The Doctor Gets a Visitor V
by: E Walk

(© 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 6

Say What You Mean

Thursday morning it was raining so there was no running.  Jeff had Tommy, Uncle Lyle and me downstairs working out.

At Beau’s house, he was fit to be tied.  At breakfast he said, “Dads, we need some workout equipment if we are going to be able to keep in shape especially during the winter months.  Is it okay if I use my money to buy some?”

Josh said, “No.”

Beau didn’t argue but it was apparent that he was not pleased.  Ben took the guys to their jobs since it had stopped raining.  Spencer had the guys cleaning the equipment.

Aunt Evelyn asked, “Josh, why don’t you want Beau to have workout equipment?”

Josh said, “Aunt Evelyn, I want him to have whatever he wants, but I don’t want him to pay for it.  He needs to let us be his parents, instead of paying for everything.  Ben and I are concerned that the guys are going to think that they need to take care of us and that’s not the case.  We both have enough money to make sure that the boys have the best.”

“Well why didn’t you tell him that instead of just saying no?” Ginny asked.

“Ginny, we’re still learning to be parents.  I guess I’m just a slow learner.”  Josh said.

Aunt Evelyn said, “Not to worry, we’ll take care of the problem and I agree that the two guys need to learn to accept things, especially Beau.  He gives so much not only monetarily but emotionally.  We need to put the brakes on him.”

Josh said, “I’m sorry, but I need to get to the home.  I hope you don’t think I’m avoiding the issues.”

As soon as Josh left, Aunt Evelyn was on the phone.  “Rea, we need to do some serious shopping.  Stop and pick up Lyle and come and get us.  I’ll call Aggie and tell her to get her bottom in gear.”

Rea drove the van to Omaha to find the items that Aunt Evelyn wanted.   They found the store Lyle and Mrs. T. recommended and Aunt Evelyn went right to the manager and said, “I want to purchase some items and I want them delivered tomorrow.  If you don’t think you can handle it, then we’ll take our business elsewhere.”

The manager bent over backwards and helped the people find the things that Lyle recommended.  When the manager tallied the items, Aunt Evelyn said, “I’ll pay you half now, and the other half when everything is delivered and installed tomorrow by 5:00.”

The manager said, “We can do it.  We can’t be in Fremont until about 8:30 but as long as there is a source of water available, we should be finished by 5:00 if you can keep everyone out of our hair.”

Aunt Evelyn said, “A teacher can control her subjects, so I assure you that no one will bother you except me and Lyle.  I’ll pay the balance when and if you complete the job by five.  Is that understood?”

Mrs. Tillison said, “Okay Evelyn, I’m ready for my next lesson, but let’s go to lunch first.  Rea, let’s go to the Market Basket.  It’s pleasant and not too fancy.”

They were seated and their server brought their drinks and asked, “Now what may I bring you?”

Mrs. T. said, “I’ll have the Custer sandwich with homemade chips.”

Everyone else ordered the same thing and the waitress said, “This doesn’t usually happen.  I guess I can’t botch this order too bad.”

They enjoyed their lunch and when they got back to Fremont, Beau had the pool open and there was a large group of young people there.  Mrs. Tillison was upset.  “Beau, did Josh say you could do this?”

“Grams, I called Dad and he was fine with it as long as we had enough life guards.  I have four, so what’s the problem?”

“You should have an adult here in case something happens.” Mrs. Tillison said.

“Grams, have you ever heard of the phone and besides we do have two adults here.  Grandmama W. and Mrs. McDowell are here.  There they are now.”  Beau said, as he blew his whistle three times.

“Snacks are served and then everyone needs to find something else to do because the pool is closed until after dinner.  Hey, did you all have a good lunch.  I’m getting tired of the same old thing.  I guess I had better go find some gruel.  Are you staying for dinner, Grams?”  Beau asked as he left.

Mrs. McDowell was amazed when the 13/14/15 year olds went into the kitchen with Beau and were helping him fix dinner. Jason walked in and asked, “Hey guys, is this a love in or what?  Don’t you need to go home so your parents know that you are still alive?”

The guys looked at the clock and took off, since they all had their bicycles.

The rest of the day was very normal.

The next morning it was drizzling so no running again.  It lasted until about 10:00.  Mr. Cooper had arranged to have Beau’s things picked up at 8:15.  Ben dropped him off at my house, and he had everything ready for the movers when Mr. Cooper arrived with the guys in the truck.  Mr. Cooper and Beau followed the truck to Les’s house.  The truck finally was loaded and went back to the store.

Mr. Cooper and Beau went to lunch and then met the truck at Mrs. T.’s at 1:30.  After everything was loaded, Mr. Cooper said, “I think we had better go check on the guys and see if we can help them.”

When they walked in, the guys yelled, “Beau, stop sending furniture.  We’re out of space and we have all made a sale so we’re going to sit down and watch you work.  Now get busy.” Berto ordered.

Mr. Weaver interrupted any further conversation by coming and saying, “Beau, there is lady here who says she will only work with you.”

