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

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 36  

Well Maybe

Ms Bradford watched as the wagon load of young people moved out and no one was up and moving about.  The younger boys were seated in the middle rows of bales.  She asked, “Why are the guys not moving about?”

“Our sons have been informed that if they didn’t sit relatively still, they wouldn’t be able to go swimming.”

We followed the wagon in the two carts. When we arrived at the lake, the big guys helped the young guys down from the wagon and the clothes were shed faster than a bridge being blown up by sticks of dynamite.  Ms Bradford commented, there are some mighty good looking young men, there.”

She watched as Cole and her ex went into the water.  Burnsey stayed as far away from his Dad as he could.  It was very obvious.  Ms Bradford frowned. “We really have done a trick on Ray, Jr.  He doesn’t like either of us at all.”

“Ms Bradford, it’s none of my business, but what happened should have stayed among you, Coach Lewis and his new wife.  Burnsey should not be caught in the middle.”

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

“Ms Bradford, you and your ex-husband have no right to make your son dislike both of you so much, either.  I suggest that you get some help, or take some parenting skills classes to understand what you’re causing to happen with Burnsey.  He's going to grow up being a bitter young man if something isn’t done, and done quickly.”

“Dr. Christiansen, I would like to go back to the house.  I need time to think about what’s going to happen to Ray, Jr.  I need to depart for Hollywood, since I have a reading for a big role in the morning.”

“Ms Bradford, you just confirmed what I’ve been thinking, all along.  Your career is obviously more important to you than you son.”

I yelled to the guys, “Ms Bradford is leaving, now.  It is safe for you to swim as you want.  Dan and David, the guys need to be back by four.”

When we were on top of a knoll overlooking the lake, Ms Bradford asked, “Could we stop, so I can make sure that there is nothing strange going on?”

I stopped and she looked around and saw the guys diving off the pier without their swimming suits.  There was nothing out of the ordinary happening.  “Dr. Christiansen, I’ve seen enough to know that Ray, Jr. is in good hands, but he can’t stay here, forever.”

“Perhaps, I should explain why there is so much animosity between Ray, Sr., his slutty wife, and me.  Right after I had Ray, Jr., I made Ray, Sr. get a vasectomy.  He did, and that started the downfall of what little marriage we had.  He was a big time football player at the time, and could have had almost any broad he wanted.  Finally his current wife snagged him, thinking that Ray would cause her to become pregnant, and she could get all sorts of money for him being the father of her children.”

“By the time she realized that he was never going to be a mother by Ray, because of the vasectomy, Ray’s playing days came to an end because of an injury.  He struggled as an assistant coach until he landed the job here in Atlanta.  His wife grew up in Los Angeles and she hates it here in the South.  She has decided that everything that has happened to Ray, Sr. was Ray, Jr. and my fault.  I’m sure she would have left, Ray Sr. if she could afford to, but the only thing she is good for is being a whore.  She never even finished college.”

Thank goodness we arrived back at the house and she needed to leave.  At least when she departed, I knew that Burnsey was never going to be forced to live with either his Dad or Mother, if I had anything to say about it.

It was shortly after Ms Bradshaw had departed when Cole and Coach Lewis arrived.  Coach Lewis started on me, “I suppose Gwen badmouthed me the entire time she was talking to you.”

“Coach, why would she badmouth you, to me?”

“Dr. Christiansen, that woman loathes me as much as I do her.  She ruined me as a man.  Ray, Jr. is the only child I can ever cause to be born, because she made me get a vasectomy so she could continue her career.  She never wanted any children.  I got involved with one of the cheerleaders.  Gwen found out that we were shacking up, and she has been making me pay through the nose ever since.  To top it off, my present wife thought I was going to be able to treat her in the style that she wanted, but when she found out that I wasn’t financially capable of doing that, she started to blame everything on Ray, Jr.”

“The current wife knows that I have enough proof that she has been messing around with other men that she could never claim alimony.  I learned my lesson once.  In fact, I have turned to other sex for any sexual satisfaction, but it never involves any football people.  I need to be going.  Cole, I’ll see you at ten in the morning.”

After Coach Lewis had departed, I hugged Cole, “We need to make sure that Burnsey gets a lot of love, which he obviously isn’t going to get from either of his parents.”

When the guys returned from the lake, Burnsey waited until Benji made sure that the coast was clear before he would even come into the house.  I was thinking to myself, ’He really has to dislike his parents, even more than we thought.’

