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 40

Tale of Two Trips

The next morning we were up and had breakfast in the dining room since it was difficult for Lee to manipulate through the buffet line.  We went down to the Tour Buses and got on the correct bus.  We had the three guys and the Hamiltons joined us.  We had the front row and the second row of seats since it was difficult for Lee to maneuver on the bus.  We always were joined by a person traveling alone and Jeff always seemed to wind up sitting beside them. 

After the tour and lunch we took Lee to the whirlpool.  We took his removable cast off and Jeff lifted him in the whirl pool.  We were sitting watching the rest of the people when an older gentleman came up and asked, “Is their any room in there for an old man?”

Jeremy said, “We don’t have any room for any old men.  Since you aren’t old, just crawl in.”

The man crawled in and was sitting between Jeff and Jeremy.  Jeff shook his hand and said, “I am Jeff and this is my Dad, Jack Wilson.  The gentleman beside you is Jeremy and the young man beside Dad is Jason.  They are brothers and they are our body guards and the young pup between them is Lee.  We found him wondering around the ship.”

Before the gentleman could say anything, The Captain came walking up.  “Mr. Conrad, I trust that your accommodations are fine?  I see you have already met your neighbors and their friends.  When will the rest of your family be arriving?”

“They are scheduled to arrive in about an hour.”  Mr. Conrad answered. 

The Captain said, “See you at my table for dinner tonight with your family Mr. Conrad.”

Jason asked, “What did the Captain mean about being neighbors? We haven’t seen anyone near us since we got to our suites.”

“Your suite is 701 and ours is 700.  Our three grandsons will be staying in the cabin with us and my son and daughter in law will be staying next door.”  Mr. Conrad said. “I just arrived this morning.”

Jeremy went for the jugular and said, “I guess you must be someone who is important, if the Captain already knows you.  How old are your grandsons?”

Mr. Conrad answered, “The guys are 14, 12, and 10.  I am the President of this Cruise Line.  I am not important.  My job is to make sure the crew is doing their best to make sure the passengers are all having a good time.  Every year, my wife and I try to spend the New Year’s vacation on one of the ships.  I have already heard about the five of you and that is why I asked to join you.  Now I would like you to call me Mark and my wife likes to be called Ellen.”

Jason said, “We can handle that, Uncle Mark and Aunt Ellen.”

Jeff said, “I think we had better get out before we turn into raisins.  It was nice meeting you Uncle Mark.”

I was shaking Mark’s hand.  He said, “Why don’t you all meet us in the Panorama Lounge at 4:30 for tea.  The guys can have juice and goodies and meet my grandsons.  I think this might turn out to be a good cruise for them.  They aren’t very happy about coming.”

Jeff helped Lee out of the pool and I put his cast back on him.  Jeff was relentless with him.  “I am not going to take any guff.  Lee, you will be running with us.  You have been using your accident to get you parent’s attention.  It’s time to get on with the rest of your life.”

Meanwhile back in Fremont, the entourage had loaded up the buses at 8:00a.m. that would take them to the Omaha airport.  They arrived at the airport and boarded their charter plane and were on their way to Orlando.

The people were all settled and the stewardess served them a snack.  When they got to Disney World, the group was taken to the hotel.  The guys and the gals were thrilled with their accommodations and the facilities.

After they had lunch, they went to practice with the orchestra.  Beau handed the orchestra and all of the participants a program of what they would be performing.  The orchestra people couldn’t believe that someone as young as Beau was telling them what to do.  Mrs. Tillison stepped in, “Either you do what Mr. Benson asks, or we will do it ourselves. And you will all be looking for new jobs tomorrow.”

Practice went well, and Beau announced that everyone would be free until New Year’s Eve.  “Wherever you go, you must always have at least one other person with you.”

Everyone agreed to meet for breakfast each morning and make plans for the day.   They stayed at Disney World the rest of the Day.  The different groups had all they could eat and were exhausted so it was an early night.

