Taking Texas By Storm
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 39

The Steak Fry

On Sunday morning I got up with Brahim and we went to make coffee and make something quick for breakfast.  Dad, Allie and Dieter were already at the table having bacon, English muffins and juice.  Dad looked up, “There’s an egg casserole in the oven; we farm boys have already eaten.  We aren’t like you city slickers.”

Brahim was eating when Mother entered, “Okay men, we need to go wow the congregation.”

Dad and I were sitting there talking after Brahim left, driving Mother’s car.  Dad commented, “Ed, I really like Dieter.  He told me what happened to his brother and now he’s kicking himself for withdrawing.  What’s his father like?”

“Dad, Randolph is your kind of person as well.  He and Mrs. Carr have a connection that goes way back.  You’ll have to have Mrs. Carr tell you about it.”

Our conversation was interrupted by Grandpa Darryl and Uncle Tom.  I fixed their breakfast and Uncle Tom laughed, “With service like this, we may never leave.  Big Al, how often do you have hoedowns around here.  It is a sure fire way to lose pounds.  I had to move my belt buckle back a notch this morning.”

Dad laughed, “We’ll have it back in place this afternoon before you head back to Houston.”

When we arrived at the church, Dad looked around, “Something special must be happening today.  I haven’t seen this many cars in the parking lot except at Easter and Christmas.”

When we went into the church, the usher met us, “Big Al, we were able to save your normal pew but it was hard.   You’ll probably have some people joining you.  You’ll have to share one bulletin since we’re running out.”

Dad handed the bulletin to the visitors so they could read see what was going to be happening.

When it was time for the first piece of special music Brahim, Allie and Dieter moved to the center of the altar platform.  Allie took the microphone, “Good morning ladies and gentlemen.  We want to thank you for having us back again.  We brought our friend Dieter Randolph with us to show-off his musical talents.  We have a request of you and that if you don’t like what we sing, then yell and hiss but don’t do like they did at the church where sang last Sunday.  When we finished singing they stood and acted like they were praying because we were so bad.”

Mother had chosen some familiar songs for the guys to sing as a medley and they were excellent and even the pastor was getting into clapping at the appropriate time.  When the guys finished, there was a genuine round of applause. 

The pastor went to the lectern, “Weren’t those young men wonderful?  They’ll be back again later in the service.  It is young people like them who make preaching worthwhile.”

The pastor gave an excellent sermon which was far better than I had ever heard him give.  Dad leaned over and whispered, “I think our guys even inspired Pastor Daniels.”

After the service, Allie came up to us, “Granddad, did we do okay.”

Dad nodded, “You guys were spectacular.”

When we arrived back at the ranch, we had a quick lunch and Mother had all four of us younger people working.  I finally asked, “Mom, who is coming to this shindig.  There must be some important people.”

Mother was noncommittal, “You'll find out soon enough.”

It was about three fifteen when cars started to arrive.  The first car had Mrs. Carr, Ms Crabtree and Ms Sanders who was driving.  Mrs. Carr announced, “The rest of the entourage will be here shortly. Madeline doesn’t believe in speed limits”

The Odoms pulled in with the Daniels as their passengers.  So far there were no surprises since these people were all involved in the arts and the parents had known them all previously.  That still didn’t account for all the spaces that Dad had us set up and the amount of food. 

The surprises were just beginning.  The next car had Doctor Cochran and her two sons Tom and Ted.  Ted climbed out, “We heard there was free food here so we came to take advantage of it.  Where are these cows that we’re going to be milking?”

Two more cars pulled in and I was totally surprised when Tom, April, Chad and Jeremy Bloom climbed out of the first of them.  Tom looked around, “I guess we must be in the right place since I see some faces I know.”

The second car had Rob Sheraton and his wife Rhonda, Mikey and Mitchell.”

Mitchell made a beeline to Dieter, “Hi Mister, thanks for asking us to come.  Do we get to ride a horse?”

Dieter picked Mitchell up, “We’ll see how much time we have after dinner.”

Mr. Odom looked around, “There should be one more car arriving.  They had to stop for gasoline.”

It was ten minutes until four when an older car pulled into the lot.  Rico climbed out of the driver’s side, “My navigator got us lost.  He can’t navigate in cities smaller than Houston.”

After the introductions, Rico, Carlos, Brahim and I went to get the steaks so we could grill them.  I hadn’t seen them before and didn’t realize that they were bacon wrapped filet mignons of different sizes.

