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

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Chapter 37

Another Agent

As Barbie and I were driving home from the television studio, I decided to stop at a Hallmark shop and get some cards and wrapping paper.  We needed to find a small gift for Bobby’s birthday so he wouldn’t feel totally left out.  I also wanted to get some invitations so that Bobby could invite his friends to his birthday party at the miniature golf place next Saturday.

When Barbie and I arrived at the house, Bart was waiting. “Dad, I don’t want to be in charge of the money for the group.  Someone is bound to think that I’m short changing them.”

“Bart, that is probably why Steve decided that you should handle the money.  He obviously trusts you and you didn’t hear anyone else objecting, did you?  What you need to do is have an organizational meeting of the group while the Bensons are here, and they can help you get everything set up, along with Dad Zack and Ty.   Now come and help me get a snack ready for the children when they get home.”

“Get the brownies out of the box and I’ll make some milk shakes that we can chill, except for Billy’s.”

Everything was ready when the children came in.  Billy was laughing, so I figured he must be okay.  Chris came and hugged me, “Hi, Daddy, did you have a good day?”

“Chris, we had a very good day.  Why don’t you young people go wash your hands?  The snack is ready.  Billy, how is your lip?”

“Nano Mark, it’s starting to itch like crazy. I think I can eat almost anything now.  Thanks for fixing me a special lunch, though.”

I was checking the children’s folders.  Everything was fine until I got to Bobby’s folder.  He had great papers except there was a note on his spelling test.  “-1 point for making the teacher look up a word in the dictionary.  I can’t believe that an almost eleven year old could spell loquacious and know what it meant.  The reason for the point deduction was that Bobby dared to tell me that sometimes I tended to be too loquacious.  I guess I need to step outside the lines a little more and challenge these young people. ;<)”

I pulled out a blue marker and wrote, “Dear Mr. Henry, I’m glad to find out that you are human after all.  I hope that you can appreciate that no two children are the same, and we shouldn’t try to make them all conform to the norm.  Respectfully, Mark Leavitt.  P.S.  Maybe we can make plans to humanize education, next year, when I join your staff. M.”

“Bobby, I put a note in your backpack for you to take to your teacher on Monday.  You need to sit down and write your birthday invitations to the miniature golf party next Saturday afternoon since the next two days are going to be busy.”

“Bart, why don’t you take the other children to the park, while I fix dinner?”
 

Chris objected, “Dad, we don’t need to play all the time.  Isn’t there anything that we can do to help?”

Billy added, “I can’t play anyway, remember?”

I figured I wasn’t going to win, so I decided to surrender, “Okay, set the table while I get Bobby started.  I’ll meet you in the family room.”

I handed the invitations to Bobby, “I bought twelve invitations.  You can invite eleven other friends.  I’ll use the extra invitation to make  you a sample of what you might want to say.”

Bobby asked, “Does that eleven include Chris, Billy and the girls?”

“Nope, we can have up to twenty people.  I figured that you and your eleven friends, the four other children, your Dads, Uncle and Zack and I will be there.”

“What about Bart?”

“Bobby, he needs time to be with his friends, and besides, he’ll have to go to his job.  I’ll be back as soon as I show the other children what I want them to do.

I got Zack’s Graduation Bear and the race car set that Barbie and I had bought Bobby and had Bart help the other three children wrap them while I went to start dinner and check on Bobby.

He handed me the first invitation.  He was extremely meticulous.  I looked at the invitation but then I noticed a note on the side of the invitation that was blank that read:

Terry,

We will be outside so wear something very comfortable.  We will have food to eat after we play our game of miniature golf.  Please don’t bring a gift.  Just come and have a good time.

                                                                      Your friend, Bobby J.

“Bobby, why did you decide on no gifts?”

“Nano Mark, a couple of the people I’m going to invite don’t have much money.  I want them to come and have a good time.  Terry’s Father was just killed, and I’m sure that his family doesn’t have much money.  I don’t want them to not come because they don’t have money.  Not everyone is as lucky as me to have two Dads who can buy us whatever we need.”

I started to get tears in my eyes and had to move away, “Bobby, I’m proud that you think like that.  Now I need to get cracking on dinner.”

I was getting concerned.  It was almost six o’clock and no one had come home.  Billy came into the kitchen, “Nano Mark, why isn’t anyone home yet.  Did something happen?”

We heard the garage door, so someone was home but who?  Tip and Ty came in the door, and Billy hugged them, “Dads, why are you so late?”

Ty hugged Billy, “Son, you worry too much.  We had to get your brother a birthday present for tomorrow.”

