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

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Chapter 14 

Pete Bares All

I watched to make sure that Pete did indeed go in the front door before I went in the deck entrance.  I heard the boys talking to Patty, so I figured they were okay.  I went to see where Cole was.  He was sitting in the family room, talking on the phone.  “Mrs. Cooper, it will not be a problem at all to keep the young man here at Summerhill.  We have lots of room.  The four Christiansen boys will keep him occupied.  We should be available all weekend.  Dr. Christiansen has already checked with the law enforcement agencies, and they have no reports of any missing children who match Pete’s description.”

Cole looked up and saw me, “Mrs. Cooper, Dr. Christiansen just arrived.  Would you like to speak with him?”

Cole handed me the phone, “This is Dr. Christiansen.”

“Hi Doug, it’s Terri Cooper.  I met you at the college last week when we were enrolling Tim, and my bratty brother was giving us a difficult time.”

“Hi Terri, is there a problem?”

“Doug, I work for the Children’s Protective Agency.   Cole assures me that it wouldn’t be a problem for young Pete whoever, to spend the weekend, at least, at Summerhill.”

“Terri, I think this is the only place for him to be, right now.  Something happened just a few minutes ago, and I think Pete’s shell is beginning to crack.  I’ll call you over the weekend if we have anything new to report.  I’ll get your phone numbers from Tim.  I understand that he’s due here this evening for basketball practice.”

Terri laughed, “Doug, I can’t believe the difference in Tim, since he has met you people.  He’s excited about going to Harwood.  I need to go.  I’ll talk to you later.”

 

After I hung up, I asked, “Cole, how did the CPA become involved so fast?”

“Uncle Howie stopped by this afternoon, and after I explained who Pete was, he suggested that I call CPA and report that we had Pete in our possession, in order to prevent legal problems later.”

Our conversation was interrupted by Benji, “Dads, where’s Pete?”

“He had to go the bathroom.  He’s upstairs.”

Benji started up the steps and stopped, “Dads, it sounds like he’s crying.”

Cole and I followed Benji up the steps.  Pete was indeed lying on Benji’s bed crying.  He sat up when he saw us and shouted, “You people are just like everyone else.  You don’t want me.  You’re just trying to get rid of me?”

I sat down and tried to put my arm around him, “Why are you shouting at us.  We aren’t trying to get rid of you at all.”

Pete tried to pull away, “Then why did you call the police and who was Mr. Weaver talking to about me?”

I took a deep breath, “Pete, you have not been exactly helpful, so that we can be able to help you, since you won’t tell us anything except that your name is Pete and that you’re ten years old.”

Pete started to cry again, “I never want to see my step dad again.  He hates me.”

The conversation was interrupted by Mark calling up, “Everyone, Great Grandmother McBride and Granddad and Grandmother Miller are here.”

I looked at Benji and Cole, “You go greet them.  I still need to change, and we need to make it so they won’t know that Pete was crying.”

I took Pete to our room and gave him a cold wet wash cloth and told him to put it on his eyes.  He watched as took off my suit.  I was standing there in my briefs trying to decide what to wear.  Pete looked at me, “Dr. Christiansen, you look as if you have a bigger pecker than my step dad has, that he was so proud of.”

I decided to let the comment pass and pulled on a pair of Bermuda shorts, since I had no idea what was going to happen.  When I was dressed, I wiped Pete’s face one more time, “Let’s go face the music, son.”

He hugged me, “I wish you were my Dad.”

I introduced Pete to Mrs. McBride and Mrs. Miller and they made a fuss over him, and I watched to see how the other four boys would react.  Benji looked at me and winked.

During dinner, Doctor Miller announced, “Enid and I are going to be leaving for Arizona in the morning, so you’re going to need to make sure and take care of Mother McBride.  I have some patients that I need to take care of, and make some money so we can come back and take you five boys on another vacation before school starts.”

Pete got the funniest look on his face, “You mean you’d take me, too?”

Doctor Miller nodded, “Yep, if you’re going to be Benji, Mark, Matt and Mikey’s big brother, then you will need to go to make sure they don’t get in trouble.”

That was obviously more than Pete could handle, “May I please be excused, I don’t feel very good?”

I nodded, “You may be excused. Do you want someone to go with you?”
 

“I’ll be fine, sir.  I’m just not used to eating this much.”

After Pete had been gone for approximately twenty minutes, I got concerned and went to look for him; He was indeed in Benji’s bathroom with his head over the toilet.  He looked up at me, “I’m sorry, sir, but my stomach feels as if it is on fire.”

I looked and he had indeed lost most, if not all, of the food he had eaten.

