Joel: Book Eight ~ The New Patriarch

I answered the phone knowing that it would be Donald calling. He and I spoke briefly. He told me that Kelly had regained consciousness a little after noon, but was still very groggy. The doctors said that they were encouraged, but he still had a long way to go to return to normal.

"I've got two kids here, hopping up and down wanting to talk to you," I said.

"I wonder who that could be," Donald laughed. "Put Lenore on first."

"Your daddy wants to talk to you first," I said to Lenore and handed her the receiver.

"Hi, daddy, when you coming home?" Lenore said.

William frowned and looked like he might start to cry. "Son, you're the oldest, so you have to let your sister talk first. Your dad loves you, but he can't talk to both of you at once. You'll get your turn." The frown lessened, but didn't go away all together.

Several minutes later, Lenore handed the phone to William, who took it eagerly. "Hi dad, when are you coming home?"

I didn't listen to the rest of the conversation which lasted a little over five minutes. When William was finished, he handed the phone to me and I spoke to Donald for a few more minutes.

"So, when are you planning on coming home?" I asked.

"I'm leaving here around noon on Thursday. By that time, Kelly's condition will be better understood," Donald said. "The doctors are positive that he will need physical therapy, but that will depend on whether he has any loss of use in any of his limbs. Would it be an inconvenience if he came to stay with us while he undergoes the therapy?"

"Not at all," I said. "He's more than welcome to stay here while he recuperates. There's the extra bedroom in the new addition, and I'm sure that Gilda will make sure he is comfortable. Have the doctors said when he might be released from the hospital?"

"If he continues to improve, he could be released from the hospital in about a week," Donald answered. "Whenever it is, I'll have him flown back there accompanied by a medical staff. I'll need to start searching for a physical therapist as soon as I get back. I want him to have the best care. After all he is my only living relative, other than William and Lenore."

"If you go back to the hospital later, tell Kelly that we are all hoping for his quick recovery," I said.

"I will," he said, and we ended the call.

At the supper table, I asked, "Are you guys ready for the cross country run on Saturday?"

"Yeah," Lenny said. "It's going to be fun."

"Did you bring home the information on where it's going to be? I haven't seen it."

"We put it on your desk," Chris said.

"Okay, I'll look at it after supper."

When the boys were busy with their homework, I found the paper they had put on my desk and read the instructions as to where the run was to be held and when the boys were to arrive. I knew the park where it was to be run. It was only about twenty or so minutes from the house.

After supper and the homework had all been checked, the boys went to the music room and played their instruments. I wouldn't classify it as polished music, but they were enjoying themselves. Lenore had settled down on the couch beside me.

"How many days till my daddy comes home?" she asked.

"He said he will be home on Thursday," I said.

"How many days is that?"

"Well, tomorrow is Wednesday and the next day is when your daddy will come home. He will be here in plenty of time to tuck you into bed, maybe a little sooner. It's a long ways from California to Texas," I said.

That seemed to satisfy her and she continued to sit beside me until it was time for her to get ready for bed. Gilda took her upstairs for her bath and into her pajamas. Ready for bed, she came back downstairs to say good night. Gilda took her over to her rooms in the new addition and tucked Lenore into bed.

Not long after Lenore was off to bed, I told the boys that it was time for their showers and get ready for bed. They didn't put up a fuss and scrambled out of the music room and into their respective bedrooms. Twenty minutes later, I made the rounds of the bedrooms. Afterwards, I poured myself a glass of wine and offered one to Gilda, who had returned from putting Lenore in bed. She accepted and took a seat in the living room. Cary declined a glass, as usual.

"That little girl really misses her dad," Gilda said.

"I could tell by the way she sat beside me so close she was touching me," I said. "I know she was very young when her mother died, but there is a sense of loss about her. With Donald leaving without being able to say goodbye, she feels she has been abandoned. There is a house full of people who love her, but Donald is the only link back to her mother."

