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

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 34 

The Aftermath

When we arrived at the house, Ben and Grant wanted to leave so they wouldn’t have to miss any more school.  We walked the Ithaca visitors to the back yard and their carriage appeared.  Timmy and I hugged the visitors as they took off into the nighttime sky.

Fortunately there was food everywhere so there wasn’t a problem finding something to eat.   Everyone was helping themselves when Lauren came in.  I feel as if I’ve been living in a dream, today.  I’m having a difficult time understanding everything that happened.”

 “Why did that man threaten to kill Mother and Dad and us kids?”

The phone rang.  No one made a move to answer it, so I did.  “This is the Benson residence, Brian speaking.”

“Brian, this is Detective Stevens.  Would you inform your parents that the man who threatened to shoot you at the reception was indeed Leroy Gleason and he has a rap sheet a mile long and is wanted in a great many states for everything from dealing in drugs to money laundering.  The three people at the reading of the will also have records.  Tell your parents they shouldn’t be bothered by them, since Mr. Burns has gotten an injunction against any of the four of them trying to contact any of your family.”

“Thanks, Detective Stevens,  The parents will be glad to hear that.  This has been a very stressful time for them.”

After I hung up, I went back and sat down where we were eating, “That was Detective Stevens.  He said our relatives were all slime balls and have rap sheets longer than Rip Van Winkle’s beard.”

Timmy looked at me, “Brian, what does that mean?”

“That means that they’re bad people.”

Timmy shrugged, “We already knew that.  Why did they want to kill us?”

Dad took a deep breath, “Timmy, this may not make much sense, but I’m going to tell all of you this story.  Brian, you need to tell Ben.”

When I was fourteen, I met Grandmother Gleason.  The three people who were at the reading of the will today were trying to take all of her money.  Some things happened and we were able to get Grandmother Gleason a lot of money from their houses and cars.  They were not allowed to talk to her.  I guess that they decided that since Grandmother had died, they could get some money and that’s why they were here, today.”

Lauren looked confused, “If those people were related to us, why haven’t we ever seen them before.  The only real relative that we had was Grandmother Gleason.”

Dad answered, “That’s because all of the relatives on my side of the family are already dead, and the rest of your Mother’s relatives had court injunctions against them, saying that they could never contact your Grandmother or us.”

 

Morgan giggled, “I guess they weren’t very smart if they thought they were going to come in and get some money.  Grandmother sure made it clear that they were to get nothing.  Maybe they’ll all go to bed with empty stomachs.”

 

Lauren was shaking her head, “I still don’t understand why I’m the only person who has to wait until I’m twenty five before I can get my hands on the money that Grandmother left for me.

I shuddered, wondering how anyone would respond to Lauren’s statement.  I’d already been too vocal.  Timmy started, “Lauren, you were the only one of us who weren’t talking to the visitors after we ate today.  You sat there waiting to see if people would come talk to you while the rest of us were thanking the people for coming.”

Morgan took over, “How often did you go to visit Grandmother after she gave you and Tanner the vehicles?  None.  What would you have done with the money if she handed it to you and said, ‘Make sure you get a good education.’  What would you have done?”

Lauren stood, “I get your point.  Timmy was right, I do need to take my meds.  I guess I lost sight of the Benson family values.  Timmy, I promise that I’ll take my meds.  I really want to go skiing.  Do you think Derek will ever talk to me again?”

 

Timmy shrugged, “Lauren, Derek came to the funeral today, and he sure didn’t come to see me.  But you ignored him.  If you want to have friends, then you need to let them know that you care about them, and stop thinking only about yourself.”

Timmy looked at Dad and Mother, “May I use the phone to call one of my friends to get my spelling words for this week?”

Dad hugged Timmy. “You certainly can use the phone anytime, if it’s not busy.  Thanks for asking, though.”

We heard Timmy talking on the phone, “I guess I’ll need to study extra hard this week, since I missed school today.  Thanks, Tammy.  I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Timmy came in and announced, “I need to go study my spelling words.”

Tanner stood, “I’ll go with you to make sure you’re doing it right.  That way you can help me with my homework when I get stuck.”

Morgan started up the stairs, “The guys are making me feel guilty.  I guess I need to get busy as well.”

When I was alone with Dad and Mother, I asked, “What are your plans for tomorrow, other than to take Lauren to school?”

“Brian, we really haven’t had time to make any plans, with everything that has been happening.”