He stood and flushed the toilet, “Dr. C., I think I’ll be fine, now.  It’s been a long time since I had good food like this to eat.  I’m sorry that I’m upsetting you.”

“Son, you’re not upsetting us.  We’re just worried about you.”

When we arrived in the dining room, Benji looked at Pete and asked, “Are you okay?”
 

“Yep, I’m fine.”

As we were eating dessert, Doctor Miller announced, “We need to leave shortly.  We’re going to spend the night in Atlanta, since our flight out of there leaves at seven in the morning.  Benji, you need to make sure that Grandmother gets to the church on time on Sunday.”

Benji giggled, “Never fear, the Christiansen family will make sure that she isn’t late.”

As we were walking Great Grandmother McBride and the Millers to their vehicle, a van pulled up and Coach Carpenter and his wife exited.  Jordan was driving and Greg was in the passenger's seat.  I started to introduce the visitors, but everyone knew every one.

Greg motioned to the five young guys, “Let’s go get ready for basketball practice.”

Benji reacted, “Where are we going to have basketball practice?”

Jordan chuckled, “Look, Benjamin Christiansen, you boys have the best basketball court in town.”

I watched as the two big guys departed with our five guys.  Greg had put Mikey on his shoulders and had his arms around Benji and Pete, and Jordan was holding hands with Mark and Matt as they went to the basketball court.  After the Millers and Grandmother McBride had departed, Mrs. Carpenter announced, “We girls are going shopping.  The girls can drop me off at the house and the guys can bring the Coach home.”

The other players started to arrive and soon there were ten basketball players on the court, including David and Tim’s cousin, Eddie, from Valdosta.  Coach Carpenter called the team together, “Guys, I’ve put together some basic plays that I want you to learn.  I’ll give them to you after practice.  Tonight, I want to watch and observe your strengths and weaknesses.   First, Benji and Pete, I want you to throw the ball to the guys as they do a shoot around, to see if they can hit a three pointer.”

I watched as the two boys went to the basket with a ball and the ten guys including David lined up in lines of five.  Coach Carpenter blew the whistle and Cole and I watched as our two boys whipped the ball to the first two players who happened to be Greg and Jordan.  Greg made his shot which swished through the net, but Jordan’s shot hit the rim and bounced over the backboard. 

Greg came by and whispered, “Pete threw the ball so hard that I’ll probably have blisters on my hands.”

We watched as the guys practiced for about forty five minutes, the three younger sons were chasing errant balls.  Coach Carpenter called the guys together.  “Guys, let’s call it quits for tonight.  I want to see this watering hole where you guys go skinny dipping.”

Benji looked at me, “Daddy, I don’t think we can get the Coach on the wagon.  Maybe you or Dad Cole should take him in one of the carts if he can get in.”

Cole went to get a cart and Dan went to get the wagon while Benji and David went to get the towels.  When we arrived at the lake, Benji was the first to get naked and dive into the lake.  Pete came to me, “Dr. C., do I gotta get naked.  I don’t know how to swim.”

“Son, take you clothes off and walk into the water.  Tell Benji and his brothers you don’t know how to swim and they’ll teach you.  Just relax and have a good time.  No one will make fun of you.  See, Greg is just messing around.  He’s just learning to swim.”

Cole and I shed our clothes and went into the water so we wouldn’t be tormented.  We went back and were talking to Kyle Carpenter.  I asked, “Kyle, do you swim?”

“Yes, that’s part of my physical therapy.  I had a major session today where they worked me hard, otherwise I would have joined you people in the lake.  I can see why the guys like to come here.  There is no messing around.  Everyone is being themselves.  I thought maybe there would be some messing around.”
 

“Kyle, I have made it very clear to David and Dan, Jordan and Greg that there will be no sexual activity in front of our sons.  Some of the other guys are trying to keep their penises in their pants, so they can get good grades, and that is why it’s good that they are involved with sports.  It keeps them away from young women.”

We were interrupted by Benji, “Dads, I think that we need to go back to the house.  Pete says he needs something to eat since he got sick at dinnertime.”

When we arrived back at Summerhill, Coach Carpenter asked, “Can we have another practice on Sunday afternoon, about two?”

I shook my head yes, “Kyle, I'll show the guys how to put the canopy up, so they won’t be bothered by the sun.  It’s going to be very warm on the court if we don’t”

After we gave our five guys a cup of hot chocolate and some graham crackers, Benji announced, “Dads, we’re going to bed.  Since we were swimming we aren’t going to take a bath.  I’ll make sure everyone brushes their teeth good.”