"Yes," Gilda said, "in many ways she is a very insecure little girl. She might need to see someone."

"I had someone that I took Joel to who helped him deal with the abuse he had suffered at the hands of his biological father. He specialized in adolescent psychiatry. He helped Joel a lot. I'll keep that in mind if Donald thinks it becomes necessary."

"Please excuse me if it's none of my business," Cary said. "Are you saying that Joel is not your natural son?"

"I just assumed that you knew," I said. "All of the children in this house are adopted. Joel, Larry, Lenny and TJ are all blood relatives. I adopted them after fighting CPS to do it. Chris and Peter are not related. They each were abandoned by their families. William and Lenore were adopted by Donald after his sister, their mother, died. And on top of that, our friends next door adopted Jeannie and Ginny after their mother died. If things go as the Strassers want, they will also adopt Luke and Penny."

"Wow! That's amazing," Cary said. "I thought you were a little young to have a seventeen year-old son, but stranger things do happen."

"We do have a strange family in many ways," I said. "I couldn't love my boys more if they were my biological sons."

"That's easy to see," Cary said. "They are very fortunate."

Shortly thereafter, Cary excused himself and went to his room. Gilda and I soon follow suit. I checked all the doors and set the alarm before heading for my own bedroom.

"Dad," Lenny said at the breakfast table. "We still have practice today, but we don't on Friday 'cause the meet's on Saturday. We can come home with everybody else on Friday."

"Good," I said. "I won't have to make that trip."

"What time is my daddy coming home tomorrow?" William asked.

"He said he was going to leave around noon out there. That means it will be two o'clock here," I said. "It takes about three and a half hours to fly from Oakland to San Antonio, so he should arrive between 5:30 and six. It will probably take him another hour or so before he could be home. I would guess he should be here around seven o'clock."

"Okay," William said.

With the table cleared and the dishes loaded in the dishwasher, everybody went to get their school backpacks. As they were coming back downstairs, Manfred, Luke, Jeannie and Ginny arrived. Cary had the keys to the van in his hand ready to take the eight of them to school.

"How's Penny doing," I asked Manfred.

"Oh, she's doing great," he said. "She fusses a little when the girls leave for school, but that doesn't last long. She's such an adorable baby."

"I don't suppose you've heard any more about the possibility of being able to keep her, have you?"

"No, but Antonio thinks there is a very good chance we will be able to. It would leave a hole in our hearts if we had to give her up."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," I said. "We can always call in the big guns - Antonio's boss."

"I've heard he's very good," Manfred said. "Hildy said he worked magic for you to be able to adopt your boys."

"That he did," I said. "Now, I had better get to work. I wouldn't want the staff to think the new kid on the block is sloughing off just because the boss is out of town."

"Yeah, you always were a slacker," Manfred laughed, as he got into the golf cart, waved and headed for their house.

I waved back and got into the Lincoln to begin the long drive into San Antonio. I settled into the routine of the office, but would be glad when Donald was back at work. It seemed that I had to field questions from the staff that would normally have been handled by Donald. Although I didn't know all the ins and outs of the various business units, I did, I thought, a creditable job of answering their questions. I did defer some of the more specific questions concerning individual business units to when Donald was back in the office.

I was ready when it was time to go pick up the three musketeers from their practice. As usual, they were in the midst of talking to their teammates when I drove up. They didn't see me drive up until I tapped on the horn to get their attention. They knuckle bumped and high fived their friends before running to the car.

"Are you ready to run on Saturday?" I asked.

"Yeah," Chris said. "The coach said that only five from our team could run."

"Each team can only have five runners, so there will only be fifteen runners," Larry added.

"I assume that you three are among the five that will run."

"Yes," Chris said.

"Who are the other two teams? I don't remember reading who they were on the paper you brought home."

"New Braunfels and Smithson Valley are the others," Lenny answered. "They're both supposed to be really good."

