The Untamed Part Three

[ismenin]

Hello again. Yes, the Rain Yt Raineth Everich Daye! As it has been almost everywhere the Rain has been awful. Hope none of my flist have been washed out! (End Of Weather Summary)

On the 15 Jan, it's ladysunrope's birthday, so I'll dedicate this part to her, and to everyone else whose birthday is this week.

Also Special Mention to the lovely friend who had a baby boy this week - the cognoscenti will know who she is.

I'm going to watch a film in a minute - not sure what, but something with Elijah in it sounds good to me. Let's see - Fellowship? Yup, I think so.





Thanks to LSR for beta and making me write an extra bit. :D It's the last bit, with the bois fishing. I do think its better with that in.


The Untamed - 3 - Report


Dear Cate,

Here is my end of month report. As you requested I put everything into it. I ask you do not give any references to the location of my home if or when you pass on this report to any others. It's enough that you know where I am, but I ask you give us a little more time to...bond...I suppose is the right term, before you visit us here. It's all still so new to him.

As I told you about the lavatory training on the phone, I feel no need to report this twice.

Regards, Dom


Informal Monthly Report for C Blanchett from D Monaghan

29 Sept 2008

Elijah, or Lij as I call him - it is all he can pronounce of his own name, as you know - continues to assimilate knowledge at an astonishing pace. He has now over 300 words in his vocabulary, and can say things like "Dom, eat now," and "Lij tired, bed."

As you will most probably know, there is little likelihood of him gaining full speech if he was abandoned earlier than eight years of age, which I think was the case, but I have discovered that he can communicate his needs, at least, without benefit of full speech, and we must acknowledge that there are many vocally impaired people who can accomplish the same thing. I do not despair of eventually integrating him in some way into a limited society.

He is now used to wearing clothes, but it was a struggle to get him to wear shoes. He made faces indicative of pain when I first put the trainers on him, but I was firm, and told him he had to try them, at least. After a few days he was happy to keep them on in the garden, if not in the house.

There were a few accidents in the bathroom, at first, when I introduced clothing, as his fingers were not used to struggling with buttons and zips, but now that problem has been resolved, and he is used to putting on and fastening his own clothing, although he can't yet tie the laces of his trainers.

He is eating more varied foodstuffs, now, such as cheese and crackers, which remains one of his favourites, together with pineapple and ham pizza. Fruit and vegetables he eats in abundance, and he likes a small amount of steak, now that I have showed him he needs to chew it, nor swallow it whole.

He doesn't like liver, or any very strong flavoured meat, except beef, nor anything too spicy such as the hotter Mexican foods, and he spat out spinach when I gave it to him. I had to teach him quickly not to do that at the table - I'm afraid I slapped his arm when he did it the next time...smoked haddock was the cause. I'm sorry to say he got very angry when I did this, and he slapped me back, damned hard. I haven't done it since.

He likes watching the television, particularly wildlife programmes. He talks to the screen as if the animals can hear him, and I had to restrain him from trying to take the back off the set. I knew he was trying to get at the tiny creatures inside it, because he kept laughing at me and measuring a small space between his thumb and forefinger.

I have discovered he's very particular about music. On hearing some types he sits in front of the TV or my sound system and taps his fingers to the beat. Other times he puts his fingers in his ears and howls like a cat on a hot tin roof, making desperate signs to me to turn it off. Strange really. He likes the Beatles, but not the Stones. Led Zeppelin but not The Grateful Dead. Mozart but not Beethoven. As I said - odd.

The first few nights with me he woke often, seemingly cold and troubled, but now he sleeps the night through, as I turned up the thermostat two degrees at night. Why he should feel cold, here, when he was used to sleeping in an open shack on a bed of leaves and rags I don't understand, but I hope I will eventually have taught him enough speech for him to explain it to me.

I gave him coloured pencils and paper and at first he scribbled on it, but I wrote the alphabet on it, and he copied them very well. As I don't think he will ever read I don't know why I did it, except it is interesting watching him learning new things. He likes drawing trees, with birds in them - and flowers.

Later today I am taking him out for the first time - to the park. I hope to introduce him gradually into the community. We'll stop to post this to you on the way. If there's anything else you want to know, please phone me.

