This story is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This story is copyright by Ted Louis, all rights reserved. Distribution, including but not limited to: posting on internet sites, newsgroups, or message boards, or in book form (either as a whole or part of a compilation), or on CD, DVD or any other electronic media, is expressly prohibited without the author's written consent.
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Chapter 28
On Monday things got back to normal. The three musketeers had their last practice for the meet on Saturday. It was going to be good to only have to make one trip to the school to pick up all the kids.
The cross country meet was being held in Austin, so I had to get everybody up who were going to be there by nine o'clock. As it turned out, only the four of us decided to go. There were five different schools participating in the meet. It was an invitational meet and Corinthian Academy was the smallest school represented. Many of the runners on the other teams looked to be junior or seniors in high school. The boys looked around for their friend from some of the other meets, but Jordon Frazer was not there.
"I wonder why Jordon's not here," Chris said.
"I don't see anyone from his school," I said. "They must not have been invited."
"Too bad," Lenny said. "Jordon was a good runner."
It wasn't long before the race was started and with five schools participating, there was quite a mass of boys at the starting line. It was a miracle that there was not a restart required. As with many of the races, much of the time the runners were out of sight. The boys didn't do quite as well as they had done in other meets, but I was still proud of them when they came in in the middle of the pack of runners.
"Wow," Larry said, as he approached me and grabbed a bottle of water. "That was some race. I like it better when there are not as many schools running."
"Yeah," Chris agreed. "It was hard jockeying for position there were so many people."
"Let's get on the road," I said. "By the time we get there, it will be time for lunch, so go easy on those snacks." As if that would make any difference in the amount of lunch they consumed.
The next thing on our agenda was to figure out the logistics of getting everybody to the stores in San Antonio to buy Christmas presents. It took multiple trips on both Donald's and my part to make it happen. The easiest presents to buy, as far as logistics were concerned, were the ones for Joel and for Luke, Jeannie, Ginny and Penny because all of the boys could be shopping at the same time. Kelly went with us a couple of times. We convinced him that he should take his wheelchair since there would probably be more walking than he was used to. He complained, but finally saw the necessity for it.
When Joel called on a Saturday evening, I asked him if he had started his shopping. "Yeah, dad, Jeremy and I went to the Galleria. I got most of it done. I still have a few to go. It's a good thing that Jeremy went with me, one of the stores balked at first when I tried to use my credit card. Jeremy straightened it out. He can be really forceful when he wants to be."
"I'm glad he was with you," I said.
"He's getting Beth Ann a diamond for Christmas. I guess it's been sort of an informal engagement before this. He always referred to her as his fiancée. Now he's going to make it official."
"Good for him," I said. "I hope you invited him to come and visit sometime over the holidays."
"I did, and he said he would and would bring Beth Ann. I guess she's spending Christmas at the Collins'. Her parents are going on a ten day cruise of the Caribbean."
"Let us know when you will be coming home," I said. "I assume that you've signed up for that seminar."
"Yes, I got signed up. I'll email you the dates so you will know when to expect me. Well, I need to do some reading for one of my classes. Tell my brothers I love them and Gilda and everybody else there. I love you, too, dad, specially you."
As I hung up the phone, I saw that Chris was standing there looking as if he had something he wanted to ask me. He mumbled something incoherent and looked down at his shoes. "What is it, son? Is there something you want to ask me?"
"Yeah, I ... That is, I ... Well, could I buy a present for Linda? I have my own money," he said. His face was beet red.
"I think that would be a very nice gesture," I said. "Have you thought about what you want to buy for her?"
"I thought maybe some perfume," he said. "She always smells so nice."
"That's a good idea," I said. "Why don't I pick you up after school and you and I can go to the mall and find something nice for her. Would that be okay?"
"Yeah, dad. Thanks," he said, giving me a hug before starting off. "You won't tell Larry and Lenny, will you?"
"Nope. Mums the word."
