The ‘den’ Triplets
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2010 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 17  

Never Too Many Grandparents

I went to answer the phone, “This is Mike Naylor.”

“Mike, it’s Dad Majors.  How are the boys?”

“Their other grandfather is sitting here entertaining them.”

“Mike, what have you been drinking?  Your father has been dead for years.   Your mother didn’t get remarried, did she?”

“Dad Majors, my mother is too busy having a good time bossing us around to get married.  Todd’s father is playing with the triplets.”

“Mike, I thought Todd’s father threw him out because he was gay.  What’s he doing there?”

“Aunt Millie, who lives next door, is Todd’s mother’s sister, and Todd’s parents are visiting her.  I still don’t know all of the details as to why they decided to visit Aunt Millie just now.”

“If Todd’s parents are visiting Millie, would it be possible for us to come this weekend and stay?”

“We’ll kick Jake out of the guest bedroom and he can sleep in the guys' room now that they are almost sleeping through the night.”

Dad sounded confused, “Who is this Jake person and why is he staying at your house?  I thought Todd was the nurse.”

 

“Jake was a witness at the trial for the prosecution.  He and his father don’t exactly see eye to eye on religious matters, and he is the father of one of a set of twins.”

Dad laughed, “Mike, you have to be drinking.  You’re not making any sense.  We’ll be there about two tomorrow afternoon.”

When I hung up, Mother was sitting there when I went into the living room.  “The Majors are coming for the weekend.”

Mother had arrived while I was on the phone. “That’s great, but where are they going to sack out, now that you have Jake staying with you.  I would say that Jake could stay at my house, but people would talk.  We could have Greg and Marty stay at my house, so they don’t have to take care of the boys at night.”

Jake explained, “I can sleep on the sofa bed in the boys’ room.”

Mother shook her head, “That’s not a good idea.  Your snoring would keep the boys awake and they would be grouchy all the time.”

Jacob stood, “On that note, I’m going to go see Nia and the girls.”

Mr. Stodola asked, “Who are Nia and the girls?   Are they part of Mike’s and Todd’s family?”

Todd, who had been very quiet, answered, “Dad, according to you, Mike’s and my relationship is built only around sex.  That’s the furthest thing from the truth.  We don’t flaunt that we are together, nor do we deny it.  The fact that we are involved with Jacob and Nia and the twins is coincidental.  Mr. DeLuca, Nia’s father, is a client of Mike’s, and Jacob was a witness in Mike’s just completed prostitution case.  It just so happens that Nia had twins who are the same age as the triplets, and Jacob is the father of one of the twins.”

Aunt Millie had the funniest look on her face, “Todd, that makes no sense.  How can Jake be the father of just one of the twins?”

I answered, “We had the DNA tested and the results prove Jacob is the father of only one of the twins.”

Mr. Stodola laughed, “I can see it now.  This Nia person is walking down the aisle and is going to marry Jacob and the other father at the same time.  I hope the fathers have good jobs so they can spoil the twins.”

Mother intervened, “Jerry, that would be funny, except that the other father committed suicide because he was afraid to tell his parents what the prostitution ring was making him do.”

Todd’s Mother put her hand on her husband’s mouth, “Jerry, it’s time for you to be quiet and not make comments when you don’t know all the details.”

Jacob had no sooner left than Aunt Millie took Todd’s parents home for dinner.  Todd laughed, “I was afraid that my Dad wasn’t going to leave and I only made three chicken pot pies for dinner, since Jake told me he was invited to the DeLuca’s house for dinner.”

We were eating dinner when the doorbell rang; Todd went to answer, thinking it was his father.  Instead, he returned with Reverend Stocker.  He looked at me, “I hear you won your case against the prostitution ring.  I still say that those young people became members of their own free will.  You can’t make people do things like that against their will.”

Todd remained cool, “Mr. Stocker, you mean to tell me that someone who enjoys what they are doing would deliberately take their lives.”

“Mr. Stodola, if they took their own life, then they had no faith in the Gospels.  Is Jacob here?  I need to make sure that he does the right thing and marries that DeLuca woman.  I don’t know what we can do about the second daughter of the woman who seduced my son.”

