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

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Chapter 22 

Why Can’t We?

We were standing watching the rest of the parade when we were joined by the people from the floats from the college.  I looked at the  assembled group, “Thanks for putting forth the effort to make the Harwood Community College look good.”

As the parade was ending, Benji asked, “Grandmother McBride and Grandmother Cunningham, would you like to go to the carnival or would you like us to take you home?”

Grandmother Cunningham answered, “I have a hankering for one of those funnel cakes that you can only get at places like this.”

Mikey asked, “What’s a funnel cake?”

Grandmother Cunningham and Grandmother McBride both grinned, “Come on, we’ll show you what you’ve been missing.”

I looked at the guys, “Dad Cole and I are going to take these chairs to the van.  We’ll catch up with you in a little while.”

Greg grinned, “Never fear, boss, we’ll make sure they don’t get into any trouble.”

When Cole and I finally found the guys and the grandparents and their bodyguards, they were sitting or standing, eating funnel cakes.  Benji looked at us, “Dads, these are really good.  They’re sorta like a sweet pretzel.  Would you like to try a bite?”

It had been years since I had a funnel cake and I took a bite.  “That’s really good.  If you guys eat all of that you won’t need dinner.”

Mikey handed his funnel cake to Cole, “Dad, I don’t really like this that much.  It’s pretty sweet.  Can I get something to drink to take the sweet taste out of my mouth?”

Cole looked around to see what was available, “What would you like Mikey?”

“Dad, could I get a snow cone?  That would be good since I don’t see anyone selling juice, and I don’t want a soda.”

The guys were eating the funnel cakes and I noticed a young man watching them intently. I guess he couldn’t stand what was happening because he stood in front of Peter and yelled, “How come you got to be in the parade with these people, and how did you get an Atlanta Falcon jersey with the number 13 and the name Weaver on the back?”

Poor Peter was stopped in his tracks, not knowing what to do or say, but Benji took control.  “For your information, Jasper, Rocky, is going to be living with us.  So why shouldn’t he be in the parade and it’s none of your business how we got the jerseys.  If you must know, Dad Cole got them for us.”

Casper stepped back, “Guys, I’m just jealous, I’ve never been in a parade, and I want a jersey like you guys have on.  How can I get one?”

Cole answered, “These were special ordered for the guys.  You may have to wait until the season starts to buy one.  They won’t be making them for sale, until I make the team.”

Casper frowned, “Mr. Weaver, that’s so stupid.  Everyone knows you’re going to make the team.  Why can’t they be on sale, now.   Every kid in Harwood is going to want one now that we‘ve seen them.  Probably a lot of big people will want one, too.”

Cole laughed, “Casper, I’ll make you a deal.  The next time I go to Atlanta, I’ll see if I can get you one.  What size will you need?”

Casper turned around, “Let me go ask my Dad for the money to pay for the jersey, and I would like a size twelve, so it will last at least a couple years.  I’ll be right back.”

Jordan was standing there laughing, “Cole, that just happens to be Senator Baumgartner’s grandson.  Benji, how do you know Caspar?”

 

“Caspar, goes to our school.”

Casper returned and handed Cole twenty five dollars.  “Dad says that if the jersey costs more than this, to let him know.  My grandmother said to tell you she wants one, too.  She’s going to talk to you later.  Gotta go.  See you guys later.”

Peter asked, “Can we go on a couple of rides before we go home?  It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a carnival.”

I held my breath, afraid of what the guys might say, since they had just been to Disney World.  I was so pleased to see what happened.  Benji turned to me, “Daddy, can I have some money to buy some tickets, so we can go on a couple of rides that Rocky wants to ride.”

Greg and Jordan were watching as I pulled out twenty dollars, “This should get you started.”

Greg motioned to the boys, “Come on, Jordan and I’ll make sure you guys aren’t mugged or cheated.”

We followed the boys to the ticket booth and Benji handed the person in the booth the $20.00, “We’d like $20.00 worth of tickets, please.”

The young woman took the money and handed Benji a long string of tickets.  Benji didn’t move and started to count the number of tickets that the young woman handed him.  He looked at Greg, “Biggest Giant, this lady is trying to cheat us.  She only gave us thirty six tickets.  If the tickets are fifty cents a piece then we should have gotten forty, right?”

Greg took the tickets and counted them and indeed there were four less tickets than there should have been.  Greg turned to Jordan, “Go get the police and tell them that this ticket seller is short changing the customers.”

Benji didn’t move away from the front of the line and the onlookers were watching to see what was going to happen.  A policeman arrived with the manager of the rides.  The policeman asked, “What seems to be the problem?”

