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 46  

Animal Talk 101

We were just finishing dinner, when the front doorbell sounded.  I looked at Hank, “Are we expecting guests?”

Randy went to see who was at the door.  He returned with Nolan and Bill.  “Daddy, these men said they wanted to talk to Superintendent Michaels,  That must be you, since Ricky and I aren’t the superintendent of anything.”

I stood, “Guys, I thought I made it clear that we would be going to talk to the animals tomorrow morning.  Not tonight.”

Nolan moaned, “See, Bill, I told you that the new Superintendent was a mean, crabby guy.”

All five of the young boys took offense at Nolan’s comment,  Ricky jumped out of his chair, “Daddy is not mean.  Come on, guys, let’s beat these two visitors up.  They’re the people who are mean.”

The five boys rushed toward the two visitors, but Bill and Nolan were ready.  Nolan picked up Ricky and Randy and had them over his shoulders while Bill had Andy and Tony Tibideaux over his shoulders. Nolan yelled, “Let’s get the last one and sit on him.”

Cam fell on his knees, “Oh please, misters.  I’ll be good.  Besides, me and the guys have to take care of the dishes.  We’ll resume the war after we do the dishes.”

Nolan turned to me, “Don’t worry, Superintendent Michaels, we’ll make sure the guys do a good job.”

Grandpa Tibideaux and Grandma Ellie were laughing.  Grandma Ellie asked, “Who were those masked men?”

I shook my head, “Ellie, we hadn’t met those two gentlemen before today.  They were covering my backside all day.  I still don’t know why they’re here, tonight.  I did ask them to go with us in the morning when we go to the cabin.”

We could hear the boys in the kitchen laughing.  Cam came into the dining room where we were still sitting, “Dads, we’re going to take our visitors to see the horses, since we didn’t give them any treats today.”

Hank asked, “Why are you giving the visitors treats?”

“Dad, be serious.  We didn’t give the horses a treat, today.  We need to make sure that they don’t forget us, since we’re going to be at the cabin most of the time, tomorrow.”

It was about half an hour later when they guys returned with Nolan and Bill and Nolan was complaining.  “Cam, you need to call 911.  I know that big brute, Alhambra, bit my hand.  I’m probably dying from rabies.”

The little guys were laughing and Bill started to moan, “Natasha was licking my face so hard and I think she took all the skin off.  I’ll probably need reconstructive surgery.”

Randy was laughing, “Dads, give Mr. Bill and Mr. Nolan two aspirin and tell them to call us in the morning.”

Hank pointed at the clock, “Guys, I would suggest you get ready for bed.  We’re going to have a long day, tomorrow.”

Cam pouted, “Dads, we’re too tired to get ready for bed.  You’ll need to carry us to bed.”

Nolan pulled off his belt, “Don’t worry Mr. Rodgers, we’ll make sure they get ready for bed.” 

Nolan started toward the stairs with his belt circling over his head and the five guys disappeared faster than you could shake a stick.”

Nolan put his belt back on, “I guess we need to go check to make sure we didn’t traumatize the guys too badly.”

It was almost half an hour later when Nolan and Bill came down the stairs.  Nolan was complaining, “I’m not sure who traumatized whom.  The boys want you to come say good night.”

Hank and I went to say goodnight to the guys.  Cam remarked, “Dads, Mr. Bill and Mr. Nolan are special.  They look like big people but they’re really little kids, like us.  We really like them.”

When Hank and I arrived downstairs, Bill and Nolan were looking at one of Hank’s games.  Nolan asked, “Mr. Rodgers, are you the person who created all these games?”

“I had some help on some of them, but my company is the owner of the games.”

Bill changed subjects, “When I was in the shower with Randy and Tony, they told me how they came to be here.  Is it true what they said.”

I nodded, “If they said that I found Ricky and Randy at the mall and that we rescued Tony and Andy from being sold as child slaves, it’s true.”

Nolan shook his head, “So the boys weren’t blowing smoke when I was in the shower with the youngest three.  Cam said he was found in the area of a burned down house.”

Hank and I both took a deep breath.  Hank started “Guys, the guys told you more than they should have.  For some reason, they feel as if they can trust you.  You know more about the boys than most of our acquaintances and you just met them, today.  Your welcome to spend the night here, if you would like.”

Nolan shook his head no, “I have a curfew even though I’m twenty four years old.  Besides, the guys told us to make sure we dressed warm because it could get chilly at the place where we’re going tomorrow.  They’ve already told us that if we had to pee to pull out our penises and let the pee fly.”

