The Mark and the Mole
by: E Walk

(© 2007 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 30
Coach, the Answer Is NO!

Everyone had disappeared except the people who belonged at the house.  Mike had gone to get Kentucky Fried Chicken much to Chad’s displeasure.

We were eating when the doorbell rang and Tim went to answer it.  He returned with Mike’s Dad and Frank.  Mr. Long started,  “Chad and Tim, here are the memorials that have come into our offices so far.  We thought we had better get them to you, so you can get the checks cashed and the Thank You notes written.  I understand that you had an interesting night and morning this morning.”

Chad looked up, “I think a bad nightmare would more adequately describe what happened.  Thanks for bringing the memorials.  Now we have three more packages of memorials to go through.  We’re going to flunk out of school before we even get started if we keep getting memorials.”

Frank laughed, “I’ll tell you what Dude, we’ll send Kevin, Kendra and Dirk over to help you and you can get finished in no time.”

Chad’s sense of humor came to the forward again, “Yeah, and they’ll try to steal us blind.  Tell them we are going to do a strip search of their bodies before they leave the house.  Thanks for bringing the memorials, but I think we all need to get to bed as soon as possible tonight.  It has been a very long weekend.”

Jon and Mark began to wake up and Chad got up to take care of them.  He changed them and handed them to Mike and me so we could feed them.  He left to supervise the cleanup and took Billy, Bobby, Jason and Jeremy to get them ready for bed.  The four guys came back after their showers and hugged Mike and me and disappeared.  Chad took Jon and Mark and disappeared up the stairs.  He came back after the two boys were in bed.

He hugged Grandmother, Dad, Mike and me.  “I want to thank you again for making us feel at home.  We are going to have some difficult times.  I’ll try my hardest to keep the friction to a minimum.  The three girls are going to have different problems from us guys.  The four little guys already appreciate what the four of you are doing for them as I’m sure Tim does.  I’m sure the three girls do too, but I haven’t had much of a chance to visit with them.  Dads, I suggest that you spend some quality time with the girls to get to know them as well as you know Tim and me.  I’m going to bed or I’ll probably never survive this week.”

Grandmother waited until everyone was gone and then she started, “Mike and Doug, Chad hit the mark right on the head.  The two of you need to sit down with the three girls and let them know that you care about them too.  Chad can’t do much more than he already is.  He has two sons who need to be his primary concern.  He can’t be responsible for the other eight children.”

Grandmother looked at us, “Guys, each of the children is as different as day and night and if you are going to be good parents, you need to work your way into their minds and try and figure out what they might be thinking.  I didn’t do a very good job with Bryce.  He was being controlled by his wife before I realized what was happening.”

Dad looked a little surprised by Grandmother’s remark, but he added, “Guys, Chad is very astute for a young man.  He recognizes that everyone is different.  I can hardly wait to see what happens to him in the future.  But I’m guessing that his two sons and any future children, if there are any, will be the center of his existence.”

Grandmother stood, “I’m going to bed.  Bryce, why don’t you plan on taking Tim to get his driver’s license after school tomorrow?  If we can get him driving, it will ease some of our transportation problems.  Doug, you need to take Chad to the bank if you can break away so that you can get the money deposited.  I know for a fact that he is uncomfortable with all of the money here.  Just put it into one account for now and Chad can separate it later when he can take the other young people with him.  I have no qualms about him misusing the funds.”

Mike and I locked up and went up the stairs. We looked into the room where the guys were sleeping and we went to check on Chad, but the door was closed so we didn’t go in.  We went to our room and after our shower, Mike and I reviewed the events of the weekend.  Mike looked at me. “I doubt if even Sigmund Freud could figure Chad out.  One minute he is so responsible and the next he is insecure.  I don’t know what happened between him and Dirk, but I have a feeling Dirk is going to be around a lot.  Now let’s go to sleep so we can be awakened by our two grandsons.”

I cuddled close to Mike and my left hand found the target I was looking for.  Mike turned to me, “You started a fire, now put it out before it gets out of control.  Use that hose properly.”

It took a while but we worked together to get the fire out.  Mike squirted at it from the front and I doused in the backside.  Mike turned to me, “That was an intense fire.  I think we got it out.”

We were awakened the next morning by Chad with two cups of coffee.  Mike and I were lying there and it was obvious that we weren’t wearing anything.  Chad looked at us and shook his head, “Dads, your two grandsons are going to think it is fine to run around the house with their little fire hoses hanging free.  Dad Mike, how soon can we start feeding the boys solid food?”

