What Happened to Baby Cameron?
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 13

New Orleans Here We Come

After Tad and Ramsey left with the five boys, I looked at the assembled group, “Who would like to go first?  I know why Lamar and Jordan are here, but I assume that the others of you have something on you mind.  Who wants to go first?”

Brent started, “We found out today that the Carradines are going to be leaving.  We need to find another housekeeper and farm manager.  It seems that Mr. Carradine has cancer.  They want to leave as soon as we can find replacements.”

Lamar sat forward, “Mr. Farway, what would the housekeeper and farm manager be required to do?”

Jeremy answered, “We’d like for the housekeeper to be there to take care of the house and take care of the boys when they get home from school.  It would be helpful if she or he would be willing to fix an evening meal.  The farm manager would be responsible for taking care of the animals and the farm.  We would provide them with an apartment to live in, similar to the arrangement that Chase and Freddie have.”

Lamar’s next question blew my mind, “Mr. Farway and Mr. Phillips, would you have a problem with the housekeeper and the farm manager being black?”

Most of us started to laugh, and Lamar was offended, “What did I say that was so funny?”

I answered, “You’ve already met two of Mr. Farway and Mr. Phillips’ sons.  Chase is Mr. Farway’s biological son and Ramsey and his two brothers are their adopted sons.  Why would it matter what  the color of people's skin was?”

Lamar apologized, “Sir, I apologize.  It's just that there is still a great deal of prejudice in this country even if we do have a black President.”

Brent interrupted, “Lamar, why don’t you call your parents and have them come and talk to us tomorrow, say at ten o‘clock?”

Lamar asked if he could make a phone call and I directed him to the phone in the kitchen.  When he was out of sight, Mimi started, “Steve, Jordan is my nephew.  His mother is my sister.  Is there any way that you could hire her?  She was a legal secretary before she started to have the children.  Her family needs to have a source of income now that her husband has had his back surgery and is unable to go back to the construction business.”

I looked at Dusty, “This is your call. Cynthia wants very much to retire.  Could you work with Mrs. Jacobs?  It sounds like maybe she would be a good replacement.”

Dusty grinned, “She’s more like Cynthia than you could imagine.  She would be an ideal replacement.”

“Well what are you waiting on?  Get her hired.  Now what are you planning to do about replacing Chris, since he has been booted upstairs?”

Dusty looked at me, “Steve, I haven’t a clue who we could get to replace Chris.  He was such a natural for the job.”

Chase stepped into the conversation, “Mr. Michaels, I don’t know that we can keep both Lamar and Jordan gainfully employed.  I hate to say this, but we only need to hire one of them.”

Lamar had returned and was listening to the conversation.  He looked a little forlorn, “Mr. Phillips and Mr. Farway, my parents are excited about the possibility of working for you.  They will be at your place tomorrow at ten.  Mr. Michaels, I’ll be fine if you don’t hire me.  Jordy, needs the job worse than I do.” 

Jordan asked, “Mr. Michaels, if you were to hire me, would Lamar be able to live with me?”

I looked at the two guys, “That would be up to the two of you.  If you can act responsibly around the young people, I’m sure there wouldn’t be a problem with it.  Lamar, what are you majoring in at the university?”

Lamar sighed, “I started to major in advertising but soon realized that I would probably never go far in that field and switched to public relations which was probably just as stupid.  Mr. Michaels, I had no one guiding me, so I made some very stupid decisions.  I’m the first person in my family to ever go to college.”

I looked at Dusty, “Mr. Summers, I think we just found the person to replace Chris, assuming that he and Jordan’s mother can coexist.”

Jordan started to laugh, “Mr. Michaels, my parents know about my relationship with Lamar.  I’m sure that Mom will be able to work with Lamar.”

Everyone finally left and I went to bed.  I was almost asleep when two boys came in and crawled into bed with me, Randy asked, “Dad, can me and Tony sleep with you?  The three other guys were hogging the bed.”

“Of course, as long as you don’t kick me out of bed.”

When I woke in the morning, there was a sprawling body on either side of me.  I carefully extracted myself and got ready to face the day.  When I arrived in the kitchen, Tad was talking to Lamar.  I interrupted them, “I trust there’s not a problem?”

Lamar answered, “We brought some of Jordan's things so he could start moving into the apartment at the Summers’ ranch.  Mr. Michaels, no one mentioned when I would be starting to work at the Ad Agency.”

I nodded, “I guess we didn’t mention it last night, but the agency is closed until the third. Has Mr. Summers had a chance to talk to Jordan’s Mother?”

