Benji in Control
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2011 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 48 

The Last Laugh

When I arrived at Summerhill, Greg and Jordan were already there.  I was met by Benji, “Daddy, Dad Cole called and said we were to wait until we got to his apartment to eat.  He has some people he wants us to meet.  How soon are we going to leave?”

“Son, we’ll leave as soon as I change and finish packing.  Make sure you have that piece of paper the man gave you the other day.  I have mine.”

R. B. followed me to the bedroom, “Dad Doug, why do we gotta go to court again?  I don’t want to go.”

I hugged R. B., “Son, I don’t want to go either.  Let’s just go and get this problem resolved, once and for all.  Your stepmother or someone wants something that we don’t know about.  They must think you have or know about something that they want.”

As we were getting ready to leave, Uncle Howie called.  “Doug, I’m leaving for Atlanta, now.  I’m going to be meeting this evening with Mr. Nicely and Judge Flowers and try to figure out what this is all about and try to be proactive instead of reactive.”

“Uncle Howie, we’re leaving now, as well.  We’re going to be spending the night at Cole’s apartment.  That way the boys don’t have to get up in the middle of the night.  Isn’t it unusual to have a trial starting at nine o’clock?”

“Doug, there isn’t anything usual about this case that I can figure out.  Judge Flowers said that the case appeared on the docket all of a sudden, Tuesday morning.  That was pretty fast considering that we were in court only on Monday.  Someone must know someone or have greased some palms.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

When we arrived at Cole’s apartment, he was already home and was dressed in walking shorts and a tee shirt, “Hey guys, make yourselves at home and get comfortable.  We have company arriving in twenty minutes.  R. B. and Benji, you need to set the table for eight.”

Benji took his patented pose, “Whatever, you say, master.  Who is it that you’ve invited to dinner without telling us?  What are we having, anyway?” 

Cole sighed, “I invited Coach Bridenbaugh and his sons to dinner, since they’re living in a motel.  I thought maybe you guys could cheer them up, since they had to sit and watch practice today.  I was going to have Chinese food, but I figured that you would probably starve, trying to use chop sticks.  I decided that we would have tacos and I would make you  guys eat on newspapers so you wouldn’t make a mess.”

R. B. started giggling, “Dad Doug, Dad Cole is treating us as if we’re little puppies.  Call Mr. Block and report him.”

The conversation was interrupted by the intercom buzzer, “This is Weaver.”

“Cole, it’s Will.”

“Well why didn’t you say so.  Make sure your sons don’t make a sound in the hallways when you’re coming up.  The apartment is at the top of the stairs on the left.  Knock three times so we’ll know it isn’t the police.”

When the visitors arrived, there was a knock and Benji answered, “Sorry mister, we aren’t buying any.  The Falcon’s Monster Man takes any salesmen who come by and pushes them into the oven and they become gingerbread men.”

We waited to see what the visitor would say.  It was the oldest son who spoke, “Come on, we'll help you toss the Coach into the oven.  Just make sure that you have lots of gooey frosting ready since he’s going to be a big gingerbread person.  He’s going to need all the sugar he can get to make him sweet, now that he’s met the ogre, Cole.”

Cole leaned over and whispered, “Benji has met his match.”

I shook my head, “I doubt it.  It could be interesting.”

Cole took charge and introduced the visitors.  “Guys, this is Coach Will Bridenbaugh and his three sons, Huey, Louie and Dewey.  The team has already started to call Mr. Bridenbaugh Coach B since his name is so long.  Actually, his son’s names are Kent Kevin, and Kyle,”

Benji stuck out his hand, “Welcome to Dad Cole’s apartment.  The big man is our Daddy, Dr. Doug Christiansen, and the big bully is our brother R. B. Lewis.  We left our other four brothers at home.”

Kent, who appeared to be about seven years old, spoke, “I’m seven, Kevin’s six and Kyle’s five.  We just moved here from California  We don’t go to school here, yet.  Don’t you go to school either?  How come you have two Dads?”

