Story 07 – Part 4 – Finding Home

“That was insane, and dangerous,” Agent Driver told Agent Michaels. “I’m so proud of you.”

Boomer looked around at all of the children who were sitting around in the lobby. He had not actually gone with the rescue crew but had instead helped Mrs. Owens prepare food. Boomer had originally assumed that the children would go with child services of some sort. Then Mrs. Owens had asked him to help her prepare some of the empty apartments.

As it turned out, several of the older children preferred to stay near Carmine since he could speak about every language they could. Because of that, the other children all wanted to come along as well. In the end, the freelance agency took charge of finding out where the children were from since Carmine was having the most success in the matter.

“So, did we save them all?” Boomer asked the government agents.

“According to the children, yes,” Agent Michaels answered. “Now, can I please get out of this outfit?”

“What?” Agent Driver teased. “You don’t like the perks of dumpster diving? I thought you had scored some movie tickets.”

“I smell like garbage.”

“Fine, fine,” Driver said. “Hey, Boom, could you tell Owens that we went to finish all the paperwork and get everything ready for when we know where to transport the kids?”

“You got it,” Boomer said.

“Paperwork?” Michaels sighed.

“Well, you are better at it than me,” Driver pointed out as the two agents left.

Boomer chuckled to himself as he shifted Lisa in his arms. She was still waking up from her nap and yet trying to keep up with all of the activity in the room. Tasha was going to be home in two hours, and he had not even decided on dinner. Boomer doubted his wife would mind, though. Especially since he could probably get Mrs. Owens to feed them with everyone else.

“This is going to take longer than I thought,” Carmine said as he left the kids playing and walked over to Boomer. “I just don’t think it’s safe to send these kids to their home countries until we can verify that their family is there.”

“I agree,” Owens said as he came up from behind. “I think the freelance agency is being turned into a foster home for the moment. Do you boys mind being part-time babysitters for the time being?”

“So long as they don’t mind that I can’t speak their language,” Boomer replied.

“Actually, a few of them will be able to translate for you,” Carmine said. “As for babysitting, I’ll be around while I’m getting their names and villages from them. Depending on where they live, though, I might go and travel to verify.”

“Your other job won’t mind you taking a lot of random vacations?” Owens asked.

“I can work things out.”

Two of the refugee children started wrestling and Carmine joined the older kids in monitoring the little brawl. Boomer watched the variety of personalities and cultures that dotted the lobby. The children ranged from as young as four to as old as their early teens. Even so, all of the kids got along with each other. It was like one big family. They looked after each other even though they were not related at all.

“Hey, Owens,” Boomer said. “If my wife says yes, do you think we could adopt some of the kids who don’t have a home?”