“But, Dads, we just wrapped a gift for him.  His party isn’t until next Saturday.”

Tip knelt down, “Billy, trust us.  This is something that you will all enjoy.  We need to get changed for dinner.”

Chris entered the kitchen, “Hi Uncle Tip and Uncle Ty, did you have a good day?  Dad, where’s Dad Zack and the Bensons?  Shouldn‘t they be here by now?”

Tip looked at us, “What is going on?  Is this the house that questions built or something?”

Chris giggled, “Uncle Tip, I don’t know what is going on, but you just asked two questions without answering the previous questions.”

Tip turned to me, “Mark, put your son to bed without any dinner for being mean to me.”

The frivolity was interrupted by the garage door.  Zack came in complaining, “Mark, Beau and Becca are trying to kill me and I haven’t even officially started my job yet.”

Chris looked at Zack, “Daddy, I don’t think you’re telling the truth.  I’ll have to report you to Farmer Bear for telling little white lies.  Mr. and Mrs. Benson, I hope our Dad behaved himself today.”

I decided to take charge, “Billy and Chris, I think that we need to let these people go get ready for dinner, since we will be eating in fifteen minutes.  Would you please go get the others and tell them that their presence is requested for dinner?”

We were just finishing dinner at about seven o’clock.  I went to get the television from the kitchen and brought it into the dining room.  “Barbie, let’s take care of the dishes while the rest of the people watch the show that we had to endure this afternoon.”

Bart stood, “I’ve been there and done that, I’ll help with the dishes and then I need to go pick up Tory.  I don’t know why I’m nervous about tonight, but I just don’t feel prepared.”

Bart, Barbie and I took care of the dishes while everyone else watched the prerecorded show.  Bart left at 7:45 with his clothes.  As he was leaving, I hugged him, “Everything will go fine.  Take the cell phone so you can call us if something happens.”

I was reading to Barbie in the family room when the mob arrived.  Beau started on me, “Do you realize that you have a gold mine in that son of yours?”

Becca added, “I really would like to see the group perform live.  Bart has a charisma about him that just makes you want more.”

Chris looked at Zack and me, “Dads, why don’t you take Mr. and Mrs. Benson to the club and show them what the people can do?  Let them see how bad they are.  Farmer Brown still has a headache from listening to them sing and play yesterday.”

Zack looked at me, “Why don’t you call Amy and Chrystal and see if they would like to go with us and they can meet my bosses?  The owner will treat us royally when he sees Chrystal and Amy.”

I could see Becca and Beau’ s eyes looking at us as if they had questions.  I called the two ladies, “Amy, Zack and I were hoping that you were up to a couple of dances at Guys and Dolls with some friends of ours. … Great, we’ll pick you up in 30 minutes.  See you then.”

When we arrived at the Guys and Dolls Lounge, the owner practically was crawling on his knees thanking Amy and Chrystal for their reviews.  We were shown to a table adjacent to the platform where the band had been performing.  It seems that that they were taking a short break.

When the band reappeared, Bart spotted us immediately, “Ladies and gentlemen, my Dads are here so I guess we better be good.”

The band started to play and Bart began to sing.  The dance floor was crowded but I got up and asked Becca to dance.  As we were dancing, Becca commented, “The band is really quite good, and  Bart surely is a talented young man.  You should think about getting him into the recording industry.”

When we got back to the house, there was a note ‘Bart is to call a Mr. Ott at 685-2585.  The gentlemen claimed that it was urgent that he speak with Bart as soon as possible.’

I showed the note to Zack, Beau and Becca.  Beau frowned, “Something sounds fishy here.  Why would anyone be calling Bart on a Friday evening about something that was urgent?   Mark and Zack, make sure you’re available when and if Bart calls this man.  What time are we going to leave for Lawrence tomorrow?”

Zack answered, “The actual commencement exercise starts at two thirty.  The preliminaries start about two: so I guess we should leave here no later than ten if we are going to be able to catch some food to sustain us.”

Becca asked, “What should we wear?”

Zack laughed, “As little as possible and make sure that you wear a hat or you’ll be sunburned, since the weather forecast says it is to be hot and humid.  You probably should take some bottled water too.”

Beau and Becca stood and Beau asked, “Is anyone running or exercising in the morning?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Probably both.  Our boys will probably want to run and Tip and Ty prefer to workout, especially on the weekends.  You have your choice.”

When Zack and I got to the apartment, we heard, “Good night, Dads.   We love you.”

Zack and I went into Chris and Bart’s room and Chris was lying there with Farmer Bear.  I sat down beside Chris, “Why aren’t you asleep?”

