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

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Chapter 55 

Filling the Ark

After my parents had departed and all the young guys were settled in their rooms for the night, I got the three teenagers together with Randy so we could review our financial situation.

Witt mentioned that he had been working with Mrs. Hamilton to figure  the best course of action to take.  She was pretty impressed by how well we three teenagers are qualified, to handle the monies, with a little guidance.   I’m scheduled to meet with her at nine o’clock in the morning.  Dad, do you want to meet with us?”

“Nope, I have enough problems of my own.  I trust you guys to be able to handle your finances.  If you need help, then I will be glad to assist, but it appears that you have your p’s and q’s pretty much in line.” 

“Who has to be where in the morning?”

Walt answered, ”Wade has football practice, and I have band practice, before it gets too hot in the afternoon.  The band is getting ready for the Arrows for Aerospace Celebration the weekend after school starts.”

“Good, I‘ll take you home when I go to pick up Wiley, Nugget and the other two brothers at lunch time.   That way you Billy and Bobby can do business as normal in the afternoon, until we return.”

I turned my attention to Randy, “Randy, if the van turns out to be a good deal, then don’t be reluctant to close the deal.  Dad was serious about loaning you the money if we need it.  The payments would be a good deal less than if you were working with a car dealer.  You might want to talk to Uncle Mark and see what he has to say.”

After a pleasant night, Randy was already gone when I woke up.  I looked at the clock and remembered that he was probably in the barn helping the guys with the chores, since Walt and Wade were going to school with me. 

We were getting ready to depart when Wiley appeared with Nugget, “Daddy, Nugget says she doesn’t really want to go to the doctor.”

“Wylie, tell Nugget to not worry about the doctor.  It’s just for a routine checkup.  Nugget will probably recognize Doctor Boyd, once she gets there.  I’ll call you when I know what time her appointment is.”

I dropped Walt and Wade off at the high school and gave Walt a check to pay for the trumpet.  When I arrived at the school, Erik and Aaron Corn’s car was in the parking.  ‘Why is the Corns' car in the parking lot?’

Gloria wasn’t in yet, but the lights were on.  Aaron saw me coming into the building, “Hi, Mr. Adler.  Sorry we weren’t here yesterday, but we got back in town late last night.”

“Quite frankly, Aaron.  I’m surprised that you and Erik are even here.”

“Mom said that we owed you some more service time and that we were to fill in until Ted got back.  Do you have anything that you want us to do?”

“Aaron, aren’t you and Erik involved in any activities at school that you need to be attending?”

“Nope, not until the winter sports season begins.  I’m a swimmer and Erik’s a wrestler.”

“Aaron, you and Erik probably know more about what needs to be done than I do.  Just make sure that the building is ready for open house, and check with Mrs. Hawkins to see what she thinks should be done.  She's been in this business much longer than I have been.  Regardless of what your Mother says, you need to take some time and enjoy your last few weeks of freedom.”

Gloria took that opportunity to appear, “Aaron, what are you doing here?”

“We’re here to help you get ready for school, since Ted’s on vacation.  All you need is to tell us what needs to be done, and we’ll do it.”

Gloria started to laugh, “Well, my carpet at home needs to be shampooed.  Does that qualify?”

I went into the office and decided to call Doctor Boyd’s office to see if I could get an appointment for Nugget.

“This is the Belleview Animal Clinic.”

“Yes, this is Hank Adler.  My son is now the owner of Nugget.  Colonel Logan said that I should make an appointment for Nugget with Doctor Boyd.”

“Just a minute, Mr. Adler; Doctor Boyd will be with you shortly.”

“Mr. Adler, this is Will Boyd.  Thanks for calling.  I have a business proposition for you.  Nugget, as I’m sure you are aware by now, comes with wonderful pedigree champion papers.  I also raise pedigree Golden Retrievers.  I would like to suggest that we breed Nugget to one of my males.  I could have the stud here whenever you choose but I think it would be best if it be done as soon as possible, to prevent Nugget mating with a dog outside the breed.”

“Doctor Boyd, I’m a novice in this business, but what’s in it for you?  I know that offering your dogs for stud service is not usual, especially if they have pedigrees as you suggest.  What would you be charging to breed Nugget to one of your registered males?”

I could denote a little hostility in Doctor Boyd’s voice when he replied, “Mr. Adler, Nugget is a show quality dog.  You’re correct, the stud service comes with a fee.  As a fee for the stud service, I would get the pick of the litter as payment.”

