Bart and Chris
by: E Walk
(© 2008 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 7
Save the Last Dance For Me

The morning went smoothly.  While the play group was there, Bart mowed and trimmed the yard.  As the last child was being picked up, Bart came in from the garage all sweaty, “Dad, I’m going to take a shower.  What should I wear to go to see the dentist and Doctor Feren?”

“Bart, wear something comfortable, since you’re going to be sitting in examination chairs most of the afternoon.  I’ll fix us lunch and start dinner while you’re taking your shower.”

Barbie looked up at me with a forlorn look, “Nano Mark, do I gotta sit in the doctor’s office all afternoon too?”

I picked her up. “Nope, Little One.  We’re going to take Bart into the dentist’s office and get him settled, and then you can come home and rest or do what you want until it’s time to go get the other children.”

The dentist’s office was located within a block of the children’s school.  Barbie and I escorted Bart to the reception area. I let Bart tell the young woman behind the desk who he was and he explained that he had an appointment.

The receptionist looked up Bart's name, “Dana will come get you shortly.  She’s just getting back from lunch.  She’ll clean your teeth and take x-rays.  Doctor Sullivan will look at you to determine how many fillings you need.  If you will be seated, I’ll tell Dana that you are here.” 

The receptionist stepped into the back.  When she returned, “Dana is getting everything ready for you now.”

I nodded to the young lady.  “I’m going to give Bart my debit card so he can pay when he is finished.  Would you please permit him to call me when he is finished so I can come and pick him up?”

The young woman laughed, “Of course.  Anymore, most of the young people pull out a cell phone and call someone, ‘Hey, I'm ready. Come pick me up.’”

Bart looked at me, “Dad, I’ll walk to the children’s school and meet you there.  Surely, I’ll be done before 3:05.  If I get done early, I’ll sign in and help in Chris and Becky’s classroom.”

A very young woman came from the back, “Mr. Leavitt, my name is Dana.  If you will follow me, I’ll get started.  I don’t have any records on you.  Do you remember when you had your last cleaning?”

I didn’t hear Bart’s answer because the young lady at the reception desk looked at me, “Mr. Leavitt, it sounds like you have a wonderful son there if he is willing to go in someone’s classroom.  I wish I were so lucky.  My son would go hide in a closet rather than do something like that.”

Needless to say I left the dentist office feeling good about what had happened.  However, when Barbie and I arrived at the school to pick up the children, I got concerned, because I didn’t see any signs of Bart.  I let out a sigh of relief when I saw Bart and Chris coming out of the school with another boy and Becky.  They were joined by a lady as they approached the van. 

Chris came running to the van.  “Dad, this is Skippy’s Mother, Mrs. Carlisle.  She wants to talk to you.” 

I got out of the van and went to talk to Skippy’s Mother.  She held out her hand, “Hi, Nano Mark Leavitt.  I’m Ellen Carlisle.  I was volunteering in the children’s classroom today.  I heard the boys talking with Aaron about what he might like for a present.  Aaron was adamant that he didn’t need anything.  But I think that Skippy and Chris should still give him something whether he wants it or not.  Chris said you were going to take him and Becky shopping tonight to get something for the two parties.  Could you possibly take Skippy with you, also, since Mr. Carlisle and I have a dinner engagement?”

I looked at the two eight year olds, “Why doesn’t Skippy spend the night at our house?”  That way Mr. Horn and his family will only have to make one stop in the morning to pick the boys up.”

Skippy looked at his Mother, “Please, Mommy, you could drop me off at Becky and Chris’ house on your way to your dinner.  They live right next door to the Quinns.”

Bart chipped in, “Dad, the two guys can sleep in the bedroom and I’ll sleep on the sofa bed in the living room since I’m going to be having some more dance lessons anyway.”

Mrs. Carlisle nodded, “That would make it easier for the sitter.  She wouldn’t need to worry about Skippy.  The twins will cause her enough grief.  Would it be okay if we drop him off about 5:30?”

I laughed, “Of course ma’am, we’ll have enough stone soup to keep him from starving.  I hope he’s potty trained.”

Skippy challenged me, “Mr. Leavitt, I’ve been potty trained for two days now.”

The rest of the children were arriving and crawling into the van so Mrs. Carlisle and I moved away from the van while the children were getting seated.  It was a little tight because we had Bart with us.

Mrs. Carlisle had something else to say.  “I overheard Becky and Chris talking to Amy when they were asking her what she really wanted for her birthday because their Dads weren’t going to permit them to give her a gift certificate to Macys or Nordstrums.”

“I was surprised at how quickly Amy answered.  ‘Good, the only reason my Mom put that in the invitations was because she wanted to buy some new clothes for herself.  She buys all of my clothes at the Reruns for Kids Events and then resells them there. Could you maybe tell everyone to bring things that my Mom can’t sell?”

