The Doctor Gets a Visitor IV
by: E Walk

(Copyright 2007 by the Author)
Editor Radio Rancher

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


Chapter 15

The Ball Game

On Monday it was raining, so everyone except Tommy worked out downstairs.  As we were eating breakfast, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We were getting ready to leave when Beau asked, “Can someone please pick me up and take me to the game?”

Ted said, “We’ll pick you up if Doctor Dad doesn’t keep us to too busy.  We’ll pick you up at 3:30”

“Thank you.” Beau said, as he and Danny left with Tommy.   Jeff took Jason and Davey and the day began.

It was an uneventful day at the office.  Andrea and Ted picked up Beau and took him to the game where they met Jeff.  Fremont High was playing the number one team in the state.  Beau wasn’t talking to anyone.  He was studying what was going on.

In the middle of the sixth inning, the score was still 0 to 0.  All of a sudden Beau got out of his seat and went to the Fremont High bench and said, “Coach Winston, call a time out or whatever and get the team over here.”

Coach Winston went to the umpire and visiting coach and was granted a two minute delay.  He had the guys gather around Beau.  Beau said, “Guys, their pitcher is telegraphing his pitches.  If he rubs his hand over his genital area like this, it’s going to be a fast ball.  If he runs his hand across his nose like this, it’s going to be a curve and if he lifts his hat, it’s going to be his slop pitch.  Now go clean his whistle.”

Tommy was the first batter and he took the first two pitches for strikes and saw that Beau’s observation was correct.  On the third pitch, Tommy hit the ball over the fence for a home run.  Before the inning was over, Fremont High scored five runs and the game ended up with Fremont High winning five to zip.

After the game the players all came over to Beau and hugged him and Coach Winston said, “Mr. Benson, you will he at all of our games won’t you.  I can’t believe that none of us picked up on what was happening.”

When everyone got home, Beau fixed dinner.  We had steaks, baked potato and the rest of the trimmings.  We were just finishing when the doorbell rang.

Jason went to answer and brought back a lady and a gentleman.  “We’re sorry to interrupt, but Beau, we just want to thank you for what you did to our sons.  They all brought their laundry down and sorted it.  I can’t believe that you got them to organize their treasures.  They even told us they would clean their own rooms and their bathrooms. 

Mrs. Carpenter said, “I may have to go back to work to keep myself busy.  Perhaps you could teach them to cook this weekend when you sit.  We would like you to come on Friday from 7 until 11 and then from 1:00 to 11:00 on Saturday if you are available.”

Beau said, “I was free, but now I can say I’m busy.  I’ll get the guys started on their cooking lessons, but don’t expect miracles.  Where are the guys anyway?”

“Oh they are sitting with their Grandma and Grandpa Carpenter to make sure they don’t get into trouble.” Mr. Carpenter said.  “Thank you for treating our sons like they were the important human beings they are.  They told us that you said it was okay to show another male how much you loved them as long as they didn’t do it in public.  I’ve never had so many hugs and kisses and I must admit I’m loving it.  Thanks for talking, we’ll see you Friday.  The guys will be thrilled that you can come.”

The Carpenters left and the guys did the dishes while Andrea, Ted, Jeff and I visited in the living room.  Mrs. Tillison arrived with Ben and Josh.  We were talking when the doorbell rang.  Jeff answered the door and brought Mr. Whitely into the living room.  “Dad, this is Mr. Whitely.  He is here to discuss building the new facility.”

Mrs. Tillison said, “Good evening Lou.  I haven’t seen you and your lovely wife for some time.  I hope you are going to be able to help us.  Jeff, go get Beau, so he can hear what Lou has to say.”

Jeff went to get Beau.  Beau came in and said, “I was told to keep my nose out of the financing and construction of the new facility, so I’ll excuse myself.”

Mrs. T. said, “Beau, sit down.  This is all happening because of you and Jeff.  So be a good little boy and listen.”

