“P” Is For the Peeping Pat
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2010 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 5  

Little Orphan Travis

The next morning, I was awakened by, “Mr. Sloane, I think you need to go to the bathroom.  We’re getting ready to eat breakfast.”

I sat up because I didn’t recognize the voice.  I looked at the visitor, “Good morning, Travis.  I guess you’re right.  I think I need to go the bathroom.  Tell the kitchen crew that I’ll be there as soon as I take care of business.  What time is it, anyway?”

“Sir, it’s already eight o’clock.  Mrs. Hood is going to be here before too long.  You probably should be suitably dressed when she arrives.”

I started to laugh, “Trav, why should I get dressed to talk to some old battleaxe from the Children Protection Agency.  She’d probably be so overwhelmed that she would want to move in with us.”

Travis giggled, “She’d probably be so revolted that we’d all wind up in jail.”

After breakfast, everyone was properly attired when Pat arrived with Shawn and Shane, “Sorry, we’re late, but we had to stop and buy Shawn some new slacks and a white shirt.  It’s going to take all of the money he’s making to buy clothes so he can work.  Is Mrs. Hood here yet?”
 

Shane looked around, “Dad, that’s a silly question.  None of these people look like a Mrs.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the front door bell.  Nate, who was dressed in his go to work clothes answered, “Welcome to the home of Steve Sloane and his family.  How may I help you?”

The lady who looked to be about my age frowned, “Why is there a sheriff’s cruiser out front.  Has there been a problem?”

Nate shook his head no, “Nope, Sheriff Kincaid brought his son so he could baby-sit our dad when the rest of us go to work, shortly.   Come in, and I’ll introduce you to the people.  I guess you’re really here to see the monster, Travis Hughes.  Isn’t that right, Mrs. Hood?”

“Okay, Mr. Smartass, how did you know who I was, and why I was here?”

“Easy, Mrs. Hood, I dated your daughter Amanda before she started dating Fritz.  The guys told us you would be visiting this morning. Let me introduce you to the other people who are here, before five or perhaps six of us have to go to work.”

When the introductions were completed, Mrs. Hood looked at me, “Mr. Sloane, is there anyplace where I can speak with Travis in private?”

I showed Mrs. Hood and Travis to the den.  As the five teenagers departed for work, Nate announced, “Dad, I’m guessing we’ll be back about two.”

I walked Pat to his cruiser since he had to go take care of department business.  I wanted to lean in and kiss him, but thought better of it.  “I’ll collect my payment in double, tonight.”

“Not if I collect mine, first. I’ll see you about six.”  Pat waved as he pulled away.

I was sitting on the deck with Shane.  I had my computer up and running, but I was having a difficult time trying to concentrate.  My mind kept jumping from Pat to Travis and back again.

Shane looked up from the book he was reading, “Mr. Sloane, are you worried about something?   You don’t see to be concentrating like you usually do.”

“Shane, do you suppose you could call me something besides Mr. Sloane?”

Shane giggled, “What is it that you would want me to be calling you.  How about Hey, Old Man or Hey, Big Dick?”

I started to laugh, “How about something nice like, Hey Handsome?”

Shane stood, “My Daddy would wash my mouth out with soap if were to call you that.  He gets upset when we tell a lie.  What were you thinking about, anyway?”

“Shane, to be honest with you, my mind was flitting between thinking about your Dad and wondering what’s going to become of Travis.”

Shane grinned an impish grin, “I’m guessing that you will be having another son and a husband before long.  Of course, that means Dad will be bringing the additional baggage of Shawn and me.  You’ll go broke feeding all of us.  You had better concentrate on your writing if we’re going to be able to survive.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Mrs. Hood and Travis.  Mrs. Hood nodded, “Mr. Sloane, can we talk for a few minutes?”

Shane grinned, “Come on, Travis, baby, we’ve been told to disappear.  We’ll be in the kitchen trying to find some food to fix for lunch.  Mrs. Hood, you’re invited to stay, so you can see that Travis won’t be starving to death while he stays here.”

The two teenagers disappeared and Mrs. Hood had a funny look on her face, “How did that young man know I was going to ask if you would be willing to take care of Travis?  Travis told me that he feels very comfortable here with you and your sons and nephews.”

“Mrs. Hood, Travis certainly may stay here with us or at our house in town when school starts.  We have plenty of room.”