Mike looked at me and started to laugh, “Chad, why did you refer to the boys’ penises as fire hoses?”

Chad snickered, “I may be stupid, but I do know what the siren of fire truck sounds like and I even heard some in my bedroom last night.  Now when can the boys start to eat solid food?”

I looked at Chad, “Chad, please say you’re giving us a hard time.  You didn’t hear anything, did you?”

“Dads, I had nothing to do with you two having hard times.  It was a lucky guess when you reacted when I used the term fire hose.  Dad Mike, would you please answer my question?”

Mike figured he had nothing to lose so he climbed out of bed naked, “Chad, I’ll bring some samples of cereals home tonight and we can see if the boys are ready for them yet.  They’ll let you know.   We need to make an appointment for you to bring the boys in so we can do a thorough physical.  They seem fine to me but I would really like to get records started on them.  In fact, I’m going to schedule the other four guys for physicals and check ups.  We don’t have any records on them.  I’ll see what I can come up with this week.  You and Doug will need to sign a permission slip for me to get their past files.  I’ll bring the forms home tonight and you can sign them.”

Everyone was into the routine and the day was going smoothly for everyone until Chad got to his seventh hour class.  Class was just about ready to start when someone neither Chad nor Tim knew came into the classroom, “Mr. Parsons, I would like to see, Chad Walker, Tim Walker, Kevin Wilkins and Dirk Kelley in the practice gym immediately.  Oh, and Kendra Wilkins should come too, since the rest of her team will be gone, and I understand this is a strategy planning session for the teams anyway.”

The instructor looked up, “Whatever, Mr. Houser, their team will need to work overtime outside class to make up for the planning time.  I have scheduled them to be the first team to make a presentation on Friday.”

Chad leaned over to Tim, “What’s happening?”

Tim shrugged his shoulders, “Chad, I haven’t the foggiest idea why the five of us were signaled out.”

When they got to the gym, there were a number of other young men there and the floor was laid out like a baseball field.  The other men were dressed in baseball uniforms.  Chad looked at everyone, “I smell some rats here.”

Mr. Houser  turned to the guys, “Go get dressed, we’re going to see if the two Mr. Walkers can make the team.”

Chad started to protest, but Dirk and Kevin took them to the locker room and practically had to dress Chad, even putting his athletic supporter on him but he decided that he could take care of the rest by himself.  When they walked into the gym, Mr. Houser yelled, “Chad, take the mound and throw some warm up pitches to Dirk.  Tim, you take the short stop position.”

After a few warm up throws, the Coach had some people try to hit the pitches that Chad was throwing.  No one was even close except for one batter,  He hit a weak pop foul to the third base side and Chad dove under and caught it. 

Coach Houser said, “We know you can pitch, but what else can you do.  Get yourself a bat and show us what you can do with it.  Tim you get a bat too.  Rodgers, you take the mound.”

Chad watched the first pitch go by.  He connected with the second pitch and it was an obvious homerun.  Everyone was totally surprised when on the third pitch he laid down a perfect bunt to the third base and the third baseman field and threw the ball wildly to the first baseman.  It sailed way high and Chad was on third base. 

The Coach called Tim over, “Okay, Tim, let’s see what you can do.”

Tim went to the plate and he was batting from the left side since he was a switch hitter.  He missed the first ball and hit the second one foul deep down the left field line and it bounced off of the gymnasium wall.  Chad motioned for a time out and went to talk to Tim.

On the next pitch, Tim made a perfect drag bunt down the first base line and Chad practically walked home and Tim was on first base.  The other players started to boo.  Tim and Chad turned to them and raised a clenched fist as if to say ‘up yours.’

Coach Houser looked at the guys, “Okay, so you have some batting skills but what about your fielding skills?”

The guys took the field and the coach had different players assume positions as base runners.  The first ball was hit to Tim and he flipped the ball to Chad who tagged second base and jumped over the runner and threw the designated runner out at first with a perfect throw. 

The coach put three runners on base and hit a grounder directly at Chad.  He quickly threw the ball to the third baseman who tagged the run and threw the ball to home plate.  The runner going home was caught up in a run down.   Chad had moved to third base and after the runner going home was tagged out, Dirk threw the ball to Chad who had blocked the base and the runner trying to come from first base was out by a mile.

