We Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus
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 23

 The Appraisals

After Cynthia had her laugh and left, I started to go through my messages. There were a couple that caught my attention.  I called Larry Hansen’s office.  He came on, “Hi, Mr. Michaels.  The preliminary appraisal for your personal house is $225,000.00.  I will have both formal appraisals to you by Monday.”

I thanked Larry for responding so promptly.  I had just hung up when Chris came in, “Mr. Michaels, Mrs. Hamilton is on the phone.”

I answered, “This is Steve Michaels.  How may I help you Mrs. Hamilton?  I have instructed Mr. Summers that he should get in touch with you tomorrow.”

“Steve, this isn’t about business.  It’s personal.  My husband and I want to buy your house.  We’ll even pay $235,000.00.  I know what the preliminary appraisal was, so, you will be making enough to pay Mr. Hansen.  Now, how soon can you and your sons have the things out of the house?”  She laughed, “Tomorrow would good.  Seriously, we would like to take possession as soon as possible.”

I sat there shaking my head, “Mrs. Hamilton, the world is moving too fast.  I need to talk to my two sons about this.  This is not something we have discussed.  I’ll talk to them tonight and call you tomorrow.”

I had just hung up when Cynthia announced, “Dusty’s on the phone.”

“Hi, Dusty, what’s up?”

“Steve, they’ve put Danny into the hospital and they’re going to start treatments immediately.  I’m going to stay here and send Mimi home.  I’ll talk to you later.”

My cell phone rang, “Jacob, what’s up?”

“Dad, the shot has really zonked me today.  I’m going to the house on the hill.  Could you please bring me something to eat when you finish for the day?  Oh by the way, Doctor Harrison wanted to know if you had gotten the preliminary appraisal on the other house on the hill.  You might want to call him.  Talk to you later.”

I called the number that Doctor Harrison had given me and was told to leave a message so I did.  I had no more than hung up than Chris stuck his head in the door, “Doctor Harrison is on the phone.”

I picked up the phone, “Doctor Harrison, my son told me that I should call you.”

“Mr. Michaels, there are two reasons for my wanting to talk to you.  The first one is that we will performing the transfusion of Jacob’s blood to Danny on Monday.  We need to have you sign the permission papers for that to occur.  It seems that Jacob’s system is responding to the shots.  There will be no harm to Jacob's system, and we can only hope that Danny’s body doesn’t reject the platelets from Jacob’s blood.”

“The other reason I wanted to speak to you was to find out if the Mr. Hansen had provided you with an estimate of the value of the property on the hill.  My wife really loves the house and would like to move in as soon as possible if we can afford it.”

The world keeps going faster and faster.  I took a deep breath, “Mr. Hansen has provided me with a preliminary appraisal and he is estimating that the property should sell for $650,000.00.  I talked to him earlier this afternoon and he promised to have the formal appraisals to me on Monday.”

I could almost hear Doctor Harrison let out a sigh, “Mr. Michaels, we’ll take it at that price or whatever the formal appraisal price is if it is even close to that price.  I was afraid that it was going to be much more.  How soon can we take possession?”

I just held the phone and looked at it.  “Doctor Harrison, I will need to discuss that with my Board of Directors, since the building and its contents technically belong to the company.  I’ll call you later.”

Cynthia was standing at the door, “What Board of Directors?  You’re the sole owner of this rinky dink operation.  The Cowboy is on the line wanting to speak to you.”

I picked up the phone, “Cowboy, I don’t know how much more I can take today.  Did Dusty call you and tell you what’s happening with Danny?”

Hank answered, “Yep.  The reason I called is that Tim and Tad have a wrestling meet tonight and they want us to come.  I thought we could go to the meet after we have a nice leisurely dinner.”

I swear the world’s gone crazy.  “Hank, Jacob is at the house on the hill.  He is not feeling very good after his shot today.  He asked that we bring him something to eat.  I need to take Wayne and Chris to the ranch, since Chris doesn’t drive and Justin took Wayne and Justin’s truck home.”

Cowboy wasn’t buying into my stalling tactics, “Give Wayne the keys to your Towncar and he can drive it home.  I’ll swing by and pick you up at 4:30 and don’t be late.  I’ll call Rosa and tell her we won’t be there for dinner.  You might want to call Kevin and let him know what’s happening.”

After we had hung up, I pulled out my cell phone and called Kevin and he didn’t answer, so I texted him and told him what was happening.  I went to talk to Wayne who was meeting with his staff.  He surprised me, “From now on, only Mr. Michaels,  Mr. Summers and I are authorized to sign for any expenditures.  I expect you to be here for a full eight hours each day unless I personally have signed permission for you to be absent.  I promise you, I will be working my butt off to help this agency become the number one advertising agency in the region.”

He looked up at me, “Mr. Michaels, would you like to add anything?”

