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 23

People First

Monday morning we were awakened by a bouncing Jason.  “Dad and Jeff, Grandma Ginny wants to know if they can come for Easter.  Please may they?”

I pulled Jason on top of me and said, “Dude, they may come whenever they would like.  How did you find out?”

He answered, “I had an e-mail from Grandma Ginny.  Beau and Tommy are checking their e-mail now.  Jeff, you had better check yours too.  Come on it's time to get up, if you’re going to exercise with us.”

He left and came back with my coffee.  We had a short exercise session and Beau called Gigi and Spencer and told them the girls would be coming home with the guys to do their homework.  Gigi was fine with it.  Spencer, however, was a little skeptical, but he agreed to try it, but he insisted that everyone had to agree with the idea, if it was going to be a permanent thing.

Everyone’s day was pretty much uneventful except that Adam and Aaron told the Music Appreciation class that they had been hoodwinked by two 13 year olds.  Beau and Danny had come up with 31 categories for the songs, and had more than 2,600 song titles listed. 

Mrs.Tillison spoke up and said, “There is no way that two 13 year olds are going to beat all of us in this class.  We need to get our wheels spinning and teach them a lesson they will never forget.”

Aaron spoke up and said, “Grams, we had to spend much less time on line with Beau and Denny’s list than we did with anyone else’s list, because they provided a CD for us, with the data base program they had used, so all we had to do was format everyone else’s listing.  They did a fantastic job.”

Dinner was a little late, because of Tommy’s practice.  We were just ready to sit down when the phone started to ring.  The first call was for Tommy.  He just looked at me and said, “Saturday night?”

I shook my head yes, and Tommy said, “I’ll see you then Mr. Nichols.  Tell the guys I said hello.”

We had just sat down again, when the phone rang.  Jason answered.  “Hi Grams … Let me get Jeff for you.” 

Jeff took the phone and said, “Hi Grams, what’s up? … Okay, let me call him. … See you at 7:30.”

Jeff made a call and said, “Tyler, your presence is requested at our house at 7:30.  Why don’t you bring Kevin and Spencer with you? … See you then.”

As we were eating, Beau asked, “Tommy, how was your first day of baseball practice?”

Tommy looked at us and said, “I wouldn’t call it baseball practice.  We were doing jumping jacks, knee squats, running in place and then Coach Winston had us run two miles.”

Beau said, “Jeff, you need to go talk to Coach Winston and Coach Murphy.  It sounds like they are confused about which sport the guys are playing.”

The conversation was interrupted by the phone.  It was for Beau.  “This is Beau Benson, how may I help you? … Mrs. Evans, I am not a certified baby sitter.  Why did you call me? … Gigi said I was the person for your job and thinks I could do it. … Okay Mrs. Evans, when do you need me?  … “You want me both Friday and Saturday night 7:00 – 12:00. … Just a minute, let me check with Doctor Dad.”

He looked at me and I shook my head yes. “Okay, Mrs. Evans, I’ll be there.”

The guys were doing the dishes and the phone rang again and Tommy had a job for Friday night also.  As Tommy was hanging up, Drew and Kenny came in.

Kenny said, “Jeff, you need to talk to Coach Winston.  There is no way we are going to be a good baseball team, if all we do is exercise.”

Jeff said, “Kenny, Beau has already commanded that I go talk to the coaches.  So when are your final swim competitions and how do they fit into the baseball practice schedule?”

“We have already talked to Coach Winston and Coach Baldwin and explained that we would need to split our time until state swimming competition was over.  They aren’t very happy, but there is nothing they can do about it.”  Kenny answered.

The guys finished the dishes and everyone started to arrive.  The first to arrive were Tyler, Kevin and Spencer.  Jason and Spencer went down the stairs to the family room.  Next the Hendrixes arrived with the twins, and Beau took the twins downstairs and then Mrs. Tillison arrived with Josh, Ben and Barry.

Just as the meeting was about to begin, the doorbell rang.  It was Mr. Crosby with Trey and Ranger.  Beau invited them in and Trey pointed to the floor and Ranger lay down.

“To what do we owe the honor of this visit?” Beau asked.

Mr. Crosby said, “We need you to sit with Trey on Saturday.”

“Sir, I’m already booked.”  Beau said, as Denny came in the door.

“Denny are you busy on Saturday night? Beau asked.

“I have already turned down two sitting jobs, and Chris and Mickey are already booked.”  Danny answered.

Beau said, “Mr. Crosby, sit down and let me take Trey and his horse downstairs.”

Trey said, “Ranger’s not a horse.  He’s a dog.”

Ranger growled.

They left and came back with Spencer.  “Mr. Crosby, here is the perfect sitter for Trey.  He’s only eleven, but he is probably more responsible than most 16 year olds.  Ranger and Trey both like him.  Doctor Dad will be home all night if something should happen.”

Mr. Crosby looked at Spencer and asked, “Mr. Spencer, would you please sit for our son?  You come highly recommend.”