I was getting a little uptight, “Doctor Boyd, isn’t it rather presumptuous of you to think I would agree to your proposal.”

“Mr. Adler, I’ll have my stud here at one o’clock and you can bring Nugget then, and we can talk more at that time.”

Gloria interrupted, “Mr. Adler, There's a call from Superintendent Brown’s office.  He has some time and would like to talk with you.”

I went to the central office and was shown into Dr. Browns office, “Sit down, Hank.  This is unofficial business.  My sons want to be in Billy and Bobby’s classes.”

“Doctor Brown, I had planned to match the student with the best teacher for the student.  I plan to make room assignments based on which teacher I think would provide the most success for the child.”

“There will be some very upset students and parents if the student doesn’t get their teacher of choice.”

“Doctor Brown, from my experience, it’s amazing how quickly students become attached to their new classmates and teacher.  I will take your request into consideration, concerning the placement of your sons.”

“If you will excuse me, I need to call home and tell the boys that they need to be ready for me to pick them up at noon.”

“Don’t forget the administrators have an all day workshop tomorrow at Chalco Hills Lodge.  I think you will find it very enlightening.  I’ll see you in the morning.”

I called home, and Witt answered, “This is Witt Latham.  How may I help you.”

“Witt, tell your three littlest brothers that we have an appointment with the vet at one o’clock.  They need to have Nugget on a leash.  I don’t know what to expect.”

“Do you want me to bring the boys to town and pick up Walt and Wade to save you time?”

“Thank you, Witt, that would be most helpful.  It’s rather busy around here today.”

“I’ll have the boys and Nugget there at 12:45.”

I kept waiting for Wade and Walt to appear so they could go home while Witt was with me.  Finally there was a call from the farm,  “Dad Hank, it’s Walt.  One of our friends gave us a ride home.  We have everything covered here.”

“Thanks, guys,  please have Witt meet me at the school at 12:45 with the three youngest brothers and Nugget.”

I was waiting in the parking lot when Witt pulled in with his four passengers.  He motioned for me to get in and asked for directions to where we were going.  It took us approximately ten minutes to get to the Belleview Animal Clinic.  Nugget evidently recognized where we were and didn’t want to get out of the car.

Wylie was resisting as well, “Daddy, Nugget says she doesn’t like this place.  She wants to go home.”

We finally were able to get everyone into the waiting area and I signed in.  The staff obviously recognized Nugget.  We had hardly gotten seated when one of the technicians came to take us back to the examination area.  “Mr. Adler, Doctor Boyd would like to talk to you in his office before he examines Nugget.  The rest of you guys can keep Nugget relaxed while I start the exam.”

I went to Doctor Boyd’s office.  He stood, “Mr. Adler, I apologize for the way I talked on the phone this morning.  I was caught flatfooted that the Logans just up and gave a golden retriever of considerable value away, especially to a very young boy.  I had hoped to add her to my kennels.  It, of course, was their call to make, not mine.  Let me show you the stud I have chosen to be father of Nugget's offspring.  Sir Halifax is a Grand Champion and I think that the two animals have a very good likelihood of producing show quality offspring,”

Sir Halifax was indeed a magnificent dog.  I was impressed, “Doctor Boyd, how do you propose to handle the breeding of the two dogs.  I think my sons are too young to witness the mating.”

“Hank, I propose that we have the two dogs mate in the controlled environment here at the clinic.  That way there would be technicians available at all times to supervise the activity.”

“Wylie is going to have a difficult time with leaving Nugget here.”

“Mr. Adler, let me take care of your young son.  I think I can convince him that it would be okay for you to leave her here.”

Doctor Boyd and I walked into the examining room where the four boys and Nugget were waiting, and the technician was doing something with Nugget. 

I introduced the four guys to Doctor Boyd.  He started to dote his attention on Wiley, “So, Nugget is your dog, now.  She certainly is a beautiful dog.  I’d like to keep her here this afternoon so she is ready for a new home.  We have some tests we need to do and she needs to have a pedicure, have her teeth cleaned and she needs to be given a special shampoo since she is going to be living on farm, so she doesn’t get fleas.”

Wiley was pretty sharp, “Doctor, why does she need a pedi thing and what is it?”

Doctor Boyd was trying not to laugh. “A pedicure is when we trim a dog’s toenails.  We can paint Nugget’s nails what ever color you want after we trim them.”

