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

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Chapter 40

Another Star Is Born

We were awakened by Chris.  “Dads, this is going to be a terrible day.  I can feel it in my bones.”

Zack sat up, “Chris, what in the world are you talking about?”

“Dads, it’s raining, so we won’t be able to go out for recess.  The kids will all be talking and upsetting the teachers and making them grouchy.  This isn’t a good day to have tryouts for the talent show.  Everyone will be grouchy like Dad Zack.”

Zack grabbed Chris, “Wait a minute!  Who are you calling grouchy?”

Chris giggled, “I’m just getting even for you calling me a fat boy, yesterday.  If the shoe fits, then I guess you’re grouchy.”

Bart was standing in the doorway laughing.  Zack wasn’t about to let Chris win. “I tried the shoe on and it doesn’t fit, it’s too little.  I guess it’s your other Dad who is grouchy.”

Chris started to walk away, “Nope, it means that you’re an even a bigger grouch than we thought.  Come on Bart, we’ll go start breakfast while the Dads play games.”

Zack was sitting there laughing, “What a way to start the day.  Let’s get ready to face whatever the world has in store for us.  Who knows what Beau and Becca have planned for me?

I was getting dressed in good clothes, too, and Zack asked, “Mark, what do you have going today?”

“We’re interviewing people to be my assistants with the program next year.  I’ll be at the Central School Offices most of the day.”

When I walked into the kitchen, Chris asked, “Is it Sunday already?  Did I miss a whole week?”

I shook my head, “No, I need to go interview some people to help with the job that you decided I should take, next year.”

Bart asked, “Are you going to be able to take the children to school and pick them up, since Sarah is going to be here all day?”

I nodded, “Thanks, for reminding me.  I’ll make sure that I’m finished in time to pick up the children, including the Robinsons’ children after school.”

I watched until the children made it into the building.  Bobby was carrying an umbrella for him and Billy, and Becky was carrying the other, since Chris' hands were full with the box with Farmer Bear and his back pack.

When I arrived at the Central Office, I went to the Human Resources office and the young secretary recognized me, “Mr. Leavitt, why don’t you go into the conference room.  I’ll tell Doctor Trout that you’re here.”

Dr. Trout entered the room, “Dr. Plummer and Dr. Delaney will be with us shortly.  We have six applicants that we have scheduled to be interviewed today.  They all appear, on paper, to be qualified.”

Dr. Plummer and Dr. Delaney arrived and Dr. Trout called his receptionist, “Miss Cleveland, please show the first applicant in.”

The first interview was a complete waste of time.  The lady thought she was being interviewed to head the new program.  When Dr. Trout informed her that I would be in charge of the new program, she stood, “I’m not in the least bit interested in working for some wet behind the ears person who will cause the program to never get off the ground.”

‘Talk about a put down.’

Dr. Trout was very diplomatic, “I’m sorry you feel that way, Mrs. Crowell.  The Board of Education hired Mr. Leavitt by a unanimous vote.  Thanks for coming.  We’ll keep your application on file.”

The second applicant was nearly as bad.  She only wanted to talk about the wonderful things that she had done in the past.  She let us know, “I have some wonderful ideas as to how this program should work.   Who will I be working for?”

Dr. Plummer looked at me and I shook my head no.   She spoke for the group, “Mrs. Price, we’ll consider your application.  We still have several more applicants to interview.  Thank you for coming.”

As soon as Mrs. Price had departed, Dr. Plummer announced, “I don’t want that woman in my building under any circumstances.  I can see her trying to take control of everyone and everything.”

Interviews three and four were so, so.  The fifth interview was to prove to be very interesting.  Miss Cleveland brought a young man in, whom I guessed to be about 22.  He had all the right answers to what was being asked.  I passed a note to Dr. Trout who was sitting beside me.  He read it and nodded yes. I looked at the applicant, “Mr. Franklin, would you please step out for just a minute.  We have some things that we need to discuss.  It won’t take long.”

When the gentleman had gone, I looked around.  “Mr. Franklin would be a perfect person to be my assistant.  It would be great from the stand point of the differences in our races.  The fact that he is a man is where the problem arises.  There may be times when young ladies need help and might be hesitant to talk to us.  Mr. Trout, would it be possible for the district to hire him as our administrative assistant full time.  He may be able to resolve some of the minor problems before

my assistant or I were to be involved.”

