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

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Chapter 19

The More the Merrier

As Pat and I were lying in bed after a love making session, we were both quiet.  Pat propped his left arm up on his elbow and looked at me.  I could see that his eyes had a questioning look, “Steve, you don’t suppose we made a mistake by keeping Jimmy here, do you?”

“Pat, we had no other alternative after what Jimmie told us last night.  The Tuesdale family is totally dysfunctional.  If we had left him under the control of that family, he would probably be lost eventually.”

“I’m concerned about what’s going to happen to the middle four siblings.  It’s only a matter of time until Leo ruins them if he hasn’t done so already.  I wish we could take them, but we’re flat out of room, and besides, I would be concerned for our guys' safety.  It's my understanding that sexually abused people try to take advantage of others so that they can have a feeling of having power over others,”

“Steve, I’m concerned about the middle four, I could give a rats’ ass about my half brother/nephew, Leo.  I hope that I never run across him again.  I wonder how many other half brothers and sisters I have out there?”

“Pat, let’s get some sleep.  You do have to go to work tomorrow.”

I woke up in the middle of the night and I heard someone whimpering.  I looked and Pat was still asleep.  I opened the door to the hallway and saw Jimmy sitting next to our door.  I hunched down, “Jimmy, what’s wrong?”

Jimmy hugged me, “Mr. Sloane, I dreamed that Leo was standing over me and touching my body.  He was saying, ‘It won’t be much longer, my pretty, and you’ll be mine.’  You and Uncle Pat won’t let him do to me what he does to Justin and Larry, will you?”

“Jimmy, I can promise you that no one, and I mean no one, will ever let Leo do anything bad to you.   Go back to bed or you’ll be exhausted all day tomorrow,”

I watched as Jimmy went back to the bedroom and I was trying to figure out why he would have had such a dream.  He didn’t close the door, so I looked in to see if there was any physical reason that would have caused him to have such a dream.  Tommy and Shane were snoring, so there was no one who could have been threatening Jimmy in the bedroom.

I went back to bed but couldn’t go to sleep, so I went to work on the latest novel, but I wasn’t inspired to write anything.  I decided to write a book about Jimmy and entitled the book, ‘J is for Jimmy.’

I was really progressing with the new story when someone was tapping me on the shoulder.  I looked up and Tommy was standing there stretching.  “Daddy, isn’t it time for Dad Pat to be getting up?  Everyone else is still asleep.”

“You're right, Sir Thomas, “Let’s go start breakfast.  That will get everyone jump started.”

Tommy was taking some coffee to Pat when I heard him talking on the stairs.  “I’ll be right back.  Daddy is in the kitchen fixing breakfast.  Why don’t you go help him?”

I couldn’t make out the other voice, but it was Nathan who came into the kitchen, “Good morning, Dad.  Couldn’t you sleep last night?  I heard you working on the computer when I went to the bathroom.”

“Nate, Jimmy and I talked last night in the middle of the night, and he told me that he dreamed that Leo was standing over him touching his body.  I was so upset by what he said that I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I started a new book.”

“Good, does that mean you’re going to get Ethan his own car when he turns sixteen?  Dad, what are we going to do when we move back to town?  There is no way that we can live in either of the two houses that we own now, if Dad Pat and his sons and Jimmy are going to be able live with us.”

“Nate, we’ll have to figure that out.  We may have to change our style of living.  Pat is still maintaining the apartment, but I don’t think that it’s big enough to accommodate Jimmy, since there are only two bedrooms.”

Nate chuckled, “Maybe we could get rid of the other houses and find a duplex that we could make into a single dwelling without anyone knowing that there were any connections between the two families.  We could put doors between the connecting wall, so we could go back and forth when we are inside.  The biggest problem would be to remember which door we were to go in and out.”

“Nate, that sounds like a great idea, but I doubt that we will be able to find anything in town that would meet our requirements.  The students probably have all such dwellings like that taken.”

Nate and my conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Pat, Jimmy and Tommy.   Tommy announced, “The others are on their way.  They aren’t used to having a day off.”

“After breakfast, I’m going check on some things in town.  Does anyone want to catch a ride with me?”

Tommy asked, “Daddy, do you think our new library cards will be ready? Jimmy and I finished the books we checked out and we even read some of the books that Shane checked out.”

Shane pouted, “You aren’t going to leave poor little old me here all by myself, are you?’ 

Tommy giggled, “We would never leave you here by yourself.  You’d probably play with matches and burn the house down.”

“Just for calling me a pyromaniac, I am going to stay here and show you that I’m a big boy and wouldn’t start a fire.  Besides, you’d probably make me clean up the mess.”

