Benji in Control
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2010 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 11 

The Apocalypse

After Cole made sure I was sufficiently relaxed so that I wouldn’t be developing an ulcer, I must have gone into a comatose state because the next thing I knew it was morning. I looked at the alarm clock and it said 6:30.  I reached out to touch Cole, but he wasn’t there.

I took a shower and went to get some coffee.  I looked out and Cole and the two Coburn guys were running.  There was a pile of notes on the counter beside the coffee pot.  The top note said, ‘It’s a good thing that I turned the phone off last night, or you’d still be talking on the phone.  I took all the messages so you can sort through them and decide whom you need to call.”

Patty and Karen arrived.  I asked, “How did your family meeting go last night?”

Karen sighed, “Dr. Christiansen, I’m afraid you’re in for some trouble today when you meet my parents.”

I was completely baffled by that remark, “Karen, what did I do that was so bad?”

Karen threw up her hands, “I’m not at liberty to say, sir.”

After breakfast, I put my messages in my briefcase so I could take care of them as I had time at the office.  As I was leaving, I hugged Cole, “What are your plans for today?”

Cole shrugged his shoulders, “We have a team meeting at ten and then I need to pick up the boys’ jerseys and hats.  I should be home early, so I can study the playbook.”

When I arrived at the office, it was only seven fifty and both Karen and Greg were on the phones.  Greg was saying, “Sir, Dr. Christiansen hasn’t arrived yet.  He usually stops and checks the construction site before he comes into the office.  If you will give me your name and number, I’ll have him call you at his first opportunity.”

I thought to myself, ’Boy is he good.’

That was to set the tenor for the day.  By 9:30, I wanted to throw the phone out the window.  The admirers definitely far outweighed the flames, but the flames still hurt when I didn’t do anything wrong.  I walked into the reception area, “Karen and Greg, I need to take a break.  If I talk much more, I’ll lose my voice.  Thanks for covering for me.  I’m going to go look around the construction site until we meet with Mr. Carpenter.  Where’s Dr. Lewis?”

Karen answered, “He went to meet with Dr. Austin and Dr. Mitchell.”

I walked to the site and went into the trailer to get my helmet.  I walked to where Jordan was standing, “Where's Logan?”

Jordan looked at me, “He’s trying to put out fires.  It seems that some other construction companies have a bee up their backsides and are claiming that they were excluded from bidding on the construction of the facilities here at Harwood.”

“Tell Logan to come see me when he returns.  We need to stop this interference.  This sounds as if it is politically motivated.”

When I walked into the office, a gentleman in a wheelchair and a lady were sitting there.  I walked up to the couple, “I’m Doug Christiansen.”

I looked at the lady, “Ma’am you look very familiar; have I met you before?”

The lady laughed, “Dr. Christiansen, we’ve never been formally introduced, but I’ve seen you, your sons and Cole many times.  Perhaps if you look at me from the backside, you know who I am.”

The lady turned around and fluffed her hair, “Does this help?”

“Ma’am, I have no idea where I’ve seen you.”

“What if I were to say Sunday, Sunday?  Would that help?”

I started to laugh, “You’re the organist at church.”

“You got it, but you can call me Eva.  This is my husband, of 5000 years, Kyle Carpenter.  You already know our daughter Little Karen and now you’re taking our little Lambie pie away from us.  Well, not taking him away, but given us another problem we have to worry about in the Biggest Giant Patterson as we understand your son calls him.”

I looked at Karen and Greg and they were both laughing, “Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter, let’s go into my office.   Dr. Lewis, please join us.”

When we were in my office, Mr. Carpenter began, “Dr. Christiansen, we’ve been overwhelmed by the events of the past several days, to say the least.  We’ve known that Karen and Patty were more than friends for some time, and we thank you for providing them a safe haven.  We were blown away last night when Jordan and Greg told us that they wanted to live together.  I guess we should have guessed something like this was happening when Jordan wanted to transfer here from UGA.”

