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

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Chapter 8  

The Damn Bursts

When the guys arrived it was almost ten o’clock.  Pat, Shane and I were in the den.  I was half heartedly working on my book.  My mind couldn’t forget the newscast about the Americans being killed. Shane and his Dad had been lying on the sofas reading.  Pat and Shane both sat up when the guys came into the room.  Travis started on Shane, “Kid, this is all your fault.  If you had been with us, we wouldn’t have had to work our butts off.”

“Trav baby, I worked my butt off here taking care of the two Dads. What are you complaining about.?”

Nate answered, “Dad, this is alumni weekend.  Why aren’t you going to the parties?”

Ethan interjected, “Dad was a member of Theta Chi that group that had the formal dinner.  I heard one of the people comment that he thought Dad would be there since he lived in the area.  The guy sitting next to him answered, ‘He’s probably embarrassed that he never amounted to anything and was afraid to show with his tiny dick.’”

Talk about an explosion, I thought I was going to have to pick eight guys up off the floor, because they were laughing so hard.  Shane sputtered, “Dad Steve, I guess the guy never saw you up close and personal.  I’m guessing he doesn’t read much or perhaps he can’t read.”

Shawn stood, “Dad Steve, I think you should go to the breakfast that they are having at the Holiday Inn in the morning and introduce yourself and tell them that you were too busy to attend the evening's festivities, because you were frantically working on another best seller book.  Of course they’ll probably hit you up for financial contributions when they find out that you’re the Sloane Stephens with the over- endowed pelvic area.”

Ethan stood, “Guys, we have work to do before we go to bed.  Some of us need to do laundry.  By the way, Shane, your Dad will have to baby-sit our Dad most of tomorrow since we have to be at work at eleven and won’t get off until about eight tomorrow evening.  We have three jobs lined up and we need you.  The company is over extended because of it being alumni weekend.”

Pat spoke, “Guys, don’t you think it would have been advisable for you to have checked with your Dad to see if he had made plans to do something before you committed yourselves to such long hours?”

Teddy answered, “Sheriff Kincaid, we are going to be under the minimum time for the week that you people wanted.  So give us a break.  We’re making more money than most people our ages, and we haven’t had time to spend it since we have to spend all our free time here, making sure that you and Mr. Sloane don’t hurt yourselves.”

I laughed, “You’re all a bunch of smartasses, and I suggest that you get ready for bed.  It sounds as if tomorrow is going to be a busy day.”

When Pat and I were finally settled in bed, I whispered, “I’m really concerned about my sister and her husband.  I don’t know that I’m ready to handle four teenage sons.  If you and I decide to live together, then it would be six, If Travis were to become my permanent ward, it would be seven.”

Pat pushed me down on the bed. “Steve, let’s take it one step at a time.”

I was awakened by the sound of the phone at four a. m.  I went to grab it but it stopped ringing.  I figured it was a wrong number.  Boy was I wrong.  Shane came into the room and touched me, “Dad Steve, you need to come talk to the person on the phone.”

I crawled out of bed and followed Shane to the den.  “This is Steven Sloane.”

“Mr. Sloane, this is Marc Long from the State Department.  This call is to advise you that Dr. Ron and Dr. Lynne Wilson were killed by an attack on the bus they were riding by terrorists.  You are listed as the person who is responsible for their two sons and that they are residing with you.  The Wilsons’ remains will be arriving in Lincoln some time in the middle of next week.  I apologize for the early call, but it has been a very busy night.”

“Thank you, Mr. Long, I’ll inform the Wilsons’ two sons of what happened.”

Shane put his arm around me, “Dad Steve, everything will work out.  Do you want me to wake Don and Mike?”

“Shane, let the guys sleep.  There is nothing that we can do until tomorrow at the earliest.  Why are you up, anyway?”

Shane sighed, “I couldn’t sleep, so I came down here and was reading.  I just felt that something was wrong.”

“Shane, go back to bed.  Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

I watched as Shane went up the stairs.  I sat down and was thinking about everything that would need to be done.”   I had been through arranging for funerals for my parents but Lynne had been available to provide assistance.  I need to see how Don and Mike want to proceed.  They need to be in on the decision making.”

