"Ok Mr Lunn," said Christopher, "I'll call you what..."

But then his attention was drawn elsewhere.

"That's...that's a pocket watch, isn't it?" he asked, even though it was obvious, "I've never seen a pocket watch before, but I've always wanted to. I...I remember my parents saying that their parents had one, and that they'd show me it one day."

A small hint of sadness touched his eyes.

"I never got that chance," he murmered.

(There's more, don't worry)

Geoffrey was a little perplexed as to Christopher's fascination with the pocket watch. The words "I never got that chance," suggested that something bad had happened in this boys life.

Geoffrey wanted to ask Christopher what happened to his parents, but decided against it, after all, the boy had been through a lot recently.

He looked down at the pocket watch, that was still in his hand. "Do you want to take a closer look at it?" He offered.

Christopher looked up at Mr Lunn, and nodded.

"C...could I also have a listen to it ticking as well?" he asked unsurely, "I...I always liked those sorts of sounds."

Geoffrey was further intrigued by the boy's behaviour. "...Of course.", he said.

Christopher shuffled off of the sofa and walked over to Geoffrey. He looked at the hand that held the pocket watch.

"It's...nothing like I thought it would be," he said, tentatively touching it, "It's...oh, I'm sorry. This is...probably freaking you out a bit."

He then took Mr Lunn's hand and moved it so that the watch was resting against his ear. He gave a small sigh when he heard the smooth, rapid ticking.

"You probably think I'm being a little strange," he continued, "But...it's just bringing back memories. Of my parents."

"It's OK, you're not freaking me out, you're just a very interesting young person." Geoffrey said as he allowed Christopher to listen to the pocket watch.

A short time later, they heard a knock at the door. Geoffrey put the watch back into his pocket and went to open the door.

"Good morning officers." He said to the policemen.

"Good morning, Sir," said the policemen. Officer Julia was with them.

Christopher had followed Geoffrey through. "What's going on?" he asked.

-----------

A few moments later, Christopher had told Julia and the others his horrific story at the orphanage.

"....And if locking you up in a cupboard overnight didn't work," he said, a tear in his eye, "They...they gave you an enema. On the last day I was there, they gave one to my best friend in full view of the whole orphanage. I'd never heard her scream and cry so badly."

Julia wrote everything down in her notepad, then turned to Geoffrey.

"Mr Lunn, if what Christopher here has said is true...and I have no reason not to believe him...then I can only sum this up in two words - child abuse. We will deal with the matter as soon as we possibly can, and try to rehome as many of the children as possible," she said, "Having said that, I don't think young Christopher here would be in the right state of mind to go back. Aside the fact he's probably mentally and physically scarred from his time there, he looks hungry and tired, and I really think he needs someone there for him."

Christopher looked up at the two with sad eyes.

"Do you know anywhere we could take him so that he'd receive proper, loving care?" Julia asked.

He looked down at Christopher for a moment, then turned back to Officer Julia.

"That's quite alright Officer, he can stay with me."

Christopher gasped with delight....then clung to Geoffrey's legs in delight.

Julia said nothing else...instead, she nodded in approval and left.

----------

"I've always wanted to have someone to love, for a long time," admitted Christopher once the police officers were gone, "Thank you for offering to look after me."

He looked at Mr Lunn.

"So....anything I need to know about living here? It's been a long time since I've had an actual family"

"Hmm..." thought Geoffrey "Well, for starters, my greenhouse is out of bounds. If I ever find you in there, there's going to be trouble. Understand? The same goes for my shed. If you want something from in there, you come and find me, you never go in by yourself. Otherwise, I'll have to punish you."

After hearing of Christopher's toils at the orphanage, he was a bit wary of telling him right now that he planned to give him a spanking if he was bad.