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

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Chapter 7  

Here Come The Uncles

Pat and I were doing the dishes when the phone rang, “This is Steve Sloane.”

“Mister Sloane, this is Father Martin Skelley.  I was told that we would be able to reach be able to reach our nephew, Travis Hughes, at this number.”

“Father, Travis is residing here for the time being, but he’s at work at the present.  Might I have him call you when he gets home?  He should be home shortly.”

“We can’t be talking about the same Travis Hughes.  Our nephew is too young to work.”

“Sir, the Travis Hughes who is presently living with us turned fifteen today.”

I heard the person saying, “Seth, is today Travis‘ birthday?”

A different voice came on the phone.  “This is Seth Hughes.  Are we talking about the young man who was the stepson of a Professor Farr?  If so, why is he staying with you?”

“For starters, Professor Farr is in jail, and I have been awarded temporary custody of Travis because I caught him trespassing on our property.”

“Mr. Sloane, you’re talking nonsense.  Why would you be awarded custody of Travis because you caught him trespassing on your property?”

I started to laugh, “Mr. Hughes, it’s a long story.  Why don’t I have Travis call you, and he can tell you what happened?”

“Have him call 3XX-6XX-5XXX.  We’ll be anxiously awaiting his call.”

It was almost nine o’clock when the first load of caterers arrived.  As they came into the house, we watched as they stripped off their clothes.  Shane announced, “Some of us have to go to work tomorrow at eleven o’clock, so we need to get our clothes washed.”

Pat looked up from what he was doing, “I thought we agreed that you would only work a limited number of hours.”

“Don’t get your bowels in an uproar, Dad.  I’m only going to be working from eleven until two tomorrow with Teddy and Ethan.  We have it scheduled so there will be at least one or two of us here all day, to make sure S. S. doesn’t get into trouble.”

“Gee thanks, you sure do know how to make a person feel good.  Travis, you’re to call your uncle.  The number is next to the phone.”

Travis asked, “Which one, Mr. Sloane, Uncle Marty or Uncle Seth?”

“I spoke to them both when they called, so they must have been together.”

“That’s odd; they don’t usually talk to me at the same time.”

I looked around, “Where’s Ethan?”

Shane answered, “When we passed them, he and Teddy were making out like bunnies along the side of the road.  We stopped and started charging admission for the onlookers.  Actually, they went to Teddy’s house to get Teddy some clean clothes.”

Travis had the phone and was sitting on the sofa next to me. “Hi
Uncle Marty. … Mr. Sloane caught me in a tree spying on his naked sons and their friends. … Yep, naked as the day they were born.  In fact we’re all sitting around in a similar state of undress as we’re talking. …  We’re washing our clothes since some of the guys have to go to work at eleven tomorrow. … Professor Farr was making me watch things that I didn’t like, so I ran away. … When Mr. Sloane and Sheriff Kincaid took me to get my things, Professor Farr was getting ready to take advantage of the Chief of Police’s son. … Yep, Mr. Sloane and the Sheriff are both here. … Okay, I’ll put Mr. Sloane on.”

“This is Steve.”

“Steve, it’s Marty.  It sounds as if you have a very interesting household.  Would there be a problem if Seth and I come for a visit next week?”

“Of course not, it may get a little crowded and we’d have to kick some people out while you’re here.  Let me know when you’ll be arriving, so I can pick you up at the airport.”

As I was turning off the phone, Ethan and Teddy arrived.  It took them no time at all to get undressed.  I called everyone together and looked at them.  “Would someone care to explain exactly whose working when?”

Nate answered, “For starters, Shane, Ethan and Teddy are working a bridge luncheon from eleven until two.  The rest of us are working a party from five until eight.  We’re going to be working in three teams starting next week.  Each of the team’s will have a driver to make sure they have transportation.  The company almost never has a function on Sundays or Mondays so that would be our weekend.”

Shane jumped up, “That’s the buzzer to the dryer.  Let’s take the clothes out of the dryer, so we don’t have to press them.”

When Pat and I were in bed after our showers, I looked at him.  “I guess we need to rent a porn video to see what it is that we’re supposed to be doing.”