Bp: av 110/70
Resp: av. 10 pm
Temp: av 36.5 - 37.6
Pulse: av 66-72
Urine: normal
Faeces: normal
BS: normal


Regards, Dom Monaghan



Dom put the report into an envelope and fixed the stamp onto it. He was very glad he didn't have to visit the Post Office for a stamp or to post the letter, as there was a mail box outside the park gates. He was sure Lij wasn't ready for the bustle of the small town yet. He'd have to be eased into it, as he had been with the trainers.

Lij was in the conservatory talking to the birds and Dom cast him a swift glance before going into the kitchen to prepare lunch. He wasn't surprised when Lij followed him in. Lij followed him everywhere. He wanted contact, that was for sure. He was always touching Dom - on the arm, on the face - brief, gentle gestures, almost... almost a caress. Dom didn't mind - he was used to it, now.

As he scrubbed the potatoes at the sink, he wondered why it was that he had neglected to tell Cate that Lij still took a shower with him. Bugger it! he thought, as he put the potatoes into the microwave, I don't have to tell her everything I do.

He didn't tell her, either, that he had been having a very quick, but very satisfying wank one night to discover, as he reached for the tissues, that Lij was leaning against the door frame staring at him with an unreadable expression on his face.

Dom wasn't embarrassed. He'd discovered that Lij thought most of the activities of human life were communal in nature, and had no compunction about coming into the bathroom to brush his teeth when Dom was using the lavatory. Lij loved his toothbrush, and often it was to be seen tucked into his waistband as he went about the little domestic tasks Dom had given him. Dom suspected he was addicted to the taste of the toothpaste, as Lij used it about four times every day.

"We go walk?" Lij had asked him over the cream cheese and chive filled potatoes. ""We go after eat, Dom?" This was the longest sentence Lij had constructed, and Dom was very pleased. Dom had decided to write all the words Lij knew in a book, and teach him to read them. He wasn't sure that Lij - like many young children learning to read - was merely remembering the position, or the shape, of the words, but he was a quick study, and Dom never ceased to be amazed at the swiftness of his mental processes. Really, Lij was a remarkable man.

Dom drank his mango juice, thinking wryly that the long-life sort came nowhere near the flavour of the fresh types, and put the dishes in the sink. It wasn't like him to leave the washing up until later, but it was a warm autumn afternoon, and Dom wanted Lij to see the trees in all their gold and russet glory before the leaves fell, as he was certain Lij would want that.

It was a short walk to the park - five minutes - but Lij hadn't been out on the street since he had arrived at Dom's house, and clutched at Dom's hand in fear when a car passed them in a hurry to get somewhere. Lij had been inside one, and seen cars through the front windows, but the sound had been muted then. It seemed it was the loudness that bothered Lij, not the fast moving vehicles.

Dom wondered what people would think if they saw two men holding hands going into the park, but, in the event there was no-one about, except a woman in the distance walking a small dog on a lead.

As soon as they reached the trees, Lij gave a shout of joy and ran into the wooded glade. Dom raced after him - there would be hell to pay if he lost him, he knew that.
He found him soon enough. Lij was leaning his chest against a large Canadian maple, his arms high above his head, touching the bark and crooning softly. When he saw Dom he pointed, and Dom said "tree," but Lij shook his head and pointed again.

Dom didn't know what Lij wanted, and made this known by shrugging his shoulders, and staring at the man in puzzlement. "Lij?" Lij asked, patting the tree.

Dom nodded. Lij wanted to know the name of the species - would probably want to know the name of every fucking tree in the fucking park, Dom thought, grinning.

"Maple."

They had gone through oak, ash, willow and birch before Dom tired of it. He sat on a wooden bench and watched Lij run about the clearing in the centre of the copse, picking up leaves and running his finger along their length as if in awe of them. After a while Dom went over to see what he was doing and found him with a sycamore leaf in his hand. Lij was just staring at it. He was obviously trying to find a word to describe it, as Lij's eyes were shining bright with joy - but Dom had only taught him words for objects. There was nothing in his vocabulary that described aesthetics or the abstract.

