We Saw Daddy Kissing Santa Claus
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 43

Tragedy

I fell on top of Hank, “You’ve been a bad boy.  I’m going to have to beat you up, but first, let’s take a shower to make sure your plumbing is operable.”

Hank hugged me, “Stevie, let’s just go to sleep.  It’s been a very long day, filled with a lot of highs and some lows.”

I undressed him, as well as myself, and we went to the bathroom and brushed our teeth.  Hank was asleep in almost no time at all.  I thought about what had occurred and soon followed him.  I awoke with a start, feeling something was wrong.  I checked and Hank was in bed.  I pulled on my jeans and went to check on the guys.  David and Louie were asleep entangled in each others’ arms and Ramsey was quietly snoring.

I went to check on Kevin and Jacob, and they were asleep in their beds.  The door to Tim and Tad’s room was open and there was enough light going in to see that they were both sleeping.

I went downstairs and everything seemed fine.  I stepped on the back patio and looked around and couldn’t see anything but I smelled smoke. I went to the front door and was greeted by a big blaze across the highway.

I hurried to our bedroom and woke Hank.  He had been sound asleep and was having a difficult time trying to focus.  “Hank, there’s a big fire across the highway.  Something’s burning.”

I took Hank to the patio and when he saw what it was, he turned to me, “Call 911, and tell them the old Ardmore place is on fire.  I’ll get dressed and we can go see if there is anything we can do.”

I made the call and the dispatcher put me through to the rural volunteer fire department.  I reported the fire.  Hank and I rushed to the truck and took off toward the fire.  When we arrived at the scene, the house was just about gone.  Hank cringed, “I never really got to know the young couple that moved in here.  I do know that they had several young children.”

We climbed out of the truck and approached the blaze but the heat drove us back.  We heard a little voice whimpering, “Where are Mommy and Daddy?”

Two young girls were standing there in their nightgowns.  Hank and I didn’t even think or talk.  We picked them up and put them into the back seat of the truck.  Hank told the two girls to stay in the truck while we looked for their parents.

The fire trucks finally arrived but by then everything was gone.  They doused the flames.  The Chief looked around,  “I doubt very much if anyone survived this disaster.  We can’t do much until the remains cool down, which will be some time tomorrow.”

Hank spoke, “Chief Hanratty, we have two of the children in the truck.  We’re going to find a place for them to spend the night.”

Hank’s mind must have been thinking overtime because he said, “We’re going to take them to the Watsons, since my place is full up right now.”

The Chief agreed, “That’s probably a good idea.  Martha and Ray will be able to take good care of them.  They have had enough kids and grandkids that they have had lots of practice.”

Hank drove to the Watsons’ spread and Hank went to the door.  I could see him talking but couldn’t hear what he saying.  He came back to the truck, “Come on ladies, the Watsons are going to take good care of you.”  Hank took one of the little girls and carried her to the door and I took the other.

When we got back to the truck and started to drive back to the ranch, “Steve, this will make things so much easier for Jeremy and Brent and Cathy and Lori.”

“Hank, I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Steve, it looks as if the two little girls have regrettably lost their parents in the fire.  If Cathy or Lori and Jeremy were to get married, they could adopt the three boys and the two girls.  When they got divorced, or whatever, the guys would get custody of the three boys, and the ladies would get custody of the two girls.  Jeremy wouldn’t even have to go to bed with anyone if he didn’t really want to.”

I started to laugh almost uncontrollably, “Hank, how can you even think about such things as this, in this time of tragedy?”

Hank shrugged his shoulders, “As they say, tragedy brings a new beginning.”

I thought about what Hank had said, “Hank, that makes no sense at all.  We need to get some sleep.”

It was almost three o’clock when we finally climbed into bed,  I snuggled close to Hank.  He definitely smelled of smoke.  “Hank, I like your new cologne.  It smells so masculine.”

He turned toward me. “Steve, what have you been drinking?  I’m not wearing any cologne.”  He must have gotten a whiff of how I smelled.

“I see what you mean, Stevie.   I think we both must be wearing the same new scent ‘Smoke Gets In Your Eyes’.  We’ll need to remember to wash the sheets in the morning.”

Hank and I were awakened the next morning by David and Louie,  I heard David say, “See, I told you they wouldn’t have any clothes on.  You wake Poppa and I’ll wake Grandpa.”