The two guys were laughing as they left.  Nolan ventured, “I wouldn’t miss Talking With the Animals 101, for the world,”

The next morning, the guys were up early, Cam came into our bedroom, “How long is it before we’re going to the cabin?”

I looked at the clock,  “Cam, it’s only six thirty.  We aren’t planning to leave for the cabin until eight.  “Go get some breakfast, and we’ll be there as soon as we can get dressed.”

As Hank and I were getting dressed, the phone rang.  I picked the machine up, “This is Steve Michaels.”

“Superintendent Michaels, it has been a very busy night at the Central Office.  There were two break-ins.  The first one trashed your office.  The second was in the Human Resources area.  The computer was damaged beyond repair.  There is no need for you to be involved at this point.  The police have the situation under control.  In fact, they have the fingerprints of the persons involved and they are presently trying to match them with known felons.  We’ll see you about eight.”

We were eating breakfast when the phone rang.  I answered, “This is Steve Michaels.”

“Superintend Michaels, this is Mark Ford of KGIB.  We have been informed that there were two break-ins at the Central Office of the school district, last night.  Can you tell us what it was that the thieves were hoping to get?”
 

“First, Mr. Ford, let me assure you that we know what the people behind the events of last night’s break-ins were looking for.  We found the evidence before they could destroy it, and it’s safe.  As far as what they were looking for, they were trying to destroy the evidence as to the travesty they were trying to pull off in the school district.  I’ll say this and nothing more.  There are going to be some very big names who are going to be covered with mud or even worse.”

I hung up without saying goodbye.  I turned to the assembled group. “I’m not here for any more phone calls.  Take messages and I’ll call the people if I wish to talk to them.”

Bill and Nolan arrived at five minutes to eight, as did the Martin and the Granger guys.  We loaded the vehicles and I looked at Hank. “How are we going to clean the area without any tools?”

“Freddie and Chase have all the things we’ll need in the truck.  Stop worrying.  We’ll be fine.”

When we arrived at the cabin, I was leading the caravan and the animals started to come out until the other vehicles started to arrive.”

It wasn’t until the five young guys crawled out of the van that the animals returned.  Cam distributed the treats and directed the other visitors to sit still and let the animals get used to their smells.  As Hank and I were watching the proceedings, Lonzo came and put his head between Hank and me.  “Lonzo, we’re not going to hurt any of the animals.  We just want to make the cabin so we can spend some time here.”

Lonzo went and stood in front of the animals and made some noises and pawed the ground.  When we started to cut down and saw the growth in front of the cabin the animals didn’t go away.  It was as if they were watching what was happening.  Even when Chase pulled out a chain saw they didn’t run away.

The young guys were making piles of different size logs.  The biggest logs they took to the cabin to provide fuel for the fireplace.  It was almost noon before we even made a dent in the overgrowth.  Fortunately Ellie and Grandpa Tibideaux arrived with some lunch and fresh treats for the animals.  Hank and I had started a fire in the fireplace to make sure it was operable.  It seemed to be.  We were starting to eat when a jeep appeared and a ranger hopped out.  I was surprised when the animals didn’t freak out and run.

The ranger asked, “What are you doing here?  This is posted land.”

Cam jumped up, “Mister, our Dad owns this land, so we have every right to be here.  What are you doing here, anyway?”

The poor ranger didn’t know what hit him.  “We’ve been the rangers here in this area for five years.  This is first time that we’ve seen smoke coming from this area.  In fact, I had no idea that there was a cabin here.”

“I don’t know which of you is the owner of this property, but you’re sitting on a veritable gold mine.  There are two companies who would love to get their hands on this property so they can turn it into a ski resort.”

I went to meet the man, “I’m Steve Michaels.  I own the property, and I can assure you that I’m not about to sell it anytime soon.  We’re just about to eat lunch; won’t you join us?”

As we were eating lunch, the animals were lying around watching us.  The boys took care of the clean up and the older guys helped load the things in Grandma Ellie’s van.

Ranger Nichols thanked us for lunch and climbed into his jeep.  He explained, “The animals know the sound of the jeep.  I’m surprised that they been sticking around with all the activity that’s going on.”

It was almost five o’clock when we left the cabin.  Cam announced to the animals, “Make sure that the cabin is safe.  We’ll try to come back and spend next Friday night, since Dad has to sing on Sunday mornings.”

When we arrived back at the ranch, we had a lot of tired young people.  Hank announced, “The pool at the house on the hill will be open tomorrow at two o’clock for all those young people who worked so hard today.  It’s a men only party.”

