Bart and Chris
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 25
Nightmares Do Really Happen

I woke up early and looked at the clock.  It was only 6:15 so I decided to go for a run.  I was pulling on my running shorts when Chris came into the room, “Dad, I had that dream again.  Can I go running with you, please?”

“Chris, go get dressed and we’ll take a short run before the rest of the town is awake.”

Chris and I did a leisurely jaunt for me but Chris was really pushing himself.  He looked at me “Daddy, am I getting faster?  I’m sorry, I’m slowing you down, but I just wanted to be with you.”

I stopped and picked Chris up and hugged him, “It’s not important to me how fast I run.  I am always pleased when you want to run with me.”

He was evidently still upset by his persistent dream, “Daddy, please don’t let Bart be alone while we’re at school today.”

When Chris and I walked into the house, I could smell coffee so I knew that someone was up.  When we got to the kitchen, Bart was standing at the stove cooking, and Tip was reading the paper.  Bart turned to me, “Honestly Dad, I don’t want do all your work while you and Chris play games.  Chris you need to get ready for school so you aren’t late.”

Tip looked at me and laughed, “Mark, don’t mind your oldest son.  He thinks that just because he's a celebrity, he doesn’t have to work.”

I looked at the two guys, “What in the world are you two talking about?”

Tip handed me the paper with the article about the Pizza Palace that Amy and Chrystal had written.  “Amy called and told me about the article, but I forgot.  I’ll read it after we get everyone fed and out of here.”

Tip looked at me, “Mark, why don’t you and Zack be the chaperones at the singles bar on Friday.  I’m sure I won’t feel like going and I have several infants who are about to arrive.  Get Amy and Chrystal to go with you as payback.”

I started to laugh, “Whatever you say, boss.”

I took the children to school and watched as they walked in the door.  When I got to the house, Bart was sitting at the dining room table reading something.  “Bart, I’m going to go take a quick shower.  Please keep your eye on Barbie.  I’ll be back shortly.”

I was only gone about ten minutes and when I got back to the kitchen Mrs. Sweet was there.  “Mark, why are those cars driving up and down the street?”

“Mrs. Sweet, I just got back from taking the children to school and I didn’t notice anything strange.  What did you see?”

“There was a car with two men and the passenger was leaning out of the window with a set of binoculars as if he was searching for something.”

I shrugged, “They are probably looking for a lost dog or cat.”

I checked and went outside and saw Mrs. Quinn. “Mrs. Quinn, when did you get back?  I thought you were on a cruise?”

“Hi Mark, I was and got home late last evening.  I understand that there has been a lot of excitement going on around here and that your oldest son is sensation according to this morning’s paper.  Where is Bart now?”

“He and Mrs. Sweet are doing their thing.”

Mrs. Quinn pointed, “Mark, why does that car keep going up and down the street?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Mrs. Quinn, I don’t know for sure, but I just hope Chris’ nightmare was wrong.”

“Mark, what do you mean?”

I told her about everything that had been happening since she had been gone on her cruise and about Chris’ dreams.”

She shuddered, “Mark, keep the children out of sight as much as you can.  I’ll call the police and report some suspicious activity on the street.”

As Mrs. Sweet was leaving after lunch, I had Bart stay inside as I walked Mrs. Sweet to her car.  “Mrs. Quinn has alerted the police about the strange activity on the street.  I’m going to try and keep the children out of view as much as I can, until the activity subsides.  It’s Dr. Robinson’s turn to pick up the children at school.  I guess I should alert him as to what’s happening.”

After Mrs. Sweet had departed, I called Dr. Robinson and explained what had been happening.  He assured me that he would make sure the children got into the house safely.

I went to Bart, “Bart, please don’t go outside, especially in the front without checking with me.”

“But Dad, I was going to mow the yard.”

“Bart, please do as I ask.”

When it was time for the four children to come home, I was standing on the front lawn to make sure they got inside safely.  As the children were walking toward me, I saw a woman pointing at something as a car drove by.  I had a queasy feeling in my stomach.  I quickly herded the children inside and gave them their snacks.  I was checking their folders as they were eating. 

The doorbell rang and I guess I froze.  Chris looked at me, “Dad, do you want me to get it?”

“No Chris, I’ll get it.  When you finish your snacks, I want you all to stay in the kitchen since we have an errand to run.  I’ll be right back.”

I answered the door and two relatively well dressed men were standing there with a woman.  The youngest man was very proper,  “We came to get Mrs. Winters’ two sons, we need them to sign some paperwork.”

“I’m sorry, but only Mr. Jefferson’s children and my two sons are here.  I have no idea who are talking about.”

