Chapter 23
Spencer
The six-metre rock face only seemed to intimidate Jax, as Ryan and Leo were raring to go.
‘This is the beginners’ route,’ said Will, standing at the bottom, holding his rope with the guide, Graham.
‘How do I know where to climb?’ Jax asked Will, gazing up.
Graham guided him to a large boulder and pointed at a crevasse. ‘You have to figure it out as you go. Give it a try, and don’t worry about falling. You’re secure.’
Spencer motioned towards a wide crack. ‘Step in that, Jax. Looks like a good start.’
Jax did as he was instructed, and everyone watched as the boy quietly navigated his journey, with the odd tip called out from Graham.
Spencer turned to Leo and Ryan. ‘Hear that? Push up with your legs.’
Leo was concentrating on Jax. ‘I’m just going to follow him.’
Will chuckled. ‘And are you going to abseil back down if Jax doesn’t?’
Leo shrugged, trying to place a piece of his cape in his mouth, which was proving a task, seeing how his clothing had been secured so nothing would obstruct him during his climb. ‘I’m going to do it.’
‘Don’t worry if you change your mind once up top,’ said Will. ‘It looks different from that angle.’
Spencer double-checked Leo’s cape was tucked in. There was no way the kid was removing his emotional support item of clothing, so stopping it from flapping was the next best thing.
Jax came to a halt close to the top. ‘I don’t know where to go, Spencer,’ he called.
Graham spoke first. ‘Take a moment, Jax. Think of it like a puzzle. There’s a pathway, and you’ve just got to find the right track.’
Will nudged Spencer. ‘Breathe. He’s perfectly safe.’
As much as Spencer could see the boys were filled with excitement, he was still slightly apprehensive about the activity now they were faced with the large rock.
Jax started climbing again, and it wasn’t long before he was up top with Graham’s team.
‘Ready, Leo?’ asked Spencer, checking him over with Graham.
Leo was eager to get started and climbed a lot faster than Jax had.
Will turned to Ryan. ‘It’s a lot easier when you go last.’
Ryan smiled. ‘I’m okay. I’m looking forward to my turn.’
‘Good,’ said Spencer, his eyes on Leo’s small hands roaming across the rough surface.
‘Pay close attention to the details of the rock,’ Will told Ryan. ‘With climbing, you’re part of the landscape, you’re in each gap, each step. Fully alert to the structure around you.’
Spencer could see Ryan was paying close attention, and it was good to see the boy having fun.
Leo’s squeal echoed down the precipice. ‘I did it,’ he cheered.
Spencer started clapping as Graham got Ryan ready for the climb. He turned to Will and grinned. ‘I reckon they’ll want to climb again if they get back down here.’
Will nodded. ‘Gets you like that. At first, it’s daunting, but once you’ve showed yourself what you’re capable of, you get a rush of excitement, and it frees your soul.’
A gentle breeze rustled the trees around them, and Spencer closed his eyes for a second while inhaling the woodland scent. How free he already felt just being surrounded by Mother Nature. One day he hoped to stand in the same spot and watch his son climb to the sky. He would raise Archie to be active and to enjoy the beauty of nature. He opened his eyes and watched Ryan begin his ascent.
‘You going up next, Spence?’ asked Will.
‘I’ll see if they abseil. If so, I’ll climb after they go back up.’
‘Yeah, I want to be down here for that too.’
Graham was telling Ryan not to use his knees on the ledges, and the boy huffed before using his arms to pull himself higher. Everyone knew Ryan was as fit as a butcher’s dog, so why he was on the go-slow was surprising. Perhaps he was absorbing every moment because of what Will had told him.
‘He’s been quiet this morning,’ said Will.
Spencer was watching Ryan carefully. ‘Maybe the thought of rock climbing made him nervous.’
‘I wish he would say if something was on his mind.’
‘He keeps everything close to his chest.’
Will pointed up. ‘They’re good kids you’ve got there, Spence. I reckon all you’ve been doing with them will help open them up soon enough.’
‘Their confidence is growing, but I’m not sure how much will change for them.’
‘Confidence changes a lot, mate.’
Spencer nodded, mainly to himself. He’d give anything to see Leo live life without triggers, hear Jax’s idle chit-chat with those he encountered, and have Ryan use his voice to tell all what his heart really desired.
‘And he’s done it,’ said Will, interrupting Spencer’s thoughts.
One of Graham’s team called out to let them know the boys were coming back down. So Spencer, Will, and Graham moved over to a different part of the rock face to watch the lads abseil.
Leo was the first to descend, slowly pushing his feet from the rock, and Spencer was sure he could hear the boy humming.
The sun peeked through the trees, creating sparkles of light on the boulders down below for a moment, and some birds nestled in branches seemed to join in with Leo’s song.
