A Second Chance, Part IV -- A New Beginning
By: Radio Rancher
(©  2007 by the author and creator, Tickie)
 
The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...
  

Chapter 11

It was a scorching afternoon as everyone gathered for the graduation. Everyone had flown in for the occasion. All three boys and Grace had finished at the top of their class. Luke had beaten Mark by only a tenth of a point and was the valedictorian. Mark had beaten Grace by only a few percentage points and was second in the class. Grace and Johnny were very close but Grace had taken a couple more courses than Johnny had, before she had come to the school so she had a few points in her favor. All four of them were well ahead of any other students in their class. In fact they were all taking a few college level courses during their senior year, and would have a good head-start on reaching their goals.

The graduation was a wonderful success, and James and I were very pleased when the keynote speaker for the graduation turned out to be the life-sized Mr. Bailey.  Johnny and Mark had built the body and with the help of several people they found online, they integrated the personality from the computer program into the nearly perfect human body.  He was self-aware and was very happy in his new position of guidance councilor.  He also worked with the state Children's Protective Services Department, and was helping Peter Jones work with young troubled teens to get their lives turned around.

Peter came up and shook hands with Mr. Bailey, and then gave him a warm hug. “I'm so glad you have been here to help me this year. There are a lot of boys that will talk to you that wouldn't trust me for some reason. You seemed to have that special something that made them open up to you."

The kids all gave them both big hugs as they rushed the stage after the ceremony was over, and they invited both Peter and Mr. Bailey to join them back at the ranch to join in the celebration.  They both thanked them and did fly back to the Lazy L with them.

When they got back home, there was a huge celebration that Colt, Matt, Mike, and Andrew had set up. There was a huge spread, and there was plenty of food and drink for everyone.

When some of the folks headed for the barn, Mr. Bailey looked into the train room. He turned on the light and took a deep breath.  “I want to thank all of you for making it possible for me to be free from this room and to be able to interact with others. It wouldn't have been much longer before I would have simply overloaded my program and terminated myself, or at least tried to.  It really was lonely in there.”  He glanced down at the cabinet where the computer used to be and saw all the wires and connectors hanging loose,  He reached out and turned off the light, then backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. “I don't think I will ever want to go in there again,” he sighed.

As he turned around, Johnny came up to him and gave him a huge hug. “Mr. Bailey, I love you.  You were always there for me when I needed you, and you always cared about us.  We just had to do the right thing for you.”

It had been almost a year since Star had passed away. Colt and Matt were with him when he passed and his son was there with him, too. I should say his second son, since he and June had brought another young stallion into the world. He looked almost the same as his dad, except that instead of having a star on his forehead, he had a cluster of three stars there; Johnny had named him Starfield. 

Of course, Star is very proud of his son, and still watches over him and June.

Feedback always welcome:     

Author's Note:

Now that everyone has graduated, it is time to make plans as to what will happen next. There are definitely plans being made, but James and Charlie, knowing what's going to happen, certainly don't want to spoil it for you, so I suggest you keep reading here and see what is waiting in store for you. I think I have brought you up to date, at least I hope so.  Remember there will be another book to the story.

Thank you for reading this story. As Charlie said, this is not the end, Tickie has another book coming up. He has also given me permission to write a few side stories with some of the people here. I will, with Tickie's permission edit the next book. I am sorry that I didn't get more of this story written, but I had some serious difficulties to overcome in the last few months, which took up a lot of my time. I really enjoyed writing this story, and I thank Tickie for allowing me to write this segment. I know you are going to love what is coming next. Sit back and enjoy. I know I will.

Thank you Charlie and James for telling the stories. We all love them very much.

Your Friend,

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher

Tickie's note:

Thank you for writing a wonderful part to this saga, Darryl – Now stay tuned for the finale to "A Second Chance". It will be a while before Part V is ready due to running a website now. You have to remember I am now also a Webmaster, publishing many titillating stories each week.  So bare with me.  Chapters WILL come.

Posted: 05/23/08