His Working Class Hero

The front attendant of the dinner sat us down in one of the corner booths. This was the most popular dinner in all of Savannah and part of it was due to the simple fact that they understood the times. They grew as the world grew and changed, they never stayed the same and that held the key to their success.

“Hey Uncle Johnny, why are the people that bring the food wearing roller skates?” Tim asked me and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“These kinds of dinners are really happening right now. They play all the modern music in that jukebox right there and they wear roller skates cause these kinds of dinners have gotten popular with the young crowd. In some places you can just drive up and park your car and the waiters come to your car on those wheels.” I told him as I saw the waitress approach us.

“Hello Mr. Seward. I haven’t seen you in a while. Is this your son?” The young waitress asked me as she looked at the boy, giving him a soft smile. I merely shook my head as I took the menu from her.

“No Tara, I’m a social worker and this is one of the foster boys that I am in charge off. The wife and I haven’t yet had any kids to call our own.” She nodded her head as she placed the kids menu right in front of Tim.

“Well the way you two interact together made it seem as if you were father and son. Well, anyways, what can I get you two to drink.” I knew that Tim loved Coke, but rarely had any because the foster home barely had any money and the only thing available was water. He was a humble boy, never asked for much and never asked for more than what he had. I knew that if I was to let him pick and choose, he would go with the tap water, but I wanted to spoil him today.

“We’ll both have a coke and add a lemon to it please.” She nodded her head as she jotted our order down onto the little note pad and skated away. Looking at Tim I saw a spark in his eyes that only a child with a family could have, a spark that told me that he was as happy and content with his world as he could be. It brought joy to my heart that I was able to give him something that he always craved but was never able to get.

“Uncle Johnny, Can I get a burger?” I laughed at him, not even bothering to look at the menu. I knew what I was going to get, it would be the usual thing that I got every time that I came here. Even though you couldn’t tell by looking at me, I was a man that loved routine and I was highly content with not having to change my small little rituals.

“Fella, you can get whatever you want. Don’t sit there and ask me and don’t look at the price, today is a day where I pamper you. Who knows, after today you might have a new family and I won’t be able to see you as much anymore.” Tim simply nodded as his head ducked back into the menu.

The most important thing to me now was to get him settled in a family. It bothered me that people got the wrong impression of him, he was a boy of so many layers and a character that most people in their adult years were never able to have. They never gave him a chance, not like I had or how Sister Teresa had.

“Uncle Johnny, I miss Susie. Would mister Tenenbaum let me see her? I know I’m a foster boy and that unlike him, I have no money, but I do still want to see my friend.” Tim told me, his head bent low enough so that his dirty blonde hair covered his eyes. She was the first and only friend that he had made in the foster house. Sister Teresa would tell me stories of how they would build forts in the small bedroom from two chairs and a simple white bed sheet.

In that fort they would spend the day playing different games and enjoyed each other’s company. By the time the sun would start setting, they would tell each other ghost stories and urban myths that they would hear from the older boys and girls. They never read the same book; each would read their own book and then spend the day and night telling each other about the escapades that the fictional character faced. By bedtime, Sister Teresa would shoo them away and send them to bed, thought neither of them ever wanted sleep to overtake them.

Since Mister Tenenbaum adopted Little Susie, Tim had never been the same. He had once again reverted back to his silent ways. The only person that he was able to share himself with was gone and he once again got lost in the fantasy world of books and in the universe that he build inside of his own head.

“I’m sure if Mr. Tenenbaum is a good man, he’ll let you see Little Susie. I’ll call him one of these days and see if we can set up some kind of play date between you two kids.” I told Tim and his eyes sparkled with joy. If he would have been adopted today, I knew that I would have to set it up as soon as possible. As a social worker, I would lose the connection I had with Tim. I would see him possibly once every few months, just to make sure that everything was going well with the family and then once again disappear. That was the hardest part about gaining a relationship with your cases. When they left, they left for good and you needed to find a new child to take under your wing.

The next hour was spent in the dinner, enjoying the food that we had gotten while chatting about all sorts of different things. I told Tim about this new girl that I was given who lived in Savannah, Georgia and in turn he told me all about the book that he had been reading. He got lost in the fantasy world of The Wizard of Oz just like I had when I was a kid and I couldn’t help but smile at the realization of how similar me and him were.