As Louie went to touch me, I grabbed him and pulled him onto the bed, “I’m not going to have any mean kid waking me up.  If I gotta get up, you gotta kiss me and tell me know how handsome I am.”

Louie looked at me, “I’ll give you a kiss, but I’m not going to tell you a lie and tell you how handsome you are.  Why do you smell like smoke?”

Hank got out of bed even though he was naked, “We’ll tell you why we smell of smoke, at breakfast.  We’ll be there as soon as we take a shower.”

I heard Louie say, “They sure have big peckers.”

David shook his head no, “We need to call them by their right name.  They’re penises.  Yes,  Poppa and Grandpa do have big penises.  We’ll probably be as big as they are when we get as old as them.”

Hank turned to me, “It’s my turn to beat you up this morning.”

At breakfast, Hank and I told the people at the table about the fire.  David asked, “Are you talking about Tammy and Lindsey’s house? They live right across the road and they go to Danny’s and my school  Tammy is in second grade and Lindsey is in third?  Are the girls okay?”

“The girls are fine and are with Mr. and Mrs. Watson.  We don’t know where their parents are though.  Justin and Chase, why don’t you see if you can help the search crew when they arrive?”

David frowned, “What about the girls’ baby brother?”

Hank shuddered, “David, I don’t know.” 

Hank changed the subject, “I’m going to take David and Louie to school so I can enroll Louie at the same school.  That way we won’t have to be running all over the city delivering people in the morning and picking them up at night.  David, you make sure that Louie gets on the bus to come home tonight.  Ramsey, you probably should walk to the house on the hill and one of us will pick you up there.”

“After, I get Louie enrolled, I’m going to swing by the hospital to see what the story is on Danny and Lionel.  I’ll make arrangements for them to call Dusty and me and we can sign them out.”

Hank looked at Chris, “Chris, are you ready to take the written part of the driver’s test.”

Chris answered, “Mr. Rodgers, I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Good, I’ll take you to the courthouse after lunch, so you can take the test.  What good is a car, if you can’t drive it?”

Hank wasn’t done, “Stevie, you need to call Larry Hansen and see how soon he can do an appraisal on the Watson’s farm.”

I put my hands together and bowed my head, “I understand your majesty.  If you don’t stop telling everyone what to do,  you’re going to be black and blue, from everyone beating you up.”

Jacob was laughing, “Dad Hank, I hate to tell you this, but you’re starting to sound like the old Cowboy again.”

“Watch it, son, or you might not be able to sit down for some time.  Come on, David and Louie.  Let’s get out of this place.  Everyone’s picking on me.”

As he was going out the door, Hank turned and asked, “Mimi, what time is your appointment?”

“The appointment is at 9:30.”

Hank nodded, “Good, then you should be here when Danny and Lionel get home.”

As Chris was driving the two of us to work, he asked, “Mr. Michaels, how can Dad Hank think about so many different things at the same time?”

“Wait a minute, Chris.  How come he’s Daddy Hank and I’m Mr. Michaels, all of a sudden?  As to how he can keep track of so many things, it's beyond me.  I assume he must be a genius.  It would be interesting to know what his I.Q. is.”

Chris answered my question as we were pulling into the parking lot,  “Mr. Michaels, we agreed to be professional while we are at work.  It’s going to be difficult enough for me to separate the two yous.  If it hadn’t had been for you yanking me out of that H.R. job and that house where I was living, I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

As Chris turned off the ignition, I hugged him, “Chris, just continue to be the unassuming person you are.  You deserve some breaks.”

As we signed in, the security guard looked at us, “I trust you people had a good weekend.”

I nodded, “Very exciting weekend, Ted.  How about you?”

“I guess you could call it exciting, I got engaged.”

“When's the wedding?”

Ted shrugged his shoulders, “We can’t get married until Maria finds a teaching position, here in the area.  She just received her master’s degree in elementary education from Purdue.”  He added, “I won’t have my degree completed until December since I can only go to school at night.”

Chris winked, “Good luck, Ted.  We need to go before my boss comes looking for us.”

Ted laughed, “Yeh, Miss Cynthia was one of the first people to arrive this morning.  She said she had to come see what kind of mess you left for her to clean up.”

