Not so simple life

1.

Harry

"Don't you ever go home? It's 5pm I thought you'd be off to see your husband by now. " my co worker Nick laughed

I met him in medical school and we've been friends ever since. He's married to a kindergarten teacher named Calum and those two have become mine and Louis' best friends.

"Of course I do, I'm just covering a shift for Simon. It's 4:30pm to 11pm. He and Elaine have their anniversary this weekend and if I cover his shifts then he'll cover Lou's birthday and of course you owe me for covering for when you had that hangover last week so you're covering my New Years" I laughed

"Only you would find a way to get someone to take over for you down here so you can get a full 10 days of vacation" nick laughed

"Of course. We're going on 10 years married and this is the perfect time to take him away on a vacation. He already has those days off. It'll just be us enjoying 10 days in the Caribbean" I boasted

"Lou. Your Louis actually took a vacation? He's been working non stop since I've know him. I never thought he'd actually take a break from social work" Nick replied

"His mom finally convinced him that he needed to put himself first. He loves what he does but I know it's wearing on him. I just want him to relax" I said

"That man is a saint. I still can't ever thank him enough for helping us adopt the kids." Nick smiled while showing me the latest photos of his crazy sons.

Calum works with 4/5 year olds.

Two years ago he had a student that was always coming in with bruising and never had the proper clothes for winter. Calum grew concerned and when he looked the child's student file he learned that the little tot had 2 older brothers. One was in 2nd grade and the other was in 4th.

All 3 children displayed the same level of bruising and none of them were in proper winter attire. Since it was policy to keep kids indoors from recess if they don't have a coat during the winter months, Calum volunteered to have his classroom be the indoor recess room.

That's how he managed to keep an eye on the brothers. He noticed none of the kids had money for meals so they didn't get to eat school breakfast or lunch.

Calum would conveniently have food that he possibly couldn't finish so he has no choice but to share with the brothers.

Eventually when he noticed that little 4 year old Michael was missing too many classes Calum called Lou to do a well check because he felt like something was wrong.

I was off work that day and drove Lou to do the welfare check. Those "parents" looked so normal but Lou knew every trick in the book that unfit parents would use to seem like normal loving parents.

Louis knew something was up with them and refused to be turned away. When the man started to yell at Louis and pushed him, i got our the car and protected my husband. Louis and I managed to push our way through the door after we heard a child crying.

The mom took off running and the dad was still passed out in the floor from when I punched him in the face after his pushed Lou.

It was obvious that those parents were Alcoholics.

We looked around and there were locks on the pantry and fridge. Beer cans and liquor bottles were all over the living room. You could smell the stench of urine, booze and cigarettes radiating off of the sofa.

Lou had called the police.

When the father came to, he was removed from the home. When we looked around we heard that the crying was coming from what looked like a hall closet.