“With that issue put aside, what is it that you would be expecting of me, if I were to accept the offer to be Clark’s assistant?”

Mr. Carpenter, I haven’t had much time to consider that.  But if you’re a certified CPA, then I assume that you have at least an B.A. or B.S. degree?”

“I have an MBA in accounting from Harvard University.  I got it before we were married.”

I stood, and sat on my desk, “Mr. Carpenter, this is even better than I ever dreamed.  I have my MBA from Harvard as well.  That has nothing to do with what’s happening, but I think it would be great if you would teach one basic accounting class in the fall during the day and one in the evening.  I’m sure that if we were to put them on the list of course offerings, they would be some of the first to fill up.  While it isn’t a required course to get into a four year college, not all of our students are looking to continue their education.  Many of them of are looking to get better jobs.  Heck, I might take your course if it could help me do my taxes.”

Mr. Carpenter sighed, “Doug, before I agree to anything, I would like to meet with the young men who will be the nucleus of the team and watch and see what they can do.”

I looked at Clark, “Dr. Lewis, what might you be able to arrange?”

Clark frowned, “I can have everyone meet at Summerhill and have them have a playground game on the court you had built for your sons.  It would give Mr. Carpenter an idea what the guys can do.  It’s too short of a notice to arrange for another place to practice.  I’m going to be out of town all weekend.”

I picked up the phone, “Karen, call Patty and tell her that your parents will be joining us for dinner with your brother and Greg.  Tell Greg, that I would like to talk to him.  I have some things I want him to do.”

When Greg came into the room, I explained, “Greg, Mr. Carpenter wants to see what kind of potential those of you who are going to get scholarships have.  Call the other recipients and tell them to be at Summerhill at seven tonight.  We have a regulation court there where you can have a scrimmage game.  See if you can round up some extra people to make it interesting.”

Greg looked at me as if I were a basket case, “Where am I to find extra players?”

“When you call the guys tell them to bring a friend.  Dave is already at Summerhill, so a couple more basketball players should be easy to find.”

Clark nodded, “Greg, I’ll call Tim.  He has a cousin visiting from Valdosta who played basketball last year.  I’ll have him bring him along.”

After the Carpenters had departed, Turner arrived, “Doug, you need to come talk to these people.  They’re talking about setting up blockades and pickets because the construction projects weren’t put up for bid.”

I went to meet with the people, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m President of this institution.  There was no reason to put these projects out for bid.  We are a corporation and not a city, county or state agency.”

Someone yelled, “As long as taxpayers money is involved, then you are required by regulation to put the project out for bid.”

I took a deep breath, “Sir, first, the properties that are being  developed were purchased with funds from the Robert Nixon the Second Foundation.  Secondly, I can assure you that no public money has been allocated to build the new facilities.  The funds were either pledged for specific purposes, or from private donors.”

A gentleman stepped out from the assembled group.  “I’m Arnold Teasdale, and I’m an assistant State Attorney General.  I’ve been investigating what is happening here and Dr. Christiansen is correct.  There was no need to put this work out for public bid.  If you people don’t cease and desist your interference, you will wind up in jail.  I’ve checked and most of you people don’t even live in the local area, so go home and lick your wounds.”

A voice called out, “Why should Harwood Junior College be allowed to expand when the state is threatening to close some of the existing junior colleges?”

Mr. Teasdale looked at me as if he wanted to me to answer, but I shook my head.  He ventured, “I would guess that it’s because those are state supported institutions that they’re threatening to close because they are no longer providing a viable alternative for the young people and not even beginning to pay for themselves.  I remind you again, ladies and gentlemen, Harwood Community Junior  College is not a state supported institution.  Go home, so Mr. Turner and his people can get back to work.  If there are any blockades or pickets, I can assure you that you will be arrested.”

The crowd dispersed and Mr. Teasdale approached me, “Christiansen, the least you can do is feed me before I have to go back and face the maniacs at the state capital.”

