"A Man Has To Do What A Man Has To Do"

"Gee whiz, Splinter, I wish I knew how to help Raymond." Shaver said as they dragged along the hot pavement.

It was a sweltering July day and the sun was at it's highest. It was all the boys could do to manage to walk around the block to their new friend Raymond's house.

Raymond and his family had lived in the neighborhood for some time but nobody seemed to notice the family very much. You know, they were just the average American family...or so it seemed.

Shaver first met Raymond at a school carnival that was held for the Independence Day Celebration. They were standing in line to throw baseballs at Splinter, who reluctantly agreed to be the one who sat on the platform and got dunked in the water every time someone hit the target with the baseball.

As it turned out, Splinter was glad he did since the summer had been so terribly hot this year. The old fool actually seemed to grin every time someone hit the target making him fall into the big pool of cool water.

Shaver saw Raymond Pickett at school lots of times and once or twice tried to spark up a friendship but Raymond never seemed interested before. That particular day was different. He and Shaver laughed and joked about Splinter for a solid hour while they took turns dunking the wooden hound.

That was nearly two weeks ago and now Shaver realized why all the other kids in the neighborhood told him not to become too close to Raymond.

Raymond had some problems all right and now Shaver wanted to help him get through them but he just didn't know how to go about doing it. You see...Raymond confided in his new friend and told him he was...an abused child.

Raymond's father,Mr. Pickett, would beat Raymond across the back with his wide leather belt any time he thought Raymond was doing something he shouldn't have. The awful thing was Raymond was a good boy but his Dad just couldn't seem to help himself when it came to hitting him. His father would cry sometimes after he did it because he knew it was wrong but he would just do it again another day.

Other kids already knew about Mr. Pickett's behavior and they didn't want to get involved with what they called a "family matter" so they just wouldn't let themselves become close enough to Raymond to worry about it. Well, it was too late for Shaver. He thought a lot of Raymond and he knew he just had to help him some way...but how?

"I hate to keep running to Mother with everything I don't understand but she said that's what she became a mother for." Said Shaver as he was wondering what he could do.

Splinter was too busy worrying about where he was going to get his next drink of cool water before they made it all the way to Raymond's house. He was, of course, worried too about Raymond but he still didn't understand why humans did a lot of the things they did.

"What do you think, boy...I say we should ask Mother what to do...do you agree?" The wooden boy asked his companion.

"RUFF...RUFF!" Splinter barked in agreement.

"Okay, that's it then. As soon as we come back from Raymond's we'll ask her." He grinned as if half his problem was already over.

The two lads mustered up enough strength to skip the rest of the way there. They used their last bit of strength to run up the steps and knock on the Pickett's front door.

"Hello, Mrs. Pickett, can Raymond come over to our house and play for awhile?" Shaver grinned as he was rubbing Splinter's ears.

"No...no boys, I'm sorry...Raymond won't be able to play today. You see, he's been punished by his father for something. Maybe another time." She said as she closed the door quickly.

For the first time since they became a real boy and dog Shaver and Splinter had tears in their eyes and they were running down their little wooden faces. They caught a glimpse of Raymond as Mrs. Pickett was holding the door open. He didn't have a shirt on and his back was black and blue with big red welts. They saw how much Mr. Pickett hurt him and it was just too much for the young lads to handle.

"OH SPLINTER...what can we do...oh...what can we do to help Raymond?" Shaver cried to his faithful friend.

Splinter began crying and yelping something awful.

"COME ON, SPLINTER...THAT DOES IT!" He snapped. "Let's go talk to Mother."

The guys ran home as fast as their tired, hot little bodies would carry them in the noon temperature. They looked as if they had been dunked from the platform Splinter sat on in the dunking booth at the Independence Day Celebration.

Hurriedly they ran up the steps crying for Mrs. Hardy...

"Land 'O' Goshen children...what is it? What's wrong...have you been hurt?" She worried when she saw the state they were in.

After a few minutes Mrs. Hardy got them quieted down enough to tell her what had been happening to Raymond. She was stunned...she had no idea this was going on.

"OH MY...OH MY! That poor boy...OH MY!" She kept repeating.

"Listen to me lads...listen very carefully." She went on. "You can not accuse Mr. Pickett of such a thing unless you have POSITIVE proof. Do you understand? His reputation could be ruined in a small community like ours if you tell anyone right now and it turned out to be all some big mistake."

"If what you say is true...well, Mr. Pickett must be a very sick man." She told them.

"Mr. Pickett? What about poor Raymond?" Shaver broke in. "He's the one who takes a beating all the time."

"RUFF! RUFF!" Cried Splinter agreeing with Shaver. After all he thought, they saw Raymond's back just moments ago and they still felt the pain the boy was put through.

"Yes, yes, yes." Mrs. Hardy went on. "Do you think someone who wasn't ill would treat a child like that?" She asked the boys."

"Mr. Pickett needs as much help as Raymond does." She said. "Quite frankly...I think Mrs. Pickett needs help also or she wouldn't allow it to happen. Do you understand what I'm trying to say to you?" She asked.

"Okay Mother...we see your point but what can we do about it. I can't stand to see Raymond treated like that anymore." Shaver said beginning to cry again.

"Come here boys and let me hug and kiss the children I love so much. I want you to know how very much I love you, to let you know I will protect you from such things in the world no matter how old I grow to be." She said choking back the tears.

"But...but, things have to be done in the correct way or we will accomplish nothing. Now...first I will speak to Mrs. Pickett...away from her home and husband. Maybe...yes, that's it, I see her every Saturday morning doing her marketing the same time I do mine. I'll talk with her then." She told the boys.

"There's an old saying lads..."a man's got to do what a man's got to do" is how it goes. It seems, Shaver, you're becoming a man much too quickly for me but it is, after all, the natural chain of events for a mother's children to grow up." She cried. "I'm proud of you boys, for standing up for what's right and wanting to do the right thing. A lot of people, including adults, would pretend they don't see what's going on so they don't have to get involved."

"Now then...let's get those blubbery noses...BLOW!" Mrs. Hardy grinned at the only two really important things in her life.

Early the following Saturday morning Mrs. Hardy began her marketing as usual. Sure enough, just as she had predicted, she ran into Mrs. Pickett in one of the grocery aisles.

"Good morning, Mrs. Pickett, how are you this July day?" Mrs. Hardy politely asked the woman.

"Fine, Mrs. Hardy...thank you." She said in a cool manner.

Mrs. Hardy knew she could never bring up such a delicate subject in the middle of a public market so she asked Mrs. Pickett over for some cool iced tea after she returned home with her groceries.

"Well...I really shouldn't...I mean...well, for a short visit, Mrs. Hardy,I have a lot of work in the garden today. You know this heat is horrible for the tomatoes." She smiled.

Mrs. Pickett didn't mean to appear rude when Mrs. Hardy spoke to her. It was just because most people didn't speak to her at all, maybe just a little nod or a tip of the hat but nobody made pleasant conversation with her before. It just sort of caught her off guard. Mrs.Pickett finally agreed, they decided on a time and each mother went her own way.

Mrs. Hardy hurried home to do a little last minute straightening up before her visitor arrived. She always kept a clean house but she would always fret with it more when she knew company was coming.

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