“Mr. Whitely, how long do you think it would take to build the new facility that Mr. West has designed without disrupting Jack’s practice even if he added two new associates?”  Mrs. T. asked.

Mr. Whitely said, “If we would build one wing at a time it would probably take about four months if the weather cooperates.”

Beau couldn’t handle it anymore and said, “Mr. Whitely, what if we moved two portables here so that you could concentrate on the first three wings and reception area first.  When you had the first three wings and reception area done, we could get rid of the portables so you could do the last two wings and the exterior grounds and parking lot.”

“Beau, that could work and we could probably have everything done in three months.”  Mr. Whitely said.

“Mr. Whitely, we want you to make sure that whatever you do is the finest work you can do.  We are looking for quality and not quantity.”  Beau said.  “I’m sorry Doctor Dad; I’ll sit down and be quiet.”

Mr. Whitely said, “I’m almost afraid to take this job.  Not only is Mrs. Tillison going to be looking over my shoulder, but I have a feeling that Mr. Beau will be even harder to please.  I can see him on the site with his level and plum line, but I just happen to have an opening and can start tomorrow if you will sign the contract.”

Beau read the contract and passed it to Mrs. Tillison and said, “Grams, this looks fair to me.  Do you think we should add a clause that if the facility isn’t totally finished by September 1, and that includes landscaping, there will be a 1% penalty for each day the work isn’t finished?”

Mr. Whitely said, “Maybe I shouldn’t take this job.  Those are rather stringent restrictions.”

“Too late sir, Doctor Dad has already signed the agreement, but we’ll work with you if any problems arise.” Beau said.  “Now if you will excuse me, I am going to be a wild teenager like I was directed to do.”

Everyone left and Jeff and I were visiting with Andy and Ted.  Andy and Ted were marveling at what had happened and how mature Beau was.   Jeff said, “Andy and Ted, you need to know that Beau is a genius with an IQ of 160.  He refuses to accept it, but he is a brilliant young man.  What is even more amazing is how much love he has for everyone.  He is a true anomaly.”

Beau came in and said, “Dad, what do you know about Mr. Carpenter?  I have the feeling that he is a professional and doesn’t have much time to spend with his family.  I think he needs to spend more time with his boys.  They are really wonderful.”

“Beau, Dr. Peter Carpenter is a doctor who specializes in internal medicine and is also a certified surgeon.”  I answered. 

“Yippee, that solves our problems, now we have one of our internal medicine doctors for our clinic.  So now we need one more obstetrician, one more internal medicine person and one more pediatrician.   Can I have Dr. Carpenter come to visit with us tomorrow to explain what is happening?”

“Beau, you can try to entice him to join the clinic, but I am sure that he won’t consider it.  He is rather well known throughout the area and I even send some of my patients to him.  He would draw a lot of people to the clinic.”  I said.

“Thanks Dad.”  He gave me a hug and kiss.  He did the same to everyone else and announced that he was going to bed.

Tuesday was just a normal day until Andrea and Ted picked up the five young guys and Danny, Beau, and Denny and took them to the courthouse.  They were met by Barry, Dan and the girls with Mrs. Tillison and the Hendrixs, Norm and Mrs. Rose.  They all went in and sat down in the courtroom.

The court was convened and after everyone sat down, Judge Leavitt looked out at the assembled group.  “Mr. Benson, would you please approach the bench?”

Beau got up and walked to the bench.  He and Judge Leavitt conferred and he went back and sat down.  The judge said, “I would like to speak with Danny, Melody and Melanie in my chambers please.  The court is in recess for five minutes.”

When they came back to the courtroom, the three were smiling.  Judge Leavitt said, “In the matter of the divorce of Barry and Amanda Tillison, it is so granted.  In the second matter, Mr. Barry Tillison is granted sole custody of his daughters Melody and Melanie.  In the matter of Mr. Barry Tillison’s petition to adopt Mr. Danny Pike, it is also granted.  The last petition is also granted.  Danny’s legal name shall be Daniel Crawford Tillison.  Mr. Benson, I would like to see you in my chambers.  This court is in recess.”