Greg was standing there laughing, “Yeah, Christiansen, the least you can do is feed your two star basketball players.”

“Come on Lambie Pie and the Biggest Giant, remember you’re on a diet.”  I made the introductions and we had a fun lunch, so much so that people were starring at us. 

We were just about ready to leave the deli when the special rebroadcast of the meeting the day before started.  Someone in the deli observed, “I think that’s Dr. Christiansen over there having lunch.”  We had a parade of visitors congratulating me for putting the politicians in their place.

As we were walking back to campus, Mr. Teasdale laughed, “Dr. Christiansen. I have to ask, how did you get the television station to tape the luncheon?”

I nodded, “Mr. Caster and I go way back to the time of the tornado that whipped through this area seven years ago.  He was covering the storm and was here taping when my oldest son was found in an open field.  He also was on hand when my wife I and I got married.  He interviewed me after my sons found the coins here on campus just recently when we started to plan for the college's expansion.  You need to remember that I just became the president on Tuesday.”

“You’re kidding.  I can see why Attorney General Brunning was so impressed with you.”

When Greg and I walked into the office area, Karen shook her head, “Dr. C., the phone has been ringing off the hook.  I don’t think there is anyway you can take all of the calls.  Greg and I’ll screen them and take messages and only bother you with the ones that seem to warrant your immediate attention.  You have some paperwork on your desk, that you need to take care of.”

It was almost four o’clock when Rich Caster called, “Doug, you might want to catch the six o’clock news.  We opened a real box of dynamite with the show of the meeting from yesterday.  The response after the noon showing has even been more dramatic than that of last night.  Talk to you later.”

I had just hung up when Greg opened the door, “Sir, Governor Perdue is on line 2.”

“This Doug Christiansen.”

“Doug, it’s Sam Perdue.  I’d like to come visit your facility, first hand, tomorrow, if you would be available.”

“Governor Perdue, I can be available almost any time.”

“Good, why don’t I bring Senator Baumgartner with me and we can visit with you and then you can buy us lunch.”

I chuckled, “Just so you know, I don’t pay for booze.”

“What?  We’ll see you about ten.”

I went into the reception area, “People, let’s go home.  We have a dinner engagement and then basketball practice.  There is nothing that can‘t wait until tomorrow.”

Cole was sitting on the front porch looking at what I was to find out was his playbook.  I hugged him, “Busy studying, I see.”

He grinned, “I figured I had better do it now while I have time since I understand that we’re having company for dinner.  You need to see what Patty has done.”

We walked into the house and Patty was dressed as if she were a maid, with a black dress, white apron and white headpiece on her head.  Not only that, the dining room table was set as if this was going to be a formal dinner.  I sputtered, “Ms Coburn, might I ask what the purpose of this charade might be?”

Patty looked demure, “Sir, I was trying to make my parents-in-law think that I was working for a rich dude.”

Cole laughed, “Patty, go get your shorts like you usually wear, and we really aren’t going to have a formal dinner are we?”

“Not exactly, sir, I figured we could eat on the deck so I wouldn’t have much cleaning to do.  I’ll get Greg and Jordan to take care of the cleanup.”

Patty outdid herself and the dinner was great.  It was not something the four boys would have liked, so what a perfect time to fix it.  The food sure wasn’t going to go to waste by the way Greg and Jordan  were eating, I started to give them a difficult time, “Look, you two, I know you had lunch, because I paid for it.”

Jordan pouted, “But we’re growing boys and we need lots of nourishment to help us get big and strong like Cole.  We’ll take care of the clean up to pay for dinner.”

Mr. Carpenter laughed, “Guys, it takes a lot of hard work to get as strong as Cole.  Maybe you should start by getting you two into some sort of weight training regimen.”

Clark was the first to arrive. He brought Tim and his cousin.   We took Mr. Carpenter to the court which had a hard surface but wasn’t concrete.  When he saw it, he asked, “What is the court made of?  It’s different from any other outdoor surface that I’ve ever seen.”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Kyle, I’m not sure what it’s called.  When we were looking to find a surface that wouldn’t be so hard on the boys’ bodies, this is what the contractor recommended.  It’s a composite material and the installer said it was as close as he could come to duplicating a true basketball court.”

