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George Pollock State KidIssue 61
Twists of Fortune
Five lost kids had found each other.After a week of many phone calls between the siblings, Billy rounded them up again andtook them out to the Caulfield place -- which he now controlled through the CaulfieldFoundation. This time all Billy had to do was pull up, beep the horn, and a brother or sister flew out the door and down the front walk and into the car. Now a less nervous driver, and having memorized the directions, Billy picked them upand got them to the Caulfield place without a wrong turn or near collision. There the fivesiblings stood on the spot where Mr. Caulfield had died, and ogled the castle. Billyexplained how Mr. Caulfield had built the massive fortress almost single-handedly over a period of forty-five years.“He built it all by himself?” Mary asked.“Wow,” Raymond said, “like out of a history book.”“He had to be weird,” Vincent said.“No doubt about it,” Billy said.“He spent his life doing something totally crazy,” Raymond said.“Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that, for me, this is the most special place in thisworld.”“Why?” Raymond asked.Billy told how the old man had saved him by taking him in and believing in him.“Here, for the first time, I was family.”“Wow!” Raymond said. “For real?”“He treated you like a son?” Vincent asked.“Yes. He wanted to adopt me.”“Adopt you?” Mary said. “Gee, I never came even close.”“Me neither,” said Rebecca.Billy told his brothers and sisters about a new program set up by the CaulfieldFoundation and Fairview University so foster kids like them could follow their dreams --even go to Fairview University.“All urchins may apply,” Billy said.“What's an urchin?” Raymond said.“A kid that nobody wants.”
 
“Like us?” Rebecca said.“Yes, like us.”They spent the afternoon in and around the castle. Afterwards, Billy took them into theold stone house, which the Caulfield Foundation was enlarging. Billy said, “There's goingto be room enough for all of you to stay here any time you want. There will be food, books, music, games, conversation, swimming in Caulfield Lake, and also slave labor.”“Slave labor?” said Vincent.“Yes. Working on the castle. The work is hard, but pays a fair wage.”“We can make money?” Raymond asked.“Yes. The more you work, the more you make.”“Girls, too?” Mary asked.“Of course. In this family, girls and boys have equal rights. Everything is equal-equal.”Just before he was to take them back, Billy went into the shed and brought out the Silver Streak that Mr. Caulfield had given him. He put it in front of Vincent.“Transportation upgrade,” Billy said.“For me?”“Yes. Mr. Caulfield gave it to me and now I give it to you.”Vincent came out with a joyful expletive.“Vincent!”“Sorry.”Billy continued. “He wanted all of you to have transportation upgrades.”“Me, too?î” Raymond asked.“Yes, you, too,” Billy said. :All of you. That's the kind of guy Lord Caulfied was.”Raymond came out with the same joyful expletive.Billy thought,
Trash talk. My own flesh and blood. Oh, well ...
“Lord?” Mary asked. “He was a Lord?”“Yes -- a very great one.”***As time went by, The Department of Social Services granted to the five siblings regular supervised visits to the Caulfield Estate, then overnights, then weekends, then schoolvacations. Then, finally, under the supervision of Dr. Sam Bridges, it became a DSS-approved home for the new family.When they were foster kids, none of the siblings had ever been allowed to have a friendso much as darken the doorway. To visit with a friend, they had to go elsewhere. But nowthat the siblings were living as a family in their own home, it was different. Every daywas open house for kids. Adults had to call first for supervised visits.
 
Billy held a reunion with the relatives of Sadie and Sophie Foley to thank them for standing by him in his darkest hour as a fugitive. Attending were sixteen of the seventeenwho had signed the Sentinel letter supporting him when every other letter was againsthim.He stood at the head of the long table in the Great Hall of the castle and proposed a toast:“To Sadie and Sophie, thank you for all the good you have done. And, thank you for adopting me into a wonderful family. Getting adopted has always been my dream -- andnow it has come true.”So many runaways showed up at the door that the Foster Child Foundation, funded byCaulfield Industries and the Caulfield Foundation, became a major organization workingfor foster kids. The Foundation and the Department of Social Services developed a closeworking relationship. Richard McFardle, who continued as Director of DSS, became amember of the Foundation's board of directors.Among the visitors were Kali Muhammad, Durk Coogan, Angel Santiago, JohnsonJohnson, Billy Ruggieri and many others from Granite City School -- all participants in awork-study program set up by Caulfield Industries, the Caulfield Foundation, and Billy'sFoster Child Foundation.They spent part of their time working on the castle and part of the time taking classes inthe castle's Great Hall. Their pay exceeded minimum wage and that portion went into amandatory savings program.Under a new Director -- Director Carson having left to parlay his name recognition intospeaking fees and political grubstaking -- Billy went to Granite City School three times aweek to read to inmates. He became a part-time member of the teaching staff, just hasDavid Weatherall had been, except that he donated his pay for the purchase of books. Thelibrary at Granite City School became one that any regular school would be proud to callits own.Every time Billy walked out that door, he thanked God and filled his lungs with the air of freedom -- but also reflected upon all the boys he had just left behind. Over time, all of Billy's old comrades-in-arms were released and received follow-up services.Unfortunately, almost all went back into the same fractured families and violent street-corner society, where they continued to have the same kinds of problems that got them introuble in the first place.Despite repeated “interventions,” despite Billy's best efforts and those of hisorganizations, a large percentage of those released could not cope and got into serioustrouble with the law. Many ended up back in Granite City School.Two of them were Durk Coogan and Angel Santiago. Billy took the two “recidivists”aside in the recreation yard and, while guards stood by, screamed at them for blowing theopportunity to build a new life.They snarled at him and walked away.“It's not your fault, Billy,” David Weatherall said. “You can't do it for them. It's the greatflaw of liberal thought.”
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12 / 05 / 2010<span class="translation_missing">en_US, this_document_made_it_onto_the</span>Rising List!
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