What Do I Do Now, Mom?
by: E Walk
(© 2009-2011 by the Author)
 

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Chapter 51 

Rap On the Head

I was thinking, what a heck of a way to start the day.  Everyone thinks I’m not paying enough attention to them.  What’s it going to be like when I have to go back to school in two weeks?  Of course, the young boys will see me all the time in school, but that will be in a different role.

After breakfast, we had to figure out how to get sixteen people into vehicles to go to church, since Sarah and Jake and the girls were going to join us.  The situation got less complicated when Tim decided that he would go with us.  Tim took the three youngest Latham boys.  Witt had Wade, Walt and two of their sisters, Jake and Sarah had the two youngest Latham  girls, so that left me with Randy, Billy and Bobby and the eggs for the pastors.

After church, I asked, “Where would everyone like to go for lunch?”

Jake shook his head no, “We’re going to take the girls and introduce them to the relatives in Nebraska City.  We’ll be back late tonight.”

Tim answered next, “Mr. Adler, why don’t we go to the farm.  There is plenty to eat there.  Besides, we can go to the Latham farm and get some work done on the out buildings.”

Wade suggested, “That way Billy, Bobby and I can open the roadside stand, since there were will probably be a lot of people out driving around on a nice summer day.  We’ll only stay open a couple of hours and then we can goof off the rest of the day.”

Walt giggled, “Yep, just think of the money we’ll save by eating at home.”

I was surprised by the responses,  “That’s fine with me.” 

While we were eating, I looked around the table,  “Since everyone else is going to be busy, Dad Randy and I will take Wally, Willy and Wiley to get them some clothes and supplies for school.  Tomorrow I’ll take Witt, Wade and Walt to get outfitted and get them cell phones.  We’ll get the rest of you cell phones when you go to middle school.”

“Billy and Bobby, we’ll take you to get your things for school after dinner tomorrow night if we can get your Dad to get his body in gear.”

Billy laughed, “Daddy only has one gear and that’s slow motion.  It may be Christmas before we get him dressed to go shopping.  He hates to go shopping, don’t you know?”

Randy feigned being upset, “William Taylor, you'd better be careful how you talk about me.  You’re not too old to be turned over my knee and given a couple of good whacks.”

Billy giggled, “Go ahead and try it, old man.  I’ll have Wylie call the sheriff and charge you with being mean to a little boy.”

Willie looked concerned, “Dad Randy, you really aren’t going to spank Billy, are you?”

“Gys, I don’t think Dad Hank would let me spank Billy.  He would probably turn me over his knee if he caught me spanking Bobby or any of you  He would hold me dowb and have you boys whip with a belt until I wouldn’t be able to sit down.”

All eyes were looking at me to see how I would respond.  I decided to

ignore Randy’s comment, “Okay, our three youngest sons, clear the table and get dressed to go shopping so we don’t waste an entire Sunday afternoon shopping.”

Bobby and Tim started to do the dishes.  I heard Bobby ask, “Tim, don’t you have any relatives?”

“Other than Jake and Sarah, I have two older brothers and two older sisters.  I’m the youngest of six.”

That didn’t satisfy Bobby, “Where are your Dad and Mother?”

“Bobby, our parents died, like your mother.  All of the older brothers and sisters have children of their own.  None of the brothers and sisters had room in their houses, so I went to live with Jake and Sarah.  It was a good thing that I did, because I was able to help with the farm work, especially when Sarah had cancer and was so sick.”

Bobby observed, “Miss Sarah looks good, now.  It was good that she got better, or the Latham boys’ sisters wouldn't have a place to live like a family.”

Bobby changed the subject, “Tim, when are you going to start football practice?”

Tim answered, “I probably won’t be home until late, from now on, until after the football season ends, because practice will be starting tomorrow.  I may not have to do all the exercises that some of the players have to  ….. .“

My eavesdropping was interrupted by Wylie, “Come on, Daddy, everyone is ready to go shopping.”

The three young boys were so excited to be able to pick their own clothes that they talked the entire way to the mall.  Randy put his hand on my thigh, “Hank, I think maybe we should have taken the boys one at a time.  They’ll be going bonkers in the store.  What clothes are we going to get each of the boys?”