"Yeah, I hope they don't run us off the track," Larry said.

"Listen, you guys," I said. "I know you would like to win, everybody does. I want you to win, too. That being said, if you do not enjoy participating in the sport, then you should really find some sport that you do enjoy. I know you do enjoy tennis."

"But we like to run," Chris said. "It's fun running with a group of friends. I just don't want to come in last place."

"I sincerely doubt that you will come in last place," I said. "But if you do and you can say to yourself that you gave it your best, then you can take satisfaction in that. You can use the experience to strive to do better the next time. Don't get me wrong, it's not the best feeling to come in last, but it doesn't make you any less of a person."

"Can we get in the pool? It was hot running," Larry said.

"Sure," I said. "I think you'll have some time before supper and after you have taken care of your dogs."

"And a snack?" Lenny giggled,

"And a snack," I said, shaking my head.

I was not surprised to see that Cary and the other boys and Lenore were already in the pool when we got home. The three musketeers each grabbed a handful of cookies that Gilda had baked and saved for them before hustling up the stairs to change into their swimsuits. One of them said, "Thanks, Gilda," around a mouthful of cookies.

"They know better than to talk with their mouths full," I laughed.

"Yes, but it would have taken away some swim time if they had stopped to eat at the table," Gilda chuckled.

"I'm surprised that Luke is not in the pool," I said.

"They were going out for an early supper and then to visit with friends from church," Gilda informed me. "I think they wanted to show off Penny to their friends. She is just the sweetest thing. I was over there this morning. She never sees a stranger."

"I hope they're not setting themselves up for a disappointment," I said. "Hopefully we have enough big guns to keep that from happening."

"Yes," Gilda said and turned back to preparing our supper.

I was reading the newspaper after supper, when Lenore climbed on the couch beside me and ducked her head under my arm so that I was holding her. She didn't say anything for several minutes. Finally she said, "Is my daddy really coming home tomorrow?"

"Yes, sweetheart," I said. "He said he was when you talked to him on the telephone last night. I know you miss him. I do too."

"What time will he get here?"

"As close as I can estimate, he should be here around six-thirty. Maybe a little later," I said. "Do you think you can wait that long?"

"I guess," she said, tears running down her cheeks.

"Your daddy will probably call late tonight after he gets back to the hotel from visiting Kelly in the hospital. How about I find out exactly when he thinks his plane will arrive back in San Antonio. Maybe you and William and I could go to the airport to meet his plane. How about that?"

"Yeah, please," she said, squirming closer to me.

"I'll tell you in the morning what the plans are," I said. "I'm sure your daddy is anxious to see you again."

"Can I tell William?"

"Sure," I said. She was immediately off the couch and up the stairs to where her brother was doing his homework.

"Really!" William shouted, looking down from the balcony.

I nodded my head and that was enough for him.

"Cool."

It was almost eleven when Donald called. I told him about my bringing Lenore and William to the airport to meet him. He thought it was a great idea.

"How's Kelly doing?" I asked.

"He's getting better," Donald answered. "He still has a ways to go before he'll be back to normal, but the specialist, who was in to see him today, was hopeful that a complete recovery or nearly complete recovery was possible. It won't be quick, but the specialist said it could be two to three months of therapy. The part of the brain that was impacted by the blow to his head, the cerebellum, controls balance, movement, coordination and fine muscle control. From the MRI they did this morning, the doctors believe that it was only bruised, which is good news. If it were severely damaged, he might never walk or at best stagger. Kelly's young, which is in his favor. They will know more in a couple of days when they get him out of bed and do another scan."

"If he might still be released from the hospital next week, how are you planning on getting him to Texas?" I asked.

"I've contacted a medical evacuation service that will fly him here. They will pick him up at the hospital and take him to the airport for transport. A medical team will fly with him and escort him to the house. A physical therapist has been hired to do what the doctors prescribe."

"You have had a busy day," I said.

