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

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Chapter 13 

Benji Versus Pete

When we arrived at Summerhill, we could see that there was a party or something going on.  It looked like a large group.  When we exited the cars, Governor Perdue asked, “Doug, who are those people and why are they here?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “Governor, I don’t know who they are.  We have private parties with rides and where people can learn about taking care of horses.  They can also have a light meal if they chose.  We leave the scheduling of groups and taking care of the parties up to our farm manager, Denny Coburn and his wife.  The Coburns are on vacation right now, so Denny’s two brothers, who are familiar with the operation, are filling in for them.”

We walked over to the picnic area and it looked as if there were about twenty five young children.  Dan came over to the area where we were standing.  “Hi, Dr. C., you aren’t usually home at this time of day.  This is a church group from Harwood; they were having an outing from eleven until two.  They should be leaving shortly.  We have another group scheduled from four until six.”

I introduced Dan, “Dan, this Governor Perdue.  Dan is one of the young men who will be receiving a scholarship to play basketball for Harwood Community College.”

Dan had a big grin as he shook the Governor’s hand.

I introduced Senator Baumgartner and when I introduced Mayor Langdon, I added, “The Mayor is Chad Schumacher’s Grandmother and she has decided that the sports teams should be known as the Harwood Hellions.”

Cole had arrived with Pete in tow.  He had heard the last comment and started to laugh, “Leave it to the Mayor to come up with an appropriate name.  I’m sure the parents of the players would agree.  Cole walked up to Governor Perdue and stuck out his hand, “I don’t believe I’ve met you, sir.  “I’m Cole Weaver and this is my friend, just plain Pete.”

The Governor shook Cole’s hand, “Please to meet you, Mr. Weaver.  I’m Sam Perdue.”

Cole grinned, “I thought you might be Governor Perdue.”

Cole shook hands with Senator Baumgartner, “Hi, Mrs. Baumgartner, it’s been a while since I've seen you.  You probably don’t recognize me.”

Senator Baumgartner started, “Cole, more people would probably recognize you than they would the Governor.  I’ll say this for you.  You’ve certainly changed since you worked at The Shack with your Grandparents.”

Cole moved to Mayor Langdon, “Hi, again Mayor Langdon.  You need to help keep the basketball team in line.  They have the makings of a fine team.”

Cole  moved to Mr. Block, “Boss, I heard that you were going to be visiting today, but I didn’t expect to see you.”

Mr. Block laughed, “I thought I was going to be dropping in to give President Christiansen a certified check to cover half the cost of the Block Field House.  I’m making sure the state doesn’t get their fingers into the money.”

I had leaned over to talk to Pete, “Son, please go shake hands with the visitors.”

“Don’t call me son, and why should I shake hands with them?  They don’t care about me.”

“Pete, they’re important people.  If you don’t shake their hands, I’ll take my belt off and tie you to the fence post.”

“Sir, Mr. Weaver said that you would never do anything like that to me.  So please stop saying it.  I’ll shake their hands, but they don’t really give rats’ ass about me.”

I watched as Pete did what I asked.  He did very well.  When he got to Mr. Block, Mr. Block asked, “Pete, are you going to be living with Dr. Christiansen and Mr. Weaver?”

Pete shook his head no, “Probably not, sir, no one seems to want me or care about me.”

As we were walking to the stable, where David was taking care of the horses, the Governor asked, “Doug, how many horses do you have and do you just have a riding stable?”

“I’d have to check with David on the exact number.  The riding stable is only a minor part of the operation.  We have large stud service and we also sell horses as some of the others come along.  Even though Summerhill is large, we can only maintain so many horses.”

Governor Perdue commented, “Doug, I must say that I’m impressed.  I’m surprised that city slickers like you and Cole would be into horses.”

I looked at Cole and grinned, “Governor, I grew up on a horse farm in Virginia.  I’ve been around horses all my life.  Cole came to work here when he was in high school.  He knows as much about horses as I do.  We just find it more expedient to let Denny handle the day to day management.”

“Come on, Pete, let’s take our visitors to see our house.”

I was pleased when Pete came to where I was standing.  “Dr. C., it’s your house, I don’t live here.”

“You do for the time being.”

When we were inside the house, Senator Baumgartner looked around, “Doug, this house is even bigger than it looks from the outside.”

“Jack Kennedy, who is also the architect who did the designing work for the new construction at the college, designed the additions and Logan Turner, whose company is in charge of the construction, did the additions to the house.  That’s why we chose them to do the work at the college, plus they designed and did the construction on the current administrative building.”

Mayor Langdon asked, “Where is this basketball court that Chad was raving about?”

We went to the court that was on the side of the house.  Cole went to get a basketball so they could see how resilient the surface was.  Mr. Block asked, “Doug, how long is the surface going to last?”

