The Fremont Saga
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 4 

Retribution

As John was driving home, I pulled the cell phone out of my backpack and called the house.

“This is the Benson house.  This is Timmy speaking, how can I help you.”

“Timmy, is Dad there?”
 

“He’s here, but he’s talking to a man.”

“Timmy, tell Dad that I’m bringing Chris and John by for their checks.  We’ll be there is about five minutes.”
 

“Okay, I’ll tell him.”

John looked at me even though he was driving, “Brian, why would your Father have a check for me?”

“I’ll explain when we get to the house.  Would you please keep your eyes on the road, or we’ll have an accident?”

Chris spoke up from the back, “Brian, how can you have another check for me when you just sent the new photographs to London last weekend?  Surely, it can’t be a very big check.”

I turned to look at Chris, “Chris, I have no idea how much the checks are for.  So let’s wait until we get to the house and see why my Dad told me that I needed to have you guys come pick up the checks.”

As we pulled up at the house, Dad was on the front porch talking to another gentleman whom I recognized as Mr. Everett.  He, along with Mr. Burns, who lives  in Kansas City, are the two private investigators my parents use when they need information.  They were both instrumental in helping me expose that jerk, Mr. McCoy, after he raped John and Robbi.  The two men also gathered the information that made it possible for Dad and Mother to adopt Timmy.  Of course, there was a lot of help from Grandpa Nappy on that one.

I walked up to Mr. Everett and shook his hand, “It’s nice to see you Mr. Everett, it appears that you’re doing well.”

“Look, Brian, if you don’t stop bringing these young men home, I’ll wind up in the grave from working so hard.”

Mr. Everett hugged me, “I don’t suppose you would care to introduce your harem of friends to an old man like me.”

I pointed to Chris, “Mr. Everett, I believe you already know Chris.”

Mr. Everett cut me off, “That can’t be Chris Jameson; the last time I saw him, he was knee high to a grasshopper.”

Chris was chuckling, “Either it was a gargantuan grasshopper or your memory’s failing.  You and your family were at our house for a barbecue this past weekend.”

John and Tanner were both laughing, as were Dad and I.  I pointed to John, but Mr. Everett stopped me before I could introduce John, “Brian, I recognize that punk from his mug shot.  He’s known as Jack of Jack and Jill fame and his AKA is John Waters.  I was so pleased with how you people handled the McCoy person without involving some of the other people who had also been victimized.”

Mr. Everett turned to Tanner and stuck out his hand, “I’m assuming that you’re the notorious butcher, baker and candlestick maker that Brian drug home.  Tanner, Mr. Benson has some good news to share with you.  Now, if you gentlemen will excuse me, I need to go get dressed in my monkey suit for some social affair that we need to attend tonight.  I’ll talk to you all, later.”

Dad took the four of us into the den.  I was thinking, ‘Why do Tanner and I need to go to the den?  Tanner and I aren’t going to be getting any checks.’

After we were seated, Dad went to the safe and opened it and pulled out four large packets and two envelopes.  Dad handed John and Chris each an envelope, “Guys, these have your names on them, so I guess they must be yours.”

John looked completely baffled.  I watched to see what his reaction was going to be when he saw what was inside.  I knew it was the check for the painting that I had done of him and Robbi, but I had no idea how much the painting had sold for.

John opened his envelope and the blood drained from his face.  Tanner was sitting beside me; he leaned over and whispered, “Is John ill?”

I shook my head no, and went and sat down beside John, “John, are you okay?”

John showed me the check.  He was trying to talk, “B-B-B-Brian, w-w-w-why a-a-a-am I get-ting a ch-ch-check from the Johnson Art Gallery?”

I looked at John, “That’s what the painting I did of you and Robbi sold for.  I instructed Mr. Johnson to make the proceeds from the sale of that painting payable to you.”

Tears had formed in John’s eyes, “But Brian, you’re the person who did the painting.  The money should be yours.”

I put my arm around John, “Look, John, the money is yours and that’s final.  If you choose to share some with Robbi, that’s your prerogative.  I’m financially okay, already.”

Chris interrupted, “Brian, I think Mr. Johnson must be mistaken.  There is no way that my photos sold for this much.  He wants to know how soon I can send him some more?   What happened to ones that I gave you last week.”

I was saved from having to answer because Timmy came into the den, “Uncle John, your Mother just called and said you need to go home because you promised to baby-sit Jeremy and Jason.”

John jumped up, “Come on Chris, I’ll take you home.  I totally spaced off that the parents have function they want to go to tonight.  Brian, I’ll talk to you about this more, tomorrow.”