Benji nodded, “Yep, we go to school in Harwood where we live,  We’re just here because of we have to be in court, in the morning.”

Kevin asked, “Did you guys do something bad and get caught by the police?”

R. B. answered, “We don’t know why we have to be in court.  They said we have been obstructing justice. but we don’t know what it is that we did wrong?”

Cole announced, “Dinner is ready, but you need to fix your own, so you can fix your tacos and beans as you want them.  Come on, Kent, I’ll help you before the big guys hog it all.”

The five young guys were eating at the breakfast bar when the buzzer sounded announcing someone was at the entrance to the apartment.  Cole went to the intercom, “Weaver here.”

“Cole, it’s Rax Fox, Mr. Willingham said Dr. Christiansen and the guys were visiting you.  Cole, beam me up.  I need to talk to them to see if I can get any more information, before tomorrow.”

Cole pushed the buzzer to give Rax entry.  Fortunately, Cole had made plenty of food, so we invited Rax to partake of our meal, after he had been introduced to his visitors.  As we were eating, I had to open my big mouth. “Will, where is your wife?  Did she stay behind to take care of the move?”

Kyle answered before Will could, “Mommy went to heaven.  She got real sick and God took her away.”

Benji nodded, “That’s what happened to R. B.’s father.  God also took our mommy and our baby sisters to heaven, too.”

Benji switched gears as only he can, “Guys, where are your living, if you had to go to practice with your Dad?”

Will answered before the boys could, “We’re living in a motel near the stadium until we have time to look for place to live.  I thought we would start looking for a place next Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, since we won’t be having any practices because we have a bye, so we don’t have a game next weekend.  Coach White wants to evaluate the players and decide what changes to make, if any.  The bad part about the motel is that I don’t trust the boys there by themselves, so, for now, they’re stuck going to the stadium with me.”

Kent added. “That sucks.  There’s nothing for us to do but run up and down the steps in the stadium and play hide and seek, since all the gates to the exits are locked.”

Benji acknowledged, “That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

Rax interrupted, “Kent, Kevin and Kyle, I have a better idea, Why don’t you have your Dad drop you by my house in the morning, and you can baby-sit my Mother so she doesn’t get into trouble.  She’s always complaining because she has nothing to do.”

R. B. asked. “Rax, I’ve known you for almost two years, and I know nothing about you, other than you would come to spend a couple of nights a week at our house.  If you live in an apartment with your Mother, what is there for the three guys to do?”

“Guys, I don’t live in an apartment.  I have a five bedroom house and there is a big backyard that has all sorts of play equipment for the boys to play on, and besides, there are a lot of young people who live in the neighborhood.  I had the play equipment installed before my wife took our sons and disappeared with them.”

The five boys perked up when they heard Rax’s statement.  Benji wasn’t bashful about asking, “Mr. Rax, why did they run away?  Did you have a fight with your wife?  Didn’t you like your sons?  How old were the boys?  Did you beat them up?”

I interjected, “Benji, that’s none of our business.”

“But Daddy, he started it.  Why would anyone let his wife take his three sons if he didn’t want her to?”

Rax put up his hand, “Doug, it’s okay.  Benji asked some very good questions.  I can talk about it, now.  Right after it happened, I was devastated and I lost my job at Coca Cola headquarters because I just didn’t go to work.  I tried everything that I could do to find them, but nothing worked.  I went into severe depression.”

“My Mother took charge and moved in with me and began to get my body jump started.  She made sure that I had only the finest counselors and psychotherapists, and after a year I finally began to realize that what happened wasn’t totally, or even partially, my fault.  What hurt most was that I didn’t even know if my sons were still alive.”

“When I was sufficiently recovered, I decided that I would become a private detective and hopefully be able to find the boys.  In fact, I just received my license six months ago, and was barely being able to make a living.  Things started to look up when Mr. Willingham called me and got me involved in R. B.’s case.  Since the story of the trial, on Monday, our office has been inundated with calls, asking for assistance.”