We were joined by Dan and Dave and I made the introductions, Dan grinned, “I took the liberty of making sure that the balls were properly inflated.”

When everyone was present, there were twelve young men in attendance.  That included Dave and Tim’s cousin from Valdosta.

Mr. Carpenter kept telling the guys what to do and it was amazing how they responded.  After an hour of practicing, Mr. Carpenter called a halt to practice.  “Guys, I must say that I’m very impressed.  You have the makings of a very good team.  I understand that there are some academic issues facing some of you.  I’ll say this only one time, if you don’t keep your grades at the level prescribed by Dr. Christiansen, then you can kiss your scholarships goodbye.”

He wasn’t finished, “I suggest that you young men go to the lake and get your bodies clean.  We can’t have you going home smelling like a sewer.  Greg will be contacting you to tell when the next practice will be.”

Clark looked at me and held out his hands.

The guys departed for the lake and Kyle turned to me, “Doug, I’ve decided to take you up on your offer.  I figure that Clark is going to be busy enough with everything else that’s happening that I need to make sure that the sports program gets off on the right foot.  We need to work out a time for me to teach the accounting classes and discuss the equipment we’ll need.”

“One other thing, I don’t suppose that you could arrange for Eva to teach a course or two.  After all, she has her Doctorate in Music Education.  Our classes could be at the same time, so she could drive me back and forth to the college.”

“Doug, I know I’m coming on a little strong, but please think about it.  I’m excited to be involved in sports again.  I have to tell you that the best athlete on the court tonight wasn’t one of the people who are going to be going to Harwood.  David Coburn is far and away the best athlete.  It’s too bad he’s not taller.”

I grinned, “Dave is only 16 and is going to be a senior in high school this year.  I’m sure that he's about to have another growth spurt.  Dan is six two I would guess and his brother Denny who is my ranch manager is probably six four.”

Our discussion was interrupted by my cell phone which I had brought with me.  “This is Doug Christiansen.”

“Hi Daddy, it’s us.  We’re going to be coming home tomorrow instead of Saturday.”

“Benji, is someone ill?”

“Not really, Daddy, we miss you and Dad Cole.  Grandmother McBride needs to come home and get some rest.  She won’t listen to us.  Granddad wants to talk to you.”

“Doug, this is Keith.  The boys are fine.  They’re afraid that mother McBride is overdoing it.  Benji came to me and said he thought it would be best if we got her home before something bad happened.  The boys have been wonderful and haven’t complained.  Benji was putting on an act for Mother. We’ll be arriving about four thirty tomorrow.”

“Great, we’ll have dinner here before you all need to leave.”

After the Carpenter’s departed, the guys returned from the lake and it was very evident that they had a good time.  Greg stopped by and said that he would see me bright and early.

When Cole and I were finally in bed, I realized that the only phone call we had received was from Benji,  “Cole, did you turn off the phone again?”

“Guilty as charged, sir.  I figured you didn’t need to be bombarded by calls.  I watched the program that aired again today with some of the other team members and they were impressed by how you acted.  By the way, Mr. Block is going to be coming to see you tomorrow and see what’s going on.”

“Gee thanks, Cole.  I hope I have time to go to the bathroom tomorrow.” 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  This was quite a busy chapter. Of course, that is in no way unusual.  Things move at breakneck speed in E Walk's stories.  That is not a complaint, just an observation.

Benji and the other boys should be back by the time we get the next chapter.  I am sure the boys had a wonderful time on their trip, but like all good things, when they are over, you have all the nice memories, but it is also very nice to come home. I can hardly wait for the next chapter. 

I think there will be a very interesting surprise, coming up soon.  I am not sure if the surprise will be in the next chapter or the one after that one.  We will just have to wait and see.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 03/05/10