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

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Chapter 36

The Agent

It sounded as if Billy was calling me.  He was standing on the stairs in tears, “Nano Mark, I went to the bathroom in my bed.  I was dreaming I was peeing in the bathroom.”

I went to help him, “Billy, don’t feel bad.  You get some clean clothes on while I change the linens on your bed.  There is a plastic liner under your bed pad so there is no problem.  I’ll take the soiled clothes and linens and wash them and no one else needs to know what happened.”

“Nano Mark, I don’t want to take any more of that medicine if it’s going to make me do this.”

“Billy, we’ll just have to make sure you go to the bathroom before you take it again.”

I cleaned his plastic covering and put clean linens on the bed, “There, no one will ever know.  It’s almost dinner time.  Do you want to eat or are you going to go back to sleep?”

Billy asked, “Is it something that I can eat without making my lip hurt?”

“It’s lasagna.  You should be able to eat that.  You might not be able to eat the tossed salad, though, so I made a Jello salad with mixed fruit for you.  For dessert, I made some rice pudding which you like.”

Billy grinned, “I am kinda hungry.”

After dinner, we were sitting in the family room talking when Bart approached us, “Dads, what kind of things are going to happen at the television studio tomorrow?   One of you is going to be going with us aren’t you?”

Ty spoke up, “I think it would be advisable for one of you to accompany the group, since they are all under the age of 18.  I can’t imagine anything happening, but I think one of you should be there.”

Zack put his arm around Bart, “You heard what the resident legal beagle said, so one of us will be there.  We’ll just have to figure out which of us it will be.”

As Bart was leaving the family room, he announced, “The band is going to meet here at ten o’clock in the morning to get the rest of the equipment and so we can car pool to the studio, since I have no idea where it is.  I’m going to the apartment to practice for tomorrow and Saturday, since we will be gone quite a bit of Saturday for Dad Zack’s graduation.”

I looked at the clock, “It’s time to get the children ready for bed.  Zack, please go get them, while I dish up the rice pudding.”

As the children were eating, Billy asked, “Nano Mark, is there going to be any of this yummy stuff left so I can take some with my soup for lunch tomorrow?”
 

Ty looked concerned, “Billy, why are you taking soup for lunch.”

“Daddy, I tried to eat a sandwich today, and it hurt my lip.  They are serving taco’s tomorrow, and that would probably hurt even worse.  Nano Mark is going to fix me some soup.”

Ty laughed, “On that note, I think it’s time for the four youngest Jeffersons to get ready for bed.   We’ll leave the dishes for Chris to take care of.”

Chris reacted immediately, “Sure, go ahead and pick on Chris.  Everyone picks on me.”

Tip was laughing, “But Chris, I wasn’t picking on you.”

Chris pointed his finger at Tip. “I still remember the day you were picking on me when I was wearing my red briefs.  We elephants have long memories.”

Everyone was laughing at Chris’ antics.  Zack grabbed Chris and carrying him so Chris was dangling from Zack’s arms, “Come on, we elephants.  We need to get you to bed before you get in any more trouble.”

Chris was giggling, “See, even my Dad is picking on me.”

Everyone had left except Tip, and he was chuckling, “Mark, you’re going to have your hands full with young master Chris.  He must have a great memory.  I had forgotten about the morning I gave him a difficult time about his red briefs.  That seems like years ago.”

Zack returned, “Mark, you need to go say goodnight to Chris. He is so wound up that he’ll probably never get to sleep.  He has a question to ask you?”

“Why didn’t he ask you?  He’s your son, too.”

“Mark, he did ask me, but I told him he needed to check with you, since it had to do with school.”

I went to the apartment and Chris was lying in the bed, holding Farmer Bear, “Chris, your Dad said you have a question you wanted to ask me?”

“Daddy Nano, would it be okay if me and Farmer Bear were to be in the school talent show?”

“Chris, I think that would be great.  What would you do?”