Jimmy got a funny look on his face, “Bet you can’t even spell pyromaniac.  You aren’t going to flip lighted matches into a jar, like Leo does.  One day he was doing it when he was on his bed and his bed clothes caught fire and ruined his mattress.  He threw the mattress out the window onto the front porch roof.  Fortunately the fire company arrived before the house burned down, but the porch roof was damaged, and still is.  No matter how much the parents and grandpa yell at him, he still does it.”

After Pat had gone to work and the dishes were done, I announced, “The town express will be departing in twenty minutes.”

It was Shane, Tommy and Jimmy who went to town with me.  We stopped to check on Reverend Skelley, Seth and Travis Hughes. 

Marty Skelley announced some news, “Hi Steve and guys.  I’ve got a full time job at St Gerald‘s church, starting next week.”

“I stopped to talk to the pastor and he told me about the position.  They certainly work fast.  The pastor had me give the sermons at both services on Sunday. They had a congregational meeting after the second meeting and voted to offer me the position.”

I shook his hand, “Congratulations, Marty.  Let’s face it.  You were at the right place at the right time.  We have a new person living at the lake with us.  I’d like you to meet Pat’s youngest nephew, Jimmy Kincaid.”

Seth laughed, “We heard about the fiasco at Maylin’s restaurant when we stopped in for a light dinner.  You’ll be happy to know that I am now legal to drive again.  I’m flying to Los Angeles this afternoon to make the arrangements to have our things brought back here.  I’ll drive the handicapped accessible van back and the Cadillac will be coming with the shipment of household furnishings.”

Marty nodded, “I may have to call you, Steve, if I need a ride, until Seth gets back and if Travis is at work.”

“Please do, I’ll be home most of the time.  We stopped by to see if you needed any help cleaning the mess that Professor Farr and his friends left.”

Travis laughed, “We took the easy way out.  We had some professional cleaners clean the house.  They were able to do in a day what it would have taken us weeks to do.”

As we were leaving, I offered, “Be sure to call us, Marty, if you need a ride.  We’re on our way to the library now, so the boys can get some new reading material.”

When we walked into the library, the two boys dropped their books in the book return and went to see if their library cards were ready.  The lady behind the counter asked their names and returned, “You’re in luck.  I just typed them.  If you step over here, I’ll take your mug shots and laminate them so they don’t get eaten by the wash machine.”

When the two boys returned, Tommy asked, “How many books can we check out?” 

Mrs. Moats looked at the boys, “You may take as many as you think you can read until you can return them.  We have an unwritten rule that you need to remember that there are other boys and girls who might like to read the books that you have checked out.”

Jimmy asked, “It’s okay if Tommy and I read the books that each other have checked out, so we don’t have to come to the library as often, isn’t it?”

Mrs. Moats handed the boys their cards.  “Hi Shane, haven’t seen you much this summer.” 

“We’re living at the summer cottage this summer, so it’s not so easy to get to the library.  Besides, Mr. Sloane makes us do all the work around the place.  Look at my hands and see how blistered they are.”

Mrs. Moats had the funniest look on her face, “Shane, why is he making you do all the work?”

“He made his sons go to work, so they could buy the groceries and pay the utility bills.”

“Shane, I’ve known Mr. Sloane for a long time and I’m afraid I don’t believe you.  I didn’t know that you, your Dad and brother knew Mr. Sloane.” 

“We didn’t know him before this summer.  Nathan and Ethan hired us to take care of their Dad while they were working.”

Peggy Moats looked at me, “Steve, I think Shane is trying to take me in - hook, line and sinker.  You’ll have to explain to me what’s happening.  When are you going to moving back to town?  It’s so quiet without you and the boys living next door.  Who were those loud people who were visiting the other weekend?”

Jimmy answered before I could, “That was my family.”

I stepped in, “Guys, get your books.  I guess we’d better stop by the house and see how much damage the Tuesdale’s did.  I should have thought to check it sooner.”

It took the three guys a very short time to get the books they wanted.  I stopped at the post office and checked the post office box.  It was chucked full.  There was a note on the front of the box, ’More mail at the window.’  I had a funny feeling, We never get this much mail at one time even at Christmas time.’

I suddenly remembered that I hadn’t asked that the mail be forwarded to the house on the lake, because the mailperson had almost caught us naked the summer before last.  I had been so busy that I totally spaced off the mail.  ’I hope there aren’t any over due bills.’

I decided to take the boys to lunch before we checked the house.  The boys couldn’t decide what kind of food they wanted so I took them to a mall and let them pick out what they wanted.  They were seated eating their foods of choice when I finally sat down with my Great American Hot Dog with sauerkraut and mustard and a chocolate shake.

