Page 82 of Charlie
When we got to the living room others were gathering to see what the commotion was about.
“What happened?” Conor stepped forward and frowned at Nathan.
Nathan was shaking and trying to answer, but he was too cold and his lips wouldn’t work.
“He said that he was meditating.” Liv reached for a soft blanket from one of the couches and removed the wet towels. “Come here, honey.” Wrapping the large throw-over around him, she nodded to me. “Help him remove his wet boxers. They’re only cooling him down.”
With the blanket covering the boy, his privacy was intact as I pulled down the soaked fabric and placed the water-dripping boxers in a ceramic bowl that stood on the coffee table.
Liv wrapped two more blankets around him, making him look like the Michelin guy. “Let’s get you warmed up.” Sitting down in a large reading chair, she pulled Nathan down on her lap. Wrapping him tight in the blanket, she placed his head against her chest. “River, please get that other blanket from over there and wrap it around his feet. A foot rub will help him.”
River was eager to help her friend and did as Liv had instructed.
“Why would he meditate in the pond?” I looked from Nathan to Conor.
Conor shook his head with deep disappointment. “Nathan, how many times have I told you to think about your actions?”
“Bu… but… you said…” Nathan struggled to get the words out.
“What did I say? If you’re trying to make everyone here think that I’d ask you to go kill yourself by meditating in a pond in October, then you’re worse off than I thought.”
Nathan closed his eyes and Liv rocked him back and forth like a little boy despite the fact that he was fourteen.
“Maybe he’s confused,” I suggested. “He’s cold and it’s hard to think when…”
Conor cut me off. “Don’t make excuses for him. Nathan has a long history of going about seeking attention in destructive ways. It’s something he and I are working on.”
“What do you mean?” Liv asked with her hand on Nathan’s forehead, holding him close to her.
“With his mother’s history it’s understandable that he’s longing for constant validation that I won’t leave him too. He creates dramatic and dangerous situations that put him in a position of needing rescue. For years it’s been nightmares about snakes in his bed, and then there was the time he got stuck in a tree and couldn’t get down.”
“You told me to… to climb… that… that tree.” Nathan stuttered with his jaws shivering.
“Nathan, stop it!” Conor squatted down in front of Liv and the boy. “It’s one thing to come up with imaginary snakes, but to put yourself in danger like this is reckless. I won’t have it. We’ve talked about it. I would never ask you to do this. It’s all in your mind.” Conor’s face softened as he rubbed the boy’s shoulder. “We all love you and we don’t want to see anything bad happen to you.”
River sat on the floor next to the couch and was rubbing Nathan’s right foot under the blanket. She had her eyes down and seemed as sad about the situation as the rest of us. Looking around, I saw that the room was full of the children and residents. Everyone was looking on with crestfallen faces too.
“How do you feel, Nathan?” I asked.
The boy hid his head against Liv’s chest as if he was too embarrassed to talk.
Conor rose back up. “How about we all go back to what we were doing? Nathan, you and I will come back to this incident and find an appropriate consequence for your error in judgment. Right now, I want you to go to your room and think about how wrong it is to lie.”
Liv’s voice was shaking a bit when she spoke up. “Maybe it would be wise for him to see a doctor. Just to be sure he doesn’t have frostbite and that his vital signs are fine.”
Conor turned to the others in the room. “Ciara, please make the boy some tea and toast. He’ll take it in his room.”
“You’re not going to let him see a doctor?” Liv asked again.
“No. All he needs is to warm up in his bed for half an hour and then he’ll be fine.” Conor tilted his head and gave Liv and me an appreciative smile. “It was a good thing you found him and brought him inside. I thought he was meditating in his room.”
“Can you walk?” Liv whispered to Nathan but I could tell he was too weak.
“Let me take him.” Nathan was quiet as I carried him to his and River’s room on the second floor. It was the last room in a long hallway, the next after Conor’s room. Liv followed me and when the boy was in his bed, she went to get clean underwear from his closet. With the attitude of a nurse, she helped Nathan, who was under his duvet, get his feet into the boxer shorts and pulled them up to his knees.
“Can you pull them up yourself?” she asked and without words he did.
“Good.” Liv kneeled down next to him. “Nathan, listen to me. River is going to lie next to you and offer you her body heat. This time, you won’t tell her to go away. Do you understand?”
