What Do I Do Now, Mom?
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 29 

I’m Only One Person

I went into my office and looked up the telephone number of the storage company.  I dialed even though I wasn’t sure if anyone would answer, since it was after four o’clock. 

“Snowden, Storage and Transfer Company.  Rob speaking.”

“Rob, you never work this late.  This is Hank Adler.”

“Hi Hank, I was just thinking about you.  When I was in the warehouse today, I noticed that your household goods were still being stored,”

“Rob, that’s the reason I’m calling.  When would be the earliest that you could deliver them?”

“Do mean you finally got the plumbing finished in your house?”

“Not really, but Randy is hopefully going to have one bathroom and the plumbing in the kitchen finished by tomorrow night,  We need some of us to be able to live in the big house now that we have ten guys who are going to be living there.”

“This Randy arrived with eight boys?”

“Rob, Randy only has two sons.  I have temporary custody of the six Latham guys.  The oldest son, Witt works for me as my hired man.”

“Where’s Wilber?”

“He’s serving time in jail on several charges.”

“Hank, we could have your furniture and things loaded by late tomorrow afternoon.  We wouldn’t be able to deliver the things until Wednesday morning without it costing you an arm and a leg.  If you would be willing to supply the man power to unload the van, I could drive it to your farm and you could bring the van back on Wednesday morning.”

“Rob, I’m still working.  Why don’t you plan to deliver the things tomorrow afternoon.  In the meantime, I’ll see how much additional manpower I can round up.”

“Hank, you’d be saving a ton of money if you can get people to help you unload the van.”

“Thanks Rob; I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow afternoon.”

I walked into the reception office and Gloria handed me some messages.  “I didn’t want to bother you.  These can probably wait until tomorrow.”

I shook my head, “Gloria, I’ll be gone most of the day tomorrow.  I’m going with Dr. Brown and Dr. Hunter to the capital for a meeting.  I’ll try to return the calls tonight if the world doesn’t fall apart.”

When Gloria and I walked to the parking lot, our cars were the only two cars there.  I made sure she was safe and on her way before I climbed into my car.”

When I arrived at the trailer, there were some extra cars parked in front.  I thought one was the Corn guys’ car, but I didn’t have a clue who the other one belonged to.

As I was getting out of the car, another car was pulling in.  Judge Corn rolled down her window.  “Why are my sons here?  Did they get in trouble, again?”

“Judge Corn, I haven’t a clue why your sons are here.  Have you talked to them today?”

“The last time I saw them was this morning when they were leaving for the school.  Why?  What happened?”

“How did you know the boys might be here?”

Eric left a message on the answering machine that said, “We’ll be at Mr. Adler’s farm if you need us.”

“Let’s go see if we can find Aaron and Eric.  I’m concerned about who that other car belongs to.  I don’t recognize it and there aren't any signs of activity which is unusual.  I don’t understand why Ritchie Brown’s car is still here.  He should have gone home by now.”

I escorted Judge Corn into the trailer and a man was sitting on the sofa talking to Witt, Billy and Bobby as they were working in the kitchen.  Billy looked at us as we entered, “Hi, Dad and Judge Corn.  Judge Corn are you going to be staying for dinner?  Aaron and Eric are planning to.  Dad, Mr. Alexander wants to talk to you.”

Judge Corn looked at the mysterious visitor, “Art, what brings you to this neck of the woods?”

The Mr. Alexander person spoke, “I came to see if Mr. Adler would be a suitable caretaker for the Latham boys.”

I was incensed by the man’s attitude, “Mr. Alexander, I understand that you are with the CPS, but I must tell you, that you are no longer involved with the case of the six Latham boys.  Mr. Latham gave me the power of attorney to act on the boys’ behalf while he is incarcerated.”

I opened my briefcase and handed him the copy of the power of attorney.  Mr. Alexander and Judge Corn looked at the document and Judge Corn shook her head in agreement.  “Art, I’m afraid that this case has nothing to do with Children’s Protective Agency as far as the six Latham boys are concerned.  I’ve met the six Latham boys and I feel certain that Mr. Adler and Mr. Taylor will do everything within their power to make sure the boys are well cared for.”

Mr. Alexander wasn’t so sure of himself, “Who is Mr. Taylor and where are the Latham boys, now.”

Witt stepped forward, “I’m the oldest of the Latham boys and I’m Mr. Adler’s hired man, so to speak.  My next two brothers are at the house, helping Mr. Taylor install some plumbing and my three youngest brothers were kidnapped by Mr. Adler’s mother for the night, again, since we don’t have facilities for ten people to sleep here yet.”

Mr. Alexander shook his head, “Why are you evading the other question of who Mr. Taylor is?