On the ship, our group went to the Panorama Lounge.  We met the Conrad group and the six guys became best friends.  They got some juice and went outside to the deck to enjoy the goodies and drinks.  Alan came over to Jeff and asked him to play the piano since the pianist had been detained on a tour because the bus he was escorting had broken down.

Jeff went to the piano and played very quietly.  Finally the pianist arrived and took over and had Jeff sing some very quiet songs.

We went to leave and Mark said, “I can’t believe that you never practiced to do this.”

Jeff looked at Mark and said, “Sir, I have been asked to do a myriad of things on this cruise already that I have never had an opportunity to practice for.”

After dinner, our entourage all went to the theatre since Lee’s parents were performing the show.    They were alright, but mediocre; but Lee was proud anyway.  We got the guys settled and went to the Panorama Lounge and joined the Conrads and the Hamiltons.  We were sitting and listening to the ensemble which was playing and listening to the young female singer who was doing a very credible job.

When the ensemble was getting ready to start the next set after a break, the young woman came over and asked Jeff to join her.  Jeff looked at me and I nodded yes.  Well, the room got real quiet as Jeff and the young woman whose name was Leah really blended well together.   The group did some slow songs, then the some rock and roll numbers and finally some love songs.  They ended the set with True Love.  When the group broke, Jeff came back and sat down.

Ellen asked, “When did you have time to practice with this group?”

“I haven’t even met this group before.  I think they usually play in another lounge.  I haven’t even seen all of the public rooms on the ship yet.”

Jeff said.

In Disney World, the Fremont crowd decided to spend the next day at Epcot Center. They arrived back at the hotel exhausted.  On New Year’s Eve day, they stayed at Disney World and Beau insisted that everyone be back at the hotel for dinner before they went to perform.  Jason said, “I wish Jeff was back.  He wouldn’t be bossing us around all the time.”

After dinner, they went to do their show.  At 10:30 they started the show.  Beau, Spencer and Chip were all fantastic in their roles as emcees.  The rest of the group was wonderful too.   Since we had been watching the show live on the screen in the show lounge, Jeff was narrating and telling the people around us about all of the people who were performing.

The show ended and the audience at Disney World gave the troops a prolonged standing ovation before the fireworks began. 

That night we went back to the cabin with our now six guys. Jeff leaned against me said, “The Fremont group is fantastic.  I have never had the opportunity to sit back and just watch.  I can’t believe how much poise Beau, Spencer and Chip have.  I wish that we had gotten Tommy and Jason more actively involved.”

“Jeff, Jason and Tommy aren’t ready to participate at that level yet.  They are very talented, but they still need to gain some more confidence.  Someday they will make us all look like peons, but the time is not now.”

We went to sleep quickly since we now had six young guys in the other bedroom.  In the morning the six guys attacked us.  The youngest Conrad boy said, “They don’t have anything on.  They look like twins.”

Jeremy said, “You can look all you want but don’t touch.  That is what we are going to look like when we get to be 19.  Now come on; we have to get Doctor Dad his coffee or he’ll be grouchy the rest of the day.”

Jeff leaned against me and said, “I think we lost control.  Jeremy and Jason are going to fit right into the groups in Fremont.”

We crawled out of bed and dressed and went to the sitting area.  The six boys were waiting for us.  “Can we go to breakfast please?” Curtis, the middle Conrad boy, asked.

“Yep, as soon as you all brush your teeth.”  Jeff said.

The six guys scurried and Lee was moving fast.  He wasn’t using his crutches.  We went to the dining room and no one was there.  The guys saw Ignacio.  “Hey Iggy, we need a table for eight.  The parents and grandparents are all hung over.  It’s just us poor people this morning.”

We sat down and we were served orange juice and I had coffee.  Iggy didn’t ask what we wanted.  He brought everyone a plate with two fried eggs, two pieces of bacon, toast and a pastry and some fresh melon.  The food disappeared like it was being consumed by a vacuum.

