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

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Chapter 36 

The Slave Driver

I could hear it now.  Timmy would be calling me Big Brain.  After breakfast, Timmy suggested, “Daddy, you stay here and help Big Brain while Tanner, Morgan, Mother and me go through Grandmother Gleason’s clothes to see what we can take to the Homeless Shelter.  We need to get as much done as we can before we go on our trip next weekend.”

As Dad and I were working on making lists of the memorials that had been received, what they were designated for, the amount of the memorial and the donor’s address, I was surprised at how large some of the donations were.  I almost lost it when I picked up one from the Masons for a sizeable sum.  I decided not to mention it to Dad and kept on working.  By noon, we had complete lists of the memorials that had been received, so far.

“Dad, I think we’d better go check on the slave driver and make sure he isn’t working Mother to death.”

When Dad and I walked into Grandmother’s condo, we were accosted by Timmy, “Did you bring us something to eat, like I told you to do?”

I held up my hands, “I don’t remember you telling us to bring food.”

Timmy sniffed, “You’re supposed to be a mind reader.  I will have to change your name to Forgetful One.  Come on, Daddy, we’re starving.  We need to get some food.”

After Dad and Timmy had departed.  I went to find Mother, Tanner and Morgan.  “Would someone care to tell me what has Timmy so wound up?”

Morgan sat down on a chair, “The Slave Driver hasn’t stopped since we got here.  He and Mother went through Grandmother’s personal things, to see what Mother wanted to keep.  He had Tanner and me checking the food and putting everything that had a good shelf life date in one place and everything that was out of date, we had to put in the garbage.”

Tanner moaned, “Not only that, we had to make a comprehensive list of all the food that was good, so we could take it to the food pantry.  But first, we have to go price the items in a store, so Mother and Dad can receive proper tax credit.”

Mother sat down, “We’ve gotten more done in one morning than I would have thought possible.  I think it would be good if you took Timmy to do something fun, to divert his attention away from what we were doing.  He told me he wanted to get as much done as possible before we go on our vacation next weekend.”

When Timmy and Dad returned with the food, Timmy apologized.  “Daddy said I was working everyone too hard and that we should go home and relax and write some thank you notes before we fix dinner.  He and Mother need time to talk.”

Dad reacted, “Timmy, I didn’t say any such thing.”

Timmy giggled, “You may not have said it out loud, but you were thinking it.  This little brain of mine maybe isn’t so little after all.”

After we had eaten and made sure the mess was taken care of, we four young people went back to the house and we did each write ten thank you notes which we put on the table for Dad and Mother to check.  We actually did do something fun.  We went to the bowling alley and had a blast watching a determined Timmy trying to get a strike.  When he finally got one it was when the gold pin was in the number one position and the lights started to flash and sirens and whistles were blowing.

The public address system came on, “The young man bowling in lane ten just won the jackpot for five hundred and fifty dollars.  The jackpot starting tomorrow will be ten dollars.  Will the young man come and claim his prize?”

I went with Timmy to the stand where the announcement had come from.

The speaker was still on, “Young man, what is your name?”

 

“I’m Timmy Benson, and I'm here bowling with my brothers and sister and they’re beating me so badly that I had to do something.”

“What do you plan to do with the $550 dollars?”

Timmy shrugged his shoulders, “I need to talk to my Daddy and Mommy and see what they think I should do.  That‘s an awful lot of money.”

The gentleman looked at me, “Who are you?”

“I’m Timmy’s brother, Brian.”

“Don’t believe him, Mister.  He’s my brother, but his name is really Big Brain.”

The man was laughing, “Well Big Brian Benson, what would you have done with the money had you gotten a strike with the gold pin in the number one position?”

“I would do like Little Brain is going to do, and that is to check with our parents.”

The manager handed Timmy an envelope, “In addition to money, Little Brain Benson, here are coupons for ten free lines of bowling. It has been a pleasure talking to the two of you.”

When we got back to the lane, Timmy asked, “Do we gotta go now?”

Tanner shook his head no, “We still have five more frames to go.  Let’s see if you can win some more money.”

Needless to say, we didn’t win any more money, but Timmy did have two more strikes and that was worth more to him than money.

