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

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

Chapter 48

Full Speed Ahead

Hank must have called ahead because when we arrived at the Dairy Queen restaurant, no sooner had Hank gone into the restaurant than he returned with a young man who was carrying a tray of milk shakes.  Hank handed two shakes to Lionel, “Here, we’ll take one for Danny.”

After everyone who wanted one had one, Hank handed the remainder to Louie, “Take these to Poppa’s office and get rid of them.  Make sure you save one for yourself, David and Chris.”

I looked in the rearview mirror and Louie was holding the box with the shakes as if they were gold.  When we arrived, Ted was still on duty, Louie took the box with the shakes to him, “Mr. Ted, here take one for yourself and for the lady who is helping you.”

Ted looked surprised, “Why thank you very much, Louie.  We sure will enjoy them.”

When we got off the elevator, Louie looked around, “Where’s David?”

“He’s probably in my office with Chris.  Make sure you give Mrs. Wright a shake.  Tell her you heard she needed a happy pill.”

When we entered the office Louie went right to Cynthia’s desk, “Here you go ma’am, I heard you needed a happy pill.”

Cynthia laughed, “You must be Louie, David’s waiting for you.  He’s watching television in the conference room.”

“Thank you, ma’am.  Uncle Chris, here’s your happy pill.  Give one to Uncle Dusty, please.”

I took Louie to the conference room and he handed David his shake.  “Here you go, David.  How did the rest of the day go?”

I decided I wasn’t needed and went to my office to take care of business.  The stack of papers and messages seemed to be reproducing, because it sure didn’t seem to be decreasing at all.

It was about 4:30 when Chris came in, “Mr. Michaels, Mr. Farway just called and asked if I could take him and Mr. Phillips to the airport. They were able to get a flight out at seven o’clock.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem, Chris.  Tell Ramsey I’ll pick him up on my way home and take him to the ranch.”

“Mr. Michaels, I’ll take Ramsey with me, so he can keep me company on the way back from the airport.  We’ll stop somewhere and get something to eat.  Tell Mr. Rodgers that we’ll meet him at the church for choir practice to find out who is singing what and when.”

Chris had just departed when Dusty looked in, “Steve, I’m going to take the two boys and go home.  I want to move another load of things to other ranch while it’s still daylight outside.  Justin is going to come and meet Wayne and they’re going to a concert after they go out for dinner.  See you at the house.”

It was about 5:25 when Cynthia came in.  “Steve, call it a day.  You’ve had a long day and it isn’t over yet.  The rest of this can wait until the morning.  You have staff meeting scheduled at 8:45 in the morning, so be here.”

“I do?  I don’t remember scheduling one.”

“Dusty and Wayne decided that you needed to have one.  There are some things that you need to know and take care of.”

I threw up my hands, “Why is everyone always telling what to do?”

Cynthia was laughing, “Just be thankful that you have surrounded yourself with good people who are taking care of you.  You need all the help you can get.  Let’s bust out of this place.”

When I arrived at the ranch, another delivery truck was unloading something.  I looked at the van and it said ‘Mason School Supplies’.  I thought to myself, ‘What are we getting from a school supply place?’

When I walked into the house, Hank handed Cameron to me, “Steve, Cam just now woke up.  He needs to be changed and he’s probably  hungry.  The four high school students will be here shortly, and they are bringing dinner with them.  Mimi and Rosa have been working at Dusty’s and Mimi’s house making sure that it’s ready for them to move into, this weekend.”

I took Cam to the bedroom and changed his diaper and laid him on the bed on his back so I could change clothes before I took him to feed him.  When I went to pick him up, he was on his stomach trying to prop himself up on his hands.

I was sitting in the kitchen feeding Cam when David and Louie came bursting in the back door, “What’s for dinner?  We’re hungry.  What did that truck bring?”

“The big guys are bringing dinner and I don’t know what it is.  I have no idea what the truck brought.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Danny and Lionel.  Danny looked at the two six year olds, “Guys, you gotta come see our new classroom.  The men are just about finished putting everything together. It’s really cool.”

I followed them while I was giving Cameron his bottle.  We walked into what had been a small study and it had been transformed into a classroom.  I looked at Hank, “What happened to the furniture that was in here?”

Hank looked at me, “Justin and Chase helped me move it to the basement for the time being.  Lori and Cathy will be bringing the girls by later tonight, while I’m at choir practice.  I think Deanna is planning to come by also to make sure that everything is ready for classes to begin tomorrow.”

The head of the team who had been working came in. “Mr. Rodgers, we’re finished.  We’ll be leaving now.” 

Hank pulled out his wallet and handed the guys each a $50.00 bill, “Guys, I appreciate you working overtime to get everything finished.”