The last day of school before the Christmas break, I saw Chris walking with Linda to her car. He handed her the small, brightly wrapped package. She looked at it a moment and then gave him a hug. I couldn't see it, but I think she gave him a kiss on his cheek. I noticed the twins watching what went on and started giggling. I turned to them and shook my finger at them. "Don't you dare say a word! Do you understand me?"
"Yes, dad," they said in unison. And as far as I know, they kept their word.
"Time to go get the tree," I said, as the boys were finishing their breakfasts the next morning.
"Are we gonna go to that place in Freddiesburg?" Larry asked.
"Fredericksburg," I said, correcting him. "Go brush your teeth and put on some warm clothes and a jacket. It's chilly out there today."
While they were upstairs getting ready, I called Manfred and told him what we were going to do. He thought it was a great idea and said he would join the caravan. He didn't know if Hilda and Penny would come, but Luke and the girls would definitely want to go. They had been asking when they were getting a tree.
The trip to Fredericksburg didn't take all that long to get there. Once we were there, I think the boys and Lenore looked at every tree in the farm, some several times. At last they agreed on one and I signaled the owner and he came and cut it down for us. Manfred and his gang were going through the same procedure that we had gone through. Luke and the girls finally made their decision and it was soon cut down and tied up. After our trees were securely tied to the roof racks of our cars, Manfred came over and asked, "Do you know of a good place to eat? My bottomless pit, also known as Luke, swears he's starving."
"There's a good barbeque place not far from here," I said. "I thought we would stop there. We have six bottomless pits to fill. Follow me."
The food was wonderful, if not messy. The boys had barbeque sauce from ear to ear when they were done eating. Their hands were also covered in sauce. Eating barbequed ribs is always messy. I led them to the restroom and saw that they got cleaned up. I didn't want barbeque sauce all over the van. We were on the road shortly.
Arriving back home, they all insisted that we set up the tree and start decorating it. Between Donald and me, we were able to get it untied from the roof of the van and the cords tying the limbs together removed. I had to think for a minute before I remembered where I had stored the stand for the tree. Gilda distracted the kids with some hot chocolate while we got the tree situated in the living room. While we were gone, she had retrieved the lights and ornaments and had them ready for the decorating.
The rest of the day was taken up with decorating the tree. The process stopped only to eat supper. By eight o'clock the job was finished except for one very important ornament, the star at the top.
"It's the custom for the youngest to have the honor of putting the star on the tree. Lenore, that honor is yours," I said.
"I can't reach way up there," she said.
Donald picked up his daughter and climbed up several steps on the stepladder. "Now you can," he said. He held her as she reached out and fixed the star in place. All of us applauded as she and her dad stepped down. She hid her face in Donald's shirtfront.
Joel's seminar was to start on Monday and last three days. That meant he would be late arriving on Wednesday evening. I was not that happy that he would be driving from Houston and wouldn't get here until after dark. The worry-wort that I had become was uncomfortable with him driving at night. I was pleased Wednesday afternoon when I got a call from him saying he was about to start for home. He said he was giving a ride to the guy from Spring Branch. That made me feel a little better knowing there was someone in the car with him. I still kept looking at the clock checking off the time until I thought he would get here.
It was with a sigh of relief when I heard the gate announce that it had been opened. The boys must have been waiting as well. They were in the garage almost before Joel drove his car in.
"Welcome home, son," I said when I got a chance to get through the six boys surrounding him. "How was the drive?"
"It's good to be home," Joel said. "It was good to have Flynn to talk to on the way home. It made the trip seem to go faster."
"How come he was still around the college?" I asked.
"Oh, he spent a couple of days at his girlfriend's house. She dropped him off at the townhouse just as I got home from the seminar."
"How was the seminar?" I asked.
"Fantastic. Dr. Wu was a great speaker and teacher. He made everything sound so exciting. I'm going to do some more research on programming graphics as it applies to gaming. It's a booming field at the moment," he said.
"Just remember, you have to finish your education before you think about anything else."
