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

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Chapter 20 

What Do You Want From Me?

I guess I was very quiet on the ride to school after Timmy exited.  Ricky asked, “Brian, you seem upset this morning.  Did I do something to upset you?”

I turned to Ricky, who was in the backseat, “Rick, I’m fine.  Did Mother give you money for lunch today?”

Ricky looked at me as if I was from outer space, “Why would I need money when I’m a ward of the state?”

Tanner started to laugh, “Ricky, didn’t you mean that you were a ward of the state.  You lost that status when the Bensons took you into their home.  Which lunch hour do you eat?”

“Guys, you have me all confused.  Why wouldn’t I be a ward of the state, just because I’m staying at the Bensons’ house.  I eat lunch after the fourth hour.”

I pulled a five dollar bill out of my billfold, “Here, this should cover your lunch and we’ll meet you at the entrance to the cafeteria as soon as we can get there.”

The morning seemed to be dragging by and I was thinking, ‘This has got to be the longest Friday in history.  What is it about me that makes Dad and Mother always think that I’m doing, or have done, something that I shouldn’t have?’

When I arrived in the fourth hour class, John looked at me, “Brian, you seem upset.  Is there anything that I can do?”

I shook my head, “John, things are happening that I don’t understand.  They have nothing to do with anything that you did.  I guess I’m a little thin skinned right now.  Not only is Tanner living at our house, but Ricky Alvarez and Justin Butcher are, as well.”

“Brian, if you want to talk, I’m a very good listener.”

“John, I’ll be okay.  I’m still a little sore from the beating I took yesterday at the game.”

The fourth hour class was about to end and the intercom was activated, “Would Brian Benson please report to the office?”

I looked at John, “Oh no, not again.  Be on the look out for Ricky Alvarez.  I told him to meet us at the entrance to the cafeteria.”

When I arrived at the office, Mother was waiting there, “Brian, we need to go?”

“I guess it’s my turn to go see the shrink, right?”

I saw a hurt look pass over Mother’s face,  “Brian, please listen, your Dad is rather devastated by what’s happening.  Please come talk to him.”

“Mother, how do you think I felt last night when Dad yelled at me for doing something to Justin that I shouldn’t have been doing when I was only doing what Dad told me to do?”

“Brian, please just come and talk to your Father.”

I went with Mother and climbed in the car.  When I crawled in the car, I reminded them, “I do have to be back in thirty minutes since I have a class to teach.”

Dad turned around, “You aren’t going to make this easy, are you, son?”

“Dad, I don’t know what you’re talking about.  You really hurt me bad last night when you accused me of doing something to Justin that I wasn’t doing.  I was only doing what I thought you would want me to do since you accused me and Tanner of ignoring Justin.”

“All I was doing was trying to replace the bandage on Justin’s wound that was blood soaked, before he went to bed.  But you practically accused me of raping him.  I’m very disappointed that you, of all people, would even think I would do something like that.”

“I need to get back to school.  I’ll leave tonight since you obviously don’t feel that I’m worthy of being the Most Honorable Beau Benson’s son.  Take the matter up with the Clayton side of the family.  I have enough money that I will be able to survive at the Chateau in Paris.  I’m sorry that I don’t meet to the standards that your idol, Uncle Jeff, set, but I’m not Uncle Jeff.  I need to get to class, since it will probably be the last class I teach.”

I climbed out of the car, “I need to get back for my class.”

When I arrived at the Art Room, I had no idea what I was going to do.  I pulled out the pastels and decided that I would have the students draw a portrait of how they felt about themselves and what was happening in their lives.

I was concentrating on my drawing when Mr. Cox walked up to see what I was doing.  He whispered, “Is something happening that you would want to talk about?  That is the most morbid thing that I ever seen you do.”

“Mr. Cox, this is how I’m feeling right now.  My parents don’t trust me and I probably won’t be back to school next Monday.  I’m sorry to let everyone down, especially the students in this class and the football team, but I can’t exist in an environment where there is no trust.”

I almost didn’t even go to football practice, but I did.  I went to Coach Henderson, “Coach, you need to make sure that Ricky Alvarez gets some playing time.  I have the distinct impression that he will be valuable to the team.  I don’t know at what position, but I know that he’s in tremendous shape.”

About thirty minutes into practice, I went to the coach, “Sir, I’m not feeling well.  I’m going to leave.”