“Daddy, I don’t know yet.  I’ll get Becky to help me.”

“When is the talent show?”

Chris answered, “The show is next Friday.  They are having tryouts on Monday, but I need to sign up by tomorrow.”

I hugged Chris, “If you need any help, I’ll do whatever I can do.  It’s going to be a busy weekend, since Daddy Zack will be graduating on Saturday and we’re having the party on Sunday.”

“Daddy, I just want to see what happens.  I’ll probably be so scared that I will be awful.”

When I got back to the living room, Beau and Becca were there.  I hugged them.  “Either you’re a little earlier than predicated, or I’ve been asleep and didn’t know.”

Beau smirked, “Okay, smart ass, we should have been here a little earlier, but I keep forgetting how bad the traffic in Kansas City is.  I swear, these people never had a driving test in their lives.”

I decided to return the dig, “When you live in Fremont, you’re lucky to see two cars on the street at the same time.  I swear, you people drive in scheduled time slots.  How are you doing anyway?”

Becca answered, “Mark, these economic times have us coming and going all the time.  In fact, we already have five consultations here in the Kansas City area, starting tomorrow.  This is a perfect time for Zack to be getting into the business.”

Beau took over, “Zack, we thought we would go to the office to make  sure that you will have everything that you need in the morning.  After we have lunch, we’ll go to the first appointment so you can see what it is that you will be doing.  In fact, a third set of eyes may help us see things that we might otherwise miss.”

Zack looked at me, “Mark, I guess that means you and Barbie will be going to the television station with Bart tomorrow.”

Beau asked, “Have we created a problem by scheduling a meeting for tomorrow?  Why does Bart need to go to the television station?”

I shook my head no, “Beau, we’re fine.  Bart’s musical group is scheduled to on television tomorrow at noon.  Ty thinks one of us should be with them.  Since I am legally Bart’s father, it should probably be me anyway.”

Beau and Becca were stunned.  Beau started to laugh, “I guess there are a lot of things that have happened that we don’t know about?

Ty laughed, “I think that would probably be an massive understatement.  The guys will have to bring you up to date on everything that has been happening.  I don’t even think that Tip and I have a complete understanding of everything that is happening.”

Beau frowned, “This house is sounding more and more like the Wilson house when I was growing up.”

Becca announced, “I think, we need to go to bed so everyone can be rested since tomorrow is a workday.”

When Zack and I went to the apartment, Bart was in the shower.  When he exited the shower, he came into our bedroom even though he was still drying himself.  “Dads, I have this premonition that something weird is going to happen tomorrow.”

I looked at him, “Bart, I’ll be at the television station with you.  The Guys and Dolls has already hired security people to make sure that you aren’t molested.  I don’t know what else could happen.”

“Dad, I guess you’re right.  It’s just a funny feeling I have.”

After Bart went to his bedroom, Zack looked at me, “Mark, our son is very handsome.  I can’t believe how different he acts now compared to first time we met him.”

The next morning Zack and I were intertwined when Chris came into the room, “Dads, me and Bart want to go run with you.  Is that okay?”

I pulled away from Zack, “Chris, we’ll be with you as soon as we go to the bathroom and get dressed.  Where’s Bart?”

 

“He went down to start the coffee.  Dads, remember you need to make some soup for Billy to take to school for his lunch.”

When we arrived in the kitchen, Bart and Chris were talking to Beau.  Chris invited Beau, “Mr. Benson, we’re going to take our Dads for a run so they don’t get fat.  Would you like to join us?”

Beau felt his stomach, “I guess I probably should go.  I’m getting a little fat myself.  Is it okay if I wear my sweat pants and tee shirt?”

Bart answered, “Only if you’re wearing a jock strap.”

Both Zack and I reacted, “Bart, that was uncalled for.”

Beau on the other hand responded differently, “That’s all right, guys.  Bart’s just afraid that I might make him look bad.”