So Dom said "beautiful," and gathering up all the prettiest leaves, repeated the word. Then, when they came to the last of the summer flowers he did the same, repeated the word with the name of the thing, until Lij got the idea. "Beautiful leaf," "beautiful flower," "beautiful bird."

Then, at last, when he was tired, and it was nearly time for dinner, and dusk was falling, Lij leant against a tree again and asked, "we home go, now, beautifu' Dom?" and Dom blushed scarlet, although he couldn't say why.


*****


Dear Cate,

I have left Passmore for good, and taken Lij with me. Don't try to follow us - I'm used to not being found if I don't want to be.

It's been six months since you turned Lij over to me, and it's apparent, now, he will never assimilate into life in a town. He loves the trees and the birds and the green grass, so that's where I'm taking him - somewhere green and pleasant.

Don't be angry with me - we'll be fine where we're going, and I'll keep in contact. I'll still send in the reports. Remember, you did give me carte blanche to do it my way.

I have plenty of money. I never told you - why should I? - but I'm a wealthy man, so don't think we'll be going without, because we won't. Just wish us luck - and tell Boyd I'll be in touch.

Goodbye.

Fondest regards, Dom

*******

Cate put down the letter and pursed her lips. She had been annoyed at first, then worried that Dom was biting off more than he could chew. Elijah was a wild animal, after all - it could be he'd attack Dom out in the wilds of nowhere.

But as the morning had drawn on, she realised that Dom was all Elijah had - he wouldn't hurt him - and he responded to Dom where all the others had failed. Failed miserably, too, she thought.

As long as Dom kept the reports coming in, and looked after the boy, what did it matter where they were? She wouldn't see any more of him than she had previously. The one time she had attempted to visit them, Lij had hidden in the closet and refused to come out until she'd gone.

She sighed, and put the letter in a drawer and locked it.

*******

Dom had been driving for hours, with Lij asleep in the back of the vehicle, zoned out on valium. Dom had known that Lij would not have been a happy or co-operative passenger on the privately chartered plane, so he had given Lij two of the tablets the doctor had given Dom a year before when his parents had been killed...

Dom shook the memory away, and spared a glance at the back seat. Lij was curled up around the soft toy Dom had given him when Lij had made crooning noises at the animals on television one night. The next day he went out and brought back a koala he had bought at the toy shop. He had pretended to the girl in the shop that it was for a nephew - why he felt he had to lie about it, he didn't know.

Lij had grabbed at it, and then stared at it, a puzzled look on his face. Dom realised immediately that Lij thought it was a dead animal, and shook his head. He found a picture in a catalogue of stuffed animals and showed them to Lij. "Toy" he had said, and Lij repeated the word. It had taken a while to get Lij to understand the concept, and that all koalas were not called "toy".

Dom smiled at the memory. Lij had come along in leaps and bounds since then, but loud noises still frightened him, and too many people at once sent him into a panic it took days to coax him from. Dom remembered what Cate had said about his capture - it could hardly have been called a rescue. It had sounded like the corralling of a wild beast. No wonder he was frightened of people, when all he had had at their hands was pain and abuse - locked up in a cell and neglected.

Now things were different. Lij would be happy in the green of the forest, with its lake and the fish and the wildlife.

He had made the mistake, when Lij had been with him for three months, of taking him back to the shack in the woods where he had been found. When they got there, Dom found to his horror that the shack had been demolished, and the remnants scattered about on the ground.

Lij had run around screaming for quite some time, picking up scraps of wood and cherishing them - smoothing them and kissing them. It had put his work with Lij back weeks - and Dom wouldn't make the same mistake again.

The place he was taking Lij was far different from the scrubby place he had called his home. The cabin he had bought was large, and fitted with all modern conveniences, for all that it was situated far from any other dwelling, and miles from the nearest town.

They had their own generator, and the lake and river that ran nearby, he was assured by the vendor, were well stocked with fish.

He had shown Lij it on an internet tour of the place, and Lij had loved it on sight. The birds, the fish, the greenness.

"We go there, Dom?" he had asked, and Dom nodded. "Yes, Lij, we go there."