One of the guys started to laugh, “Mr. Rodgers, we’ll be here whenever you need us.  Just call us.”

The delivery men were just pulling away as Kevin and Jacob arrived in Kevin’s vehicle.  Kevin announced, “The food is here.  Tim and Tad should be here shortly.  They stopped to get the dessert.”

Jacob complained, “How come the table isn’t set.  Do we have to do all the work around here?”

Danny fake pouted, “We’re sorry Uncle Jacob, we didn’t know what we were going to eat and we didn’t know who was going to be here, since everyone was gone. We’ll do better next time.”

Hank took control, “Come on guys, we’ll each fix our own dinner since some of us need to go to choir practice.  David and Louie, you need to clean up this mess after everyone eats.”

Everyone was watching to see what the reaction would be.  Louie looked at David, “See, I told you that everyone always picks on us little kids.  They’re afraid to pick on Cam because they’re afraid that they would have to change his messy diapers.  Here’s what we should do.  We’ll do such a bad job that they won’t even think of telling us to do it again.”

Everyone was trying very hard not to laugh.  Hank responded, “If it ain’t done right when I get home from choir practice, I'll get you out of bed and you’ll have to do it again until you get right.”

Tim took pity on the guys, “Don’t sweat it guys, Dad Hank’s bark is worse than his bite.  Tad and I will help you clean up this mess.  Dad Steve, could you make sure we have paper plates and plastic utensils from now on so we won’t have to work so hard?”

After Hank had departed with Kevin and Jacob in tow, the guys made quick work of the dishes while I was taking care of Cameron who was hungry again.  I was feeding him in the kitchen when Cathy and Lori arrived with Tammy and Lindsey.  Danny was showing them the classroom when Ted and Deanna arrived. 

Deanna was wowed by the area.  She looked at the four people she would be teaching, “I hope that you’re ready to start to work tomorrow.  We have a lot of work to do.  We’ll go as fast as you four people are ready to go.  Cam’s Daddy wants him to know the ABC’s by Friday.”

David looked confused, “Miss Dee, you aren’t going to try to teach Cam the ABC’s are you?

Dee laughed, “Not this week, but maybe in a couple weeks.  We need to go.  My Mother is upset because she says I never tell her anything.  I’ll see some of you tomorrow at nine o’clock.”

Cathy and Lori were getting ready to take Lindsey and Tammy, and Cathy spoke, “That answers the question we had.  We’ll have Lindsey and Tammy here at nine.  I think you were very lucky to find someone as dynamic as Deanna to be the tutor for the young people.  I can’t believe how Hank was able to do all of this on such short notice.  Where is my husband anyhow?”

I laughed, “Your husband is at choir practice at the church with my two sons, Lori’s oldest son, Ramsey,  and Chris.

As the last of the visitors were leaving, Dusty asserted himself, “It is time for all people under the age of ten to get ready for bed.  That includes Mr. Cameron.”

The two six year olds ran up the steps and were probably out of the shower before Lionel with Danny’s help was able to get up the steps.  We tried to help him but he was adamant, “Poppa, I need to do this myself.  I’m fine.  It’s good exercise for me so my muscles don’t die.”

The guys had just gone upstairs when the choir brigade arrived home.  Chris announced, “Ramsey, I’ll be right back as soon as I can get some clean clothes to take to the house on the hill.  You might need to get some clean clothes too.”

Ramsey looked disgusted, “I was able to do some laundry today so I have enough clean clothes.  Grouch Rodgers would probably complain if I took any more clothes.  Mr. Rodgers, I really don’t want to sing a solo on Sunday.”

Chris arrived in time to end the discussion, “Come on, Mr. Watts, let’s motor we need to get you to bed so you’re not too tired to go to school tomorrow.  We’ll see you all tomorrow night.”

Finally it was just Cowboy and I sitting in the living room when Tim approached us, “Dad Hank and Dad Steve, I’ve scheduled a trip to The University of Iowa and Iowa State next week to look at the two schools and meet the coaches.  They have both offered me full athletic scholarships even though we haven’t had state finals yet.  I guess with everything that has been happening neither one of you will be able to accompany me?”

Hank looked at Tim, “Tim, we told you that one of us would accompany you and we will.  I’ll go with you on this trip.  Let’s go online and see what kind of airline reservations we can make between here and Des Moines.  We’ll rent a car at the airport and we can go to the two schools from there.  Why did you decide to visit those two schools first?”

Tim was ready with his answer, “They are in the two strongest wrestling conferences in the country.  Iowa is in the Big Ten and Iowa State is in the Big Twelve.  They both have good wrestling programs.”

“Tim, when would you like to go?”

“Dad Hank, it needs to be the first of the week since the state wrestling tournament is scheduled to start on Thursday.”