Bart giggled, “I wasn’t worried about me but our poor Dads.  I don’t want them to feel bad.”

 

Chris stopped the discussion, “Don’t worry about our Dads, they’ll give anyone a run for your money.  Bart is just jealous.”

As we were walking to the park, I was walking with Chris.  He asked, “Dad, I shouldn’t have said what I did, should I?”

“Chris, you didn’t start it, Bart did.  If it had been anyone except Beau,  I would probably have been very angry with both of you.  You both need to watch what you say so people don’t get the wrong idea.”

When we got to the park, Beau, Zack and Bart started to run.  I ran with Chris at his pace and he definitely was getting better.  The funny thing was that we passed the other three who were standing by the path trying to recover from their fast jaunt.  When we passed by, Chris taunted, “We’ll meet you at the house.  We’ll have scrambled eggs with sausage and hash browns.”

Chris’ comment caused the three gentlemen to react and Zack picked Chris up and put him over his shoulder and we started back to the house.  “Daddy Nano, can we trade Daddy Zack in for a model that would be nice to me?  Can you take me to the catalogue store after school?”

As we were walking back to the house, Beau was walking beside me.  “Mark, for a whimp, you and Zack have two great sons.  I hope our sons will be so feisty and caring.  I guess they have had to endure a lot in their short lives.”

When we arrived back at the house, Becca was cooking.  She looked at us, “A Mrs. Sweet called and said that she couldn’t be here today.  She said she had some business that she needed to take care of.  She said she would talk to you on Sunday.”

I looked at Bart, “You help Becca, and I’ll get ready to take the children to school.  I want to make sure the nurse has my cell phone number in case something should happen to Billy.”

When I returned to the kitchen, I fixed a lunch for Billy to take to school.  I had soup and the rice pudding and was trying to find something else to add.  He looked at me, “Nano Mark, that should be fine.  I’ll buy a carton of milk to go with it.”

When I returned to the house, it was just Bart and Barbie who were there.  Bart came to me, “Dad, I’m really nervous about appearing on television.”

“Bart, it will be a lot easier than appearing before the people at the Pizza Palace and Guys and Dolls.”

The band members gathered at our house at ten and loaded the rest of the equipment and instruments into the vehicles.  Bart got his costumes and as they were leaving, he looked at me. “You will be coming won’t you?”

 

I assured him, “Barbie and I will be leaving shortly.”

When Barbie and I arrived at the television station, we stopped at the reception desk, and I asked the young man, “Could you please tell me where we can find the Fab Nine who are to appear on the show at noon?”

The young man looked up at me, “The hicks are getting ready to perform in studio three.”

“Could you please direct us to that studio?”

“Why?  The seats are all filled with the unknowing audience.  They have no idea how bored they going to be when they see that group of hicks perform.”

I grabbed the young man by his shirt, “Get Mr. Garrett Templeton on the phone and inform him that the group will not be performing.  I am one of the young men’s father, and I, for one, did not and will not sign a permission slip for him to appear on any television show since he and all of his group are underage.”

The young man picked up the phone, “Dad, there’s a drunk man here telling me that the hicks that you have scheduled on your show will not be able to perform because they are all underage and have not received written permission from their parents to perform.”

The young man had no more than hung up when a heavily made up  man appeared, “What’s going on here?”

I looked at the man, “I’m the lead singer’s father and I’m here to make sure that you aren’t exploiting the young people.  The first thing that needs to happen is that this young man needs to be fired.  I’d like to speak to the station manager and the owner.”

“I am the owner and the station manager.”

I was getting hot, “Well, in that case, we’d like to be taken to where the young people are going to be working, so I can tell them that this gig was a farce.  It is apparent to me that you are trying to exploit them for your own interests.  How much were you going to pay them for appearing?”

“Mister, I thought by giving them the opportunity to be seen so they could get a lot more jobs would be payment enough.”

