boys' information and your cell number, Scott?" Alex asked.
"Yes, by all means, I want to give Renee as much as I can so we can help Tommy and Davy."
"Alright Little Brother I will see what we can do. Bye for now." Alex stated.
"Bye." We all said at the same time.
To be continued
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1 Post-its are a registered trademark of 3M, used for realism and also for the fact I hate the term "sticky," "sticky notes." Whenever someone has asked me for a "sticky" I have had no idea what they were talking about.
2 No trailer/mobile home park exists that I know of in Aledo, IL location used for the sake of the story. Street name, town, and zip code are real however.