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 37

Adoption Day

Tuesday morning, everyone was excited.  Tommy was coming home at noon and would pick up Jason.  Jeff was coming home and would pick up Beau.   Denny’s mother was going to fill in for Beau.

The guys fixed a quick lunch and then changed into slacks, turtle necks and their blazers.  They were really good looking.  Beau was pacing.  “What if the judge sends uus back to the home?  I’ll runaway.”

We left for the court room, accompanied by the Peoria connection.  When we got to the Court House, we were met by Norm, Mrs. Tillison, Josh and Ben.  We went in the empty court room and Norm briefed us.  “I have never had a case before Judge Leavitt.  She is a relatively new judge.”

“I know who she is but have never really talked to her much.  She is a little older than me and I think she has grown children.”

We were joined by the five year olds, Spencer, Gigi and Denny.  Drew and Kenny arrived as did Davey and his father.  We were joined in the court room by a lady with two daughters and finally Mrs. Potts walked in with Mrs. Rose.

At 1:15, Norm took the three guys to the front and sat down at a table and Mrs. Rose sat at the other end.  After the opening formalities, an attractive lady in her fifties took her seat.  She said, “This is certainly going to be an interesting afternoon.  We have three very different cases that are tied together.”

“Which of you is Mr. Custer?” asked Judge Leavitt.

Beau stood and said, “I am, ma’am but would you please call me Beau?  I hate the other names, because of the life that it reminds me of.”

“Very well Beau, it says in your petitions that you are requesting to be adopted by Dr. Joshua Benson and you would like your name officially changed to Beau Benjamin Benson.  Now I don’t understand the last part of the petition.  Is this correct?  You want Doctor Jack Wilson to retain the power of attorney over you, until you move in with your new Dad in June.”

“Yes Judge Leavitt, we’re going to move into the house on Dakota Circle that we bought right after Memorial Day.  Do you know the area?” Beau asked.

“I know the area.  Which house are you moving into?” the Judge asked.

“Oh, it’s in the middle of the circle.  It’s a small white brick house with a circular driveway.” Beau answered.

“You mean the one with the big pool in the back yard?” the Judge asked.

“Yep, that’s the one.”  Beau answered.  “How did you know that?”

“Oh, I just happen to live next door.”  the Judge answered.  “Now before I grant your petition, I need to know if you are going to be having any wild parties.”

“Oh yes ma’am, we’ll be having lots of parties, with beer and gin.  We may have fifty or so people there at any given time.”

“Isn’t it illegal for teenagers to drink beer and gin?  Will your father permit that?”  Judge Leavitt asked.

“Just a minute, I’ll ask him.  Dad J., is it okay if we have root beer and ginger ale when we have the guys and gals over?  Ma’am, most of us will be drinking lemonade or juice or maybe milk.” Beau answered.

By the way, many of the young people will not be teenagers.  A lot of the people are sitting right here in your court room.  I hope you have a chance to meet all these wonderful people.  Now I have a couple of questions for you Judge.”  Beau challenged.

“Are you married?” Beau asked.

”Yes.”

“Do you have any children?”

“Yes, we have two sons.”

“Do you have any grandchildren?”

“Yes, our eldest son and his wife have four boys.  They live here in Fremont.”

“How old are the guys?”

They are five, nine, eleven and thirteen.”

“Oh, where do they go to school?”

“They go to the Catholic school here in town.”

“Then you must be Catholic?”

“No, my husband and I are both of the Jewish faith.”

“Then why do you your grandsons go to Catholic schools?”

“Their mother is Catholic and their other grandmother wants the boys to go to Catholic school and is even paying the fees.”

Beau thought for a minute and then said, “I guess the important thing is, are your grandsons regular guys or are they nerds and how often do they come to your house to visit?”

“They are well rounded boys.  They are good students, they play sports and they all play the piano rather well.  They usually visit our house one or two days a week; especially when the weather is nice and they can walk or ride their bicycles.”

Beau said, “Next question, do you have wild parties and what are the rest of the neighbors like?”

“Well, one of the neighbors is sitting right there and yes we have some parties but I don’t think anyone would call them wild.”  Judge Leavitt laughed.

“You mean Dr. Jeanne lives close to us?  I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of her and Dr. Billy since he will want to be at our house all of the time.”  Beau winked at Jeanne.

Beau said, “What about your other son, does he live here in Fremont also?”

“No, David lives in Lincoln with his friend.  He’s a psychiatrist.”

“Did you just tell me what I think you told me?” Beau asked.

Judge Leavitt smiled at Beau at whispered, “I think so.”

The Judge said, “Mr. Beau Benjamin Benson, I grant your petitions as submitted, now I would like to talk to Jason.”

Jason stood.

Judge Leavitt looked at the papers in from of her and said, “It says here that you want your legal name changed to Jason Powers Jameson and that you want Doctor Benjamin Jameson to be your legal guardian; but, you also want your power of attorney to remain with Doctor Jack Wilson until you move?”

Yes ma’am, Granddad and I are going to be living with Beau and his new Dad.”

“So it doesn’t bother you that your Granddad and Beau’s new Dad live together?”

“No, is it supposed to?  If they love each other, it is no one else’s business, unless they would run around in front of everyone yelling ‘Look at us.  We’re in love’ which they certainly don’t do.”  Jason assured her.

Judge Leavitt decided to change the subject.  “It says here that your Grandmother Powers is alive.  Why don’t you live with her?”

“Grandma Ginny is sitting right there.  She lives in an assisted living facility in Peoria, Illinois.  Can you see me running around an assisted living facility looking for someone to play and study with? “

“Isn’t my Grandma pretty, even though she is confined to her wheelchair for the rest of her life?   When we move to our new house, there will be a bedroom on the first floor for her when she comes to visit.”  Jason stopped.