I grinned, “Here’s what I think you should do.  Take Lauren and get her settled and spend the night in a luxury hotel and relax.  On Wednesday morning, you can check on Lauren to make sure she’s settled in and then meander home.  Tanner and I will make sure that nothing bad happens.”

Mother asked, “Who’s going to pick up Timmy and Morgan?”

“Tanner and I can pick them up.  They may have to wait a few minutes, but I don’t think they should be here at the house alone, especially now that we know our greedy relatives are lurking around.  They’d have to be fools to try anything else right now.  But from the way they’ve acted in the past, they might be stupid enough to try something.”

“Thanks Brian, maybe one of us should stay here.  I could take Lauren and your Mother could stay here.”

“Dad, that would be the wrong thing to do.  I gather that they hate the two of you.  If you’re not here, then they can’t do anything to you.  They don’t know that the rest of the family are the persons who benefited from Grandmother’s money.  I’m still confused as to why she named Timmy, Tanner and me as the people who were to control her funds.”

Dad laughed, “She probably didn’t want me to get confused between her funds and the Tillison Foundation.  Besides, she probably realized that you three would make sure the funds were spent wisely.”

I hugged the parents and started up the stairs, “See you in the morning.”

Timmy was tapping me, “Brian, can we please go for a short run?”

I swung my legs out of bed and went to look out the window,  “Timmy, are you sure you want to go running in this yuck.  It’s a cross between rain and snow.”

Timmy plopped down on the bed, “I really need to get some exercise, after yesterday.”

Tanner sat up. “How’s a guy supposed to get his beauty sleep with you two talking all the time?  Timmy, if it’s still yucky after school, we’ll take you to the gym, to run.  We need to be in shape so we can go skiing.”

Timmy pouted, “I’ll be quiet and you can go back to sleep, but it won’t make you any better looking.  You need to have someone operate on you to make that happen.”

Tanner grabbed Timmy and turned him over his knee, “You’d better take that back or you won’t be able to sit down, today.”

“You touch me and I’ll make sure that you get unadopted.  I’ll go call the judge, now.  Get up, you kid who needs all the beauty sleep he can get.”

As three of us were going down the stairs, we were giggling.  Lauren asked, “What’s so funny.  Are you laughing because I have to go to a special school?”

Timmy stopped, “Believe me, Lauren, the reason we were laughing had nothing to do with you.  Tanner told us to stop yakking so he could get some beauty sleep.  I told him that no matter how much sleep he got, it wouldn’t help and he would need to have surgery to help him be beautiful.  He was going to spank me and I told him if he touched me, I was going to tell the judge to unadopt him.”

Morgan shook her head, “You guys are nuts.”

As we were leaving for school, Dad asked who needed money and only Morgan did.  When Tanner and I dropped Timmy and Morgan off at their schools, I went and made arrangements for both of them to be able to stay inside until Tanner and I could pick them up.

I actually had a great day and everything seemed to almost to fall into place too easily.  Tanner and I picked Morgan up first and Timmy was sitting patiently waiting for me, talking to two other boys.  As we approached the house, Timmy moaned, “There’s that man who was at the church again.  I hope he isn’t going to try to shoot us again.”

I looked at Tanner, “Drive around the block and give me a chance to get into the house before you pull directly into the garage.  Tanner, call the police and tell them what’s happening and ask to speak to Detective Stevens.  Timmy and Morgan, I want you to go to our bedroom and stay away from the windows.  Don’t come out until Tanner or I come get you.”

Tanner dropped me off and I slipped in the back door and went into the garage so I could find a weapon to attack the visitor with.  When I heard the garage door opening, I disappeared so Morgan wouldn’t see me.  I slipped out of the open garage door before it closed and started toward the front of the house.

As I was approaching the front of the house I heard the man shouting, “Damn you people, open this door.  I’m going to get in and take what’s mine.”

Just as I was getting ready to hit the prick with a baseball bat, he started firing his gun at the locking device on the front door.  I whacked the back of the guys legs with a baseball bat and he crumbled to the porch floor screaming in pain.  I dropped the bat and went around the house.  As I was leaving, I saw police car in front of the house.

After I materialized I walked around the side of the house, “What’s going on?  I was coming home from school and I heard gunshots.”

A young officer shook his head, “sir, I don’t know what happened.  We were just pulling up when this baseball bat hit the man on the back of his legs. It was the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.  The man has been seriously injured.  Was anyone inside injured by his shots?”

I pulled out my keys and opened the door, “Hey, is everyone okay?”

Timmy and Morgan came bounding down the stairs.  Timmy hugged me, “We’re okay.  Where’s Tanner?”

