All My Tomorrows (3 page)

He opened the cloth bag and pulled out one of his socks. Folding it a couple of times, he pressed it to the cut on his cheek. “Oh, Mama, I need you! I need you!”

Teddy pulled his bony knees up close to his chest, leaned his head against them, and wept. He held the sock tight against the cut. Tears of frustration and pain streamed down his face.

He stayed in this position for several minutes, eyes closed. Then suddenly, he was aware of a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, little fella, what are you doing out here in this freezing weather?”

Teddy lifted his head and looked up at the tall man in dark blue with a badge on his chest.

The policeman saw the blood on the sock. “You’re hurt, son. Where do you live?”

Teddy sniffed. “I don’t have a home, sir. I’m an orphan. My mother died a few days ago, and I just came downtown to find a colony of street urchins to live with. In one of the alleys, I got punched. The big boy who hit me was wearing a ring. It was the ring that cut me.”

The officer hunkered down to Teddy’s level. He took hold of the hand that held the sock and turned it so he could see the cut. “You mean you don’t have any relatives to live with?”

“I have an aunt and two uncles who don’t want me.”

The officer looked at him compassionately. “What’s your name, son?”

“Teddy Hansen. Well, really, it’s Theodore Hansen.”

“My name is Officer Justin Smith, Teddy,” the policeman said, rising to his feet and taking hold of the boy’s arm. “Come along with me.”

The boy frowned and stiffened his body, still pressing the sock to his cut. “Where are you taking me? I won’t go back to my aunt and uncles who don’t want me. I certainly sure won’t!”

Smith smiled. “It’s all right, laddy, I’m not taking you to them. I’m going to take you to Park West Hospital, just down the street a couple of blocks. That cut needs a doctor’s attention. You’re losing a lot of blood. Come along. I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”

Smith laid his hand on Teddy’s shoulder again, and Teddy could feel the warmth of it through his shabby coat. “Well-l-l-l …”

“Don’t you trust me?”

“Uh … yes, sir. It’s just that—”

“Someone you have trusted in the past let you down. Is that it?”

Teddy nodded and rose to his feet, clutching the cloth bag in his free hand.

“Here, let me carry that. You keep the sock pressed to the cut.”

They left the protective doorway, and while they walked the two blocks to the hospital, Teddy told Officer Smith his whole story at Smith’s request. The officer’s heart went out to the boy, realizing that Teddy had already suffered severely in his young life. His father had deserted him two years before, and today, he had seen his mother buried.

When they reached the hospital, Justin Smith led Teddy into the brightly lit lobby. He took him to a small waiting room just off the lobby. Teddy had never been in a hospital before and quickly noticed the strange odors in the air—not all of them pleasant.

Seeing the fear in Teddy’s eyes, Smith sat him on a wooden chair and laid a hand on his thin shoulder. “You stay right here. I’ll go find a doctor. Promise me you won’t move from this chair.”

“I will stay right here, sir.”

Smith smiled and patted the top of Teddy’s head. “Good boy. I’ll be right back.”

Teddy watched the officer take his long strides as he left the room and headed down the hall.

Ten minutes had passed when the policeman and a silver-haired man in a white frock entered the waiting room. True to his word, the boy was still on the chair. He looked up at both men, still pressing the sock to his cheek.

“Teddy,” said Officer Smith, “this is Dr. Randall Martin. He is going to take care of your cut.”

The doctor smiled and bent down. “May I see the cut, son?”

Teddy relaxed his hand as the doctor took hold of it and moved it so he could get a look at the bleeding gash. He studied it a moment, then placed the small hand and sock over the cut. “Officer Smith told me your story, Teddy. Come with me, now. We’ll get you fixed up.”

Teddy looked up at the officer.

Smith laid a hand on his head again. “Dr. Martin and the nurses will take good care of you, Teddy. I have to get back on my beat. How long has it been since you had something to eat?”

“I had a little bit of breakfast this morning, sir. I … I really didn’t feel like eating, since I was going to Mama’s funeral.”

“Are you hungry now?”

“Yes, sir.”

Dr. Martin looked at the policeman. “We’ll take good care of him, Officer Smith. When I’ve stitched him up, we’ll give him a good supper and a warm bed for the night. You can pick him up in the morning if that’s convenient for you.”

The thought of a meal and a warm bed sounded heavenly to Teddy.

“I’ll be here about nine o’clock in the morning, Doctor,” said Smith.