The Baldwin’s had returned from buying Alex and Alexis clothes and departed for Charlotte.  At least Rollie had his chance to swim in the nude.

After a light dinner, we were watching a pro exhibition football game  and Benji commented, “Dad Cole, these two teams stink.  Do you play them this year?”

Cole grinned, “Yep, we play them the first two games of the season.”

“Are the games in Atlanta or away?”

“Our first regular game is at home and the second is away.”

“Good, we’d get really bored if we had to watch two bad games in a row.”

Cole laughed, “Benji, the teams are playing the second and third string players, so they can get some experience.  Both teams are supposed to be very good, this year.”

“Whatever you say, Dad.  Guys, let’s go get ready for bed.  It’s been a long day.  Alex are you going to bed, or do I have to come looking for you?  You can sleep with me or in Mikey’s bed, since he’ll probably be in bed with us now that Rollie is gone.”

Mikey giggled, “The two of you will probably kick me out of bed.  I’ll sleep in my own bed.”

After we were sure that the boys were settled, Cole and I decided that it was time to make up for some lost time and we were so exhausted that we would have probably overslept if there hadn’t been a knock on the door.  I fortunately had put briefs on after our tryst, so I went to see who was there.

Alex was standing there is his briefs, “Is there a problem, Alex?”

Not a problem, but are Alexis and I going to be able to go to the campus with you, or how can we get there?”

“You can certainly ride with me, and I’m sure that Karen would be willing to take you, if I’m not going to be going to the campus for some reason.  I’ll be ready to go in an hour.  That should give you a chance to grab some breakfast before you go, to hold you until lunch.”

As I was driving the twins to the campus, Alexis commented, “I never thought we would make it this far.  I hope we don’t blow this opportunity to get ahead.”

“Alexis, you shouldn’t be talking like that.  You should be thinking, we made it.”

Everything was going fine until about ten o’clock when Karen came into the office, “Doctor Christiansen, there is a gentleman here claiming that it is urgent that he talk to you.”

“Did he give any indications what was so urgent.  Did he give you a name?”

“No sir, but he seems awfully nervous.”

“Karen, I don’t like the sounds of this.  Call security and have them standing by.  Tell the gentleman that I’ll be with him shortly.  Tell him I’m on the phone about some important school matters.”

I picked up the phone and was pretending to be talking to someone when the door burst open.  “Damn it, Christiansen, I don’t have all day.  I’ve come to collect the ingot that belongs to me.  I know for a fact that you have it.  My sources say that you’re going to spend it for your own personal needs, to pay for that spread of yours, you can’t afford.”

I stood, “Mr. Whoever you are, I don’t have any ingots, and if I did, I wouldn’t need to spend it on the spread that I own, as you called it.  Summerhill is completely paid for and is a self sustaining operation.”

The man yelled, “Look, you asshole, I know for a fact that you did have an ingot  that my Great-Great-Grandfather made, in your possession.”

“Mr. Whoever you are, if you are indeed the grandson of whoever made the ingot that I supposedly have, you also know that what was in the ingot was not his personal property.  He made the ingot for someone else, but the events of the Civil War overtook the what was happening, and the people never recovered their personal property.”

“But Granddad Ogleby said you had the ingot, and I want it.”

“Well Mr. Whoever, I don’t have it, and if I did, I certainly wouldn’t give it to the likes of you and your Grandfather.”

The man pulled a gun, “Christiansen, you’re going to give it to me or you’re going to be dead.”

Fortunately I had my phone intercom on, and two police officers  arrived and took the man into custody without a shot being fired.

After the police had departed with the man, Alex looked at me, “Dr. Christiansen, Alexis and I may have to rethink working for you, if people are going to shooting at us.”

I was saved by the arrival of Greg and Lamar, “Come on, you two newbies, we’ll treat you to lunch while we have a chance to grab something.”

When I was alone with Karen, I asked, “Karen how do you think Alex and Alexis will work out?”

“Dr. C., I don’t know anything about their background, but they are determined to make a go of it.  They are really grateful to you for giving them the opportunity.  I don’t think we’ll regret having them around.  It is going to be so different having two people around.  I got very comfortable with Greg, because I knew we could trust him.”

