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

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Chapter 31  

Dad, You Don’t Understand

After everyone had departed, Benji decided that we didn’t need a bath, since we had been swimming.  The six boys went to get ready for bed.  Before I went to bed, I put the relics in the small safe that we had in the house.  When I arrived in the bedroom, the six boys were lying on our bed watching some dumb show.  I went to the computer to see if there were any new messages.

I was reading the messages when the phone rang.  Benji jumped and grabbed it, “This is Summerhill.  Benji speaking. How may I help you? … Oh hi, Coach Lewis, let me see if Burnsey is available.”

“Burnsey, your Dad would like to talk to you.”

“Just a minute, Mr. Lewis, Burnsey will be right with you.”

“This is Burnsey. … Dad, stop calling me Junior.  I hate that name. … No I haven’t called Mother, why would I?  She doesn’t give a hoot about me, just like you. … How am I going to get to Atlanta, walk? …  If you want to talk to me, then you can come here.  I’m not coming back to live with you and your wife who doesn’t want me around… Just a minute.”

Burnsey handed me the phone, “Dr. C., my father wants to talk to you.  He sounds mad.”

I went into the study so the boys wouldn‘t hear the conversation,  “This is Doug Christiansen.  How can I help you, Coach Lewis?”

“Christiansen, what are you doing to my son.  He’s never talked to me like this before.”

“Mr. Lewis, perhaps it’s that your son has been exposed to what a family should be like.  I can assure you that I have not done anything or prompted your son in any way.  I’m beginning to think that you and your wife have problems, as well as your ex-wife.  If you didn’t want children, then you should have taken the necessary precautions.  Burnsey has fit right in here at Summerhill, and he’s even making money and feeling good about himself.  It would appear to me that you and your wives need counseling on parenting skills.”

“Christiansen, you have no right to talk to me like that.”

“Lewis, if you don’t get your head out of another part of your body, you’re going to lose your young son.  Now that he knows that life is more than going to a military academy and not having any love, it won’t be long before you lose him forever.  I guess I need to visit with Mr. Block and tell him what kind of parent you are.  If you can’t be a good parent, then I sure wouldn’t want you coaching my team.  One other thing, if I get any indications that you’re taking out what’s been happening on Cole, or the other team members, then, you will be looking for a new job. I can promise you that.”

I hung up without saying goodbye.  ‘Why is that man getting under my skin?’

I had just gotten the boys settled when the phone started to ring. “This is Doug Christiansen.”

“Doug, what in the world did you say to Coach Lewis?”

“Cole, I told him that he was going to lose Burnsey if he didn’t start to listen to him and show him some love.  The man is totally self centered.  I threatened him that I would talk to Mr. Block about what kind of parent Lewis was.”

Cole started to laugh, “Coach Lewis had his butt chewed up one side and down the other this afternoon for not worrying about his coaching, by the General Manager and Mr. Block.  They have no idea about what’s happening with Burnsey.  Why don’t you bring the boys to the apartment tomorrow night and I’ll arrange for his royal highness to be here, so he can see that we aren’t turning Burnsey into a monster.  We should be done with practice about four.”

When I awoke on Wednesday morning, I went to check on the guys and they were all sawing logs.  When I arrived at the college, I was surprised that there were so few cars in the parking lot and the construction site showed no activity.  I went to the office and looked at the clock and it was ten until seven.  I started the coffee, grabbed a container of orange juice and zapped a stale pastry.  I opened the safe and pulled out the folder that Karen and Greg had put my messages in.”

I looked at them and sure enough, there was one from Mr. Ogleby from the State Historical Society.  I figured there was no reason to call anyone before nine o’clock.  I made three piles of messages:  Now, Later and Whenever.

I went to get some coffee and Gregg came in, “Did we oversleep?”

“Are you sure you got any sleep.  It’s already Friday.”

Greg laughed, “Dr. C. you’re terrible.  Did something happen last night?”

“Greg, there are a lot of things happening right now.  You and Karen need to keep my backside covered at all times.  There are going to be some more people trying to take advantage of the college’s good fortune.”

I made some phone calls and was making headway on my stacks when Greg stuck his head in the door, “Dr. Baldwin is on line one.”

I picked up the phone, “This is Doug Christiansen.”

“Doug, this is Walt.  Is the offer of a job interview on Friday still in effect?

“Of course.  What time will you be arriving?”

“We thought we would leave tomorrow afternoon and stop and have dinner and arrive at Summerhill about nine o’clock, if your offer of accommodations still stands.  Some of us could stay with Bill and Logan, but they only have a two bedroom apartment.”

