“P” Is For the Peeping Pat
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2011 by the Author)
 

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

Chapter 12  

And The Dress Is?

When we pulled up to the house, Marty commented, “This is some house.  Are there any other houses around?”

I answered, “What you see is all there is.  I not only own the house, but I own the lake and all property surrounding the lake, as well, thanks to my parents.”

Seth chuckled, “That makes it convenient for dressing however you might wish.”

Travis looked at me with a funny look, “Uncle Seth, that was a funny remark to make about dressing however you might wish.  What did you mean by it?”

“I was just making a comment that it would be nice to not to have to worry about how you needed to dress when you were in a pristine place like this.  What are the chances of you being seen by passersby, if you were taking a sunbath to prevent any sun lines from developing on your body?  How many people live here, anyway?”

Travis answered without thinking.  “Right now there are five permanent residents and five of us temporary residents, not including you, should you decide to stay here with us, since you can’t drive.  We will have five drivers available to take you wherever you need or want to be.”

I laughed, “Travis, you forgot to mention our other part time resident, Teddy, when he stays over, which is the most of the time.”

 

Marty asked, “Where would we sleep if we were to stay here?  We don’t want to be a bother or push anyone out.  We have no idea what it is that we need to do, or how long it it will take.  We don’t want to be an imposition on anyone.”

“Believe me, we have lots of room.  I own a house in town, as well as do my two nephews, and your nephew, according to what you are saying about Professor Farr.  We may have to furnish them with some food, if you should decide to go that route.  Let’s go see what the guys have fixed for dinner.  Shane is a pretty good cook, even though he is only thirteen.  Let’s go see what concoction he and Tommy have come up with.”

When we walked into the house, we were met by Tommy, Shane and Pat.  Tommy came running and hugged me, “Dad, Mr. Ritchie is going to be here at eight o’clock to talk about my insurance money.

He is bringing Mrs. Hood with him, so we can go ahead and sign for the money, before the hearing on Monday.”

I put my arm around Tommy, “Son, don’t you think you might want to meet our visitors before we talk business.  They didn’t come here to worry about your insurance money.  The gentleman with the cane is Travis’ uncle on his mother’s side, He is Reverend Martin Skelley.  Mr. Seth Hughes is Travis’ father’s brother.  They came from California to make sure that Travis gets all of the money that he is due.”

“Marty and Seth, I’m in the process of adopting Tommy.  Pat is our Sheriff and spends considerable time here in his off hours and his son, Shane, is my designated babysitter to keep me from getting into trouble.”

“Guys, why don’t you serve the food.  My stomach, for one, is rumbling as are our visitors'.  Airplanes are not noted for their food service any more.”

Shane giggled, “We were in a pickle, since we had no idea what our visitors might like.  We finally decided on fresh rainbow trout filets and hot roast beef sandwiches in au jus sauce, with French fries and a Cobb salad with the works.  We figured that our guests would like at least something.”

Marty grinned, “The trout will be a delicacy, since we don’t get many fresh fish in the area where we live.”

Shane, Tommy and Pat served the food and it was indeed very tasty.

Seth was the first take a bite of the fish and moaned. “These fillets are done just right.  I hope that we can get some more of them later.”

Tommy pointed to the lake, “We’ll make sure that you get pointed in the right direction.  The rule is, if you catch a fish, you have to skin and fillet it.”

As were eating, Tommy asked, “When do the rules for wearing the proper cloths to be worn, start?  I guess that we’ll need to wait until Mr. Ritchie and Mrs. Hood arrive and depart before we get properly dressed.”

I shook my head, “Tommy, Mr. Martin and Mr. Hughes might not be agreeable to dressing like we do when there are only men around.  It is their call as to what they wear.”

Seth asked “Travis, what clothes would you be eating in if we weren’t here and company was expected?”

Travis giggled,  “We would be naked unless there are guests, especially female guests, around.  Of course, we do have a rule that we have to wear  a shirt to the table, when we are eating.”

Marty laughed, “I get it;  you keep dropping your napkins to check out the merchandise of your friend, to make sure there is no hanky panky going on.”

