Montgomery felt himself be lifted from the moldy twin bed he was left on. The body was warm, and Monty used all his energy to round himself into it. The body was familiar, and he knew who it was. Monty sighed in relief. It was Ollie. Ollie was nice. Ollie wasn't one of the bad people.
Monty was suddenly placed on a sink counter, "Can you sit up?" Ollie asked the younger boy.
Monty nodded, eyes still closed and heavy but he slumped against the cracked mirror behind him. He heard Ollie's heavier foot falls walk away from Monty. Monty wanted to squeal with glee when he heard a bathtub being turned on.
"The misses is gone for the afternoon so we can get you cleaned up and then stay in my room, she won't come in there" Ollie said.
Ollie was another boy at the orphanage, he was three years older than Monty, so he was about 10 at this time. He was tall and starting to muscle up. He had been "broken" as the misses said and just did what he told instead of getting a beating and then doing it. So, he got his own room and bathroom access. Ollie was very nice, he took care of Monty after Monty was used.
The tap shut off and Monty knew that Ollie would come and pick him up again shortly. Ollie scooped Monty up. At this point Monty was emaciated and mostly just bones. Ollie didn't wail in disgust, he touched Monty softly. Ollie sat Monty in the warm bath water and Monty whined.
"I know, does it hurt?" Ollie asked and filled a bucket with the bath water. Monty shook his head and Ollie smiled softly. He covered Monty's eyes and poured warm water over Monty's head. Ollie carefully washed Monty's hair and body.
"Oh gosh, they really did a number on you this time" Ollie commented. Monty wasn't very good at English, he knew enough to get by but not enough to have conclusive conversations with Ollie, who knew English as his first language.
Monty nodded.
"Okay, let's get you cleaned up, does it hurt?" Ollie explained.
"Doesn't hurt" Monty mumbled.
"good" Ollie said, "After this do you want bread or pasta? You can have half of my share, and I'll make sure they give you your share this time"
"Pasta" Monty responded.
"Good choice that's my favorite" Ollie said, "all done, the water is dirty, so you should get out, can you stand?"
"No" Monty said and reached his arms straight up. Ollie chuckled and grabbed one of the more put together towels to wrap around Monty. Ollie lifted Monty and put him on the sink again, Ollie used the towel to dry off Monty's body and then grabbed one of his cleaner shirts to give to Monty.
"Arms up" Ollie instructed, and Monty followed the order, throwing his arms straight up and letting Ollie pull the dark blue shirt over his head and torso. The shirt was big on Monty, down to his knees. Ollie moved to pick Monty up again and Monty knew the drill, he pretended to be asleep and Ollie was going to pretend to bring Monty back to the 6-year old's room but would take him to Ollies room instead.
Ollie closed the door behind him and rushed to get Monty under the covers of Ollie's bed, so Monty didn't get pneumonia ...again. Ollie told Monty to lay still and stay warm while he went to get food. Ollie came back with two bowls of plain pasta and part of a baguette stuffed over his arm. Monty poked his head out from under the covers and smiled wide when Ollie walked over to the bed. Ollie handed Monty a bowl and fork before scooting onto the bed himself to eat.
"Ms. Jennie was in the kitchen today, she is nice, she gave me this bread to eat" Ollie explained, "she even put butter on the pasta, that makes them not sticky." Ollie said, "you know I've been saving my tips up, I have almost four hundred dollars, I think that's enough to convince someone to drive us far away from here"
"far away?" Monty asked, stuffing his face with noodles.
"yeah, where do you want to go? I say we head south so it's warmer that it is here. We can escape during Sunday service. If we both pretend to be sick Misses will excuse us from church, so we don't infect everybody else. Then we can use master's ladder to climb out the window, what do you think? Sound like a plan?"
"yeah!" Monty cheered.
Later that week is when Monty ended up on the street and then in the hospital, that was the last time he saw Ollie, he didn't even remember the boy until seeing Oliver again. He never knew what happened to the other blond, he imagined he died.
Oliver looked nothing like the little boy who so dutifully cared for Monty back at Hillcrest orphanage. He was large now, standing as tall as Adisa with shaggy dirty blond hair and several tattoos. He had a silver ring on a chain around his neck and the name Noah tattooed on his forearm.
"I thought you were dead" Oliver whispered, "I'm so happy to see you alive! What happened that day? You never came back to hillcrest"
"A passerby called 911" Monty said, "I was taken to the hospital and adopted from there by my dad's"
"That's good, I thought you might have gotten picked up by another ring, or you died. God I can't believe I get to see you again. Can I hug you?" Oliver was already wrapping his muscular arms around Monty's smaller frame when he asked. Monty didn't mind, he swung his arms around Oliver's back and held him tight.
"I can't believe you're alive" Monty mumbled, and he buried his face in Oliver's chest.
"Me neither" Oliver sighed hen he pulled away. Monty backed up, so his back was pressed against Adisa's chest, telling the African that he wanted to be held right now. Adisa didn't need to be told twice and wrapped his arms around Monty's shoulders and held him closely.
"What a world" Oliver said, "I went ahead with the plan and ran away that weekend, I was going to wait for you, but the woman said she was going to do room checks on Monday and I knew she'd take my stash if she found it. So, I jumped onto the roof and fell into the bushes. I ran into a cab who took me to the police station in the next town. I got them Monty, Hillcrest was shut down the following month"
"That's amazing" Monty whispered, "I don't know if you remember Donte or Albert, but they survived, we all ended up being adopted by people in New York. They are back there"
"man, we have to catch up!"
"yeah..." Monty nodded slowly, he was extremely overwhelmed, especially since he was being presented with the man who was his first love.

YOU ARE READING
Teach Me, American Boy |ManXMan|
HumorSequal to Country Boy, City Man: | WARNING: SEXUAL THEMES| Montgomery was adopted at age 7 but can;'t forget the nightmares of his young childhood. In college he is introduced to Adisa, an African student with wise eyes and soft words. Monty is...