Pinochle
by: E Walk
(© 2007 by the Author)
Editor: Will B
 

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Chapter 69

The Only Way to Fly 

This is Brian.

After John left, Timmy and I went to see what we could do to help Mother in the kitchen.  Mother asked us to set the table, “Remember, Morgan won’t be here.  Chris’ brother and sister aren’t coming either, so it will just Jason, Teresa, Chris, the four Littles and us.”

When we finished that task, Mother suggested that we get the suitcases and have them ready so we could leave quickly since we might be on a tight schedule after the game.  I loaded my backpack with my art supplies, put some items in Timmy’s backpack and had him carry them down the stairs while I took our suitcases.  We made a second trip to get the things that my parents had packed and Timmy carried Mother’s overnight bag while I got their suitcase and hanging bag.

Everything was set when Chris and his parents arrived, Dad took Uncle Jason and Aunt Teresa into the living room while Lauren and I chased Mother out of the kitchen.  Timmy showed Chris where to put his suitcase.

Chris looked puzzled, “Brian, why are the suitcases by the back door.  Why didn’t we just put them in the van?” 

I shrugged my shoulders, “I don’t know.  That’s where Dad told me to put them.  The van will probably be full of people going to the game.”

The front doorbell rang and Chris, Timmy and I went to answer it.  I welcomed the Littles, and Chase started running toward me and practically jumped into my arms.  “Hi Uncle Brian,  I’m really excited about going with you on the trip.”

I was watching Timmy and it was like a dark cloud passed over his face and I put Chase down, “Chase, I ’d like for you to meet another very special friend who is going to be going on the trip with us.  This is Timmy.”

I looked at Timmy, “Timmy, come say hello to my other special friend, Chase.”

Timmy came and halfheartedly said hello.  Chase was also looking at his rival.  It looked like they were playing a cat and mouse game.  I took the suitcases from Doctor Little and suggested that Chris should introduce the Littles to his parents.  Timmy and Chase followed me into the kitchen where i put the bags.

I watched to see what might happen between the two seven/eight year olds.  Mother came into the kitchen and instructed Lauren and me as to what to do and everyone was seated at the table.  I had Chase on one side of me and Timmy on the other.  That was a mistake because they were leaning forward trying to talk to each other.  I finally changed seats with Timmy so they could talk freely.

Chris and I both ate very little of the individual home made chicken pot pies that Mother had made.  We had the frozen fruit salad that Dad liked and that just hit the spot.  Chris and I were watching the clock because we needed to leave so we could be at the school by 6:00 as did Lauren.  We excused ourselves and told everyone that we would see them later.

This is Beau.

I watched to see how the boys would react, especially Timmy.  He turned to Chase, “Grandpa and Grandma are going to take us to the game so we can watch Uncle Brian and Chris play.”

I thought to myself, ‘Brian has Timmy trained right.’ 

I felt sorry for Angela but she seemed fine with the fact that she was alone with us.  When the two young boys were finished eating they asked to be excused and took their utensils into the kitchen and I watched as Angela went to help them.  The two boys came back and cleared the table and we could hear the three of them in the kitchen talking. 

The Littles decided that they should probably leave for the airport so they called their children into the dining room. Mr. Little spoke for them, “Angie and Chase, we’re going to leave now.  Angie, here is some money for you and Chase to get some things if you see anything you would like to buy.  You two listen to Mr. and Mrs. Benson and we’ll see you when you get back.”

“Now give us a hug and don’t get into any trouble.”

Timmy looked at Mr. Little, “Don’t worry Doctor Little, Da … Uncle Brian will make sure we don’t do anything bad.”

Jason gave me a funny look and I shrugged my shoulders. “Brian is turning into another Jeff in case you hadn’t noticed.”

When we got to the game, we were sitting about halfway up in the stands when Mr. and Mrs. Waters arrived with Jason and Jeremy.  Timmy took charge and the four boys were sitting and talking.  The team had been on the field exercising and left the field.  Timmy turned to me, “Aren’t they going to do anything else?”

Jason looked at Timmy, “The teams were just warming up.  They’ll be back soon.”

The cheerleaders formed an entry corridor and as soon as Coach Henderson appeared leading the team with Todd and John at the front, the student section stood and threw their fists into the air and yelled, “Charge.”

The four young guys in front of me stood and yelled, “Charge.”

After the coin toss, Fremont was to receive the kickoff.  After the return, we watched as the offense went on the field.  Timmy looked at me, “Grandpa, is Uncle Brian out there?”

I pointed, “Timmy, Brian is wearing number 15 and Chris is wearing number 81.”

Jason added, “John’s number is 12.  He’s sitting on the bench because he’s still a little sore.”

I looked to see what Mr. Water’s reaction might be, but he just turned a little pink.  He didn’t make any comments.

Fremont tried two running plays and they gained only a couple of yards on each play.  They lined up on the third down as if they were going to run another running play and Brian faked handing the ball to the tailback.  Brian hid the ball so well that the defense went to tackle the tailback.  Brian threw a perfect ball to a wide open Chris and he could have waltzed into the end zone.