After John and Chris had departed,  Dad scowled, “Brian, I think you probably should have forewarned John about what was happening.  He could have had a heart attack or something.  Guys, leave your packets here, and we’ll talk more about them after dinner.”

Tanner and I went into the kitchen to see if there was anything that we could do to help Mother.  I kissed Mother and Tanner did likewise, “Hi, Mother, is there anything that Tanner and I can help you with?”

Mother grinned, “Hi, guys, Timmy went to tell your sisters that dinner was ready.  I’ll dish up.  Timmy has already put everything else on the table, so we should be all set to eat.”

As we were eating, “Dad asked, Little One, how was your day?”
 

Timmy didn’t even look up, “Daddy, Little One isn’t here tonight.”

Everyone at the table was trying to keep from laughing, even Dad.  Dad continued, “What I meant to say was, how did your day go, littlest Benson child.”

Timmy looked around the table, “I guess you’re talking to me.  I had a good day, thank you.  No one has beaten me up, at least not yet, and  I got all my schoolwork done at school.”

As we were finishing dinner, Timmy asked, “Daddy and Mother, can I at least clear the table for the sisters?”

Morgan started to say something, but Mother gave Morgan the stink eye and Morgan knew she had better not say anything.  Mother answered, “Timmy, you can take the things to kitchen, but that’s all.  Your Daddy and I need to talk with Brian and Tanner.”

Timmy looked up, “Are they in trouble?”

Morgan muttered, “I hope so.  Maybe I’ll get out of doing the dishes every night.”

Mother looked at Morgan, and Morgan realized she was getting herself into more trouble.  Mother answered, “No, Timmy, we just need to talk to the guys, especially Tanner.  We’re going to have some visitors tonight, and we will need to talk to Tanner before they arrive.”

Dad and Mother took Tanner and me into the den.  After everyone was seated, Dad asked, “Tanner, according to the records that Mr. Everett and his people were able to find, you were never adopted by Mr. Butcher.  Do you recall if he ever adopted you?”

Tanner took a deep breath, “Mr. Benson, that man never would adopt me.  My Mother tried to get him to, but he was always too busy to do it, thank heavens.  He was only concerned about his precious Justin.”

The conversation was interrupted by Lauren, “Uncle David, is here.  He says that you’re expecting him.”

Dad nodded, “Thank you, Lauren.  Please ask him to join us here in the den.”

I stood and shook Uncle David Burns hand, “It’s good to see you again.  I’d like to introduce you to my friend, Tanner Tailor.”

“Tanner, Uncle David is our family lawyer.  He keeps us out of trouble.”

Tanner stood and shook Uncle David’s hand, but Uncle David held Tanner’s hand, “Beau and Becca, are you sure you want to adopt someone this ugly?”

Dad frowned, “David, we hadn’t discussed that possibility with Tanner.  He just now confirmed that he had never been adopted by Mr. Butcher.”

Uncle David looked uncharacteristically flustered, “You mean to say, that you haven’t gone over the reports that Mr. Everett gave to you with Tanner, yet?”

Dad looked at Uncle David, “David, we just now finished dinner after the guys got home from football practice.”

The conversation was interrupted by Timmy, “Daddy and Mother, that mean man, I dreamed about is here, and he says he’s come to take his son, Tanner,  home.  What do you want me to tell him?”

Dad looked at Uncle David, “Brian, why don’t you show Mr. Butcher into the living room?  We’ll be there shortly.”

When Tanner entered the living room, he looked a little shell shocked.  I was wondering why, but was soon to find out.

After the introductions, Dad and Uncle David went for Mr. Butcher’s juggler vein.  Dad questioned, “Sir, our young son said that you wanted to take your son home.  Would you care to tell us to whom you were referring?”

Mr. Butcher was almost defiant, “Why, Tanner, of course.”

Uncle David held up the packet of papers, “Mr. Butcher, we have papers that prove you never adopted Tanner, so how can you claim that he is your son?  Tanner has just confirmed that you never adopted him.”

“But, I was married to his Mother.”

Uncle David was brutal, “That, doesn’t give you the right to claim him as a son.  Furthermore, we have proof that you have been trying to manipulate the rules so that you can gain access to the funds that were placed in a trust fund for Tanner, by his paternal grandparents.  That is probably the primary reason you want to take him home, after you threw him out for having to endure your precious son’s sexual advances.”

Uncle David wasn’t finished, “Mr. Butcher, we will be going to court in the morning to evict you from Tanner’s house.”

