The Doctor Gets a Visitor III
by: E Walk

(Copyright 2007 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 25
The Truth Hurts

Wednesday was just a normal day that got more chaotic as it went.  I called the staff together and explained what going on.

Lash in his own way said, “Jack, we’re spread rather thin already.  We will need to hire more people, and we really need to think about getting a new computer system that is networked.”

“Lash that is exactly the type of things we need to plan for in a new facility.  If and when we get more doctors here at the clinic, we need to make sure that we continue to provide a high quality of service.  I want you and Jill and the rest of staff to get your heads together to make sure we will have a first class facility.” 

Jill spoke up and said, “I guess there must be things happening that we don’t know about, but we should be involved in any discussions if we are to be an effective team.  I realize that this has been a one man show, but if you start bringing other people in, you need to let them know that you are in control, and yet still maintain your laid back style of operating.”

“I just want you to start thinking about it.  It’s going to be happening sooner or later, and I have no idea how big it will be.”  I assured them.

Lash said, “If Mrs. Tillison is involved, then it will probably happen yesterday.”

I hugged the staff and went outside and looked around the adjacent properties to see how it could work.  I realized that I didn’t have the foggiest idea.  For some reason, I went back to my office and got the blue prints for the present facility and took them with me.

I stopped at the Madison’s and had some soup and a salad and was mentally planning what was about to happen, not only with the building, but with the guys and everything in general.

Mrs. Madison came and sat down and asked, “Jack is there a problem?  You seem agitated.”

“Mrs. M, nothing is wrong.  It’s like my world has been turned upside down since Jeff got here.  I used to be by myself all the time, and now I rarely have time to myself.  I’m not complaining, mind you, but it has been a big adjustment for me.”  I told her.

“Enjoy your family while you can, Jack.  They leave all too soon, and then you will really feel alone.”  Mrs. Madison kissed me and left.

I decided to go home and fix a nice dinner.  I stopped and bought some groceries and cooking turned out to be just the therapy I needed.  I had the dining room table set and went to pick up the guys.  They came in and Beau said, “I think someone must be ill.  The food is already cooking.  Dad, who’s home?”

I scowled and said, “Me, you punk, I do know how to cook, you know.  You’re in time out, for hurting my feelings.”

Beau went to the corner and started to sob.  “Nobody loves me.”

“That’s not true, Brat.  Everyone loves you, but you keep treating me like a speck of dirt.” I sighed.

“You’re anything but a speck of dirt.  It would be more appropriate to say a pile of elephant dung,” Beau laughed.

“That does it.  Go to your room, and do your homework.” I said.

“Denny and I have been fired.  Mrs. Tice said we were the dumbest kids she ever met.  She told us there was no way she could help us.  Mr. Sanders is giving us another test tomorrow, to see if we made any progress or regressed.  I’m sure that he’s going to recommend that I go back to elementary school.”

“Okay, you are out of time out, but you need to be nice to old people.” I reminded the guys.

Jason said, “We will, if we ever see any.”  The two guys dashed out of the kitchen and came back with two baskets of dirty clothes.  Jason started sorting and Beau retrieved a third basket.

Beau looked at me and said, “You and Jeff must have been very good last night, because I didn’t have to change your bed linens.”

I grabbed at him, but he avoided me and said, “Don’t touch his majesty’s serfs.”

Jeff and Tommy came in and said, “Something smells good.”

“Yeah, Dad found some cheap horse meat and rotting vegetables and threw them in a pot with some water.”

I told everyone to sit down and served them their appetizers of cheese puffs, followed by small fruit salads with rolls.  I served the main course of beef burgundy on noodles with fresh asparagus.

Beau looked at his plate and said, “I knew someone had been cutting the bushes out front.”

When dinner was over, Beau asked, “Jeff, could you take me to a good jeweler’s store please?”

I interjected, “Jeff, why don’t you take Beau to visit the jewelry shop on Lincoln Way?  The Waters seem like a reliable couple, and they are patients of mine.”

The guys left and were back in no time.  “Did you find what you wanted?” I asked.

Beau said, “No, but Mr. Waters is going to make what I want, and I need to pick the goods up on Saturday.  Dad, when is your birthday?”

“July 1^st.”  I answered, not knowing what that had to do with anything. 

“Come on Beau, we need to go over the tapes from baseball practice today.”  Jeff said.

Beau looked at Jeff funny, and said, “I’ve never played baseball in my life.  What do I know about baseball?”

Jeff said, “You started this mess.  Now, you need to help me figure out how to get us out of it.”

Beau said, “Jeff, why don’t you plan an exercise regimen for the team with the guys' help and then put someone like Kenny or Drew in charge of the exercises, and have the team elect a team captain.”

“Then we could maybe meet with Coach Winston, Coach Murphy and the team representatives and go over the tapes.  The team has to feel some ownership in what is going to happen.”

“Beau, you’re right again.” Jeff said.

“Yeah, we can’t be fixing everyone’s problems, or we’ll never have any fun.  Why don’t you set a meeting up for Sunday, say at 3:30?  Dad can invite Lash to come at the same time and they can discuss the new facility.”  Beau said.

The doorbell interrupted any further discussion.  It was Alex and Brad West followed by Grams, Barry, Ben and Josh.

Beau announced, “If you don’t need Brad and me, we’re going downstairs to mess around.”

“Just be available if we need to consult with you.”  Mrs. T. laughed.  “Jack, I just realized this afternoon, that I own the properties on either side of your present location, so that gives us some additional flexibility.”

“Alex, for some reason, I thought to bring the blue prints for my present facility.  I don’t know if they might be helpful to you or not.” I said.

