Free A Child in Need by Marion Lennox

link between Nick and the little boy she was holding.
    â€˜Finished your chips?’ She was smiling at him, still with that strange look in her eyes that said she was searching for something deeper than an answer about the chips. What was she seeing? He didn’t want to know.
    â€˜Yes. Thank you.’ They’d bought far too many.
    Shall I feed them to the seagulls?’ Harry asked, and Shanni nodded her agreement.
    â€˜That’s a fine idea. Go right ahead.’
    Okay, but he wasn’t feeding them where he sat. This was a serious business. Carefully Harry wrapped up his pile of cooling chips, pushed himself awkwardly to his feet and stumped down to the water’s edge. Then he laid the parcel on the wet sand, just as carefully unwrapped it and started tossing chips one at a time skyward but back toward the adults.
    The gulls screamed in from everywhere, forming a cacophony of sound and movement between adults and child. A barrier… It was as if that was what Harry had meant to happen.
    And for a long moment Nick watched, his heart doing all sorts of strange wrenching. Remembering just how hard his lessons of solitude had been to learn…
    â€˜They’re planning on doing psychological assessment on him,’ Shanni said conversationally, and Nick somehow hauled himself back to the present.
    Psychological assessment… ‘Because of the hostage thing?’
    â€˜No.’ She shook her head. ‘Because of before. And how he is now.’
    â€˜I don’t understand.’
    â€˜This is as good as it gets,’ she said sadly. ‘He’s as happy as he can be right now. I’m trying so hard, and so is Wendy, the head of his children’s home. But he’s so withdrawn. Around most people he dives for cover, or, if they come close, he screams blue murder. Screams and screams and screams. Wendy says he has night terrors and he’s keeping every child in the home awake half the night.’
    â€˜So?’
    â€˜So if we don’t get through to him then he’ll be placed in a psychiatric institution. Wendy can’t cope—and who can blame her? She’s running a group home for children at risk and she has more than Harry to care for. They’ve tried foster homes but he doesn’t last more than a night. Adoption’s out of the question like he is now. We must get through to him.’
    We…
    â€˜You mean…’ Nick stirred a whirl of sand under his fingers. ‘You mean you . And Wendy.’
    She flicked a glance at him. ‘Of course.’ She shrugged. ‘I mean me and Wendy.’
    â€˜If you don’t mind me saying this,’ he said softly, ‘I don’t see any professional detachment in this.’
    â€˜Professional detachment?’
    â€˜Surely your role of kindergarten teacher doesn’t include mental health therapy for your students.’
    Silence.
    â€˜He’s not your responsibility,’ Nick went on. There was no easy way to say this but it must be said. ‘If Harry needs professional help, then surely a psychiatric institution is the place where he’ll get it.’
    â€˜He needs to be loved.’
    â€˜Then he needs to be cured and then adopted.’
    â€˜Oh, sure,’ she said, jeering. ‘Cured and then adopted. But it’s a Catch 22 situation, isn’t it, Mr Daniels? He can’t be adopted until he’s cured and he can’t be cured until he’s adopted.’
    â€˜That sounds clever.’
    â€˜It’s not.’ She got up, her colour heightened so her cheeks were turning to rose, and there was anger building. Her eyes flashed fire and…contempt? ‘Of course it’s not simple, either,’ she flashed at him. ‘But I’ve no intention of talking smart or simple theories. I’m talking about a little boy’s life. If I could, then I’d take him home with me. Maybe I’d have a chance to make a difference,