Beau went to see what Judge Leavitt wanted.  He came out laughing.  “What’s so funny?” asked Danny.

“Oh Judge Leavitt wanted to know when we were going to have our first party at our new house.  She has four grandsons and she wants us to teach them how to be men.”  Beau laughed.

Without skipping a beat Beau asked, “Grams, do you have any nice rental properties open that the Lords might be interested in?” 

Mrs. T. said, “One just came on the market yesterday.  Why don’t I show it to you now?  The rest of the young people won’t be home for a little while and besides Spencer, Denny and Gigi can handle them.”

She led them to the house next to the Edmond’s.  Chip was really excited.  “I live right there.  Hal and his sisters live across the street and Mr. West and Brad live right behind us and Lenny, Larry and Mitch live right next door.”

Mrs. T. took the party inside and said, “I think that we need to renovate the interior.  The people who just moved out had lived here for ten years.  I’ll replace the carpet and appliances and get Tyler and his crew to come and paint.  You can even choose what colors you want.  You might have to stay another night.  You might try to see Jill and Reg’s house and the Edmond’s house to get a feel for what this house might look like when it is fixed up.  We could even set up a rent to own contract, if you would like.”

“Mrs. Tillison, we’re just overwhelmed by your offer.  We need time to think about it.” said Andrea.

Mrs. Tillison said, “Here’s the key and you can look at it later at your leisure.”

The Lords dropped the guys off and brought me my car and said, “We’ll meet you at the house.  We’ll fix dinner tonight.  I guess we are spending another night.”

When I arrived home with the guys, Andrea and Ted had everything ready.  Beau and Danny knew what was happening but none of the rest of us did.  When we walked in Beau said, “It smells like we’re having rutabaga, grits and chitlins.”

Andrea started to laugh, “No sonny, we’re having pig feet, hominy and turnips with dandelion greens.”

Ted said, “We even made some apple moonshine for you guys.  You’ll probably fall asleep before dinner is over and I’ll have to carry you to bed.”

Beau said, “Oh yeah, you just want to get a thrill by seeing us all naked.  How can I help you Aunt Andy.

Andy said, “Everything is ready, please sit down.”  They had fixed strawberry yogurt soup, a nice tossed salad, bread sticks and chicken stir fry and for dessert we had a warm peach cobbler with ice cream.

When we finished, Beau got out of his seat and said, “Aunt Andy and Uncle Ted, that was spectacular.  We’ll take care of the clean up.  Tommy, you go do your homework so you’re not up all night.  Dad you and Jeff take the Doctors into the living room and visit.  Doctor Carpenter will be coming by shortly to discuss joining your clinic.  Let me know when he arrives.”

The guys made short work of the cleanup detail and they disappeared downstairs.  The doorbell rang and Doctor Carpenter was there and he said, “Beau asked if I could stop by.  He said he had something to discuss with me.”

Jeff said, “Please come in sir and I’ll get Beau.  You already know my Dad and the Lords, I believe.”

Jeff got Beau and Beau said, “Thanks for coming Doctor Carpenter.  I would like to make a proposal to you.  If all of you would please join me in the dining room.”

Beau led us into the dining room.  Beau had the plan for the new facility sitting on an easel.  “Doctor Wilson has contracted for a new facility to be built.  Doctor Andrea Lord and Doctor Ted Lord will be joining his practice.  The three General Practitioners would be located in this wing.  This would be the Pediatric wing.  Doctor Gwen Frazier and another pediatrician to be identified will work in this wing.  The middle wing here would house the Obstetrics Practices.  Doctor Barry Tillison will be working in this wing with an associate to be selected shortly.”

“Now here’s where you come in Doctor Carpenter.  The fourth wing here would be the Internal Medicine wing.  He would like you to consider joining the clinic to be in charge of the area and find an associate to work with you.  The fifth wing here will be occupied by my Dad, Dr. Josh Benson who is a Psychologist and my Granddad, Doctor Ben Jameson who is a Psychiatrist. We would also like to have a Geriatrician on the staff so we could take care of people of all ages.”  Beau finally stopped.