The woman blurted out, “Get out of our way, prick.  We’re going to take Chris and Bart.  I need a fix bad, and I can’t get one until I gain access to their bastard fathers’ accounts and can sell the house.  He left me nothing.”

I was never so glad to see someone coming up the sidewalk.  I didn’t know what help Andy and Steve could be, but I was soon to find out.  They were dressed in western outfits and were wearing holsters with guns.

As they approached us, I was trying to convince the people I didn’t know what they were talking about.  I just knew I wasn’t about to let them take the boys.

The two men pulled out guns and pointed them at me.  The older of the two men spewed, “Look jerk, we’re going to take them, even if we have to do it over your dead body.  Now get out of our way.”

I didn’t move.  Andy and Steve had pulled their guns out of the holsters, Andy, spoke in a deep voice, “Come on Cowboy, we need to take these three people to the sheriff, so we can get the bounty money.  Fire a shot to let the sheriff know we have captured the bad guys.”

Steve fired his gun into the air and it sounded enough like a real shot that it caught the gentlemen’s attention.  Steve started his antics, “Drop the guns you varmints.  We don’t cotton to any of your kind in our neighborhood.”  The two guys pushed their guns into the backs of the three visitors, and Andy continued, “We told you to drop your guns.  Do it now if you don't want a bullet in the back.”

Andy and Steve were so convincing that the two thugs dropped their guns and Steve ordered, “Mr. Leavitt, kick them guns so far that they will never be able to reach them.”

Of course, I did as I was told, and thankfully we heard multiple sirens coming towards us.  There was a crowd gathering in front of the house watching the proceedings.  Officers Lacey and Nelson were running up the sidewalk.  Dan yelled, “We’ll take over now.  Who would like to explain what happened here.  Mr. Leavitt, why don’t you tell me what’s happening here?”

I did the best I could and Officer Lacey turned to Andy and Steve, “Do you gentlemen have permits to carry those guns?”

 

Steve was laughing, “Officer, we didn’t know we needed to have permits to wear cap guns.  It was Western Days at school and we were stopping by to see if someone was going to be our babysitters on Friday night.”

Steve jokingly asked, “Officers, when can we collect our bounty money for capturing these three people?”

Dan was laughing so hard he could hardly talk, “Where are the guns that these gentlemen were allegedly threatening Mr. Leavitt with?”

Two more squad cars had arrived and I swear every person in the neighborhood was out watching what was going on.

Andy  pointed, “Nano Mark, kicked them so hard when they dropped them that they are in the grass.  One is over there by the tree and the other is under the yellow rose bush over there.”

Officer Lacey looked at me, “Mr. Leavitt, I assume that you will be available if we need to get in touch with you.  Tell the boys we said hi.”

He turned to Andy and Steve, “You two guys are either very brave or very stupid.  You could have gotten the three of you killed.”

On that somber note, everyone left except Steve and Andy.

Chris came running and hugged the two teenagers, “Andy and Steve, thank you for protecting our Dad.  Those people were even meaner than our Dad.”

Tip and Ty had arrived as the scene was unfolding.  I guess I looked rather piqued because Tip suggested, “Why don’t we go to the Top of the World Buffet.  I don’t think anyone is going to feel like cooking or doing dishes.”

Andy shook his head no, “I need to go home.  Thanks for asking Mr. Washington, but we just stopped by to see if someone would be babysitting us on Friday.”

I looked at the two guys, “Zack and I will be there, but we don’t want to do this every weekend.”

Steve nodded, “Mark, I appreciate how you feel, but if you would keep your son out of the paper, we wouldn’t have so many job offers.  The gig on Friday is paying us a $100.00 each for three hours work.  I have already had several inquiries about future dates.  We’ll discuss them the next time we meet.”

I had to add, “Bart will not be available on Friday next week since we are going to Zack’s graduation ceremony.”

I was the only person who had to change clothes.  Everyone was waiting for me, so we could go to the restaurant.  When we walked in, I was sure it would be a long wait time before we would be seated because the restaurant was so busy.  The host nodded to us, “We just opened another room.  Please follow me.”

After we were shown to our table, we each took a child and we let Bobby fend for himself.  There were so many choices that it was difficult for the children to decide what they wanted to eat.  As we were eating, I looked at Tip and Ty, “Thank you for getting us out of the house for a while.  This afternoon’s experience was rather traumatic.”

When we got home, the phone was blinking and I was afraid to touch it.  I had Ty take the messages. 

