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

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

Chapter 58 

The Arrival of the Rebel

I was preoccupied with everything I had to do this weekend as I was walking to the parking lot.  My cell phone started to ring; without thinking, I answered, “Yes, Mother Dearest, what can I do for you?”

“Dad, It’s Witt.  I look nothing like your Mother.  Doctor Hubbard’s grandson Michael is in town.  He’s at the motel where Dr. Hubbard is staying.  The only problem is that he’s out of gas for his vehicle.”

“Witt, I’m just getting ready to leave.  It would save time if I just swung by there and helped him get gas and bring him to the house.  What kind of vehicle is he driving?”

“Be prepared, Dad.  It sounds as if he has an attitude problem.  He said that he was driving a black Harley Davidson motorcycle.”

As I was driving the short distance to the motel, I was remembering what Randy had said about this Michael person; that he might not be a good influence for our boys.  When I pulled in at the motel there was a big motorcycle parked near the entrance with a person lying on the seat and his feet of the handlebars.

I pulled in next to the motorcycle and rolled down my window, “Are you Michael?”

“Why do you want to know?”

“Look, my son just called me and said you were out of gas and cash.  Since I was going home anyway, I decided to stop and help you, rather than Witt having to come get you.  Now get off the cycle and walk it over to the gas station so we can get you gas and I can get home.  I’ve had a busy day.”

“Look Mister, don’t talk to me about a busy day.  I drove the whole way from Chicago without a stop until I was getting off the expressway.  I ran out of gas and had to push the cycle here.  I’m exhausted and starved.  I haven’t eaten since I left Chicago.”

“That doesn’t sound like very good planning.  How come you ran out of gas?  I’m sure that you had enough money to get here.”

Michael finally stood, “I used what cash I had to pay for cigs and drinks for the trip.”

Michael’s appearance was revolting,  He had his hair, controlled by a head scarf.  It looked as if his hair hadn’t been washed in some time. He had on a black leather outfit with a three or four thick gold chains with hanging symbols around his neck.  In fact, he was what I imagined a hell’s angel would look like.

When we got his cycle to the filling station, I used my credit card to activate the pump.  When his monster was full, he asked, “I don’t suppose you would spot me a ten, so I can buy a pack of weeds and some booze?”

“Nope.  In Nebraska it's illegal to sell tobacco products to anyone under the age of 18 and to sell alcoholic products to anyone under the age of 21.  See that car over there. That’s an under cover policeman.  They regularly patrol this area, since one of our high schools is directly across the highway from here.”

“Why can’t you buy them for me?”

“What is it you don’t understand, Michael.  If they thought I was buying the products for you, I could be fined as well as you.  I’m a school principal and the press would have a field day with me buying alcohol and tobacco products for a minor.  Get on your cycle and follow me.  The people at the farms are going to start worrying if we don’t show up pretty soon.”

“I think that I’ll turn around and start back to Chicago.”

“That makes no sense at all.  You, yourself said that you’re exhausted and starved and out of money.  How do plan to stay awake on the trip back to Chicago?  Come home with me and you can at least talk to your Grandfather before you do anything rash.”

When we arrived at the farm, Wiley and Nugget arrived to meet us.  Nugget started baking at Michael.”

“Tell the friggin’ dog to shut his friggin trap.  What’s his problem anyway?  I didn’t do nothing to him.  How soon do we eat?”

Wiley picked up a stone and was about to hurl it at Michael.  “Nugget is barking at you, because she doesn’t like you, and I don‘t neither.”

I stopped Wiley from throwing the stone, “Wiley, go tell Dr. Hubbard that Michael is here.  We’ll be at the barn as soon as I change clothes.”

Michael looked around, “I don’t suppose there is anything to eat on this farm.”

“We’ll be eating in about thirty minutes.  Surely you can wait until then after not eating since who knows when.  We don’t snack this close to meal time.  I’ll be down in a couple minutes and I take you to the barn area.”

When I started toward the barn, Michael wasn’t anywhere in sight, so I assumed that he had already gone on to the barn areas by himself.  The first persons I saw were Bobby and Dr. Hubbard.

Dr. Hubbard glanced around, “Wiley said that there was a dirty man with you that he and Nugget didn’t like him.”

“When I started toward the barn area, I didn’t see him in the house.  I guess he hooked up with one of the other groups.”

When everyone was assembled ready to eat, Michael still hadn’t  appeared.  I went to make sure his cycle was still where we had parked.  When we went into the kitchen, Witt and Tim hadn’t seen Michael, so that must mean he must be in the house.  I thought to myself, ’He must have fallen asleep somewhere.’