Doctor Carpenter looked like he had been struck by lightening.  “Beau, you don’t ease into anything do you?  It’s all or nothing.  First, I already have an associate who would need to be involved in any decisions.  The plan looks fantastic.  When will the facility be completed?”

“Sir, Mr. Whitely said he thought it could be ready in three months.   I have to tell you this; we are only going to accept the best quality of workmanship.”  Beau said.

Doctor Carpenter said, “Everyone, I need time think about this and talk to my family and my associate.  How soon do I have to let you know?”

Beau said, “By midnight would be fine.  Honestly sir, the sooner you would decide then the more you could be involved in deciding how the clinic would be set up and operated.” 

Pete Carpenter stood and said, “This is not what I expected when I came here.”

 

Ted said, “How do you think we felt when we got here?  Now we’re worried about where we are going to live when we move here.”

Doctor Carpenter left and Beau said, “Jeff would you please call Aunt Jill and Uncle Reg and the Edmonds and see if we can pop on over to look at their houses.”

Jeff made the calls and away we went.  Chip showed us around the Weavers’ house and Larry and Lenny showed us around the Edmonds’ house.  We stopped next door and went through the house and there were four bedrooms with three bathrooms upstairs and the first floor had a nice kitchen though outdated, a living room, a formal dining room and a study and a ½ bath.  The lower level had the family room with shower bathroom and the laundry.  There was a two car garage.

When we got back to the house, Beau took charge.  “Aunt Andy and Uncle Ted, I really think you should seriously consider Gram’s offer to rent with the option to buy.  You can see that she doesn’t cut costs when it comes to redecorating and you could choose what you want as far as colors and appliances.”

Beau was about ready to leave when I asked “Beau, don’t you think that you might ask before you make promises, I grabbed him and put him on the floor and sat on him.

“Dad, are you angry with me for calling Doctor Carpenter?”

“Son, I would never have called him.  He is so well established that I would never have considered him.  If he accepts, it would be a feather in our cap.  What I’m upset about is how you just put Mrs. Tillison on the line without even asking her first.”

“Doctor Wilson, Beau was only restating what Mrs. Tillison told us herself today.  It just makes more sense now that we saw what she was talking about.”  Andy said.

I leaned down and kissed Beau on the lips and said, “I’m sorry, son.  I overreacted.”

Beau looked at me and went to the phone. “Hi sir, this mean Doctor Wilson just threw me on the floor and kissed me on the lips.”  He put the phone down and dashed up the stairs.  “See you in jail tomorrow, Dad.”  He said as he disappeared.

Everyone was laughing.  The Lords said, “If we stay here much longer, we will be completely Beaurecized.”   They excused themselves and went to bed.  Jeff and I locked up and went to get ready for bed.    We had just turned out the lights when there was a knock on the door.

“Come in Beau.”  Jeff said.

“Dad and Jeff, I’m sorry I was out of control tonight, but sometimes my mind thinks faster than it should.  Please don’t hate me.  I love you both too much to ever intentionally hurt you.”  He just disappeared.

“Jeff, I really feel bad about what I did to Beau, tonight.  I gave him permission to call Doctor Carpenter and then I accused him of speaking for his grandmother and he was just emphasizing what she had said.  I’m afraid my mind just can’t keep up with him.”

“Dad, just talk to him in the morning.  He truly does love you and is getting a little jittery about leaving here.  He feels so at home and needed here.  He has had so many adjustments in his life and it may be hard for him at first to adjust to living with Uncle Josh and Uncle Ben, although I’m sure he will have them wrapped around his finger in no time.  Now let’s go to sleep.”

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

Talk about a busy chapter.  Wow, Beau certainly doesn't go lightly into anything.  He knows what he wants, and he does his best to accomplish it.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 11/09/07