High School Hockey Boys

08

Thursday morning Delaney and Sophia came by my house. We had a short breakfast before setting out to see if we could find any more information on James.

"Where should we start?" Sophia asked. "There's at least three we could start with."

"What one would be the most likely for him to have been seen to?" I asked.

"Well, there's the Davidson Home for Boys. Or the Catholic Home for Boys of the Church." Sophia said, reading off her list of local orphanages.

"Let's start with whichever is closest." Delaney suggested. "There's no point in going across town just to have to come back, then do it all over again."

The orphanage was six blocks away, so Sophia suggested we take a bus; so I don't "strain myself too much". I rolled my eyes at that but agreed anyway. Once we arrived I paused at the gate. What if he had been here. Lived here for who knows how long, thinking he wasn't wanted. I took a deep breath and followed behind the girls. Sophia rang the doorbell and we waited for someone to answer. An older lady came to the door and eyes us suspiciously.

"Hi. We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions." Delaney said. The lady's eyes narrowed, but she nodded nonetheless and let us in. We followed into an office and sat in the chairs that were in front of her desk. It felt almost like being in the principal's office.

"What did you want to ask." The lady said in a gravelly voice.

"We were wondering if you had any records of a boy named Thomas McNeilly." Said Sophia.

"Why do you need to know?" The lady asked suspiciously.

"We want to know what happened to him after he was given up for adoption." Delaney explained.

"Yes I gathered that but why?"

"He's my older brother. One I found out about very recently and want to try and find." I explained. The lady sighed and folded her hands on the desk top; she seemed to shrink a little, looking older than she was.

"James wasn't sent here. He was sent to an orphanage out of town, so he would have no memory of being in this place." She said.

"How do you know this?" I asked.

"When Thomas's mother decided it'd be best to give him up, I was called. To see if I would bring him here. But, it was later decided that in order for Thomas to have a semi normal life, he should be sent out of town so there would be no chance of him running into his birth family. I never told his mother where I sent him, but she requested I inform her of his adoption."

"So you know where he is?" Delaney asked excitedly.

"I know where he was." The lady said. "I sent him to the Aberforth Home for Children. And he was adopted only a month after arriving. It's been a long time since I've heard anything of him. He could be anywhere." I sighed and slumped in my seat. After asking a few more questions the three of thanked her for the information and left.

"Our best bet is to go to Aberforth and see if we can find out who adopted him." Sophia said.

"Yeah, but there's one problem. It's up-state. Like close to the border up-state. How are we supposed to get there?" Delaney informed. Sophia's face pulled together in thought.

"Maybe we don't have to go there." I suggested.

"What do you mean?"

"It's an orphanage, it should have a phone number."

Sophia and Delaney came back to my house and I ran upstairs to grab my laptop. I opened Google and typed Aberforth Home for Children into the search bar. Almost immediately dozens of results came up, and I decided on the first website. I quickly left the sight after seeing its contents and continued to scroll through the pages until I found a possible site.

"Guys, I think I found it!" I said as a picture of a large house came onto the page.

Aberforth Home for Children
4104 Manitou Rd
Rochester, NY, USA

I scrolled through the page to see if I could find a number. I finally found one that belonged to the director of the orphanage. Delaney dialled the number and handed me the phone once it had started to ring. The phone was answered close to the last ring, and a man's voice came from the other end.

"Hello?"

"Um, hi. I was wondering if you'd be able to help with something." I said.

"Depends." The man answered.

"I'm trying to find someone who was apparently sent to your orphanage a while ago." After a slight pause the man sighed.

"Who are you looking for?" He asked.

"A Thomas McNeilly. He would've been there twenty-two years ago." I replied.

"Why are you so interested in this guy?" The man asked.

"He's my brother." The man never replied, but I could hear the light tapping of a keyboard. We waited for close to fifteen minutes before the man spoke again.

"He was adopted by mister and misses Ross, and elderly couple from Albany. After his adoption though I don't know where he could've gone. If you'd like, I can try and get in contact with them." He offered.

"That would be great, thank you." I said.

"Alright, I'll get back to you as soon as I have something." He said.

"Thank you so much." After giving the guy my cell phone number, I hung up and passed Delaney her phone. We were silent, me trying to process the information I'd just received, and the girls waiting for me to explain.

"Well?" Sophia pushed.

"He was adopted by a couple from Albany. The people at the orphanage are going to try to talk to them."

"Well that's good. At least we found him." Delaney said. I nodded, absentmindedly shitting down the computer.

"Fin, are you alright?" Sophia asked softly. I turned to her and she smiled slightly, tugging me into a hug. I let the few tears that had gathered in my eyes fall onto her shoulder. Delaney joined in a moment later and we all sat on the couch in comfortable silence. We jumped apart when my phone started ringing. Delaney checked who it was since she was closest to it.

"Ooh, baby daddy on line one." She teased. I snatched my phone from her outstretched hand and answered the call.

"Hey."

"Fin! I've been having the best time here! We're in first place so far!" Eli cheered.

"That's amazing! How many teams have you played so far?" I asked.

"Nine. We play two games a day. Except on Sunday since it was our first official day. We only played one game with a practice in the morning. I wish you were here Finley. That's the only thing that could possibly make this any better."

"How much long is the tournament?" I asked.

"We have another week. Five days of games, then the sixth if for the final two teams to practice, then the seventh is the final game. And when they announce who's going to the skills camp." He explained.

"Well, play hard. You deserve to go to that camp." I said.

"Hey I gotta go but, I'll talk to soon. I love you." He said.

"Okay." I paused briefly before speaking again. "I... I love you too. Good luck." An official called the team to get ready to head out and he hung up. I sighed and closed my eyes.

"That's the first time you've said it, isn't it?" Delaney questioned softly. I nodded, a small smile spreading across my face.