Mother looked up from her food, “Mr. Stocker, you are sick.  I doubt very much if Jacob would submit to your marrying him and Antonia, should they decide to get married.  How do you propose to find out which of the two little girls is Jacob’s daughter, since that case was closed and the results have been sealed?  Jacob is okay with not knowing which of the twins is his daughter, so it is certainly none of your business.  Perhaps we should trace your ancestry to find out what it is that you are so proud of.  Now, please leave, since you’re annoying my grandsons.”

“Your poor grandsons are doomed to living their life in hell, since their father has succumbed to attention of a black man who probably used some kind of voodoo to seduce him.”

Talk about three people moving quickly:  Mother, Todd and I were out of our chairs and Mr. Stocker was backing toward the front door as fast as he could go.  I watched as he climbed in his car and sped away.  When I was seated, Mother was picking at her food, “That man needs psychiatric help.  He is totally out of touch with today’s world.”

We had just finished eating when the Stodolas were at the door, Mr. Stodola had a funny grin on his face, “We came to offer our service to take care of three neglected little boys.  We could hear them crying from Millie’s house.”

Todd gave his Dad the stink eye, “Dad, you need your hearing checked.  They weren’t crying; they were jeering what Jacob’s father was saying.”

The three parents were feeding the boys when Jacob and Nia arrived with the twins.  Jacob asked. “My father was here, wasn’t he?”

I nodded, “Yes, he was here spouting his distorted opinions.  He said that the triplets were going to be spending their lives in hell, because Todd seduced me.”

Todd’s Dad frowned, “I thought it was Mike who seduced Todd.”

Mother took over, “Yeah, he is planning on the two of you getting married in his church.  He is intent on finding out which of the girls is his granddaughter.”

Jake nodded, “He came busting into the DeLuca’s house and we practically had to throw him out.  He informed me that he was going to get a court order to reveal which of the two girls is my daughter.  We came to see if you would represent us, should he be successful in getting the case brought before the courts?”

“Of course I’ll represent you, should your father be able to get someone to represent him in the case.”

Jacob shuddered, “Mike, the congregation at Dad’s church has some very high powered lawyers in it.  Don’t be surprised if the case is on the court docket in the near future.”

We finally got rid of all the visitors and put the boys to bed.  Todd and I were taking care of business when the phone rang.  I whispered, “Let it ring.  We have more important things to take care of.  If it’s important, they’ll leave a message.”

Todd and I were asleep when there was a knock on the door.  I put on a robe and Jacob was standing there shaking, “Mike, there was a message on the machine from a Mr. Hooper.  He said that he is filing a case against you for concealing evidence in the identity of the two DeLuca girls‘ fathers.   Mr. Hooper is a very staunch supporter of my Dad and he is a lawyer who takes only high profile cases.  He also is very homophobic.”

“Jake, there is nothing we can do about it, tonight.  I’ll call him tomorrow and see what he has to say.”

Todd, Jake and I were taking care of the boys’ morning feeding when the phone rang.  I answered, “This is Mike Naylor.”

“Naylor, this is George Hooper, why didn’t you return my call last night/”

“Excuse me, sir. We were already in bed when the phone rang.  I assumed that if anyone needed to speak to me they would have called at a reasonable hour.”

“Naylor, I want the records of the DNA test results of the two DeLuca girls released, so it is common knowledge which of them is Jacob Stocker’s daughter.”

“Mr. Hooper, I have no intention of unsealing that information.  I gather you’re a crony of Mr. Stocker and he has no reason to know, after what he said about my three sons, last night.  As far as I’m concerned, it is he who is the devil’s disciple.  From your attitude, I gather you are a disciple as well.”

There was a sharp intake of air on the phone. “Naylor, you are going to regret that remark.  I look forward to making mincemeat of you in court, in the very near future.”

I sat down and told Todd and Jake about the conversation.  Jake frowned, “Mr. Hooper was just nominated for the state supreme court by the governor.  This may be the opportunity to block his nomination.  He is even more conservative than my father, if that’s possible.  I think that my father consults with Mr. Hooper before he speaks.”

When I got to the office, David and Jeff were both there.  David looked at me, “There’s a Mr. Hooper here to see you.  He doesn’t have an appointment, but he said it was important.  Your nine o’clock appointment, Mr. Shoemaker, is here.”

“Send Mr. Shoemaker in.”

I offered Mr. Shoemaker a seat, “Mike, I just came to settle my account for the way you handled Aaron’s case.”