When we arrived at the house, Dad and Mother were sitting in the kitchen and Timmy ran to them, “Daddy and Mommy, I won $550.00.  Can I give it the church food pantry in memory of Grandmother?”

Dad and Mother sat as if they were zombies.  Finally Dad recovered enough to ask. “Timmy, how did you win $550.00?”

“We decided to go do something fun after we each wrote ten thank you notes.  We were bowling and I was really bad.  Most of the time my ball would go into the gutter on the side of where the pins were.  Everyone else was making the pins fly all over the place.  Even Morgan had a couple of those strike things.  When the gold pin was in the front, I decided to throw the ball as fast as I could.  I hit the gold pin and all the pins all fell down.  I almost went to the bathroom in my pants when the bells, whistles and lights started to go off.  I was sure the building was on fire.”

Dad looked at me, but asked, “What happened after that, Timmy?”

Timmy explained what happened when we went to the booth and Dad acquiesced, “Timmy, if you want to give the money to the food pantry in honor of Grandmother, you may certainly do so.”

Morgan piped up, “I'm not writing you a thank you.”

Timmy sighed, “That’s okay, Morgana, I’ll write myself a thank you note.  I wouldn’t want the rest of you to get too tired.”

He went and got a piece of the embossed stationary and started to write

Dear Timothy J. Benson,

The Benson family wants to thank you for remembering the memory of our Grandmother Gleason with your nice donation to the food pantry.  It will make it possible for some young boys and girls not to have to go to bed hungry.

Again thank you for your kindness.

Timmy Benson

The doorbell rang and Timmy went to answer it.

While he was gone, Dad looked at the three of us young people.  “I trust that none of you had anything to do with what transpired today.”

I stood, “We had nothing to do with what happened.  I’m positive that this happened on it’s own.”

Morgan stood, “I feel like a jerk for saying that I wouldn’t write Timmy a thank you note for his donation.  His thank you note was so much more meaningful than what I’ve been writing.  Why is it taking him so long?  I’ll go see where he is.”

Timmy and Morgan came into the kitchen carrying a crate full of mail.  Timmy announced, “The mailman said there was so much mail that he brought it in a crate.  Daddy, he said you could return it to the post office on Monday.”

Timmy started to unload the crate.  He handed a package to each of us.  He started to shake his.  “What’s in it and who are they from?”

Dad looked at the postmark, “I would guess that they are from Archie and Will, since they were mailed in Switzerland.  Open yours and see what it is and if there is a note or something.”

There was a note. 

Hi Timmy,

Hope this fits, since the house rules at the Nice Arms say that everyone entering and exiting must have on a bathing suit.

We’re looking forward to see the six of you in about a week.

Archie and Will

Timmy took out a very skimpy bikini swim suit.  He looked at it and mumbled, “This isn’t going to cover anything.  It's so small that my foot won’t even fit in it.  The rest of you better open your packages in your bedrooms.

Timmy dumped the rest of the mail in front of Dad and Mother, “It looks like we got some more of those cards with money for

Grandmother’s memorial funds.  We’ll never get all the thank you notes written.”

Dad and Mother were sorting the mail into piles.  Dad handed me a letter, “Brian, this letter is addressed to you.”

I looked at the return address, and it was the Johnson Art Gallery.

Dear Brian,

When we returned home on Monday, Kelly was so excited about the painting of your Grandmother in her coffin that he had it already on display when the gallery opened on Tuesday.  The word spread like a wildfire that you had a new and exciting painting on display and the gallery has been packed.

Anyway, two art collectors started to vie for purchase of the painting until finally one of them gave up.  I hope that you find the selling price to your liking.  We chose to not take any for the homeless and needy here in England, but are sending the entire amount to you, since I’m sure that you will use it to help take care of the needy in your area.

 Kelly says that you’re to get your butt in gear and create some more trash.

Warmest regards,

Paul Johnson

I handed the note and the check to Dad, “Dad, could you put this in the safe until Monday.  Come on T and T, we need to find something for dinner, before Randy and Ron arrive.  Where’d Morgan go?”

Timmy pointed, “She took her package and went upstairs.”

We heard Morgan calling, “Mom, I need your help.”