“Mr. Templeton, they are already booked for every Friday and Saturday nights through the summer.  I, for one, will not have my son working any more nights than that.”

Mr. Templeton took us to the studio where the band was set up.  When they saw me, Steve came to me, “These people have been merciless.  They keep trying to tell us what we need to do.  Finally Bart got so fed up with the way they were acting, that he told them to shove it.  You need to go talk to him because he thinks we should leave.”

I went to where Bart was talking to Tory, “Bart, everything will work out.”

“But Dad, these people didn’t like how we’re dressed and wanted to change everything.  I’m never doing this again.”

“Bart, you verbally committed to do this show, so do it.  I have already had a run in with Mr. Templeton.  If things don’t work out, I’ll call Ty and press charges against this station.  I don’t think the station is in any position to fight us.”

Mr. Templeton had heard what I said, “Mr. Leavitt, you’re absolutely right, we’re fighting to hold on for our existence in this economy.  I apologize for my son’s actions.  Since you know the group personally, would you please introduce them to the live audience after Bart makes his appearance?  The group tells me that they have been practicing at the residence where you live.”

The show started and there were several guests before the group since they were to be the last guests on the show.  Mr. Templeton made a big ado about them.  “This next young group will be appearing at the Guys and Dolls Lounge tonight and at the Pizza Palace tomorrow night .  It gives me great pleasure to introduce, the Fab Nine.”

The band started to play and the lights went down and Bart did his heralded entrance as Elvis.  After Bart’s routine, Mr. Templeton took the microphone, “I have asked one of our guests to introduce the talented members of this group to you since he knows them personally.”

Thank goodness he didn’t identify me, I went forward and introduced each of the band members.  Before I left the stage, I suggested, “These young people feed off of people participating  and there is lots of room down front for everyone to dance.”

The first number the band started to play was the Bunny Hop so I got behind Barbie and we started to dance around the floor.  It was exciting to see how many older people joined in.  In fact, most of the live audience was involved. 

At two minutes until one, Mr. Templeton took the microphone again, “Ladies and gentleman we are going to need to go back to our regularly scheduled broadcasts.  However, the band has agreed to continue playing and we will broadcast the show in it’s entirety tonight at seven.”

The band was rather exhausted after doing an hour show.  Bart looked at me, “Dad, we need something to eat.  We’re starved and exhausted.  We’ll probably be a total flop tonight at the Guys and Dolls Lounge.”

Mr. Templeton appeared, “People, you were wonderful.  There have been so many complaints that we cut your live show short today.  Here is a check for $300.00 to cover your expenses and so you can buy some food, who should I make the check out to?”

The young people pointed at me, but I shook my head, “I’m not one of the group.  You people need to decide who is your money person.”

Steve spoke for the group, “Make it out to Bart Leavitt.  That will give him something to do while the rest of us are in school.  Besides, he lives in the biggest house.”

If looks could kill, Steve was going to be dying soon.

To be continued...  

Editor's Notes:

Well this was indeed an interesting chapter.  I sure hope that Billy's lip heals soon.  You can't have a growing boy living on soup and rice pudding without serious consequences, now can you?

It looks as if Bart and the boys are doing very well for themselves.  I was a little worried about what the television station had planned with regard to their performance.  They certainly didn't make a very good impression at the beginning.  They need to learn not to take people for granted.  I have a feeling that Bart and the band will think at least twice before appearing on that station again.   I suppose that paying them what they paid them was somewhat of a change of heart, but I still have misgivings about the integrity of the people there.  I had no use for that smart mouthed kid acting as receptionist.  I wonder what his story is.  I bet there is more to him than what we saw.  He is the son or the owner, and I bet he is a spoiled brat.

I am glad that Chris is being a bit more bold and not as scared as he used to be.  Both he and Bart are really beginning to shine.  They are both wonderful boys.  I see great things for both of them.  I hope it won't be long before we see the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher    

Posted: 06/12/09