I looked at the assembled group, “I think Mr. Young has made it very clear that we expect that our employees give us a fair days worth of work for the wages that you are being paid.  We know that you were told under the old regime to ignore any irregularities that you might have detected.  From now on, my office door is open and if you should notice that things are not as they should be, you can always come see me, and I certainly hope you will do just that.”

Wayne looked at the people, “I will be in my office until 5:00 if any of you would wish to talk to me.  I think that President Michaels needs to talk to me.”

The meeting broke up and Wayne took me to his office, “Steve, what’s on your mind?”

I looked at Wayne, “I think you put the fear of death into those people just now.”

Wayne laughed, “Steve, that’s not what you came to talk about.”

I shook my head, “No, I came to tell you that you were going to take Chris and the Towncar home.  Cowboy is going to be picking me up and we’re going to go Tim and Tad’s wrestling meet.”

Wayne started to argue, “Steve, I’m not going to drive the Towncar.”

I looked at him, “Well, that could be a problem I suppose, because Chris can’t drive it since he doesn’t have a driver’s license, so I guess the two of you will be spending the night here and I don't really think you want to do that.  You will drive it home.”

Wayne got serious, “Steve, please sit down.”

I sat down and Wayne continued,  “I was able to uncover two off shore accounts that Mrs. Clark had set up but hasn’t been able to get to since she didn’t have access to the records.  The accounts have been closed and the money is now back in the company coffers.  I’m still looking, and I have the feeling that there may be one or two other accounts that I haven’t found yet.”

Wayne looked at me, “I don’t know these Clark and Pagliano persons, but I suggest that you and your sons be extremely careful.”

I sat up straight, “Wayne, I was under the impression that they had left town after they were arrested the other day.”

He shook his head, “There are indications that they are still in town and have been trying to hack into the company computers to get the information they need to gain access to their hidden accounts.  Fortunately, Hank and the audit team took the necessary precautions to preclude them from gaining access to the records.  I haven’t a clue where they are, but they are desperate and it’s hard to predict what they might do.”

I flipped the keys to the Towncar to Wayne, “You take Chris home and don’t give me any guff or I’ll fire your butt, especially now that you have made me more paranoid than I already was.  Janet Clark and her boy, Joey, probably hate Hank even more than they do me.”

When I got back to the office, I looked at Chris, “Christopher, it is your job to make sure that Cynthia and Wayne get out of here on time.  Wayne will be driving you home tonight.  Cynthia, please be extremely careful.  Wayne seems to think that Janet and her boy, Joey, are still in the area, and he suggests that they are desperate and might do anything to try to gain access to the funds they had hidden away.”

Cynthia looked at me, “Steve, you’re over reacting.  They wouldn’t be after me.  I’m just a secretary.”

“Cynthia, I may be over reacting but I don’t want you to walk to and from your car by yourself.  I am going to advise the security department that they are to escort you to and from your car.”

I went into my office and called the security department. “I want some additional people hired to make sure the parking facility is secure for the employees to come and go without the possibility of them being attacked.”

I looked at the clock and it was 4:25.  I closed and locked my office door, “Mr. Rodgers is picking me up at 4:30.  We need to go check on Jacob.  He called and said he wasn’t feeling very good.  Cynthia, why don’t you leave, too.  Chris can handle the office until 5:00.”

I had checked out through security and was standing in front of the door waiting for Hank to arrive.  A security guard had accompanied me out of the building and was standing beside me.  I saw Hank approaching and I suggested that the guard should go back inside since my ride had arrived.  The young man turned to go back inside and there was a sound of two shots being fired.  The young man who had accompanied me outside slumped down and blood was oozing everywhere.  Hank saw what was happening and rammed into the side of the car that was pulling out of the lot.  Two more security guards had come out of the building and were pointing their weapons at the occupants of the car, 

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed 911 and reported an attempted murder with one person injured.  Hank and I tried to stop the bleeding of the wounded man and we had finally gotten it stopped as the police arrived.

The police relieved the two security guards. They opened the door of the car and Janet Clark and Joey Pagliano climbed out.  The officers, one of whom was a female, searched the two of them and found nothing out of the ordinary.  Cynthia stepped forward, “Officers, I witnessed what was happening.   Ms. Clark and Mr. Pagliano were parked over there.  I heard two shots which I assume were meant for Mr. Michaels.”

“I saw someone throw a gun out of the window before they started to pull out of the parking lot.”

Another police car and an ambulance arrived and Janet and Joey were handcuffed and placed against one of the police cars   The ambulance took the wounded security person to the hospital.”

Cynthia showed the officers where the car had been parked and they found the handgun which they carefully picked up.  The senior officer turned to Janet and Joey, “We are arresting you on the charge of attempted murder.”  He read them their rights under the Miranda Act.

Janet started spewing words that embarrassed everyone as she and Joey were forced into one of the police cars.  The officer in charge turned to me, “Sir, a wrecker will be coming to pick up the damaged car.”

Cynthia looked at me, “Steve, I don’t think those two like you too much.  Maybe you and Cowboy need to take a long vacation.”

