The Doctor Gets a Visitor III
by: E Walk

(Copyright 2007 by the Author)
 

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


 

Chapter 10

Special Offering

I was awakened by Jeff saying they were going to take both of our cars.  They left and all the other participants had assembled by 7:30.  They did a quick run through, and Jeff had everyone go to the bathroom.
 
I got up and dressed, went down and had some coffee and toast, and was reading the paper when Linda said, “Come on Jack, we need to get these things to the church.”
 
We drove to the church and put the things on the buffet line, and the guys and gals came in after the first service.  Mrs. Tillison announced, “Brunch is served.”  There was fruit, an egg casserole, sweet rolls and a drink.
 
The young people dug in and the rest of us followed.  The Bishop and Father Gilbert joined us.  Bishop Lancaster said, “Jeff, it just amazes me that you could pull this off on such short notice.”


 At 10:15, Jeff stood and said, “Okay, people say ‘Thank you.' and then take your dishes to the sink area, go to the bathroom and a get ready to knock their socks off, at this service.”
 
“Jeff, wait.  I have some envelopes to pass out for the people who worked at the houses and the meal yesterday.”  Mrs. T. had envelopes for everyone who was singing. Spencer, Beau, Jason and Jeff tried to hand them back, but she walked away.
 
The adults cleared away the food, cleaned the dishes and then we went to the sanctuary to be seated.  Jill and Reg were ushering, and they went to do their duty.  When I sat down, it seemed funny that I didn’t have a bunch of young boys sitting with me.  Instead I had a row of good looking college students including Grant and Beth Anne.
 
In the row behind me were Matt, Mark, Tyler, Kevin, Paul and Lash, with Billy and Joni.  When Mrs. T. saw the people, she passed out the rest of the envelopes.  Mitch, Tyler, Adam, and Aaron tried to refuse, but she ignored them.
 
Meanwhile, in the back, Jill was the next in line and her parents the Coopers walked in and Jill took them to a seat, without and any emotions.  She had just returned to the back as Reg’s parents arrived.  Reg welcomed them to the church without a show of recognition.
 
The services started and when it was time for the young people to sing, Bishop Lancaster announced, “There will be special activities this morning.  I will say a few words after the ypung people are done.”
 
Jeff started to play, and Spencer led the group out.  They formed three rows.  They started to sing; Order my Steps, with Dina and Drew singing the solos. When they finished, everyone under the age of 14 sat down, and the high school students sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic, and they knelt down.  Kenny had been accompanying the songs on his guitar.
 
The eight youngest stood and sang; He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands and they sat down.  The eleven year olds rose and sang; All Things Bright and Beautiful.  They sat down and the thirteen year olds stood and sang; How Great Thou Art.”
 
Then everyone stood and sang; Get Excited.  When that was finished, Beau came forward and said, “We would like everyone to stand and sing the last song with us.”
 
Jeff started playing God Bless America.  When everyone started to sing, the church was vibrating.  The young people all left, except for Spencer in the center and the other eleven year olds who stood to the side.
 
Spencer began and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, some of us had the opportunity to visit the Home for Homeless Young People this past week.  We were appalled at what we found.  It was hard for us to understand why there were 50 young people in the home and that didn’t even include the home for Homeless Teenagers.  What hurts worse than that is that there are many families out there, even in Fremont, who are struggling for survival.”
 
“I talked to Father Gilbert this morning and he has agreed that the church should establish a fund for the needy people of the Fremont area.  I am asking that those of us with the resources to do so, make this happen.”  He went and got a basket and put the envelop Mrs. T. had given him in it.  Beau, Jason and Jeff did the same thing, and Jeff went back to the organ and started to play.  Bishop Lancaster and Father Gilbert pulled out their wallets and put some money in the basket, as did the other three eleven year olds.
 
Beau went out and took the original basket, as the four eleven year olds moved through the congregation passing baskets.  All of the choir members came out and put money in the basket.  The high school people started first and Chip was the last, and he placed his entire envelop in the basket even though Mickey had told him not to.
 