Tommy added, “Everyone sleeps naked.  We have two more cots like the one I’m going to be sleeping on, with sleeping bags if you want to stay here.  There are lots of bathrooms.  You can always spend tonight here; if it doesn’t work out, we can move you to Dad’s other house.  Don and Mike’s house will probably be busy, since their parents are going to be buried on Thursday.  They aren’t expecting many family members, but there will probably be all sorts of their parents’ friends stopping by.  That’s what happened when my family died.”

Travis concurred, “After my father’s death, we had what seemed like a hundred people stopping by to leave food.  Even when my mother died, we still got more.  Professor Farr kept giving it to his college friends.”

The doorbell rang, and Tommy faded in the background.  Shane went to answer the door and returned with Mrs. Hood and Mr. Ritchie.  I made the introductions after I had met Mr. Ritchie.

Mr. Ritchie grinned, “This is an expected windfall.  I’m handling three insurance cases where the principles are all residing at this one house.  I thought I was coming to handle Tommy Campbell’s case.  I have been working with Bill Webster with Wilsons’ claims.  I was contacted on behalf of Mr. Hughes and Mr. Martin to investigate some questionable activities that had taken place in the disposition of the funds from Travis’ estate.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  “Mr. Ritchie, how is it that you are involved in all three cases?”

“Mr. Stephens, this is a very unusual situation.  I’m really a special investigator for the insurance company involved in all three cases.  I don’t work for the insurance company, as such.  I am not in the business of selling insurance.  The company hires my services when there are problems that need to be looked into.  I suggest that we get on with Tommy’s case, since I was finally able to get it resolved.” 

“The Wilsons’ case is rather straight forward and Mr. Webster will be presenting the results of my investigation at the reading of the will on Thursday.”

“The Hughes case is a little more complicated.  I would like to meet with Travis, Mr. Hughes and Mr. Skelley tomorrow morning, say at eleven, so I can get some more information about the infamous person who claims to be Professor Farr.  I’m of the opinion that he is not who or what he says he is.  I’m missing a few pieces of information that I need to fill in.”

Mr. Ritchie opened his briefcase, “The reason for the long delay in the settlement of Tommy’s case is that some outside forces were involved, claiming they should receive the damages for the death of Tommy’s parents and his brothers.  The company has awarded Tommy $500,000.00 dollars for the death of his family members and the inconveniences that he has had to endure, plus any expenses that have been paid on his behalf.  That means the state will also be receiving a reimbursement for any monies that they have disbursed on his behalf.”

Tommy came and sat on my lap, “Dad, I don’t understand what Mr. Ritchie is talking about.  I never had any money to spend.”

Mrs. Hood smiled, “Tommy, the state has spent a great deal of money on your case, whether you realize it or not.  The money we receive in payment for what was spent on you will be spent to help other unfortunate boys and girls.”

Tommy looked confused, “Does that mean my new Daddy and the

Sheriff are going to have to take care of the other boys and girls, too.  We don’t have any more beds especially if Mr. Hughes and Mr. Skelley are going to stay here while they’re helping Travis.”

Everyone started to laugh.  Mrs. Hood shook her head no, “Tommy, Mr. Sloane already has more than enough sons to worry about now.  I don’t think anyone is going to be asking him to take care of any more young people.  He’d never have time to write another book and wouldn’t be able to make any money.”

Tommy patted my leg, “Don’t worry Daddy, I'll give you my money and we won’t starve.  Maybe we could sell one of your houses so we won’t be broke.”

“Tommy, we won’t be broke.  I’ve been saving money so Ethan and Nathan will have some money in case something should happen to me.  I’ll have to start saving for you, Mike and Don to make sure you will be able to afford to go to college.”

Mr. Christie grinned, “Steve, I don’t think that you will need to worry about the Wilson boys.  They’ll have plenty of money when they turn twenty one.  On that note, I need to leave.  I still have some matters to take care of before I meet with Mr. Hughes and Reverend Skelley in the morning.”

Mr. Ritchie and Mrs. Hood were pulling away as the rest of the guys were pulling up.  Again there was another round of introductions.  Ethan asked, “What are the sleeping arrangements going to be?  I notice that Reverend Skelley must have trouble walking if he has to use a cane.”

Marty nodded, “I can maneuver stairs;  I’m just a little slower than almost anybody else.”