I didn’t say anything to anyone else, but went to the locker room.  I didn’t even take a shower.  I got dressed and started to walk home.  I heard both Timmy and Tanner trying to talk to me, but I decided not to respond so they couldn’t trace where I was. 

I was nearly home when I heard, “Brian, you’re being bullheaded.  Give your Father a chance.  You not only have your parents upset, but Timmy and Tanner are very upset, especially Timmy.  He thinks that you’re mad at him and he doesn’t understand what’s happening.”

When I was approaching the house, I could see Timmy sitting on the front porch step and he appeared to be crying.  When he saw me, he started to run toward me.  He practically knocked me down when he jumped up, “Brian, why are you mad at me?  Why wouldn’t you talk to me?  You need to talk to Daddy.  He hasn’t talked to anyone since I got home from school.”

“Timmy, I am not angry with you, of all people.  Something happened that hurt my feelings very badly.  Grandpa Nappy told me to lighten up, because I was upsetting everyone.”

Timmy was practically pulling me to the house.  When we entered the house, Timmy pointed, “Daddy is in his office.  Go talk to him and make whatever is wrong, better.”

After I put down my backpack, I went to the office and knocked on the door even though it was open, “Dad, it’s Brian.”

Dad looked up and his eyes were red, “Brian, please come in and sit down, and please don’t start to spout off before I have a chance to say what I wanted to say to you at lunch time.”

I nodded my head.  I decided that I wasn’t going to say anything at all.

Dad stood and started to pace, “Brian, I apologize for yelling at you last night.  You’re right, I should have realized that you weren’t doing anything intentionally, to hurt Justin and certainly not doing anything of a sexual nature.  Furthermore, I botched the job of replacing Justin’s bandage so badly that I nearly stopped the circulation in his leg and that’s why he was in the condition he was this morning.”

“You really hurt me very badly with your comments that you made in the car this lunch time.  I know that I’m not perfect, and I know that you are more like your Uncle Jeff than you can imagine.  I also know that you have special talents that Jeff didn’t even have.”

“You mentioned a name that really rattled my cage.  How do you know the name Clayton?  Very few people know of my association with that name.”

“Dad, I’m sorry I reacted as I did last night, but you not only yelled at me and made it seem as if I was doing something to deliberate hurt Justin, but you did so in front of guests.  Why did you have to react without knowing the facts?” 

“I apologize for the outburst in the car at lunch time.  I was striking back to get even for what you did last night.  I overheard you and Grandpa Jack talking one day and I heard him ask you if you were ever going to tell us kids that your real name was Clayton, in case any of us were to be interested in genealogy.”

Dad sat down, “Brain, have you said anything about this to anyone else?”

“No,”

“I thought perhaps Grandpa Nappy might have told you.”

Both Dad and I were rattled by what we heard, “Beau, I would never tell Brian something like that.  It is your responsibility to level with Brian.  I’ve already told him that he was being bullheaded and that he and you needed to talk.  It might be wise for you to let Brian know the story of how your name came to be Beau Benson.”

Dad had a funny look on his face.  “Yes, all of it, Beau.  Would you two please hug and make up so Brian can get on with reassuring everyone else that he’s not going to run away?”

Dad looked at me, “Brian, you heard what the man said.  We’ll have to find time to talk this weekend when everyone else is busy.  Go talk to Timmy.”

I hugged Dad and went to find Timmy only to find out that he and Morgan were delivering Grandmother Gleason’s dinner.  Mother was in the kitchen by herself, “Mother, I apologize for my behavior at lunchtime.  Dad and I have talked.  You might want to go talk to him to make sure he’s okay.  I’ll take care of dinner.  Where are Justin, Will and Archie?”

“They went to Omaha to get a passport application and some clothes for Justin.”

“Passport application?”

“They’re thinking of taking Justin back to Switzerland and putting him to work for Timmy at the Chalet,”

I started to laugh, “Mother, you’re not serious are you?   You mean Timmy and I don’t even have a say in the matter.”

“I guess not.  I think Will and Archie have decided to make Justin their son, and make sure that Mr. Butcher can never get his hand on Justin again.”

We were interrupted by the arrival of Tanner and Ricky.  Tanner started on me, “Brian, why didn’t you tell us you were leaving?  Coach Henderson said you weren’t feeling well.  What’s wrong with you?”

“Guys, I didn’t have any lunch today, and I didn’t feel up to playing football.”