Pat grinned, “I’m guessing that the guys could direct us to some porn sites on the net where we would be able to watch for nothing.  In the meantime, why don’t we cuddle and see what happens.”

“The results of the cuddling session were such that I was exhausted and fell asleep almost immediately after Pat had extracted my toes from the interior of my body.  I woke up about five as it was starting to get daylight.  I checked the guys and they were in similar positions as they had been the night before.  Shane must have heard me because he came and hugged me, “I’ll be down to fix you some coffee as soon as I go to the bathroom.”

I grinned, “You must have been having a wicked dream.”

Shane giggled, “I have to change my sheets so no one sees the telltale signs of my dream.”

I was standing on the deck watching the sunrise when a pair of arms encircled me.  I felt someone kissing the back of my neck.  “Good morning, my stud.  You’re up early.”

I pushed back, “I feel something else that is waking up early.”

We were interrupted by Shane, “Oh for heaven’s sake, would you two get a room?  We innocent teenagers don’t need to see you two playing big boy games.  Now that you’ve started, I need to go get my video camera so I can blackmail you.  Dad, do you have time for a real breakfast before you leave?”

I turned to Pat, “I guess we need to go make sure the not so innocent teenager doesn’t burn himself.”

The three of us were eating when the others started to surface and Teddy was complaining, “Why does everyone in this house get up so early.  Ethan and I may have to spend the nights at my parents’ house in order to get our full twelve hours of sleep.”

Shane quipped, “If you would go to bed and go to sleep and not play games, then you wouldn’t be so tired all the time.”

As I walked Pat to the door, I commented, “It certainly is never dull when your youngest son is around.”

Pat turned and kissed me, “It’s all your fault for flashing me.  He’s been an extrovert once he got rid of the autism label, but he’s blossoming under your tutelage.”

“Sure blame it all on me.  I’ll have to make you pay tonight for slandering me.”

After Pat left, I went to work on my book and was making good progress.  Ethan announced, “Dad, Ted, Shane and I are leaving.  We’ll see you about two o’clock.”

It was about noon when Nathan brought me a sandwich.  “Dad, we’re going to the store, may I please have your card to pay for the food?  It's going to take a whole lot more food if there are going to be ten people living here?  Where is everyone going to live when we move back to town in the fall?  Our house isn‘t big enough to accommodate all of these people.”

“For starters, everyone will probably be moving to their own homes except for Travis and we don’t have the foggiest idea what’s going to happen to him.  You guys all have high school activities to attend to.  While you’re shopping, could you buy a birthday cake for Travis?  I feel guilty that we didn’t do something special for his birthday.”

Nate shook his head, “Dad, we had no idea it was his birthday.  Besides, I think Travis is just glad to be here with us.  It’s going to be interesting to see what happens when his uncles arrive.”

I watched as the five remaining guys crawled into the van.  I kept envisioning what my bill was going to be when they arrived back from the shopping expedition.”

I was working at the computer when Ethan, Shane and Teddy returned.  Shane asked, “Where are the other guys?  They need to be at work at three.  The company has two parties scheduled for this afternoon and evening.  The one this afternoon is a buffet but the one tonight is a formal dinner.”

“They went to the store to buy some food.  They were complaining that we were running out of things to eat.”

Shane frowned, “I hope they saw the list of things that I had started.  Guys, we need to be ready to go to work in case the others don’t get back in time.”

“Shane, your Dad would be very upset if you went back to work.  I’m not very happy with what’s happening.  I think the catering company is taking advantage of you guys.”

Shane put his arm around me, “Dad Steve, relax.  Where else can we get a $20.00 tip for serving a bunch of old ladies?  It’s not like we’re busting our balls.  All we have to do is make the patrons feel as if they’re important.  It would be different if we were slaving away in the kitchen cooking or doing the dishes.  The guys are back.  I gotta go make sure they put things in the proper place since it appears that I’m going to be the head chef around here in addition to being the head baby sitter around this dive.”

Ethan and Teddy were standing there laughing.  After Shane had departed, Ethan sat beside me.  “Dad, Shane has something about him that draws out the best in people.  He’s so positive and doesn’t get rattled.  If something doesn’t go right, he seems to find a way to make it okay.”