It was the process of getting there that worried Dom, not the arrival, but it had been relatively painless. Lij was not used to ingesting drugs of any sort, so he had slept nearly all of the way, except in the plane when he had said, "piss, Dom," and Dom had to almost carry him to the lavatory and hold his penis whilst he pissed.

Lij had laughed weakly at this. "Sorry," he had whispered into Dom's neck on the way back to their seats.


Dom saw the hastily painted wooden sign, "Barker's Ferry," that the vendor had erected so that Dom could find the place. He stopped and put the sign in the boot of the car, and turned off the road. The dirt track was wider than he had thought, and as it moved deeper into the forest, he was enchanted by the trees and the sounds coming from all about him. Was that a squirrel that ran in front of them?

Fifteen minutes later Dom saw the river - a skein of silver running through the valley - and there it was, the lake, the cabin, the woods. Their new home.

Dom was glad he had bought a four-wheel drive, as the vendor had suggested, for the road would probably get muddy in winter. But now the air was merely crisp with the last of the year's frost, and as Dom stepped out and looked about him, he knew they would be happy here - he and Lij.

Leaving Lij asleep, he went into the cabin and looked approvingly around him. All was as it had been described to him, and Dom quickly went to the wood-burning stove and lit it. He found the heaters and put them on, rubbing his hands to warm them, and finding one of the three bedrooms, he quickly made up the bed, and then, thinking better of it, went out and woke Lij.

"Come on, mate. We're home!"

Lij opened a bleary eye. "Home?" and he climbed unsteadily out onto the compacted earth in front of the log cabin. "Home!" he said, happily as he looked around him, and taking Dom's proffered hand as he was still dizzy, walked inside.

It was warm inside once the heat had disseminated about the place, and Lij was soon fast asleep on the sofa in front of the fire, the burning logs casting orange and gold licks of flame on his face.

Dom decided to explore. It was evening now, so he confined his search to the house. He grinned at the double-doored fridge in the kitchen. The vendor had agreed to get one installed if Dom paid for it, and so he did, and ordered a few other comforts he thought might come in useful.

There was a huge pile of logs outside the back door, and a kennel for a large dog, too. Dom wasn't sure he wanted a dog - it would frighten the wildlife away - so he ignored that and took one of his bags into the bedroom.

He had chosen this bedroom because he liked the painting of a landscape on the wall, not because it was different from either of the others. The landscape of the river in spring was soothing. He began to unpack, but realised he was too tired and too hungry to bother.

He went to the kitchen and heated two tins of chicken and mushroom soup, and took a mug, together with a slice of bread in to Lij.

"Lij, here's some soup for you. Careful, it's hot."

Lij woke, and rubbed his belly, smiling. "Hot soup. Lij hungry, I am hungry," he amended conscientiously, taking the mug and sipping the contents carefully. Dom put another couple of logs on the fire and saw that Lij was watching him to see how it was done, so put another one on, more slowly. Lij nodded. "Warm fire, I like."

They sat there in companionable silence until Dom yawned. "I'm off to bed, Lij. I'll show you yours before I go, come on."

Lij followed him to the bedroom next to his. "Where bath?" he asked. Dom opened the door to the en suite shower and lavatory. "We have one each," he grinned. "No more showering together."

Lij looked puzzled, his lip pulled down. "No?" he said quietly. "No," he repeated quietly to himself. "No more shower Dom."


As Dom lay in his bed, he thought of all the great times he and Lij could have exploring in the woods, fishing and doing things together in the open air that most men merely dreamed about. He smiled to himself and fell asleep.

Next door, huddled under his duvet, Lij was staring at the ceiling, his expression sad. "No more shower Dom," he whispered, and closed his wet eyes against the encroaching dark.


*****


They were fishing on Barker's Ferry. It was a fine day in spring, and Dom thought some fresh fish would be nice for dinner, oven-baked in foil, served with a slice of lemon.

Lij was game to give it a try, and settled down beside Dom, watching his every move and copying it with meticulous thoroughness.

They sat in contented silence for a while, until Dom sighed and said to no-one in particular "Ah! This is the life!" Lij turned to stare at him. "What Dom mean?"