When the eleven year olds returned to the pulpit, they handed the baskets to Spencer, as did Beau.  They returned to the choir.  Spencer said the most eloquent Prayer of Thanks I had ever heard and there were tears in a lot of people eyes.  He placed the baskets on the altar and went to sit down in the choir loft.
 
Bishop Lancaster was wiping his eyes when he went to the lectern.  He took a deep breath and said, “Ladies and gentlemen, you have just seen the most wonderful display of talent and generosity.  I hope you were listening to the words these young people sang today.  They had a message in them more powerful than I or Father Gilbert could have delivered.”
 
“God does indeed have everyone in his hands and loves all the creatures big and small.  God is indeed great and he wants us to follow his plans for us, whether it is on the battlefields or where ever.  Yes we do pray that god helps America to be strong and protect all the people.  We pray that he will make us strong be able to follow his guidance.”
 
“Please stand, now, as Jeff Wilson, Tommy Simmons, Beau Benson and Jason Powers close today’s service.  They will be accompanied on the piano by Mr. Chris Bressler.”
 
Chris started to play, and at Jeff’s nod started to play more quietly as the guys sang The Lord’s Prayer.  When they finished, Jeff slipped back to the organ and began to play the recessional.  The other four guys had melted into the choir area.
 
When the congregation had finished filing out, the people started to descend on the front.  Jeff had just finished shutting down the organ, when the Campbell’s were standing there.  Jeff looked at them and said, “I thought you were in Chicago.”

Bobby spoke up and said, “We had to get up in the middle of the night.  Mother wanted to see what you were going to pull out of your hat this time.”
 
Anne said, “This was magnificent.  How long did you practice?”
 
Beau looked up and said, “About 32 minutes, total.”
 
“You’re kidding.” Anne said.
 
Drew interjected, “Jeff and Grams had us so busy doing so many other things, that there wasn’t time.”
 
Kenny spoke up and said, “Bobby and Kim, we’re having a swim party this afternoon at Mrs. T.’s house from two to four.  Why don’t you join us?  That way we'll have our full complement of life guards.”
 
Kim said, “We’ll be there.”
 
The Whites and Mr. Evans were talking to Mrs. T. and Rea.  Beau and Jeff saw them and went to talk to them.  Mr. White asked, “Gentlemen, is there anything that you two young people don’t do well?”
 
Without stopping to think, Beau said, “Yep, we don’t snore and we don’t listen to Grams, very well?”
 
Aunt Cora spoke up and said, “I don’t know about the snoring, but these three people here are about the only ones that aren’t afraid to tell Aggie to back off.”
 
“Yes and we’re going to talk about it later.” Mrs. T. said.
 
Jeff and Beau saw Jill and Reg cornered by two couples.  Reg said, “Remember, you threw us away, so don’t try to come barging into Chip’s life.  He’s been told that he didn’t have any grandparents, so leave him alone.  He is very happy and we have a good life.”
 
The two couples left, as Reg said, “Don’t even ask.”
  
Jeff gathered up the guys.  He said, “We’ll see everyone at the Tillison house at 2:00.  Make sure you bring your swim suits.”
 
Larry or Lenny asked, “Does that include us?”
 
“You bet, cowboys.  Make sure you bring that ugly big brother of yours, and your lovely parents.  No one is permitted to work today.” Jeff said.
 
When we got home, Jeff reminded everyone to eat light and not drink a lot of fluids.  “When you've finished eating, and cleaned your dishes, get your suits and let’s go.”
 
We went to the Tillison house and people were already starting to arrive.  Jeff and Drew were directing everyone to the basement which Drew and Kenny had already set up.  The life guards took their places until Jeff could explain the rules, since there were some new people.  Jeff explained the rules and the people started to swim.
 
Jeff and Mrs. T. talked and left.  They came back with a box and Jeff blew his whistle three times.  Everyone climbed out, and Toby asked, “What did we do wrong?”
 
“Jeff took out a starter’s gun as Mrs. T. passed out six stop watches to the parents.  Jeff said, “Nothing is wrong.  We are going to have some races.”
 
Jeff looked and said, "You four five year olds come here.  You are up first.”  He took them to the far side of the pool and said, “I want you to wait until you hear the sound of my gun, and then I want you to swim to the other side.”
 