“I don’t think so.  Mr. Michaels, I do have two other questions for you.”

“Ask away, Lamar.”

“No one has mentioned what the wages for Jordan and me are going to be.  Will we be able to afford to go to finish our college educations?”

I nodded, “I should think so.  The person who you will be replacing was able to complete his degree while he was working.  Chase and Freddie will be graduating after this next term.  They started going to college right after they started to work here.  I’m sure that you will be well able to afford to continue going to college.  What’s the other question?”

“Mr. Michaels, last night, you said it would be acceptable for me to live here with Jordan if we could act responsibly around the young people.  What did that mean, exactly?”

I nodded, “As you observed, we have five young boys in the house and Dusty and Mimi have six young people at their house. We are not prudes by any stretch of the imagination, but we ask that you confine any love making to the privacy of your apartment.  There will probably be occasions when you have the opportunity to go skinny dipping with the young boys.  You need to keep your hormones in check.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Cam in his briefs, “Hi Dad, where are Tony and Randy?  They aren’t in bed.”

“They’re in your Dad’s and my bed.  They said you three young guys kicked them out.”

Cam hugged Tad, “Good morning, Tad.  Did you have a good night?”

Cam went and put his hands on Lamar’s thighs.  Mr. Lamar, are you going to be living here or at Uncle Dusty’s ranch?”

Lamar laughed, “It appears that we are going to be living at your Uncle Dusty’s ranch.  Why did you ask?”

“I just needed to know if I was going to be able boss you around like I do everyone else.”

Lamar started to laugh. 

I looked at Cam, “Don’t you think that you should go get some clothes on, since there are ladies in the house?”

“Okay, but can we have waffles for breakfast?”

“Yes, your Royal Highness.”

Tad got the waffle iron and started to make the waffle mix while I started to fry the sausage links on the griddle.  I looked at Lamar, “Why don’t you get two cans of orange juice out of the freezer and fix them.”

Lamar and Jordan were in for a big surprise when they saw how many people were in the house and would be eating.  When Cam returned, he had his bed buddies with him.  Cam went on the intercom, “Gentlemen in the stable, breakfast is ready.”

The five youngest boys were eating at the breakfast bar when people started to surface.  Lamar and Jordan were dumbfounded when the boys took their eating utensils and dishes and rinsed them and put them in the dishwasher.  Cam asked, “Dad, what are we going to do today.  Can we go out and play for awhile?”

I answered, “I’m hoping maybe your Daddy will call.  We’ll do something this afternoon.”

The scene of the story is now switching to New Orleans.  Hank Rodgers will be narrating the story for the remainder of the chapter.

As I was flying and waiting for flights, I was trying to decide what I needed to do when I arrived in New Orleans.  I decided the first stop would be to stop at police headquarters to see if there was a missing children report on Tony and Andy.

When I landed in New Orleans I went to rent a car.  The only vehicle they had was a seven passenger van.  I decided to go ahead and rent it, since I needed some transportation and I didn’t want to be dependent on taxis.

I arrived at the police headquarters and identified myself to the officer at the duty desk.  I would like to check to see if there is a missing children’s report on a Antonio Henri Tibideaux and Andreas Michaud Tibideaux.”

The young officer was working on the computer and nodded, “Yes, they were reported missing ten days ago.  Their case is being handled by Officer Casey and Officer Tenet.”

“I would like to report that the two young boys were at my home last night, when I left to come here.  They were sold by their stepfather.”

The young officer looked at me, “Sir, I think that you'd better talk to Officers Casey and Tenet.  This doesn’t sound very good.”

The young man called someone on the phone and almost immediately there were two people who were not in uniform were approaching me.  The elder of the two men asked, “Sir, would you please come with us.”

We went into a small interrogation room and I showed the two undercover police detectives what I had and it took no time at all before we were at 2435 Rue Marseilles.

We went to the door and a young man in skimpy briefs answered, “Oh goody, Daddy sent me some goodies to keep me company.  I ain’t never been ridden by a cowboy before.  I guess Daddy explained that I get paid commensurate with the services I provide.  Cowboy, I’ll let you ride me for free if you do a good job.”

Officer Casey grabbed the young man and turned to the younger man, “Dan, read this scumbag his rights.  We’re going to arrest him on charges of prostitution if he doesn’t cooperate.”

By the time we left the Tibideaux house, we found out that Albert Cournier was at an assisted living facility visiting Tony and Andy’s Grandfather.”

The young man who had greeted us was led away to an awaiting police car.  The two undercover officers and I made our way to the assisted living facility and Officer Tenet went to the receptionist, “Miss, we’d like to speak to Mr. Jacques Tibideaux.”