“Maybe some day she will come to live with us.  She loves everyone here and we all love her.”  Jason added.

“Jason, your petitions are approved.  Now comes the hard case.  Who is Thomas Simmons?”

Tommy stood and said, “Ma’am, that’s me.”

“Tommy, it says here that both your parents are still alive, and that you are 16 years old.  These are very strange requests.”

“Judge Leavitt, I am sure that you have all the information on my case and that you know that my father threw me out and had me arrested after he humiliated me.  I really do not wish to see him again.  My Mother and I have dialogued about this situation, and she agrees that it would be in my best interest for me to be adopted by Doctor Wilson.  My Mother is in the court room right over there with my two sisters.  Perhaps you might like to direct some questions to her.”  Tommy said.

“Mrs. Simmons, how do you feel about Tommy being adopted by Doctor Wilson?”  Judge Leavitt asked.

“Your honor, at first I was not at all pleased, but the more I thought and the more we dialogued the more it made sense.  He will be able to enjoy experiences that he would never have if he were to return home.  He has assured me that I will always be his mother and that he will love me and his sisters and help us in any way that he can.  I am so happy that he landed on his feet in such a loving environment.”  Mrs. Simmons had tears in her eyes.

“Mrs. Simmons, do you and your son talk on the phone or how have you been dialoguing?” Judge Leavitt asked.

“We write notes back and forth, and our messengers deliver them.  Jason brings Tommy’s notes and gives them to Chrissie and vice versa.  This is only the second time I have been in the same room as Tommy since his father had him arrested.  I saw him and all of these wonderful people at church on Sunday when they performed so admirably, especially Beau and Jeff.”  Mrs. Simmons answered.

Judge Leavitt looked concerned and asked, “Mrs. Simmons, do you fear for your or daughter’s safety?”

Mrs. Simmons shook her head, “Not anymore, I finally read the riot act to my husband after I found what had happened to Tommy.  He knows I mean business and if he tries anything, I'll hang him out to dry.  Tommy and I both think that it would better not give him an excuse to do anymore damage.”

Judge Leavitt shook her head and said, “Tommy, your petitions are granted.  Now is there anything else?”

Before anyone else could respond, Beau stood up and said, “Judge Leavitt, I have a couple of matters that I would like to call to your attention.  The first one has to do with Danny Pike who is in the Home for Homeless Teenagers where my new Dad is the Director.”

“We need to get him out of there.  Deputy Dan Crawford would make an excellent foster father, but he works weird shifts so this is something that I will have to consider.  I just wanted you to be ready to help me when the time comes.” 

“The other matter had to do with a divorce settlement but we need to get everything sorted out first.  There are two young girls involved and we have to make sure that they come out of this without too much more exposure, Judge Leavitt, do you have a business card so I might call or you or email you and we can make some plans?”

Judge Leavitt and Beau exchanged cards and then Beau said, “Now Judge, take a break and meet some of our wonderful friends.”

The Judge said, “This court is recess for 15 minutes.”

Beau took her to Kenny, Drew and Uncle Lyle first and said, “These guys need to get going or they will be late for baseball practice.  Uncle Lyle, you make sure those coaches do what is best to make these guys better baseball players.”

Tommy hugged his Mother and sisters and took off with the Uncle Lyle.

Beau introduced Judge Leavitt to everyone and she was amazed at the group.  She commended the young people on how well they behaved.  The last person was Norm.  “Judge Leavitt, this is our lawyer, Mr. Norman Burns.  Did you notice how hard he worked today?  Uncle Norm must be really tired, but I guess lawyers get big bucks for sitting around and looking handsome or beautiful.  You’ll be seeing him again when our other two cases come up.  He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Norm tried to catch Beau, and Beau said, “Judge, did you see that?  Uncle Norm tried to assault me.”

“Too bad he didn’t kiss you so you could add battery to the charges.”  Judge Leavitt sighed.

The bailiff and the court stenographer were both openly laughing.

Beau said, “Chip, I need you.  We’re going to give Judge Leavitt a kissing lesson.”

Beau hugged her and kissed her first and then he motioned to Chip and Chip gave her one of his patented kisses.  The two guys walked to the door and Beau turned and said, “See you real soon, Judge Leavitt.”

We got Beau and the guys back to Gigi’s and the homework clubs got busy. Beau sent all of the adults home.  He fixed dinner for the Baxter’s and the Knights, while Spencer finished his makeup work for being absent.

The high school students and baseball coaches were enthralled with Uncle Lyle.  He had been the team physician for the Chicago White Sox at one time, for ten years and that is how he got into sports surgery.  He pointed out many things that the guys were doing wrong and made suggestion as to how to improve some things.”

The guys all admired him and asked him to come to practice on Wednesday.  Coach Winston and Paul thanked him for his help and Tommy became an instant hero.

When everyone got home, Jeff and Rea had dinner ready.  We ate and the guys did the dishes and the phone rang and it was for Beau.

When he came back he said, “I guess I have a sitting job on Friday night.  Is that okay?”

Aunt Evelyn said, “we are planning to leave on Friday, so don’t worry about us.”

Beau went to change his clothes and the phone rang again.  The call was for Beau again.

“Hi Mr. Crosby, what’s up? …  What's Spencer doing?  Why isn’t he sitting with Trey and Ranger? … I’ll make you a deal.  Why don’t you bring Trey and Ranger so they can spend the night?  I’ll get Chip to come too … Thanks see you tomorrow.”

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

Is it just me or is that the fastest adoption proceeding ever done?

That was a real great chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 10/05/07