Dr. Trout looked at the other two doctors.  “Mark, the young man is certainly well qualified.  You’re in charge of the program.  Why don’t you lay out your proposal to him?”

I went to the door, “Mr. Franklin, would you please rejoin us.”

When everyone was settled, “I looked at Mr. Franklin, Wilt, you are exactly the type of person I would want to be my assistant, but there is one problem.”

Wilt Franklin stood, “So your saying you're not going to hire me because I'm black?”

“Wilt, that’s not the problem at all, the problem is that you’re a male.  We are not only going to be working with males, but also females.  There may be times when a young lady needs to talk about things with someone of their own sex.  We do have a proposal for you.  We would like to offer you the job as our administrative assistant.”

Dr. Trout took over before I could say anything more.  “Wilt, we are thoroughly impressed by your credentials and your interview.  You would have a full time job with benefits, and would be the first in line to take over for Mr. Leavitt when he moves on to bigger and better things.”

I decided to see if I could assuage the situation.  “Wilt, we have one more applicant that we need to interview.  Why don’t you wait in the reception area and we can go to lunch and discuss the offer.  We could go look at the school so you would see what you might be getting into.”

Mr. Franklin answered, “I hope you’re paying, because I’m broke.”

The last interview was a pleasant surprise.  A Mrs. Delores Del Rio entered the room.  By the end of the interview, I knew she was the person we needed on the team.  She and her husband had raised four foster children who were all now in high school.  She answered all of the questions just right.”

I nodded to Dr. Trout that this was the person I wanted to be working with.  He explained the hours and conditions and Mrs. Del Rio answered, “Good, my husband and I can get a couple of extra hours of sleep before he has to operate the restaurant.  I really enjoy bossing young men around.  What’s going to happen to the young man who is sitting out there on pins and needles?”

Dr. Trout started to laugh, “If you’re talking about  Mr. Franklin, we’re hoping that he will be the third member of your team.”

Mrs. Del Rio frowned, “So, I’m going to be with two studs.  My husband may not allow that.  He’s very possessive.”

Dr. Trout looked at me, “Mark, go get Mr. Franklin.  Let’s see what he says about having Mrs. Del Rio on your team.”

I went to get Wilt, “Mr. Franklin, would you please join us?”

When he entered, he looked Mrs. Del Rio, “I suppose you got the job.”

“Yes, but I understand that you are going to be the person for keeping me and the hunk, Mr. Leavitt, out of trouble.”

Everyone was laughing.  Dr. Trout looked at the two new employees, “Why don’t you meet back here at two o’clock, and we’ll have your contracts ready for you to sign?”

I walked out with Mrs. Del Rio, who I was to find out later, had her doctorate in Child Psychology, and Wilt Franklin.  “Why don’t we go see the facilities that we will be working in.  We can have lunch with the children so you will get to know the clientele we will be dealing with.”

We walked into the school just as Chris and Becky’s class was going to lunch.  Chris saw us, “Daddy, are you going to have lunch with us?”

“We thought we would, if that is okay with you.”

Chris had a funny look, “Of course, it’s okay.”

He turned to the two people behind him, “Please make our guests feel welcome while I take care of my Dad.”

I paid for the three extra lunches and our hosts and hostess walked us through the line.  We were to find out that a lot of people already knew Miss Dodo as several children called Mrs. Del Rio.

The young man who was acting as Mr. Franklin’s escort asked, “Are you going to work here at school like Nano Mark?”

Billy appeared at the that time and hugged me, “Nano Mark, you didn’t tell us you were going to be here for lunch.”

“Billy, we decided to come at the last minute.  I wanted to show Mr. Franklin and Mrs. Del Rio how well behaved everyone was.”

That was the wrong thing to say because a young African American boy fell to the ground.  “I ain’t goin’ back to class.  I’m still hungry.”

The person on duty looked at him and shouted, “Well then, why didn’t you eat your lunch.”

“Because I don’t like that crap.”

Wilt practically jumped from where he was seated, “Ma’am. I’ll take care of the problem.”

Wilt left with young boy and when they returned he got another tray of food for the boy.  They sat away from everyone, so I couldn’t hear what was being said.  When the young guy finished his food, the two of them departed from the multi purpose room. Chris’ class had to go so Mrs. Del Rio and I were visiting with Bobby’s class when Wilt returned.