"Yeah, Dr. Wu made that very clear."
"Come in the house, Gilda has supper held for you," I said. "These guys have already eaten, but I bet they'll be at the table begging Gilda for a snack."
I was right and Gilda didn't disappoint them.
"You gotta come see the tree," Peter said, as Joel finished eating.
"It's beautiful," Joel said. "Did you help?"
"Yeah," Peter said. "We all did."
"You know, I have a bag full of presents in the trunk of my car," Joel said. "I need to go get them and put them under the tree."
"I'll help," Peter said.
"Me, too," William said, as the two of them rushed for the door into the garage. They were followed by the other four boys.
"It's stuck. It won't open," Peter said.
Joel took the remote from his pocket and pushed one of the buttons. There was a click and the trunk lid popped open. During the ride from Houston, some of the presents had spilled out of the bag. The loose presents were soon picked up along with the bag with the remaining presents.
"No fair shaking the presents to see if you can guess what's in them," Joel said, as he closed the trunk lid. By the time he had returned, the presents had been added to the mountain of presents already under the tree.
"It's a good thing Christmas is on Friday," Donald said. "I don't think William could wait any longer."
"I think that goes for the rest of them, as well," I said.
"I think this calls for a special glass of wine," Donald said, and went to open a new bottle.
"Cary, what's your brother going to do for Christmas?" I asked.
"When I talked to him the other day, he hadn't made any plans," Cary answered.
"Then, by all means, ask him to join us. If he doesn't mind sharing a bed with you, have him come out tomorrow evening after his slave driver of a boss lets him off work," I said.
"Hey, I represent that remark," Donald said, raising his glass of wine. "Besides, we're closing the offices at noon tomorrow."
"I don't think Christian will have a problem sleeping in the same bed with me. We slept together in that tiny Murphy bed in the apartment. My bed is a lot bigger than that one was," Cary said. "I'll go give him a call right now." Cary came back shortly and gave a thumbs-up signal meaning that his brother had accepted the invitation.
Thursday was a cold and blustery day. It was too cold to swim and too windy to play tennis. The only outdoor activity for the boys was playing with the dogs. They didn't seem to be phased by the weather. They were just happy to be playing with their pets.
Later that evening, Gilda announced that tomorrow she was going to an early Christmas service at her church and invited anyone who wanted to go with her that she would be leaving at 7:30. By that time Christian had joined us and he, Kelly and Cary said they would go with her. The rest of us would be on our own for breakfast, although, I knew that Gilda would have something prepared to be warmed up in the oven.
After all the kids were in bed and checked to make sure they were sound asleep. Donald and I, with help from Gilda, Kelly, Cary and Christian, played Santa Claus. We filled the stockings, which hung from the fireplace mantle, with small toys, various games and fruit. The presents from Santa were placed under the tree, even though there was barely room for anymore presents.
It was difficult to keep the boys and Lenore from tearing into the presents, but we made them wait until Gilda and party returned from church. When they heard Gilda's car drive into the garage Peter and William ran into the garage to urge them to hurry. Peter and William came back into the house, each holding on to either Cary's or Kelly's hand pulling them into the living room.
"Can we open presents now?" Peter begged.
"Okay, this is how we'll do this," I said. "I'll hand out one present and then Donald will hand one out. We will keep alternating until all the presents have been passed out. This one is from Santa to TJ."
"And I have one from Santa to Lenore," Donald said.
It took a while, but finally all the presents for the kids were gone from under the tree. While the presents were handed out, Gilda was busy in the kitchen finishing the preparations for our Christmas feast. The boys and Lenore took her presents into the kitchen to give to her.
"Thank you," she said, giving each of them a hug. "I'm going to wait until after dinner so I can sit down and enjoy opening each one. Dinner will be ready in about an hour. Hildy and her family will be bringing a lot of it as well. Would somebody please set the table? I think I counted 20 places to be set. One of those will be for Penny, leave it blank." With that she went back to fixing her part of the meal and of course talking to herself as she did so. With all of us working, we had the table set in no time.
