Taking Texas By Storm
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 28 

Anatomy 404

After Oz departed with Mrs. Russell, I looked around the table, “Does anyone else have something they want to share.”

Steve laughed, “I had something happen today that you might get a charge out of hearing about.   I was working on planning a remodeling project when this man came into the office.  He asked how soon we would be needing a new supply of condoms for the machines.”

“I informed him that the condom machines had been removed.  I thought he was frozen in his tracks.”

“That’s not the funniest part.  As the man was leaving, he asked, ‘I don't suppose you know someplace where I can dispose of second quality rubbers, do you?  Mr. Gump always took them off my hands.’”

President Odom laughed, “That could explain why there have been so many maternity leaves.”

Nancy Patterson grinned, “Something similar happened to Mr. Sheraton and me today.  We had a contractor come in and ask when we would be needing the next shipment of janitorial and bathroom supplies.  Rob, was so cool.  ‘First, sir, we have not announced that we would be placing a bid out for any such merchandise.  Second, why should you assume that you were going to get the contract?’”

“The man got irate, ‘Look, if you want the kickback money up front, I’ll get it for you.  Why waste everyone’s time and not give me the order now like Sampson has been doing.’  Rob stood and put his finger in the man’s face, ‘Sir, I think I can assure you that your company has received the last contract that it will ever receive from Shell Oil.  Now please leave the premises before I call security.’”

I looked at Rob and Nancy, “Were you able to get the man’s name and the company he worked for?”

Rob answered, “Yes sir, he handed both of us cards when he found out that Sampson had been dismissed from the company.”

I turned to Todd Withem and Dr. Rudy, “How long will it take before we can start filing suits against people, in order to recover any monies we can and to let the people know that business around here is going to be done by the book?”

Dr. Rudy answered, “Mr. Waller, I think we should take the cases one at a time and have airtight cases before we jump into the legal system.  There is going to be a great deal of attention focused on what we are doing, and there are enough detractors out there who would seize on the opportunity to ridicule the company if we don‘t have our ducks lined up.”

President Odom nodded, “Ed, I agree with Evelyn.  We need to be ready to be scrutinized and criticized in view of the magnitude of what has been happening.  We have stepped on a lot of toes.”

I grinned, “Unless, someone has something to talk about, we need to go step on some more toes and be ready to present whatever President Odom would like for us to report on tomorrow at the Board Meeting.  Rob, I’d like to speak to you on a private matter.”

Joe sniffled. “I know when I’ve been told to disappear.”

I took Rob into the office and told him about meeting Doctor Cochran over the weekend and explained that she wanted him to make an appointment for her to examine Mikey.  “You need to blame this all on Allie. He’s the person who told her about Mikey.  She’s expecting you to call to make an appointment.”

I handed him Doctor Cochran’s card, “Do you want me to call for you?  She said she would like to see Mikey as soon as possible.”

“Shouldn’t I at least talk to my wife to see when she would be available to take Mikey?”

“Rob, I’ll place the call now.  If need be, you will be able to take sick time to take Mikey.  In fact, both and you and your wife should accompany Mikey, because you are probably going to need to make some hard decisions if Mikey’s vision problems are as severe as Allie says.”

I punched the number on the card, “This is Doctor Joanne Cochran’s office.”

“Hi, this Ed Waller.  I believe Doctor Cochran is expecting a call from me or the Sheratons about making an appointment to meet with her.”

“Yes sir, Doctor Cochran is in the operating room, but she has Mikey Sheraton scheduled for an appointment tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.  I just called your house and left a message, since there was no answer on your cell phone number.”

“I have Mr. Sheraton sitting here with me.  I’ll inform him of the time and location of the appointment.  Thanks for your help.”

“Rob, Mikey’s appointment is tomorrow morning at nine o’clock.  The address and office number are on the card.  We’ll see you tomorrow after Mikey’s appointment.”

“Ed, I’ll say this for you.  You sure don’t let any grass grow under your feet.”

After Rob left, I went to talk to Tammy.  “I’m going to go and check on all the people.  I’ll turn on my mobile phone if you need to get in touch with me.  I stopped in at each of the divisions that were now under my jurisdiction, and everything seemed to be operating fine.  I took a swing through The Reed Fish Bowl and noticed a large jar that was labeled feed the fish and there was money in it.”

I stopped at Myra Belle’s office.  “Myra Belle, what provisions have been made to preclude someone from walking off with the money that's in the Feed the Fish fund?”

“Tom and Oz have that figured out.  Trust me, no one had better try to take the money or they will be in for a major shock.  Plus they have arranged for the funds to be emptied every evening after the vendors have departed.”

As I was walking out of Myrabelle’s office, I saw Marlene coming out of Steve's office.  What needs to be done now that President Odom’s secretary was talking to the maintenance department.”