Bobby put his arm around me, “Mr. Taylor is Billy’s and my Daddy.  We have been living here with Mr. Adler for several weeks and we’re not leaving.”

Witt grinned, “Bobby, go tell the people working in the house that dinner is ready.  Billy, we young people will eat at the picnic table, so the old folks can eat in the air conditioned comfort of the trailer.”

Judge Corn laughed, “Watch it Witt, or I’ll fine you for being in contempt of court.”

Randy came in, “Hi Judge Corn, your two sons have been a godsend.  They helped Ritchie and me move several big items into place since they arrived this afternoon.  Randy looked at Mr. Alexander, “I’m Randy Taylor.  I’d shake your hand but I’m rather dirty.  Let me go take a quick shower before I gross everyone out of the trailer with my smell.”

Witt came in from talking to the other guys, “The guys will be here shortly.  They’re freshening up in the milk house.”

“It a good thing that Grandmother Adler started two casseroles today when she was here.  Mr. Adler, we young people are capable of taking care of ourselves.  When Mr. Taylor gets out of the shower, you can serve the four of you in here.   I’m going to start taking the food to the picnic table for the guys.”

As we were eating, Mr. Alexander asked, “Hank, who exactly are your parents who seem to be around all the time.”

Judge Corn answered, “Hank’s father is Doctor Leon Adler.  His Uncle is Mark Adler.  Hank, I’m curious as to how and when Mr. Latham signed the papers awarding you the power of attorney over his six sons.  It was signed today.”

I sighed, “I was at school and Dad and Uncle Mark kidnapped me and took me to the county jail to talk to Mr. Latham.  It seems that he had contacted Uncle Mark and told him that he wanted me to be responsible for his sons, since Mr. Alexander threatened to put the boys in a home.  He also signed the paperwork to have his recent wedding annulled.  My Dad and Uncle Mark totally caught me off guard and are making plans for me to buy the Latham farm.  The only stipulation that Mr. Latham had was that the sale had to take place after his annulment had been awarded.”

Witt came in, “Mr. Adler, can we bring our dirty dishes in?”

“Of course, why not?”

Witt shrugged his shoulders, “We thought you older than us people might be talking about things you didn’t want us to hear.”

 

I stood, “If that were to happen, we would tell you so.  Listen to your marching instructions.  After you get the clean up taken care of, my Mother instructed that you are to take Walt and Wade and get them some decent clothes.  Why don’t you take Billy and Bobby with you, and you can stop and get some dessert on the way. Here’s my card.  You already know the pin number, and as always, I want the receipts for anything you buy.  Tell the other guys that they are going to be delivering the furniture for the house late tomorrow afternoon, if they want to earn some extra bucks.”

“We’re going to take Mr. Alexander and Judge Corn to the house to prove to them that the ten of us will be able to live here comfortably, when you and all five of your brothers are living here with us.”

Randy and I took the visitors to the house.  I let Randy explain what was happening.  “We should have the kitchen facilities up and working by noon tomorrow, thanks to Aaron's and Eric's help.   I need to see what’s in storage before I go much further.  I have no idea what appliances, if any, Hank has in storage.  The next project will be to finish that toilet on the first floor and the shower facilities in the basement, so we can stop and take a shower before we track farm dirt through the house.”

Judge Corn looked around, “Hank, everything looks move in ready.”

I nodded, “I’ve been working slowly, but when it was just me there was very little time to do anything and the trailer had all the facilities I needed.”

Judge Corn grinned, “Hank, I don’t know all your story, but I know enough to realize that maybe taking in Randy and his sons got you jump started again.  I knew Ron, so I know what happened.  I need to go.  I have a full day in court tomorrow.  Keep me advised as to how Eric and Aaron are progressing.  It will be interesting to talk to them when I get home tonight.  See you guys later and thanks for dinner again.”

Randy and I walked Judge Corn and Mr. Alexander to their cars.  We watched as they pulled away.  Randy put his arm around me as we were walking to the trailer, “Hank, you need to talk to Witt.  Doctor Mansfield was here.  Witt spent most of the morning with Doctor Mansfield.”

“Shit, I forgot he was to come, today.  I figured I would have been out of school by now when I scheduled the appointment.  What else am I forgetting?”

Randy and I were sitting on the sofa when the car pulled up.  Billy came in, giggling.  “Dads, it was like pulling teeth to get Walt and Wade to buy anything.”

Wade frowned, “We’ve never had to do things like that before.  There were so many choices that it was hard to decide.”

Bobby took control, “Dad, go get your barber equipment and give Walt and Wade haircuts, because Grandmother threatened to take them to her hairdresser tomorrow if you didn’t do something about their mops.  Wade, go get your hair wet and come out with a towel wrapped around your waist.  Witt, Billy and I will wash the clothes while you two are getting your haircuts.”