Dom grinned. "It means, my friend, that I'd rather be sitting out here in the sunlight with you, than struck in a stuffy classroom with twenty students struggling over maps and stuff. I hated that bit - hated it. Here is better."

Lij's brow wrinkled. "Why Dom ...you...do it? Why not do other?"

Dom sighed. "I suppose I did it because if I didn’t, I'd not see anyone from one month's end to the next. I didn't need to work, not like some."

Lij pulled his rod out of the water and stared at Dom, not understanding. "Why some need work and some no?"

The fish were in the middle of the stream, so Dom reeled in and cast again. "It's to do with money, Lij. You know about money."

The young man nodded. "Money get food and clothes. You get Lij shoes. I understand money." There was silence for a few moments, then he continued. "Some have money; some need work money. Why you no need?"

Dom reeled in again. "My family have money, Lij. A lot of money. My parents died, so I have their money, too."

He wasn't sure about mentioning family. Every time he'd approached the subject, Lij had backed off. This time there was a silence.

"Family care Dom. Lij have no. No-one except..." The thought was cut off, and Dom looked away, not wanting to pressure him for more. If Lij wanted to speak about his life in the forest, that time had not yet come.

"Where money live?"

Dom explained banks, and trust funds and equity. He was sure Lij didn't grasp everything he was talking about, but he wrinkled his brow thoughtfully. "Lots money buy Lij shoes. Money live in big house."

Dom grinned as he thought of piles of golden coins lying about comfortably on chaise longue, in tall buildings, being pampered.

"Why Dom smile?"

"Nothing - I was just thinking." The next question took Dom by surprise.

"How Lij get money? Lij...I...like some...money."

Dom felt saddened. Lij had lived until now without it. “Why do you need it now?” he asked.

"I buy Dom shoes," Lij smiled.

Dom laughed, but he was also very touched. Lij didn't want money for himself, but to get things for his friend. Then a fish bit and the moment was lost.

*****

That evening after dinner, Dom went to his desk and got a couple of banknotes out of the secret drawer, and gave them to Lij. "Here ya go - money," he said, offering the cash. Lij took it and looked at it, carefully.

"This money get shoes?" he asked, looking up at Dom from his favourite place on the hearth-rug by the fire.

"Certainly," Dom answered, sitting beside him. "Lots of shoes."

Lij handed it back, and Dom was puzzled. "It's for you, Lij. You said you wanted money, so here it is." Lij shook his head.

"No," he said, emphatically. "Lij no take. Work for money. What Lij do for money work?"

This was a serious question, so Dom thought about it. He was thrilled that Lij had grasped the concept of earning money, not just having it fall into his lap as it had fallen so easily into Dom's... "What about clearing all the weeds and stuff around the cabin, and making the ground flat?"

"That good. I buy Dom shoes!"

Dom saw nothing incongruous in this statement, nor in the fact that the money he had offered Lij would keep them both shod for the best part of a decade. He put the notes in an envelope and wrote "Lij" on it. Then he propped it up on the desk.

"I'll give it to you at the end of the week. Then it's called ‘wages’."

He saw Lij's lips move, forming the new word. He got up and made for the door. "Lij start now."

Dom hurried after him, and took his arm. "It's late, now, Lij. In the morning is fine."

Lij consented to be led back to the fire, and sat down again, his back against the arm of Dom's chair. "Dom read? I like Dom read."

They were in the middle of The Jungle Book. Lij had seen the film on DVD and had warmed instantly to the boy being able to talk with the animals, and vice versa. So Dom reached down the book, and soon Baloo was rolling about with Mowgli in the dust.

Lij laughed. "It funny. Bear hurt boy. Bear heavy! Not play bears."

Dom stopped to explain that it wasn't real, but a story. It took a while for Lij to get the idea, but in the end he did. "Pretend," he had said, nodding wisely. "I understand pretend. I pretend wolf my...what word?... mother. I know."

He said no more, and Dom waited until he was sure he would say nothing further, then picked up the book and started reading again. Lij fell asleep against Dom's leg, and groaned when Dom pulled him to his feet and said, firmly, "bed!"

Dom closed Lij's door and smiled. It would be fun teaching Lij to clear and dig and plant things. He went to bed, dreaming of tomorrow.