My cell phone rang, “Hey Dad, it’s Kevin.  What’s up.  You never text us.”

“Kev, Jake is at the house on the hill.  He isn’t feeling very good.  We’re going to get some food and eat with him.  After we eat we’re going to go to Tim and Tad’s wrestling meet.  Want to join us?  By the way, Danny is in the hospital and I’m going to have Chris and Chase make sure that David is okay.”

Kevin surprised me, “Dad, I think I’ll go to the ranch and spend some time with David.  He needs to feel that he is important too.  Remind Jake that we have a big game tomorrow night.  The coach is p. o.’d that Jake has missed practice two days in a row.  Later.”

Hank looked at me, “Steve, where have you been all my life.  Ever since you and the twins arrived, it seems as if the world has speeded up.  Let’s get something to eat and take it home to our house on the hill so we can make sure that Jacob is okay.”

We stopped at the store and bought some ground beef and the things to make macho nachos which I knew Jacob liked.  I started cooking and Hank went to find Jacob.   Hank returned, “Our son is sound asleep on the sofa.  Maybe we should eat and he can eat when he wakes up.”

Hank was interrupted, “Yeh, you just want to stick me with doing the dishes.  What are we having?  I’m starved.  I promised Danny that I would spend the night with him, so his Dad and Mother could get some rest.  I even convinced the hospital staff to put an extra bed in Danny’s room for me.  Doctor Harrison wanted me to rest before I came back to spend the night.”

Jacob wasn’t done. “Do you suppose you two old men could bring me some clean clothes at the hospital in the morning so I can go to school or would that be asking too much?”

Hank went and hugged Jake, “Son, you are asking a bit much, but I’ll sacrifice watching your Dad wake up in the morning and having to go to the bathroom.  I’ll be there so you can have something to eat and get your smelly body clean in time to go to school.  We’re very proud of what you are doing.”

I announced dinner is being served in the kitchen.  Watching Jacob eat would not indicate that he wasn’t feeling well.  We only had the macho nachos and a tossed salad it was if the food had disappeared. 

The three of us were working on the clean up as I was explaining everything that had happened to Jacob and in some cases to Hank.  When I finished with my tales of what had happened.  Jacob was laughing so hard that I was beginning to get concerned.  He looked at us. “Dad, life was really boring until you met our new Dad.  You should write a story but it is so wild that no one would believe it.  What about the security guard?  Is he going to be okay?”

Jacob looked at us, “Dads, I’m going to the hospital now.  My cell is charged and I’ll call if there is a problem.

As we were driving to the high school, Hank snickered, “I can understand why I fell in love with you.  It’s because of your sons.  They reflect the person that you have modeled for them.  We pulled into the high school parking lot and went into the gymnasium.  We had just found some seats and were looking around when we were tapped on the shoulder.  Kevin, David, Chris and Chase were behind us.

David leaned down, “We came to see Tim and Tad wrestle.”

We watched the light weight matches and when Tad appear on the floor for the 135 lb. match David got excited and yelled, “Go Tad.”

While I knew nothing about wresting it was very evident that Tad and the opposing wrestler were rather evenly matched.  It was third period and Tad was down by two points and time was running out.  Tad scored a reversal and pinned his opponent.  The local people in the stands went crazy.

I watched as Tad helped his opponent up.  The opponent was openly crying.  I was concerned.  I looked at Kevin.  “What’s happening.”

Kevin nodded, “Tad just defeated the defending state champion for the last three years at this weight.  This is his first loss in four years.”

I watched as the two young men walked toward the locker room.

Tad was standing at the entrance watching because Tim was in the next weight class.  Talk about quick, Tim pinned his opponent in twenty seconds.

Tim turned to us and saluted as he walked off the mat with his arm around his opponent.  Kevin, looked at the three guys who were with him, “We need to get young David home or he will be a grouch in the morning.  Both of our guys won their matches.  Dads, are you coming home tonight?”

Hank nodded, “We’ll be home after we check on Danny and Jacob and the security person who was shot today.  We’ll leave as soon as we talk to Tim and Tad.”

The four guys left and Hank and I waited for Tim and Tad to come out of the locker room.  They came and sat down beside us.  Hank and I hugged the two guys.  Hank spoke for us, “We’re really proud of the way you handled yourselves tonight.  You had your arm around your opponent to let them know that you respected them even though you had beaten them..”

Tim started to speak, “Thanks for being here Da…”   He stopped and tears started to appear in his eyes.

I looked at the two boys, “We’ll meet you at the ranch when you get home after partying to celebrate your victory.  We need to go to the hospital and check on Danny.”

To be continued... 
 

Feedback always welcome:      

Editor's notes: What a whirlwind adventure. This story is getting more and more exciting with each new chapter.  I sure hope Danny will be alright. 

Maybe the two low life scumbags will remain in jail for a while not that they pulled that stupid desperate stunt. I can hardly wait for the next chapter. This story is getting better and better.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 01/23/09