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

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Chapter 22

A Whole New World

When I arrived at the house on the hill with my five passengers, Hank and Kevin had Gaylon and Terry working in the kitchen.  Cam went and hugged his Dad, “Hi Daddy, did you have a good day?  Are we going to have a nude swim party after our snacks?”

Cam looked at Gaylon and Terry, “Didn’t you guys have to go to school today?”

Terry giggled, “Nope, we played hooky.  Your Daddy took us to a new school and we’re going to start in the morning.  There’s some snacks for us in the fridge.  I’ll get them.  We never got snacks after school at our other house.”

Cam had the funniest look, “Why not?  I thought everyone had snacks after school.”

Gaylon shook his head no.  “If we had anything to eat between meals, it had to be something we found outside, like an apple or a carrot from the garden.  Sometimes we would sneak a glass of milk from the refrigerator if we had any.”

The guys were eating their rice pudding and cookies when Chad and Damon arrived.  Cam looked at them, it’s about time you got here.  We’re almost finished with our snacks.  How soon can we go swimming, Dads?”

Hank shook his head, “As soon as you take care of your dishes and Kevin is ready to act as the life guard.  Since it is going to be a nude swim party, you need to make sure you put the red flag up so everyone knows that it is a party for men only.”

Randy asked, “Dads, aren’t you going to swim with us?”

Hank put his arms around Randy, “Son, your Daddy and I need to talk about some things.”

Chad asked, “Mr. Rodgers, who’s going to take care of the animals at the farm?”

Hank looked at Kevin, “Kev, please take the other boys to the pool area.  Your Dad and I need to talk to Chad for a few minutes.  He’ll be joining the rest of you shortly.”

After the others had departed, Chad asked, “Mr. Rodgers, is there a problem?”

“Chad, your Dad has posted bail.  When I served him with the restraining order to not attempt to see you, he totally lost it.  Since he is out of jail, you are not going to worry about the animals at your old home.  I have alerted the authorities that there might be a problem.  We need to let them take care of the problem.”

Hank wasn’t finished, “Chad, I’m concerned about him trying to get to you and Damon at the school.”

I nodded. “When I gave the restraining order to the principal this afternoon, he informed me that Mr. Martin had been there about twenty minutes before we arrived, ranting and raving.  You and Damon will need to be alert.  Where does your Dad work, since you indicated that he had another job?”

“He works for the State in the Internal Revenue Department.  I don’t know exactly what his position is, but he always was bragging about how much sex he was able to get because of his job.  As I told you before, he thinks he’s sex king of Colorado.”

I could almost see Hank’s jaw tighten, “The bastard’s about to be dethroned.  Chad, go help Kevin take care of the other guys.  I need to make several phone calls.”

I was just about ready to go to the pool area when Ellie and Mrs. Martin returned.  Ellie looked at me, Steve go bring the groceries from the car.  Are we going to eat here or at the ranch?” 

“Ellie, I have no idea what the Cowboy has in mind.  He’s making some phone calls.”

I brought in the groceries and thought to myself, ‘How is it that Hank and I keep winding up with all these people?’

Ellie chased me out of the kitchen after I had all of the bags of groceries out of the car, ‘These people aren’t going to starve anytime soon.’

I went to the pool area and was accosted by the Cam and his legion of troops.  “Dad, get out of those clothes.  You’re overdressed.”

I complied and dove into the water.  I was standing watching the boys and they were having a blast.  Kevin swam to where I was standing, “Dad, what’s going to happen to the four Martin boys?”

“Kevin, I honestly have no idea.  My life has been turned upside down ever since we went Christmas shopping six years ago.  You should realize by now that it’s impossible to predict what’s going to happen around here.”

Chad swam to where Kevin and I were talking, “Mr. Michaels, it must have been some higher power that had me sitting with you and the boys.  If you hadn’t been there, me and my brothers would never be having an experience like this.  Damon and I are concerned about what is going to happen to the four of us and our Mother.”

Kevin spoke before I could, “Chad, I can assure you that Mr. Rodgers is going to make every effort to make sure that you have a good life.  He seems to have a way to make things okay.”

Hank took that opportunity to come in to the pool area.  He took off his clothes without being cajoled by Cam.  He dove in and swam to where Kev, Chad and I were talking.  He looked at Chad, “I think your Father is about to lose his job.  I explained what has been happening, to the State Attorney General.  He indicated that I was not the first person who had mentioned Mr. Martin’s indiscretions.”

Damon swam over to us, “Isn’t there anyone around who is Gaylon and my ages.” 

I nodded, “Yep, the next time we have a swim party we’ll have to invite them.  They live at the ranches on either side of us.  You probably know them Danny and David Summers and Lionel and Louie Farway.”

Damon frowned, “There close to our ages but we don’t really know them very well.”

Hank grinned, “I can assure you that if you spend much time at the ranch after this mess gets settled, you will see a great deal of them.  They use our ranch as Homebase.”