The bell rang and Chad announced, “Tim and I need to go.  Tim is going to go take his test for his driver’s license and I need to go to the bank with my Dad.”

Coach Houser announced, “We will be starting practice a week from today.  We expect to see both of you here.”

Chad stopped and turned around, “Coach, I won’t be playing baseball this year.  I have two sons whom I need to take care of and I need to find a way to help pay for their expenses.  Besides, I am taking the maximum number of credits that I can without a study hall.  I’d probably be declared ineligible because of my grades anyway.  Come on, Tim, we need to go meet Jenny.”

The guys left and little did they realize what was happening in the gym.  They would find out later that their friends were organizing a massive effort to change the guys minds..

When the high school students got home, Dad and I were waiting.  Dad took Tim to take his driver’s test.   Chad collected the money he had received in  Iowa City and cash the checks from the memorials that he had taken care of so far, and I took him to the bank where Mike and I did business. 

We walked to the new accounts area, and were directed to the desk of Mrs. Linda Franklin.  I had worked with Linda before so I was glad that she would be taking care of Chad.  She looked at me, “Doug, who is this hunk that you have with you?”

Chad was watching me, “Linda, this is my oldest son, Chad.  He would like to open an account.  I’ll let him explain what he has in mind.”

Chad was very precise, “Ma’am, my six brothers and sisters and I have received some significant funds and I would like to place them into an account that will reap us the most benefit.  Some of the funds have been designated for our college funds.  I would like to make sure that the funds are kept secure until each of us reaches the age of twenty one if we don’t go to college.”

Mrs. Franklin looked at Chad, “Young man, do you have the social security numbers of the other children with you.”

I don’t think either Linda or I were prepared for Chad’s answer. “Ma’am, I’m sorry, I hadn’t thought about bringing them.  I was thinking that we could open an account in my name and then I could bring the people in one or two at a time and help them realize that they needed to be fiscally responsible.  Ma’am we have two other young men who will be accompanying us probably, but I think my other Dad will need be here to take care of their transactions.”

Chad wasn’t finished, “Ma’am. I have two infant sons and I'd like very much to start a savings account for them.  What is the minimum contribution that I would need to make to open an account?  I’m still in high school, so I won’t be able to make much of a deposit until my Dads let me go to work.”

Linda realized that Chad was serious, “Chad, you can open the accounts with five dollars.  You can deposit a dollar whenever you can.  But we will need your sons’ social security numbers to do that.  Now would you like bank cards for any of these accounts?”

Chad thought for a short time.  “Ma’am, I don’t think so at the present time.  I need to sit down with my Dads and discuss what to do exactly.  I just wanted to get the money out of the house for now.  There will be more shortly.  I still have some memorials to sort through.  The memorial money has been designated for our college education funds.”

Linda picked up the phone, “Carla, would you please help Mr. Walker determine how much money he has here.  He has a significant number of checks and a large amount of currency that need to totaled.  I’ll fill out the forms while you are totaling the deposit as Mr. Walker watches.”

The Carla person arrived and looked at me, “If you will follow me, Sir, I’ll take care of your money.”

Carla looked to be about twenty five.  I pointed to Chad, “That’s the Mr. Walker with the money.”

Chad left with Carla and Linda started on me, “Doug, I’ve known you for some time and didn’t know you had a son?   What does Mike think about that?”

I looked at her, “Heck, between the two of us we have nine children and two grandsons and we aren’t even forty yet.  We’ll probably be coming asking for loans to keep us in food.”

I explained what had happened and we were sitting laughing when Carla and Chad returned.  Chad started, “Dad, we need to get home so you can go do the news and I can take care of Mark and Jon.  They’ll probably be so spoiled that they won’t know us.”

Linda looked at Chad, “Chad, if you will sign these papers, Carla will take care of the rest.  When you bring your brothers and sisters in, make sure you ask for me and I’ll be glad to help you.”  She looked at the deposit slip,  “I’ll say this, you and your siblings should have enough money to go to college and live very nicely.” 

Chad signed and stood,  “Thanks for your help, ladies.”

I dropped Chad at the house went to the station and I had to do both the five and six o’clock broadcasts. When I got home, it was strangely quiet.  Mike and Grandmother and Dad were sitting in the kitchen.  I looked around, “Where are the children?”

