I caught sight of Theodore maybe once a week, which meant, surprisingly, yes, he did check up on us. But he never stuck around long enough to answer all of my questions. He gave me gruff and simplistic answers to the most basic things like, "Can we get higher level school materials for Harry?" (I'll look into it); "Can I do my own grocery shopping?" (Only if you use your vacation time); "Does Harry ever eat meals with you?" (I don't have time to sit down for meals) and "Is Harry really not allowed in the rest of the house?" The short answer was No, but upon my insistence, Theodore explained that he was a very respected and powerful businessman and that he had many, many clients who came to the house and even stayed the night on occasion since the place was a bit far off the beaten path. He didn't want Harry wandering around and disrupting meetings or playing loudly when important clients were on the premises. I thought it was a shitty way for a father to treat his kid, but it strengthened my resolve to show as much love love, affection and encouragement to Harry as I possibly could.

Other than that, Harry and I had very little contact with the outside world; well, other humans at least. We spent time outside every day and even when it rained. We climbed up into the highest treehouse one rainy afternoon and, after consulting a basic fireplace safety website, we built a fire and read books for hours. We ended up napping in the daybed until after dark. Harry was a little afraid of walking back to the house in the dark since we didn't have a flashlight, but I held his hand and we made it just fine by the light of the moon.

We swam often and Harry seemed the most graceful in the water. One day, upon re-reading the wooden sign outside of Harry's quarters - Harry's Tree House, Swimming Pool, Playground, and Pacific Ocean - I realized that we had not yet visited the Pacific Ocean, so that's the direction we headed.

It was only about 30 yards down a narrow path, surrounded by foliage, until we came to a clearing much like a rocky beach right there on the inlet of the Pacific. "Harry, this is beautiful! have you ever swam here?" I asked.

He gave me a huge shrug and cocked his head to the side dramatically. "When I was little," he said, but he didn't expound on that statement.

I ventured as close to the edge of the water as I could without soaking my feet. "Look, Harry," I said enthusiastically, squatting down to scoop a shell out of the water. "These shells have little animals inside. Did you know that?" I picked up a mussel, not knowing exactly what kind it is.

Harry squatted down next to me. "Can they come out and play?" He asked even more enthusiastically.

"No," I giggled, trying not to make him feel bad. "They're called mussels. They're soft and squishy and they need to stay inside the shell to be protected. They're not furry like kittens or anything."

"Oh," he said, nodding. "It's too small for kittens anyway."

I burst into laughter at his comments, and he did, too. "You have a great sense of humor, Harry." He looked like he didn't quite understand the compliment so I made it more simple. "I think you're funny."

"Thanks," he said shyly.

"Do you have any water shoes?" I asked. "You know, shoes with grippy bottoms so you don't slip in the water and so the rocks don't hurt your feet."

"I think I have them," he said, making a funny little face as he tried to remember.

"Should we go back and check? And we can get our swimsuits on and come back to explore in the water. How does that sound?"

"Very fun, Nanny Jules," he replied with a happy grin.

We were back at the shore within minutes. I dipped my toes in first and squealed. It was definitely colder than the pool.

"It's not cold," Harry teased. "Watch me, Nanny Jules!" He ran into the water without hesitation and dove in when he was up to his waist.

"Harry!" I laughed. "It's freezing!"

"Nope, nope," he said shaking his head wildly. "Not freezing. Come on." He grabbed my hand and dragged me in further while I protested. Finally, I ended up slipping on the rocks as he pulled me deeper and we both fell into the water laughing like crazy. We swam a bit through the crystal clear water, my body eventually adjusting to the frigid temperature.

Gliding through the pristine ocean inlet waters, I casually inspected the various rocks and stones and occasional tiny fish that swam by. It was a bit like a smorgasbord for the senses, the feeling of the cold salty water, the smell of the fresh ocean breeze, and the amazing variety of things to see, both under water and along the shore. An enormous variety of trees, shrubs, rocks and driftwood painting an immaculate picture of serenity. I was glad that Harry had this, and that I got to share it with him.

I could see across that the other shore of the inlet was very much rugged and wild. I wondered if it was government land or something like that. It was definitely beautiful with rocky walls and limestone cliffs, similar to the ones near the pool, topped with more dense green foliage. Further down the inlet, I could see that the water was fairly shallow, enough that it looked like we could cross, but there would be no place to go but up. In any case, we had many days ahead of us to explore.

"How did you learn to swim, Harry?" I asked as he smoothly stroked through the water around me. "You're pretty good." It wasn't over his head, but he still appeared to know how to keep afloat and obviously propel himself through the water.