That served as a wake up call to both teams.  The Fremont defense stiffened and it was three downs and out for the Columbus Discovers.

On the second set of downs, Brian threw a short pass to Tony, the other wide receiver.  On the second down he threw to the full back coming out of the backfield and he was clobbered and dropped the ball.  The Columbus coach called time out and called his team together.  When they returned, they had an entirely different looking defense.  They obviously thought that Brian was going to call another passing play. 

Brian was in the shotgun formation and Roland centered a perfect ball to Brian who stood like he was going to throw down field.  Ron, the full back, was running laterally behind Brian and our linemen and other players had positioned themselves almost perfectly so that Ron was able to ramble into the end zone after he received the lateral from Brian.

The Fremont fans were in a frenzy and the four young guys were yelling ‘Charge.’  When Brian came off the field, he looked at the four guys and had his thumbs up.

The half ended with the score Fremont 14 Columbus 0.  When the teams left the field, Timmy turned to me, “Grandpa, is the game over?”

“No, the teams need to take a bathroom break.  They’ll be back and finish the game.”

Chase looked at me, “Mr. Benson, I need to go to the bathroom too.  Where is it?”

Mr. Waters stood, “Come on guys, I'll go with you and maybe we can get something to eat while we’re waiting for the teams to return.”

None of the boys objected to that proposal.  They each had a small bag of popcorn and a small drink when they returned.

The second half started with Columbus receiving the kickoff.  On the first play from scrimmage the Columbus quarterback threw a deep pass and Todd Messing intercepted it and ran it back for a touchdown.  The third quarter ended and the score was 21-0.  The game had settled down to a defensive battle.  I was surprised that Brian didn’t throw many more passes and I just hoped he wasn’t hurt.

It was almost the middle of fourth quarter when the crisis occurred.  The Columbus quarter back threw a deep pass and Todd intercepted it again.  He was hit after he had taken several steps by two Columbus players and he went down.  He was lying on the ground.  I watched as Brian was one of the first of the team to arrive.  He told everyone to move away and let the professionals take care of Todd.  After a ten minute delay, Todd was carted off on a gurney to an ambulance.

When the two teams resumed playing it was obvious that they were a little rattled.  Fremont made three first downs and seemed to be moving for another score.  Brian handed the ball to a different running back and he took off and seemed to be on the way to the end zone when he was stripped of the ball.  The ball was recovered by Columbus with only two minutes to go in the game.

The Fremont defensive team went on the field and I noticed that Brian was there.  He called the team together and when they broke huddle, they yelled ‘Charge’.  Brian was playing the free safety position where Todd had been playing.

It was obvious that the Columbus team was trying to score a touchdown or a field goal to avoid a shut out.  They made two first downs with short passes.  On the next set of downs, Brian and the backfield blitzed the quarterback and he threw the ball into the ground.  On the second down Brian dove and batted the ball away from a wide open receiver.  On the third down, Columbus tried a draw play but the defensive line stopped the play for a loss that put Columbus out of field goal range.

Everyone in the student section was standing and yelling, ‘Charge … Charge … Charge’.  The young boys with us were yelling ‘Charge’ as loud as they could.

There was less than a minute to go when the two teams lined up for the fourth down play.  The quarterback threw a long bomb and it looked like a Columbus player was going to catch it, but at the last moment Brian leaped and pulled the ball in and started to run toward the goal line.  Everyone in the stands was yelling, “GO!”  Brian looked at the clock and slowed down.  Just before the first Columbus player was about to get near him he knelt down on the one yard line as the gun sounded.  Everyone in the stands was stunned and moaned.

This is Brian.

I saw that the Columbus quarterback was approaching me and I decided that we didn’t need another score.  We already had our shut out and we had beaten our arch rivals.  The quarterback looked at me and asked, “You deliberately stopped short of the goal, didn’t you?”

I smiled, “Yeh, what’s it to you?”

The guy shrugged, “You whipped our asses so I figured you were going to rub it in.”

I stood and put my arm around the guy.  “My name is Brian, and I think you meant to say.  ‘Thanks for not running up the score Bri.  Your team won fair and square and both of the teams played their hearts out.’”

The guy looked at me and started to laugh, “Brian, you have to be a fruitcake.  I don’t know anyone else who would talk like that.”

I looked at the opposing quarterback, “Do you suppose you could tell me your name so I know who is calling me a fruitcake and I can send out the nut patrol to take care of you?”

The guy started to laugh, “Okay, Fruitcake, my name is Omar.  Don’t laugh.  My Mother was watching Dr. Zhivago when I was born.  My friends call me Omi.”

I started to laugh, “Come on Omi, let’s split from this place before we get run over.”

I was approached by a news reporter as I was entering the locker room, “Mr. Benson, could you explain why you stopped short of the goal line on that last interception.” 

I nodded, “We already had the game won and we had a shut out, so why rub it in and give the Discovers ammunition to hate us even more than they already do.  Thanks for asking the question.  Now if you will excuse me, I am going to be flying to England later tonight and need to take a quick shower.”

When I entered the locker room the team was celebrating.  I climbed on a bench, “Guys you were all wonderful tonight.  I award the game ball to the offensive line and the defense.  Coach, what do you hear about Todd’s condition?”