Bobby’s class was the last to leave.  After I hugged him, I looked at the two visitors.  I think it’s time to get you back to the Central Office so you can take care of the paperwork.  I’m sure we’re going to make a good team.  Wilt informed us on the way back to the Central Office that the young man had witnessed his father beating his mother.  He asked, “What can we do about it?” 

Mrs. Del Rio answered, “We can’t do anything other than to report it to the school social workers until we are officially hired.  In the meantime, we, especially you, need to be available so we can help that young man get rid of his anger.”

As we arrived at the Central Office, Wilt asked, “Mark, can you take me back to the school after I sign the paperwork.  I can walk home from there.  I would have to change buses three times to get to my room from here.”

After the two of them had signed their paperwork, we decided that we would meet at the school at nine thirty in the morning and start working on the curriculum so to speak.  Mrs. Del Rio had a good point, “Guys, we need to involve the school counselor in our sessions so we aren’t duplicating what he or she is doing.”

While I was driving Wilt back to the school.  He commented, “I wish I had someone to celebrate with. I feel like things might finally turn out okay.  I’m tired of selling my body to make a living and to be able to afford to go to college.”

We arrived at the school as he as he was finishing his comment.  Chris came down the sidewalk with his box, “Hi Dad and Mr. Franklin.  Mr. Franklin, are you going to have dinner with us?”

The other six children arrived before anyone could say anything.  Chris announced, “The man sitting beside my Dad is Mr. Franklin.  He's going to be working at our school with my Dad and Mrs. Del Rio.”

When we walked into the house, Bart was waiting. “Dad, I’m off duty.  Between Mrs. Sweet and the two girls I’ve been busy all day.  Look at my fingers, they’re almost threadbare.  I started dinner, but you need to finish it.  It probably won’t be very good. The band will be arriving shortly.”

The children had their snacks while I checked their folders and Wilt was visiting with them.  Mr. Robinson arrived to pick up his four children and Wilt looked at him, “Mr. Robinson, do you remember me.”

Mr. Robinson looked at Wilt, “You look familiar.  You look like Wilt Franklin.”

Wilt laughed, “That’s because that is who I am.  I finally got my degree and even got hired by the school district today, so I could work with Mr. Leavitt.”

Mr. Robinson hugged Wilt, “You have had to endure a lot. Wilt, I’m proud of you.”

We were just finishing dinner when there was a knock on the back door.  I expected to see one of the Quicks but it was Dr. Plummer.

“Mark, the reason I’m here is three-fold.  First, would you have Chris and Farmer Bear at the PTO meeting tomorrow evening so they can show off Chris’ unique talent.  I watched his audition this afternoon and he did a super job.  Second, I would like to introduce you, Mr. Franklin and Mrs. Del Rio as new members of the staff.  I am really excited after watching how you all interacted with the children at lunch, especially Mr. Franklin.  Thirdly, is Mr. Jefferson here, I would like to ask him to be the President of the PTO for next year?”

“Dr. Plummer, why don’t you come and talk the people concerned in your proposals so they can’t blame me.”

Chris reacted as I had expected, “Dr. Plummer, I don’t know if I can do that.  I’ve never done something like this before.”

Dr. Plummer assured Chris, “Believe me, Chris, you’ll do fine.  You can pretend the audience isn’t even there.  I watched what you did today and it was great.  There will also be two of the other acts there that are totally different from yours.

Wilt and I agreed to be there and I was to check with Mrs. Del Rio to make sure she could be there.

When asked about being the PTO president, Ty answered, “I agree to be nominated to be the president.  I, however, will not tolerate a bunch of women complaining because they have nothing better to do.  The PTO should be about supporting the school and making sure our children are getting the best education possible instead of supporting someone’s personal whimsies.  If I were to be elected there might be some backlash.  Not only am I single parent, but I’m black.”

Dr. Plummer nodded, “Those are all the more reasons that you should be the president.”

After Dr. Plummer had departed, Wilt looked at me. “Mark, I need to go.  I have an appointment to meet someone in half an hour and I need to get ready.  I need the money to eat tomorrow.  Can someone drop me off at my boarding house?”

I felt as if I should do something, but what?

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I hope Mark can come up with something to do.  We don't want Wilt to have to sell his body to be able to eat.  It seems to me that he could eat with the family for a few days until he can get his first paycheck.  Or maybe he can stay with Mr. Robinson.  Something tells me that Wilt is going to be very a very important person.  I guess we are just going to have to wait and see, though.

I am eager for the next chapter. 

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 07/10/09