Hank shook his head, “Why don’t we see if we can get a flight out on Sunday.”

Tim grinned, “That would  be great.  We can go to Ames and spend the night. We could spend all day Monday at Iowa State and then drive to Iowa City and spend all day Tuesday.  We can come home either Tuesday night or early Wednesday and you can be home in time to go to choir practice and I can be rested for the state finals.”

I watched as they left for the office in the bedroom.  I made sure the house was secure before I took Cameron and checked on the guys.  The four youngest were sleeping.  I stopped and chatted with Kevin and Jacob to see if they needed anything.  Both guys indicated that they were fine.  Tad’s door was open so I stopped to say goodnight.

He was sitting on his bed in his briefs, “Dad Steve, I wish Ramsey was here.  I need his help.”

I sat down beside him, “What’s the problem, Tad.”

He showed me what he was doing.  “I just can’t seem to get the right answer.”

I looked at what he was doing, “Tad, I think you need to start over.   Let’s go through it step by step, I see where your problem was.  It will make more sense if we go through it step by step.”

I gave him a couple of hints as he worked through the problem and he arrived at the correct answer.  He looked at me and hit his head the heel of his hand, “Duh!  I should have realized I had done something stupid.  Thanks, Dad Steve.  Thanks for being here for us.  Goodnight little Cam.”

I hugged Tad, “If you need help, please ask.  Tim should be here shortly.  He and the Cowboy are checking into flight reservations for Tim to visit some universities next week.”

As I was walking into the bedroom with Cam, Hank and Tim were coming out of the office and Tim was commenting, “That worked out almost perfect.  Thanks, Dad Hank.”

I was sitting on the sofa holding Cameron.  Hank sat down next to me and I started to pout, “See, Cameron, your Daddy doesn’t love us anymore.  He’s leaving us already.”

Hank took Cameron and put him in his crib, “Son, don’t watch, as I make your other Daddy pay for making a comment like that.”

After he had severely punished me, during which I paid and paid dearly, he was holding me, “Steve, I want you to be at the divorce proceedings tomorrow afternoon.  You can take care of Cam while Cathy and I take care of business.  I have something I want us to do after the divorce has been finalized.”

“Hank, I thought it was agreed that the children need not be present.  What can I contribute by being there anyway?”

“Steve, I just want you to be there.  It is important to me now that we have Cam.”

Our conversation was interrupted by Cameron starting to fuss, “Hank, I’ll go get his bottle while you change his diaper.  He’ll probably sleep through the night, now.”

Hank and I were awakened at six o’clock the next morning by David and Louie.  They were shaking us and Louie was asking, “Is it time for us to go to school yet?”

I looked at the clock, “Guys, it’s only six o’clock.  You have two hours  before you have to be at school.”

David was adamant, “We don’t want to be late.  So, get up.”

David and Louie were watching the clock. When it was 7:30, I was practically being pushed out the door.  Hank yelled, “Guys, Chase will be picking you up after school this afternoon; make sure you watch for him.”

When we arrived at school, both guys kissed me as they were getting out of the car.  I watched as they walked to the entrance where they were met by one of the staff members who shook their hands.

When I arrived at the office, Chris was already there, “Good morning boss, coffee is on the way.  I stopped and bought some rolls for the staff meeting.  Dusty will be here shortly.  He is in the production area.”

“Thank you, Chris.”

I sat down at my desk and there was a note that read, ‘Here is something like you should open the meeting with.’  I quickly read it and it made perfect sense to me.  It was from Wayne.

It was nearly 8:45 when Cynthia opened the door and announced, “Mr. President, the staff is assembled and waiting for you to arrive.”

As I walked into the conference room, Chris was taking drink orders.  When he finished, he asked, “Mr. Michaels, is there anything you need?”

I shook my head no and Chris continued, “I’ll make sure that you are not disturbed unless the President of the United States or Cameron should call.”

Everyone started to laugh.  I made my introductory remarks as Wayne suggested.  I looked at the agenda that Cynthia had prepared, “Since we’re in the adverting business, Dusty, why don’t you explain what has been happening?”

Dusty ended his presentation by recommending that we hire two more teams.  I looked at the head of Human Resources. “Margo, why don’t and Dusty form a search team to find people to fill the positions?”

“Dusty, do we have the space and equipment to handle the two new teams.”

Dusty assured me that we would could very easily accommodate two more teams and easily equip them.  Everything was going smoothly until Wayne presented the latest financial figures for the company.  I guess I had had my head in the sand because I had no idea how well we were doing.  He concluded his presentation by saying, “Mr. Michaels, I suggest that you might consider giving the entire staff a three percent raise across the board.”

I started to do some calculating while everyone was watching me.  I looked up, “Wayne could we afford to give a five percent raise to everyone?”