We couldn’t hear what was being said, but Ty  made some calls and we heard  him start to laugh so it couldn’t be all bad.  I heard Ty say, “Jacob, I’ll have Mark call the two guys and decide how the reward should be distributed.”

He returned the next call, “Amber, what is so important that we need to call you tonight? … No, we’re all fine.  How did you hear about what happened this afternoon? … It was on the news.  You’re kidding? … Oh, there’s going to more on the story during the ten o’clock news? … I guess we’ll have to see if we can stay awake to watch it.”

Ty called, “Mark. I think you had better take care of this last call.  It’s for you.”

As I was going to the phone, I looked at Bart, “Why don’t you get the boys ready for bed while Ty gets the two girls ready?  I’ll tuck them in after I check the phone call.”

The message was from Amy. “Hi, Mark, it’s Amy.  I understand that you had some excitement at your house this afternoon.  Give me a call when you have time.” 

Ty and Tip were coming down the stairs, “Our children are settled.  You might want to check on Chris.”

I went to the apartment and Chris was sitting on the sofa in his briefs.  “Daddy, are you okay?”

I hugged him, “Chris, I’m fine.  Just don’t have anymore nightmares.  I don’t think my system can handle much more excitement.  How about we get you tucked in, so you can make it through the day tomorrow?  I need to go make a call and wait for your other Dad to call.”

Chris threw his arms around me, “Daddy, I love you.”

I kissed him goodnight, “Christopher, I love you too.”

I went to the kitchen and called Amy and Chrystal.  Chrystal answered, “Chrystal Long speaking.”

“Hi Chrystal, this is Mark Leavitt.  Amy wanted me to call.  I needed to call you anyway.  Since we’re accompanying you to the Debutante Ball on Saturday, we need for you help us baby-sit the band at a singles bar on Friday night.”

Chrystal started to laugh, “I understand that the four of us are going to be babysitting Amy’s Aunt Amber on Saturday.  The Entertainment Editor has asked Amy and me to do an article on a relatively new singles bar called Guys and Dolls.   Is that where the band is going to be playing, per chance?”

“Chrystal, I honestly don’t know.  I’ll call you back as soon as I find out.”

I went to talk to Tip and Ty.  Ty grinned, “It seems that there was a reward for the capture of the two men you, Steve and Andy corralled today.  They are wanted in several states for bank robbery and have rap sheets longer than your arms.  Officer Lacey wanted to know who should receive the rewards.”

I couldn’t help myself and started to chuckle out loud, “Ty, that’s a no-brainer.  Steve and Andy deserve the rewards, not me.”

Ty nodded, “I figured you would say that.  Why don’t you call Officer Lacey and Officer Nelson at the station.  Jacob said they would be working on paperwork until 11:00.”

“Ty, could you check to see if there is any way that you can get the assets that Mrs. Winters mentioned for Bart and Chris.  If what Mrs. Winters said today and what you had mentioned previously is accurate, it would seem that we should be able to get those assets released to the boys.”

“Mark, let me do some checking, tomorrow.”

I called Officers Lacey and Nelson to tell that the rewards should go to Steve and Andy.  They assured me that they would take care of it.

I had just hung up when the phone rang and for some reason I was startled.   “This is Mark.”

“Shucks I was hoping that it was Godzilla and you could come to visit me and we could play hide and seek.”

“Look King Kong, after today, I may never leave the house again.”

After I had told Zack about the encounter with the two hoods and Mrs. Winters and how Andy and Steve had saved the day with their cap guns, he was completely silent, “Mark, what have you been drinking?   Things like that only happen in the movies.”

“Zack, I’m not kidding.  Here, I’ll put Tip and Ty on and they can tell you that I’m not kidding.”

Tip took the phone, “Yep, Andy and Steve saved your lover boy from getting shot and saved your two sons from being abducted.”

Tip handed me the phone. “Zack, maybe you will believe me when I tell you things from now on.  Did you get measured for your tux today.”

“Yes, the guy who took the measurements was on the phone relaying the information to an affiliate in Kansas City which isn’t too far from the house.  It's called The Gentlemen’s Collection.”

“Good, I’ll go there in the morning and get measured.”

Zack closed, “Mark, I wish I could be there to help you unwind by giving you an injection.  Hang in there until Friday.  Sweet dreams.”  

 Editor's Notes: This was quite an exciting chapter.  I have to wonder if Chris might have some helpful gifts that he hasn't realized he has yet.  He seems to be pretty accurate with his dreams. It looks as if Zack is almost ready to graduate and finally come home. That will be very nice for him and Mark. It also looks like Chris and Bart finally have a family that loves them.

I am certainly ready for the next chapter of this wonderful story.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 03/27/09