Martin nodded, then extended his hand to Teddy. “Let’s go, son.”

Teddy slipped off the chair, bent down, picked up his cloth bag, and took hold of the doctor’s hand. He looked up at the policeman with his sad little eyes. “Thank you, Officer Smith, for taking care of me.”

Smith touched the boy’s shoulder. “My pleasure, Teddy. See you tomorrow morning.”

The tall man in blue watched as the silver-haired doctor led the boy down the hall. When they stopped at a door and Dr. Martin opened it, Teddy looked back and smiled at him. Smith smiled back, and doctor and patient disappeared through the door.

T
he next morning at 8:40, Dr. Randall Martin was at his desk in his office at Park West Hospital, studying a medical report on an elderly patient, when there was a tap on his door.

He looked up. “Yes?”

The door opened, and one of the nurses said, “Dr. Martin, Officer Justin Smith is here. He says you are expecting him.”

“Yes. Please show him in.”

Seconds later, Officer Justin Smith’s tall frame filled the door. Dr. Martin smiled and waved him in. “Come sit down, please.”

Smith eased his lanky frame onto a chair in front of the desk. “How is Teddy doing, Doctor?”

“Teddy’s fine. I had to put four stitches in his cheek. He’s got quite a black and blue mark around the cut, all the way to his eye. The bandage doesn’t hide it all. I’ll need to see him in a week to make sure he’s healing all right. If everything’s okay in ten or eleven days, I’ll take the stitches out.”

Smith eased back in the chair and sighed. “I’m glad he’s all right. Such a special little fella.”

“That he is. So what are you planning to do with him?”

“Well, I was going to investigate the situation with his aunts
and uncles that I told you about when I related Teddy’s story to you.”

“Uh-huh?”

“When my shift was over and I reported in at precinct headquarters yesterday, I talked to Chief Masterson and told him Teddy’s story. The chief agreed that we should make contact with the Pittses and the Eadeses, and see if they really didn’t want Teddy as he told me.”

Martin nodded.

“The chief told me he would send a couple of night shift officers to talk to the aunts and uncles. When I arrived at the precinct this morning, Chief Masterson gave me the report. The officers said that Henry and Lois Eades flat said they were in no position to take Teddy in and raise him. At the Pitts home, Mrs. Pitts wept and said she really wanted to take Teddy in, but Mr. Pitts vehemently objected, saying he was not going to let it happen. Teddy cannot look to his only relatives to give him a home. I’m sure you know, Doctor, that there is no law to force them to take Teddy in, even though he is their nephew.”

“Yes. We hear all the time that the orphanages in all five boroughs are more than full, so what are you going to do?”

“I have a close friend who is on the staff at the Thirty-second Street Orphanage. His name is Bill Waters. Bill has told me many times that the orphanage’s superintendent, Wayne Stanfill, is a very compassionate man. I’m going to take Teddy over there and see if I can talk Mr. Stanfill into adding one more little orphan boy to his overflow.”

Dr. Martin smiled. “Well, it can’t hurt to try.”

“That’s the way I look at it. And if Mr. Stanfill has the compassion Bill says he does, I believe when he takes a look at Teddy and hears his story, he’ll make a place for him in the orphanage.”

“Well, if you’re right, they have a doctor at the orphanage. He
can look after Teddy’s cut and take the stitches out when it’s time.”

Smith rose from the chair. “I’ll see that he does, Doctor. I know you’re busy, so I’ll get out of here and let you go back to what you were doing.”

Dr. Martin stood up and smiled. “Let me know what happens to the little guy, won’t you?”

“Sure will. And thank you for what you’ve done for him.”

“That’s what I’m in this business for.”

The sun was shining brightly on the dazzling snow outside as Teddy Hansen sat on the edge of the bed in his room, gazing at its beauty with squinted eyes. He was dressed and ready to go, with his cap, coat, and the cloth bag lying next to him on the bed.

The fear he was feeling was a cold ball in his stomach. He put fingertips to his bandage and scratched at the adhesive tape that held it. “I wonder what will happen to me today. What will Officer Smith do with me?”

Suddenly the door swung open, and Officer Justin Smith stepped in, a broad grin on his face. “Good morning, Teddy.”

The boy tried to smile back. “Good morning, sir.”

“Dr. Martin told me about the stitches and the black-and-blue mark. But you look better than I expected. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, sir. I slept real good, and just finished a big breakfast. They have been very nice to me here.”

