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 9

So Much for Down Time

On Monday, Beau was sitting on the front steps waiting for people to arrive.  David and Boris came out of the Leavitt house and Beau waved them over.    Before long, they were joined by Father W. and Jeremy, Matt and Luke.  Jeff and Tommy finally showed up.  Everyone had a running partner and so they took off.  The partners kept changing and Beau wound up with Luke.

They got back to Beau’s house and Luke asked, “Uncle David, why don’t you tell our parents to worry about us boys, and not about what you and Uncle Boris do in your bedroom?  If you love each other, it’s none of anyone else’s business.”

Matthew put his hand over Luke’s mouth.  Beau said, “Matt, let Luke say what he thinks.  I agree with him.  What Uncle David and Uncle Boris do when no one else is around is no one else’s business.”

“Beau, I agree, but our parents would have a stroke if they heard us talking like this.” Matthew said.

“So, let them.”  Beau said.

“Father W., will you give us a ride home?” Matthew asked.

“Got it guys.  Let’s go.” Dale said.

“I’ll see you at the store at 9:00, Beau.” Matthew said as he crawled into the car.

Beau delivered the coffee and tea and fixed breakfast.  Ben delivered the guys to their jobs.

Beau was organizing the guys and went to talk to the Weavers and the Coopers.  Before he could start talking, Arnold Schwarz came and in and said, “Beau, we need to talk about my purchasing some of the furniture.”

“Uncle Arnie, I need to get first choice for Mrs. Dover’s house.  There is no way I can do this job before I go to Colorado next week.  I need help.  Uncle Arnie, do you want to go to Mrs. Dover’s house with us?”

“Denny and Danny, you cover the used furniture and Mickey and Chris, you guys handle the antique side.  The rest of us are out of here.”  Beau grabbed his backpack and they left.

When Mr. Schwarz walked into the house, his eyes got very large.  Beau had the guys taking measurements as he recorded their findings.  Mr. Cooper and Mr. Schwarz were amazed at how thorough Beau was.  At 11:00 the guys went back to the store.    Mr. Schwarz said, “Beau, I have a proposition for you.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Cooper and Mr. and Mrs. Weaver, Mr. Schwarz has a proposition.  I hope it’s legitimate.” Beau said as all the guys were listening.

Arnie said, “Beau, I’ll offer you $100,000.00 for everything in that house.  I’ll even pay to have it shipped to New York.

Beau looked at the Coopers and the Weavers who nodded and Beau said, “Uncle Arnie, we’ll take your offer, but you do realize the paintings and art works are not included.  We would consider dealing with you on those things, but I don’t think you can come even near what I think we can make at an auction.  We have artworks in four garages, so between the garages it would make an auction that everyone will remember and there is no way you can come close to what we will make.”

“Now how soon can you have the furniture out of the house so we can paint and clean the house before we deliver the new merchandise?”  Beau asked.

“Beau, you’re the one who is a con artist.  You certainly drive a hard bargain and don’t take any captives.  Let me write the check.”  Arnie said.

“Good, then you can go get us lunch at the Madison’s.  Take Matthew and Berto with you and they can pick out the things we all would like.  Here guys, you are in charge of making sure that Uncle Arnie doesn’t go out of control.  Don’t forget that the Weavers and Coopers need to eat too.  Here is $100.00 that should cover the cost.  The rest of us need to get back and mark the things sold that I want to bring here to Mrs. Dover’s house.”  Beau said as he locked up.

Lunch arrived and everyone was eating except Berto and Beau who were watching the store.  A gentleman came in and said, “I heard you had some nice antiques.  All I see is junk.  It looks like anything of value has been sold.”

Everyone stopped eating and starting watching Beau, “Sir, I’m sorry you feel that way.  We just made a sale for $100,000.00 and the guys here at the store have made some other sales.  Sir, just so you know there is over $150,000.00 worth of merchandise in this room alone and in the store next door there is another $70,000.00 to $80,000.00 and in the storage areas we probably have another $250,000.00 worth of merchandise if it’s properly displayed.  Now what is it you want?  If you are an antique dealer, you have already been beaten by Mr. Arnold Schwarz of New York.”

“Oh and before you ask, we sell all of our artworks at auction in Omaha.  We find we do better since none of us are art experts.  Now would you like to look around?” Beau asked.

Mr. Cooper interjected, “Beau, you sit down and eat and we’ll show the gentleman around.  Come on Denny; let’s show this gentleman that we’re not exactly naïve country boys here in Fremont.”

The three guys came back and the man said, “Mister Benson, I apologize for being so obnoxious.  It usually works, and I can get the merchandise for a song.”

Arnie said, “I tried that earlier and got soaked.  So be careful or you will find yourself buying a lot of things at a fair price.”

The gentleman said, “Mr. Benson, I am Elliott Lockwood and I’m from Chicago.  My wife and I have an antique store there.   Now could we come to an agreement on some of the things?  You have so much in storage and I’ll get some of it off your hands so that you would know what you have.”

“Mr. Lockwood, we don’t negotiate on price.  My plate is full so I’m turning this sale over to the guys and Mr. and Mrs. Weaver.  If you decide to buy anything, you are responsible for paying the shipping costs.” Beau said.

Mr. Lockwood said, “I have a truck with me and if some of you will help me load it in the morning and I’ll be out of here.”

Beau said, “Not until we make sure your check clears.  Same for you Mr. Schwarz.  Now you guys take Mr. Lockwood and see what he would like to purchase.  Make a list of the prices and I’ll check it before we close the deal.  Don’t let him lowball you.  Put a sold tag on everything he wants with a green dot.”