Spencer was almost crying.  He looked at Tyler and Tyler shook his head yes.  Spencer agreed to sit, and he and Mrs. Crosby made the arrangements and Spencer ushered Mr. Crosby, Trey and Ranger out.  He hugged both Trey and Ranger and shook Mr. Crosby’s hand.

Spencer came back and asked, “Is it okay if I go back downstairs?”

“Nope, not yet.  I think you need to explain how the vote went, as to whether to permit the girls to join the homework club.” Beau said.

Spencer said, “Gigi, the young guys, you and Denny had no problem with it, but we had one eleven year old who wasn’t very pleased, but the other three of us convinced him the he was being selfish.”

Mrs. T. asked, “Does that young man’s name begin with To?”

“Yes ma’am.” Spencer answered.  “But the girls are welcome to our home work club as long as they obey Beau’s rules.”

“Spencer, thank you for being so honest.  Now, why don’t you get the people downstairs and make some popcorn and get some juice.” Jeff said.

Beau turned to the gathered assembly and asked, “May I please be excused?”

“No.” said Mrs. Tillison.  “We have a lot of issues to talk about, and I think we may need your input.”

Mrs. Tillison and Mr. Hendrix gave a synopsis of what happened on Sunday night.  Tyler spoke up and asked, “Mrs. T.  I don’t understand why we are here.  This has nothing to do with us.”

“Oh but it does, Tyler.  We need you and your paint crew to go in and paint and fix Barry and Amanda’s house.  It has been neglected for thirteen years.  Mr. Hendrix says you have all his resources at your disposal to help you, and maybe you can mobilize the guys that did such an excellent job on the Weaver’s and Edmond’s houses.  Barry, give him a key, so he can look at the house tomorrow night and come up with a plan to bring the house up to date.”

Mrs. Tillison continued. “Anita will be available to help you and advise you, but the job is yours to do.  I will pay the same as I did before and I want it done right.”

Tyler said, “Mrs. T, please let me look at the situation and then I will get back to you, after I talk to Mrs. Thompson.   You’re asking me to do something that I have never done before, and it’s a little scary, but I will promise you that when it is finished, it will be a first rate product.”

Tyler and Kevin collected Spencer, and left.  Jeff hugged them and whispered to them as they left.

Kenny and Drew had been studying with Tommy and they came down the stairs and Mrs. Hendrix said, “Kenny, would you please take the girls home so they can get to bed?”

The guys collected the girls and left with them and Denny.

Beau asked, “May I please go too?”

“No.” said Mrs. Tillison.

Beau sat down.  Mrs. Tillison started, “We have to figure out a way to correct all the wrongs that have been done.  We need to get the bills paid, and save Barry’s practice.”

Beau interrupted, “Grams, stop right there.  You are focusing on the wrong things.  The primary thing we need to consider in all this mess is the girls.  Did you realize they both have very low self esteem?  One of the girls told me today that they got free lunches and the other twin told me that they had been buying their clothes at the Goodwill Store.”

Mrs. Tillison, the Hendrix’s and Barry looked like ghosts.  Beau wasn’t finished.  He added, “The most important thing should be to worry about the people and then take care of the material things, later.  Now that I’ve upset everyone, I’m going to bed.”

Beau started up the steps but Mrs. T. called out, “Beau, I forgot to tell you that the art people will be at the Weaver’s house on Thursday evening at 7:00.”

“Grams, that's a materials thing and not a person thing.”  Beau said, as he went up the stairs.

Jeff picked up where Beau had left off.  “Beau was absolutely correct.  First everyone needs to make sure the girls come out of this with their heads up high.  You already have Aunt Amanda getting help, which will hopefully help her.  I also think that Uncle Barry needs some psychological help.”

“Since he is a professional person, he probably needs to go elsewhere to get help.  Perhaps Uncle Josh’s former partner would be a good place to start.  Now, I am going to excuse myself, since I have to get ready for my classes tomorrow.”

Jeff left and Mrs. Tillison said, “I think we have been dismissed, but those two young men have their priorities perfectly straight.  I wish I could remember everything they said.”

Everyone left and I locked up and went to bed.  Jeff was sitting, making some notes and Beau was lying on our bed.  I took a shower and put some briefs on and when I came out Beau said, “Dad, I really screwed up, didn’t I?”

I crawled into bed and pulled him close and said, “Beau, you and Jeff were both right on target.  I will have to admit that I didn’t think you would be so blunt.  I’m so proud that both of you realize that people are more important that material things or money.”

Jeff crawled on the bed and hugged Beau and said, “Beau, you are a work of art.  You tell it like it is, regardless of who you might upset.  I don’t think you will ever go very far in politics.”

Beau sat on Jeff and said, “I’m going to be a circus clown, remember.”  He leaned down and kissed Jeff and then he rolled on top me and kissed me.

Tommy and Jason were standing in the doorway and Jason asked, “Why weren’t we invited to this love in?”

They both dived on the bed and after all of the appropriate hugs and kisses, the five of us slept soundly, in my bed.

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

I am going to have to read that chapter again; I am still a bit confused. Don't mind me, though, I confuse easily. I am ready for the next chapter. I love this story.

Darryl AKA  The Radio Rancher
 

Posted: 09/07/07