“Randy, we’ll strictly be concentrating on clothes for school.  My parents bought them their dress clothes and all the underwear  and socks that they will need for right now.  I guess we will need to get each of the boys at least three sets of school clothes to start the school year and another pair of sneaker like shoes, with Velcro fasteners, especially for Wiley, since he hasn’t learned to tie yet.  In fact, all three would probably do best with shoes with Velcro fasteners.”

When we walked into the J. C. Penny’s store.  Wylie took my hand, “Daddy, you help me, and Dad Randy can help the big boys.” 

That answered a question that I had.  Wally and Willy didn’t seem to mind in the least.

It turned out that Wylie had me decide what he needed.  We were done in record time.  We had three sets of jeans and shirts, three short sets, since it would be hot when school started, and a pair of shoes.  I figured that would be plenty to start school.
 

We went to find  Randy and the other two boys.  They had everything they needed, except some long sleeve shirts and a jacket for when the weather started to get cool.  After we left Penney’s, we went to Target and got the school supplies that the guys would need to start school.  The stop at Target for school supplies took longer than the stop at Penney’s.  The hardest decision for the boys was deciding which backpack they wanted.

When we walked out of Target, Wylie asked, “Dads, can we go home now?  I really need to go to the bathroom, bad.”

I wanted to scold him for not saying something sooner but then I remembered that he was only four and had been so engrossed in getting his new things that he hadn’t had time to think about his body functions.

It was a good thing that I had flipped Randy the keys so he could drive home.  When we arrived at the farm, there was a car parked at the guys’ produce stand.  As we were about to go through the gate, I noticed Wade had his hands up as if yelling help.  I had Randy stop the car and went to see what the problem was.

As I approached the stand, I recognized the woman who was talking to the guys.  “Hi Joni, what seems to be the problem.”

The lady looked at me, “You’re Hank Adler, aren’t you.”

“Yes Commissioner Jones, that’s me.  What’s the problem?  Did you come to tell me that the people at the county court house are going to provide better service to the residents of the county?”

“Adler, you made us look like fools on that one, and probably rightfully so,  but that’s not why I stopped.  These boys are operating an illegal roadside produce stand.”

“Commissioner Jones, I don’t care if you are the president of the county board of commissioners, you’re wrong.  You have no right to tell the boys that they are operating illegally.  First of all, we do not live within your district.  Second, the stand is on my private property and these boys all live here and everything that they sell comes from this farm.”

“But they still need a permit to sell things in the county at a roadside stand.”

“Ms Jones, I’ve already talked to my uncle Mark Adler and he assured me that the boys were within their rights, on private property without a license, as long as they’re not causing a traffic problem.  I don’t think you’re operating in your role as a county commissioner but at the request of Miles Raven.”

Ms Jones looked sheepish, “I was informed by Miles last night that you were operating an illegal stand, here.  He said that you your rinky dink operation was cutting into his business.  I can see why.  I’ll take two dozen eggs, guys.  Miles and the grocery stores can’t touch your prices.  I guess you guys must be pretty busy.”

Billy giggled, “We’ll have to close the stand for today. Those were the last two dozen eggs we had.  It’s almost time to start our chores, anyway.”

After Ms Jones had departed, “Guys, why didn’t you use the cell phone to call for help?”

Wade answered, “We didn’t have time to get help.  Besides, you didn’t give us your cell phone and Witt went to pick up Grandma Rhodes.”

“Guys, I don’t like you being out here when there isn‘t an adult around.”

Bobby was almost in tears, “Dad Hank, Tim and Walt are here.  Tim is in the house studying for a test and Walt is fixing dinner, since Grandma Rhodes and Grandpa and Grandma Adler are going to be here for dinner.”

I hugged Bobby, “Son, I didn’t mean to sound like I was scolding you, but I’m concerned when you are out here and there isn’t someone who can check on you,”

Billy grinned, “Dad, Tim was here about twenty minutes ago and took all of our money, except for two dollars in change, back to the house for us.  We were about to close up when Ms Jones stopped.”

I helped the guys close up the stand; they indeed had nothing to take back to the house.  The guys went to change clothes so they could do the chores.

I watched as Billy, Bobby and Wade started toward the barn.  I looked around and Walt was in the kitchen fixing dinner and he had Wally setting the table.  Walt  looked at me, “Hi Dad, I thought we would have fried chicken, Macaroni salad and I made some apple salad that’s called Waldorf salad.  Why do they call it Waldorf salad?” 

