As the officers at the Newark police station were on their duty, as it was a normal day. All of a sudden, a woman arrived with her son, as she was pulling her son from his arm.
As the woman in her thirties pulled her son, roughly, the teenager boy said, “Let go…”
The mother pushed her son towards the sergeant’s desk, as she said, “Officer, you have to help me. I can’t keep him anymore, please, you have to take him.”
As the sergeant was shocked with the situation, he said, “Ma’am, I don’t understand.”
Woman started to cry, as she said, “My son, I can’t have in my house anymore. Please, you have to take him.”
Sergeant was still confused, as he said, “Ma’am, we can only ‘take’ people who’ve committed crimes.”
Woman kept crying, as she said, “He’s going to. Can’t you see that?”
Then the teenager had a weird smile on his face, as he said, “You’re such a loser. They can’t do ANYTHING to me! I’m a minor.”
Her mother then confessed, “He’s been stealing,”
“I know that, and this afternoon… He pulled out a knife!”
“A knife?” Said sergeant, as he asked for more information, “What kind of a knife?”
Mother continued, “A big knife, my husband’s K-Bar,”
“I told him to clean his room, and he took out the knife.”
The teenager continued with his smile, he said, “I didn’t do nothing!”
“I didn’t threaten her, I just showed her what I had in my jacket pocket!”
“That’s different, Ma’am,” said the sergeant, as he nodded, “That’s carrying a concealed weapon, and THAT’S a crime.”
Then the officers took the mother to learn the rest of the story.
The mother started as, “My husband passed away a year ago. He was a Marine,”
“And that’s when Donny started acting up. He started staying out late, hanging out with some older boys.”
Mary, the mother continued as, “Then he started skipping school. I found some expensive things in his room, things we could never afford and he said a friend gave it to him.”
“I didn’t know what to do!”
Mary kept crying, as she said, “I tried a curfew, but he just ignored it. This morning he pulled out that knife. My daughter Rita is just eight and she was frightened.”
“He was such a sweet boy, but now I don’t know what to do! I have to work two jobs now, and I know he probably needs me there more, I know he’s in pain, but I can’t handle it!”
One of the officers who were listening Mary said, “I have an idea,” and then he proceeded with a phone call. Two hours later, the officers took Donny to the room, and this time, another man was sitting across him, the man stated that he was a social worker.
Officer started to talk. “Now Donny,”
“We’ve been talking to your mother, and we have a proposition for you.”
Donny leaned back, as he said, “Oh yeah?”
“And what’s that?”
“We can charge you with carrying a concealed weapon and you go to juvie, or you do six months community service.” Officer said calmly.
Doony was shocked, he said, “What? You’re nuts!”
Then social worker took the word, “What I was thinking, is that you’d work at a children’s group shelter every day after school, help the smaller kids with homework, with their chores, whatever they need.”
Donny cried, “No way! That’s when I hang out with my friends!”
Officer cut Donny’s words, “Not anymore,”
“Now you hang out with the kiddies, and then you go home to your mother and sister and you treat them right.”
Donny shouted, “You can’t MAKE me!”
“You couldn’t do that if my dad was alive!”
Social worker continued calmly, “I know you’re hurting, Donny,” he said, “But maybe helping others will help you too.”
Donny was at the shelted on the next morning, as he was surrounded with kids who were aged six to nine. The little kid was six, and his name was Ben. He wasn’t talking, and only sittin on the corner of the room, as he was afraid.
Donny asked one of the social workers, “What’s wrong with him?”
The woman responded as, “Ben’s father died and he has learned that the world is cruel. He’s afraid of everything. We’ve tried, but we can’t get through to him. Not yet.”
Donny brought a fire engine to Ben one day, he said, “Hey,” took the attention of the boy.
“I thought you might like this.” Handed over the fire engine. Ben was suspicious of Donny.
Donny said, “It’s OK,
“You can have it. My dad gave it to me. Did I tell you I used to be really scared of the dark? My dad said that the truck was magic and I guess it was, ’cause I’m not scared anymore.”
Ben started to play with it. Every afternoon, Donny started to spend time with little Ben. He told him his own stories from the times he went fishing with his father.
As Ben never spoke to him, one day he asked, “Where’s your daddy?”
Donny couldn’t speak for a moment, as he took a breath, then he said, “My daddy was a soldier, a Marine. He’s gone to heaven.”
Ben said, “My daddy too, he didn’t want me. Didn’t your daddy want you either?”
Donny huhhed Ben, tightly, and said, “Yes he did, Ben, he wanted me and my mom and my sister and he loved us. But sometimes a daddy has to go even though they don’t want to and we need them.”
Ben said, “He’s never coming back,” and continued, “I heard them say. Never ever.”
Donny was hardly speaking, as he said, “Ben, our daddies can’t come back, but they can see us, you know.”
“They can?” Ben asked to Donny.
Donny smiled, “Yes, really,”
“Even if we can’t see them, they watch out for us. My mom told me.”
Then, Ben said, “You’re lucky, you still have a mommy…”
That night, Donny couldn’t sleep. He went to his mother’s room, and hugged to her tightly. He understand the bad behaviour he had against his mother at his talk with little Ben. At one Sunday, he brought Ben to their house, for a lunch. And when his community service was over, he started to work there, voluntarily, as he had spend every afternoon with Ben.
What do you think? Let us know.