Ignacio asked, “Is there anything else I can bring you gentleman?”

Jeff said, “If these elves eat anymore they are going to be walking around like the munchkins in Wizard of Oz.”

Daniel the eldest of the Conrad boys said, “Gee we have to get Dorothy and Toto back to Kansas as soon as possible before the Wicked Jeff and Doctor Dad change them into toads.”

The Conrads walked in with the son and daughter in law and the Hamiltons.  “Hey guys what’s up?”  Mr. Conrad asked.

Daniel said, “Nothing Granddad, we have to take Lee here to do his exercises and strengthen his leg.  We are going to swim until all of the adults get over their hangovers.  We’ll be in Doctor Dad’s Cabin if you need us.  We are being good.  Jeff makes sure that the valet and the steward don’t have too much work to do.  We even have to clean the tub and shower when we get out.”

Tony, the youngest grandson, said, “Yeah, and we weren’t allowed to have Pops Tarts for breakfast.  We had to eat a balanced meal.”

Jeff stood and said, “We’ll see you all later.  We need to go take care of things while everyone is nursing their headaches.”

We went to the running/walking deck and Jeff just took a slow pace and when Lee began to hurt, he and I sat down.    The others kept going until they started to stop with Lee and me.  The last two to give up were Jeremy and Daniel.  We went to the suite and Jeff had the guys get their showers and baths.  When we came out of the shower, we found the Conrads and the Hamiltons waiting.

We were about to enter the Panama Canal.  The Captain had reserved us all a space on the top deck.  We sat and watched for a while as we went through the first lock.  The guys were excited to see how the locks made it possible to move on. 

They were getting bored, so we went to the dining room.  When the staff saw us they took us to Iggy’s station.  Everyone had a soup, sandwich, salad and a small dessert.  Ignacio had a new assistant Fernando who became known as Nando.

The rest of the day was fairly normal.  We had the guys in bed and they went down very quietly.  It had been a long couple of days on the ship.  Jeff fired up his computer and we had a message from Beau.  “Hey Jeff and Dad, this has been a wonderful experience.  Tomorrow we are going to see some of the local sights before we head home at 4:00.  The people here have treated us like royalty.  I think everyone is exhausted.  I can’t wait to hear about your trip,” Love, Beau.

That night we had a nice dinner in a private dining room.  Everyone just went to bed.  Jeff and I had showered and were lying in bed talking when the ship began to roll.  The guys came in and asked, “Dad and Jeff can we get into bed with you.  We’re afraid of the storm.”

“Why not?” Jeff asked.  The guys crawled into bed with us and no one worried about the state of dress.  There had been no special entertainment that night because of the canal trip. 

The next morning was going to prove different.  The Fremont crowd went on a Bus Tour of the Orlando area and left at 4:00 for Nebraska.  Everyone had a wonderful time and they all hugged Beau and told him what a great job he did acting like Jeff.

When they got home, they were a bunch of exhilarated young people.  S.Z.Q. and Steve and Jen had flown back to D. C. 

That night Jeff performed in the Panorama Lounge and did a great job.    When we got back to the cabin, we both showered and went to sleep. 

The next morning we were awakened by the phone reminding Jeff that he was doing the church service.  Alan asked him to do another discussion of the social evils in society in the afternoon at 2:00 and then to play for the formal tea time since the new person hadn’t arrived.

We got ready for church and everyone started to appear.  Lee didn’t use his crutches but he leaned on Jeremy and Daniel.   After the church service, we went to the buffet and everyone ate healthy. 

At 2:00 o’clock Jeff showed the video of the participants in the New Year’s Eve Special and described everyone’s background.  He held everyone in his grasp as he talked everyone through the show. 

He concluded. “People of all races and stations can subsist together and work well together.  The people in this show tonight are from different areas and stations in life.  You probably won’t believe me when I say that I know for a fact that at least three of the people you have seen in this video are millionaires, but I guess there are some others who are also in that category or will be soon.    The one thing that they have in common is that they are all achievers.”