‘I was flying,’ said Leo, landing at the bottom. His cheeks were flushed, and eyes wide with jubilation.
‘You enjoyed that then?’ asked Spencer, grinning.
Leo spun in a circle as soon as his harness was unclipped. ‘I want to do it again, and again, and again.’
‘Ah,’ said Graham, getting ready for the next child to abseil. ‘I see you have learned rock language.’
Leo giggled. ‘What did I say?’
‘It’s not the words,’ said Graham, adding a smile. ‘It’s how this makes you feel. That is the language.’
Jax was the next one down, and unlike Leo, he wasn’t keen to do a repeat performance, stating he much preferred going up to coming down. Leo tried to tell him about the rock language, but Jax felt he’d chatted enough with the precipice to last a lifetime. He’d earned his badge, and that was good enough.
Once Ryan was down, Graham had everyone sit down for a while and sip some water before they would climb again to head back to camp. He explained how much exercise their bodies were receiving and that a little rest would be beneficial.
The boys started to get restless within minutes and went off to mooch around by the trees while Spencer and Will questioned Graham on harder routes and all the places he had scaled.
It wasn’t long before Graham had Jax back on the rock face, and this time Jax figured out his pathway a lot quicker.
‘They’ll eat well this lunchtime,’ said Will, nudging Spencer’s arm. ‘I’m hungry already.’
‘We’ll cook the burgers as soon as we’re back in camp,’ said Spencer. ‘Then get ready to head home.’ He laughed. ‘Not sure how I’m going to beat this.’
‘What about horse riding? They might like to give that a go.’
Spencer nodded. He’d speak to Debra. After the morning they’d had, he felt anything was possible for the boys.
‘I saw a fella flying a kite over the park the other day,’ said Will. ‘You could look into that. How to make them and so on.’
‘I like that idea,’ said Spencer, turning to see Leo and Ryan balancing on some small boulders low to the ground, Leo posing like a superhero. ‘Get off those before one of you slips.’
Leo stepped down, apologizing. ‘I was being a statue.’
Ryan decided to jump. His foot skidded, causing him to tip to one side and land on his arm. ‘Ouch!’ he groaned, getting up.
Leo’s mouth was gaping. ‘You okay?’
Spencer darted to Ryan’s side. ‘What hurts?’
Ryan raised his elbow. ‘My arm.’
Will quickly assessed the damage. ‘Can’t see any major problems. Just bruised.’
‘All okay over there?’ asked Graham, signalling up to his team, who already had Jax in their care.
Spencer gave him the thumbs up.
One of Graham’s team raced through the trees quickly to check Ryan over. His arm was indeed bruised but okay, which was a relief for everyone.
Spencer told Will he would go with the team member the long way round to the top and meet him at the minibus, as he didn’t want Ryan to climb again now his arm was bruised.
‘Oh, but I want to climb,’ said Ryan.
‘Graham won’t let anyone with an injury climb,’ Spencer told him as they walked away.
‘It’s just a bruise. Look.’ Ryan waggled his arm to prove his point.
‘All the same. It’s the rules.’
They met the others back at the minibus, Spencer thanking the rock-climbing team for a great day and for being so efficient when it came to Ryan’s tumble.
The boys were in good spirits on the drive back to camp for lunch, even if Ryan was a tad fed up he had missed out on climbing again.
Back at the camp, Spencer filled out the incident report, then checked in with Debra to let her know they were heading back to the centre soon.
Will got the lads to help pack up, and it wasn’t long before they were on the road.
The children chatted excitedly about their adventure, the spider that crawled on Leo, the marshmallows they’d roasted, sleeping in a tent, and how they had survived knee grazes and bruised arms.
Leo said it was his idea to try to balance on the small boulder, and that he had paid attention to the health and safety chat back at the rock-climbing centre, but he didn’t think standing on a low piece of rock would be dangerous.
‘At least I can tell my mum my arm is too bruised to swim now,’ said Ryan, staring out the minibus window.
Spencer held back a frown but found he couldn’t bite back his thoughts any longer. ‘Ryan, it sounds like you don’t want to swim at all.’
Leo placed a piece of his cape over Ryan’s leg. ‘I thought it was just your anxiety about racing.’
Ryan shook his head. ‘It’s stressful, not fun, but my mum wants me to be an Olympic swimmer one day.’ He sounded deflated.
‘And what do you want?’ asked Spencer.
The boy sighed quietly. ‘Not to swim again.’
Spencer knew he couldn’t get involved in the boy’s life outside of the centre, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to give one piece of advice. ‘Have you spoken to your mum about this, Ryan?’
‘She’s not easy to talk to.’
‘Perhaps you could try again.’
Ryan gave a small head bob, then turned to his friends to talk about the kindness festival, showing Spencer he wanted a subject change.
It quietened down a bit as they neared the centre, with the exception of the odd rustle of crisp packets.
