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

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

Chapter 39

The Numismatist

I watched as the three older boys boarded the school bus. I was thinking how good looking they were.  I loaded Mikey in the car and took him to the his preschool which he went to every Monday, Wednesday and Friday morning.  He was practically out of the car before I stopped.  So much for not liking the baby school he went to.

When I got to the campus, there were two police cars sitting in front of the administration building.  I wondered to myself, ‘Was there a break in or something?’  I was walking toward the building when Doris pulled up.  “Doug, what’s happening?”
 

“Doris, I haven’t a clue.”

I waited for Doris, and we walked into the building together.  As we entered, two policemen were standing there with the gentleman I had punched in the nose.  One of the officers approached me, “Dr. Christiansen, Mr. Hogan here is claiming that you assaulted him and robbed him of his money.”

I was seeing red, “Officer Ertz, I did punch the prick in the nose after he dared to touch two of my sons and tried to take to money they had found on the campus.  He claimed that it had to be his property, since he owned the houses that were destroyed by the tornado.”

Doris spoke up, “Officer Ertz and Officer Tanner, I can attest to the fact that what Dr. Christiansen just said is the truth.  I was standing right next to him yesterday when this idiot tried to take the money from Dr. Christiansen’s five year old sons, by force.”

Neither Doris nor I had realized that there was a reporter standing there.  He asked, “Mr. Hogan, is it true that the bank has foreclosed on the loan that you used to practically steal the homes that were destroyed by the tornado so you could build a high rise apartment which the city council has disapproved?  Is that why you were trying to steal money from two young boys?  Why would you even think to claim that the money that the young boys found was yours?”

Mr. Hogan whirled around and shouted, “Those are all lies.”

The young reporter started to laugh, “Mr. Hogan, I know that you are so far behind in paying your bills that you are about to lose your house.  My grandmother, who is seventy, was one of the people you duped into selling you her house at a ridiculously low price.  I have been investigating you ever since you did that.”

“I suggest that you get out of town as quickly as possible, because this incident here at the college is going to be the nail that closed your coffin in this town when this story airs.”

The reporter turned to Doris, “President Harder, I understand that the college recently received a large grant from Mr. Robert Nixon, Sr. to expand the campus facilities.  Perhaps, you should contact the bank and see if they would be willing to sell the property that Mr. Hogan practically stole.  It would be an ideal location.  I need to go, so I can get the story ready to air on the noon news.”

Officer Ertz had a grin on his face, “Dr. Christiansen, would you like us to book Mr. Hogan for assault and attempted robbery?”

“No, but I would appreciate it if you would remove him from the campus.  He’s creating a disturbance and the students are going to be distracted from the purpose that they are here for, an education.”

When everyone had departed, I leaned against the wall, “Doris, I guess I need to resign.  I can’t take anymore of this crap.”

“Forget it.  Don’t you have a class to teach?”

I looked at my watch and I was due to teach the first of two classes that I taught.  I grabbed my briefcase and departed for class.  It was almost twelve o’clock when I walked into the office.  Clark looked up at me, “Next time would you please call me when you’re going to beat someone to a pulp?”

When I arrived at the house, Benji was sitting on the steps to the front porch and I thought to myself, ‘Something bad happened.’

I climbed out of the car and went to talk to him, “What’s the matter, son?  Why aren’t you playing with your brothers?”

“Dad, I wanted to talk to you.  Today when we were getting ready for class to begin, Billy was talking to me and asked, “Benji, my parents said that you were found after a tornado in a field and that you were adopted by your parents.  Is that true?”

“I looked at him and said, ‘Yep, Uncle Cole found me in a field.  My Daddy and Mother got married and adopted me.  They got me three more brothers before our Mother died.’”

“Devin heard what we said and explained, ‘Me and my sister are adopted too.  Our parents adopted us after our other parents died in a car accident.’  Chrissie who sits beside me told us, ‘My Daddy adopted me after he married my Mommy.  My other Daddy was killed in Iraq.’”

“Billy was confused and said, ‘I don’t understand what being adopted means.’   I tried to explain that it meant that a judge said it was okay for us to have new parents who would love us.  Dad, do you know how hard it was to not say that I had two dads instead of one like most people?”

