The Mark and the Mole
by: E Walk

(© 2007 by the Author)
 

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

 

Chapter 20
They Need a Y

I had set the alarm clock for 6:00.  I needed to go to the television station and get some work done since I have been gone so much.  Mike and I had talked last night after Chad had threatened to report us to the dickaholics association;  we decided that I would come home after the noon news and get the children enrolled in school.  Since there were three different schools involved, it was going to be rather difficult to get everyone enrolled in a half a day.  Mike would try to meet me at 1:30.

I quickly got ready for the day and Michael was still sleeping.  I leaned down and kissed him and whispered, “Mike, I love you.  I’ll see you later.”

Mike looked at me and smiled, “Yeah, we need to give the dickaholics association something to talk about.  I’ll  try see to meet you at 1:30.”

When I got downstairs, I didn’t expect anyone to be up, but Chad was there with Mark and Jon.  He handed me a cup of coffee, “Dad, please read this and see if it makes any sense while I fix you something to eat.”

I looked at the handwritten note,

To The Editor of  The Des Moines Register

Please publish this letter in your Letters to the Editor Column

My name is Chad Harmon Walker.  I am sixteen years old and am the oldest of seven children.  Our parents were recently murdered in Iowa City.  We are now living with my legal guardian and his Grandmother and  his Father.  I must also mention that I am the father of two infant sons.  My wife died and her parents have disowned us.

The state is threatening to place some of my siblings in separate homes because the Dad, who is my guardian, does not live a conventional life style, and they think that we can not all live in a big six bedroom house. 

The government employees are so caught up in the regulations that they are not even interested in what emotional damage they could cause if they were to separate us.

My new Dad has obtained legal guardianship over me and my younger twin brother and I have legal papers that my parents signed making me responsible for the other five children.

I think that the state of Iowa needs to reevaluate their policies regarding the placement of children so they are flexible.

Thank you for reading.

Chad Walker

I looked at Chad, “Chad, are you going to send this?”

Chad shook his head no, “Dad, I won’t send it unless Mr. Stone and Mrs. Young try to separate us.  Like I said; I will do everything in my power to keep us together.  Now here, eat this.  It will get you started for the day.”

He handed me a big fried egg, ham and cheese sandwich.  He admonished, “Be careful, I wouldn’t want my favorite news anchor person to look like a slob.”

I had just taken a drink of my coffee and almost choked  at his comment and could feel the coffee starting to come out of my nose.  I glared at Chad, “Your in time out for being so mean to me.”

Chad came over and wrapped his arms around me, “Daddy dearest, I’m sorry if I upset you.  Please don’t put me in time out, I’ll try to be a nicer person.”  He kissed me on the cheek. 

He started to walk away, “Dad, I had my fingers crossed so you'd better be on your best behavior or I’ll report you to SPCA.”

I started to laugh, “So you’re going to report me to the Humane Society?”

Chad frowned, “No, I’m going to report to The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Adolescences.”

With that I stood to leave, “Chad, you are like you have multiple personalities.  One minute you are acting like and an old man and the next minute you are acting like a teenager.”

Chad came to me and hugged me, “Dad, I’m scared.  I don’t know if I can handle all of the responsibility that has been passed my way.  I want everything to be perfect and I know that is not possible.  Will you be able to love me even though I screw up sometimes?”

I had to think carefully about my response to Chad’s question, “Chad, Michael and I will stand by behind you 100%, as long as what you are doing is reasonable.  I want you to have all of the children dressed to go to school at 1:30 this afternoon so we can get you registered.”  I looked at Chad and pointed my finger, “And that includes you.”

I didn’t give Chad an opportunity to respond, I crawled into my van and started for the television station.  While I was driving, I suddenly felt guilty for not hugging Chad before I left.  ‘I will make it up to him this afternoon.’

I had a busy morning at the station and as soon as the noon news was finished, I left to meet to meet the young people at the house.  Mike was already there when I arrived.  I was surprised to that Kevin was also there.

