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

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Chapter 45

All Worn Out

Mr. Templeton went onto the stage, “Welcome to Live At Noon.  We have a special guest with us today.  His brother was on the show last Friday.  I saw this young man perform last night and I’m sure that you will be amazed at how talented he is.  He didn’t know that he was even going to be on the show until this morning.  To top it off, he’s been in school all morning.  Please welcome Mr. Christopher Leavitt.”

Chris looked up at me and I winked at him and gave him the thumbs up sign.  I watched as he walked on to the stage.  You would never have guessed that he was nervous.

Mr. Templeton asked Chris a few questions and ended with, “Chris, what are you going to be doing for us today?”

“Chris, get me out of this box.  I can’t breathe.”

“Farmer Bear, you promised you would be nice today.”

The crew had put a mike on Farmer Bear.  “Get me out of here and I’ll be nice.”

Chris took Farmer Bear out of the box and set him on a chair. “There are you satisfied now?”

“Chris, make them people turn off these bright lights.  You know how easily I get light burned.  I don’t want to turn pink again.  No one likes a pink bear.”

“Chris, who are those people out there?  They look as if they are in a fruit salad.  See that man over there with yellow shirt; doesn’t he look like a banana and doesn’t that lady with orange blouse look like  an orange.”

Chris and Farmer Bear bantered back and forth and had the audience laughing for nearly thirty minutes, when Farmer Bear announced, “Chris, we need to go back to school so we don’t miss recess.”

“Farmer Bear, I didn’t think you liked recess.”

“I don’t, but it’s the only time I can sneak around the corner of the school building and have a cigarette.”

“Farmer Bear, get back in your box.  You’re giving these people a bad impression of us.”

Chris walked off the stage carrying the box with Farmer Brown.  The audience was standing and applauding.  Mr. Templeton went out with a mike, “Chris and Farmer Brown come take a bow.  Ladies and gentlemen, didn’t I tell you this young man was talented?”

Mr. Templeton looked at Chris, “Chris, would you please take time to answer a few questions?”

Chris looked at me and I nodded yes.

The first question was from a gentlemen, “Chris, you are extremely young to have developed the skill of ventriloquism so well.  How long have you studying the art?” 

Chris was very professional, “Sir, I never studied the art of ventriloquism.  It just happened by accident that I could do it, after I received Farmer Bear as a gift.”

Farmer Bear reacted, “Sure blame me.  Everything is always my fault.”

The only other question that I remember was a lady asking, “Chris and Farmer Bear, would you be willing to do some shows for the young people at Children’s Hospital?  If they could see the two of you performing, it would surely brighten their day.”

Chris answered, “Ma’am, Farmer Bear and I would be honored to do some performances at the hospital.  But you would need to check with my Dad to make sure it’s okay.  He’s standing backstage as we speak.  Ladies and gentlemen, Farmer Bear and I want to thank you for being such a fun audience, but we haven’t eaten lunch yet.  Have a great day.”

Mr. Templeton introduced the next group which was a barbershop quartet, while the technicians were getting the wiring from Chris and Farmer Bear.  Mr. Templeton asked that we go to his office with him.  He presented Chris with a check for $30.00.  “Chris, you and Farmer Bear earned every cent of this money.  Mark, I would like for you to sign this release which would permit me to send a copy of this show and the one that The Fab Nine did on Friday to a friend in New York.”

I wasn’t sure how to answer.  “Mr. Templeton, for your information, The Fab Nine has agreed to do a trial record with a local recording company this summer.”

Mr. Templeton shook his head, “The person who I would be sending the shows to has nothing to do with recordings.  Quite frankly, he might not even want to do anything with what I send him, so I can’t and won’t say anymore.”

I looked at my watch, “Mr. Templeton, I would like to see the release forms and discuss them with my partner and my boss, before I sign them.”

“Why don’t you take them with you and you can let me know of your decision later.  I’ll see you at school at about 2:30.  I think that it might be best if you were to be present while I talked to Mr. Franklin.  Chris, would you please tell Oran that he is to get his brother and meet me in your Dad’s office after school?”

“Sure, Mr. Templeton.”

