Page 41 of I Could Never
“Right now we have six tenants, and five of them have autism.”
“I see.”
Josh scratched his chin. “How many people are on staff?”
“There are three people on duty at any given time, around the clock, in different shifts.”
“What’s the average wait time to get into a room here?” he asked.
“That’s tough to say. We generally only ever have openings if one of the tenants becomes problematic and has to be moved, or if someone’s family moves out of state, warranting their child being transferred to another home somewhere else.”
My blood ran cold. “So this could literally take years...”
“It could.” She shrugged. “But you never know.”
Josh and I looked at each other, eyes wide.
Julie then took us out back. Overall, the place seemed well-kept and nice enough. The property was pretty secure, with a fenced-in yard and triple locks on the outside doors. There would definitely be more space here for Scottie than at home. There was only one problem: itwasn’thome. And I had no idea how he’d react to living in a brand-new environment for the first time in his life.
“I have a question,” I said as we reentered the building. “Our guy has some very specific dietary restrictions. For example, there’s only one kind of homemade chicken he’s willing to eat for dinner. Would there be anyone here who could make it for him, if we gave them instructions?”
She laughed and shook her head. “Oh no. I’m sorry. The cook has enough of a challenge finding something to suit everyone’s needs as it is. There’s no way he could make an extra meal for just one person. Scottie would have to eat whatever was offered to him.”
Josh’s forehead crinkled. “What if he didn’t?”
“I suppose he’d eat eventually, when he got hungry enough.”
“Excuse us for a moment...” Josh said as he took me aside. He lowered his voice. “This isn’t gonna work…for a few reasons.”
I nodded. “I know. The chicken thing, and they said they have a strict lights-out policy with no electronics after a certain time at night. Scottie needs his devices.”
Josh ran a hand through his hair. “I just worry we won’t have a choice. All these places might operate the same way.”
After a moment, Julie and Lauren joined us in the hallway.
“Is everything okay?” Julie asked.
“Let me ask you this...” I turned to her. “If we could get someone to make Scottie’s special chicken and bring it here, would that be okay?”
She paused. “I don’t see why not. We do have family members drop off food from time to time.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “Okay. At least that’s an option.”
We would certainly have to talk to Lorraine about that, since she would be the only person local to make it once Josh and I moved back to our respective cities. Heck, I’d make it and ship it on dry ice, if I had to.
With our tour concluded, Julie showed us back to the front door.
“Well, thank you for your time. We really appreciate the tour.”
“It’s been my pleasure.” She smiled. “My recommendation is to get on the waiting list as soon as possible. We might have an opening come sooner than you were expecting.”
“We’ll consider that,” Josh said. “Thank you.”
As we stood on the sidewalk in front of the place, Lauren looked between us. “What did you think?”
“It’s an option,” I said, looking back over at the brick house. “I don’t know if anything is going to feel exactly right. No place is going to be his home.”
“He’ll get used to it,” she assured us. “They all do.”