“The people who installed it guaranteed it to last twenty five years.”

Governor Perdue asked, “Doug, you mentioned basketball scholarships several times.  Is that money coming from money that was donated for the new construction?”

I looked at Mayor Langdon, “Over to you, Madame Mayor.”

“Governor, my irresponsible son-in-law, Craig Schumacher, donated the money to fund ten basketball scholarships for two years.  The Board of Trustee accepted the offer.”

Senator Baumgartner looked confused, “Why would Craig put out money like that to fund a team here in Harwood when he doesn’t even live here?”

I laughed, “Some people will do anything to get their children an education.  Actually, we have provisionally accepted some students who haven’t been able to get into larger schools because of their grades.”

Governor Perdue looked skeptical, “So you’re saying that Harwood has lowered the standards to attend so you can field a basketball team.”

“Sir, not all of the team members fall into that category.  You’ve met two of the young men today who are academically qualified to attend almost any college, but because of their families’ financial situation would be unable to attend college without the scholarship.  Greg who works in my office is one and the second is Dan who was in charge of the party we met when we first arrived.  A third of the young men, just finished his freshman year at UGA on the dean’s list and was offered a partial scholarship to play basketball for the UGA, but he’s decided to get the basics out of way here at Harwood.”

Mayor Langdon took over, “Dr. Christiansen has made it very clear to the young men that they will only be able to keep their scholarships if they maintain their grades at a pretty lofty level.”

Mr. Block looked at his watch, “People, I need to go. I have a meeting that I need to attend at four thirty.  Doug, here is a certified check for the first installment of funds for the construction of Block Field house.  I would appreciate it if you would keep me advised as to how the funds are being allocated, so I will know when I should make the next installment.  Sam, if I hear that the state is trying to get their hands on the money, I’ll pull the plug on any financial contributions to political candidates in the future.  I’m sure that I can convince other contributors to do likewise.  I’ll see you all later.”

Mayor Langdon added, “Doug, I need to get back to my office, also.  I hadn’t planned to be away this long, but it was fun.”

I looked at Pete, “Pete, you make sure that Mr. Weaver doesn’t get into any trouble while I’m gone.”

Pete frowned, “Yeah, sure.  He’s almost as mean as you are.”

Governor Perdue, Senator Baumgartner, Mayor Langdon and I were headed to my car when Doctor Miller arrived with the four boys. Benji was the first out and did a flying leap into my arms, “Hi Daddy, we had a great time.  He kissed me and handed me an envelope.  Great Grandmother McBride sent this to you.”

He jumped down and did the same to Cole, “Hi Dad, have you been good?  Dad, who’s he?  Did you find us another brother?”

After the four boys had hugged us, I introduced them.  “These are our four sons, Benji, Mark, Matt and Mikey.  The gentleman with them is one of their grandfathers, Doctor Keith Miller.”

“Guys, this is Governor Perdue and Senator Baumgartner and you know Mayor Langdon.”

Benji went to shake the visitors' hands as did the other three boys and Doctor Miller.  Doctor Miller obviously already knew Senator Baumgartner.

As we were getting into the car, Doctor Miller handed me another envelope, “Doug, here is the initial installment for the Benjamin Miller Student Center facility.  I’ll send more when I get back to Arizona.  We’ll see you for dinner tonight.”

We dropped Mayor Langdon at her office and I parked in my space at the college, thinking the Governor and Senator would be leaving.  But such was not to be. 

Governor Perdue asked, “Doug, I know that you are going to think that I’m still trying to interfere in the affairs of Harwood Community College, but  I’m just curious as to why you are all so protective of what is happening.  Would it be possible for us to see what the state of the college finances are?  I’ve received the message loud and clear that the state is to stay out of the college’s business and I promise we will do so.  There is no way that we would be able to take over the ambitious undertakings that you people have going here.”

“I can show you the financial statements as of Tuesday when the Board of Trustees met.  I know that there have been more funds received since then, but I honestly haven’t had time to sit down with Mr. Oliver, our Comptroller, and go over the records.  Let’s go to my office.”

When we walked into the office, Greg stood, “I guess I need to call the Lost and Found Department and tell them the lost president has been found.  Can I get you people something to drink?  We have some fresh coffee, sweetened tea or orange juice.”

Everyone indicated they were fine.  “Greg, can you pull the copy of the financial statements that I presented to the Board on Tuesday?  Where’s Karen?”

“Yes I can pull the financial records, and Karen took some checks and things to Mr. Oliver’s office.  She didn’t trust me with them.”

We sat down at the table, “This is the only existing copy of these records.  The other copies have been destroyed so that they couldn’t inadvertently fall into the wrong hands.”

After they looked at the first set of figures which showed the state of the college’s finances.  Governor Perdue noted, “It appears that the school is financially sound.”