 

Tanner came in from the kitchen carrying the phone, “Detective Stevens is on the way.  He said Mr. Gleason escaped from jail this morning and that the police have been covering the house thinking he might try something again.”

The young officer grinned, “It’s a good thing we were here when we were, but I still don’t understand everything that is happening.”

I stood, “Shouldn’t we at least cover the person until the para medics arrive, since we can‘t move him?  Let me get a blanket.”

I had just covered Cousin Leroy with a blanket when I saw the baseball bat.  I panicked, ‘I’ve got to make sure my fingerprints aren’t on the bat.’

I heard a voice, “Don’t worry, you mean person.  I’ve already made sure that what happened can’t be traced to you.”

‘Grandpa Nappy, I guess you aren’t real happy with how we have been using our powers.  This is not as you intended them to be used.’

“Brian, if the three of you guys hadn’t used your special powers, then something very bad could have happened to make it so you wouldn’t be able to do the work that you are to do.  I just want to warn you that you may be tested when you go to Nice and Paris next week”

The paramedics arrived and Leroy Gleason's legs were splinted and he was put on a gurney and taken away.  Detective Stevens arrived, “I’ve been trying to call the house since Mr. Gleason escaped about lunch time.”

“Sir, our parents left for Minneapolis this morning, and the rest of us were in school until we came home and saw the Mr. Gleason trying to get into the house.  How did he get out of jail, and how did he get another gun so fast?”

Detective Stevens shook his head, “Brian, you don’t want to know.”

I turned to Timmy and Morgan, “I think it would be better if you didn’t hear what Detective Stevens is going to tell us.  Why don’t you go see what we can fix for dinner?”

Timmy put his hands on his hips, “Let’s go hide our heads in the sand so these people can talk about things they think we’re to young to hear.”

Detective Stevens was laughing, “Timmy, I’ll tell you about our conversation, later.”

Timmy shook his head no, “That’s okay Detective, Brian and Tanner talk in their sleep, so I’ll find out anyway.  Come on Morgan.”

Detective Stevens shook his head, “Timmy must be an exceptional young man.  Anyway, it seems that Mr. Gleason seduced one of our young officers and was servicing the officer with his mouth when he turned the tables on the young officer and took his clothes.  Before he left, he totally defiled the young officer who is married and has children.  He is now being treated in the hospital for what Mr. Gleason made him endure.”

“Gleason left the officer incapacitated on his bunk and walked out of the jail dressed as the officer.  There are a lot of heads in the department that are going to roll because of the what Gleason was able to do.  I think I can assure you that Mr. Gleason won’t be going anywhere, anytime soon.  He has made himself a person non gratis with law enforcement persons in the area.  I suggest that you make sure that you can secure the house after what Gleason did to the front door.”

We went to check the door, the door lock wasn’t operating properly but we could lock the dead bolt.  Detective Stevens commented, “It’s  a good thing that your parents had a metal door with thermal pane windows. The damage was minimal.  Where are your parents?”

“They took our oldest sister to school in Minneapolis this morning.  They should be back tomorrow afternoon.  We’ll be fine until then, as long as the Gleason relatives don’t try anything else.”

Detective Stevens grinned, “Brian, I think I can assure you that the Gleasons won’t try anything else.  We’ll be having patrols go by your house every half hour.”

I laughed, “Does that mean we are under house arrest?”

“No, but I would suggest that you not venture too far from the house, unless it's absolutely necessary.  Do you have enough food on hand to keep you from starving?”

Tanner started to laugh, “Detective Stevens, we have enough food on hand to feed an army.  Would you like some?”

Timmy interrupted the conversation, “Dinner is being served in the kitchen.  You have to fix your own food.  There are too many things to choose from.  Detective Stevens, can you join us?”

“Thanks for asking, Timmy, but I’m still on duty.  I need to go catch some more bad guys.  Talk to you young people later.”

To be continued... 

Editor's Notes:  I believe that Mr. Gleason will most likely think twice before he tries any more assaults.  He has not endeared himself to the police department.

I still remember what happened the day that Beau helped Grandmother Gleason keep her awful children from robbing her blind.  Those people were not anything like Grandmother Gleason or Becca. 

I wonder, will Lauren manage to turn herself around and stop thinking of herself and only herself, or will she continue to slide down the path of her nasty relatives?   Let's hope she will eventually see the error of her ways. 

I wonder what kind of tests the boys will have to take, while they are on their trip.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher 

Posted: 08/13/10