Allie, Dieter, Tom and Ted took the four young boys to the stable to show them the horses.  Mikey had a great time, from what Allie was to tell us on the way home.  He didn’t know what a horse really looked like.

Dad and Mother were having a great time playing the host and hostess.  At about four thirty, Mother went to bring the other things from the kitchen and April Bloom and Ronda Sheraton went to help her.  Mother rang the dinner bell and the guys arrived from the barn and went to wash their hands. 

Allie announced, “Ladies, you are to proceed to the serving line before Tom and Ted go through or there won’t be any food left.  I think they have hollow legs that they hide the food in.”

After the adults were served, the guys helped the little guys through the line and were sitting with them so they could eat.  I watched as both the Blooms and Sheratons kept watching to make sure their sons weren’t misbehaving.  When Brahim, Carlos, Rico and I  finally sat down, I was seated next to Tom and Carlos.  Tom mentioned, “Ed, I’m not sure why we were invited today.  Did you have anything to do with it?”

Carlos added, “Talk about feeling out of place, how do you think Rico and I feel.”

“Guys, I promise you that I had no idea who was invited today until you people showed up.  Some of the people are old acquaintances of my parents.  Tom, I’m sure my Dad wanted to meet you in person, since he’s member of the Shell Board.  Carlos, if you will remember, my parents were at our house the night we did the sting operation.  I’m guessing that perhaps Mr. Odom had something to do with you and Rico being invited.  I think my parents probably know your parents and even though I haven‘t discussed what happened in your case, I can tell you that my parents wouldn‘t approve of what your parents did to you.”

Carlos started to laugh, “It’s a tight web you weave, President Waller.”

I looked around and everyone had pretty much demolished their meals.  Allie looked at Mother. “Grandmother, may we be excused,  The guys would like to go for a ride on the horses.  Is that okay, Granddad.”

Dad nodded, “That’s fine with me, but you need to check with Doctor Cochran to make sure it’s okay with her?”

Doctor Cochran nodded, “It’s fine with me, but make sure that Tom and Ted don’t fall and break their heads.”

Brahim and I started to take the things to the house and we were joined by Carlos and Rico.  The others were bringing in the rest of the things so the clean up was a breeze.  We loaded the church chairs on Dad’s pick up and returned them to the church.  We even took the canopy down and were just finishing as the guys returned from the stable.  Mikey was shaking his head, “Daddy and Mother, we saw a little calf who had just been born and was having trouble standing up.”

Mitchell went and stood in front of Doctor Cochran, “We made sure that Ted and Tom didn’t fall off their horses.”

Everyone had departed, except Rico and Carlos, after thanking Dad and Mother for a great time.  Carlos went to my parents, “Mr. and Mrs. Waller, I appreciate your inviting Rico and me here.  It proved to me once again that not all of you people in the social hierarchy are bigots like my parents.”

Dad hugged Carlos, “After I heard what your parents did to you, I was incensed.  Your father has been talking out both sides of his mouth for so long that I think he’s probably forgotten to think with his brains and let’s another part of his body lower down in his body do his thinking for him.”

Carlos looked puzzled, “Are you saying that you think my father might be gay?”

“All I’m saying is that he seems to protest too much to not be hiding something.”

Allie and Dieter came out of the house each carrying two suitcases and put them in the SUV.  “Dad, Grandpa Darryl wants to go, since his appointment is at eight o’clock in the morning.  Rico had been talking to Uncle Tom.  As we were loading up Grandpa Darryl, Uncle Tom, Rico and Carlos thanked my parents as did Dieter, Allie, Bra and I.”

I left first, since Rico said he wasn’t sure that his navigator could get him home.  The ride home was rather quiet since it was getting dark and it was difficult to see the sites.  Uncle Tom started to laugh, “This has been an experience that Darryl and I won’t soon forget.  You people sure do have some interesting friends.  I’m particularly intrigued by Carlos and Rico and how they fit into the scheme of things.”

I spoke up, “I was surprised that they were invited as well.  My Dad must have had a talk with Mr. Odom, because Carlos’ father is a bigot from the gitgo.  We had a run in with him on Friday.  It will be interesting to see what happens.  Carlos and Rico are both great young men and will be receiving their college degrees in December.  They will have a big future in Shell if they continue as they have been going.”

When we turned off of the Katy Freeway for the house, Rico’s car passed us and honked.”

No one was in the mood to talk when we arrived at the house.  We made quick work of unloading the car and getting ready for bed. 

