Love Refound
by: E Walk
(© 2008 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 31

The Funeral and More

When I awoke the next morning, I decided that I probably needed to go take care of the horses.  My Mother was sitting feeding Benji and talking to him.  When I arrived at the stable, Dad was chastising Cole, “Son, you should be home taking care of your Grandmother.”

Cole had tears in his eyes, “Mr. Christiansen, this is more my home anymore than at The Shack.  Grandmother was asleep and I needed to do something until it was time to make the arrangements for the funeral, and besides, I needed to come check on Benji.  He’ll probably be so spoiled by the time you and your wife go home that we‘ll have to reprogram him.”

They didn’t realize that I was there.  Dad hugged Cole, “Son, you love Benji and his daddy don’t you?”

Cole took a deep breath, “Yes, Mr. Christiansen, I love them both very much.  I just wish that Mr. Doug were available.  I don’t consider myself gay, but for some reason, I’ve fallen in love with your son.  I promise you though that I will never do anything to come between Mr. Doug and Miss Autumn.  They need to provide Benji with a loving home which I never had when I was young.”

I decided to go back outside and announce my arrival, “Cole, why are you here?”

 

Cole answered, “Because I’m not there.”

“Why are you not there taking care of your Grandmother?”

Cole wasn’t going to let me win this one, “I was more worried about how you all were treating Benji.  Grandma will be fine, with your Dad’s help.”

Jeff arrived, “Cole, are you going to be eating breakfast with us?”

 

“Nope, you guys will have to work on the fence without me for the next several days.  Jeff, would you be one of the pallbearers for my Granddad?”

“Cole, I didn’t know your Granddad.  Why would you ask me to be a pallbearer?”

My Granddad is dead and he won’t know who the pall bearers are.  You need to do it because you’re my friend.”

Jeff asked the obvious question, “Am I going to be the only white person involved?”

Cole was rather rattled by that question, “Jeff, would if bother you if you were?”

“No, I just wanted to know.”

Cole laughed, “You can rest easy, because I’m going to ask Trent and Trevor if they will also be pallbearers.”

Jeff was toying with Cole, “If Trent and Trevor are going to be involved then I can’t do it.  I would be honored to be a pallbearer, you ninny.”

Cole started to complain, “Mr. Christiansen, you heard how Jeff talked to me.  I’m so demoralized that I’m going to leave.  I’ll see you at nine o’clock, and don’t spoil Benji.”

As we were walking to the house, Jeff asked, “What wound Cole up?

He acts as if he is a spring loaded pistol.”

Dad answered, “Jeff, be patient with Cole.  He is going to need to make some big decisions in the next couple of days that a sixteen year old young man shouldn’t have to make.”

By the end of the day, I knew that I didn’t want to be President of a College anytime soon.  It was nearly six o’clock when I arrived back at Summerhill.  I was to find out that my day was just about to begin.

When I walked in, my Mother jumped my case, “It’s about time you got home.  Your Dad and I will be staying another week so that we can get everything under control before Autumn needs to go back to work.  Autumn and I are exhausted from running around all day, trying to take care of things.”

Dad was laughing, “Maria, stop complaining.  You’re loving every minute of it.  The ladies didn’t have it half as bad as I did.  Your young protégé, Cole, is a very sensible young man.  He was able to keep his Grandmother in check while we were making the funeral arrangements.  He skillfully let her win a few points of contention that didn’t cost much money.  It is going to be a very simple funeral.  There is going to be a viewing tomorrow night from seven until eight, and Cole wants very much for us to attend.”

“The funeral is scheduled for 10:00 on Friday and he really wants you two to be there with Benji.  Jeff, Trent and Trevor are going to be pallbearers along with Jim, Allan and someone called Ned.  He blew my mind when he requested that any memorials be made out to the shelter that is located near The Shack.”

“The young man has his Grandmother wrapped around his finger.  He even convinced her to agree to sell The Shack to Jim and Allan as well as the house.  We need to get the trailer in place as soon as possible.  So they can move here.”

Jeff totally changed the subject, “Uncle Doug, some guy stopped by today and wants you to call him.  He wanted to know what your stud fee would be to have The King breed three of his mares?  Here’s his card.  He asked that you call him at your earliest convenience.”

Jeff wasn’t done,  “While we were working on the fence this afternoon at Mr. Willingham’s property, another man stopped by and asked if we would consider building a similar fence for his farm.  He said he would make it worth our while.  Trent took the information and told him that we would be getting back to him later because we already had enough work to keep us busy for a while.”

Mother started to complain, “We’ve talked about everything under the sun but what I wanted to talk about.  Autumn and I have a technician coming tomorrow to see how difficult it would be to put a trailer home in the area where the wedding was.  We found a very nice trailer home that was for sale today.  We also have an architect coming on Saturday to look at the feasibility of adding on to the house and check the utilities that you might need to redo.”

We had finished eating and Jeff and I were taking care of the dishes. Jeff started on me, “Uncle Doug, I don’t really want to go home.  I guess there is no way that I can stay here and go to school, is there?”