Wayne nodded, “Mr. Michaels, I’m sure we could, and I think it would probably make our people all that much more willing to bust their butts for the company.”

“Okay, Wayne, work with Dusty and Margo and make the raises effective as of the first of March.”

I turned to the Human Resources person, “Margo, do we have any open positions except for the four new people that we’re going to hire?

 

“Mr. Michaels, we haven’t had any turnover since you took over the company.  It is a far cry from the days when Mrs. Clark was in charge.  Back then, this place was like a revolving door.  I did, however, receive one letter of resignation yesterday afternoon.  Mr. Snyder, our chief of security, has indicated that he will be leaving at the end of the month.”

I looked at the chief of security, “Paul, you’ve been with the company ever since we started.  Why are you planning to leave?”

Paul laughed, “I might have to change my mind now that everyone is getting a five percent raise.  The reason I’m resigning is that father’s health is starting to fail.  We’re moving back to the farm so I can be a farmer again.  I’m just an old farm boy at heart.”

“Paul, I have a question for you.  You have a young man who is presently working for you to whom I would like to offer the position.”

Paul interrupted, “I assume that you’re speaking about Ted Richards.  He would be the person I would recommend to take the position.  He will be finished with his college degree shortly and would probably be leaving for a better paying position.   I understand that you have employed his fiancée to home school some young people.  You and your family have been all he has been talking about for the last several days.”

“Margo, I want to break the news to Ted, and then I’ll send him to you.  That means you still have another vacancy to fill.  Make sure you and Ted work together on finding his replacement.”

Margo looked at me, “Mr. Michaels, do you realize that I’m going to be so busy that I won’t even have time to feed my children?”

Cynthia started to laugh, “Margo, your children have all flown the coop.  It’s about time you earn your pay.”

I looked around, “Does anyone else have anything that they would like to say?”

No one seemed to have anything, so I closed the meeting, “I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of you for all of your hard work.  I truly do appreciate it.  Thanks for coming.  Paul, would you please inform Ted that his services are required in the President’s office, immediately.”

I was working at my desk when Chris announced, “Mr. Michaels, Ted is here to see you.”

“Chris, show him in, and I would like for you to stay in the room with us.”

Chris brought Ted into my office.  Ted was apprehensive, “Mr. Snyder said you wanted to speak with me.”

I looked up from my desk, “Thank you for coming, Ted.  I regret to inform you that I am going to terminate you employment as a security guard.”

Ted went absolutely white, “Mr. Michaels, what did I do that upset you?”

I didn’t even look up, “Ted, you did absolutely nothing to upset me.  I just wanted to offer you the position of Chief of Security for the Michael’s Advertising Agency.”

Ted started  to go down and Chris grabbed him and sat him in a chair, grabbed a glass of water and was trying to get Ted to drink it.

Chris looked at me, “Poppa, that was absolutely cruel.”

Ted looked up at Chris, “Did Mr. Michaels just offer me the position of Chief of Security, or was I dreaming?”

I went to where Ted was sitting, “Ted, you weren’t dreaming.  If you want the position, then I suggest that you get down to the Human Resources Department and fill out the appropriate paperwork.”

Ted jumped up and hugged me, “I’m going, I’m going, Boss.”

After Ted had departed, Chris turned to me, “Poppa, that was mean.  I don’t think Ted is too excited, do you?  I hope he doesn’t have a heart attack.”

I was sitting at my desk, finally making some headway on the paperwork.  Chris arrived with a sandwich, “Mr. Michaels, Mr. Rodgers called an said I was to remind you to be at the courthouse at 1:45.”

As I was leaving, I looked at Cynthia and Chris, “I’m still not sure why it is so important that I be at the courthouse for the divorce proceedings.  I’ll be back as soon as possible.”

I arrived at the court house on time and Cowboy and Cathy were talking to Mr. Wetmore.  That was not a good sign.  Hank handed Cam to me, “Here, you take care of Cam while we take care of business.  Sit over there.  I don’t think he should be in the courtroom for the divorce, in case there are any visitors watching.”

It was approximately ten minutes later when Hank and Cathy returned from the courtroom with Mr. Wetmore.  Mr. Wetmore started, “Hank and Cathy, thank you for doing what you did.  I think that the children will be safe now.  The government will be sending you a check for the funds that are due the children.”

As we were walking to our cars, Hank looked at me, “Steve, follow me.  Cathy, we’ll see you later.”

As I was following Hank, I was thinking to myself, ‘Where are we going, now?’

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: and as I was reading that last sentence, I was wondering, 'where are we going now?'

Things in this story just keep getting more and more confusing, don't they?   I am sure that Hank has something up his sleeve, but I must admit that I haven't a clue as to what it might be.  I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens next time.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 07/24/09