The guys followed Beau into the showroom.  “Hi, I’m Beau Benson.  I understand that you asked to visit with me.”

“Yes, young man.  Lydia Olson said that if anyone could help, it would be you.  I want to replace all my old furniture with some good antiques and then I want you to take my old furniture and get rid of everything.”

“Ma’am, is there anyway we could look at your things so we would know what we are dealing with?  Where do you live?” Beau asked.

“Hon, I walked here.  I live two blocks away.  My name is Ellen Dover.”

“Cool, so would it be okay if my friends, Mr. Cooper and I accompany you home and you show us your house, so we could see what we’re talking about?”  Beau asked.

As they were walking to the house, she explained what she had in mind.  When the guys got to the house they all took off their shoes and Mrs. Dover was impressed.  Beau lead the charge and he crawled under some furniture and opened drawers and when they reassembled in the foyer he announced, “Ma’am, we’ll offer you $32,000.00 for what you have, and then you can pick the new furnishings from what we have in stock.”

“Now ma’am, I don’t suppose you have a basement or an attic that needs to be emptied.”  She led the guys to the basement and the attic and when Beau came back he said, “We’ll give you another $10,000.00 for the contents of the attic and the basement.”

Beau looked at the clock and said, “It’s already after five, and we have been working all day.  How about you meet us at the Shoppe at 1:00 tomorrow and we can finalize the deal and we can help you pick out some really nice replacement furniture.”

“We have to make a pick up at my house in the morning and I would like it to be in the Shoppe when you come in.  There are some things I think you would like.  We’ll try to arrange it so we can have everything changed out by next Tuesday.  I’ll coerce my friends here into helping me to make sure it happens.  Now you have a good evening.”  Beau said as he put on his shoes.

“Mrs. Dover, we’ll even make sure everything is cleaned up before we put the new furniture in place.”  Beau said,

Mrs. Dover said, “You are even better than Lydia said.  She told me about the check the store had given her.  I’m going to recommend that all my friends talk to you.”

“Ma’am, I appreciate your kind words, but my friends here are every bit as capable as I am.  I can only work so many hours, and besides I have to make sure that my brother doesn’t get into trouble.  We’ll see you tomorrow at 1:00 ma’am.”   Beau said as they were leaving.

The guys walked back to the store and Beau asked, “It isn’t going to be like this all the time is it?   We are all going to be exhausted and I want to learn to play golf and tennis.”

Mrs. Weaver said, “Beau, this is all your fault.  If you hadn’t told us off that night in Chip’s garage, this would never be happening.  You guys have quadrupled our business in a short time, so quit complaining.  Now it’s already after 5:00 so let’s close up and we’ll take you home.”

The guys split up into two vans by where they lived.  Beau was riding in Mr. Cooper’s van.  He was the last one to be left off.  He came into the house and went straight up stairs to get cleaned up.  When he came down he saw us in the living room having a drink.  Jason, Lenny and Larry were on the floor playing a game. 

Before Beau could ask any questions, Ben and Josh came in and Ben said, “Beau, I thought we weren’t having another party for a while?”

“Pop, I thought you and Dad planned this.  I just got here ten minutes ago.”  Beau answered.

Aunt Evelyn said, “Guys, Ginny and I planned this, since we were stuck here all day.”

Out of the blue, Jason asked, “Beau, when are they picking up our things in the garage and downstairs?”

Beau said, “They’re picking up our things tomorrow, even though it’s Saturday.  They’ll be here at 9:00.  What things downstairs?  I thought everything was in the garage.”

“Well there are all sorts of things downstairs that weren’t there when we moved in.”  Jason said very casually.

Beau went downstairs.  He was gone about five minutes.  When he came up the steps he walked right by everyone and went upstairs.

Mrs. Tillison said, “I’m guessing he’s either on overload, or recharging.”

Beau came down with very red eyes.  He went to Josh and said, “Dad, you said I couldn’t have any workout equipment.”

“Beau, I didn’t mean it like that.  I meant that you were not going to spend your money on it.  Ben and I talked last night and are planning to take you to look for some equipment this weekend.”

“So you have no idea what’s downstairs?” Beau asked.

Ben said, “We have no clue what you are talking about.  We had to go Lincoln for a meeting and just now got back.”

Beau asked, “Jason, do you know about this?”

“Yep.”

“Larry and Lenny?”

“Yep.”

“Aunt Rea?”

“Yep.”

“Uncle Lyle?”

“Yep.”

“Grams?”

“Yep.”

“Grandma Ginny?”

“Yep.”

“So Aunt Evelyn, did you buy these things yesterday when you went to Omaha?” Beau asked.

“Yep.”

“Everyone who doesn’t know what’s downstairs needs to go see.”  Beaus went to Aunt Evelyn and gave her a hug and kiss and said, “Thank you Aunt Evelyn.  I’m overwhelmed.  I don’t deserve all of this.”

“Hey dude, just consider it an early birthday present.”  Aunt Evelyn said.