Tommy asked, “How did you hurt your leg, anyway?”

“I serve as a chaplain in the state detention system.  One day I was trying to stop a fight from happening and one of the inmates who was in jail slammed my foot in a jail cell door and broke my ankle.  It was broken in so many places that the doctors don’t think that it will ever be able to mend properly.  I’ll probably always have a limp the rest of my life when I walk.”  

“It was during the same incident that Seth received his drunk while driving under the influence.  The warden called Seth, who was at a party celebrating a win in a big case.   The state police took exception to the way Seth was driving me to the emergency room because of the speed at which Seth was driving.  He lost his license for six months.  Fortunately, he’ll be able to start driving again in two weeks and I can promise you that he’ll never be driving while under the influence of alcohol ever again, if I have anything to do with what is happening.”

Travis was frowning, Reverend Skelley asked. “Something seems to be bothering you, Travis.  What is it?”

Travis shrugged his shoulders, “I still don’t understand why I never realized that the two of you never even knew each other.  I am of the opinion that the two of you have been acquainted for a long time.”

Seth nodded, “We met at your parents’ wedding and, well, we rather formed a relationship.  Your parents forbade that we should ever let you realize that we even knew each other.  It made it very difficult for us to visit with you and your family.  We found it more convenient to stay away than trying to live a lie.  Your parents, especially your father, had a very difficult time accepting the fact that he had a brother who was gay.  It was really your dad’s parents who had a hard time accepting that I was gay, and applied pressure on your Dad to limit the time I was exposed to you.”

Travis raised his voice, “I’m really pissed by this information.  I’m intelligent enough to know that just because I have gay relatives, I’m not necessarily going to be gay.  What’s going to happen to me?  Are you going to take me back to California to live with you?”

Reverend Skelley put out his hands to indicate that he didn’t know what was going to happen, “”Travis, that is something we need to discuss after we meet with Mr. Ritchie, tomorrow.  Seth and I are the only close relatives that you have who are still living.  We need to take care of each other.”

“Seth and I have been discussing the possibility of moving back here so we can take care of you.  We don’t think that you would be very happy living in California.  Whatever we decide to do, we need to make sure the decision is best for all of us.  Tommy, why don’t you show us where we’ll be sleeping if we stay here.  My ankle is starting to ache.”

Pat stood, “Come on, Shane and Tommy, we'll go to the apartment and spend the night.  Since Shawn is spending the night with Teddy Conklin, Mr. Hughes and Reverend Skelley can sleep in your room.”

It was going to be a long night, with Pat, his sons and Tommy missing from the fold.  Marty and Seth decided to go to bed, since they had a long day as did Ethan, Nathan, Mike and Don.  That left only Travis and me up and stirring.  Travis followed me into my bedroom when I went to get comfortable, so I could write.   Marty and Seth gave me some ideas that I wanted to incorporate into my manuscript.

I was starting to pound away at the computer when Travis interrupted, “Mr. Sloane, I’m really confused as to why my family didn’t want me to realize that Uncle Marty and Uncle Seth have been a couple all these years.  Why did they try to hide the facts from me?”

 

“Travis, I never knew your parents, so I have no idea why they were trying to protect you from the fact that your uncles loved each other if the two gentlemen have lived together all these years.  Perhaps, Mr. Ritchie and your uncles will be able to fill some of the details when everyone gets together, tomorrow.”

Travis sighed, “Mr. Sloane, you will be at the meeting tomorrow, won’t you?  Mr. Sloane, can I sleep in your bedroom with you?  I feel funny sleeping in the same bedroom with my uncles.”

“Travis, you can sleep in here, if you wish.  All men look the same.  Why would it make you feel funny to sleep in the same room with your two uncles.  They’ll probably wear long johns to bed, since they’re not used to the fresh country air.”

I watched as Travis crawled into bed.  He must have been exhausted because it sure didn’t take long for him to go to sleep. 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  It seems to me that things are getting more and more complicated.  Travis' uncles seem very nice, and they really seem to love each other, and I believe they already care for Travis.  

I wonder what we will find out when we go see Mr. Ritchie.  Is he related to another person that we know who's last name is Ritchie?

I am ready for more.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher  

Posted: 12/31/10