Benji spoke up, “Officer, I gave the lady twenty dollars and she tried to cheat me.  She only gave me thirty six tickets thinking that I was too young to notice.”

Greg handed the officer the tickets, “Benji is right, sir.  I watched him hand the twenty dollar bill to the lady and these are the tickets she gave him.”

The officer counted them and motioned to the manager, “I’m afraid I will need to take your ticket seller and arrest her for trying to rob this young man.”

The manager shrugged his shoulders, “This isn’t the first young person Maybelle has fleeced.  This is the first time she got caught red-handed.”

The policeman cuffed the woman after reading her, her rights, and the manager went into the booth and handed Benji some more tickets. “Here’s five extra tickets for your inconvenience, young man.”

We watched as everyone else, who was in line, counted to make sure that they received the proper number of tickets.  I thought to myself, ‘Surely nothing else can happen today.’

My Mother came to us, “Doug, I think I need to take your Dad home to rest.  He’s fine, but I’m afraid he’ll overdo it.  Give Howie the keys to your van so we can take Mrs. McBride and Mrs. Cunningham home.  They have had a big day.”

Uncle Howie and I exchanged keys and it was just me and Cole with the five guys.  I noticed that Greg and Jordan were sticking rather close to the guys, and I was wondering what they knew that I didn’t know.

Finally Gregg whispered, “Dr. C., that kid with the dirty blue tee shirt has been following us wherever we go.  I don’t know, but I’m guessing he's going to try to take the boys’ tickets from them.”

I went and whispered the information to Benji and Peter.  They looked around and Peter grinned, “I think the boy is jealous of us.  Me and Benji will take care of the problem.”

Peter leaned over to Benji and whispered something.  Benji nodded and we watched the two boys move away from each other in a big circle. They came up behind the boy who had been watching them. The two boys grabbed the boy and brought him to where Cole, Greg, Jordan and I were standing. 

The boy was complaining, “Guys, I didn’t do nothing to you.”

Benji pushed the boy in the chest, “Then, why were you following us?”

 

The boy was struggling, “I’ve been watching you all afternoon.  First you get to be in the parade and then you had one of those Harwood funnel cakes, and now you’re going to go on rides.  I’ve never done anything like that.  You all seem so happy and everyone is taking care of you.”

I looked at the young boy, “Do you have a name, and where do you live?”

The boy scowled, “Of course I have a name.  We got kicked out of our house, and we’re living under the bridge.  Dad spends almost all the money he makes on booze and me and my two brothers really have to work to make enough money to even have any food.”

Benji looked at the boy.  “My Daddy asked you what your name was.”

“My name is Jimmy Smith.”

I knelt down and held the young lad, “Jimmy, how old are you, and how old are you two brothers?”

Jimmy was trying to pull away. “Please let me go, Mister.  I didn’t do nothing.”

“Jimmy, I didn’t accuse you of doing anything.  Please answer my questions.”

“Mister, I’m ten years old.  My brother Jay is eleven and Jack is twelve.”

Cole looked at the young man, “Where are your brothers, now?”

“They’re here somewhere, probably trying to beg for money so they can get something to eat since all we had was dry cereal this morning.”

Benji looked at me, “Daddy, I don’t feel like going on any more rides.  Will the food stands take our tickets instead of money?”

We walked to the closest food stand and Benji asked the person if they accepted tickets and they did.  Benji decided on his own, “We’d like a cheeseburger, fries and a chocolate milk.”

The gentleman handed the food to Benji and he in turn handed it the food to Peter, “Rocky, make sure you fix it the way Jimmy wants it, while I pay for it.  Sir, how much will that be?”

I watched Benji hand the man ten tickets.  “I think this the right number of tickets, sir.  You had better count to make sure.”

The man counted the tickets and smiled, “The Lions Club appreciates your business, young man.  This is the correct amount.”

The boys were sitting watching Jimmy eat like he hadn’t eaten in days, when two boys who were a little older than Jimmy approached.  The older of the two boys asked, “Jimbo, how come you aren’t sharing your food with us.”

Benji asked, “Why should he share his food with you?  We bought it for him, not you.  We don’t even know who you are.”

Jimmy looked up and tried to talk with his mouth full, “Brothers, Jay and Jack.”

Jack looked at Benji and the other boys, “If you bought Jim food, why can’t you buy us some food, too?”

Peter looked at me, “Dr. C. why do Jimmy’s brothers think we should buy them food?  I wouldn’t mind giving them the tickets for the food if they were polite, but they act as if they think we have to do it.  Besides, they smell even worse than Jimmy does.”