“Walt, you and your family are more than welcome to spend the weekend at Summerhill.”

“Great, see you tomorrow night.”

I went to the reception office, “Karen and Greg, inform all the principals that Dr. Walt Baldwin will be here for a formal interview for the Human Relations Department position, on Friday.  Set up a meeting for ten o’clock and invite as many members of the Board of Trustees as possible, to attend a meeting at eleven.  I need to introduce all of the new staff members and provide them an update on what has been happening.”

I was sitting at my desk, eating a sandwich that Greg had bought for me when Karen came in, “Boss, there’s a Mr. Ogleby and Ms. Esterbrook here to see you.”

I went to greet the visitors, “Ms Esterbrook and Mr. Ogleby, I’m Doug Christiansen, why, might I ask, do want to see me?”

Mr. Ogleby started, “It has come to our attention that you are destroying an important part of American history by building your new addition to your rinky dink school.  Anything that was found on the properties belongs to the American people.”

I started to pace, “Mr. Ogleby and Ms Esterbrook, the state of Georgia has tried to claim the findings that were made on the sites where the construction is taking place.  Let me assure you that it was not the college that caused the destruction of what might have been American history, but the force of Mother Nature, when a tornado leveled the three blocks that are now being made a part of the our small campus.  We paid money for the property.  You have no right to come in here and tell us what to do with what we found.”

Mr. Ogleby was resolute, “Young man, you don’t understand.  “The relic that Mr. Morgan showed me is one of the few examples that exists of what happened during reconstruction times.  You need to give this to the American people to understand what happened in that era,”

“Mr. Ogleby, you don’t understand, If we were to give the artifact to you, or the Smithsonian, Harwood Community Junior College would lose control of the item, and therefore give up a major source of funds that will be needed in the future.  You have no way to claim that they belong to the American people.  Harwood Community Junior College would be glad to loan the artifact to the Smithsonian, so they could put it on display, assuming it could display it properly and provide it the proper security.  I’ve been informed that the artifact could bring close to a million dollars on the open market.  We people in Harwood aren’t the hicks that you bureaucrats may think we are.”

Mr. Ogleby appeared to be almost apologetic, “Dr. Christiansen, we aren’t bad people.  We’re interested in preserving artifacts of American history.  How many more of these relics have you found.”

I looked at the dollar signs in Mr. Ogleby eyes, “Who said that we found more than the one relic?  Let’s get something straight.  Harwood Community Junior College is not going to be relinquishing control of the relic.  I have already had a run in with Governor Perdue, and I happen to know the President of the United States, since he and his wife were at my wedding.”

“I’ll decide what’s going to happen to the relic, after I talk to our Board of Trustees.”

Ms. Esterbrook spoke, “Dr. Christiansen, you’re blowing smoke about the President attending your wedding.  I will be talking to the head of the Smithsonian when I return to D.C.  We’ll claim the relic as a national treasure and then you will lose total control.”

I stood, “We have nothing further to discuss.  You people have ruined any chance of the American people and the people of Georgia ever being able to enjoy this piece of Americana, by your high and mighty attitudes.  I’ll make sure that you won’t see it on display anywhere, and it will be sold to the highest bidder.  Thank you for coming, but I have other business to take care of.”

I was sure that I hadn’t heard the last of this recent happening, but I couldn’t worry about it.  If need be, I’ll call our friend Rick Caster.  At three thirty, I went into the reception area. “I'm going to leave for the day.  The boys and I need to go to Atlanta.”

Karen asked, “Does Patty know that you aren’t going to there for dinner?” 

“I left her a note.  Hopefully she found it.”

When I arrived at the house, I had the young guys go take a quick shower and put on some casual clothes, in case we were going out to dinner.  As we were nearing Atlanta, Burnsey moaned, “Dr. C., I don’t even want to come to Atlanta, for the football games, anymore.”

Benji responded, “Burnsey, we gotta come and cheer for Dad Cole.”

“Benji, my Dad will probably make me stay and be bored.  I had more fun in these few days since I’ve been at Summerhill than I had all summer or even forever.”

When we arrived at Cole’s apartment, he wasn’t there but I had keys and knew all the pass words so we could get in.  As we were about to enter the apartment, an older lady approached us, “I guess you must be Dr. Christiansen.  I hope you guys aren’t planning to party all night and keep me awake.  Cole said you would be arriving this afternoon.”