I interrupted, “Mrs. Carlisle, my employers knew Mrs. Worthington when they were in high school together.  She was like this even back then, too.  Why don’t you let Becky, Skippy and Chris think of a way to bring the woman down a peg or two while Skippy is at our house tonight.  See you  and your potty trained son about 5:30.”

Skippy yelled, “I’ll make sure that I pee the bed tonight.”

When we got home Zack was already there and I breathed a sigh of relief.  Dr. Robinson was there to pick up his grandchildren.  He was concerned because we were late.

I started to give their children snacks, “Zack, take our oldest son to get his eyes examined.  He’ll direct you how to get there.  He’s going to be late if you don’t leave now and Dr. Feren will eat him alive.”

The other young people went to change clothes and went out to play in the big back yard while I fixed dinner.  Bobby came into the kitchen, “Nano Mark, how do you know if you’re in love?”

I wasn’t ready for that question, “Bobby, that it is a strange question to be asking me.  Shouldn’t you be asking your Dad something like that?”

Bobby was getting frustrated, “Nano Mark, he’ll just tell me to go and ask you.”

I got down so I was at eye level with Bobby, “Bobby, only you can answer that question.  Love is a special feeling that you have for someone and it can’t be controlled by what your penis is telling you.  Sex and love are two very different things.  Once you find love, the sex will come.  But I have to warn you that sex doesn’t always bring love.  Many times it brings the opposite reaction.  It’s getting late, please go get the others and tell them to get ready for dinner.  Everyone else should be here shortly.”

Bobby did as I asked and I sent the children to get ready for dinner.  Tip and Ty arrived but still no Zack and Bart.  The doorbell rang and Ty went to answer the door.  I heard Skippy say, “Hey, Mr. Jefferson, I didn’t know that you were Becky’s Dad.  This is my Dad, Logan Carlisle.  I’m going to spend the night with Chris.”

“Skippy, I know your Dad. I’ve probably know him for longer than you have.  Get your butt in here.  Logan won’t you come in?”

“Ty, Ellen and I have a dinner that we need to go to tonight.  Thanks for taking care of our monster.  Skip, you behave; we’ll see you on Sunday.”

Zack and Bart arrived as the children started to assemble in the dining room.  Chris reacted immediately, “Bart, why are you wearing your shades again?”

Bart was very patient, “Dr. Feren wanted to make sure that my surgery was working.  Guess what, I won’t need to wear glasses for a little while yet.  If I have trouble reading, then I may need to get some of those reading glasses. Dad Mark, what can I do to help?”

I thought to myself, ‘What a difference a week makes.’

Skippy approached me, “Nano Mark, my parents gave me $100.00 for the gifts.  They said we should use as much of it as we needed for the gifts and if there was any left over you were to use it to buy us a snack.”

As we were eating, Bart, out of the clear announced,  “Chris, I made you a dentist appointment to have your teeth cleaned next Thursday right after school.”

Chris reacted immediately, “Bart, I hate the dentist.  The old grouch we went to before scraped my teeth like she was chopping wood with razor blade.”

Bart persisted, “Chris, you’ll fall in love with Pam.  She talks to you and explains exactly what she was going to do or was doing.  Dr. Sullivan looks like he just got out of high school but he said he had two sons.”

Skippy spoke up, “My family just started going to Doctor Sullivan.  Our old dentist retired.  Chris, you’ll really like the people in his office.  I think Doctor Sullivan’s oldest son might be in Billy’s class.”

Billy looked up, “We have a Johnny Sullivan in our class.  Is that who you are talking about?”

Skippy nodded yes and I kept expecting Ty’s children to say something about going to the dentist but none of them said anything.  I thought to myself, ‘I need to check with Ty on this matter.’

After dinner, Tip and Ty volunteered to help the children with the cleanup while Zack and I took the three third graders shopping for birthday presents.

Right after we got into the van, Skippy suggested, “Nano Mark and Mr. Zack, could we maybe go to Cabela’s to look for something for Aaron?  I know he likes to go there with his Dad and brothers.  They go about once a week.”

Zack answered, “That sounds like a good place to start.  I’ve never been to Cabela’s.  If Aaron and his family go there that often, maybe we’ll find someone who might know what Aaron might like.”

None of us had ever been there before and the store was enormous.  Chris and Skippy went wild and even Becky got excited when she saw some children’s clothes.

Skippy led us to the fishing supplies department and a young man approached us and asked if he could help us.  Skippy took charge, “We’re looking for a birthday present for a friend.  We know that he likes to fish because we're going to go fishing with him and his family tomorrow for his birthday party.  We need some ideas as to what we can get for him.”