Everyone had departed except Bill and Nolan.  Nolan had the audacity to ask, “What did you mean by it would be a men only party and where is the house on the hill?”

Cam put his hands on his hips, “Can’t you understand English?  Dad said that we were going to have a swim party where we don’t have to wear swimming suits at the house on the hill.”

Nolan threw up his hands, “Cam, we understood that there was going to be a nude swim party, but where is the house of the hill?”

Hank gave the guys the address for the house on the hill.  They were laughing as the departed.

I swear the five young guys almost fell asleep eating dinner.  In fact it was so bad that we carried the youngest three to their bedroom and put them to bed without having them take a shower or a bath or having them brush their teeth.  The two older guys just crawled into bed after shedding their clothes.”

When Hank and I went back downstairs, Ellie came to us. “Steve, I stopped answering the phone this morning.  You might want to listen to the messages.  Some of them aren’t very nice.  I haven’t erased any messages, but make sure you do before the boys hear them.”

Hank and I sat and listened to what must have been twenty or more messages.  Some of them were not very nice and, in fact, were threatening, but the majority were positive.  The one in particular that caught our attention. A man said he was calling on behalf of the President of the United States and that we should not persist in our efforts to prosecute the people who were trying to provide for a better education for the young people.

Hank went to work and tracked the number of the caller and then went to the computer, and started to do something.  When he was finished doing whatever he was doing, he came back and sat down, “Steve, this is more about greed and politics than it is about education.  We’re about to bring some very important people to their knees.  Let’s go to bed.  We have an extremely busy couple of days ahead of us.”

When I awoke on Sunday morning, Hank was gone as usual.  That meant he was singing a solo or that the choir was singing.  I went to check on the boys and they were all sound asleep.  I had breakfast, and finally woke the boys at nine o’clock and Cam started to give me flak, “Dad, why do we gotta get up so early?”

“Guys, it’s already nine o’clock and you didn’t have a shower or a bath last night.  If we don’t go to the late service, Dad Hank will think that something is wrong.”

We barely made it to the church in time for the second service.  Even so, Ricky and Andy were leaning against me for most of the service.

After church, we went directly to the house on the hill and had sandwiches and juice, and the boys finally started coming to life.

It was almost two o’clock and everybody who had been to the cabin was present, except for Bill and Nolan.  Freddie, Chase and Chris took the young guys to the pool so they could swim.  It was nearly ten after two and I was beginning to think that Nolan and Bill weren’t coming.  I looked at Hank, “I guess the guys are going to be disappointed since it looks as if Nolan and Bill aren’t going to make it.”

Cam came into the living room with a  towel wrapped around him, “Dads, aren’t the other two guys coming?”

I shrugged, “I guess they had something more important to do.  Maybe they had to do something with their families.  Let’s go swim.”

We were starting to the pool area when the front doorbell started to chime.  Cam ran to answer it even though he only had a towel around him.  He returned with Nolan and Bill and he was scolding them, “When our Dads say something is going to happen at two o’clock, that's what they mean.”

Bill was pleading, “But Cam, we had to go by Superintendent Michaels’ office and take care of some things.”

“That’s no excuse.  Come on, you’re wasting good swimming time.”

As soon as we hit the pool area, Cam threw off his towel and dove in.  Nolan looked around, “You weren’t kidding when you said it was going to be a nude swimming party.”

Hank grinned, “Nope, and I suggest that you get with it or the guys will be here to help you get properly dressed.”

Nolan and Bill folded their clothes as they took them off and Cam started to laugh, “Hey guys, our two new friends are neat freaks.  It looks like they didn’t believe that we would be swimming without clothes.  They even have their swimming suits on under their clothes.  I guess we’re going to have to go help them get properly dressed.”

That threat was all that it took to get Nolan and Bill in gear, and they joined the others in the pool sans their swim suits.  After Hank and I joined the others in the pool, I had a sudden thought.  ‘Why did Bill and Nolan have to go to the Central Office on a Sunday?’

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: I can make a pretty good guess as to why Bill and Nolan had to go to the office.  It is called more damage control.

I am glad that Hank took all the evidence and copied it to a safe place.  I think there will be a lot of flak flying around in the not too distant future. 

I like that ranger person.  He talks to the animals, too.  It's too bad that they didn't invite him to the swim party, too.  Maybe they will invite him next time. I wonder if he has a significant other.

I am beginning to think that E Walk has contracted a case of AAPD or Add a Person Disease. He isn't just adding kids, he is adding adults as well.  Mind you, I am not complaining, just observing. 

This is a fine story, as always, and I am ready for more. I can't imagine what will happen next.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/20/10