Passing on the Love

                                  Passing on the Love

                                  By Sandra Wheatley

Mum wanted to wait for the letter from the school, I wondered why my Nan called her Hollywood and now I know why; she wanted to wait for the letter because it had more drama than just opening an email.

All my friends asked for their 11+ results by email, but my Mum wanted to wait for the letter. The letter arrived on Tuesday, Mum kept hold of it, unopened, until Dad came home from work and then, with as much drama as they could bring to the moment, they opened the letter, then looked at each other for what seemed like ages.

My big sister had passed her 11+ with flying colours so I was so scared that I had failed because she would have never let me forget it.

‘’Pass mark required 514. I am pleased to inform you, that Kieran has achieved a pass mark of 524 he is therefore eligible to apply to a Grammar school.’’

Mum and Dad hugged each other, then they both hugged me while Mum cried. Dad hugged me so tight I could hardly breathe. Mum then phoned all the family and everyone she knew, and she put it on Facebook, which was so embarrassing, I really hoped that my mates had not seen it.

I tried to hide, how chuffed I was to have passed, Inside my heart was smiling and everyone was so happy for me. Nan, Grandad Aunts an Uncles all phoned to say how proud they were of me and every time a family member rang Mum struggled to hold back the tears.

That was a good day and I looked forward to starting my new school with everything mapped out for me, then my life and all our lives changed so much with just one phone call.

Mum and Dad had done the training to become foster carers and on the same day that I received my 11+ results, we had a phone call from the fostering agency.

I remember Mum’s face so clearly; she did not know if she should laugh or cry. The agency had an urgent placement for three children all siblings, two boys and a girl. They had been beaten, abused and starved by their parents and the police had taken them away from them. Nobody could take three children all at once so Mum and Dad were their last hope.

I heard Mum say:-

‘’Of course, no problem we can have three children, yes we will find the room, what time are they arriving? Uhuh ok no problem’’

Mum put the phone down and looking straight ahead into empty space, she said;

‘’Ok, no problem, yes we can do this’’

We had four bedrooms, Mum and Dad in one my sister and myself had a room and my Nan, who lived with us was on the bottom of a three-story house.

My Nan looked a bit worried, but she was also excited at the same time, I knew this because she started fussing about, getting sheets and pillows out of the cupboard and bringing them into the lounge.

‘’We need to find two more bedrooms and furnish them in three hours, Oh Lord, what have I agreed to?’’

Kieran, you can move into Nans office, Shannon you can move into Nans lounge, ok John can you start moving the furniture, children go and pack your stuff.

Mum then got onto her beloved Facebook and made an urgent request for three beds.

For a while, the excitement of going to the Grammar school seemed to be forgotten and it made me feel a bit sad.

My Sister, Nan and Dad got to the task we had been set by Mum. My Nan moved her stuff from her lounge and office into her bedroom, which began to resemble a messy jumble sale.

Mums friends started knocking on the door, delivering beds, bedding and bedside tables. It was chaos.

By six of clock, it was all done, my sister and I had moved rooms. The donated beds, bedding and furniture had been set up in our old rooms and poor Nan was having to climb over boxes to get to her bed.

We sat down for a rest, the children would be arriving in an hour, so we took this time to have something to eat and drink. Then a thought hit me. What if they did not have any toys, we knew they were aged 3, 5 and 7. It would be terrible if they had no toys.

‘’Shall we sort out some toys for them Amy?’’

‘’Good idea, let’s do it’’ Amy laughed and ran to her new bedroom, I followed as my new room was next to hers.

We went through our toy cupboard and toy box.

‘’Dad can you go and get some double A batteries please, it’s urgent’’

‘’Ok’’

I heard the car door slam so knew Dad was on his way to the shops. Amy and I took out all the old batteries and tidied up our puzzle games, teddies, dolls, cars and I had a cool garage that I could give to the boys.

When Dad returned, he sat with us and replaced all the old batteries for the new ones, then tested each toy just to make sure it was working ok.

I felt pleased that at least they would have some toys to play with until we could buy them new ones.

Then Amy said:

‘’What about your PlayStation?’’

‘’PlayStation, are you joking I can’t give them my PlayStation, I love my PlayStation, I’m not giving that away’’

‘’I’m giving the girl my Bratz dolls and I love them, so you can give them your PlayStation’’

It then hit me, that not only would we be sharing our house and our toys, but we would also be sharing our Mum, Dad and favourite toys.

Maybe having these children was not such a good idea after all!

Just as this thought went through my mind, Mum called us.

‘’There here’’

We all went upstairs to join Mum and we all looked out of the window as carefully as we could so that they could not see us peeking at them.

A Black taxi was parked outside our house and as we peered around the edge of the window, we saw three tiny little children climb out. They had a laundry bag each and their Social Worker was keeping them all together while talking to the taxi driver.

After a few minutes, they all walked up the front steps and the Social Worker knocked on the front door. What we saw when we opened the door will stay with me for the rest of my life. All the children had a scared look, the three-year-old boy was holding onto the Social Worker and the girl was scratching her head. We were soon to discover that all of them had head lice. When they spoke, I noticed that they all had black teeth and the older of the boys who was seven, only had a couple of black teeth all the rest were missing.

Mum and Nan had made sandwiches and laid a little tea party for them. The Social Worker went into the lounge with Mum and Dad and me my sister and my Nan sat at the table with them and started to make conversation. None of the children wanted to talk much and the smallest one started to cry.

My heart melted for these tiny underfed and dirty children. I thought of my lovey bedroom with clean bedding and mountains of toys. When the children finished eating and they hardly ate anything at all, I took them to my bedroom with my sister and Nan and I set up my PlayStation.

The boys were so excited they said they had never seen a PlayStation in real life only heard about them but soon they got the hang of it and they started to laugh, and to relax, just a little.

‘’Boys I’m going to set the PlayStation up in your room for you, Amy has given you her television’’

Emily was the eldest at seven, she got up from the floor walked to me and gave me a hug.

‘’Thank you, Kieran’’

That was three years ago. Now we are a happy family together. It has sometimes been tough, the seven-year-old who was now ten has a lot of disabilities, he screams a lot and has temper tantrums. Who can blame him? He has had a terrible start to his life.

I started at the Grammar school and thanks to Mum’s insistence on homework and study I am doing well, getting mostly A’s which pleases Mum and Dad no end. Having to share my life with three strangers does not seem to have had any impact on my school life.

The three children now all go to local schools, they are learning to read and write, and we are proud to call them our Brothers and Sister.

I cannot believe, looking back that I even hesitated in handing over my PlayStation to them, or worried that the limelight would be taken off of me starting at the Grammar school.

They have had so much enjoyment from the PlayStation, and I cannot even begin to compare their lives to mine. I feel lucky and blessed and handing over my PlayStation was a small price to pay for the rich experience these three vulnerable little humans have bought into my life.

I look forward to seeing them continue to grow and prosper and to become the people they were always meant to be.

As Mum often says;

‘’Love is only love, when you pass it on’’