Shane started to laugh, “Heck, all of us could have eaten for a week on what you paid for our lunches.  We could have bought a whole pack of hotdogs and a pack of rolls for what you paid for your hotdog.  The sauerkraut probably cost more than your shake.”

As we were finishing eating, I looked at Jimmy, We should probably think about getting you some more clothes.  You only have two sets with you.”

Jimmy put up his hand, “That’s more than enough.  Tommy let’s me wear some of his, since we’re the same size.  Most of the time we aren’t wearing clothes when we’re at home.”

I wanted to laugh but refrained, “Jimmy, when school starts, you’ll definitely need your own clothes, since Tommy will be living at our house and you’ll be living with your Uncle Pat and his boys.  There aren’t many houses where we could live together.”

“Guys, let’s go by the house.  I haven’t been there since the Tuesdales spent the night.  We should probably go see if they did any damage.”

Fortunately, I had put the key to the new locks for the house on my keychain when the guys gave it to me.  I unlocked the door and could see right away that things were a mess.  There were beer cans and whiskey bottles everywhere.  I thought to myself, ‘No one can drink that much in one night.’

Jimmy took my hand, “Dad, I bet Leo, Dad and Granddad spaced out down here and never made it to bed.  They probably passed out like they usually do if they get any money.  You'd better check to see if they left anything to eat or drink in the house.”

The guys followed me as I walked through the house, they had gone though all of the liquor that I had and the empty bottles were everywhere.  Fortunately, I kept very little liquor in the house.  I looked around and remembered that there had been less than a six pack of beer in the house, so where did the rest of the empty cans come from? 

When we walked into the kitchen and pantry, it looked as if World War III had started.  There were empty boxes and opened jars everywhere.  Fortunately, we had cleaned out the refrigerator and freezer and taken the good food stuff to the house on the lake.

When we went up the steps, I almost puked.  There were bathroom supplies everywhere, the wet towels were starting to mildew.  I looked in the cupboards and they had taken all the bath and bedroom supplies.  They had taken all the bedding supplies from the bedrooms except some sheets there were blood stained sheets in two rooms and some of the boys’ knickknacks were gone.

I looked at my entourage of three, “Guys, we need to go get some cleaning supplies, so we can get this mess cleaned up.  It looks as if there might be some permanent damage.  Jimmy, is this what your house looks like back home?”

“This is what our house looks like most of the time.  Sometimes Granddad made us clean it when he would have a poker game after he’d received his Social Security check.  He stopped having the parties when Leo started to take advantage of the men when they got drunk.  After he cheated them out of all their money they had to do what he said.  They would disappear and the man would leave and never come back.  After that had happened several times, the men stopped coming to the house and we almost never had enough to eat.”

As we were walking out the door, the older guys were pulling up, I looked at Nathan, “I thought we’d get the mess cleaned up before the health department condemned the house.”

“Guys, why didn’t you tell me what this mess was like and why aren’t you at work.”

Ethan put his arm around me, “Dad, we didn’t want to cause you to have a stroke.  The luncheon was scheduled for the wrong day.  There was a small party but we left Shawn, Seth and Tommy to work it, so the rest of us decided to get this place cleaned up before you saw it.  Since you’re already here and the three young guys can help us.  Let’s start at the top and work our way to the garage and take the rubbish to the dump.  Tommy and Jimmy put the glass bottles and aluminum cans in these bags so we can take them and get some recycling and get some money.  Dad, you probably should tell us what to save and what to get rid of.”

Everyone was working and we were finally getting all the junk out of the house when my cell phone rang.  “This is Steve Sloane.”

“I stopped by the house and no one is there.    Where are you?”

“We’re at the house in town, cleaning out the junk that your family left everywhere.  I don’t think they missed a drop of alcohol, and in fact, there are more beer cans in the house by far than when we moved to the house on the lake.”

“Are you accusing Shawn and Shane of making a mess? 

“Pat, you know darn well whom I’m talking about.  I’m talking about your family connection from Illinois; Shane is here helping to clean up the mess as is Jimmy.  Shawn, Seth and Teddy are still at working and I think that rest of the older guys have to go back to work after they take a shower.  We’ll discuss the problem over dinner.  See you in about two hours.” 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  Pat's nasty semi relatives are really a bunch of scum bags, aren't they?

I think it would be a good idea for everyone to look for a large house and pool their resources and buy something large enough for them to all fit in. They all love each other, and they all need somewhere to live. Why not be one big family?

I am ready for more, any time, now!

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher           

Posted: 02/25/11