What Do I Do Now, Mom?
by: E Walk
(© 2009 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 13 

Reverend Randy

We walked into the room where the Talk Back session was to be held.  It was like a conference room with seats around a head table.  Dr. and Mrs. Brown sat beside us.  I looked around and I knew more than half the people.  Some of them were my parents’ friends and there were some who were not of my liking.

Mrs. Egan, who was the moderator of the group, stood, “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming.  I see we have some new faces with us today.   While Henry Adler isn’t exactly a new face, it is nice to have him with us today.  Henry would you care to introduce your friend?”

I took a deep breath, “The gentleman with me and his two sons are going to be helping me at my farm.  His name is Randy Taylor.”

Mrs. Egan started, “I thought that a good way to start this morning’s discussion would be to talk about how the recently enacted health care bill fits into the life of the church.”

Randy stood, “Ma’am, I fail to see what the passage of that bill has to do with religion.”

A gentleman whom I didn’t know stood, “I beg to differ with you, young man.  The law promotes abortion.  That is against the teachings of the Bible.”

Randy turned to the man. “Sir, where in the Bible does it talk about abortion?”

The gentleman wasn’t about to back down, “Mr. Lumbaugh and Mr. Back are against the bill, so therefore it has to be wrong.”

Randy challenged, “What those two gentleman espouse is their own bigoted opinions, or the people who are sponsoring them.  To my knowledge, neither of them have had any religious training.”

I wanted to leave, because I didn’t like what was happening.  I could just see my parents reaction when they found out what had happened. 

A gentleman retorted, “You make it sound as if you know more about the Bible than those of us who have been attending church faithfully all our lives.”

Randy took a deep breath, “Sir, just because you attend church doesn’t mean you know about the Bible.  You only know what the pastors are saying or talking about.  Have you read the Bible from cover to cover?”

The man shook his head, no, “I doubt if there are very many people who have read it from cover to cover.   I suppose your going to tell us you have.”

Randy nodded in the affirmative, “As a matter, sir, I have.  When I went to college, I had every intention of becoming a minister.”

That caught everyone’s attention, Dr. Brown asked, “What changed your mind, Randy?”

Randy looked at me as if asking for help.  I held out my hands to indicate that I couldn’t be of any assistance.  “Dr. Brown, I guess I need to provide a little background before I answer your question.  My father was a minister of an evangelical church.  I was brought up to believe that the Bible was written by God.” 

It was in my third year of college when I began to realize that the Bible, as we know it today, has been translated and interpreted by groups of individuals.  They not only translated and interpreted it, but decided which books should be included and not included.  I even began to realize that the people who were doing the interpretations were able to insert their own convictions in the words.  I was so disillusioned that I quit college.”

“It was about the same time that I got a young woman pregnant.  My parents disowned me because I just quit college in the middle of a term and for even daring to have sex before I was married.  They have never even acknowledged the existence of my two sons.”

A lady spoke up.  “Are you saying that you had two sons out of wedlock?”

Randy shook his head no, “I married Jill when we realized that she was pregnant.   We fell very deeply in love with each other.”

Mrs. Egan asked, “Randy, where is your wife, now?”

“She died a little over two years ago.  I took her death pretty hard and began to drink heavily, and lost my job.”

The follower of Lumbaugh and Back asked, “Then how is it that you hooked up with a queer person like Adler?”

Mrs. Egan stood up, “Mr. Baxter, that was totally inappropriate.  Randy and Hank, I apologize.”

Randy grinned, “Mrs. Egan, it’s bigots like Mr. Baxter who are the divisive force that is polarizing this country.  I’ll be glad to answer Mr. Baxter’s question, but it’s not a pretty story.  I had desperately been trying to find employment as a plumber since I am a certified plumber.  I needed to make some money so the boys and I could eat. 

I went to the home of one your town’s supposedly finest citizens and did some work, but instead of paying me, he drugged me and used my body.”

“When I finally arrived at the school to pick up the boys, Mr. Adler was waiting with Billy and Bobby, even though it was well after school was out.  The problem was that I was weaving so bad that I was almost falling.  I guess I finally passed out and poor Mr. Adler had to struggle to get me into his car.”

Mrs. Egan asked, “Hank, why did you decide to stay with the boys?”