We were joined by Chris and Wayne, they took off their suits and ties and the rest of their clothes and dove into the pool.  Chris announced, “Grandma Ellie said we had thirty minutes until dinner.”

Wayne asked, “I think you need to introduce me to most of these people, since there seem to be several new faces I have not seen before.”

Kevin did his patented whistle, “Everyone, line against the side of the pool and introduce yourselves to Uncle Wayne and Chris.”

I watched to see what Cam would do.  The child continues to amaze me. He pulled himself onto the side of the swimming pool and stood and saluted, Cameron Rodgers reporting as directed, sir.”

Randy and Ricky followed suit as did Tony and Andy.  I watched to see what Chad and his brothers would do, but Chad did exactly as Cam had done and his three brothers did likewise.  The last person to respond was Terry who asked, “Are Uncle Wayne and Chris going to treat us like dogs, too.”

Kevin climbed out of the pool and hugged Terry, “Terry, I promise you that Uncle Wayne and Chris will never do anything to hurt you unless you do something really bad.  All you need to do is. do as they ask?”

Cam climbed out and stood next to Terry, “I was just being silly when I saluted, “Uncle Wayne and Uncle Chris would never do anything to hurt us.  Let’s take a shower so we can get the chlorine off and go see if Grandma Ellie and your Mother need any help?”

We watched as the six youngest went to the shower.  It wasn’t long before they came out dressed in their clothes.  The rest of us went to take a shower and get dressed.  When we arrived in the dining room, we were told by maitre d’ Cam to take our seats.  It was comical to watch the five youngest bring our food.  Cam helped Grandma Ellie and Mrs. Martin get seated as Ricky and Randy served their food. 

Terry arrived with his plate and sat down, “Do you always get the same amount as the big people?”

Cam frowned, “Yes and there’s more if anyone is still hungry, right, Grandma Ellie?”

Gaylon asked, “What do you do with the leftovers?  We never had leftovers at our house.”

Chris answered, “Mr. Young and I’ll take the leftovers to work for lunch.  We’ll zap it in the microwave and we can eat while we’re working.”

Cam looked at Grandma Ellie. “What are Uncle Chase and the people at the ranch eating tonight?”

Ellie grinned, “They’re having a corned beef dinner, I started it this morning before we came to town.   They’re fine.  They know how to cook if they have to.”

We had just finished eating when the phone rang, Cam went to answer, “Daddy, it’s Uncle Chase.  He wants to talk to you.”

Cam handed the phone to Hank and pointed at the young guys, “Come on guys, we need to take care of the dishes since we ate. Ricky and Andy, you bring the dishes to kitchen and Damon can rinse them and we can put them in the dishwasher.”

Terry asked, “You mean we don’t need to wash and dry the dishes?”

Cam shook his head no, “We’ll start the dishwasher and the dishes will be clean later tonight so someone can put them away or they can do it in the morning since they’re really hot after they’ve been drying.”

Hank had gone into the den with the phone.  When he returned, I could tell that he was upset. “Mr. Martin has been at the ranch five times today, looking for his family.  Finally Chase told him that if he came back again, he was going to call the sheriff and report that Mr. Martin was trespassing and badgering Chase and the other three guys while they were eating.  It seems that Mr. Martin barged into the house screaming that he wanted his family.”

“Chase said he decked the man and the four guys threw him out.   Mr. Martin left threatening revenge.  Wayne and Chris, you need to make sure that the Martin boys get to school and back home until this is resolved.  I don’t think it would be good for me or Steve to be seen here at the house on the hill.  Mr. Martin is desperate and I’m almost afraid to even take the other five boys home.”

“Mrs. Martin, I don’t want you to be in public by yourself until further notice.  I’ll make arrangements for someone to be with you whenever you go out.  I think that you need to get something done to change your appearance,  Steve, now that Cynthia has someone to take her place, she might enjoy doing this I Spy gig.  Why don’t you call her?”

Kevin held up his hand, “Dad Hank, I’ll go get her and bring her here so you can talk to her in person.  I’m sure she will do it once she knows the story.”

Hank nodded, “That’s probably a good idea, Kev.  That way Linda will know who Cynthia is, when she shows up in the morning.”

We met with Cynthia and Mrs. Martin and worked out the arrangements for Cynthia to help Mrs. Martin to get a makeover.  When we arrived at the ranch, there was a car sitting across the road watching the coming and goings.  I thought to myself, ‘Hank called this shot right.’  Fortunately the flood lights were on and the observer could see that none of us were the Martins.

When we went into the house, Hank called the Sheriff’s Department, “This is Hank Rodgers.  There is a suspicious car sitting across the road from our house.  Could you please come to investigate?”