Chris and I were just about to walk out of the building when a lady approached us.  “Mr. Leavitt and Chris, I’m Barbara Dodd.  I really would like for Chris to be able to do some shows at the hospital for the children.  Do you have a card so I could get in touch with you to discuss the idea?”

I pulled out my wallet and handed her a card, “It would probably be best if you called us in the early evening.”

After Chris and I were in the car,  I asked, “Chris, what would you like to eat?”

 

“Dad, since we’ve been gone so long, just stop at the first drive-thru restaurant and we can get something.  I’ll eat it in the car on the way back to school.”

The first drive-thru restaurant that we came to was an Arby’s.  Chris was eating his roast beef sandwich and potato cake as we were driving.  He had a chocolate swirl shake that he was sipping on.  When we arrived at the school, Chris’ class was just going to recess.  He jumped out of the van, “I’ll see you after school, Dad.”

I took my sandwich into the building and stopped at the office and signed Chris in.  When I arrived at our office area, Wilt was on the phone.  “I understand sir, I’ll see what I can do.”

Wilt looked up at me, “Mark, you are forevermore confined to the office during business hours.  It’s going to take all three of us working overtime to make this program work.  I think we should have a class on developing good parenting skills.”

“Wilt, what set you off?”

“That man who just called wanted to know why we were teaching his son how to jack off?  It seems he caught his son in the act of playing with his penis.  When he questioned his son, his son answered,  ‘Everyone else at school does it.’”

“Wilt, the day is going to get even crazier before it’s over.  I have invited your 'Hank Morgan' here to talk to you.  I have a question for you.  What happened between you and Jason after we left last night?”

“Mark, nothing sexual happened, if that’s what you were asking.  We sat and talked until three this morning.  I told him how I had been making my livelihood.  He explained that he was devastated that his lover of three years all of a sudden decided to get married and left him alone.  I slept at Jason’s apartment in the second bedroom and nothing happened.  He took me back to my apartment this morning so I could get ready for today before he delivered Mr. Armour.  It was a coincidence that we all arrived at the same time this morning.”

“Mark, why did you invite Mr. Morgan here?  He could cause me to lose this job.”

“Wilt, he’s not going to cause you to lose your job.  He has six sons that he has to take care of.  I’ve met three of them.  My initial reaction, when I met him last Friday, was that he was a total jerk.  But after meeting with him today, he is a really nice person.  I just think that this meeting will help you move on with the rest of your life.  I certainly hope that you are not planning to continue the lifestyle you were previously living.”

“Mark, for your information, that was one of the things that Jason and I talked about last night.  This morning, I left a message on my cell phone stating that Aaron Thomas was no longer going to be available for business.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the intercom, “Mr. Leavitt, you have a call on line three.”

I answered the phone, “This is Mark Leavitt.”

“Mark, it’s DoDo.  This case has turned into a real bucket of worms.  We won’t be back today.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

I was sitting at my desk thinking about everything that had been happening.  The intercom interrupted my thoughts, “Mr. Leavitt, you have a visitor in the office.”

I hadn’t realized how late it was.  When I got to the office, Mr. Templeton was standing there.  I looked at the secretary, “Mr. Franklin and I will be in a meeting with Mr. Templeton for some time.  Please don’t interrupt us, unless it is an emergency.”

I was escorting Mr. Templeton to our office area as Billy’s class was walking by, going to the media center.  Efrem looked at his Dad, “Daddy, why are you here?  Is Mommy already having her date with her friend?”

“Ef, she didn’t say.  All she said was that I was to pick you and Or up.  I’m going to be meeting with Nano Mark for a few minutes.  I want you two guys to meet me in his office after school.”

When we entered our office area, I decided to play it cool, “Wilt, this is Mr. Garrett Templeton.  Mr. Templeton, this is my associate Mr. Wilton Franklin.  Why don’t we go into my office so we can visit without being interrupted?”

As soon as we were settled in my office, Mr. Templeton started, “Aaron, I tried to call you this morning and received your recorded message.  Are you really shutting down your business?”