It was about six thirty when Pat appeared, “Steve, why are up so early?  Will you ever spend the night in bed, so I can molest you in the morning?”

“I’m up because we had a call from the State Department confirming that the guys parents were indeed involved in the terrorist attack and are dead.”

“Do you the guys know yet?”

“Shane is the only one of the guys who knows.  He answered the call and he woke me up, so I could speak with the gentleman who called.  Ron and Lynne’s remains will be arriving sometime the middle of next week. We can’t make any definite plans until the bodies arrive.”

Mike appeared on the scene, “Uncle Steve, Shane said you needed to talk to me and Don.  Don is taking a shower.  He’ll be here shortly.  I’m going to have some juice, can I get anyone something?”

Mike had just sat down when Don arrived, and frowned, “Uncle Steve, something happened to our parents, didn’t it?”

“Don, what made you think that?”

Don sat down, “Why else would you need to talk to me and Mike and none of the other guys are here when I know that at least three of them are up?”

I nodded, “Don and Mike, we heard about a terrorist attack on a group of archeologists in Egypt, last night on the news.  We chose not to say anything about it last night because we didn’t know the status of your parents.  We had a call about four this morning confirming that your parents were killed in the terrorist attack.  Their remains will be arriving in the middle of next week.”

I waited for some sort of reaction.  Don took a deep breath, “I guess I shouldn’t say I told you so, in a case like this.  Uncle Steve, the parents have some rather specific guidelines that they wanted followed in the event of their deaths.  You need to contact their lawyer, Mr. Webster.  I think you already know him.”

“Yep, he’s my lawyer as well.  He’s the person that did the paperwork that gave me the power of attorney over you two studs, in case something should happen to your parents.  I’ll contact him as soon as soon I can.  Guys, will you be okay?”

Mike sighed, “I suppose so, it’s going to be hard calling you Dad.  After all, how many people have a nude dude for a Dad.   Sorry, Uncle Steve, we’ll be fine.  We’re going to all have to make some adjustments.  You had two sons and now you have four and probably at least three more and a son-in-law, to boot.”

Don started to laugh, “Next thing you know, they’ll be writing nursery rhyme about you.  Uncle Steve, I agree with Mike for a change.  We’ll be able to get through this and be better for it.  I’ll go tell the guys the coast is clear, so we can fix breakfast.”

Shane was the first to arrive, “I’ve already told the other five guys what happened.  So we don’t have to discuss what happened unless Don and Mike want to talk about it.  Come on, roommate, let’s get our butts in gear.  I’m starved since they didn’t feed me last night.  Dad, are you going to be here for breakfast?”

“I think, I’d better stay here, so you don’t get lynched.  I’ll go call the office to make sure that all is quiet on the western front.”

I went out on the deck and thought, ‘Oh, to be young.’

We were finishing breakfast when the phone rang.  Nate answered, “This is the Sloane residence.  Nathan speaking. … Hi, Mr. Webster. … Yep, Dad is sitting here finishing breakfast.  …  Yep, Don and Mike are chowing down, too. … Okay, here’s Dad.”

“This is Steve Sloane.”

“Steve it’s Bill Webster.  I assume that you already know about what happened to the Wilsons?”

“Yes, we heard about it on the news last night, and the State Department called and confirmed it at four o’clock this morning.  Mike and Don suggested that I need to talk to you about some specific requests that their parents had, in case something were to happen.  I was going to call you later this morning.”

“Steve, I’m going to be out of town on Monday and Tuesday of next week.  Would you be available to meet me at the office this morning at say, ten o‘clock?”

“I can be there.  Do Mike and Don need to be there?  The reason I’m asking is because they are scheduled to go to work at eleven o’clock.”

“We aren’t going to be making any decisions today, so there would be no reason for Don and Mike to be here this time.  You can always fill them in as to what we discussed and did.”

“Okay, I’ll see you at ten.”

I turned to the guys, “Guys, I think we should have an impromptu birthday party for Travis tomorrow night, since he got shortchanged.  Shane, call your Grandmother and invite her.  Teddy, call your parents and invite them.”

Teddy moaned, “That would mean they’d bring my bratty sisters.  They’d sit around moaning that they don’t want to be here.”