Tanner and I were fixing dinner and Timmy was setting the table when Mother returned, “Brian, Archie and Will don’t really expect us to wear these skimpy suits, do they?”

Timmy heard Mother’s question, “Mommy, they probably didn’t want the other guests to laugh at us.  This is what most of the people were wearing when we were at Tanner’s house last time.  There were a lot of people on the beach who weren’t wearing any clothes at all, but they weren’t staying at Tanner’s house.”

Timmy changed the subject, “Daddy and Mommy, Randy is coming to spend the night.  Are you going to be here or does Big Brain need to stay and take care of us?”

Dad laughed, “We aren’t planning on going anywhere, so Big Brain can go do whatever he wants, tonight.”

We had finished dinner and Morgan stood, “I need to go so I’m not late for my babysitting job.  Can someone drop me off, please?  The Larsens will bring me home.  They said it might be late when they got home.”

Dad nodded, “I’ll take you as soon as you’re ready.”

Timmy asked, “Did you take all of your medicine?”

“I’ll take the last pill when I get home or I might fall asleep while I’m babysitting.”

When Ron and Randy arrived, Timmy and Randy disappeared up the stairs.  I went to see what they were doing while Tanner and Ron were trying to decide what to do.  Timmy was showing Randy the swim suit that he received in the mail.

Randy looked puzzled, “Timmy, how are you going to wear that?  People will think you aren’t wearing any clothes.  Try it on and see if it fits.”

Timmy was trying to figure out how to wear the suit so I made my presence known, “Need some help, Little Brain?”

Timmy looked at me, “Big Brain, how do I wear this?”
 

“First you need to take off all your clothes and then I’ll help you put it on,   I’m not exactly sure how it’s supposed to work.”

I helped Timmy put the bikini on and it was almost as if he were wearing a thong, except that there were strings that were going to leave interesting tan lines if he wore the suit.  I had a sudden inspiration and went to tell Tanner and Ron that I was going to stay home, because I had some things that I needed to do.”

After Tanner and Ron had departed, I went to get my laptop, so I could log the latest memorials that had arrived in the mail.  I wanted to get the money out of the house.  Dad admonished me, “Brian, you don’t have to do that, tonight.  There’s always tomorrow.”

“Dad, I know that I don’t have to do it, but I didn’t want to be a third wheel with Tanner and Ron.  Besides, I have something I want to do, after I get Timmy and Randy settled.”

Dad sighed, “I guess you don’t care to divulge what it is that you want to do.”

I hugged Dad, “Get your mind out of the gutter, you dirty old man.  I need to see if I can make some more money, so we won’t starve.”

I was joined by Mother and Dad in the study and Mother was writing notes while Dad and I uploaded the latest gifts to the data bases.  We were just about finished when Timmy and Randy came in and Timmy started to complain, “You people just disappeared without telling us where you were going.  Big Brain, we’re kinda hungry; could you help us get a snack?”

I shut down my computer and went to help the guys get a snack and get ready for bed.  When I had them settled in bed, I went to get my oils and a blank canvass.  It didn’t take long for the two boys to fall asleep.  They cooperated nicely and I was going to have a great painting, even if I do say so myself.  After I had the basic outline started I went to take a shower and decided to try on the bikini suit that Uncle Archie and Uncle Will had sent me.  When I put it on I looked in the mirror and started to laugh, ‘This is indecent.’

I figured, ‘What the hay, people need some spice in their lives.’

I went into Ben and Grant’s room and lay down on the bed so I could see my body in the mirror on the closet doors and started to paint.  When I heard people coming into the house I closed up shop so people wouldn’t see what I was doing.  I had big plans for them, later.

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  When Brian has plans, you had better believe they will be very interesting. 

There are a lot of people who loved Grandmother Gleason.  She was certainly an exceptional person, even if she wasn't gifted with extra abilities.  The ones that she did have were certainly great.  She had the gift of caring about everyone.  She and Becca certainly had more love and caring than all the rest of the Gleason family put together.

Becca and Beau are very special people, and it seems that they have managed to pass along their warmth and giving spirits to most of their kids, be they blood related or adopted. 

Of course, I still have my doubts about Lauren, but perhaps, she will turn around, eventually.  I am ready for the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/27/10