The Mark and the Mole
by: E Walk

(© 2007 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 6
Just Chill

After dinner, the teenagers did the dishes and then took Mark and Jon and gave them a bath and fed them.  They brought the two little guys back to the assembled adults, and Kevin asked, “Would it be okay if we took Chad down to the family room and got him to chill out?  He is so uptight and apprehensive about what is going to happen tomorrow.”

Grandmother got up and hugged Chad, “Chad, we’ll be right there with you tomorrow and we won’t let anything happen to you.  That is why it is important that Jon and Mark stay here.   This is probably where they will be the safest, because no one will know where they are.  I just have a feeling that your parents and the Davises will not resist what we are going to ask of them.  Now, you go with Kendra and Kevin and enjoy yourself while you can.”

It was quiet and it was getting late and I went down to check on the three teenagers and of course to remind them that Chad needed to go to bed soon, since we would be leaving for Iowa City at 8:00 in the morning.  Chad was sitting on a sofa and Kevin and Kendra were sitting on either side of him trying to assure him that everything would go just fine tomorrow.

I hated to interrupt them but I felt like I needed to, “Okay, you young people, it’s time to get ready for bed.  We old people need to get our beauty sleep.”

Kevin looked at me, “I guess that will take a lot of sleep.”

The young people joined the adults in the living room.  Chad and Kevin excused themselves and took Jon and Mark to their room.  They took turns taking showers and made sure the little guys were settled in their bassinettes.

The two 16 years old young men crawled into bed in just their briefs.  Chad didn’t resist when Kevin pulled him back against him and wrapped his arms around him.   Kevin whispered, “Chad, I won’t try to start anything tonight, even though I really want to.  You have be able to face tomorrow without any extra baggage.”

The guys took care of Jon and Mark during the night and no one had been bothered.  When Mike and I went downstairs in the morning, Kevin and Chad were feeding the boys.  I was surprised at how Kevin was becoming so attached to the little guys.

Mike and I went to fix breakfast and Grandmother came to check on us.  She reminded Chad, “Chad, remember, I think that you need to wear the clothes that you were wearing when you arrived at my house.”

As we were eating breakfast, Chad asked, “Do I really need to go?”

There was a resounding ‘Yes’ from the assembled adults.  Kevin tried to reassure Chad, “Chad, we aren’t going to let anything happen to our cousins.  We may even have them potty trained by the time you get back.”

That sparked Chad,  “Just make sure they go to the bathroom and don’t wet the bed like some other person I know.”

Grandmother stopped anymore frivolity.  “Okay, we need to get ready to go.”

Mr. Long announced, “We need to leave in twenty minutes, to make sure we are in time to meet with Mr. and Mrs. Harmon.”

Chad went and put on the clothes he had arrived at Grandmother’s house in.  When he reappeared, Kevin rearranged his hair to look like it was very unkempt.  Kevin laughed, “Now you look like a wayward waif.  Just make sure your sons don’t see you looking like that, or they will probably run away from home.”

By the time Grandmother, Mr. Long, Frank Wilkins, Chad and I crawled into the van, Chad was semi relaxed.  That lasted until Mr. Long started, “Chad, if your  parents sign these papers agreeing that Doug could be your legal guardian, how would you like to be known?”

Poor Chad had no idea how to respond, “Granddad Long, if my parents sign, could I change my name to Chad Allan Walker?”

Mr. Long smiled, “I think we can take care of that.  Now, what about Jon and Mark?”

Chad answered almost without thinking, “Please, could we have their names changed to Mark Matthew Walker and Jon Paul Walker?”

Everyone in the van was emotionally involved in what Chad asked, but Michael’s father answered, “Chad, we’ll do everything that we can to make that happen.  Even though we have only known you for a very short time, I am sure that you will make all of us proud someday.”

The conversation was interrupted because we pulled up in front of Chad’s parents' house.  It was 10:55 and Mr. Long and Frank had decided that we should be a little early to put the Harmons on the defensive.  When we rang the doorbell, a portly dour man answered the door, “What is it that you want?”

Mr. Long was very composed, “Mr. Harmon, I believe we have an appointment to discuss what is going to happen to your son, Chad.”

We were totally unprepared for his response, “We don’t have a son named Chad.  We do not want that sinner or his two bastard sons anywhere near the rest of our children or they will be contaminated with evil thoughts.”

Grandmother took the controls, “Mr. Harmon, we would appreciate it if you would get your wife, and we can complete this business; but in the meantime, might we come in and sit down?”

Poor Chad was shaking and I held him.  When his parents returned, it was like Chad didn’t even exist.  Mr. Long made his proposal that they, the Harmons, should sign the paperwork to make me, Douglas Walker, Chad’s guardian. 

The Harmon’s were quick to pick up on the singular me.  Mr. Harmon pointedly asked, “So are you and Chad having an affair?”

Grandmother flew out of her chair, “You swine, Douglas has no sexual interests in your son or his sons.  I will be living with them to make sure that they are well taken care of.  Now just sign the papers, and we will leave here before we are contaminated by evil thoughts that you are spewing from your mouths.  For your information, Mark and Jon are not bastards because they worn born of two young people who had been wed.”

Mr. Harmon wasn’t about to let Grandmother have the last word, “Well, they may as well be bastards.  They were conceived out of wedlock.”

Fortunately Frank put his arms around Grandmother and motioned for her to sit down,  “Now, Mr. and Mrs. Harmon, if you will sign these papers, you will never need to worry about the son you don’t have and his bastard sons, as you referred to them, again.”

The Harmons looked at the papers and they both signed, Frank wasn’t done, “Thank you for cooperating.  Now, would it be too much of a problem for you to provide Chad’s birth certificate and other important documents and then you will never need to worry about him and his sons again.”