Wylie looked confused, “Why does Nugget need her toenails trimmed?”

Doctor Boyd had to answer, “If we didn’t trim her toe nails, she could scrape your face by accident when she jumped up on you.”

 Wylie wasn’t finished, “Why can’t I brush Nugget’s teeth?”

“Wylie, animals don’t like to have their teeth brushed like we people do.  I’ll prescribe some treats that will help keep her teeth clean.”

“Daddy, why does Nugget need a special bath.  We don’t have fleas at the farm, do we?”

Doctor Boyd chuckled, “Wylie, as long as you live on a farm with other animals, there are bound to be fleas, especially in the summer.  We’ll take care of everything that Nugget needs and we’ll call your Daddy at work and he should be able to bring her home tonight.”

A technician appeared, “Doctor Boyd, the police are here with two kittens.  They found them abandoned alongside the road.  What do you want me to tell them to do?”

Doctor Boyd looked at a little befuddled, “Why did they bring the kittens here?  We don’t take stray animals.”

Wally looked at Doctor Boyd, “You’re an animal doctor.  Why wouldn’t they bring them here?  Animals who don’t have families need  a doctor, too.  Officers, why did you bring the kittens here?”

The officers were at a loss for words.  Finally, the younger of the two policemen answered, “We called the Humane Society and they suggested that we bring the kittens here.  The Humane Society already has more cats than they can handle.”

Wally and Willy hugged me, “Daddy, tell Doctor Boyd to fix them so we can take them home with us.  You can use our money to make Doctor Boyd fix them so they don’t have to be put to sleep.”

“Guys, I need to get back to work.  Doctor Boyd will have his people check the kittens over and tell us if there is a problem.  We’ll talk about paying for the exams after we see what the doctor has to say.”

It was about three o’clock when the office phone rang, “Daddy, has Doctor Boyd finished with his exams of the animals?”

“Wiley, he’s probably really busy.  He hasn’t called yet.”

“Daddy, call and make sure Nugget and the two kittens are okay.  We’re very nervous that something might be wrong.”

“Wiley, I’m sure if something were wrong, Doctor Boyd’s office would have called me.  If they don’t call by four o’clock, I’ll call and see what’s happening.”

After I hung up, there was a lull and I realized that I needed to get my things out of my room so they wouldn’t be in the way of the person who was taking my place.  I realized that most of the things in the room would be of no value to me in my new capacity as a the principal.  I looked around and decided that the only thing I wanted to take with me was a large aquarium.  I used it as a the center of a quiet zone in my room.  I took it and loaded it into the trunk not knowing what I was going to do with it.

It was four o’clock when Gloria paged me on the intercom, “Mr. Adler, Doctor Boyd is on line one.”

I answered the phone in the lounge, “This is Hank Adler.” 

“Hank, it’s Will Boyd.  The mission was a success, or so it would appear.  We’ll know for sure in a month.”

“The preliminary testing on the kittens indicates that there are no problems.  We’ll need to check on them as they get older, to make sure.  There will be no charge for what we did today.  You can pick up your menagerie at any time.”

“Thanks, Will.  The boys are very nervous about the animals.”

When I stopped at the vet’s office, they were waiting for me.  The technician at the counter handed me a list of instructions as well as packages of medications.  The attendant grinned, “The doctor said there were no charges for today’s visit.  He has scheduled an appointment for Nugget in a month.  He wants to see the kittens in a week.”

When the attendants brought Nugget and the box with the kittens, I was curious to see what Nugget’s reaction might be.  I should have guessed that Nugget was going to be very protective. 

When I arrived at the house, Wally, Willy and Wiley were sitting on the front step waiting for me. 

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:

I was a little concerned, at first about the Vet.  He seemed a bit snotty, but I guess he thought better of the way he acted, and decided to be a bit more civil.

What is Nugget going to think once she realizes that she has been knocked up and is going to have a litter of puppies to take care of?

And how did they happen to get her to the Vet when she was in heat?

I wonder how Hank is going to feel about not being a teacher, and not having so much hands on connection to his students.

I guess we will just have to wait till next time to find out some of the answers.

I can hardly wait.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

P.S.

I would appreciate it if you could drop a note to E Walk and let him know you are thinking of him.  He is feeling better, and I am hoping that he will soon be completely back to his healthy self. 

Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

Darryl

Posted: 05/20/11