The young man laughed, “You’ve got to talking about Aaron Horn.  He was in here last night with his Dad and his brothers and he was trying to con his Dad into buying him a net and two new lures.  Mr. Horn reminded him that he could use any birthday money he got to buy his own net and lures.”

Chris looked at the young man, “Sir, how much would the things that Aaron wanted cost and do you give gift receipts so Aaron could exchange it if he receives more than one?”

The young man looked at the things and punched some figures into a computer.  He looked at the two guys,  “The total would be $79.87 with tax.  We do issue gift receipts so that the gift can be exchange for other merchandise if desired.”

Chris looked at Skippy, “Your parents gave you $100.00.  Dads, may I borrow $40.00 until I can earn some money?”

I looked at the young man, “Sir, we’ll take the items.  Here is my card.  Do you have a gift wrap section?”

The young man took us to the gift wrap section and Chris and Skippy explained how they wanted to gift wrapped.  They were very specific and the next thing I knew we were back in the van.

Becky asked, “Nano Mark and Zack, can we go to an art store and maybe buy Amy some art supplies?  Amy wants to be an artist, but her Mother says that’s not dignified.  Her Mother wants her to be a doctor and make lots of money.”

Zack and I looked at each other in disbelief.  I remembered seeing an art store and we stopped there.  The three third graders walked in and were wowed.  The gentlemen behind the counter looked up, “How may I help you?”

I was so proud of Becky, “Sir, we’ve been invited to a birthday party and the young person wants to be an artist.  Could you show us some things that someone who is just beginning would be able to use?”

The gentleman looked at the children, “Well, the first thing the person is going to need is something to do the artwork on.  We have a pad of special paper that works well with most things other than oils.  I wouldn’t suggest getting oils for the person until the person really decides if they want to be an artist.  Perhaps you could start with some water colors, charcoals and pastels.”  He showed the items to the three children.

Chris asked, “But how is the person going to work if they have to hold the pad and get the other things?”

The gentleman nodded, “Good question young man.  Perhaps you could give the birthday person a collapsible easel.”

Skippy looked at the man, “How much would it cost us if we got a collapsible easel, a good box of water colors, a box of good chalks and a box of charcoal?”

The man punched the figures in to his computer and looked at the three young people.  “If you want to go to the top of the line it would cost $84.76 with tax.  If you go to the mid….”

The poor man never had a chance to go further because Chris interrupted him, “Sir, we’d like a top of the line set of everything.  And please don’t give us a gift receipts.  We won’t need them wrapped since my Dad will need to write ‘the property of Amy Worthington’ on the items.  That way her Mother can’t return them.”

Skippy was mentally calculating what just transpired, “Good, that means I have enough money remaining to buy everyone a banana split at the Dairy Queen.”

When we returned home Tip and Ty were feeding the other children a snack.  Bart was waiting, “Dads, when are we going to start the dance lessons?”

I motioned to Bart.  “Why don’t you go get the lap top and we’ll take it to the family room and teach the children how to do the Bunny Hop and Hokey Pokey before they go to bed?”

We cleaned the dishes and went to the family room and I pulled up the music for the Bunny Hop. Tip and I showed them how it was done.  The children were giggling.  When the music stopped, we got ready to start again with the adults first followed by the people in age.  I decided to lead so that we didn’t over extend the two youngest ones. 

The second time I had Bart leading us and I warned him that he should remember who was in line.  When the music stopped even Barbie commented that it was fun.

We did the Hokey Pokey and the young children thought that was great fun.  When we finished, I sent them to get ready for bed.  Tip and Ty had volunteered to make sure they got to bed.  Zack and I taught Bart how to waltz and I decided to teach him to do the cha cha.  It was ten o’clock and I was getting tired.  Bart, Skippy and Chris should be in bed by now.  Please go get ready for bed and don’t let the guys see you naked.  I need to talk to Dad Zack for a little while and bring him up to date on what has happened while he was gone.”

I was sure that Bart was going to give me some guff, but instead, he left without saying a word.  I went to the lap top and loaded another song  and went and took Zack in my arms and the music started to play The Last Waltz With You.  We waltzed around the room like we had been doing this forever.  As the music stopped I pulled Zack close and kissed him and that was all she wrote.  “I’m glad that everyone else was upstairs.”  I whispered to Zack.  “Please turn out the lights before you make me pay for being bad.”

When we got to the apartment an hour later, everyone appeared to be sleeping so we decided to forgo a shower until morning since we were both tired.  We quickly brushed our teeth and decided that we should sleep in our briefs at least, since we had company in the adjoining room.  We didn’t know what Skippy might think if he saw us nude.  Well we were to find out the next morning.

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes: I certainly enjoyed this chapter. I do have to wonder what will happen next. It will be interesting to see what will happen when there are presents instead of gift cards. I wonder what kind of retribution the guys have in mind for that selfish person that calls herself a mother.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 10/24/08