“Karen, I’m sure that Alex and Alexis will be just as good.  They did have a very bad experience before the Baldwins took them into their home.   Perhaps, one day, they will confide what happened to them   Benji took control and has made a difference with both of them.”

The rest of the week proceeded smoothly and I was actually able to get some planning done for the two courses I was going to be teaching.  On Saturday morning, I loaded the six boys into the van and we went to the last preseason game.  Cole had been able to get Alex, Greg and Lamar tickets in the row behind us.

It was a decent game and I swear the guys ate their way through the game.  I know my wallet was a lot lighter.  The three college students took off right after the game and the rest of us were going to meet Cole, since he was to be going home until Monday morning.  When Cole arrived at the apartment, he had Coach Lewis with him and I thought Burnsey was going to lock himself in the bathroom when the Coach wanted to talk to Burnsey in private.  Burnsey was adamant that he did not want to be with his Dad, alone.

Benji talked to Burnsey and convinced him that he needed to listen to what his Dad had to say.  Benji whispered, “We’re not going to let the coach take you away.  He’ll keep trying to talk to you until you sit down with him, do it and get it done.”

Coach Lewis took Burnsey into the kitchen and we could hear some of the conversation.  Burnsey was saying in a loud voice, “Dad, you don’t understand.  You and Mother want me to be something I’m not.  I don’t ever want to live with you, as long as you have that wife.  Do you know how many times she has made me leave the house when she has had men visitors?”

“Mother can’t be bothered with me, because I’d take her time away from her precious career.”

“I wish I had never been born.”

Burnsey came into where the rest of us were sitting.  He was crying, “Can we go home, now?  I don’t want to talk to that man any more.”

I really wanted to talk to Burnsey about his statement about wishing he had never been born, but the younger boys were in the van with us.  Benji and Rocky opted to ride with Cole to keep him company.

I was to find out later that Burnsey’s statement was a large part of the topic of conversation in that vehicle, as well.  When we arrived at Summerhill, Cole got my attention and we went outside to talk, thinking that there would be fewer ears to hear what we were talking about.  Cole commented, “Doug, we can’t have Burnsey go through life wishing he had never been born.”

“Cole, I really want to talk to him and see if he really meant what he said, or if he was just striking out at his Dad?  I just wish Burnsey’s parents would leave him alone and allow him to grow up to be the person we know that Burnsey can be when his parents aren’t trying to manipulate him for their own use.”

Benji came out on the deck and yelled, “Dads, the police are on the phone.  There has been a break-in at the college.   They need Daddy to go see how much damage was done.” 

Fortunately, Lamar and Greg arrived with Alex and we asked that Alex stay with the boys while Cole and I went to Harwood to see what had happened.

When we arrived at the college, the administrative offices were a mess.  Someone had ransacked not only my office, but Karen’s desk and Clark’s office.  There were indications that they were in Derek and Austin’s offices as well.  Bill’s office was an absolute disaster area.

The Chief of Police was there and warned, “President Christiansen, we would like for nothing to be touched, until we can see if we can find some fingerprints.  We’ll assign some officers to make sure that there isn’t anything else going to happen here tonight.”

I looked around, “Where is the security guard who should have been on duty?  Why didn’t he report what was happening?”

The Chief shrugged his shoulders, “I didn’t know that there was someone who was supposed to be on duty.  A person driving by called the station and alerted us that something didn’t seem right to have so many lights on here on a Saturday night.  I’ll have my officers look for the person.  It would be best if everyone else stayed away until we complete our investigation.  If the security person is anywhere around, we’ll find him and let you know what he has to say.”

“Please do.  Call Summerhill as soon as you have news at all.  This couldn’t have happened at a worse time, since classes start a week from Monday.”

On the way to Summerhill, I asked, “Cole, what else can happen today?  They say that bad things always happen in threes.” 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I strongly suggest that Doug refrain from asking that question.   It seems that every time he asks it, something else bad happens. 

It's a good thing that the artifacts aren't being stored at the school, isn't it? 

People sure seem eager to get their hands on those things, or that thing, since I don't think most people know there is more than one.

Burnsey really dislikes all his parents, in whatever variety the come in.  They all seem like losers to me.

I think it would behoove Doug and Cole to make whatever effort is necessary to convince children's services that Burnsey would be much better off, staying with people who love him, instead of having to be subjected to all the crap that his so called family have in store for him.

I can hardly wait for the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 09/17/10