Just a Boy: An Inspiring and Heartwarming Short Story

This book is a work of non-fiction based on the author’s experiences. In order to protect privacy, names, identifying characteristics, dialogue and details have been changed or reconstructed.

HarperElement

An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

and HarperElement are trademarks of

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

First published by HarperElement 2013

FIRST EDITION

© Casey Watson 2013

Casey Watson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at

www.harpercollins.co.uk/green

Ebook Edition © May 2013 ISBN: 9780007529353

Version 2016-10-21

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Just a Boy: An Inspiring and Heartwarming True Story

Exclusive preview of Casey’s next title Breaking the Silence

Sample from Casey’s heart-rending debut title The Boy No One Loved

Sample from Casey’s shocking 2nd book Crying for Help

Sample from Casey’s 3rd harrowing memoir Little Prisoners

Sample from Casey’s poignant 4th title Too Hurt To Stay

Sample from Casey’s latest inspiring true story Mummy’s Little Helper

Casey Watson

Acknowledgements

About the Publisher

To my wonderful and supportive family

Kindness is a language which the deaf

can hear and the blind can see.

Mark Twain

Dropping my shopping in the hall, car keys hanging from my mouth, I ran through the house to get to the phone before it cut off.

‘Hello,’ I spluttered, trying to catch my breath.

‘Casey, hi there,’ said a familiar voice. It was John Fulshaw, my fostering-agency link worker. ‘You sound puffed,’ he observed. ‘Are you okay to talk?’

‘To you?’ I replied, laughing. ‘Anytime. Do you bring me good tidings?’ I felt a ripple of excitement about why he might be phoning. Mike and I were between placements at the moment, a state of affairs I became bored with very easily. Perhaps John had a new child for us. Now that would really make my Wednesday. ‘Well?’ I finished.

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I do.’

I was just about to ask him for chapter and verse when he continued. ‘But only of a temporary nature. It’s a fourteen-year-old boy who lives with his elderly grandparents and needs a place to stay just for a couple of days.’

He went on to explain that this boy, who was called Cameron, wouldn’t be one of our usual kind of children, who mainly came from terrible backgrounds or were already in the care system. This was different. It was a lad who lived in perfectly agreeable family circumstances and who needed a place to go only because his grandmother had been taken ill and hospitalised. Apparently, Granddad, who was disabled, wouldn’t be able to manage on his own, which was why a place needed to be found right away. He also needed to be able to spend time with his sick wife, John finished, and obviously couldn’t be in two places at once.

‘And our lad’s a bit too much of a handful to be home alone then, is he?’ I chortled. I knew what fourteen-year-old boys could be like.

‘Not at all,’ John corrected me. ‘Quite the opposite – he’ll be no trouble at all. There’s just one thing you need to know, really. He’s blind.’

For the first time in my life, I think, I was completely lost for words. I tried to recall if I’d ever even met anyone who was blind before, and couldn’t, and then, of course, my brain starting whirring. What would it be like, having a blind child living with us? Would it be difficult? Would we need to move the furniture?

‘Casey?’ John prompted, obviously mistaking my logistical musings for reluctance. ‘Don’t feel obliged to say yes to this. We can ask someone else, I just thought you might be interested. I know you’re itching to get another child in and I thought this might make an interesting stop-gap for you both. He’s a lovely lad – really funny and doesn’t let his disability faze him. Do you want some time to talk it over with Mike?’

‘God, no,’ I reassured him. ‘Mike will be absolutely fine with it. I don’t need to ask him because I know he’ll say yes.’

‘Well, if you’re sure …’ John said. ‘It would only be from tomorrow to Saturday morning. There’s a family member travelling up to take over then, I believe, and –’

‘Sure I’m sure,’ I told him. So that was that.

As I expected, Mike wasn’t fazed in the least. By the time he’d got home from work that afternoon, I’d already been busy on the internet, fact-finding. And it had been really useful. Taking inspiration from the website of a school for the blind, with their sensory rooms, musical instruments, interactive and soft play areas, I already had lots of ideas.