‘Sorry,’ said Ryan suddenly, gaining everyone’s attention. ‘My mum will probably shout when she finds out I bruised my arm.’
Spencer shook his head. ‘It was just an accident, that’s all. I’m sure she’ll understand. She’ll just be pleased to see you’re fine.’
‘It’s all right,’ said Leo.
‘No, it’s not,’ said Ryan quietly, turning to the window, steaming the pane with his breath. He didn’t need to say another word. Spencer already got the memo: Ryan’s swimming was the most important thing in the world.
Debra was standing in the main entrance of the Sunshine Centre when they pulled up, giving them a welcome wave.
Spencer said a warm hello as they all headed inside where the parents were waiting to take their children home.
Leo’s mum was the first to cradle her child. ‘How was your adventure, my little lion?’
Leo beamed. ‘A huge spider walked over my face, and we told ghost stories, and I climbed the tallest mountain, and Ryan bruised his arm, and—’
Annette gasped. ‘What?’ She scanned Ryan’s arm, not rushing to comfort him or ask after his wellbeing. Her icy glare chilled the room. ‘How did he bruise his arm? Have you any idea how important his next race is?’
Bonnie bent to Ryan’s eye level and lightly stroked back his blond locks. ‘You poor thing. How are you feeling?’
Ryan went to say that he was fine, but his mother cut across him.
‘Never mind that,’ snapped Annette. ‘I want an explanation.’
Spencer faced Ryan’s mum and told her what had happened, including how Graham’s medical team had double-checked Ryan’s arm to confirm it was just bruised, and that it had been filed in the incident book, not that it helped anything simmer down.
‘I’ve a good mind to sue the lot of you, and get this centre and the stupid rock-climbing place shut down.’ Annette paced by the office door.
Chris gave Jax a cuddle as his child leaned into his side. ‘A bit dramatic, don’t you think, Annette?’
If the woman’s eyes could turn red and shoot laser beams, Spencer was sure Chris would be toast by now.
‘Perhaps if your son was set to become an Olympian, you’d have something sensible to add,’ she growled.
Chris shook his head. ‘He slipped. And more importantly, he’s all right. It’s just a bruise.’
Annette pointed a finger at Spencer. ‘He should have been keeping an eye on the children, not letting them wander off to do whatever they wanted. I put my trust in this centre, and now look.’ Her finger moved to Ryan, who started crying.
‘Hey, it’s okay,’ said Spencer, about to squat to comfort Ryan.
‘Don’t you touch him,’ snapped Annette. ‘You’ve done enough damage.’
Bonnie gave Ryan a hug instead, seeing how Annette didn’t bother. She whispered soothing words while his mother continued to rant.
Debra tried to calm Annette. ‘If you’d like to wait, I can give you a copy of the incident report. The rock-climbing centre will email me one as well. I can fetch you some tea and—’
‘Tea!’ yelled Annette. ‘I don’t want your bloody tea.’ She whipped around to face Ryan. ‘You can still race, right? Bruised, they said.’
Ryan sniffed. ‘I don’t want to swim.’
‘Of course you do. It’s just a bit of stage fright at the start, that’s all, you know, like those actors get.’
Ryan shook his head. ‘I don’t want to swim,’ he repeated quietly. ‘Spencer said I should tell you.’
Annette glared at Spencer. ‘Oh, so you put this in his head, did you?’
Spencer found his mouth gaping.
‘Perhaps we could discuss this further at the children’s progress meeting next week,’ suggested Debra.
‘Yes, we will,’ snapped Annette. ‘My husband is home from work then and will want to attend.’
Ryan’s sniffles caused Bonnie to give him another hug. She glared over at Annette. ‘Could you calm down, please?’
Annette moved her son away. ‘Why should I? Look at what bringing Ryan here has achieved. All I wanted was for you lot to bring back the confidence he lost. He needs to swim.’
‘He doesn’t want to,’ said Bonnie.
Annette swung open the main door with such force, it was a surprise it didn’t come off its hinges. ‘Of course he does, you stupid woman.’
‘Hey!’ snapped Chris, but Annette stormed off.
Jax looked up at his dad. ‘Is she really going to close the centre?’
Chris shook his head. ‘No. She’s just upset right now, that’s all.’
‘Everything will get sorted at the meeting,’ said Debra, looking more hopeful than Spencer felt.
No one had met Ryan’s dad yet, so Spencer didn’t know if they would have two irate parents on their hands wanting to shut them down. He only hoped the man was reasonable enough.
With a banging headache, a need for dinner, and his heart in pieces for Ryan, Spencer went off to Debra’s office to talk about the trip, when all he really wanted was to go home. He was looking forward to seeing Beth and Archie, but he wasn’t sure how much joy he could bring to their evening while feeling utterly exhausted on every level.