“What the hell do you mean?  That’s my house.”

Uncle David was so cool, “Mr. Butcher, the house is titled under the name of Tanner’s father.  Since you were never married to Mr. Tailor, how can you claim that that house belongs to you?”

Mr. Butcher was sputtering, “But I have been paying the utilities and the taxes.”

Uncle David cut him short, “Yeah, but you were paying them with monies that were coming in from the annuities of Tanner’s father's funds and not from the paltry sum you make as a taxidermist.  We have proof that you have been claiming Tanner as a dependent on your income tax forms, so that the people who have been paying the annuity were unaware that you had thrown Tanner out.  They have been so notified, and you will no longer be receiving those payments.  Instead they will be going directly to Tanner and whoever is his legal guardian.  As of now, that would be the Bensons.”

Mr. Butcher was quivering, “But how are me and Justin going to survive?”

I started to laugh almost uncontrollably, “Mr. Butcher, you mean to tell us that you went to Cornell University to learn to be a taxidermist?  No wonder, your son has already quit college and is peddling his body just to survive.”

Mr. Butcher jumped up, “You’re lying, you little snot.  My little Justin would never resort to that.”

I looked at Dad, “Dad, my I pull your computer in here and prove to Mr. Butcher that he’s wrong?”

Dad nodded yes. While the computer was booting, I hooked it to the large T. V.  I went into my email account and looked for the recent messages from Ben and Grant.  Holy moly, I had a lot of messages I hadn’t read.  I found the one from Ben, and I projected it onto the television screen.

When Mr. Butcher read the message, he screamed, “That person is lying.  Justin would never do anything like that.”

I decided to go to the message from Grant.  I opened it and put it on the screen even though I didn’t know what it said.

Hey Brian,

I met your friend, Justin Butcher, today.  He followed me into the bathroom at the library and offered to give me a blowjob for five bucks.  He said, if I would pay him $20.00 bucks he would let me use his body anyway I wanted. 

Jack, also had a run-in with him, this afternoon, and the prices were $2.00 for a blowjob and $10.00 for anything.  Jack felt sorry for the jerk and gave him  some, “You smell so bad that I wouldn’t let you touch my body.  Here’s 20.00.  Go get a bath or something.”

I  hope his brother isn’t anything like him.

The Piece of Wood

I turned off the computer and turned to Mr. Butcher, “Sir, I beg to differ with you.  You have been living in a glass house and it has begun to crack.  Tanner, let’s go to our room, we both have homework to do.  I’m glad I was able to meet you, Mr. Butcher, so I could finally see for myself what a slob you are.  Uncle David, I’ll talk to you later.”

When we got to my room, Tanner sighed, “Brian, I have no idea what to think anymore.  Would your parents really adopt me even though I’m gay?”

I shrugged my shoulders, “I’m sure they would, or the subject would not have been discussed this evening.  Now, let’s get our homework done.”

I had some reading to do for the project that John and I were doing in my fourth hour class.  I was lying on the bed reading when Timmy burst in, “Dad Brian, that mean man left.  He didn’t seem very happy.  He was yelling at Daddy and Mother.  They want to talk to you both, in the living room.”

When Tanner and I arrived in the living room, Dad was on the phone.  We heard him say, “Thanks Chief Wetzel, I’m skeptical as to what Mr. Butcher might try to do, now that he realizes he’s about to be exposed for the way he has mishandled Tanner and his funds.”

Dad motioned for us to sit down, “Tanner, we would be very pleased if you would let us adopt you.  But, we would fully understand if you would rather not.”

Tanner had tears in his eyes, “Mr. and Mrs. Benson, I would be very proud to be your son.  I have some reservations about how Lauren and Morgan might take such an action.  Also, wouldn’t it be a little awkward for me to, all of a sudden, be called Tanner Benson?  Thirdly, what is you family going to think about me being gay?”

Mother laughed, “Tanner, let me answer your questions and reservations in reverse order that you raised them.  What difference does your being gay have to do with it?  We already have one gay son, so why would another one bother us?”

“As far as you changing your name, I agree that it would be awkward for you to all of a sudden be known Tanner Benson.  It would complicate your life if you were to do that.  We could adopt you and you could still be known as Tanner Tailor.”

Mother continued, “As far as Timmy is concerned, he already thinks of you as a big brother.  I’m sure that Lauren would have no problem with it since her boyfriend, Derek, was adopted.  I’m not sure how Morgan would react.  Tanner, how many people know that you think you’re gay?”

Tanner grinned, “Probably the only four people who know are sitting in this room.”