My cell phone started to vibrate, so I pulled it out, “This is Ed Waller.”

“Hi, Dad, were you able to get an appointment for Mikey?”

“Yes, Allie.  His parents are going to take him in the morning at nine o’clock to see Doctor Cochran.”

“Good.  I just called to remind you that you need to be here as soon as you can.  Granddad and Grandmother called and they just got onto Interstate 10 near Gonzales.  See you in a bit.”

The car pool personnel met in the lobby at five and Juan picked me up at the side entrance.  As I was exiting the car, Doctor Cochran was walking down the street toward the house, “I assume my sons are here since the washing machine and the dryer are running.  I don’t know why they don’t live at home.”

As Doctor Cochran and I entered the house, Allie met us, “Hi Doctor Cochran and Dad, the adults are on the deck.  Granddad is fixing drinks.  The teenagers are cooking dinner, I need to go check on some things.  We’ll eat in approximately twenty minutes.”

Doctor Cochran looked at me, “There’s no question who’s is in control here.”

After I introduced Doctor Cochran to my parents, I went to change clothes and had just rejoined the adults on the deck when Allie appeared, “Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that I can announce that dinner is now ready to be served in the dining room.  Thankfully, the teenagers didn’t burn the chicken too badly.  Dad, the white wine is waiting to be poured for those who care to imbibe.”

We went into the dining room and Brahim and I were seating the ladies according to where the name tags were placed.  My Dad looked at me and whispered, “Why all the formality?”

I put up my hands to indicate that I had no idea.  After the adults, including Brahim, were seated, the guys started to bring the food.  Allie announced, “In the interest of saving the environment, you will have only the plate and utensils in front of you to use throughout dinner tonight. 

When everything was on the table, Allie acted as the host and started to pass around the things in the order he wanted them to be served.  When everyone had started to eat, I looked around and realized that Allie had carefully manipulated the seating arrangements.  He was between my parents and Dieter was on the other side of my Dad next to Mrs. Carr.  Brahim was on the other side of my Mother next to Doctor Cochran.

We were eating, and suddenly Tom Cochran spoke out of the clear blue, “Mr. Waller, you need to put a muzzle on Brahim.  He’s going to cause some of us poor struggling freshmen and sophomores to fail our courses.”

To say that comment caught everyone’s attention would be an understatement. 

Dad asked, “Tom, would you care to explain what you are talking about?”

Tom began, “We had this big test in our government course, today, that is going to account for one third of our grade.  Everyone had finished the test except Brahim.  I was talking to the professor and asking him about some questions that I thought were a little dicey.”

Allie asked, “Tom, what do you mean by dicey.  I don’t think I understand what that means.”

Tom thought for a minute, “I guess I should have said vague or unclear.  Anyway the professor looked at Brahim, “Young man, it’s time to turn in your test.  Everyone else has been long gone.”

“Brahim brought his test and handed it to the professor and apologized, ‘Sir, this is the best I could do.’”

“The professor started to read Brahim’s paper and stood and threw it on the floor and yelled, ’You mean you kept me sitting here waiting for this piece of trash.  Do you realize that I’ve teaching this course for twenty five years, and no one, but no one, has ever gotten a hundred per cent on a test that I have given?  What took you so long to humiliate me?’”

“Poor Brahim had no idea what to think, but he answered, ‘Dr. Horn, there were three or four very ambiguous questions on this test that I could have answered several different ways.  I tried to make my mind think as yours might think, before I answered them.’”

“Dr. Horn stood.  ‘Young man, you will be in my office at eight o’clock in the morning. This is a clear case of cheating if you’re reading my mind.  I need to decide what disciplinary actions need to be taken to rectify the situation.’”

Mrs. Sanders asked, “What is this Dr. Horn’s first name?”

Brahim answered, “I think that his syllabus said that his name was Alton D. Horn.”

Mrs. Sanders started to laugh, “Brahim, I have the perfect solution for you.  Mr. Horn is the Leanne of the Houston performing arts community.  When you go to visit him tomorrow, make sure you’re on time.  When he invites you into his office, move in quickly and start singing, 'Here Am I, Don Quixote,' and switch to something from La Boehme and he we will be speechless.”

Dad spoke up, “Brahim, I’ll go with you in the morning, before I have to go to the board meeting, which I find no reason to be having.”

Allie stood, “It appears that everyone has finished eating, so why don’t you older people adjourn to the living room so Tom and Ted can pack the leftovers to take home so they don’t starve while their mommy is working.”

We heard laughter coming from the kitchen, “I think I’d better go see what’s happening.  I’ll be right back.”