Ricky asked, “Was the reason that you didn’t have any lunch today because you gave me your lunch money?”

I pulled out my wallet, “No, that’s not the reason I didn’t have lunch.  See, I still have twenty bucks in my billfold.”

The door opened and Will yelled, “Look who we found.  Cinderella and the Big Bad Wolf have returned with the little red wagon.”

Timmy giggled, “Don’t you mean the little Black Sheep?”

After dinner, which went okay, Dad suggested, “Why don’t you guys go buy Ricky some clothes, since he’s going to be staying for at least the next week.”

Timmy jumped up, “Come on, people, bring the dishes to the kitchen so we can get them done and go.”

When we were getting ready to leave, I asked, “Justin, do you want to go with us?”

“I’d like to go, but you gotta promise that you aren’t going to make me run.  That way, Ricky and I can wash our clothes together in the morning.”

“Mother, can we take the van since, it would be more comfortable for the five of us than the Corolla.”

Tanner pouted, “So now the Corolla isn’t good enough for you?  Eh?”

I glared, “Knock it off, Tanner.  I’m trying to save you some money by using the gas in Mother’s van.”

When we were in the mall, Justin made it a point to talk to me in private, “Brian, I apologize for causing a problem between you and your Dad.  I hope you were able to resolve the problem.  I overheard your parents talking after you laid into your Dad at lunchtime.”

“Justin, we’ll be fine.”

Timmy came and tugged on my arm, “Brian, do I have enough money to buy something if I see something I want?”

“Yes, Timmy, you do, but I’ll have to use my card since we didn’t bring yours with us.”

Justin frowned, “You mean to tell me that Timmy has his own card?”

I nodded, “Timmy has a debit card, but our Dad keeps it.  Timmy has some money but he does have access to it.”

Justin shook his head as if trying to clear the cobwebs, “I guess there are a lot of things about you, Timmy and Tanner that I don’t know.  Tanner isn’t the same person I used to know at all.  He seems so self assured.”

I smirked, “When we get home you’re going to pose for me and I’m going to show the entire world what you father did to you.  That’s the least you can do after causing to not only lose my dinner last night but causing my Dad to yell at me.”

“What do you mean I’m going to pose for you?”

“Justin, I’m a wanna be artist.  I'm going to do a painting of you that will show the world what your Father did to you.”

“Brian, what are you going to do with this painting that you’re going to do of me?”

“Put it on display and sell it, of course.”

“Brian, I’ll be the laughing stock of town.”

“I didn’t know that you knew anyone in London.  That’s where it will be on display and sold.”

Justin threw up his hands, “Brian, I don’t believe you.”

Timmy came to where Justin and I were standing, “Da.. Brian, do I have enough to buy a new book and a game?”

“Yes, Timmy, you have a enough money to buy a book and a game.  Let’s go get them.”

We purchased Timmy’s book and game and went to see if we could find the other three guys.  Justin was sitting in a seat in front of The Gap store.  “The guys are in there and they’re both out of their element in a store like that.   They’re both complaining about the cost of everything.” 

“I’ll take care of the problem,  Timmy stay here and make sure Justin doesn’t get into trouble.  Have him show you how to put the batteries in your game so you can play it.”

I went to find Ricky and Tanner and they were looking at everything  but Ricky kept saying no.  “Guys, you’re wasting our time, follow me.”

I took them to the Department Store and started throwing things at Ricky, “Here, go try these on so we know for sure what size you need and then we’ll go from there.”

By the time we were finished, Ricky was complaining, “Brian, I’ll never be able to repay your parents for all of these things.”

I ignored Ricky and told Tanner to call Ron and have him meet us at the Pizza House that was near home.

Tanner made the call and reported, “Ron is going to meet us, but he’s babysitting his brother so he’ll be bringing him along.”

Little did we know what was in store for us.

To be continued...

 Editor's Notes:  Wow, that was quite a chapter,  At least Brian and Beau have talked.  They are both good people, and it would be a shame if they couldn't work out their differences.  Beau is kind of a perfectionist, and Brian is very unsure of himself.  Brian has a lot of talent, and is very intelligent, but he is easily hurt.  I am sure that Beau didn't intend to hurt Brian's feelings, and Brian over reacted to his dad's words.  Grandpa Nappy brought up some very interesting points, and I think that Beau and Brian still have a lot of things to discuss. Perhaps we will find out what they are, in the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 04/23/10