We sent the five young guys to get ready for bed.  When I went up the stairs to check on the five guys, Cam, Ricky and Andy were watching television in Hank’s and my bedroom.  Cam looked at me, “Dad, we don’t have any homework.  We’ll study our spelling words tomorrow.  Randy and Tony are doing some home work that they have to do, in our bedroom.”

We heard sirens outside and the guys rushed to see what was happening.  The two sheriff’s cruisers had come from opposite directions and the occupant of the car had started to run.  The sheriffs caught him and brought him to the house.  The young deputy who had been with us when we went to the Martin house brought a struggling Mr. Martin to the door.

The officer apologized, “Sirs, the only thing that we can cite Mr. Martin for is that he was loitering.  Since he wasn’t parked on your property, we can’t charge him for trespassing.”

Hank looked at Mr. Martin, “Martin, your wife and sons are not here and won’t be here.  I suggest that you go find someone else that you can beat upon.  Officers, please make sure this person leaves the area.  He broke into the house unannounced earlier this evening and the people who work for us decked him.  It’s too bad that we can’t charge him with something else to cause him  to spend another night in jail.  Martin, I suggest that you go home and take care of the animals or the SPCA will be hauling your ass into jail.”

When I awoke the next morning, Hank was gone.  I dressed to go see where he was.  I hoped he hadn’t been up all night.  He was very agitated when we went to bed.  So much so, that he wasn’t interested in any sexual activity.

I saw that the light was on in the den.  I went to see if Hank was there and he was.  He was busy working on something.  He looked up at me, “I’m almost done.  I don’t know why stress does this to me, but it makes my creative juices flow.  You will need to take the boys to school.  I’ll probably crash when I finish this game.  If I do say so myself, it is probably the best game I’ve ever created.”

I kissed him on the neck and went to check on the five guys.  Cam was so funny, “Dad, we need to get the big guys their own bedroom so we can move when we’re trying to get dressed.  They hog the bathroom trying to make sure they’re beautiful.”

“Cam, I’ll discuss the problem with your Daddy.  I think that Grandma Ellie has breakfast just about ready, so you guys need to get down those stairs so I can get you to school on time.”

I got the boys to school on time and decided to stop at the agency to see how things were going.  I was greeted by Ted.  “Good to see you Mr. Michaels.  There have been a lot of changes around here.  You sure have been busy even if you don’t come to work anymore.  Lamar is a stitch.  I can’t believe how much Chris has changed since he came to work for you.  Even Mr. Young was laughing when he came to work this morning.”

When I walked into the office, Lamar stood at attention and called out,  “Ladies and gentlemen, President Michaels has deemed it appropriate to pay us a visit.”

“Knock it off Lamar or you'll be pounding the street again.”

 I walked over to the lady at Cynthia’s desk, “I assume that you're Jordan’s mother?  I’m Steve Michaels.”

Mrs. Jacobs laughed, “So, I’m supposed to answer the phone, this is Jordan’s Mom, am I?  The name is Joanne Jacobs if you please, or for that matter, even if you don’t please.  Mr. Michaels, thank you for arranging for me to get this job, and thanks for giving Jordan a job as well as our son-in-law Lamar.”

I started to laugh, “Joanne, you mean to tell me that you and your husband know that the two guys are shacking up at Dusty and Mimi’s place?”

“Yes, and they have warned us that they need to control their hormones unless they’re in their apartment.  My husband and I had the opportunity to see where they will be living.  Let me tell that when we were first married, our apartment was about half that that size,”

Wayne came out of his office, “Steve, do you have time to talk?”

“Of course, I don’t have anything else to do around here.  Dusty and you seem to have everything under control.”

We went into Wayne’s office, “Steve, could you explain to me who the Martins are.  Remember, I was gone and all of a sudden I’m living with four young boys and their Mother.  Not only that who are Tony and Andy and Ricky and Randy?  Where do you and Hank keep finding all of these people?”

I didn’t know where to start. “Wayne, this is the truth.”

I explained how I met Randy and Ricky at the mall and how we found Tony and Andy in the house on the hill.  His mouth was hanging open as if he was gasping for breath,  When I told him how we met Chad, he fell back against his chair.

After I told him what happened when we went to the Martin farm and how we found the boys with dog  collars, Wayne stood, “That son of a bitch.  Now I can understand what Gaylon and Terry were talking about on the way to school.  I’ll make sure that I can pick the two of them up this afternoon, and make sure that Chris gets Chad and Damon.  The man should be shot.”

As I was driving to the ranch, it was approaching noon and I was listening to a talk show on the radio which I don’t ordinarily do.  The program was interrupted.  “We have the late breaking story.  There has been a report of shots at the State Capitol.  Witnesses report that at least fifteen shots have been fired.  We’re sending reporters to the scene.  Stay tuned for further updates.” 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  Why do I suspect that at least some of the shots were being fired by Mr. Martin?  Sometimes I think E Walk is trying to give us all heart attacks.  I am certainly ready for the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/22/10