“Mrs. Egan, Billy and Bobby were sitting on the bench outside of the school, waiting for their Dad.  I was the last of the staff to leave and I didn’t feel right leaving them just sitting there.  I had had both of them in my class, when they were in kindergarten.  I had never met their father because he was always working.  Mrs. Taylor was one of my room mothers when the boys were in my class.  She was a wonderful lady.  Mr. Baxter, I resent being called a queer.  I may be gay, but it is you who are queer.”

Mrs. Egan pointed at the clock, “Ladies and gentlemen, we need to stop for today.  Randy and Hank, this did not go as I planned, but it was probably much more interesting.  I hope you will be joining us next week.  We need to learn the rest of the story.”

When we arrived at the entry to the Family Life Center, Billy and Bobby were waiting with Alan and Adam.  Dad, can we have some money to get a doughnut and juice.  I pulled out my wallet and handed Billy $5.00.  “Here, you go dude, this should cover the cost of a doughnut and juice for each of you.”

Randy and I were standing talking to the Browns and we had a number of visitors stop and talk.  Dr. Brown commented, “Guys, you stood some people on their ears today.  It’s about time someone put Mr. Baxter in his place.  He thinks of this church as his private domain.”

Billy came to where we were standing, “I talked to Granddad and Grandma Adler and they said it was okay if we took Adam and Alan to the club with us for lunch.  Dr. and Mrs. Brown, is that okay with you?”

Dr. Brown pouted, “How come the two boys get to go and we don’t?”

Billy stopped, “Let me go check with the Grandparents and see what they say.”

Dr. Brown grabbed Billy, “Son, I was just teasing.  The boys may certainly go.  I’ll bring them a change a clothes at noon and they can spend the day doing some work on the farm.  They need to learn what it’s like to actually do some work.”

Lunch proved to be very interesting.  Both sets of grandparents, Uncle Mark and Aunt Peggy were there with Kenny and Blake.  After everyone went through the buffet, the inquisition started, Dad looked at Randy, “So Reverend Randy, I understand that you stood the almighty Baxter on his ear today?”

Randy sighed, “Doctor Adler, please don’t call me that.  I felt like I was being pushed into a corner today and I retaliated.  I’m not very proud of how I handled the situation today.  I should have never opened my mouth.”

Grandfather Kuhns shook his head no, “Son, you did what someone has been needing to do for some time.  That Talk Back class is nothing but a place where people go to spout their personal beliefs, and try to get people to think their way.”

As we were finishing our meal, I looked at Uncle Mark, “Uncle Mark, could we talk to you in private for just a minute?”

“Of course, is it a legal problem?”

“Yes, Uncle Mark, it is.”

Uncle Mark frowned, “Let’s go outside and talk.”

When we were outside, I started, “Uncle Mark, Mrs. Pierson talked to us last night and told us she knew what her husband had done to Randy.  She broached the subject.  She said Randy should have demanded more money.  How did she find out what happened?  We certainly didn’t tell her.”

Uncle Mark threw up his hands, “I certainly didn’t tell her anything.  Did she say anything else?”

Randy laughed, “She told us that Mayor Pierson was a dud in bed and that she only kept him around for the window dressing he provided.  How do you think that made me feel to have a window dressing take advantage of me?”

Uncle Mark started to laugh, “If you didn’t say anything to the woman, and I sure didn’t say anything, she has some sources that I don’t know about.  She told me at the party last night that she wanted to talk to me tomorrow.  Now you have me wondering what’s going on.”

The others in our party were coming out of the club.  Blake was complaining, “See, guys, I told you that your Dad and Mr. Adler were trying to stiff us and make us pay for the bill.  My hands will probably be so sore from doing dishes that I won’t be able to operate the drill properly and I’ll puncture someone’s tongue and be slapped with a malpractice suit.  I have to crawl to you and get one egg each day to survive.”

Billy started to laugh, “Doctor Young, the price of eggs just went to a dollar for an egg, since me and Bobby threw so many at the pricks who were going to beat Mr. Adler up, last night.”

Mother looked at me, “Henry, I think you have a whole lot of explaining to do.”

“Mother, I need to get home and take care of school work.  We’ll talk to you later.”

As we were driving to the farm, Alan spoke, “Mr. Adler, our Dad said you’re going to be the principal at our new school.”

