Just the other day one of the street boys (we'll call him Stefan) came to the Secret Garden very drunk. We don't turn them away if they are drunk or high (some days there'd be no-one there if we did that!) but we do insist that they don't bring alcohol or solvent onto the premises. It was one of those days when you feel the trouble simmering just under the surface and you find yourself waiting for it to erupt.
Sure enough, as the afternoon progressed, one of the other boys, Claudiu kept making wee comments and annoying Stefan. I repeatedly told him to leave Stefan alone and to keep his mouth closed before he ended up getting a beating ... but would he be quiet? Of course he wouldn't! I had to leave the room for a minute and heard what sounded like a murder being committed. Running back to the activity room I saw Stefan in the process of throwing himself at Claudiu, stool in hand. Times like this are thankfully rare, but you have to act quickly so I placed myself in front of Stefan and put my arms around him while talking to him to calm him down and leading him outside. Once away from the source of his anger, Stefan calmed down and apologised in tears. When I told him I had two young workmen inside working in the kitchen who had heard the commotion and were probably scared out of their wits, he hung his head in shame and asked me to apologise to them for him!
No comments:
Post a Comment