Mrs. Hood frowned, “Mr. Sloane, I don’t know how long Travis would be here.  He says he doesn’t have any grandparents, but that he has two uncles who live on the west coast.  I think we need to check into whether there is any money that is due to Travis.  I’ll see what I can find out and let you know.  I’m guessing that Mr. Farr is going to be spending a nice extended period of time in the penal system, especially after what he tried to do to Chief Conklin’s son.  Travis told me what was happening when you went to get his things.”

There was a knock on the deck door and Shane appeared, “Master Sloane, will you be dining in the dining room or here on the deck?  I recommend we partake of our meal here on deck, since it is such a nice day and we can just throw the leftovers over the balcony.  Mrs. Hood, what would you would you like to drink with your stone soup?”

Mrs. Hood chuckled, “Ice tea would be fine, young man.”

Shane disappeared and he and Travis appeared with each of them carrying two trays.  They placed a chicken sandwich with chips, a fresh fruit salad and a glass of iced tea in front of each of us.  Before Shane sat down, he asked, “Will you be needin anything else, Madame and Monsieur?”

I called, “No, garcon.  Sit down and eat.”

As the four of were eating, there certainly wasn’t any lack of conversation.  Mrs. Hood asked, “Mr. Sloane, what is it that you do for a livelihood?”

Shane answered before I could, “Mrs. Hood, Mr. Sloane doesn’t have a livelihood.  He makes his sons work all the time to support him, so he can sit home and write nursery rhymes.”

“Wait until I tell your Dad what you said.  He’ll be washing your mouth with soap for sure.  Mrs. Hood, I am a writer, as Mr. Kincaid said.  I write novels under the pseudonym of Sloane Stephens.”

Mrs. Hood fell back in her chair and started to laugh, “Today was my lucky day.  Not only was I served lunch by a couple of good looking garcons, but I also met a celebrity.  Mr. Sloan, may I please have your autograph?”

I stood, “I’ll do you one better.  I’ll get you an autographed copy of my last book.”

When I went to the deck, I handed Mrs. Hood a copy of The Case of the Quiet Queen.   I did something that I don’t ordinarily do.  I signed Steve Sloane under Sloane Stephens.  “That’s so you remember who I am.” 

The deck door opened and Nate appeared, “Hi everyone, we’re home.  Dad, we need to go back at five for another meal.”

“Nate, I thought when I agreed that when you took the job that you would be working only three or four hours a day.  Not eight.”

“Dad, this is a one time shot.  There is a convention in town and the company is providing all the meals for the group.  The owner specifically asked that the five of us serve the meals.”

Shane giggled, “I guess the owner caught you going to the bathroom and wants to make sure that he wasn’t seeing double.”

Nate frowned, “Shane, that was cruel.  The owner happens to be a lady.”

Mrs. Hood stood, “On that note, I need to be going.  Steve and Travis, I’ll call you if there are any new developments.” 

As soon as Mrs. Hood’s car was out of sight, there were seven naked teenagers in the area.  After I went to my bedroom to get comfortable, I went to the kitchen to get some ice tea to drink while I was writing on the deck.”

Shane and Travis were finishing the dishes from lunch.  Shane looked at me, “Mr. S. S., since it’s only going to be the four of us for dinner?  What do you suggest we fix?”

“Mr. S. K, why don’t you and Mr. T. H., try to catch enough fish for dinner?  We could have a good ole fish fry.”

Travis frowned, “Mr. S. S., I have a very delicate stomach and I’ll probably get sick if I have to clean the fish.”

“Okay, you pansies, if you catch them, I’ll take care of them.”

I guess things were going so well with writing that I lost track of time.  Ethan came onto the deck, “Dad, we’re going to leave now.  We’ll see you about nine.”

“Okay Ethan, we’ll see you later.”

I went to the railing, Shane and Travis were doing something, “Guys, do you need me to come help you?”

Shane yelled back, “Travis caught his worm on his fishing hook and we’re trying to extract it without causing him too much pain.  Mr. Sloane, everything is under control.  Nate and Ethan showed us how easy it was to take care of the fish.  We’ll meet you in the kitchen and you can show us how to fix them.”

 I went to the kitchen and the boys were coming in with the iced fillets.  “Okay, men, first thing you need to do is go wash your hands.”