The guys did as they were told, and took off and started to swim as best they could to the other side without stopping and they all finished about the same time and everyone applauded.
 
Jeff, Kenny, Bobby and Sammy quickly put up the lane ropes and Jeff said, “I want all nine year olds at the far end of the pool and I want you to swim to this end of the pool.  Get on your mark.”
 
The gun sounded, and they took off.  The Edmond twins were clearly the best swimmers, and they finished well ahead of Davey and Jason.  They had identical times.
 
Jeff said, “The four eleven year olds will now show you what they can do.  They will be swimming down and back.”  Spencer won easily.
 
Next up are all the teenage ladies from Venus.  They all lined up and Kim was by far the best swimmer.  Jeff called the four thirteen year old guys.  They lined up and to everyone’s surprise, Beau was the clear winner. 
 
Denny piped up and said, “Beau, you told us you couldn’t swim.”
 
“I can’t.” said Beau.  “I just did what Spencer was doing.  He has good form and technique.”
 
Jeff took control and said, “Coming up next are the high school men from Mars.  They lined up with Tommy, Bobby, Kenny, Drew, David and Sammy.  Kenny swam away from the others.
 
“Now, we have all the college studs.” Jeff announced.  Adam, Aaron, Bran, Bruce, Grant and Mitchell lined up. Mitchell was the clear winner.
 
Jeff said, “Now we have the strong working men in the group.”  Billy, Reg, Mark, Matt, Tyler and Kevin lined up.”  Tyler won fairly easily.
 
Jeff said, “Thanks for coming today.  Aren’t these people wonderful?  Now the pool is open.”
 
Before anyone could move, Mrs. T. blew a whistle three times.  “Not so fast Jeff.  There’s one more race.  I want Beau, Kenny, Mitchell, Tyler and Jeff on the starting line.  This will be a 200 meter race, so that means you will be going four lengths of the pool.”  She took the starter position, and fired the gun. 
 
The five guys made a clean entry and they were fairly even going into the pool turn.  Beau had some problems and fell a little off the pace, but started to make up the distance before the next turn.  When they started the last lap, it was apparent that Mitchell and Tyler were running out of steam.  Beau on the other hand was closing the distance.  Jeff finished .03 seconds ahead of Kenny and .08 seconds ahead of Beau.  The guys climbed out to a standing ovation.  Needless to say, they were all exhausted.
 
Mrs. Tillison took Mrs. Edmond upstairs.  Mrs. Hendrix took Mr. Edmond and Tyler to the back corner, away from everyone.  Everyone else was either swimming or visiting.
 
The outcome of the Mr. Hendrix meeting was that Mr. Edmond was hired, and would be responsible for planning and estimating new jobs.  Tyler would be responsible for scheduling, hiring and insuring that crews did quality work.  They would both be receiving substantial salaries, with full benefits and have a company car assigned to them.  Mr. Hendrix said, “Tyler, I want you to get yourself enrolled in a college program as soon as possible.”
 
Tyler came back and sat down next to me and Jeff and said, “D. Dad and Jeff, I owe you two so much.  It appears that Spencer’s and my life will turn out okay.  We owe it all to you.”
 
I pulled him close and held him and said, “Tyler, there never was a question in my mind, and I’m sure that Jeff feels the same way.”
 
Tyler stood and started to get tears in his eyes as he told Kevin what had transpired.
 
Mrs. T. and Mrs. Edmond came back.  They were talking to Mr. Edmond.  It seemed that she would be working at Mrs. Tillison’s from 9:00 to 3:00 so she could be home for the guys when they arrived from school.  She would work only Monday through Friday.  She would be responsible for cleaning only the first floor, preparing lunch and keeping Aunt Cora company.
 
At four o’clock, Jeff blew his whistle three times and announced.  “The swim party is over.  Let’s get this pool area back to how it was when we arrived.”
 
Everyone climbed out, and the older guys went to the shower as Jeff and the thirteen year olds took down the lane ropes.  The older guys started to return as did the ladies.  Beau took their towels and started the wash machine.  Jeff went and showered with the young guys and when he came out, he put his towel in the basket.
 