I sat down beside Benji, “Son, it is only a matter of time before one of the four of you boys says something to let people know that you have two dads.  If it happens, we’ll still love you.  They can’t take you away from us, so stop worrying about it.”

Benji took a deep breath, “Dad, I’m so glad that you and Mother told me that I was adopted.  It would have been very hard today if you hadn’t.”

Benji hugged and kissed me, “Gotta go find the other boys.”

I went into the house and Patty was setting the table, “Good evening, Dr. C.. It sounds as if you had an interesting day.  Did you see the noon news?”

“Patty, it has been a wild day.  I’ve hardly had time to go the bathroom.  Is there anything that I can do to help you?”

“Nope, we’ll be eating in fifteen minutes. Karen called and said she was on her way.  We have class tonight, so you and the boys will need to take care of the dishes.”

I changed clothes and when I returned downstairs, the four boys were washing their hands.  When they finished, the youngest three hugged me, and as we were eating, they were telling us about their day when the phone rang.

Benji went to answer, “This is the Christiansen residence, how may I help you?”

“Hi, Uncle Howie, I’ll tell Daddy to turn on the television.”

After Benji hung up he turned, “Dad, Uncle Howie says you’re should turn the television on to channel four.”

Since we were eating in the kitchen, I stood and turned the television on.  The news anchor person was commenting, “Now for the latest news from Harwood.  It seems that the person who swindled people out of their homes and had tried to have one of the officials of the junior college arrested was found dead today, in his house.”

I reached up and turned the television off.  Benji challenged me, “Dad, why did you turn the television off?”

I sat down, “I turned it off because I don’t think that you four guys need to hear news like that.”

Benji wasn’t done, “Daddy, we’re not babies.  The man the announcer was talking about was the man who tried to take the money we found, wasn’t he?”

I was telling the boys and Patty what happened after I arrived at the college in the morning.  Karen had been there to witness what had transpired and embellished the story.

The boys and I were taking care of the dirty dishes when the phone rang again.  This time Mikey answered.

“Hi Dad, did you have a good day? … Yep, I went to school, but I really want to go to the big kid school. …Okay, here’s Daddy.”

Mikey handed me the phone, “What’s up Cole?”

Cole started to laugh, “I’m glad to hear that I’m the only other Dad the boys have.  Nothing was up until I started to talk to you.  I called to chew your butt out.  I hardly leave and you go around punching people in the nose.  I would have never guessed that you were a pugilist.  I had you pictured as a mild mannered professor like Clark Kent who was afraid of his own shadow.  What happened anyway?”

I told Cole what had transpired when we went to meet Doris at the college.  He commented, “You should have kicked a certain part of the man’s body so hard that you implanted one of your shoes.  What are you going to do with the coins?”

“I told the boys that we would take the coins to the bank and donate the money to the college since we found the money there.”

Cole was strangely quiet, “Doug, before you do that. I think you should have a numismatist evaluate the coins.  If they are of any value, I think it would be a nice gesture for the boys to donate the proceeds to the people who were duped into selling their homes.  The houses are worthless now that they were leveled by the tornado.”

I told Cole about my conversation with Benji about being adopted and he started to laugh,  “I guess you and Autumn made a wise decision when you decided to tell him.  I agree with you.  It’s only a matter of time before one of the boys let’s our relationship slip out.  But we’ll weather that storm when it comes.  Gotta go study.  Give the boys a hug for me.”

I fixed desert for the boys.  When they finished eating, I took them to Cole’s and my bedroom so the four of them could take a shower at the same time.  I stripped so I could shampoo and condition their hair.

I made sure that Mikey was clean, then stepped out of the shower and started to dry him.  I was on my knees drying him when he put his hands on my shoulders so I could dry his feet and legs.  He looked at me, “Daddy, am I always going to be the littlest?”

I had no idea what he was talking about, “Michael, what are you talking about?”

Mikey pointed to my penis, “Daddy, everyone’s pee pee is bigger than mine.”

“Mikey, your penis is going to get bigger, as you get older.  Matt, Mark and Benji are older than you.  That’s why their penises are bigger than yours.”