Travis chuckled, “Yes, Daddy.  We understand, Daddy.”

When they returned, I handed them each an apron, “This will protect your family jewels from getting hurt.  One of you needs to peel potatoes for French fries and the other needs to make coleslaw while I get the fish ready to fry.  Shane and Travis, get a pair of shorts and have them nearby in case we have an unexpected visitor.  We don’t know if Shane’s Grandmother is coming for dinner or not.”

Shane smacked his head, “I forgot to tell you that Grandmother had a dinner engagement with a friend and wouldn’t be here.”

Everything was just about ready when we heard the door open and someone was in the house.  I assumed it was Pat since he was just about the only other person who knew the combo for the door.  When he came into the kitchen, he was properly attired in his shirt.  “What can I do to help?”

Pat stopped and started to laugh, “I need to go get my camera.  What a sight for sore eyes.  Or should I say, I guess you guys are afraid that you knock someone’s eyes out and are wearing aprons to protect the innocent.  Where are the other five guys?  I thought they were working this morning?”

I hugged Pat, “They were, but they’re working this evening as well.”

Shane laughed, “Yeah, S. S.  made them go back to work because they didn’t bring home enough money the first time.”

“Watch it, kid, when I get even, I get even good.”

As we were eating dinner, I suddenly realized that I had a problem.  Pat was rubbing his leg against mine and another part of my body was responding.  I looked at him and nodded to the two teenagers, and shook my head no.   I looked at Shane and Travis, “Guys, since you furnished the fixings for dinner, Sheriff Kincaid and I will take care of the cleanup, especially since you two got stuck with the lunch time dishes.”

Shane jumped up, “Come on, Trav, let’s bust out of this place before he changes his mind.”

As soon as I was sure that the two guys were out of sight and sound, “Pat, we need to be very careful about what we do especially around those two young men right now.  I’m not so much worried about Shane as I am Travis.  He has just been through some rough times.”

Pat nodded, “I suppose you’re right.  Right now I feel like a teenager in love.”

“I’ll check you out in the bedroom tonight.  Right now, we need to get the dishes done or the guys will be accusing us of procrastinating.”

We were just finishing when Shane and Travis came into the kitchen.  Shane grinned at us, “I’m afraid you two old men will need to get decent, The guys are home and there is a strange car with them.”

The four of us grabbed our Bermuda shorts and had them on when Ethan entered the kitchen with Teddy Conklin, “Ted, I believe you know everyone here except perhaps Shane.”

Ted shook our hands, “The guys explained the rules of the house and I have no problems with you people being naked as long as you don’t try to force me to do things as Professor Farr did.  I may me gay, but I’m not into bondage or forced sex.”

With that he shed his clothes and turned to Ethan, “Where is this lake you guys keep talking about?”

Pat and I watched as eight very handsome young men went out on the deck and went down to the lake.

I hugged Pat and kissed him.  “Sheriff, this is all your fault.  If you hadn’t been trespassing, I might never have met you.  Are you going to be spending the night?”

“Steve, as much as I want to, I’m not sure you and I, the community, or the guys are ready for that.”

Nate and Shawn appeared and Nate started, “Dads, please don’t scream at us, but the boss wants us to work the hours tomorrow that we did today.  We’re washing the clothes now so they’re clean for tomorrow, Sheriff Kincaid, it would probably be easier if everyone spent the night here.  Ted called his parents and they have no problem with it.”

“Nate, there’s a minor problem.  We only have four bedrooms. Where is everyone going to sleep?”

“Dad, we’ll figure that out.”

Pat sat up, “If we’re going to spend the night, then I need to pull the cruiser to an area where it won’t be visible to passersby.”

Pat pulled on a pair of my Bermudas and went to move the car.  I watched as he returned thinking, ‘I guess, I’m not going to get much work done tonight.’

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: Let's see, hmmm, the guy you think you are falling in love with and who is apparently falling in love with you is staying the night, and there aren't enough bedrooms for everyone to have a room to themselves, so you might have to share your bed. This is a problem, how? 

To top it off, the boys are calling you both Dads.  It doesn't seem too likely that they are going to be upset, does it?  My suggestion is to go with the flow. Oh wait that might just be what will happen.  Hmmm, perhaps that wasn't the best possible choice of words. 

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 10/29/10