Rea grabbed him and got me and Mitch and took us up to the study.  She said, “I don’t want any lip from anyone.  Mitchell, I have in my hand, a check to pay for the rest of your college education.  Now, all you have to do is sign this agreement, and Dr. Wilson will witness it.”
 
Mitch started to resist, but Jeff twisted his arm so he signed and Rea handed him a check for $10,000.00.  Mitchell went down, and hard.
 
When we had revived him, he finally sat up and almost went down again.  Rea took charge and said, “Jeff, I want you and the fainting boy to take this money and get Lenny and Larry bicycles like Jason’s.  Make sure you get them helmets and whatever else they need.  She handed Jeff a check for $400.00.”
 
Rea turned to us and said, “What has happened in this room will stay in this room.  It is none of anyone else’s business.”
 
Everyone was coming up and thanking Mrs. T. for the party and leaving.  Jeff went downstairs and Tommy, Beau and Jason were folding the towels.  Jeff looked around and said, “Guys, come on, we need to go.”
 
Beau said, “We can’t go yet.  The last towels aren’t dry.”
 
“Beau, we can ask Drew to take care of them. Now, let’s go get something to eat. The four guys hugged the ladies and Josh and Ben and we left.
 
When we got home, Sammy and Mickey were fixing sloppy Joes and home made fries, with a pear and a tossed salad.  Everyone pitched in and we began eating.  We had just finished when the phone rang.  Jeff answered and handed it to Mickey.
 
Mickey said hello and listened and said, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I already have a baby sitting job on Friday, but can you hold on?”  Mickey turned to the table.
 
Sammy held up his hand and said, “I already have a job on Friday.”
 
Mickey looked at Tommy and asked, “Are you a certified baby sitter, and are you CPR qualified?” Tommy nodded his head yes.
 
“Ma’am, I am going to put Tommy Simmons on.  He is a certified baby sitter, and he is CPR qualified.”  Mickey said, as he handed the phone to Tommy.
 
Tommy took the phone and it resulted in him having a baby sitting job both Friday and Saturday night from 5:00 until 12:00.  Jeff sent everyone to get ready for school.  He told Beau and Jason to try and finish going through their mail so we could get the money into the bank.
 
Everyone left.  Jeff was scrubbing the kitchen when Linda and Eric came in.  Eric asked, “Jack, has Jeff leveled with you about his financial status?”
 
I looked at him and said, “He finally told me Thursday night.  I was beginning to worry about all of the money he kept spending on everyone.”
 
“Jack, Jeff probably has more money than anyone in this house?” Linda said.
 
“Mother and Pop, that’s not true.  Jason is probably the one that has the most money and I’m not too sure that Beau is too much behind him, but I really don’t know.  Enough said about finances.  I still don’t understand why you gave me the car.” Jeff said.
 
“The reason is exactly that.  You are always worrying about other people and forgetting about yourself.  Look at you.  You have already collected three wonderful young men.  You can’t keep doing this, or both you and Jack are going to be totally worn out.” Eric said.
 
They left and Jeff fell against me and said, “I guess I need to slow down, for both you and my sakes, but I keep getting thrown into these situations.”
 
I looked at him and said, “Jeff, you and Mrs. T. both have to learn to say no, and back away.  You both are trying to do too much.”
 
Jeff got up and said, “I’m going to get ready for bed, and get things ready for tomorrow.” 
 
I sat down and was talking to Linda and Eric when the phone rang.  I answered and it was for Beau.  I went and got him.  He came in and said, “That is Mr. Sanders, he wants to know if I can sit for the twins on Saturday.  He knows that I’m not trained, but he said I probably knew as much about taking care of children as anyone else. Is it okay, D. Dad since you have to be here anyway for the other guys?”
 
“That’s fine, Beau.  I’ll be here if you need me.” I assured him.
 
He hung up and disappeared. I locked up and went up stairs. All of the guys were asleep.  I took a shower and crawled in the bed and Jeff rolled against me.
  

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

That was a very interesting chapter, I wonder if Chip's Grandparents are going to cause trouble?

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/17/07