When Chris and I walked in, Cynthia looked up, “Honestly, I leave town for three days and my assistant takes over the area.  Not only is he trying to get me fired, but I understand he is getting a new car and has been dating the Homecoming Queen.  Is there anything else I should know?”

Chris looked as if he was frozen in space.  He finally was able to talk, “Mrs. Wright, who has been spying on me.  Mr. Summers isn’t here yet.”

Cynthia was having a good time, “Easy, Mr. Farway, I got it from the filly’s own mouth.”

“Michelle and Freddie live next door to us.  They were just getting back from the ranch as we were pulling in from the airport.  They stopped by to talk to us and one thing led to another.  You and your brother have hooked up with two wonderful young people.  It looks as if the boss and Mr. Summers are going to be very busy, according to the schedules.”

Chris shook his  head, “Mrs. Wright, the schedule doesn’t even reflect half of what is going to be happening today.  I think we need to be extremely flexible.”

As I was walking into my office, Chris called, “Mr. Michaels, I’ll call and see if I can get Mr. Hansen on the phone and we can cross that chore off the list.”

Cynthia followed me into the office, “Steve, would you like to tell me what else is happening, so I know how to react?”

I quickly gave her a synopsis of everything that had happened in her absence, including the fire and finding the two young girls.

She seemed to have a difficult time trying to decide what to say, “Steve, ever since you met the Cowboy, the world has been speeding up.  I cannot fathom how everything can possibly come together.  I guess we had all better be prepared to ride out the tidal waves.”

Chris stuck his head in the door, “Mr. Michaels, Mr. Hansen is on line one.”

I picked up the phone, “This is Steve Michaels.”

“Steve, Mr. Farway said you would like to speak with me.”
 

“Larry, we need you to do another quick appraisal.  This one is a little different than the others.   This is a spread with 350 acres.  They want to sell everything, to include furniture, livestock and equipment.  Do you do appraisals such as that?”

“Steve, that would be a little out of my element.  I have an associate who I work with on deals of that magnitude.  Let me see if she is going to be available.  …  Steve, we both have the morning free.  Where is the property.”

“It’s north on the interstate, approximately twenty miles.  You need to exit on county road 45.  It would be the first farm after you go over the stream on the left hand side.”

“Steve, I’m going to put Cathy on.  She’s familiar with that area.”

A different voice came on, “This is Cathy Watson.  Could you give me the instructions as to how to get to the farm.”

“Cathy, this is Steve Michaels.  If you’re the Cathy Watson whose parents live on county road 45 then you know right where the place is.  It’s your parents’ farm.”

“Mr. Michaels, surely you’re kidding; my parents’ place isn’t for sale.  When Mother called last night and asked that Lori and I be at the farm tonight at 7:00, she didn’t say anything about the farm being for sale.”

“It isn’t; it’s already sold, if you and Mr. Hansen can arrive at a fair price.  The sale of the property isn’t what the meeting tonight was to be about.  Your and Lori’s daughter are living with your parents, if everything works out okay.”

“Mr. Michaels, you have to have been drinking.”

“Cathy, believe me, I’m totally sober.  I suggest you call your parents and they can tell you the whole story of what has been happening.   Talk to you tonight.”

I had just hung up when Dusty stuck his head in. “Hank, just called from the hospital.  I need to go sign the release papers for Danny.  I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“Look, Dusty, at this point in time, the boys are the most important thing that we need to worry about.  Business will always wait one more day.

I was making business calls when Cynthia stuck her head in. “Cowboy called and said you should take Chris for his driver’s exam and meet him at The Bread Basket for lunch at noon.  He has called Mr. Farway and Mr. Phillips and they are going to meet you there as well.”

“Cynthia, is Dusty back yet?”

“No, he just called and said he was on his way.  The boys are at the ranch and Hank is going to stay with them until Mimi returns from her doctor’s appointment.”

“Okay, let me know when Dusty gets here.  In the meantime, I need to make some more calls so we can afford to eat.”

As Cynthia closed the door, I thought to myself, ‘It’s not even lunch time yet’.

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  Boy, talk about everything falling into place at once, this is sure one action packed chapter. I believe the appropriate response would be that I am speechless.

Till next time,

Darryl The Radio Rancher

Posted: 06/19/09