"Christian, how did you sleep last night?" I asked when we were back in the living room.
"The bed was great. Cary hogging the bed was the problem," he said with a laugh as his brother punched him on the shoulder.
"I did not," Cary laughed. "It was you nearly pushing me out of the bed. I had to hang on to the mattress for dear life to keep from ending up on the floor."
"First liar never has a chance," Christian said, hugging his brother.
It wasn't long before the Strasser family arrived with more presents to be handed out. They, in return, received presents from all of us. Luke's uncle, Mel Wilson, had come in with them.
"Mel, when did you get in?" I asked.
"I flew in yesterday afternoon," he said. "As you can imagine, the flight and the airports were jam-packed with last minute travelers. I thought I was going to get bumped from my flight, because they had overbooked the flight. I probably would have if I hadn't been wearing my uniform. Sometimes being a soldier has its benefits."
"I'm glad he made it," Manfred said. Pointing toward Luke, he continued, "That one nearly drove me crazy asking when Uncle Mel would be here."
Hilda came in from the kitchen carrying Penny and set her down. "Take care of this one and keep her out of the kitchen. I don't want her to get burned on something. She's never still a minute. She doesn't walk, she runs everywhere."
"Yeah," Manfred said, "but we love her anyway. She didn't know what to think when Mel picked her up yesterday. It was as if she were saying, who is this strange guy holding me, but she soon accepted him as part of the family."
"She's grown so much since I was here last," Mel said.
"Could I offer anybody a glass of wine?" Donald asked. "We have a nice white that would go well with the turkey, or if you're a non-traditionalist, we have a variety of reds and rosés."
Between Donald and me, we got all the adults their drinks. The kids got soft drinks or juice. Gilda and Hildy asked for and got glasses of the white wine.
The meal was a feast. I think even the boys were full by the time they pushed away from the table and started clearing away the dishes. The girls help with the clearing as well. No one even asked for dessert. I knew it wouldn't last. I was sure that within an hour or so they would be back asking if they could have dessert.
"I haven't eaten that well in forever," Christian said, patting his stomach. "Thanks so much for inviting me."
"You surely don't have to go, do you?" Donald asked.
"I don't want to overstay my welcome," he replied.
"You're welcome to stay the weekend," I said. "We'll probably go ride the horses Saturday or Sunday, maybe both days."
"The last time I rode with you all, I walked funny for a couple of days. I did enjoy it though," he said. "I'm supposed to meet some friends on Sunday evening, so I guess I could put up with Cary hogging the bed a couple more nights. Thanks."
The weather was great both Saturday and Sunday, so the boys got to ride both days. On Sunday, Jim and Barbara Fowler came to visit the farm. I suspected that Jim wanted to ride and to find out when the sale of the Schlather farm would be complete.
"The closing is scheduled for Wednesday at one," I told him. "I've scheduled the housekeeping service that we use for our place to do their thorough cleaning on Thursday. That means you can probably move in starting on Friday. I know that's New Year's Day, so getting someone to move your stuff is probably out of the question."
"Don't worry, Jim, anytime you want to move, there are a lot of strong men and three pickups at your disposal," Ian said. "Well, I probably should have said there a few strong men. I forgot about Tracy."
"Oh, he's going to get you for that," Lionel giggled.
"Not if you don't tell him."
"Who? Me?" Lionel said, taking off running with Ian right behind him.
"Are they always like that?" Barbara Fowler asked.
I shook my head and went to check on the boys.
Kelly had been given the green light to begin riding a horse as long as he didn't join in on the races. His physical therapist was no longer giving him therapy. He still did a series of exercises that had been designed for him and he almost seemed to be back to normal. He had been bugging Donald to let him return UCB (University of California Berkeley) and I think Donald was coming around. His tutor reported that he was ready to begin classes.