I started to go into the kitchen when I heard Allie ask, “Tom, you obviously don’t have any underwear on.  I can make out the outline of your penis head through your shorts.  Your sure do have a big penis or are you wearing a dildo in your pants?”

Tom started to laugh, “I don’t have any underwear on because I threw them into the laundry before we came here.  What you see is all me.  I was endowed with the big cock in the family and Ted received the best of the balls and that’s why he’s shorter than me.  His balls weigh him down.  My nuts are probably not as big as yours.”

Allie giggled, “Dad, come in here and judge this contest and make sure that no one else enters.  We’re going to settle this once and for all.”

Allie looked at the guys and pointed, “Drop your pants and shorts so we can evaluate to see if what you're saying is true.  Dad will be the judge.  If he can’t decide, I’ll go get my Granddad.”

I was surprised when both Tom and Ted pushed down their shorts and neither one of them were wearing underwear.  Allie giggled, “There is a disparity here.  Dieter, show these two creatures what a normal male at the age of nineteen should look like when he hasn’t been wearing out the merchandise.”

Dieter reacted, “Why am I all of a sudden involved in this sudden vulgar display?”

Allie pleaded, “Please do it, so these two won’t feel so insecure about their manhood.”

Dieter did what he was asked, or ordered, to do.  Allie stood and pointed at Dieter, “I'm guessing that Dieter is closer to being an average nineteen year old, than you two.  Now get dressed so we can serve our guests desert before they need to be rolled home.”

When the two Cochran son’s were leaving with their leftovers from dinner, Tom mentioned, “Brahim, I’ll have to get a copy of your notes before the next test.”

Allie started to laugh so hard that he was almost bent over.  “Tom, I hate to tell you this, but I doubt very much if you would be able to understand them.  Unless I miss my guess, Brahim’s notes are partly in Arabic and partly in Italian with a few English words interspersed throughout.”

Ted asked, “Why would his notes be in Arabic and Italian?

“Because Arabic is Brahim’s and my native language, and he studied in Italy for seven years.  We’ve only been in the United States since the end of August.”

Tom and Ted turned, “Say what.”

Allie giggled, “What.”

After everyone had departed, except my parents and Dieter, we were sitting in the living room.  Allie was sitting between my parents.  Allie looked at Dad, “So you’re going to go with Brahim and protect him from the big bad Professor Horn.”

He looked at my Mother, “Grandmother, what would you like to do?  Do you want to go to school with Dieter and me so you can help the boys and girls like Dieter did today.  He had the boys and girls practically eating out of his hands.  You have no idea how starved some of the boys and girls are for positive attention.”

Mother asked, “Won’t the teachers resent us being there.”

Dieter answered, “The teachers appreciate any help they can get.  They have very few parent volunteers and the school system has cut the para-professional hours in a cost saving effort.  If they welcomed me as a high school dropout, I can’t imagine what they would do for you, since Allie tells me that you were a music teacher at one time.”

Mother looked at Allie, “Look grandson, you don’t need to tell all my secrets.”

Dieter asked, “Mr. Waller, may I use the phone to call my Dad?”

“Of course, Dieter.”

I expected Dieter to go into the kitchen but he picked up the phone and pushed some numbers. “Hey Dad, it’s Dieter.  I hope I didn’t wake you.  … No, I’m having a great time. … I have a favor to ask of you. …  Could you check to see what I need to do to get my GED, so I can get started as soon as I get back? … I guess it looks like we won't be coming home until next Monday.   Allie says I need to go to his grandparents' ranch this weekend, to find out what it’s like to be a real man. … Yep, he’s sitting right here.  Mr. Waller, dad would like to talk to you.  Love you, Dad.”

“Hi Randy.  What’s up?”

“Ed, are you sure that was Dieter.  He sounds like he’s a different person.  Is he okay?”

“Dieter, is sitting here talking to my parents and Brahim and Allie.  They’re plotting what they’re going to do tomorrow.  I’ll have him call you later.  I’m sure Mrs. Carr will be calling you, as well.”

“Are you saying that you can’t talk.”

“I guess that would be a fair statement.  I’ll talk to you later.”

After I had hung up, I looked at the others.  “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m exhausted.  We poor working persons need to get our rest.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  I am so pleased.  Has anyone noticed that we have just had two chapters in a row where no one has been shot at or punched out? 

Folks, please take a few moments and let E Walk know how you feel about his stories. 

I, for one, always enjoy his stories.  Sometimes, those of us who read the stories, start to take them for granted and simply expect new chapters.  Believe me when I say, it isn't the easiest thing to come up with new plots and story ideas.  Very few authors can do it as often or as well as E Walk does. 

His stories are a treasure, and the only reward he gets, for writing them, is the thanks from those of us who read and enjoy his work. 

Thank you, E Walk. 

Please, Sir, may I have some more?

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 05/21/10