Coach Henderson climbed on the bench.  “It appears that he had a slight concussion and is being held for observation at the hospital overnight.  The doctors seem to think he will be fine in a couple of days.  Guys, you played one hell of game tonight and I am extremely proud of all of you and yes, even you Brian.”

I yelled out, “Guys, what the coach meant to say was, ’Guys you played an absolutely brilliant game tonight.’  Let’s see how many more goose eggs we can collect this season.  Charge.”

This is Beau. 

When John dropped Brian and Chris off, they were both still riding a high, but Brian got the solution that was to be administered to the unknowing, before our flight.  He handed each of us a piece of candy and a glass of clear liquid and advised everyone that this was a remedy for air sickness.  He took his candy and drained his glass.  So the rest of us did the same. 

We had just finished our drinks when the carriage landed and Brian helped Jaime load the luggage.  Jaime advised Brian that Shamus was picking up Ben, Grant and J.R. and that we would be arriving at the same time.  We guided the four people who had been put into a comatose state to the carriage.  It seemed as if we were touching down in some park, almost immediately after we took off.  Our carriage had white horses and as we started to exit the carriage, another carriage with black horses arrived with Ben, Grant and J.R.

Jaime and Shamus, as I was to find out, advised us that the luggage would be along later.  We were met by Hank, Rod and an older gentleman.  The older gentleman snapped his fingers and the five people who had been placed into an induced sleep woke up.  “It’s about time you got here.  I almost fell asleep waiting for you to arrive.”

The five young people looked at Brian, “Hey Grandpa Nappy, let me introduce the people you don’t know.”  Brian started with me and Becca and Monsieur Lafontaine shook our hands and winked.

Brian introduced J.R. and Nappy started in on him, “So you’re the young wimp that drew that obscene picture of Brian on the rock, are you?”

Brian introduced Chris next, “This is Christopher Jameson, he is the person responsible for the wonderful photographs that are going to be in the show.”

Nappy was having a ball, “Heck, I could take better pictures with my Kodak brownie camera that I paid $I.98 for.”

Chris realized he was being given a hard time, “Then I must have gotten a good deal for when I paid a $1.00 for my daguerreotype machine.  You’re probably too young to know about them”

“Brian, I need to talk to you about your friends.  I hope the rest aren’t as mean as this one.” glared Monsieur Lafontaine.

Brian introduced Angela.  Nappy was on a roll,  “You’re cute honey; it’s too bad your boy friend couldn’t be cuter.”

Brian introduced Chase and Monsieur Lafontaine commented, “You're rather cute.  I hope that you’re potty trained.  If anyone goes to the bathroom in their bed, they have to scrub the sheets in the bathtub.”

Brian finally introduced Timmy.  Monsieur Lafontaine started to give Timmy a hard time but Timmy interrupted him, “Grandpa Nappy, you’re just trying to be funny.  Now, why don’t you be like Grandpa Benson and not make fun of people.”

That caused everyone to laugh.  Brian had just introduced everyone from the Cox/Peters residence when Vicky and her parents arrived and I wish you could have seen the look on Timmy and Chase’s faces when Brian introduced Lady Victoria Mason as his special friend.

Timmy looked skeptical, “Does that mean she’s going to be my mommy?”

Brian shook his head no, “Timmy, we’re too young to get married.  We don’t even know what’s going to happen to you yet, for sure.  So let’s just enjoy our time here with Grandpa Grumpy.”

Hank announced, “Mrs. Proust has prepared a nice brunch so that everyone can have a good meal before they begin their day.  After the brunch, we’ll decide what everyone wants to do.”

I thought to myself.  This is going to be a couple of interesting days.

I can see why Brian was smitten by Vicky.  She’s stunning. I don’t think Timmy is going to take anything from anyone.

To be continued... 

 Feedback always welcome:     

Editor’s Comment:  Another interesting chapter.  What will happen in Merry Old England?  Guess we’ll have to wait, because Ed does like to keep us in suspense!

Darryl's short comments:  Well that was a very interesting chapter.

I am very proud of Brian for not rubbing it in and scoring extra points. I have a feeling that he might have made a tentative friend.  I sure hope Todd is going to be alright. 

I also think it would be nice if Brian told Timmy about the magic and how he found him.  I think Timmy would keep the secret.  I also think that Timmy might just have a bit of magic in him as well, since he was able to get his message out loud and clear.  I guess we will just have to wait and see, won't we?

 We seem to have finally arrived in England.  I am so proud of Timmy for standing up and saying to stop the teasing.  I know that it is fun to tease sometimes, but it can get a bit tiresome if it goes on for too long.  It is nice that Beau and Becca could go as well. I suspect we will find out all the details of the trip to England when we get the next chapter.

I suspect from certain indications that it might be a while before we have a new chapter in this story, but at least we left everyone in pretty good shape and not hanging from that proverbial cliff.

Don't forget to let E Walk know how much you like his stories. I know it means a great deal to him to have the readers contact him.  That is just about a universal thing too, so if you really like a story,  please let the author know how you feel.

Thanks,

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/02/09