I handed them the second set of figures that showed the funds that had been received or were pledged for the new construction, and both politicians sucked air.  Senator Baumgartner commented, “Doug, I don’t remember the college conducting a campaign to raise money.”

“We didn’t, ma’am.  It was a result of the publicity that we received when I punched the man in the face for trying to take the coins my sons found on the college’s land.”

After I had the second set of figures, I handed them the third set of figures that showed the money that had resulted from the sale of the coins that the boys had found the night after the tornado.  Governor Perdue leaned back in his chair, “Doug, I can see why you are so protective of what’s going on here.  I can fully understand why you are suspicious of us politicians.  I give my word that I won’t breath a word about the finances here at the college.”

Senator Baumgartner observed, “Doug, you didn’t even look at the three checks you received this afternoon.  How much were they for?”

I pulled them out of my pocket, opened them and passed them to the two visitors.  Senator Baumgartner commented, “That’s a very nice sum.  You can make a tidy bit of money, if you invest it properly.”

“We have chosen not to invest in long term funds, given the volatility of the market.  We’re going to pay for the construction on a week by week basis.  That will save us money in the long run, because the construction company will not be required to borrow money to pay for the supplies and labor costs.  Since we have the funds available, we have decided that this is the way to go.  After this week, I’m positive that it’s the only way to go.  Should certain politicians find out about our investments, they would be clamoring to get their greasy hands on it, even though it is all from private funds.”

After the visitors had finally departed, I took a deep breath.  Greg came in, “Dr. C., you look bushed.  Mr. Carpenter called and wants to know if we can have practice at Summerhill tonight about seven?”

“I have no problem with that.”

“Mr. Oliver is waiting to see you.”

“Greg, put these financial reports back in the safe and ask Mr. Oliver to come in.”

When Bill entered, he handed me a check and a packet.  “Dr. C., This is the payment to Turner’s Company for the first week’s worth of construction.  You need to cosign the check, since it is for such a large amount.  We decided that we would pay his company on Friday for the week’s work thru Thursday.  Turner’s company had enough money in the bank to cover this week’s payroll.  I demanded that he provide a detailed accounting of all funds or I was going to cut him off.  Actually, this is the way the man thinks.”

I glanced at the report, “Bill, this is very detailed.  I'm surprised that it doesn’t list how many screws and nails that they used.  This is just what we need to prove that we are using the money wisely.  Bill, I have three rather large checks here that you should deposit yet today.”

“I also have some checks that Karen delivered this afternoon and some that my office received.  I’ll stop at the bank on my home and deposit them.”

After Bill left, Karen knocked, “Dr. C., there is no way that you can get everything done that people want you to do.  You need to find another assistant or something.  Clark has been badgered by people all day and hasn’t been able to get his own work done.  This place has been like a beehive all day.  Even Austin and Derek are feeling the crunch.”

“Go home, I’ll bring all the messages and letters that you need to sign home with me.  We’ll remember to make sure all the doors and windows are locked before we leave.”

When I arrived at Summerhill, I was greeted by a not so pleasant sight.  Benji was sitting on Pete’s chest, Mark was sitting Pete's legs and Matt and Mikey were sitting on Pete’s arms.  Benji had his fist cocked as if he was going punch Pete in the face.

“Benjamin, what you doing?  You don’t beat people up.”

“But Daddy, all this kid will tell us is that his name is Pete and he’s ten years old.  He says he hates us and is going to run away as soon as he can, because we all hate him.”

Pete was almost crying, “Dr. C., please get them off of me.  They’re hurting me.”

“Guys, get off of Pete, now, before you really hurt him.  We’ll take care of this after Grandmother McBride and Granddad and Grandmother Miller leave.  Why don’t you guys go see if Patty needs any help?  Where's Dad Cole?”

Mikey answered, “He’s talking on the phone.  He’s been gone a long time.”

I went to help Pete up, “Son, are you okay?”

“Dr. C., why do you keep calling me son?  I’m not your son.”

I picked Pete up and held him like I would Benji or the other three boys even though he was ten.  I was surprised how light he was. “Pete or Peter, as long as you are living here at Summerhill, you are Dad Cole’s and my son, and don’t you forget it.”

I kissed him and the dam burst, “Sir, I can’t let the other guys see me like this.  Please put me down even though I don’t want you to.”

“Pete, go in the front door and go wash your face and act as if nothing happened.  We’ll talk more later tonight.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: Things seem to be moving along nicely.  I think it is even possible that Pete is starting to think that maybe people do care about him. I have the feeling that he is going to turn out to be a really good kid. I hope things work out well for him. I can't imagine that Benji and the other guys will let anything bad happen to him, though.

I sure hope we get another chapter soon.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 03/19/10