The young woman pointed, “He’s over there taking to his son-in-law.”

As we approached the two gentlemen we heard, “Mr. Tibideaux, it’s apparent that something happened to the two boys and they won’t be coming back.  Sign this and I’ll make sure that you’re taking care of for life.”

I spoke up, “Sir, your two grandsons are fine.  When I left home last night they were going to go buy the boys warm coats.  Mr. Cournier sold your two grandsons to a slave trader.”

Mr. Tibideaux looked up, “Why am I not surprised?  I guess he caused the demise of the boys’ mother as well.”

Mr. Cournier stood, “Mister, you’re lying.  You can’t prove any of these allegations.”

The two officers grabbed him and Officer Tenet read him his rights. “Mr. Cournier, Mr. Rodgers has proof that you sold the boys for ten thousand dollars.  Not only that, he recovered their birth certificates and social security cards.  I would say that you will be spending a number of years behind bars for what you have done.”

I looked at Mr. Tibideaux, “Sir, I’ll be back to talk to you as soon as I can retrieve my vehicle which is at police headquarters.  I’m a lawyer and I’m a member of the Louisiana Bar Association and can practice law in your state.  I want to make sure this man fry for what he did to Tony and Andy.”

Mr. Tibideaux asked, “Mr. Rodgers, is there anyway that you can have the boys’ mother’s body exhumed so it can be examined to see if her death was from natural causes?”

“Mr. Tibideaux, I’ll need to check with the authorities.  I have no idea as to how to arrange that.”

Officer Casey intervened, “Mr. Tibideaux, we’ll take care of that as soon as we get back to the station.  We have sufficient cause to make sure that this case is thoroughly re-examined, now that we have proof of what Mr. Cournier did.”

As I was leaving with the two officers, I turned to the boys’ Grandfather,  “Mr. Tibideaux, I’ll be back in about an hour.”

Mr. Tibideaux asked, “Mr. Rodgers, what’s happening to the two boys?”

I grinned, “I’m guessing about this time, they are on the ranch bossing everyone around.  My son has decided that we need to take care of your two grandsons.”

Mr. Tibideaux laughed, “So, how old is this son of yours?”

I sighed, “He just turned six.  He thinks he’s king of the world and goes around telling everyone what they should do.”

Mr. Tibideaux chuckled, “I’ll be waiting for your return.  It sounds as if you have an interesting family.”

When we arrived at the police headquarters, we were met by a gentleman, “Good morning, gentlemen, I’m Assistant District Attorney Simon Fairfield.  I would like to talk to you about this case that involves selling children into slavery.”

I shook the man’s hand, “It’s good to see you, Si.  I haven’t seen you since we graduated from law school.”

The guy looked at me, “Are you Hank Rodgers?  I thought you were living in the mountains out west.  What are you doing here?”

“The two boys who were sold just happen to be at my house, north of Denver.  They mysteriously appeared in our house in Denver and we were able to retrieve these documents.”

Mr. Fairfield quickly perused the documents, “Holy Moly, where is the creep who bought them?”

“He’s being detained by the Denver police department.”

“Hank, is there any way that we can get the boys here?  I would like to put these people behind bars for good.”

“Si, I can get them here.  I can probably get them here by tonight, but what purpose will it serve?  The two little guys have already suffered enough.”

“Hank, you know as well as I do that any respectable judge will throw out evidence that comes second or third hand as circumstantial evidence.”

I pulled out my cell phone and speed dialed the house.  Randy answered, “This Randy Michaels, how may I help you?”

“Randy, it’s Dad Hank.  May I please talk to Dad Steve?”

“Just a minute, he’s talking to Chris and Chase’s Mother.  I’ll get him.”

Steve came on the line, “Cowboy, I thought maybe you would have called earlier.  What’s up?”

“Steve, you need to make arrangements for you to bring the guys here as soon as possible.”

“Cowboy, what guys?  You want me to bring everyone?”

“No silly, just bring the five youngest.  The big guys can fend for themselves.  Surely they can make sure that they can get to airport on time.  Now get on the computer and book the first connection that you can make to New Orleans and let me know when you will be arriving, so I can meet you at the airport.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: It looks as if things are moving right along. It is a shame that the new guys will have to go through more crap, and even testify in court.  I wish they didn't have to be given more  trauma.  

Hank is doing all he can to make things better for them, but courts don't always do what is easiest, for kids, sadly.  I do hope that the judge is a caring person who will do what is necessary to give the boys good lives. 

I guess we will just have to wait for the next chapter to find out, won't we?

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 11/13/09