“Roy, please sit down.   There is someone in the office whom I have not met and I’m not looking forward to meeting him.  He’s going to take me to court to release some sealed information that neither he nor anyone else needs to know.”

“I know who Mr. Hooper is.  I’m not sure how the jerk got nominated by the Governor to be on the State Supreme Court.  He’ll make his decisions based on the Bible and not the Constitution.  In fact, I’m leading a petition drive to have the Governor withdraw Hooper’s name, before the senate and house confirm him.”

I must have looked surprised, “Roy, you must have had a bad experience with Mr. Hooper to be leading a petition drive against his nomination to the state supreme court.”

I went to college with the man.  He was the biggest stud on campus.  I know of three women whom he got pregnant.  One is my sister.  I don’t know what happened to make him so religious, but he is more like a skunk with his stripe painted black than he is an angel all in white.  I really need to go make some more money, so I can afford your outrageous fees.  Here, sign this petition before I leave.”

After I signed the petition, Mr. Shoemaker left.  David came in, “Mr. Naylor, Mr. Hooper is still waiting, but your nine thirty appointment, Mr. Daniels, is here.”

“Send Mr. Daniels in, please.  He had an appointment so he is entitled to be first.”

Mr. Parker Daniels, Jr. entered with his two sons, Derek and Devon.  Mr. Daniels immediately asked, “What is your association with George Hooper?”

“I have never met Mr. Hooper personally, even though he is sitting in my office.  He wants me to have some information released that I’m not about to release.  How is that you know Mr. Hooper?”

Derek answered, “Mr. Hooper, paid for our services on several occasions.  When we serviced him, he insisted that we have a hood on our faces so he would not know who we were.  He also wore a hood, but one time he got so excited by what was happening that his hood slid off.  He was so into what was happening that his hood was off long enough that we could identify him.”

I walked around in front of my desk and sat on the front edge, “I have the feeling that Mr. Hooper is going to take me to court to try to get the court to order me to release information that I don’t think should be released.  Would you two young men be my aces in the hole to put Mr. Hooper where he belongs?”

Devon Daniels looked at his Dad, “Dad, is this something you want us to do?  If we testify, everyone will know that we were part of the prostitution ring.”

Mr. Daniels was irritated, “Guys, why didn’t you identify Mr. Hooper as being a user of your services, before?”

Derek tensed, “Dad, we didn’t know his name.  How could we identify him if we didn’t know who he was?  I think Kent and Trent Alexander also had some experiences with Mr. Hooper.”

Mr. Daniels handed me a check, “Just let us know, and the boys will be available to make sure that Mr. Hooper isn’t around to prey on any more of the city’s young people.”

I ushered them to the door and shook their hands.  Mr. Hooper was standing in my face, “Naylor, I’ve been waiting for over an hour to talk to you and we’re going to talk now.”

“Oh sir, I didn’t realize you had an appointment.”

“Naylor, don’t play games with me.  I’m George Hooper and I’m representing Reverend Stocker.  We want to know which of the DeLuca brats is the offspring of Jacob.”

“Mr. Hooper, it is none of your or Mr. Stocker’s business, since Jacob is not a blood relative of Mr. Stocker.  Jacob was adopted by the Stockers when he was an infant.”

“That’s hearsay.”

“No, Mr. Hooper, it’s not hearsay.  The Stockers admitted it the other night when they first met the DeLuca twins.  In fact, the parents of the other person involved were there and can testify that their son is the father of the other girl.  In view of the fact that the second young man is dead, it would be to everyone’s benefit to let Miss DeLuca and Jacob Stocker do what they deem right.  Neither Mr. Stocker nor you have any right to interfere.”

“That’s just the kind of response I should have expected from a queer who is sleeping with a Black man.”

Mr. Hooper opened the door, “I’ll see you in court in the near future.  If I were you, I would be looking for a new place to live, because you sure won’t have any customers in this city after the trial.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I am so sad to know that the kindly old fellow that used to operate the general store on Sesame Street, is a nasty person. Or is he the guy that used to sing bass on the Lawrence Welk TV show? 

In either case, I strongly suspect that our Mr. Naylor is quite well able to take of this stupid blowhard, in court and trounce him soundly.

I do hope it won't be too long before we find out what happens next.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/14/11