There was another standing ovation.  Mr. and Mrs. Conrad escorted us to the Panorama Lounge and Jeff went to the piano and started to play for the tea time.  The guys came in and got their drinks and snacks and leaned on the piano.   After tea time, Jeff took us to get dressed for dinner since it was another formal night.  Jeff didn’t perform anymore that day.

We had a series of days where we stopped at ports in Costa Rica and Mexico.  Everyone kept commenting on how well the boys behaved.

We took tours in every port and when we got to Acapulco, we went to see the divers dive from the cliff.  Jeff decided they were nuts but they probably made a great living doing that.  The last stop was Cabo San Lucas.  The guys decided to spend the morning on the beach.  We departed there and this was the last formal night.  The Captain had asked Jeff to play the background music for the reception. 

Jeff had talked to Alan and Becky about what he should play and they indicated he should play soft mood music.  They also told him that they wanted him to do the major part of the Farewell Show the next night and that the crew had requested that he do a special show for them after the Production Show at 11:30. 

Jeff agreed and Alan and Becky took care of all of the arrangements.

We dressed in our tuxedoes and Jeff went to the lounge to get ready.  I took the guys to the reception and they shook hands with everybody in the receiving line.  We high tailed it to the top section of the theatre so we could get a front row seat.  The waiter just automatically brought the guys fresh lemonade and I had a glass of champagne.  The Hamiltons and the younger Conrads joined us, since Mark and Ellen were in the receiving line.

Jeff quit playing on cue and the Captain and President Conrad presented the awards to the people who had reached certain milestones.   As the presentation was ending, Mr. Mark Conrad said, “Ladies and gentlemen, there are two of our passengers who I would like to recognize.  They have been so unassuming and yet involved in every aspect of the cruise, Mr. Jeff Wilson and his father, Doctor Jack Wilson.  We want to award them the Diamond Pendant Award.”  

Jeff started to shake, as I made my way down from the upper balcony.  The six young guys were leading a chant of Jeff, Doctor Dad.  The audience was standing in appreciation of what Jeff had done on the cruise.

President Conrad said, “Jeff has even agreed to do a special show for the crew tonight at 11:30.  It will be on your televisions on the ship channel live tonight or you can watch it tomorrow while you are packing.  We have a wire from his friend Beau who has asked that we get him to sing the songs that he thinks are the dumbest and his favorite song.” 

Jeff ate very little.  The guys were all a little concerned about him.  We went to the theatre to see the last production show and Jeff was broad sided again.  The Production Cast included him in the show.

Jeff was wrung out so we went back to the cabin and he changed into jeans so he could do the staff show.  Mark Conrad had ordered a club sandwich and fruit salad for Jeff to eat since he had eaten very little at dinner. We got the guys settled and the Hamiltons said they would take care of the guys until we got back.

I went to the theatre and it was packed with the staff.  The captain came out and said, “In the twelve years that I have been a Captain, I have never encountered this situation.  By your request, Jeff Wilson has agreed to do a show for you.  The President of the Cruise Line, Mr. Conrad is here, and he has a few words to say to you first.”

Mr. Conrad got up and said, “You people have been doing a great job.  The passengers feel like they are important to you.  They will be leaving the ship shortly to go back to their homes.  They will remember the great service that you have provided them.  I know it is difficult for you to be away from your families so sit back and enjoy this talented entertainer.”

Jeff began his show by welcoming the crew in all of the languages he knew. The crew was impressed right away and he started to sing.  He included the song that he thought was the most stupid, That’s Amore.  When he finished he went into his tirade about wasting a pizza by hitting someone in the eye.

He then launched into Que Sera Sera and when he finished the crew was standing applauding.  Jeff finished the show and the Captain and Mr. Conrad came out applauding.  Jeff bowed and disappeared as the two made their closing remarks.  Jeff and I went back to the cabin and the Hamiltons left after telling us they had watched the show on television and were overwhelmed.