Grandmother looked at me and shook her head, “Go look in the dining room.  Your oldest son has everyone in the world working on finishing the Thank You notes for the memorials.  I pushed the swinging door open and Chad had organized the people into four teams. Just as I opened the door, Chad was saying, “Okay people, we should be done in ten minutes.  Jason and Jeremy, you need to ask your grandparents if they need help writing Thank You notes.”

I was eating when Tim came into the kitchen with Kevin, “Dad, could I borrow your car?  Kevin and I need to get some beer for our study session with the jock and the nerd and Kendra.”

I looked up from my dinner, “I guess you’re telling me that you passed your driver’s test.  I’ll go with you to get the beer when I finish eating.”

Kevin started to laugh, “See, I told you he would have some stupid remark to make.  Now let’s go study while the twins are sleeping.”

I had finished dinner and we had gone to the living room.  Chad came to Mike and me, Dads, could you take the four little guys and get them ready for bed.  We have to get ready for our presentation which is due Friday.”

Mike and I had just gotten the four little guys settled and were returning to the living room when the doorbell rang.  Mike answered the door and a voice announced, “Hi, I’m Bill Parsons and this Dick Houser.   We would like to talk to Chad and Tim Walker please.”

Mike brought the two gentlemen into the living room and introduced them  to Grandmother, Dad and me.  Mike looked at the gentlemen, “Are the two guys in trouble?”

Mr. Parsons shook his head no, “No, not if they give us the response we want we want to hear.”

Mike went to the dining room, “Chad and Tim, there are some people here who would like to speak with you.”

All five teenagers came from the dining room which I thought was odd, since Mike had made it very clear that the visitors wanted to speak to Chad and Tim.

As soon as Chad saw who the visitors were, he stopped.  “Coach, the answer is no!  I’m not going to play baseball.  I don’t have the time.  I have to take care of my two sons and I need to get a job to help pay the expenses.”

Chad looked at Mr. Parsons, “Sir, why are you here?”

Mr. Parsons answered, “I came along with the Coach to tell you that if you didn’t play baseball, your entire team would be getting a F in my class.”

Chad was puzzled, “Mr. Parsons, that’s blackmail.  Why would you care if we play baseball?”

I was watching Kevin and Dirk and they were almost doubled over because they were laughing so hard.  Chad wheeled around, “You two set this up didn’t you?”  Chad turned back to the two gentlemen, “Coach, the answer is still NO!”

Coach Houser was determined, “Well at least, let me see the two reasons why you can’t play baseball.” 

Dirk and Kendra went and got Mark and Jon.  Chad proudly announced, “Kendra is holding Mark, and Dirk is holding Jon.”

Mr. Parsons took Jon and the Coach took Mark.  “I’ll say this for you, Chad, you sure do make good looking children.  Here’s what you can do.  You can bring the boys to practice and the other guys can take turns watching them when they aren’t doing something, and we’ll get you a job washing dishes on Saturday and Sunday.  That should almost give you enough to take care of the boys.”

Chad looked at the two gentlemen, “The answer is still No!”

Grandmother stopped any further discussion, “Gentlemen, Chad and Tim will be playing baseball.  I will not have any grandson of mine getting an F or washing dishes.” 

She turned to Chad, “Don’t give me any lip, Chad.”

She pointed at Dirk and Kevin, “You two are devious.  If you two are friends of Chad’s, I would hate to meet any of his enemies.”

Chad took the two boys to get them ready for bed after the visitors all departed.  Mike and I were sitting in the living room when Chad returned and sat down between us, “Dads, I’m beginning to feel like a puppet on a string.  Everyone’s pulling at me.”

Mike put his arms around Chad, “Son, I prescribe that you go take a shower in our bathroom and jack off to relieve some of the tension you are feeling.  You’ll feel much better and be able to get a good night’s sleep.”

Chad was laughing, “Dad, I can’t believe you just told me to go jack off.”  He turned to me, “Daddy, I gotta go do what the Doctor says.”

To be continued...

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Editor's Notes:  It looks to me as if Chad and Tim will be playing Baseball. I like Mike and Doug's forthright attitude about what is best for Chad. I can only wish that my father had had the guts to tell me to go jack off to relieve tension.  In our house, sex was simply never mentioned. I guess things were different back in the olden days when I was a teenager. Maybe they hadn't invented sex yet. Oh well, I'm ready for another chapter, aren't you?

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/08/08