Benji went and shook the lady’s hand, “I’m Benji Christiansen.  These are my brothers, Matt, Mark and Mikey and these are our two special friends, Burnsey and Rocky.  Dad Cole wanted us to come to Atlanta to see him tonight, since he has to go to Seattle tomorrow.  Do you know Dad Cole very well?”

“I’m Millie Quick,  Cole has been a big help to me.  He makes sure that I have everything I need.  In fact, he was going to buy some groceries for me, today.  I thought he would be home by now.”

Cole arrived carrying a bag of groceries.  “Here you go, Miss Millie.  If you need anything while I’m gone, Danny, downstairs, will get it for you.”

“Thanks Cole.”

Cole looked at us, “Good, you’re dressed just right.  We’re to meet Mr. Block for dinner, in a half hour.  Let’s go into the apartment since we can walk to the restaurant from here.”

As we were walking to the restaurant, I heard Burnsey say, “I just hope my Dad isn’t there.”

When we walked into the restaurant, Coach Lewis and Mr. Block were sitting there.  I thought to myself, ‘How did Cole arrange this?’

Burnsey looked at me as if to say, ‘You’re a traitor.’

Benji took control, “It's good to see you again, Mr. Block and Coach Lewis.  Can we eat?  We’re kinda hungry.”

The hostess took us to a table for ten.  I watched as to how the boys seated themselves.  Benji stationed himself between Mr. Block and Coach Lewis.  I was on the opposite side of the table and with Burnsey seated between me and Cole.  We had a nice dinner and the boys were very good; they only ordered as much as they could eat which impressed Mr. Block.

As we were leaving the restaurant, Benji went up to Mr. Block, who had paid the bill, “Thank for the dinner, sir.  Are you going back to Dad Cole’s apartment?”

“Not this time, Benji.  I have a ten o’clock flight out, since we have an owners meeting tomorrow in St. Louis.  I’ll be joining the team in Seattle on Friday.  Thanks for a fun evening.  Dr. Christiansen and Cole, I must commend you on how well your men behaved.  I’ll see you all next week at the game on a week from Monday evening.”

Coach went with us to Cole's apartment,  Burnsey tried not to have any contact with his Dad.  Finally Coach Lewis said, “Junior, we have to talk.  You need to call your Mother and tell her what’s happening.”

Burnsey stood, “Why should I call her.  If she wants to talk to me, then why doesn’t she call me.  I’m not her servant.  I asked you not to call me Junior, so please stop.  Junior means I’m going to be like you, and I don’t want to be like you.  I want to be able to show my children that I love them and want them around, like Dr. Christiansen does.  He treats me more like a son than you and your new wife do.”

Coach Lewis’ face became bright red, “Christiansen, what kind of propaganda have you been feeding Junior.”

Benji stood, “Coach Lewis, if you are asking what our Dad has been saying to your son.  The answer is nothing.  Is it so hard for you to refer to him as son?  No wonder he doesn’t want to live with you.  I can tell you that Dad hasn't said anything bad about you.  He merely treated Burnsey as he does the rest of us.  Burnsey, go call your Mother, so the Coach doesn’t go to the bathroom in his pants.  We don’t want to be up all night, since we have three parties tomorrow.”

Cole suggested, “Guys, let’s go out on the balcony so Coach Lewis and Burnsey can talk and make their phone calls.”

Burnsey turned to us, “Please don’t leave.  He’ll probably try to take me away while your gone.  Let’s get this stupid phone done so we can go back to Summerhill.”

Cole whispered, “This is not going well.” 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I really didn't expect it to go all that well between Burnsey and his father.  Did you notice that I didn't say Burnsey and his dad?   Coach Lewis is a father by way of his donating his sperm. He is, in no way, acting like a dad. He wants a trophy son. He wants a boy he can display at important events and be able to say, "Look what I made."  Benji sure told the loser what was what, didn't he?

The jerks from the historical preservation place and the Smithsonian Institution were not very bright, were they?

They shot themselves in the foot, especially when they called Doug a liar, about having the president and his wife at their wedding.  That is not the way to win points with our Dougie. 

It wouldn't surprise me if the president has a thing or two to say to them, in the near future. They might just find that federal funding might just dry up for a while, say, maybe, until such time as those two people no longer work for their respective employers.

This could become very interesting in the next chapter or two, which I hope to see very soon.

Please don't forget to write and let E Walk know how much you enjoy his stories.  I also ask that you send him your best wishes for good health, and maybe a prayer might help as well, It surely couldn't hurt.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/13/10