I decided that Cole and I needed to go to the bedroom so I could get some work done.  Cole was lying on the bed studying his playbook and I was signing the letters that Karen had brought home for me to sign.  I was amazed to see how much money was being contributed to Harwood Community College.  Suddenly it dawned on me that the phone hadn’t been ringing.  I looked at the ringer button and it was still off.   There was a beep, beep, beep sound that meant we had messages.  I was getting ready to take the messages when the door opened.  “Dads, the other three guys are asleep and Pete wants to talk to you.  He’s afraid you’re going to yell at him.  He says big people don’t like him.”

Cole looked up from his playbook, “Why would we yell at him?  Did he do something wrong?”

I pointed to the bed, “You two brats get your butts on that bed and don’t move”

Benji put his arm around Pete, “See, I told you.  Daddy forgot to take his be nice pill.  Don’t pay any attention to him and he’ll settle down.”

Benji crawled onto the bed and laid his head on Cole’s shoulder.  I grabbed the pad and pencil and sat down next to Pete.  “Son, if we’re going to be able to help you, you need to tell as much about yourself as you can.  What is your full name?”

Pete bowed his head, “Please don’t laugh, but name is Peter Throckmorton Cunningham the Fourth.”

Benji giggled, “Gee, your name has almost as many letters as mine.  We have to check and see who has the most letters.”

Cole sat up, “Pete, was your Dad’s name Rocky Cunningham and did he play football for the Jacksonville Jaguars?”

Pete nodded yes, “Daddy did play for the Jags until he died when I was six.”

Cole shook his head in disbelief, “Pete, this is going to probably sound like a funny question, but because of the color of your skin I guess your mother looked more like me than she did Dr. Christiansen.”

“Yes, she used to be a beautiful black lady.”

Benji asked, “What happened to her?”

Pete looked as if he was going to cry again.  I put my arms around him, “It’s okay, son.”

“After Daddy’s accident, Mother changed.  She wouldn’t talk to anyone, and we sold our big house in Jacksonville.  We moved to Columbus Georgia where she was born.  We lived in a nice house, but everyone kept coming to Mother begging for money.”

She somehow met my stepfather and he moved in with us, and they got married.  He didn’t have a job and all he did was sit around in his underwear and play with his pecker and drink beer.”

“I think that they spent almost all the money that my Mother had.”

I looked at Cole who was scowling, “Pete, what was the phone number and the address of the house where you lived.”

“Dr. C., please don’t make me go back there.  They don’t want me.  That’s how come I’m here.  They sent me here so I could live with my great Grandmother.”

Cole nodded, “Pete, please tell Dr. Christiansen what he asked, because that is the only way we’re going to be able to help you.”

Tears started to roll down Pete’s cheeks, “We lived at 1013 Peachtree Lane in Columbus, and the phone number was 706-554-9994.”

Cole asked, “Pete, what is your stepfather’s name?   Was he black or white?”

Pete shuddered, “He was big and he was a very black man.  His name was Aloysius Jackson.”

Benji asked, “Don’t you have any other grandparents?”

Pete shook his head no, “The only one I ever met was my Daddy’s grandmother, Grandma Bertie.  I haven’t seen her since my Daddy died.  She used to live near where Dr. C,’s office is, and that’s why I was sleeping there.  The place where I thought she lived was gone and all these big machines were everywhere.”

I took a deep breath, “Pete, what was your Mother’s name?”

“Renatta Cunningham.”

I wrote the information down.  And what was your great Grandmother’s name?”
 

“Grandma Bertie Cunningham.”

I stood up, “Gentlemen, I think it is time for you two young men to get into bed.  We’ll come with you and tuck you in.

After Cole and I kissed the two guys, we went back to the bedroom and I dialed the number that Pete had provided.  A recording came on, ‘The number you have dialed has been disconnected.’

I looked in the phone book to see if there was a listing for a Bertie Cunningham.  I looked at Cole, “What do you suppose Bertie stands for?”

Cole shrugged his shoulders, “It could stand for Bertha or Roberta or perhaps it is just a nickname.”

“There’s no listing in the phone book by any name that even comes close to those.”

Cole motioned to the bed, “Get your butt in bed and we’ll worry about this in the morning.  There isn’t much more that we can do on a Friday night.  It’s already eleven o’clock.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  Well, I am very glad that Pete was able to trust Doug and Cole enough to tell them what they needed to know.  I also hope that they can get all the red tape taken care of, so that Pete can live with them, and, hopefully, be adopted. He definitely seems to be a fine young man.  I hope his great grandmother is still alive. I am worried about her, since I suspect that her house was one of the ones that was destroyed by the tornado. I wonder if her name is Alberta.

Maybe we will find some more answers in the next chapter. I hope so.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 03/26/10