Jeff and I took a shower and crawled into bed.  Neither of us lasted long.  It had been a busy day. 

The next morning the guys came in with coffee and fresh juice.  They announced that breakfast was going to be served in 30 minutes.  Jeremy said, “So get your butts moving.  Iggy doesn’t like his food to get cold.”

We had breakfast served in the cabin and Iggy had arranged for some different things but everything disappeared.  Iggy and Nando said, “See you guys at lunch.”

We went and did our morning walks around the deck.  Lee was almost walking and running without a limp.  The six guys were having a great time.  Jeff and I were just laid back and enjoying the guys.  The other passengers were watching.

We went to the pool and when we were swimming laps, the guys got competitive.  Jeff had them line up for a race.  The passengers who were up were cheering as were the Crew Members that were on the deck.  Lee was best athlete of the six guys.  He won hands down.

The guys got out of the pool when the people started to arrive and after our showers we took them to lunch and then a G rated movie in the theatre.  In the cabin, Victor our valet and our steward Ramon had packed our clothes and left us one small bag for the morning, since it was a casual night. 

We went to dinner and joined the usual crowd since Jeff had to go to get ready for the farewell show.  Jeff was the highlight of the show and everyone knew it.  He was by far the most talented musician there; although no one would ever have guessed it by the way he acted.

We took the guys back to the suite to get ready for bed.  When they were settled, Jeff went to say goodbye to the different ensembles and people he had worked with.  We finally crawled into bed and Jeff rolled to me and said, “Dad, I thought this was supposed to be a vacation.  I’m exhausted.”

The next morning, we had six boys waking us up, “Hurry Doctor Dad and Jeff, the food is arriving.  Iggy and Nando already have the juice on the table.”  Jeff and I took a quick shower and went to the table in the suite.  We had juice and a sweet role.  Iggy came in wheeling a tray of food.  The guys had cold cereal and fruit and Jeff and I had eggs Benedict and fruit.  We all had a fresh pastry.

As they were leaving, Iggy and Nando tried to hand us the envelopes that Jeff had placed on the table the night before.  Jeff said, “Guys, these don’t belong to me.  The envelopes say Ignacio and Fernando.  Just use the money to give your families something extra.  Now, we really have to go.”

“But we have already received extra money from the staff for waiting on you because of someone called Beau.”  Ignacio said.

“I guess this is a case of finder’s keepers, loser’s weepers.”

We left after Jeff had placed envelopes on the beds for Victor and Ramon.

We met the Hamiltons and the Conrads and Lee’s parents.  We were the first persons to be disembarked from the ship and when we cleared customs we were taken to the airport.  We were all on the same plane out of Los Angles.  When we got to Denver, Lee and his parents’ got off as did those of us from Fremont. 

We hugged the Conrads as we got off and when we got to the concourse we said a tearful goodbye to Lee and his parents.  We all headed to our planes and when we got on the last flight, we had the first six seats in first class.  We were treated royally for the short time we were on the plane.

When we got to Omaha, the limousine was waiting and the six of us rode back to Fremont.  We dropped the Hamiltons off after some tearful good byes.  When we got home, everyone was there waiting for us.”  Jeff and I hugged them all and thanked them.  I told them that we would tell them more later but Jeff and I needed to get ready for tomorrow.”

We had a light dinner and Jeff was doing the little laundry we had.  He picked up the phone and played the messages.  There was one from Alan and another from Mr. Conrad.  They were inviting us to go on a spring break cruise if we would bring the Fremont crowd to do a couple of shows.  The cruise part would be free.  All we had to do was provide the transportation to and from the ports. Jeff saved the messages and we just went to bed.

To be continued...

Feedback always welcome:     

Editor's Notes:

That was quite a vacation wasn't it?  I am certain that once Jeff thinks about it he will realize that he had a wonderful time, even though he was busy, he loved doing the things he did.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 03/07/08