During the school holiday's the dinner ladies run a little
holiday club. I sent the urchin on Monday, expecting
to receive a phone call half way through the day to pick
him up. He can be a handful, and the dinner ladies have
no qualifications for children with special needs.
No phone call came.
Picked him up at three which was the agreed time. He had
been good as gold
This was partly due to an older boy
called Joe, who had taken him under his wing. The dinner
ladies said Joe had been really good with the urchin and showed
him how to use the play station and various other games.
So, i took him there every day except one, where i took him
on a steam train. All i have heard all week has been "Joe this"
and "Joe that" I even had to incorporate 'Joe' into his bedtime
story.
Let me tell you about Joe. He is 15 yrs old. He used to attend
urchin's school until he was 11 (it is only an infants and junior
school) He is partially blind, almost totally deaf, he does speak
but doesn't sound like you or i. He returns every year to help
the dinner ladies with the out of school club. He is a real star.
He has been so good with the urchin and i found out that he has
done a letter to his class teacher, Miss Socket, to say what a
good boy he had been (he heard about the trouble he has been in)
I decided to get Joe a little 'thank you' card, and shoved a tenner
inside and left it in urchins bag when i dropped him off this morning.
When i picked him up at 3pm, Joe's mum came over to me and
said thanks for the card etc and how proud she was of him. She
said they were trying to get him to pick a career path at his own
school but before today he had no direction. Joe had told his Mum
when he showed her his card that he has decided he wants to work
with kids with special needs. Nice one Joe
I gave him a big hug, and those who don't know me might have
thought they saw a tear in my eye. Obviously, it was just
something in my eye. But i felt almost human, momentarily.