Beau turned to Arnie and said, “Uncle Arnie, you'd better call the moving company and see how fast your things can be out of Mrs. Dover’s house.  Now I have some phone calls to make.  Mr. Cooper, is it okay if I make some calls?   One or two of them will be long distance.  I want to double check something with Mrs. Dover.”

Mr. Cooper said, “Do what you gotta’ do.”

Beau made his calls and when the guys came back, Beau looked at the list of the items and prices.  “Gee. It is too bad you didn’t like our merchandise.  Wait a minute; I see some older quality furniture and accessories on here.”

“Guys, we may have to rethink our prices.  If stuff like this is selling in Chicago, then we should be able to do just as well here in Fremont.  Okay $122,000.00 looks fair.  Now Mr. Lockwood, you write the check and I’ll call the back and freeze your account for that much.  Mr. Weaver, you get your running shoes on and take his check to the bank.”

The transaction was completed and Beau said, “Mr. and Mrs. Weaver and Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, we’re going to leave.  We need some down time.  I think that we have done all the work we can do for today.”

As they were getting ready to leave, a group of young people came in.  Chip jumped into Beau's arms and held his face, “Beau, may we please go swimming?  We’ve worked hard all day.  We mowed 20 yards.  Please Beau.”

Beau put him down and said, “I’ll think about it while you give your grandparents a kiss.”

Chip did as he was told.  Beau said, “Okay, the pool will be open at 3:30.  Everyone needs to arrange their own transportation.  Mr. Lockwood, where are you staying?”

“We’re staying with my sister Mrs. Davis.  She lives on Heister Street.  She lives behind this house with a big pool in the back yard.”

The guys started to laugh, “Why didn’t you tell us you knew Grandma Davis?  The price just went up.”

Mr. Lockwood started to laugh, “I just realized who you are.  You are the young man that sang at the funeral and you live in the house with the pool.”

The guys were laughing and Beau said, “Yeah and Corky lives next door to Grandma Davis and Matthew’s Grandparents are our next door neighbors.  Uncle Arnie, you take some of us home and Mr. Cooper can take the rest.  Okay the pool opens at 3:30 for an hour.”

Mrs. Weaver asked, “Beau, what do I do about the commission checks?”

“Ma’am, I’ll talk to the guys and I’ll let you know tomorrow.”  Beau said as he went and crawled into Mr. Schwarz’s car.

The guys were all delivered home and all of the guys started to arrive.  Jason and his friends were waiting for Beau.  When he and Jason pulled off the cover, Arnie, David and Boris appeared.  Beau changed and was alert as to what was going on.  At 4:00, Beau blew his whistle and said, “Anyone who is not yet a teenager needs to get out for a break.  The young guys didn’t argue and started to play soccer. Beau climbed out to watch everyone.

At 4:30, Beau closed the pool and everyone started to disappear as their rides came.  Beau showered and started dinner.  Jason was helping him.  When Josh and Ben got home, Beau fixed the adults a cocktail.  At six o’clock he had everyone sitting for the meal.  The guys did the dishes and Mrs. McDowell arrived with Luke.

“Beau, why am I here?  I don’t want to be here,” Luke challenged.

Beau held him in a warm hug and said, “You want to be here.  You and my Dad will have a good time.  Now chill.”

“Dad, this punk here is ready.  If he doesn’t cooperate, call me and I’ll bring some scissors and remove certain parts of his body.”

Josh took Luke to the dinning room and closed the doors.  Beau was entertaining the adults when Josh and Luke reappeared.  Luke said, “Thanks Dr. Benson that was fun.  Hey Jason let’s go play some soccer.”

Jason said, “Two people can’t play soccer.”

Beau said, “I'll take you both on and I’ll clean the lawn.”

The guys disappeared and Josh said, “I’ll be back as soon as I score the test.”

Everyone was watching the guys.  Before they knew what was happening, the Cutter boys and David and Boris were participating.  At nine o’clock Beau whistled and the game ended.  Luke said, “At least Beau didn’t flatten the ball tonight.”
 

Beau dove and took Luke down and said, “You’re going to be missing some teeth if you keep bad mouthing me.”  The two guys, along with Jason, went into the kitchen and had some dessert while Josh talked to Mrs. McDowell and Judge Leavitt.

Josh started, “Ladies, Luke’s preliminary scores are between and 150 and 160.  Except for Beau, this is the highest test score that I have ever seen.   I’ll be the first to admit that this is not my area of expertise, but I feel confident that the results are valid.”

Mrs. McDowell asked, “Josh, would you test Matthew tomorrow and Mark the next night?  I think John is a little young to be tested. I’ll pay what ever you ask.”

“Ma’am, my son would relieve me of certain vital organs if charged you.  I’ll review Luke’s test result and give you the final numbers tomorrow when you bring Matthew.” Josh said.

Everyone left and Beau and Jason helped Aunt Evelyn and Ginny to get settled for the night.  Jason took off and Beau sat between his dads and said, “Well.”

Josh said, “Beau, Luke is very intelligent.  He is going to need you to be his mentor.  Mrs. McDowell wants me to test Matthew tomorrow night and then Mark.”

Beau said, “Dad, I’ll bet you that Matthew’s IQ is about 140 and Mark’s is something close to 135.  I think that John is probably about the same.  All four boys are very intelligent.”

Beau kissed the two guys and disappeared up the stairs.  He had been on the phone most of the night making some arrangements which no one knew about.

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

I think Beau likes to do things that no one knows about till it happens. I think he took lessons from Jeff.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/18/08