"Mary," he said.

"Oh, who's Mary?" I asked.

He shrugged and smiled as he stopped to tread water. "Just Mary."

I didn't pursue it for the moment, but it seemed odd that Harry didn't refer to her as Nanny Mary. Maybe she wasn't a nanny, but who was she and when did she come into the picture?

"Who teached you to swim?" He asked.

"Taught," I corrected him. "The past tense of teach is taught." He mouthed out Oops and I smiled at his adorable response. "Don't worry about it. A lot of people make mistakes like that." Then I answered his question, "My mom and dad taught me to swim. We used to go camping and they taught me to swim in lakes a lot like this."

"Camping? Like with tents and stuff?" He asked. We started making our way back to shore, wading out of the water to our towels.

"Yup," I said. "We had a really big tent and a few smaller ones because there are six of us in my family."

"Six?" He gasped. "You have lots of brothers?"

"I have one brother and two sisters, so with my mom and dad, that makes six."

"Did you camp here?" He asked.

I dried my face and then wrapped the towel around my waist. "No, Harry. We camped far away," I said, tousling his wet head. "I grew up in Ohio, so we went camping in Pennsylvania and sometimes up in New York."

He smiled innocently and asked, "Where are those?"

"They're in the United States," I answered, sensing he had no clue what I was talking about. "Do you know what that is?" I asked.

He shook his head no, still smiling.

I felt like I'd been kicked in the gut, and it definitely wasn't the first time I'd felt like that since I'd been here. I mean, maybe it wasn't really a surprise that he didn't know US geography, but it was dawning on me how sheltered Harry really was. Or maybe these were concepts he really couldn't grasp. Things like time and distance were sometimes complicated but it was hard for me to believe he had never seen anything on TV that told him about the outside world.

Before I could contain it, I sat down on the rocks at the edge of the water and wept. I didn't even understand why. Maybe it was because I'd been here almost a month and Theodore wouldn't tell me a damn thing about Harry's diagnosis or medications or his life. Maybe it was because I felt overwhelmed with what little bit I had to work with in terms of materials and what Harry was allowed to do. Or maybe I just felt sorry for him because he had never experienced a real life with a mom and dad and camping, and I didn't know if he ever would.

"Nanny Jules," I heard Harry's voice softly speaking to me. "Why are you crying? Did I do something wrong?" I felt him settle on the rock close to me.

"No, Harry, not at all," I said giving him a hug for assurance. "You did not do anything wrong. I guess maybe I'm just a little homesick," I lied.

"What does that mean?" He asked.

"It means I miss my family."

"I'm sorry," he said, petting my arm affectionately. He surprised me with those little sparks of maturity sometimes. "Can you visit them sometimes?"

"Yes, but not for a while. I just got here. But my family and I are very close, so I miss them."

He shrugged as a bewildered look crossed his face. Of course he didn't understand the concept of family closeness. Again, my gut felt the uncomfortable turn of sadness, realizing how much he'd missed. Finally, he hesitantly, softly placed his arm around me and squeezed my shoulder.

"Thank you, Harry. You are making me feel a lot better."

"Really?" He seemed outstandingly pleased with himself.

"Yes, really. You're treating me like a friend. Being sad with me when I'm a little sad. That's what friends do."

"You're my friend, too, Nanny Jules." His sweet affirmation warmed my heart more than he'd ever know.

That afternoon, after we had eaten lunch and Harry was taking a well-deserved nap, I took inventory of everything that could possibly give him a clue to the outside world. All of his DVD's were for ages ten and under, and there weren't even any Disney movies, which I found to be a complete travesty. His music, as I had found out before, consisted of children's CD's and classical music. I logged into his learning computer and found that most sites were blocked. The only ones that were allowed were educational websites with games that he could play. There was a website for geography, but maybe he never went to that one, who knows? Or maybe he would recognize the names of more immediate locations. But certainly in all of his reading, he had to have read about places around the world. It could be that he didn't connect the words in the books with real life places, people and situations.

I went to the teaching computer and found that I only had access to those same websites. Thank goodness I had brought my own laptop. I pulled up a few decent geography sites and figured I'd give it a go to see if I could teach him some basic knowledge about the outside world. I checked out some science sites, too, knowing that Harry was curious enough that he might become interested in some concepts once I started to talk about them, things like the basics of earth science.

Still, I was disgusted at the thought that no one ever pushed Harry further than this before. If he was seventeen, someone had to have noticed that he was beyond first and second grade math. Once again, I felt overwhelmed almost to the point of tears. How could I catch a 17-year-old kid up on so much learning?

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Thanks so much for reading <3