We were awakened by Allie, “Dad, it’s time to get up.  Grandpa Darryl and Uncle Tom are up and Dieter has already had his shower and has his suitcases packed.”

Brahim and I went to the bathroom to take care of business and when I walked into the kitchen area, there was coffee brewing and some bagels.”

“We said goodbye to Grandpa Darryl and Uncle Tom since they were going directly to the airport after Grandpa Darryl’s eye appointment.  When Dieter and I were departing it was a different story,  Dieter and Allie hugged each other and Dieter said, “Thanks for giving me back my life, little brother.”

As Dieter and I were driving to the Shell building, he was talking a mile a minute.  “Mr. Waller, I want to thank you and your family for showing me that there is a life for all of us.  You sure do have some interesting friends.  I guess Grandma Carr does as well, and I just never noticed.  Can I come back visit if there is time?  I would like to come to college down here in this area.  I’m sure Ms Crabtree and Ms Sanders would take me in, since they’ve always been like aunts to me.”

“Dieter, you're welcomed to come visit anytime.  Mitchell is probably going to be having Mister withdrawal symptoms.”

Dieter started to laugh, “Not to worry, Mr. Waller.  Allie will have him trained in no time.  Did you see how the Bloom boys and Mikey practically worship the ground that Allie walks on.”

We parked in the president’s parking space as Tom parked in the vice president’s space.  The guys helped us carry Dieter’s suitcases to the building.  Manny said, “Dieter, I’ll have a driver here to take you to the airport as soon as Mrs. Carr arrives.”

Dieter and I hadn’t even had a chance to get anything from the Pit Stop when a young man arrived and announced, “The transportation for Dieter Randolph is waiting in front of the building.  I walked Dieter to the waiting vehicle and helped him load his luggage.  I hugged him as he got in the car and Mrs. Carr said, “I’ll call you when you get back from your trip.”

The day was hectic as I was to find out all days at Shell were going to be.  After the staff meeting, Mr. Odom asked, “What are we going to do about Senor Calderon?”

I shook my head, “I suggest that we as Shell Oil do nothing but make sure that Carlos is safe.  Dad suggested that perhaps Mr. Calderon is a closeted gay.  If he is, he’s bound to make a mistake and I don’t think we as a company should be involved.”

There was a quiet interlude and I stepped into Tom’s office, “Tom, how are things going?”

“Ed, I’m overwhelmed by everything that is happening.  I want to thank you for inviting us to your parents’ ranch yesterday.  The boys had a blast as did April and I.  My perception of the rich and famous was blown out of the water by the people who were there.  The boys want to know when they can go back again.”

“Tom, the rich and famous are mostly like us peons.  There are some that you can discard, but the others are tremendous allies when you need them.  They’ve been around a lot longer than us so we need to listen to what they have to say.”

Jackie knocked, “Bosses, Mrs. Kimball and Mr. Blank are wanting to see you.”

“Thanks, J. R., ask them to come in.”

Katie and Joe entered and sat down, “What’s going down that we have to take care of now.”

Joe started, “We’ve been doing some snooping in the technical areas and they are still way overmanned even if they have had a lot of retirements and resignations.”

Katie continued, “We think that you should issue a moratorium on any new hires in the technical divisions, until you get back from your little  jaunt this week.”

I looked Joe and Katie, “I can do that, but in the meantime, I want you to gather as much background information as you can get so the Vice-President Bloom and I can be armed when we take the technical divisions on.”

Tom put up his hand, “I thought that I was the Vice President for Administrative Services, not Technical Services.”

“As the Senior Vice President, you need to be able to step in and do whatever is needed.  Let’s go to lunch.  I’m starving since I didn’t have my usual Danish.”

There was a line waiting to get into the executive dining room and the Fish Bowl was full so we stopped at the pit stop and I had some soup and a Reuben sandwich.  Tripp grinned, “It’s about time you came to work.”

As we were eating, Carlos and Rico came to the table, “Hi bosses. President Waller, can we talk to you about a personal matter?”

“Of course, I should be available about 1:30.”

Carlos nodded, “Thanks, President Waller. We’ll be there.”

I watched as the guys departed and thought, ‘What could they want to talk to me about if it’s personal?’ 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes: Well, I certainly hope that Dieter will come back. He certainly fit in really well.

It certainly was nice that he is finally beginning to coming to realize that he was not to blame for the tragic loss of his brother.

I can hardly wait for the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/20/10