I looked at the guys assembled to eat, “We should probably make sure that Michael is okay.  He hasn’t eaten anything all day and has been traveling all day.  Guys, look around the downstairs and on the porch.  I think I would have heard him if he had come up the stairs when I was changing.”

It didn’t take long for the lost body to be found.  We heard Nugget barking in the living room.  Everyone assembled at the site of the disturbance, the good room where we entertained guests.  Michael was lying on the good sofa with his boots and all of his clothes on, “Tell that friggin’ dog to shut up.”

Dr. Hubbard clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention, “Michael, the people on this farm don’t talk like that.  Get yourself off that sofa with your filthy clothes.  Dinner is ready, if you’re as hungry as you profess to be, you need to get ready.”

Everyone went back to the kitchen area,  Everyone was almost seated with their dinner plate since this was a one bowl meal with the sides like rolls and a fruit salad on the table.  Michael entered  into the dining room and parked his carcass on the first available chair which was between Bobby and Wally. 

Bobby looked up at Michael, “Mister, you have to go to the kitchen to get your plate.  It’s easier than passing around big bowls and saves dishes when it comes time to do them.”

Michael made no effort to get out of his seat, “What kind of joint is this that makes its visitors get their own meal, and besides, that looked like it was homemade.  Who eats homemade food?”

Dr. Hubbard went to pull the back of Michael’s chair, “Michael, I suggest you get your ass out of that chair and go get your food like the rest of us did, or you’ll be walking back to Chicago, because we’ll make sure you don’t make the state line on your stolen motorcycle.  Now get your ass out of that chair and go get some food.  You probably haven’t had a decent meal in months.”

Everyone was watching to see what Michael would do.  He just sat there and so everyone started to eat.  It was approximately five minutes later when he finely pushed back his chair with as much noise as he could make and went to get a plate.  As soon as Michael had left the room, Bobby looked at Randy and me, “Dads, do I got to sit next to that man when he comes back?  He smells so bad that I think that I’m going to get sick”

Wally interjected, “Yeah, Dads, He’s so dirty he really smells.  I don’t think he’s washed his hands for a long time and when he scratches his head, little black things fall out of his hair.”

Dr. Hubbard looked at Randy and me, “I think it might be wise to isolate Michael.  I agree with the two boys;  Michel does smell really bad.  If he has lice as it appears he has, he’ll probably be leaving live samples wherever he goes.”

Michael returned so the conversation was terminated.  After Michael was seated. I looked at the boys, “You may be excused whenever you  want.  Witt, you need to set up the shop when you finish your dinner.”

Witt looked a little lost, “Dad, what shop?”

“We’ll have to set it up in the basement, so we don’t let the critters all over the house.  Randy, as soon as you're finished you’ll need go to the drug store to get some supplies we’ll need.”

Billy caught on to what I was talking about.  “We’ll have to put up a red flag since the guys’ sisters are in the area.”

Witt laughed, “Gotcha, Dad.”

Michael was oblivious to what was going on.  In fact, he went to the kitchen and helped himself to a second helping without even asking.  He kept scratching his hair the entire time he was eating, and I shuddered at how much damage control we were going to need to do from the short time Michael had been here.

When Michael finished his two helpings, he pushed his plate and things forward and leaned back.  I was almost afraid that he was going to prop his feet on the table.  Fortunately, he didn’t, but he let out a loud belch and asked, “What’s for dessert?”

I stood, “Michael, there is no dessert, right now.  As soon as you finish clearing the table, since you were the last to finish, we have a major clean up project to take care of.”

Michael yelled, “I ain’t your slave.”

Dr Hubbard stood and sternly said, “Yes, and nobody here at this farm is your slave.  Michael, do as you were asked to do.  There are enough people to make you do it, if need be.”

Michael pushed his chair back so hard that it fell over and landed on it’s back.  Michael landed on his butt.  Dr. Hubbard started toward Michael; but I held him back, “Dr. Hubbard, it’s not worth using force on a spoiled brat.  He’ll just rebel all the more.  He can always do his dishes later if and when he wants something to eat.  It’s time to begin the operation.  Let me make sure the guys have everything ready.”

I checked and the guys had everything set up.  I went to the bedroom and changed into my swim suit.  As I arrived on the landing, Randy and Tim pulled in with a large bag.  “Randy, what I asked you buy shouldn’t be that big.”