I thought Wade and Walt would give the guys flak, but they took off their clothes and Wade went to the shower while Randy helped me set up my barber equipment.

Wade came out and sat on the stool.  I started to use my limited barbering skills to see if I could do anything with his hair.  When I finished, I was blow-drying his hair with a styling brush.  When I had it the way I thought it looked good, I sprayed it with hair spray.  I handed Wade a mirror, “What do you think, son.”

Wade giggled, “Mr. Adler, my hair hasn’t looked this good since I was born.  I may spend the rest of my life standing up, to sleep.”

Bobby was laughing, “Wade, I hate to tell you that standing up to sleep isn’t going to make your penis grow any faster.”

Wade went into the trailer to get some clothes, “Mr. Walt, are you willing to have your hair butchered.”

“Mr. Adler, if I can even look half as good as Wade and Witt, I’ll be happy.”

Walt’s hair definitely wasn’t as easy to style as Wade’s had been.  It was taking me considerably longer and Walt sighed, “Quite a mess, isn’t it, Mr. Adler?”

“We need to get you a moisturizing conditioner.  In fact, we should all be using it, since we take a shower at least once of a day and we spend most of the day outside.  When I go to work tomorrow, I’ll see what I can find.  In the meantime, this is the best I can do.  What do you think?”

Walt looked at himself in the mirror and didn’t say anything.  He stood and hugged me, “Thank you, Mr. Adler.  I so hope that you and Mr. Taylor are going to be our Dads.”

Walt hugged Randy before he went into the trailer.  Randy and I took the barber equipment into the trailer and the other four boys were watching television.”

Randy and I were lying in bed when there was a knock on the door.  I looked at Randy and he shrugged his shoulder, so I called out, “Come in.”

Witt opened the door, “Mr. Adler and Mr. Taylor, I think, I’m going to need to buy a notebook and a pen to hang around my neck.  When Doctor Mansfield was here today, he said that all the animals on this farm seem to be doing absolutely great.  He did have several suggestions.  He thinks that we have way to too many pigs on the farm, and that you should sell some.  He also suggested that now would be a good time to have the beef cattle slaughtered so they don’t lose weight in the stress of the summer heat.  He also said that you should probably put the young steers out in the pasture as soon as possible.”

Witt had to stop and think, “Doctor Mansfield thinks that maybe Sir Robert is going to have a brother or a sister.  He wanted to know if you were going to start some more chicks while there are people going to be here over the summer.  He said it would be a good time then the peeps would be old enough to endure the cold, this winter, even though the chicken house has is its own temperature controll.”

“We went to our old farm, and he definitely doesn’t think we should combine the livestock from the two farms since quality of the animals on Dad’s farm is inferior to what is on your farm.  My Dad was of the old school that believed one bull could take care of a herd of cattle for years.  He couldn’t understand that the animals would be inbreeding and causing inferior quality animals.”

“While Doctor Mansfield and I were at the other farm, the appraiser arrived and mentioned that you were thinking of buying the farm in the very near future.  Is that right?”

 

“Witt, my parents have decided that I need to buy the property, and surprisingly enough, your Father agreed to sell, once his annulment had been granted.  He doesn’t want his new wife to get her hands on one red cent of the money.  You’ve had a busy day.”

Witt shook his head no. “That’s not even all, sirs.  When Doctor Mansfield and I arrived at the other farm, there were two people from the county health department looking around the house.  They condemned the house and declared it unfit for humans to live in, until the house is brought up to acceptable standards.”

Randy asked, “Witt, were the inspectors there before or after the appraiser?  It could make quite a difference in the value of the property.”

Witt nodded, “The inspectors were getting ready to leave when the appraiser arrived.  They seemed to know each other, because they talked for some time.  Anyway the appraiser started to look around, and I drove him around the other farm, on the tractor.  When he finished, he asked if he could come back here and look around.”

“I hope it was okay for me to bring him back here.  He assured me that he wasn’t going to be charging for an appraisal.  He was impressed by the condition of the farm, but he asked that you call him.  He has some suggestions as to how you might increase the value of the farm for very little money.  He was impressed with the condition of the exterior of the house, but only stuck his head in to see how the interior looked.”

I hugged Witt, “You must have some memory, to remember all that.”

“Thanks, Mr. Adler, I put the peoples’ business cards by the phone, if you want to call them.  I’ll leave you two alone to do whatever it is you old people do in bed.”  Witt snickered as he closed the door.

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:  Talk about a busy chapter.  Wow.  The man from child services showed up, Judge Corn showed up. The health department's inspector dropped in on the Latham farm, and found it unfit for human habitation.  The appraiser had a good look at both farms, and the vet also had a good look around.  I believe there were a lot of impressed people visiting. 

I am certainly ready for the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 08/06/10