“Dads, we can’t sleep until we know everyone is home and safe.  When’s Bart going to come home?”

I leaned down and kissed Chris, “Haven’t you heard, Bart won’t be home anymore?  He doesn’t love us no more.”

Chris sat up, “Daddy, please don’t say things like that.  Why wouldn’t Bart come home?”

“He’s afraid that Farmer Bear is going to bite him and give him rabies.”

“Dad Zack, spank Dad Nano.  He’s being mean to us.”

Zack shrugged his shoulders, “I can’t spank him.  He might cry and then I would have to spank you and Farmer Bear so he won’t report me to the police.”

We heard Bart coming up the steps.  Chris jumped out of bed and ran yelling, “Bart, help me.  The Dads are being mean to me and Farmer Bear.”

“Don’t worry, me and Elvis Bear will protect you.”

Bart was carrying Chris when he came into the bedroom.  “Hi Dads, did you have a good time tonight?”

I nodded, “Bart, the Bensons were impressed by you.  I hope you didn’t have any problems after we left.”

“Not really, some guy named Ott came and wanted me to sign a contract.  I told him that I needed to talk to you first before I signed anything.  He told me that he had left a message here at the house and asked that I call him before I made any more commitments.  He said he would make it worth my while if I would talk to him.”

I looked at Zack, “Bart, we’ll discuss this more tomorrow,  It’s time for all good Leavitts to get ready for bed.  Why don’t you take your shower, since you have been working?  Dad Zack and I had one before we went to the Guys and Dolls Club.”

Zack and I were awakened on Saturday morning by Chris, “Dads, can we go running? Bart is still sleeping.”

Chris sat and watched as Zack and I got dressed.  We went to the kitchen and I started the coffee and the three of us took off for a nice leisurely run.  When we returned, the kitchen was filled with bodies.  Everyone was fixing their own breakfast, even Barbie.

When we walked in, Chris yelled, “Happy Birthday, Bobby.  I guess now that you’re eleven you will probably  be trying to boss all of the rest of us around.  It ain’t gonna work.”

Everyone had finished eating and Ty suggested, “Bart, why don’t you call that person who called last night while you were gone and said it was urgent that he talk to you?”

Bart looked at the note, “That’s the same person who approached me at the club and wanted me to sign a contract, then and there.”

Bart made the call and asked to speak to a Mr. Jacob Ott.  A sleepy voice came on, “Who the heck is calling me at nine o’clock on Saturday morning?”

“Mr. Ott, this is Bart Leavitt.  You said it was urgent that I call you.  What’s so urgent that I need to talk to you?  Did I win the lottery or something?”

There was a pause, the voice came back on, “Bart, it is imperative that I meet with you as soon as possible so that I can be your agent as well as the agent for your group.  People will try to exploit you.  You have no idea how ruthless the people who hire you and the Fab 9 group are.  They are going to be  taking advantage of you big time.”

Bart was very polite, “Mr. Ott, this is not the time to be taking about  things like this.  Perhaps you could come to our house tomorrow after five and I will meet with you.  I’ll make sure that the other band members are here to hear what you have to say.  I’ll see you then.”

Bart hung up, “That man sounds like a shyster to me.  Everyone, please be here to help me tomorrow.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I agree with Bart. It has always seemed strange to me that people who accuse other people of doing bad things are often the kind of people that do bad things themselves. 

For example, isn't it strange that the people who yell the loudest about how terrible Homosexual people are turn out to be gay, and in the closet.

A somewhat off topic note comes to mind. I know that is terribly unusual for me to come up with something off topic, but there is a first time for everything.

When I was growing up and living at home with my parents, my mother would always tell me to make sure to close the drapes as soon as the lights were  turned on.  She said that the neighbours could look inside our windows and watch what we were doing.  Personally, I thought it was silly, since we never did anything weird in the living room anyway, and I didn't think that anyone would bother to look into someone else's window.  This was when I was around twelve years old. I went away to school about that time and only came home for holidays, and for Summer vacations.  One time, when I got home I happened to notice that my mom was looking out the living room window using a large pair of binoculars, which she bought to look at birds.  But she was looking at the window of the neighbors across the street, the very thing that she had told me to be careful not to allow the neighbors to do.

I don't think she knew that I had been standing there, because when I moved or sighed or something, she turned and put the binoculars down really quickly, and then told me that she had seen a bird.  I thought to myself, if she saw a bird, it was in the Johnson's living room, but I didn't say anything to her.  That was the first time that I made the connection about people complaining about other people doing something that the complainer did themselves.  Since then, I have seen it happen over and over.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 06/19/09