“Jack, you probably just saved me more than twenty hours of work.  So how big do you want this facility to be?”  Alex asked.

Jeff jumped in, “Dad needs two assistant General Practitioners, Uncle Barry should think about an obstetrician/gynecologist assistant, and then to make it a well rounded clinic, we should have at least one or two pediatricians.  I think Doctor Frazer should be one of them.   I also think it might be good to have an Internal Medicine person and maybe geriatrician and then there has to be room for Uncle Ben and Uncle Josh.”

“I envision a super clinic, if we do this right, but we need to make sure that we have adequate parking spaces for the staff and patients.”

Alex, Barry, Ben and Josh looked stunned.

“Alex, the ball is in your court.  It’s up to you to tell us which way the project is going to bounce.  Mrs. T. said.

Alex shook his head in agreement and said, “Jeff, could you call Brad for me please?” Alex asked.

The two guys came in and Beau said, “Brad was teaching me how to play chess.”

Brad spoke up and said, “That took two minutes, and now I can’t win.”

“Brad, we need to go” Alex said.

Beau got their jackets.  He hugged Alex and kissed him on the cheek and said, “Thanks for loving stud boy here.  He really is a neat guy.”  He turned to Brad and high fived him as they were leaving.  Alex looked a little shook.

Mrs. T. and her guys were getting ready to leave when Tyler and Kevin came in. “Mrs. Tillison, have you been in that house?” Tyler asked.  It’s even worse than I originally thought.”

“No Tyler, I haven’t.”  Mrs. T. said timidly.

“Well then, I suggest that you, Mrs. Hendrix and Aunt Anita look at the house, and tell us what you want done.  We can paint it, but that would be like putting a small Band-Aid on a big open wound.”  Tyler said. 

Barry went white and Mrs. Tillison said, “Tyler, you sure don’t sugar coat anything, do you?  I appreciate your honesty.   I’ll try to get the other two together tomorrow, and I’ll let you know what needs to happen.”

I left and got Mrs. Tillison a stiff drink.  I could tell she was really upset.  She looked at Tyler and Kevin and said, “Tyler and Kevin, I am not upset with you two.  Quite the opposite is true.  I am so upset with myself and a few others, for allowing something like this to happen.”

Jeff interjected, “Grams, be careful and don’t try to fix everything with money, especially where the girls are concerned.  They need to learn to feel good about themselves, and who they are, and that can not be bought.  It is just going to take a lot of love and understanding on everybody’s part.”

Josh said, “Wait a minute, I’m the person with my doctorate in psychology.  I am supposed to be the one who thinks of something like that.”

Beau stepped in, “Dad J, you’re too close to the situation.  Your vision is a little clouded by your family connections.”  Beau turned to Mrs. T and asked, “So, we’re set to meet the art dealers at 7:00 tomorrow night, right?”

“Yes Beau.  Was the ad for the garage sale in the paper, today?” she asked.

Beau went and got the paper and showed her the ad.  “Wait a minute; this isn’t a normal ad for a garage sale.  Where did something like this come from and how much did it cost?” she asked.

“Mrs. Montgomery and I designed it the other day, when she came to pick up Davey.  The bad part is, she wouldn’t let me pay for it because we were taking care of Davey for next to nothing.” Beau said.

“Jack honey, thanks for an entertaining evening, I think.”  Mrs. T. said, as she got up to leave.

The Tillison connection left, but Tyler and Kevin remained.  Tyler asked, “D. Dad can we come talk to you on Friday night?”

“Of course, guys.  Anytime.”  I assured them.

Beau asked, “Marital problems, already?”

Both Kevin and Tyler went white.  Beau added quickly, “Guys, I’m sorry that was totally inappropriate.  It just slipped out.  Dad, I’m going to bed before I open my garbage mouth again.”

“Guys stop by anytime on Friday night.  I’m confined to quarters, because Beau and Tommy are babysitting and Jason always seems to be invited somewhere on Fridays.  Don’t be upset by Beau.  He didn’t mean it to be disrespectful.  He was attempting to be funny.” I assured them.

Tyler said, “The truth always hurts.  We’ll talk more on Friday night.”

We went upstairs and Beau was lying on our bed crying.  Jeff put his arms around him and asked, “Beau, what’s wrong, now?”

“Jeff and Dad, I probably hurt Kevin and Tyler very badly, and I really didn’t mean to.    It was just the way they were acting suggested they were experiencing some problems.  I’m guessing it has to do their manliness and how it relates to making love to each other.” Beau sobbed.

“Beau, I think you’re probably right, but that still doesn’t give you the right to say something like you did tonight.”  I told him.

That really set Beau off again.  Jeff shook him and said, “Beau, get yourself under control.  Dad’s right.  You need to think before you talk, and remind yourself that other people have feelings too.  Now, come on, the three of us are going to get a shower.  It’s already late.

We got out of the shower and brushed our teeth.  As we finished, I picked Beau up and carried him into the bedroom.  I sat down on the bed and turned him over my knees and gave him a light whack on his towel covered bottom and then leaned down and gave him a sloppy raspberry on the neck.

He started to laugh and I turned him over and gave him a hug and a kiss and said, “I love you son, but it’s time to go to bed.”

He kissed me and kissed Jeff and went to the door.  He turned back and pouted, “You just want to get rid of me so you two can have fun.”

He disappeared and I pulled Jeff to me and said, “We’re going to be lost when he leaves.” 

“I know, Dad.  Beau, Jason and Tommy are all special people. I love you.”

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

Yes Beau, Jason and Tommy are very special, but so is Jeff.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 09/14/07