Monday night, Donald sat down with Kelly and announced that he had arranged for the company plane to fly him back to Oakland and from there to be driven to his apartment. The car that had been stolen was being replaced by one of similar make and vintage.
"When am I leaving?" Kelly asked excitedly.
"We will leave Wednesday morning and get you settled back into your apartment. Your classes won't begin until the following Monday. I need to take you to the registrar to get your class schedule firmed up. We have an appointment with the registrar on Thursday morning at ten. If things go as planned, I will leave for home later in the afternoon," Donald said.
"How did you get all this arranged?" Kelly asked.
"You can thank your tutor, Dr. Allen. He did most of it. He's well known in academic circles and was able to cut through a lot of red tape that would have taken me months."
"Thanks, uncle. You don't know how much this means to me to be able to go on and complete my degree."
"As I've told you before, you can continue on and get a Masters and a PhD if you want to. There will always be a place for you in one of my companies, if you want. You're not bound to work for me. There are no strings attached."
There were tears in Kelly's eyes as he headed for his room.
William and Lenore were not happy when their dad told them he would be gone for a couple of days, but she was somewhat mollified by the fact that he told her she could spend the night with Jeannie and Ginny. He had already cleared it with Hildy.
"William," I said, "you have to be here on Wednesday to sign up for youth soccer. We have to be there at ten o'clock on Wednesday. You don't want to miss that or you won't be able to play."
"Oh, I forgot," he said. "But, dad, you better call when you get there."
"I will, son." Donald promised. "You don't need any more presents, but maybe I'll bring you a souvenir from California. How about that?"
"Okay."
As promised on Wednesday, Cary and I took the boys to sign up for the proper soccer age group appropriate for them. I was a little surprised that the three musketeers also signed up. When I asked them if this meant they were not going to tennis camp this year.
"Yeah, we like the tennis camp, but two years is enough," Chris said. "We can play tennis at home and Chin and Cho said they would come and play some after school is out."
"That's fine with me," I said. "I kind of missed you guys when you were at the camp."
I was standing in line with Peter and William waiting for a young boy and his mother in front of us. "How much is it for the registration?" I heard her asked the person sitting behind the signup table. He told her. "And then there's the cost of the uniform tee-shirt as well?"
"Yes, ma'am," he said.
I saw her shoulders droop before she turned to her son and said, "Rodney, I don't have the money for all that. "I'm sorry, baby. Maybe next year."
"But mom..." Rodney started.
"My dad can help," Peter said to the boy. "Can't you, dad?"
I nodded my head and tapped the woman on the shoulder. "Ma'am, I would be happy to help. I would hate to see your son disappointed. I don't want to insult you, but I would be happy to pay his fees."
"Why would you want to do that?" she asked.
"Because I can," I said. "I guess it may be because of my six adopted sons. I have a habit of helping strays."
"Thank you. Rodney was so looking forward to playing on a team this year. What is your name?"
"Crane Johnson. This is one of my sons, Peter," I said, patting Peter on the head. "And this is William Baker. He's the son of a friend who couldn't be here today. Go ahead and sign Rodney up. Let me handle the fees. Once the teams have been assigned, they'll give him the team tee-shirt."
"I'm Gina Polson. Rodney, thank Mr. Johnson," she said, reaching out to shake my hand.
"Thank you," he said and wrapped his arms around my waist.
"You're very welcome. Maybe you'll be on a team with Peter or William or both. I'm sure we will see you once practice and the matches begin." I paid for the three registrations and the tee-shirt fees. I noticed that the athletic shoes that Rodney was wearing had seen better days and I visually compared his shoe size to Peter's. His and Peter's appeared to be the same size or maybe a size smaller.
"Hey, dad," Lenny said. I turned around and there the three musketeers were, nearly dragging Jordon Frazer toward me. Cary was following close behind. "Jordon's gonna help coach one of the teams. I hope it's ours."