“The more the merrier.  Nate and Don, why don’t you see if you can dig up some dates to liven-up the party?”

Shane started to laugh, “Yeah, they can always jump out of the cake and provide some real entertainment.”

Pat decided to go to the office and see if there was anything that needed to be taken care of.

When I left for Mr. Webster’s office, the guys were getting dressed.  When I arrived at the office, he was waiting for me in the reception area.  “Come on in, Steve.  I figured that we could meet out here.  This shouldn’t take too long.  You already have the power to take care of Donald and Michael, so that should not be a problem.  You will need to sign this document which gives you power of attorney to act on behalf of the boys until they turn twenty-one.  Ron was adamant that he wanted you to be in control until the two young men reached the age of twenty-one.”

“You need to have Don and Mike show you where the safe in the house is.  I know for a fact that the Wilson’s had sizeable insurance policies, and I think they might also have had a safe deposit box.  It may be a little tricky getting into the safe deposit box, since I don’t know if the boys’ names were ever put on the account.”

He handed me a packet of papers as I was leaving, “Steve, you realize that you’re going to need to have a new will prepared since you had named the Wilson’s as the persons who were to be the guardians for Nathan and Ethan should something happen to you?”

“Don’t kid me, Bill, you just want to make some money.  I’ll call and make an appointment for Wednesday.  There may be another problem that you may need to take care of as well.  I have temporary custody of another young man.  Perhaps you know him.  His name is Travis Hughes.”

Bill started to laugh, “We live next door to the Farr house.  We saw all of the comings and goings the other night.  We heard that Mr. Farr was in jail, but didn’t know the whereabouts of Travis.  Tell him he needs to get his butt home so he can mow our yard.”

“I spoke to his two uncles and they’re going to be coming to visit, next week.” 

Bill frowned, “That’s odd.  I didn’t know that Marty and Seth knew each other.   Let me know if I can be of help in either the Wilson or Hughes case.”

When I arrived at the lake, Pat’s car was there, which was a good sign.  When I went into the house, I went to find him.  He was sitting on the deck.  He didn’t even acknowledge that I was there but he commented, “It’s about time.  What were you and that lawyer fellow doing all this time?”

I started to laugh, “Mr. Webster is happily married and has kids who are older than ours.  He was a friend of my Dad’s.”

“So your Dad was queer too, was he?”

“Look, you hypocrite.  Get your ass dressed.  We have places to go and things to do.  But come here and let me check you out before you get dressed.”

As Pat and I were going to town, he told me that his Mother was excited to have been invited to the cabin for another birthday party.  Pat explained, “She’s concerned because she doesn’t know what to buy Travis.”

“Tell her a card will suffice, since we don’t really know what he needs.  Besides we don’t know how long he’ll be staying with us.”

When Pat and I arrived back at the house after our shopping spree to buy the fixings for dinner on Sunday and some gift certificates for Travis, it seemed so funny to have just the two of us there.  At first I was apprehensive, but we sat on a double chaise lounge and I looked at Pat.  “Sheriff, it seems so strange to have just the two of us in the house.  You wanna go to bed and play some big boy games.”

The conversation was interrupted by the phone, “This is Steve Sloane.”

“Steve, its Seth Hughes.  Marty and I will be arriving on Tuesday evening at seven in the evening in Omaha.  Will that be a problem?”

“Seth, someone will pick you up.  I’ll make sure that your nephew isn’t working.  How will I recognize you if I pick you up?”

“Marty will be traveling in his preacher’s habit and I’m the handsome stud with the gorgeous blond hair.  I’ll probably have to help Marty to the baggage area.  He’s so feeble these days.”

When I hung up, I started to laugh, “Patrick, me boy, that was Travis’ uncles.  I have no idea what to expect when they arrive.  They sound like kooks.

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  It's a shame that Don and Mike lost their parents.    Both boys seem to be pretty mature about it, but things like that can hit you later, even though you don't think it will.

 I do have a good feeling about Travis.  I think he is going to stay I really think he is going to stay with Steve and Pat.  I do see a family evolving. 

The next chapter is probably going to give us some answers.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 11/26/10