“Jeff, I don’t think your parents would appreciate it if you were to stay here.  I know they love you very much.  You have matured a lot already this summer, but I think it would be best for you and Trevor to be physically away from each other for a while.  You can always talk to each other on the phone or on Skype if you both have it.  You may decide that you and Trevor are really not as compatible as you think.  If you are, then the separation will prove it.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival Trevor and Trent.  Trevor announced, “Cole’s on his way.  He’s bringing his Grandmother so she can meet Benji.  He thinks his Grandmother needs something to take her mind away from what has been happening. We’re going to go skinny dipping .  We worked hard today and need to relax.  Are you going with us, Uncle Doug?”

I shook my head no.  “I need to stay here and take care of some business.”

When Cole arrived, he made sure that his Grandmother was introduced to my Mother.  Mrs. Weaver already knew everyone else.  Cole had his Grandmother sit on the rocker and handed her Benji. “Grandma, this is Benji.  When Miss Autumn has to go back to work, you might need to help us take care of him.  I can always bring you with me in the morning when I come to take care of the horses.”

Trevor interrupted, “Come on, Cole.  The lake is calling us.  You need to relax.  Benji will make sure your Grandma is okay.  We’ll back in about an hour.”

Dad and I went to check out to the area where the wedding had taken place to see if there was a suitable place to put a trailer.  Dad had a suggestion, “I think we need to go talk to Rob Nixon so I can at least talk intelligently when the trailer technician is here tomorrow.”

I called Uncle Howie’s place to see if they were home.  They were, so Dad and I went to talk to them.  Dad was able to get the information he needed about the utilities.  Mr. Nixon even had some good suggestions.  As we pulled into Summerhill, we saw the four guys galloping toward the stable.  All four of them were laughing, so that was a good sign.

When we walked into the house, Mrs. Weaver was still holding Benji and was feeding him.  She looked up at me, “Mr. Doug, you and Miss Autumn sure do have a handsome young son.”

It was approximately twenty minutes later when the guys entered the house.  Cole went to his Grandmother and took Benji and handed him to my Dad,  “Mr. Christiansen, thanks for all your help today.  Grandma, we need to go.  Tomorrow is going to be another busy day.   We’ll see everyone else tomorrow evening at the viewing, if not before.”

It was a good thing my parents were visiting, because I would never have had time to take care of the things that needed to be done until the Harders got back from their trip.

When I arrived home on Thursday evening, dinner was ready.  As we were finishing, Mother announced, “I’ll take care of the cleanup while the rest of you get ready to go to the viewing.  I’ll stay here and take care of Benji.  He doesn’t need to go to the viewing.  Cole and Mrs. Weaver are going to be so busy visiting with people that they won’t miss him.”

Boy was she wrong.  As soon as Autumn, Dad and I walked I into the funeral home, Cole approached us, “Where’s Benji and Jeff?”

Autumn answered, Benji’s Grandmother thought it would be best for him not to come tonight since you and your Grandmother are going to be busy greeting people.  Jeff will be coming with Trev and Trent.”

“Oh, okay.”

After we paid our respects to Mrs. Weaver, Dad went to talk to the funeral director, and Autumn was talking to some people she knew.  I went to get one of the memorial envelopes.  I stuck two fifty dollar bills in it and filled out the front.  ‘In Memory of Granddad Weaver and signed it from Benjamin W. Christiansen.’

Trent, Trevor and Jeff arrived and paid their respects.  They started to talk to some of Trent and Trev’s friends.  I was totally surprised by the arrival of Clark and Andre, as was Cole.

Andre explained their presence, “We needed to come pay our respects since Coach Harder is out of town.  We wanted to make sure that you’re still going to be playing football this fall.”

Clark punched Andre on the arm, “Cole, don’t believe him.  My family has known your grandparents for years.  Since I have to cover for the boss while he attends the funeral tomorrow, I decided to come pay my respects tonight.  My parents are planning to attend the funeral tomorrow.  We’ll talk to you later, I want to go pay my respects to your Grandmother.”

I watched as Clark hugged Mrs. Weaver.  She started to laugh, “Clarkey, I heard you were hired at the College, so Mr. Christiansen could keep you out of trouble.  Is this is the young man whose going to be the assistant football coach?”

Clark answered, “Yep, this is Coach Andre.”

Clark and Andre were talking with the four young guys when Jim approached them, “Guys, we have a catering job that we need someone to take care of on Saturday night.  Can you work it?  Clark and Andre, we are going to need you two to be bartenders.  This will give you guys a chance to pick up some extra cash.”

The six guys agreed to do the job.   This was going to establish a pattern that kept the guys busy in their free time for the next two years.

As we were driving home, Dad dropped another bomb, “After we met with the technician about the trailer and he assured us that it could be put in place and connected to the utilities very easily, your Mother and I took it upon ourselves to arrange for the double wide trailer to be delivered on Monday.  They would reattach the two sections first.  The gentleman thinks it can be ready to move into by next Friday.”

Autumn added, “The really neat thing about the trailer is it comes totally furnished.  It was a really good deal.  It seems that the wife of the couple who bought it three years ago had a stroke and the family had them moved to an assisted living care retirement home.  Mom and Dad did check with me first before they made the arrangements.”