Benji grinned,  “That’s great, Mr. Rax, I mean about your business, but that doesn’t explain why we have to be in court tomorrow.”

“Benji, it is a fluke that you need to be there. I was just meeting with the Mr. Willingham, Mr. Nicely and Judge Flowers, and they think it is some sort of good omen that you’re involved.  Doug, I understand that you’ve arranged to have Judge Willard keep Ray, Jr. out of the spotlight.  R. B., have you ever met your stepmother’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tomasek?”

“I don’t think so, sir; I don’t think they ever accepted the fact that their daughter was married to my father.  I know that she would talk on the phone with them, from time to time, but they always sounded like they were arguing or something.”

Rax asked another question, that would have been better asked in private.  Ray, Jr., do you know how long ago it was that your Father and stepmother started to sleep in separate bedrooms?”

“Mr. Rax, please stop calling me Ray, Junior.  I don’t know when Dad started to sleep in the bedroom next to me at night.  It was about two years ago when he moved his clothes into that bedroom and the two of them stopped even pretending they loved each other.”

Will realized that his sons didn’t need to hear what was being said, “Guys, thanks for dinner, but I need to get the guys back to the motel, since it’s going to take us a long time to get our showers and I’ll need to take them to the stadium with me tomorrow.”

Rax shook his head, “Sorry, I shouldn’t have been asking the questions I was in front of the boys.  I was serious about my Mother taking care of the boys, tomorrow.  Let me call and make sure that she doesn’t have any plans for tomorrow.”

Rax pulled out his cell phone, “Hey Mom, I have three young boys desperately in need of someone to take care of them, tomorrow, while their Dad makes some money.  Are you available? … Okay, I’ll tell Mr. Bridenbaugh to drop the boys by, after you’re functionally operating, at nine o’clock . … Yes, I’m make sure that their Father picks them up before seven.  We wouldn’t want you to miss your hot date. … I’m not sure what time I’ll be home.  I need to go back to the office to get ready for the Lewis trial, tomorrow.  There are a whole bunch of loop holes that we need to close, yet.  See you in the morning.”

Rax stood to leave, after he gave Will his address and directions from the motel to his house.  “I probably won’t be there when you drop off the boys.  I’ll see you all, later.   I still have a lot of things that Mr. Willingham, Mr. Nicely and Judge Flowers want me to check into.  Thanks for dinner and it was nice meeting everyone.  I’ll see some of you tomorrow, if not all of you.  Have a good night.”

The Bridenbaughs took that as a signal to leave.  Kevin, looked at Cole, “Mr. Weaver, if the things doesn’t work out at the Cox house, could we come stay with you after the trial is over.  Your apartment is much more secure than the Motel where we’re staying.  The bedbugs are trying to take over the room.”

Will scolded, “Guys, Mr. Weaver has enough to worry about with playing football.  We don’t need to worry him any further.  Thanks for the wonderful dinner.  Come on, guys. let’s get back to the motel.”

After Benji and R. B. were settled, Cole and I were lying in bed.  I started to play with Cole's areolas, “Cole, you don’t suppose something could develop between Will and Rax. Do you?”

Cole sat up, “Doug, we’re not going to play cupid.  I mean, Will is technically my boss.  Why would you even think such a thing?”

“We know that Rax is at least bisexual, since he was seeing Coach Lewis on a regular basis.  Will certainly didn’t put up an argument about the boys staying with Rax’s mother.  I agree that we shouldn’t try to promote anything, but they would make a handsome couple.”

“Doug, you’re just an incurable romantic.”

“Don’t blame me.  You made me what I am.”

“Yeah, right.” 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  My mind is racing way ahead here.  I can imagine a few things coming to pass. We will just have to wait and see what happens next. 

I want to remind you that we still need to keep E Walk in our thoughts and prayers.  He has received some hopeful results from his doctor, and of course it is always nice to get good news. 

Let him know how much you enjoy his stories, and wish him well.  I know that he appreciates all the letters he gets. 

I also want to thank those of you who have said nice things about me.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 12/31/10