Mikey wasn’t satisfied, “Daddy, does that mean your penis is still getting bigger?”

I wanted to laugh but refrained from doing so.  “Nope.  Your penis stops growing when the rest of your body stops growing.  Now go brush your teeth and get ready for bed.”

Matt was the next boy to step out.  “Daddy, when are we going to take the coins, we found, to the bank?”

I hugged Matt, “Son, get ready for bed and get Mikey and I’ll talk to all four you in my bedroom after I finish my shower.”

As I was drying Mark, he looked me, “Since you love Dad Cole, does that mean we will never have another mother?”

That rattled my cage.  “Mark, do you want another mother?”

“Not really, Daddy.  It’s just that all the people in our class at school have a mother and a dad.  Matt and me are the only ones who have two dads.”

Mark had something on his mind but I had no idea what it was.  “Mark, does it bother you that you have two Dads and no mother?”

Mark hugged me, “No, Daddy, but it would be so much nicer if Dad Cole could be here with us all the time.  We like Patty and Karen, but they aren’t the same as having you and Dad Cole around.”

“Mark, Dad Cole will be finished with college next week.  Then he will be able to spend more time here.”

Mark wasn’t finished, “But Daddy, he’s probably going to still be playing football after he finishes school.  What if he gets hurt?”

I guess Mark was going to be the serious thinker among the boys, “Mark, we just need to say a prayer each night for Dad Cole and ask that he not be injured.”

Benji had gotten out of the shower after turning it off and drying himself.  “Daddy, would you make sure my backside is dry?  Daddy, I feel itchy.”

I looked at Benji and there seemed to be red bumps on his back.  “Benji, I need to get my glasses so I can check you.”

Sure enough, Benji had red bumps on his back and when I turned him around he had them on his stomach, too.  “Benji, I don’t think you will be going to school tomorrow.”

“Why not?”

“Because, I think you have the measles.  Have there been many people absent from your class lately?”

Benji had to think, “I think there were five people gone from my class today.  When we went to the lunchroom today, there didn’t seem to be very many people there.”

“Go get your briefs on and I'll put some lotion on you to stop the itching.”

Benji did as I requested and I applied calamine lotion to his upper body.  When we walked into the bedroom, the three younger boys were lying on my bed in their briefs.  Matt looked at us, “Why does Benji look as if he has white stuff all over his body.”

Benji answered, “Dad put this pink stuff on me to stop the itching.”

Mark looked at us, “Dad, I think I need some of that stuff too.  I’m starting to itch.”

I checked Mark and he indeed did have red spots on his back and stomach.  I checked Matt and he was beginning to develop red welts, as well, so I applied the calamine lotion to both of them, also.  I checked Mikey, but there were no signs that he had any red marks.  I thought to myself, ‘It’s probably a matter of time.’

Matt reminded me, “Daddy, you promised that we were going to talk what we were going to do with the coins that we found.”

I hit my head, “Sorry, Matt.  My mind got sidetracked by your red bumps.  Dad Cole thinks we should have the coins evaluated by a numismatist to see if they are of any value.  If they are of value, he thinks you should give the money to the people who were swindled out of their homes by that man who tried to take them from you, yesterday.”

Mark looked at me, “What is a nu… whatever?”

“A numismatist is a person who collects old coins.  Some of them have stores where they sell and trade old coins.”

Benji nodded, “Dad, I like the idea of giving the money that we found to the people who that man cheated, but how do we know that the nu… whatever won’t try to cheat us?”

“Guys, I’ll call Mr. Morgan at our bank and see what he has to say. Now I suggest that you young men get to bed.”

Mikey looked at me, “Daddy, can we please sleep with you tonight?”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: I wonder if Doug has ever had Measles.  If he hasn't or if he hasn't had the shots, he might have them soon.  I don't think any of the kids should go to school, until they have stopped being contagious. Measles are nothing to scoff at. Let's hope that anyone who has been infected will get well very soon.

I wonder if that nasty man killed himself.  He was not very nice. I hope those coins turn out to be very valuable. It would be very nice if the former owners of the houses could get something out of all of that. 

Darryl The Radio Rancher

Posted: 09/11/09