Dad added, “Doug, we would have checked with you, but there were two other parties who have been thinking of buying the trailer and we decided that we needed to move before we lost the trailer.”

“Dad, how are we going to pay for it?”

“Howie, arranged for you and Autumn to meet with your banker in Atlanta on Saturday morning to take care of the financing.  You are to meet the owners at the retirement home on Sunday at two o’clock.  We figured that you would be so busy until President Harder returns that you needed take care of it on the weekend.”

Dad was starting to talk like Jeff. He totally switched gears on us.  “Doug, have you called the gentleman about what the stud fee would be for The King to service his three mares.  You could make a bundle if you have pedigree papers on The King.”

Autumn answered, “We have papers for all of the horses.  The King comes from a very good line of jumping champions.  We haven’t had time to train him yet.  Spring and I had planned to start working with him this summer, but our plans were interrupted by the arrival of Benji.”

Dad laughed, “Doug, why don’t you call the man and ask him to meet with you tomorrow night to discuss the deal.  It might be a good idea if the servicing could take place while I'm here to supervise.  I’m not sure that Cole or Jeff are ready for that.  Trevor and Trent might be, but they aren’t always going to be here.

I called the gentleman and he agreed to stop by the next night, which was Friday, at seven o’clock.

When Autumn and I were in bed, she laughed, “Our lives our out of control.  We’re being controlled by everyone as if we were marionettes.  I hope it’s not always going to be like this.”

I laughed, “This is only the tip of the iceberg, if you are indeed pregnant.  I have the feeling that your parents will be just as bad as mine if that should be the case.”

When I went to the stable the next morning, Cole was already there working.  “Cole, why are you here?  Shouldn’t you be with your Grandmother?”

“She kicked me out.  She said I was making her nervous.  She is really excited about being able to take care of Benji.  Thanks for coming last night.  Do you think it’s okay for me to work as a caterer tomorrow with the guys?”

“Of course, it’s okay.  You are the only one of you guys that has much experience at doing that, and it is a great way to get a little spending money.”

I met the others at the church at a quarter till ten.  Cole met me. “Mr. C., I want you, Miss Autumn and Benji to enter the sanctuary just before my Grandmother and me and sit in the pew just behind us.  Your parents will already be in the pew.”

I looked at Autumn, “Aren’t people going to think it odd that we’re being treated as if we’re special?”

Autumn looked at me with a gleam in her eye, “Doug, we are special to Cole, because of Benji.”

The ushers came and got us.   Autumn and I walked in with me carrying Benji.  We were followed by Cole and his Grandmother.  Everyone was standing as the casket was rolled by.  Cole carefully positioned the six pallbearers so that a white person was beside an African American.  Not only that, he had Ned who was his best friend, positioned on the side between Jeff and Trevor and Trent was on the other side between Jim and Allan.

I was surprised and pleased at the service.  The minister started, “We are here today to celebrate the life of our beloved friend, Elijah Weaver.  He and his lovely wife, Ruth, have provided this congregation and this community with many gifts.  He has a wonderful grandson who will proudly carry Elijah’s name forward.  Cole, I believe you would like to say something before you read the first scripture lesson for today.”

Cole went forward and read a very touching poem that he had written, ‘Memories of Granddad.’  When he finished he added, “I would like to remind everyone of something I heard my Granddad say many times, ‘Cole, you can’t always be perfect.  Just do the best you can do and God will take care of you.’  Now I would like to read the first scripture reading for the service.  He read the 23^rd Psalm.  He not only read it but read it with a great deal of emotion.

When he finished. he nodded to the choir and the organist.  The gospel choir sang ‘Just a Closer Walk With Thee’.

The minister gave a short talk after reading another scripture lesson.  As he was closing, he said, “It is very difficult to follow someone who spoke as eloquently as Cole did.”

A young woman stepped out of the choir and did a fantastic rendition of ‘The Lord’s Prayer.”

As she finished, the pallbearers moved to take their places beside the casket and the choir began to sing ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot’ as the casket was rolled out of the sanctuary.  Cole and his Grandmother stood to leave and Cole took Benji from me and whispered, “I would like for the two of you to follow us out.”

When we were out of the sanctuary, I looked at Cole, “You did a superb job.  I need to go back to the college.  I have some things I need to take care of before the end of business today, since the weekend is scheduled to be so busy.” I hugged the Weavers and kissed Autumn as I was leaving.

As I was driving back to the college, I wasn’t feeling real positive about anything.  ‘Is Cole going to be able to handle living in our backyard?  What’s the reaction going to be if Autumn is indeed pregnant?  Why is everyone in such a hurry to do everything at the same time?’

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: These and many other questions will most likely not be answered in the next chapter, but maybe one or two of them will at least be mentioned again.

It seems that Cole loves Benji and he also loves Doug.  Although things are complicated and convoluted, somehow I think they will be able to be worked out satisfactorily.  I do tend to be an optimist. 

As one nudist said to another, “Just bare with me.”

I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens next.  Please hurry.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 07/17/09