Chad answered my unasked question, “I asked Kevin to go along so he could bring the twins home after we get them enrolled in middle school.  I thought we'd do the four boys first since they will probably be the easiest to get enrolled.  That way Dad Mike can bring them home and get back to his office for the rest of the day.   We’ll take four vehicles that way, Dad Doug, can split once Jenny, Tim and I are enrolled.  I’m sure that I especially will need to have some extra testing done, since I haven’t been to school since last June.”

Chad wasn’t finished, “Make sure everyone plans to be here this evening.  Mr. Stone and Mrs. Young are coming at 7:00, and Grandmother has asked the architect to be here so that he could show the preliminary plans to them and convince them that we will be able to accommodate everyone more than adequately.”

The first stop was the elementary school.  We filled out the paperwork on the four youngest boys and found out what else we needed to do.  Chad took notes on everything.  Billy and Jeremy were going to be in the same second grade classroom, as Chad requested.  He also requested that Bobby and Jason be in the same fourth grade classroom.  His reason was so logical, “That way they can help each other with their work.  It will be easier for us too, because we can work with them both at the same time.”

We left the four boys with Mike so they could meet their teachers and went to the middle school.  The paperwork was quickly filled out and again Chad  had a recommendation, “Since Dianna and Deanna are identical twin, I think it would be best if they were not in the same classes or even have the same teachers if possible.  That way they can develop their own circle of friends and won’t be competing against each other.”

Kevin directed us to the high school and the initial paperwork on Jenny and Tim was relatively easy, but as Chad had predicted, it took significantly longer to get him enrolled.  We met with the counselors and they wanted to do some testing on Chad.

Chad shrugged his shoulders, “If someone can do it now, I can stay.  Dad, you can go ahead and take Jenny and Tim home and please ask Granddad to take Tim to get his learner’s permit.  I think we are going to need all of the driver’s we can get.”

I dropped Tim off at the house and explained to Dad what Chad had suggested and they were pulling away with Kevin as I was starting back to the station.

Tim had his first driving lesson on the way back home from the court house.  When I finally got home, after anchoring the five o’clock news, Tim and Kevin were studying the manual for the written part of the driver’s test.  Chad was strangely absent.  Grandmother looked at me, “Doug, you don’t think something might have happened to Chad, do you?  It is not like him to be gone this long.”

She had no more than said that when Chad came in and slammed the door. “Forget it, I am not going back to school.  They made me take three tests because I’m so stupid.  Mr. Kelley even stayed late to give me the last one.”

Kevin started to laugh, “Don’t worry ole Kelley probably just wanted to perve on your body.”

“Kev, what are you saying?  Why would Mr. Kelley want to perve on my body?  He didn’t even come close to me except to hand me the last test.  He sat at his desk and finished grading the first two tests.  I looked at him several times and he seemed to be drilling holes in me.”  Chad stopped and looked confused.

He started again, “Kevin, you aren’t serious are you?  Mr. Kelley wasn’t trying to put the make on me was he?”

Kevin was enjoying torturing Chad, “My friend, I would give my left gonad to have Mr. Kelley as my counselor.  He is probably one of the most caring people you will ever meet.  He and his wife had taken four troubled young people into their home and they have helped them.  You must have struck a chord that made Mr. Kelley take an interest in you.  Mr. Kelley has been promoted to the Dean of Students and doesn’t serve as a counselor to many students anymore.”

Chad thought about that for a short time, “Are you saying that he perceives me as a trouble maker?”

Kevin didn’t waste any time, “Chad, all I am saying is that Mr. Kelley must consider the three of you special because that is not his primary job anymore.  The four young people that they are fostering are wonderful young people.  I should know because they live next door to us.  His wife is a Professor at Drake University.”

Chad left to check on his sons and they were sound asleep but he took their basinets to the dining room.  He was helping Grandmother in the kitchen when the phone rang.

I answered, “This is Doug Walker, how may I help you?”