Mr. Harmon went and got a folder and practically threw it at Frank, “Now leave, and we never want to see the heathen again.”

Before we could leave, a young boy about seven came into the room, “Dad and Mother, may we go …” he stopped in mid sentence and ran and jumped into Chad’s arms. “Chad it is so great to see you.  Are you going to be coming back home?”

The tears were steaming down Chad’s face, “Billy, your Dad and Mother don’t want me here anymore.  You be good and tell the other children I love them.”  Chad hugged Billy and put him down and walked out the door.  I followed him and he was physically ill.  I led him to the van and held him.

“Dad, I don’t know how much heartache I can take.  Can we please just go back, so I can check on Jon and Mark?”

We shortly were joined by Grandmother, Mr. Long and Frank.  Grandmother started, “Chad, my Grandson, me thinks that your parents will come crawling at your door at some point in the future.  I just hope that you remember this dreadful encounter today and tell them to get lost.  Now let’s get us some lunch at the Lotus delicatessen.   We probably should eat light in case Chad’s in-laws are as delightful as his parents.”

We all had a sandwich and a small piece of apple strudel.  Chad directed us to the Davises’ house.  When we arrived, Grandmother suggested that Chad stay in the van.  She led the charge up the walkway as Mr. Long, Frank and I followed. 

We had no more than hit the front porch and the door opened, “I’m Paula Davis.  I assume that you are here to talk about the people who killed our daughter.”

I spoke before Grandmother had a chance, “Mrs. Davis, if we might come in and discuss what we have in mind, it might be more pleasant than standing in the doorway.”

Mrs. Davis was joined by Mr. Davis.  He looked around, “Where are the killers anyway?  I guess they know, we never want to see them again.”

Grandmother stood, “Well, since you feel that way, you shouldn’t have any problem signing these papers, saying that you will never try to gain control of your two killer grandsons.”

I was surprised but the Davises both signed.  They handed the papers to Grandmother.  She couldn’t contain herself anymore, “You two just threw away the means to love your daughter through the beautiful young men that she produced.  It is unfortunate that you didn’t listen to what the doctors said.  You are going to be to very bitter lonely people when you get older.  Now you have a great day.  Don’t try to call Chad and the boys because you won’t know where they are living.”

When we got back to the van, Chad was huddled up openingly crying,  “Dad, can we just go back to Ames?  I just want to be with my sons and make sure they are okay.”

No one said anything and we started back to Ames.  When we arrived at the Long’s house it was like Chad had been shot from a cannon.  He was in the house checking on the boys before the rest of us could get out of the van.

When we entered the house, Kevin was admonishing Chad, “Dude, Mark and Jon have had so many people checking on them that if they moved; they were picked up and held.  You sure are going to have two spoiled brats on your hands.”

Kendra came in the room, “Come on guys, Grandma Long wants us to go to the store.  Chad, the twins are fine and they were just fed, now chill.”

The three teenagers left with Chad complaining.  Kevin and Kendra were about to have an experience they wouldn’t soon forget.  They went to a relatively new supermarket.  They grabbed a cart and Kendra started to tell the guys what to get.  Chad was sent to get some soup and he came back with a generic brand of soup.

Kendra looked at the soup, “What is this?  I told you to get a certain kind of soup and not this stuff.”

Chad was a little miffed, “Why would you pay twelve cents more for a can of name brand soup instead of one with a generic label?”

Kendra answered, “Grandma Long specifically said what brand of cream of mushroom soup she wanted, so there must be a reason.”

Chad begrudgingly took the generic brand back and got what he was told, “He mumbled, this is a waste of money.”

They went to the meat department and Kendra announced, “We are to get three pounds of ground beef.”

Kevin was looking at the ground beef and reading the labels as was Chad.  Kevin picked up three one pound packages of 96% lean ground beef and Chad had about had a stroke, “Kevin, why are you picking that kind of meat when this here 80% is half as expensive?  They all taste the same.”

Kevin was not about to be intimidated, “It is not how they taste, but which is better for you.  It looked like we might be going to have chili from what is on the shopping list.”

Kendra directed them to the ice cream section, “The list says that we are to get two half gallons of ice cream.  What flavors would you like Chad?”

Chad looked at the different kinds of ice cream, “I guess this plain vanilla and chocolate would be okay.  That way everyone would have a choice.”

Kevin couldn’t contain himself any longer, “Chad, be creative and try something different.  Let’s get this strawberry cheesecake and chocolate cookie crunch.”

Chad was fit to be tied, “But Kev, those are more expensive than this kind.  Any ice cream is good.”

Kendra started to laugh, “Chad, you are right.  Any ice cream is good, but the kinds that Kevin has chosen will taste ever better than good.  Now let’s go check out.”

When the total for the things that the three had bought came up, Chad turned white, “Who’s going to pay for these things?”

Kendra swiped the card that she had and the clerk handed her the receipt.  As they were walking to the car, Chad asked, “How did you pay for these things with a card?  I am so confused.  Why didn’t you use money?”

Kendra looked at Chad and smiled, “Grandma Long gave me her debit card so we could pay for our purchases.  It is like using money except that the bank takes the money from your account automatically.  It saved everyone a lot of paperwork.  We may live long enough to see a cashless society.”

To say that Chad’s mind was blown away would be an understatement.

To be continued...

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Editor's Notes:

Poor Chad, his life has certainly been turned Topsy Turvy.  He has a wonderful loving new family and he has to overcome his feelings of sadness over the way his parents and his in laws have treated him and his children.

It might take him a while to realize just what a wonderful situation he has landed himself into.  There are a lot of things he will have to get used to including the fact that everyone loves him and his two boys.

Hopefully we will find out what the next chapter will bring us very soon.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher  

Posted: 02/01/08