“Good.” Smith chuckled. “I hope your face doesn’t hurt as bad as it looks.”

“No, sir. I know it’s there, but it really doesn’t hurt at all.”

“I’m glad,” said Smith, pulling up a wooden chair. “Before we
go, I need to explain some things to you.”

Teddy nodded.

Smith told the boy about his talk with police Chief Walt Masterson last evening, of the two police officers who visited his aunts and uncles, and what happened in both homes.

Teddy looked down at the floor. “It’s like I told you, sir … the only one who wants me is Aunt Eva. But Uncle George doesn’t, so it can’t happen.” He looked back up at Smith. “What are you going to do with me?”

“I have a good friend who works at the Thirty-second Street Orphanage.”

Teddy’s back arched. “Orphanage? But all the orphanages are full, sir. I’ve heard that many times.”

“I know, but my friend Bill Waters has told me many times how tenderhearted the superintendent is. I believe he will take you, once he meets you and hears your story. I’ve been to the orphanage a few times, Teddy. The people there really love children. They are very kind. The children I’ve seen there seem happy. It sure would be better than living on the streets, as you saw yesterday.”

“Yes, sir,” said Teddy. “It’s for certain sure I don’t want to go through that again. Let’s try it.”

The two of them walked through the snow with Officer Smith carrying the cloth bag. When they arrived at the orphanage, Teddy stared up at the two-storied red brick building. Sunlight glinted off the sparkling windows and smoke rose skyward from its four chimneys.

“It looks like an all right place, sir.”

“Well, let’s go in and see what happens.”

Together, the man in blue and the boy in the tattered coat mounted the steps and moved through the double doors. When they approached the middle-aged woman who sat at the desk,
Smith said, “Good morning, ma’am. I’m Officer Justin Smith. Is Bill Waters on the premises?”

“Yes, he is,” she said, rising from her chair. “I’ll fetch him for you.” Her soft eyes went to Teddy. “And who is this young gentleman?”

“His name is Teddy Hansen, ma’am. He’s an orphan.”

“What happened to your face, honey?”

“I got beat up in an alley, ma’am.”

“Oh. I’m so sorry.” She headed for the door. “I’ll be right back with Mr. Waters.”

No more than three minutes had passed when Waters and the receptionist entered the room.

Bill Waters was a husky man with a receding hairline, and he was dressed in a suit and tie. He extended his hand to his friend, then Waters looked at the boy. “What happened to you, son?”

“He got beat up in an alley when he was trying to join a colony,” Smith answered for Teddy. “He just became an orphan this week. He’s ten years old.”

Waters met Smith’s gaze. “And you—”

“Yes. You’ve often told me of Mr. Stanfill’s compassion. Now, I need to put it to the test. Teddy needs a home.”

Bill nodded. “I’ll take you and Teddy in to see him.”

Waters guided the officer and orphan a short distance down the hall and tapped on the door that had a sign on it which read:
Wayne D. Stanfill, Superintendent.
He tapped on the door and a deep masculine voice from inside called, “Come in.”

Bill Waters led them into the office and introduced Officer Justin Smith, saying they were close friends. Stanfill, who was even a larger man than Waters, shook Smith’s hand, then set his eyes on the boy. “What happened to you, young man?”

Smith answered for Teddy again, using the same words he had spoken to Bill Waters a few minutes before. Stanfill invited
them to sit down, and Waters excused himself and left.

The superintendent smiled at the boy. “What’s your name, son?”

“Teddy Hansen, sir.”

Stanfill looked at the officer. “You’re looking for a home for Teddy, I assume.”

“Yes, sir,” said Smith. “Let me tell you Teddy’s story.”

When the officer finished the sad story, there were tears in Wayne Stanfill’s eyes. “Teddy, we are indeed very crowded here, as you will see. But we will make a place for you. I’ll call for Mr. Waters, and he’ll take you to your room.”

Teddy made a nervous smile. “Thank you, sir.”

Stanfill went to the door and asked the receptionist to find Waters and tell him to come to his office. He returned to his desk and took out a printed form. He asked Teddy for his full name, and Teddy told him it was Theodore Ambrose Hansen. Ambrose was his mother’s maiden name. Stanfill wrote it down, then as he wrote on another line, he told Justin Smith he was putting him down as Teddy’s outside contact.