“Hank, I can’t be in the business of helping children if I continue that lifestyle.  There are two or three other parents here at this school who have also used my services in the past.  Now that I have a job that will be paying me enough to live, I want to get out of the business.  I understand that you are the father of six sons, why would you even think to get involved with someone like me?”

I looked at the two of them, “Are you sure you want me to be involved in this discussion?”

They both looked at me and answered yes.

Mr. Templeton started, “As Mark knows, I am married to my second wife.  My first wife left me fourteen years ago after she caught me in bed with another guy.  She wanted nothing to do with me or the three boys so I hired a nanny to take care of the boys.  I knew that I was bisexual but never thought it would cause any more problems.”

“The nanny lured me into her bed and she was soon pregnant with our 13 year old son, so I married her.  It wasn’t until after Efrem was born that things changed.  My wife no longer wanted to have sex with me.  She decided that sex with men was not for her.  We made a pact.  She would get every Wednesday off and I would get every Thursday off to do whatever we wanted.”

Mr. Templeton took a deep breath, “It took me two years to find someone like Aaron who I felt safe with.  I was fascinated by his body.  The one time I had him penetrate me, it hurt so much that I never had him do it to me again.  When I penetrated him, he made me wear a condom and it almost seemed as if I was in bed with my wife.  I just enjoyed being with him for a couple of hours each week and felt safe thinking that he wouldn’t expose me.”

The conversation was interrupted by someone knocking on the door.  I went to see who was there.  Chris was standing there, “Dad, we’re ready to go.  Oran and Efrem are here to meet their Dad.”

The discussion was over and I had my van filled with seven children as I drove home.  Chris was regaling the other children about what had happened at the television station.

When we entered the house, Bart made a big ado over the show, “Well if it ain’t the famous Christopher Leavitt and his talking bear.  Everyone grab a seat.  I recorded their performance so everyone could see how bad they were.  Get yourselves seated for you snack so the show can begin.”

Chris was looking at me with tears in his eyes.  I leaned down and whispered, “Bart is giving you a hard time.  Let’s watch so you can see how good you were.”

The nine children around the table were transfixed while they were eating, by what they were seeing on the television.  Bobby looked up from his snack, “Chris, when did you practice that?  You and Farmer Bear were great.”

Bart added, “I agree.  Chris and Farmer Bear had the audience eating out of their hands.”

That was more than Chris could take.  He got up from where he was seated and took Farmer Bear to the stairs that lead to our apartment. 

I looked at the other children, “I think Chris is just tired.  He has had a busy day.  I’ll go check on him while you finish your snacks.”

I went to the apartment and Chris was lying on the bed crying.  When he saw me, he looked at me, “Dad, me and Farmer Bear didn’t do a very good job today, did we?”

I laid down beside him, “Chris, you did a great job.  I think you and Farmer Bear need to get some rest.  You have had a very exciting day.”

It wasn’t long before Chris was asleep and I went to the kitchen and started dinner.  Bart came to me, “Dad, did I do something wrong to upset Chris?”

“Bart, he has to be mentally exhausted.  He performed last night for the PTO meeting and then again today, for the television audience.  We need to remember that he is only eight.  Did you call Dr. Feren today?”

“Yes and he had an opening at nine o’clock on Saturday.”

As I was fixing dinner, I kept reviewing the events of the day and kept wondering how I could have handled everything better.  I must have been lost in my own little world because I hadn’t heard Zack come in.  I heard his voice demanding, “I’ve had reports that you have been mistreating our sons.  This has got to cease and desist.”

I turned around, “Why Zackie, how could you accuse me of such an atrocious thing?”

Zack assumed the role of Humphrey Bogart, “I watched as you made our son perform on television this lunchtime.  I suppose you already spent his earnings?”

“Zack, where are Beau and Becca?”

“We were eating lunch and Beau received a call that told him that Grams Tillison probably wouldn’t make it through the night.  They packed their bags and away they went.  I guess I’m on my own now.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  That really is bad news.  Grams Tillison was one special lady.  If you have discovered this story without reading Tip and TY, then you have missed meeting a great many very special people.  I recommend that you take the time to read E Walk's other stories. 

I am ready for another chapter of this story as soon as possible.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/14/09