Tim chuckled, “The pharmacist recommend these items if the situation is as bad as we described it.  In fact, someone may need to get some more supplies when we see how much damage has already been done.”

I took the purchases, “Thanks, guys.  Please escort our visitor to the shower in the basement.  Dr. Hubbard, you need to be with us to testify that we did nothing to cause Michael bodily injury.”

I was in the shower making sure the water was at an acceptable temperature when Michael was being assisted down the stairs by Tim, Randy, and Witt.  He was resisting, “What are you guys going to do? Take advantage of my body?”

I turned to Michael, “Look, punk. You smell so bad that no one would want to use your body.  Take off your clothes and put them in the three bags so we can get them out of the house.  If you don’t get out of them, voluntarily, there are enough of us to do it for you, forcefully.”

Michael stood there defiantly, “I don’t need a shower.”

Dr. Hubbard approached Michael. “Michael, you certainly do need a shower, and badly.  I think it would be wise for you to cooperate voluntarily; because it’s hard to tell what might happen if you had to be forced to undress and take a shower.”

Michael looked at the other adults assembled and started to disrobe.  I handed him a large white bag, “Put your chains, ear rings etc. in this bag.”

That done, the second bag had his boots, leather jacket and leather pants and it was more and more evident that Michael's entire body was infected with lice and crabs.  When he had filled three bags, we got down to the nitty-gritty and he was standing is in his tan briefs, socks and his head scarf.  The socks were the easiest to get removed.  The head scarf went with reluctance.  When it did come off, there was a massive amount of little black things surfacing in Michael’s long strawberry hair.”

It took minutes persuasion, but finally, his filthy briefs were shucked into and the bag with the socks and head scarf and put into the trash never to return again.  I handed the special shampoo and the lice soap to Michael and gave him instructions on what he should do..  I  warned him that if he didn’t do a good job, he would be repeating the process in the morning, until he did it correctly.”

He looked at me defiantly, “How will you know if I did a good job or not?”

“We’ll be able to tell by the evidence on the sheets where you sleep tonight.  They’ll be white and tell us how well you shampooed your hair and washed your body.  After you finish washing your body, we’ll trim your hair.”

“Say what?”

“I said I was going to cut your hair,   Your long hair is a drawing card for unwanted creatures, especially when you don’t shampoo frequently as you apparently haven’t been doing.  Get busy.  This is going to take some time.”

When he started to pussyfoot with the shampoo, I climbed into the shower with him, and took over shampooing his hair.  It soon became obvious that he had a really bad case of head lice.  Michael realized that I meant business..  I reminded him,  “At school, the nurse would recommend that your head be shaved so that you could get rid of the head lice permanently.  You need to wash your armpits and pubic area, because they are also breeding grounds for body lice or crabs as you hear them called.”

Michael finally had all of the body cleansing he could stand.  When he got out of the shower, I had him wrap a towel around his waist and had him sit on the stool.  The first thing I did was to devoid his face of any facial hair which hadn’t been taken care of.  When I started to work  on his hair, he pleaded, “Please, Mr. Adler, don’t shave off my hair?”

“Relax, Michael.  I’m only trimming it to make you look good.  You have so much hair on your head.  When I finish, you will need to take another shampoo and shower.  There are still some of those live critters who escaped our attack, so far.  You'd better hurry, because I think the guys are making homemade ice cream.  I’ll have Witt bring you some clothes to wear.”

I heard Michael taking a shower and went to change clothes and sanitize the areas of the house where Michael had been and then went to take my own shower. 

I was walking into in the dining room when I heard Wylie say, “Nugget hasn’t barked at you since your shower.  I guess she didn’t like the dirty smell you had before.  Daddy, the ice cream’s ready.”

“Wiley, I’ll be there after I take a shower.”

To be continued...

Editor's Notes:

This Michael person is quite a piece of work.  He really does need an attitude adjustment, among other things. 

Those pesky little black things can be pretty persistent, and they are not at all easy to get rid of. 

I'm afraid that Michael is one of those well to do kids that managed to get whatever he wanted, while he was growing up, which it seems he still hasn't finished doing. In any case, I think he is going to find out the hard way, just how the cow eats the cabbage, if he spends any time at all on the farm. 

Rebellious teens can be difficult to convince that there are better ways to act than to constantly disagree with other people. However, I strongly suspect that Hank, Micheal's father and Randy won't take much nonsense from the snotty little brat.

We will just have to wait and see what happens next.

I can hardly wait.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Posted: 06/10/11