The voice on the other end was someone I didn’t know, “This is Janet Lines.  I’m the Attorney for Johnson County.  May I please speak to a Mr. Chad Harmon?”

My mind was running rampant with all kinds of thoughts but I composed myself, “Ma’am, let me put him on the phone.”

I went into the kitchen where Chad was helping Grandmother and Jenny with dinner.  I had motioned for Mike and Dad to follow me and put the phone on speaker.

“Chad, there is a Ms. Lines who'd like to speak to you.  The phone is on speaker so we can help if we need to.”

Chad looked at me but was very courteous.  “This is Chad Harmon Walker, how may I help you.”

The voice came back, “Chad, I apologize for calling so late, but I am the Attorney for the Johnson County.  We have arranged to have the four gentlemen who attacked you at the cemetery arraigned tomorrow.  It would be most helpful if you could be in Iowa City at 10:00 tomorrow to appear in person.  I don’t know if you have been watching the news, but the story of your parents’ death and what happened has caught the attention of the entire nation.  Could you possibly arrange to be here with Mr. Walker?”

Chad turned to us and threw up his hands as if he was asking what he should say.  Both Dad and I nodded our head yes.  Chad turned back to the speaker, “Ms. Lines, my Dad and Granddad will accompany me, but I want you to know that I am doing this under duress.  I think this is a conspiracy to keep me away from my sons.”

Ms. Lines came back, “Chad, if it will make you feel any better Detectives Frazier and Taylor will meet you and escort you to the courtroom.  We don’t expect any problems, but it is better to be safe than sorry.”

Chad wasn’t finished, “So are you saying we should wear our mail to protect us from the evil bad guys?”

Ms. Lines started to laugh, “Chad, I think it would be better to wear your suit instead of all of the sympathy cards you will be receiving.”  She continued, “Chad, we will do everything that we can to make sure that you and your escorts remain safe so you can get back and spoil or unspoil your two sons.  Good talking to you.  I hope my children can meet you some day and maybe you could light a fire under their bottoms.  See you tomorrow.”

We were eating dinner when the phone rang again.  Tim went to answer.  He returned, “Chad, Mr. Kelley would like to speak to you.”

Tim handed the phone to Chad, “This is Chad Walker, how may I help you sir? … Yes, we will be here all evening.  … Sure pop on over. … Do you know the address? … That’s right sir.  … We’ll look forward to visiting with you.” 

Chad hung up and turned around,  “See, I told you; they were going make me repeat a whole bunch of courses.  I’m not going back to school.  I’ll find a job doing something.  What is it about me that attracts all of the bad things to happen to me and the persons I care for?  Am I evil or something?”

Everyone realized it would be best to not argue or comment about what Chad had just said.  Billy bless his heart looked up, “Chad, sit down and eat.  You’ll feel better after you do.  You need some energy to ward off the dragons that are after you.  Don’t worry, me and Jeremy will keep the dragons away from Markey and Jonny.”

Chad sat down and vehemently stated, “Their names are Mark and Jon, not Markey and Jonny.”
 

Billy wasn’t going to back down, “Look, everyone calls me Billy and Jer is Jeremy and Bob is Bobby, so why shouldn’t the two little guys have names that end with a y?  Even Jenny’s name ends with a y and so does Tim’s.  You and the twins and Jason are the odd balls.”

Chad was almost giggling, “We’ll discuss names after we finish dinner.  We have people from the four corners of the earth coming to visit tonight so I expect everyone to be on their good behavior.  Everyone, I apologize for being in such a funk.  I guess I’m just overwhelmed by everything that is happening.”

It’s just dinner time on Thursday.  What else could possibly happen today?  

o be continued...

Please send comments to:

Editor's Notes:

Oh right, go ahead and say that nothing is going to happen, just tempt fate. Even I know you should never say something like that. Chad is really special and he certainly deserves to be happy, as do all the other kids. I hope things work out well for everyone.

At least there was no one trying to kill anyone in this chapter. It was very nice. I'm ready for the next one.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 05/16/08