Cut and Pain

“As far as I could go with the money that I have.”
“What if I was to send you with your father?”
“I would stay with him until I decided to move out.”
The judge made some notes and looked back to me.
“Matthew I am giving full custodial rights to your father. Now I have to ask you. Do you want your mother to have visitation rights?”
“No. Not unless I wish to see her on my own terms.”
“Well that clears everything up. Head back to the court room where I will give my verdict.”
“With that the guard escorted me back to room where I sat down in my seat and did not look at either or of my parents.”

The judge came back in started to speak.
“Madam, Sir. I have come to a decision on the custodial rights regarding Matthew. I am awarding full custodial rights to you Mr. Wilsher. You are now the sole guardian of Matthew until he becomes a legal adult.”
My mother’s lawyer spoke to the judge.
“What are the visitation arrangements you Honour?”
“Visitations rights are not to be given to Ms Thompson. These are the wishes of the child and must be obeyed as he is old enough to make his own informed decisions.”
“But your Honour, surely you see from the child’s psychiatric examination that he needs he is not in a stable mental state.”
“If you read the last few notes. It says that the psychiatrist walked past the room several times more that day and saw that Matthew was fine with his father there and that he seemed damaged when he and the psychiatrist spoke about the incident and the events leading up to it. Therefore I stand by my decision and the wishes of that of the child in question. That will be all.”
With that the judge left and my father came to hug me. We left the court house pretty quickly and as we were about to get into our car outside the court house my mother caught up with us.
“This is not the last that you will hear from me on this matter. I will get Matthew the help that he requires, whether I have to force him or not.”
“You have no right Mary. Our son is not ill and you are deluding yourself if you think that he is ill.” My father told my mother.
“I am not deluded Eric. God has given me clarity and has told me of my path forward in this matter.”
With that my mother stormed off. My father quickly turned to his lawyer and asked.
“Please tell me you got that?”
“Every word Eric.”
“Good then please keep it on file with everything else. Send me the bill the address that I gave you and I shall sort out the matter.”
“Thank you Eric.”
With that my father and I left the court house to head back to where we were staying. Within a week we were on a flight to Australia. To begin our lives again. I could not wait!

We arrived at Brisbane International Airport close to midnight and waited to be processed by customs. When we were cleared, we grabbed our awaiting baggage and caught the train into the centre of Brisbane. When we got to our room I looked out the window and saw the Brisbane River. By night it looked delightful. We only stayed the night and early the next morning we found ourselves on the road heading north to some place called the Sunshine Coast my father called it. It was a relatively short drive but we were not in a huge hurry. We needed to be at my father’s parents place by dinner. We drove around the place, my father getting reacquainted with that area while I learnt about my new home. As they day began to darken dad and I headed towards my grandparents. I had to admit I was a little nervous. Okay ditch that; I was extremely nervous. I had not seen my grandparents since I was a young child when we had come out here last. Though I received presents and calls from them, I had not seen them in a long time and I had forgotten what they looked like.

As we pulled into the driveway of a quant cottage style house in a suburb called Buderim on a hill overlooking most of the Sunshine Coast, I began to feel sick. I saw my grandparents there on the porch and as soon as I stepped out of the car I was pulled into a fierce hug. At first I was a little stunned but soon returned the sentiment. When I was let go I found myself looking into the eyes of my grandmother. She had tears in her eyes.
“Matthew, my grandson. How you have grown since we last saw you. Has life been treating you well?”
“Life has had its ups and downs but I’m soldiering on.”
“That is good. Come into the house and we shall have some dinner.”
With that we went into the house. My grandfather gave me a guided tour while grandmother served up dinner for all of us. There was something that comforting in the walls of this house. I could tell there was love in the walls, the pictures around the house showed that. I saw that there were many of my father and his brother and sister playing around and having fun. I saw several with one of the children and the parents. I could see the love and honestly it made me ache to core. I wished that I had such a loving family that my father had when he was a child and still does. Thank goodness for mercies though, I still had my father.

Dinner was an eventful fair to say the least. My grandparents kept telling the embarrassing stories of my father’s youth and I laughed so hard at the stories while my father went a deeper shade of red with each story. When it came time to go to bed I was no longer afraid of what tomorrow would be like. I woke up the next morning to the smell of bacon and eggs. I got up and went to the bathroom and washed my face and made my way to the kitchen. My grandmother was in the kitchen making us breakfast. When she saw that I was awake she grabbed a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and gave it to me and told me to sit at the table. My father wished me a good morning and continued to read the newspaper. It some ways it felt like nothing had changed at all.

Dad and I looked around for places for the next couple of weeks and we found a nice place only a couple of kilometres from the beach in a place called Mooloolaba. My mother and father had been well enough off that even with the divorce; dad had enough money to buy a place. We had bought the bare necessities for when we moved into a place. Once we had moved our beds in and some other little things me and my father went on a shopping blitz. We bought new everything! New kitchen utensils, washing machine, dyer, televisions, stereos, computers, bed frames. By the end of the week the place was looking fantastic. Sadly when the next week started reality came back. My father had to start looking for a job while I had to be enrolled in to a school so that I could finish my last year of schooling.