The middle boy cocked his fist, “Look kid, you’d smell too if you hadn’t taken a bath or shower for a week.  Please, could you get us some food.  We’re really hungry,”

We had been joined by Austin and Derek, who had been watching the proceedings.  Austin pulled out his wallet, “Benji, how much do you need to get these crybabies some food?”

“Hi Uncle Austin, Jimmy’s food costs five dollars so I guess ten dollars would be enough.”

Austin handed Benji ten dollars, “Here, get them some food.”

Jack asked, “Why didn’t you give the money to us so we could buy what we wanted?”

 

Derek pointed at Jack, “Look, either you stop complaining or we’ll take back the money and you can go hungry.  Either you eat what Benji and the guys get you or your don’t eat at all.”

Jack mumbled, “It's still not fair.”

Cole grinned, “Look, Mr. Smith, beggars can’t be choosy.  I suggest you sit down if you want to eat while the guys go get your food.”

Jack asked, “Can I at least have a coke instead of the chocolate milk?”

Benji turned, “No, milk is much better for you and will provide more vitamins.”

Jack threw up his hands, “Whatever.”

Benji went to the same gentleman, “Sir, we’d like two more cheeseburgers, two orders of fries and two chocolate milks.”

The gentleman grinned, “You must be really hungry.”

Benji grinned, “They're not for us.  They’re for Jay and Jack.  They’re starving.”

The man looked at where Jimmy was eating, “Well, in that case, how about I throw in three of these cookies.”

Benji started to argue, “But sir, I only have ten dollars.”

The man put up his hand, “The cookies are on the house.”

Peter giggled, “Can you tell which house they’re on, so we can go get them?”

The man started to laugh, “Score one for the Christiansen boys’ team.”

The man came out of the booth, “Dr. Christiansen and Mr. Weaver, you have some sharp young men there.  I’ve been following your exploits in the last couple of days, and I applaud what you have done.  By the way, I’m Judge Vince Hadley.  What do you plan to do with the three young men who are stuffing their faces, right now?”

 

I shrugged my shoulders, “Quite frankly, sir, I hadn’t thought about it, but Jimmy told us they’ve been living under some bridge and Jay said they hadn’t had a bath or shower in a week.”

Our conversation was interrupted by Benji, “Dads, I think we need to take the three boys to the lake, so the can get clean.  If they haven’t had a bath or shower in a week and they’ve been living under a bridge, they have to be as dirty as they smell.  The lake would be a good way to get most of the grime washed away.  The problem is, how are we going to get them to Summerhill without smelling up the cars?”

Cole shook his head no, “Benji, we can’t just take them to Summerhill without telling their father or we could be accused of kidnapping.”

Benji was determined, “Well let’s go tell their father that we’re going to take them.  I want to see where the guys were living under the bridge.  It doesn’t sound like a very nice place.”

Judge Hadley nodded his head, “I agree with the young man.  I think you should go find out where the boys are living, and I like the idea of going swimming to get the grime off.  Keep me advised of what’s happening with the three boys.  Here’s my card, in case you need some legal help.  Gotta get back to work.”

I went and sat down next to the three boys, “Guys, where is this bridge that you’re living under?”

Jack pointed, “It’s that big bridge that goes over the creek”

Cole asked, “Guys, how many people are living under that bridge?”

Jimmy answered, “Sometimes there are a lot of people and sometimes there is almost no one else.  Right now, there are a lot of people because they robbed the people who are here at the carnival.  Last night our Dad came staggering home drunk because he had stolen some ladies’ purse and used the money to buy booze.”

I could tell that Austin was getting upset, “Doug, let’s get the guys out of here.”

Benji stood, “Uncle Austin, we need to take the three guys so they are safe.  We can’t leave them living under a bridge.  Dads, let's go tell the guys’ father that we’re taking the guys to Summerhill.

“Guys, you go to Summerhill with Uncle Austin and Uncle Derek.  Take Jay and Jimmy with you.  Dad Cole and I are going to take Jack to see if we can find the boys’ father and tell him what’s happening.  We’ll be at the farm, shortly.  See if Dan and David can take you to the lake.”

I turned to Greg and Jordan, “Why don’t you come with us?  I’d feel safer if there were four of us when we visit the area under the bridge.” 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: There was that fateful statement:  ‘Surely nothing else can happen today.’ Yeah, nothing ever happens after someone says that.  I am not sure why, but I have a feeling that something good is going to happen to the three boys, and possibly their father too, if he does what he needs to do.

I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens next.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 05/21/10