I was driving, so I couldn‘t turn around, “Alan, unless your Daddy knows something I don’t know, I’ll be a teacher at your school next year.”

When we arrived at the farm, Mr. Hamilton’s car was gone and there was an envelope stuck in the door of the trailer with a bill from the towing company.  I showed it to Randy.  He held my arms, “We’ll take care of this as soon as the boys are out of the trailer.”

As soon as the boys had changed clothes and departed the area, Randy handed me the phone, “Hank, be calm and explain that you didn’t authorize the removal of that fucker’s car.”

Thanks to Randy’s advice, I remained relatively calm as I called the towing company and explained that I hadn’t asked for the car to be removed from my yard.  The young voice at the end of the line answered, “But the person who asked us to retrieve the automobile said you would pay for the charges.”

“Well the person was wrong.  It’s not my vehicle, so it’s not my problem.”

Randy and I went to change clothes.  I wanted to take care of the remaining phone calls that I needed to make.  It was four o’clock before I was I able to get in touch with all the people who had called the school, except for one person and I left a message.  I was getting ready to go check on my guys since they had been strangely quiet.

The phone rang, “This is Hank Adler.”

“Mr. Adler, this is Ryan Anderson.  I understand that there is a problem with you paying for the towing of the vehicle my people did today.”

I took a deep breath, “Mr. Anderson, I did not call and ask for your company to pick up the car.  It’s not my car and I refuse to pay the towing service, and I certainly won’t pay for any repairs.  If you need to talk to some people, then call Captain Steve Godwin of the sheriff’s office.  He can explain what happened.”

When I walked out of the trailer, I was greeted by the site of  a sweaty hunk wearing only a pair of my jeans mowing the lawn with a push mower.  I yelled at him, “Randy, why are you do it the hard way.  There’s a riding mower in the shed.”

Randy yelled back, “I’ve never used a riding mower and I don’t know where the key is to start it.”

I went and put my arms around Randy, “Do you suppose the plumber and the farmer can be friends?”

Randy turned around, “Don’t you mean, can the reverend and the principal be friends?”

I kissed Randy and wouldn’t you know the four boys came from the barn area.  Bobby giggled, “Guys, we need to leave.  The big guys are playing like they’re Mommas and Poppas.”

I grabbed for Bobby.  “Look kid, you better be nice to me or you won’t be able to sit down for a week.  What do you guys want for dinner after you finish the farm work. I don’t work on Sundays.”

Adam giggled, “Sir, we wouldn’t want you to work too hard, so make it something easy.  We did have a big meal at the club.  When we get home, we’ll tell our parents that you didn’t feed us and we’ll have another dinner.”

The four boys disappeared and I showed Randy how to work the riding mower and went to see what I could find for dinner that I thought the boys might like.  I decided on meatball sandwiches and French fries  with a fresh tossed salad. The problem being we didn’t have any rolls to put the meat balls in.  I picked up the trusty phone and placed a call.

“Hey, Kenny, you and the dentist are invited to dinner but you need to stop at the store and pick up some hoagie rolls for meatball sandwiches.”

Kenny chuckled, “I thought you knew.  We’re allergic to meatball sandwiches.  How many of us are there going to be?”

“As far as I now know, there will be two adults and six young people.”

Kenny wasn’t going to be put down, “So it’s just going to be Blake and me that have to watch you six juveniles.”

I started dinner and went to help with the chores.  Why, I don’t know, because I was just in the way.   We heard two motorcycles approaching.  Bobby and Adam went to meet Kenny and Blake.  Kenny yelled, “the kings are here.  Would everyone please bow?

 

Bobby fell on the ground, “Sir, we’re too tired to bow.  Mr. Adler has been working us so hard we can’t even stand up.”

Kenny jumped of his cycle, “I’m Mr. Adler.  Is there an imposter around here?”

I stepped forward, “Thanks for coming guys.  Perhaps you could help everyone with their chores while I finish dinner.”

To be continued...

 Editor's Notes:  It looks as if that jerk, Baxter is trying to start trouble.  I noticed that no one seemed to be too impressed by him.

It seems that most people are a lot more tolerant about people who love each other than they used to be. 

I hope we get another chapter soon, so we can find out what else is happening.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher 

 

Posted: 04/09/10