Dad chuckled, “Good, let’s keep it that way.  Tanner, do you happen to have a driver’s license?”

I was trying to figure out what that question had to do with anything  that was being talked about.

Tanner nodded, “Yes, sir, Mr. Oliver had me get a driver’s license as soon as I turned 16,  in May.  He wanted me to be able to chauffeur his precious Ian around and take the other foster children to any place they needed to go.  Why did you ask?”

Dad shrugged his shoulders, “I was just curious.  Brian, go ask your sisters and Timmy to join us.”

The girls were in their rooms.  After I told them the parents wanted to talk them, they both immediately asked, “What’s wrong, now?  Why are all these people coming to the house?”

“Lauren and Morgan, I’m not sure what they want to talk to us about.  I need to go find Timmy.”

Lauren nodded, “Timmy’s in the backyard playing with some of the neighborhood kids.”

I went to the deck, “Timmy, Dad and Mother want to talk to you.”

Timmy looked up at me, “Okay.”  He turned to the other children, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Timmy came running up the steps, “What's wrong, Brian?”

“Nothing’s wrong; we’re just going to have a family meeting.”

“Are Ben and Grant going to be here?”

“Timmy, I don’t think so.”

When we walked into the living room Dad was on the phone, “Ben, everyone is here.  I’m going to put the phone on speaker so everyone can hear what everyone else has to say.  We have offered to adopt Tanner Tailor.  He has reservations about how the rest of you might feel if we were to adopt him.”

Ben spoke, “Dad and Mother, I have no problem if you were to adopt him.  I’m sure that you have thoroughly investigated the situation and decided that it is in the best interest of everyone to do so.  The only problem is that Grant and I don’t know Tanner, so we would have to rely the rest on your opinions.”

I decided to be silly, “For starters, he turned sixteen in May.  He’s sophomore.  He’s four feet two inches tall and weighs nearly three hundred pounds.  Oh yes, he’s bald as a bald eagle and he’s missing his four front teeth.”

Timmy put his hand on my mouth, “Ben and Grant, don’t believe Brian, he’s lying.  We'll send you a picture of him on the puter.”

I was laughing, “Well for starters, he going to be the starting tail back in the football game on Friday night.”

Dad asked, “Lauren, what are your thoughts on the subject?”
 

Lauren shrugged her shoulders, “I have no problem with him being our brother.  It will be nice to have someone else to be able to chauffeur Morgan, Brian and Timmy around.”

Dad pointed at me, “Brian, do you have anything you would like to add?”

“Dad and Mother, as I already told you, I’m in favor of you adopting him..

Dad looked at Morgan, “And you, young lady, what have you to say on the subject?”

Morgan smirked, “I’ll vote yes on the condition that I get ungrounded and don’t have to do the dishes every night.”

Grant came on the speaker, “Morgan, that’s sounds like blackmail to me.”

Dad nodded to Timmy, “And what does the Little One have to say?”

Timmy went and sat on Tanner’s lap, “Daddy, I already told you the Little One wasn’t here.”

Dad chuckled, “Okay, Mr. Timmy James Benson, what do you have to say about your Mother and I adopting Tanner?”

Timmy looked up at Tanner, “I already think of Tanner as a brother.  Dad and Mother can we make a deal with you?  Could the boys do the dishes one night and the girls do them the next night.  We don’t mind doing the dishes, and we need to do something for all the good food we eat.” 

Ben laughed, “Timmy, it sounds as if you been taking lessons on manipulating people from Brian.  Welcome to the family, Tanner.  Timmy, we’ll be looking for the picture of Tanner soon.  By the way, Tanner, your step brother, or whoever he was, is in the hospital.  It seems as if someone took exception to something Justin did and punched him out.  We’ll keep you advised of what’s happening.  We‘ll talk to you later.  We need to do some work before classes in the morning.”

Dad said goodnight and turned the phone off and turned to Tanner, “Son, it’s up to you to decide what you would like to happen.  I suggest that maybe you should take the littlest Benson boy and get him ready for bed.  We’ll be up to talk to you three guys in a few minutes, but first, we want to talk to Morgan and Lauren.”

As we were going up the stairs, I was wondering, ‘Is Dad ever going to have time to sit down and talk to me about what happened in Paris, and what’s in the packets that we haven’t had time to look at yet?’

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  Well, this story Is indeed getting very interesting.  Like all stories by E Walk, we often find ourselves encountering some problems.  Somehow, I have a good feeling about what is going to happen, but I guess we will just have to wait for the next chapter to find out more details.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher 

Posted: 01/01/10