“Walt, I honestly don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing that it was introduced at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City.  How did you get a recipe for it?”

“I was looking in the cookbooks and found a recipe for it.  I wanted to make something easy.  Between the two salads, they took a lot of time.”

I hugged Walt, “Walt, thank you for doing all the things that you do and you never complain.”

“Dad, you don’t know how great it is to be able to do things like this.  It’s so nice not to have to go to bed hungry.  Dad, I have a question for you and Dad Randy.”

“What is the question?”

“I'm wondering how you would feel if I were to try out to be the drum major of the school band?”

“I thought that the drum major was selected from the members of the school band.  I didn’t know that you were interested in being in the band.”

Walt got a funny look on his face, “Dad,  I took lessons on the trumpet during music, last year   Even Witt and Wade don’t know  The band director wants me to join the band, but I would like to be the drum major so everyone could see me when we were performing at the football games and in parades.  In the winter when we aren’t performing outside, I could play trumpet in the band for concerts.  The band director says that I have the potential to be the first chair in the trumpet section.”

“Walt, I know enough about music to know that you can’t become very good at music if you don’t practice.  When do you practice?”

Walt grinned, “I practiced in the band room on the days I didn’t have lessons.  I had to use an old trumpet that was in the band room.  Dad would have flipped his lid if he had known what I was doing.”

I was surprised by this latest revelation, “Son, we’ll have to get you a trumpet and you can practice while the guys are milking and maybe the cows will give more milk.”

“Dad, be serious.  If Wade is practicing football, I’ll need to help Billy and Bobby with the chores.  Billy still isn’t able to reach the pipes to connect the hoses to the milk tank when he’s doing the milking.”

I frowned, “Walt, less you forget, I was living alone on the farm for the past two years, so I do know how to do the milking and take care of  the chores.”

“Yeah, but you weren’t a principal then.  Now that you’re a principal, you will have to go to all sorts of meetings after school.”

“Walt, we’ll check into getting you a used trumpet that’s your own and we’ll stop at the school and see what you have to do to tryout to be the drum major.”

Our conversation was interrupted by the arrival of Witt with Grandma Della.  Witt looked in the oven, “Walt, do you need any help?”

“Nope, everything is ready.”

Witt looked around, “Since you have everything under control, Grandma Della wants to see the guys at work.  Dad, your parents will be here shortly.  Grandma made a dessert to go with our meal.”

I hugged Grandma Della, “I think everyone else is in the barn area except for the two of us and Tim.  I’ll wait for my parents and then I’ll join you.”

My parents arrived shortly after Witt and Grandma Della had departed to go see the other guys.  Mother was carrying a big bowl with something in it and Dad arrived with a large flat cake pan with an unfrosted cake and a bag with something.  Mother went right to the fridge, “We'll put the strawberries and whipping cream in here.  We’ll make the whipped cream after dinner.  Where’s Della?”

“Mom, she went to see what the others are doing in the barn area.  I told her I would be out to join them as soon as you arrived.”

Dad broke in, “Come on, Hank,  We’ll go join them while your Mother stays here and bosses Walt around.”

“Watch it, Leon, or you’ll be sleeping in the bathtub tonight.”

Walt was chuckling, “Why are you going to make Granddad sleep in the tub?”

Dad laughed, “Walt, it would be just normal.  Your Grandmother is always making me sleep in the tub.”

Mother smirked, “Leon, you don’t have to tell all our secrets.  Henry, take your Dad and go check on the others, before I bop him with a frying pan.”

On the way to the barn area, I told Dad about the plans the three oldest boys had for when school started and the encounters with Mr. Ravens and Joni Jones.  Dad shook his head, “Hank, things are going to be very different than in the past.  I can not imagine having to worry about eight young people.  You’re going to have your hands full.”

Editor's Notes:

What is it with that darn green grocer?  He doesn't give up, does he?

It is so nice that all the kids are finally getting to be part of a family that loves them, and is going to look out for them, now.

Hank and Randy are doing a very good job of taking care of the boys, and the girls are beginning to settle in pretty well with Jake and Sarah.

I want to see the next chapter.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 02/18/11