“Some birthday present.”  Jason laughed.  “I can hardly wait to see what you get for Christmas, Beau.”

Beau took those of us who didn’t know what was going on downstairs and said, “Voila.”

There was a beautiful work out area.  Tommy said, “Guess none of you will be getting fat.  Dad, how come Beau has a hot tub and we don’t?”

Jeff said, “Because he has an Aunt who spoils him.  We’ll have to see if we can find you one.”

Beau said, “Tommy, you got a car and I got a hot tub so we are even.”

We went upstairs and Aunt Evelyn announced, “Dinner is ready.”

Beau, Jason and the twins served the dinner which was excellent and then were doing the cleanup when the phone rang.  Jason answered and handed the phone to Beau.  Beau said, “This is Beau … Oh hi Mr. Matthews … Tell you what.  Why don’t you bring the boys over and they can spend the night and then you can pick them up in the morning at 9:00. … Okay, I'll see you in ten.”

“Granddad, Beau’s having overnight guests.  Can Larry and Lenny stay over also?”  Jason asked.

“Who’s Beau having over?”  Ben asked.

“He’s got to sit with Elliott and Ethan.  Would you tell him to stop working all the time?  We need him here to open the pool sometimes.  What are we going to do when he’s in Colorado or wherever?”

Beau said, “You worry too much.  There will be lots of people to help.  We’ll get Jeff and Tommy fired.”

Elliott and Ethan came in and jumped on Beau.  “Bye Dad, see you in the morning.  You all enjoy the movie.  We’ll be good.”

Mr. Matthews put his hands up and said, “I’ve been dismissed, so I’ll leave.”

Beau went to the phone, “Hey Corky, get you and your brothers over here and we’ll have a jungle soccer game in the park across the street.”

He turned and said, “Jason, you and Lenny and Larry go to the Leavitt’s and see if Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are still there.  They were to have dinner there tonight.  Tell them to meet us in the park.”

The guys went out the door and before long there were 16 guys playing soccer.  The Cutters and the Leavitts and Mrs. McDowell joined us.  We were sitting there watching and Mrs. McDowell said, “We'd probably better figure out something for them to eat.”

Aunt Evelyn said, “I’m sure Beau already has something in mind so don’t worry about it.”

Just then Beau waved to Jeff.  Jeff went and Beau gave him some instructions.  Beau kicked the ball so hard that it hit a tree and went flat.

Luke yelled, “You did that on purpose. You don’t want us to play anymore.”

Beau said, “Yep, but it’s time for dessert.  Everyone go sit on the lawn while I wash my hands.”

Jeff and Beau came out with ice cream and cones and two scoopers.  The guys lined up and everyone who wanted ice cream had some.  Afterwards everyone began to leave and Beau took Elliott and Evan in the backdoor.  They came up from downstairs wrapped in towels.

Beau said, “I’m going to read to the guys for a while.  I want you fat nine year olds to go get your showers,”

Beau came down a half hour later with a load of laundry.  He came in and said, “Aunt Evelyn, I am just overwhelmed by your gift.  He hugged and kissed her again.

The nine years came and stood on the stairs and said goodnight and they disappeared.  The rest of us left, and Beau helped Aunt Evelyn with what she needed and then, since Jason wasn’t properly dressed, he helped Grandma Ginny.

When he helped Ginny to her room she asked, “Beau, you won’t ever let anyone hurt Jason will you?”

 

“Grandma Ginny, no one will ever cause Jason any grief or I’ll tear them apart.  He has become a very important person to me, but don’t tell him please.  He just thinks of me as the controlling older brother.”  Beau said.

“Beau, you have that so wrong.  He idolizes you.  Just make sure that he grows up to be his own person and not a Beau robot.”  Ginny said.

Beau looked at her and said, “Are you saying that I’m a control freak.  I certainly don’t want to be.  I certainly would never ask anyone to be like me.  I’m who I am because of what has happened to me.  Jason’s experiences and mine are very different, but he is a survivor.  He’ll be fine, Grandma Ginny.”  He gave her a kiss and left.

He went and sat down between Ben and Josh.  “Dads, next time say what you mean.  We don’t need Aunt Evelyn taking care of us.”

Ben put his hand over Beau’s mouth and said, “Son, I asked Rea and Lyle about Aunt Evelyn spending so much money.  They both assured me that she is fine financially, and she sees you as the son or grandson that she has always wanted.  She loves you, so love her back.”

All of a sudden Beau started to cry.  “Dads, I’m only one person, but I keep getting myself involved deeper and deeper.  Dads I love you.  I think that I am totally out of steam.”  Beau disappeared after he gave them a kiss.

Ben and Josh looked at each other and just went to bed. 

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

Isn't it strange how often people say something and really mean something completely different?  We should all learn to be more precise when we speak.  It is amazing how many times we actually hurt someone by the things we say.  It seems that it is even more true when we use E mail or instant messages to convey things. When you write something down, there are no real emotions conveyed. That is mitigated a little, by the use of the emoticons, but sometimes they are not enough. Okay, I'll shut up now.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/11/08