We drove very slowly down the small streets in Savannah, nearing the house where we were to meet the potential family for Tim. It was always necessary to drive slow, not that our cars reached a great speed but the kids were crazy in their own retrospect. They did not see the danger that a car could bring to them, but then again, not all too many people drove down the small residential streets. Not everyone owned a car, especially the woman. They stayed home with the kids while the husband would drive off to work. The cars appeared on the streets at about five and then all almost disappeared by seven as everyone had returned home by that time.

I pulled to a slow stop at an average sized white house. It was well taken care off, with the grass being trimmed well and flowers growing around the entire length of the white picket fence that closed the yard off from anyone that didn’t live in the house.

One of the first things that attracted me to this family was the fact that they were well clean and polished in their etiquette. They greeted me well and spoke in a language that showed me that they had a certain air of sophistication, even if they weren’t as rich as Mr. Tenenbaum were. The potential parents dressed well and were clean kept; they only had two kids, both girls. It wasn’t that they didn’t want any more kids, the problem was that the mother had suffered complications on her last pregnancy and she no longer was able to have kids.

That’s why they had resourced to adoption, which in my opinion was a holy thing. To give a child a life that they couldn’t have was the greatest gift that anyone could give.

Placing my car in park I pointed to the house as I turned to Tim. “Okay, Timmy, this is where Mister and Misses Greene live. Now remember when we go inside, don’t be too quiet but don’t be too all over the place. Show them that you are an intelligent boy, because I know that you are, but also show them that you are still a child and in thus still have that innocence about you, okay?” I asked Tim and he simply nodded his head. I could see the excitement and fear mixed in his eyes. Days like these could determine exactly where your life could go.

Just as I was ready to open the door and get out of my Renault 10, I heard a yell and my head snapped to the house that we were supposed to go into. I put my hand on Tim’s small arm, letting him know that I wanted him to continue sitting where he was, I needed to know what was going on.

Keeping my eye on the perfect white house, I watched as a new TV went crashing through the perfect rotunda windows and my grip on Tim’s arm tightened instantly. The curtains blew away from the window and I had a clear view of the living room of the Greene household. Mr. Greene picked up his hand and cleanly slapped his wife across her face, making her topple to the floor as tears streamed down the two girls faces.

Though I couldn’t hear the words that were spoken, I could feel the children begging their father not to hurt their mother or them but the anger that I could see from the distance, fueled him as he raised his hand to hit his children. I turned my head away, not able to look at the scene before me. To say that I was glad, was an understatement. The fact that little Tim could have ended up in a place like this broke my heart in ways that I had began to understand only a parent could feel.

“I got a better idea Tim. We need to go back to my office so that I can report Mr. Greene for abuse. I’m sorry, but you are not getting them as parents, it’s for the better kiddo.” Disappointment covered his face and in part it was due to the fact that I did not let him see what it is that was going on in Mr. Greene’s house.

“I guess so then.” He told me as he slouched in the leather seat and perched his head against the window. In that moment, as I sat there looking at him I had realized something that I had been blind to all of these years. Every time that I seen him sad, it had made my heart hurt and I wanted to do everything in my power to save him from the pain, to make him feel like he was the most special kid in the world. That’s why I knew that I had to ask him my next question.

“Tim, what would you say if I asked you to be my son?” He sat up straighter in his seat, his eyes getting wide. Shock was written over his face and I couldn’t help but smile the biggest smile I had in years.

“Watcha mean Uncle Johnny?” We stopped at a red light and I turned to look at the little boy that sat next to me, the boy that had changed my life in ways no-one ever was able to.

“I mean that I, Jonathan Seward, would love to adopt you, Tim O’Callighan. But that can only happen if you agree to it.” He looked down at his hands as he fumbled with his hands.

“No kidding?”

“Nope, no kidding at all.” He looked up at me, the sparkle coming back to his icy blue eyes.

“I think that’s a swell idea.” He told me as he looked back out the window and we continued the ride back to my office. I had taken care of him for years and I could not see the fact that he was one of few people that made me want to better myself. Better myself in ways that only a son can make a father feel.

I knew that my wife would not mind adopting him, she had known him almost as well as I had with the amount of times that I talked about him.

I had figured that today, I was going to change Tim’s life in ways that I had only dreamed off year’s ago. But I had not only changed his life, but he had changed my life. I knew that no matter how much time would pass and no matter what problems we would face, I would never regret this decision.

This is what it felt like to change a life.