Teddy added, “Mrs. Janowski talked to Ethan and me as we were leaving today.  She said she wished she could use Shane to demonstrate to the other people what it took to provide quality service.  We’d better go help him or he’ll be yelling at us.”

Right after everyone left me, I heard the phone ring.  Someone answered it on the first ring so I figured it was for the guys.  I was working when Ethan entered the room, “Dad, don’t be upset, but Teddy and I need to go back to work tonight.  Mrs. Janowski called and said that three people called in sick.  She wanted Shane to come too, but he refused.”

After the other guys had departed, Shane came out on the deck with me and was reading as I was writing.  I looked at him and felt as if he really wanted to talk, but was being polite and trying to let me work.  I stood and went and sat down beside him.  “Shane, is something bothering you?”

He put his book down, “Mr. Sloane, I’m confused by everything that is happening.  I feel as if I missed a couple of years of my life.  Am I weird or something because I don’t want to go to bed with another guy?”

“Shane, you, of all people, are not weird.  Different maybe, but not weird.  I can’t imagine that there are many thirteen years olds out there who would be content to sit with an old man while they were both naked.”

“Dad Steve, I don’t even think about us being naked.  I mean, after all, if God meant for us to wear clothes, we would be born wearing clothes.  Does it bother you when I call you Dad Steve?”

“No, Son Shane, it doesn’t bother me at all.  Let’s go fix your Dad some dinner.  Who knows if he ate today.”

When Shane and I were in the kitchen, Shane was talking, “Dad Steve, Travis is upset because he’s afraid that his uncles are going to take him away.  He says he doesn’t even really know them.  He’s confused as to why they were both even at the same place last night when he called them.”

“Shane, you need to remind Travis that they said nothing about anyone taking him to Los Angeles.”

As we were eating, I made a command decision and announced, “Shane, we need to have a picnic or whatever on Sunday afternoon and invite your Grandmother and Teddy’s family.  You guys could invite some broads to make it look legitimate.”

“Good thinking, Dad Steve.  But who’s going to provide the cover for you and Dad.  Aren’t the visitors going to get the idea that there is some hanky panky going on?  I’m not going to do the cooking by myself, since I ain’t got anyone to invite.”

Pat looked upset, “Shane, aren’t you being a bit brazen calling Mr. Sloane, Dad Steve.  It was bad enough when you referred to him as S. S., but isn’t Dad Steve a bit assuming that we are doing something on your part.”

“Dad, get a life.  Mr. Sloane doesn’t have a problem with me calling him Dad Steve.  After all I’m probably going to be the person who spends the most time with him this summer keeping him out of trouble.  I’ll see him more each day than I will you.”

I stepped in, “Pat, Son Shane and I have already discussed this matter and he’s right.  I have no problem with him calling me Dad Steve.  At least we’ll know which one of us the spoiled brat is talking to.  Let’s get these dishes done before he accuses us of child slavery.”

The three of us were doing the dishes when I turned on the television to watch the evening news.  I hadn’t seen a newspaper or read the news since we arrived at the lake.  The newscaster was saying,

We have just received word that there was a terrorist bombing of a bus carrying group of archaeologists to their residences in Cairo.  The results of the bombing have not been released, but we have learned that most of the archeologists were from the United States.  We’ll be following this story since we have two archeologists from the local area in Egypt that we know of at the present time.  Dr. Ron Madison and his wife Dr. Lynne Madison from the university are in Egypt. We have been unable to locate the couple’s two sons.

I looked at Pat and Shane, “Guys, please say nothing about what we just heard, until we get some official word of what actually happened in Egypt.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I have the distinct feeling that two boys are orphans, now. Luckily, they have people who love them, which, hopefully, will soothe them, to some degree.  Of course, I am jumping to conclusions.  We don't know for sure that Ron and Linda are among the dead. 

I also notice that Steve's and Pat's relationship is getting more intimate, as time goes by. I expect that it won't be long before there is one family. 

We will have to wait for another chapter to see what happens next.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 11/12/10