We chatted for a while until TJ arrived. Jordon waved goodbye and took off. I had given the four oldest the money to sign up with so I didn't have to spend my time in three different lines. Cary had volunteered to see that TJ got signed up. We were about to start back for the van when Manfred arrived with Luke, Jeannie and Ginny. With them was Mel.
"I thought I was only going to have one soccer player, but now my daughters have decided they wanted to be soccer stars."
"Good," I said. "I know they were hoping to have more girls sign up. Word has it the teams will be co-ed for the younger teams. I'm sure your girls can hold their own with the boys."
"That you can be sure of," Manfred said.
"Come on, dad," Luke said, pulling on one of Manfred's sleeves. "I gotta get signed up."
I chuckled and we took off for the van.
Every Saturday until the end of the school year was spent either with soccer practice or with matches. The first Saturday, Donald, Cary and I accompanied the boys to the soccer field. We headed for the bulletin board where the team assignments had been posted. Luke and TJ had been assigned to the same team. Peter and William had been assigned to different teams. I noticed that Rodney Polson was going to be on Peter's team. The three musketeers had lucked out and been assigned to the same team. Along with the team assignments, the practice field had been listed. Donald took William, checked the map of the grounds to find his practice field, and took off for his first practice. I went with Peter and Cary went with Larry, Lenny and Chris.
On my way with Peter, we saw Rodney and his mom ahead of us. Peter grabbed my hand and urged me to hurry and catch up with them. "Hello, Mrs. Polson," I said when we caught up. "I see you made it."
"This one would not let me forget. Every day he would ask if it was Saturday," she said. "I was happy when it was so he would quit bugging me."
I noticed Rodney was still wearing the same shoes he had worn at the sign up. We arrived at the field and met with the coaches. I was pleased to see that Jordon was going to be the assistant coach. Rodney and Peter were given their tee-shirts, which they immediately pulled on over their other shirts.
Mrs. Polson and I took seats with the other parents on a set of bleachers. After a moment, I excused myself and went behind the bleachers and made a call to Cary. We had gotten him a cell phone so that he could always get in touch with someone if there was a problem with the van while he was transporting the kids to and from the school.
"Cary," I said, when he answered his phone. "It's Crane. I want you to do something for me."
"Sure. What do you need?"
"Are the boys all set?"
"Yes, the coaches are running over some rules with them."
"Please go to the van and get that bag on the floor of the front passenger seat," I said. "There are two pair of shoes in the bag. Bring it to Field number 6. I'll be waiting here for you. I would do it myself but I don't want to leave Peter here alone. He might panic if he can't see me."
"No problem, I'll be there as soon as I can," Cary said.
It was less than five minutes later when Cary showed up with the bag. I thanked him and he left to go back to watch the three musketeers.
"Mrs. Polson, please don't be offended," I said. "But I noticed how worn out Rodney's shoes were. My boys outgrow their shoes almost before we leave the shoe store. We always have shoes that they can no longer wear. I've brought a couple of pairs that I thought Rodney might be able to wear. They are not new and they were destined to be sent to the used clothing outlet." I handed her the bag and she looked inside and took out a pair.
"Thank you, again," she said. "These are Rodney's size. I'm sure he can wear them."
We spent the next hour watching the boys run and kick the ball. It didn't always go where they had intended it to go, but they seemed to be enjoying themselves. I was impressed with the way Jordon interacted with the younger boys. Our team didn't have any girls assigned to it.
"Well, did you have fun?" I asked Peter when the practice was over.
"Oh, yeah!" he answered. "Do we have any snacks?"
"Yes, in the van."
"Come on, Rodney," Peter said. "Dad's got snacks in the van."
Mrs. Polson looked at me and I nodded.
It was a good thing that Gilda had packed a lot of snacks, because there were a number of non-family members chatting with my sons and helping themselves to the snacks.
To be continued.
Your comments and criticisms are welcomed and encouraged. I try to answer all emails including flames. Send them to tedlouis@tedlouis.com, please put Joel in the subject.