"Yes, just sitting around in the hospital with nothing to do gets old very fast," he said. "I was on the phone so much, that my battery was fully discharged by the time I got back to the hotel this evening. Barring any delays, I should be landing in San Antonio shortly after five. My pilot says he is expecting favorable tailwinds tomorrow."

"William and Lenore can hardly wait to see you," I said. "We all miss you."

At breakfast, I told everybody at the table what the plans were to take William and Lenore to pick up Donald at the airport. As expected, there were questions.

"Do we get to go too?" Larry asked.

"No," I said. Although they didn't like the explanation, they accepted what I told them without too much complaining.

I left the office early so that I would get home to get William and Lenore and be at the general aviation terminal in time to meet Donald's plane. As it was, we were there in plenty of time to park the car and get to the waiting area. William and Lenore both had their noses pressed to the window looking out onto the concrete apron.

"How come my daddy isn't here yet?" Lenore asked.

"Yeah, how come?" William echoed.

"Your daddy said he would probably land shortly after five," I said. "It's only ten minutes past five now. There could be a lot of planes landing and he could have had to wait to land. He will be here soon."

That satisfied them for the moment, but it didn't keep William from looking at the clock on the wall every few seconds. He could hardly contain himself when a plane taxied up to the terminal. To me it looked like Donald's plane, but I was no expert in identifying aircraft until I saw the Baker company logo on the plane.

After the engines were shut down, the door of the plane opened and the steps were let down. The flight steward was the first person out of the plane, but Donald was right behind him.

"There's daddy," Lenore shouted. She ran to the door leading out to where the plane was, but it was locked and she couldn't get through it. As Donald approached, the young man at the counter, unlocked the door remotely. Donald was immediately engulfed by William and Lenore. She was in his arms and William was hugging him around the waist. He kissed her cheek and then reached down and hugged William.

"I guess they are glad to see me," he said, as he approached me.

"I think you could say that," I said. "Welcome home."

Donald started to get into the front seat of the Lincoln, but that was not going to happen. Both William and Lenore pushed and pulled him into the back seat so they could sit on each side of him on the ride home. The flight steward, who had followed us to the car with Donald's bags, put them in the trunk, before heading back to the plane. I had to laugh as William and Lenore talked and asked questions simultaneously. Finally, by the time we reached the outer edge of the city, they had calmed down long enough for Donald to answer their questions and demands that he not leave them again without saying goodbye. Donald was greeted warmly by the other boys and Gilda when we entered the house.

"Supper will be on the table in ten minutes," Gilda said. "Just enough time to get washed up."

That announcement was not ignored by the boys and they were up the stairs two or three at a time to wash their hands. I'm not too sure how thoroughly the process was, because they were back downstairs almost before I had made it to my bathroom. At the table while we were eating, Donald explained to everybody that Kerry was coming to stay for a while.

"Will that be a problem for you, Gilda?" he asked.

"Of course not," she said. "I don't see any problem with him staying in the other bedroom, and one more mouth to feed won't be any more work."

"There will probably be a physical therapist here two or three days a week, maybe more. It all depends on what the doctors prescribe. That's still an unknown," Donald said.

After the kids were all in bed, we settled down in the living room with a glass of wine. "You know that little girl almost had a meltdown," I said. "She was almost convinced that you had abandoned her."

"I could sense a little of that when I talked to her on the phone," Donald said. "I know now it was a mistake to take off in the middle of the night without explaining to both her and William that I was leaving. It definitely will not happen again. If there is a next time that I have to leave suddenly and can't take them with me, I will have a sit down with them and explain everything."

"Don't even think about leaving again for a very long time. William and she need the stability of you being here. That's especially true for Lenore," Gilda said. "That's the mother in me talking."

"Yes, ma'am," Donald said. "On another subject, I had an opportunity of looking over the résumés of the applicant for the vacant VP job while I was sitting in Kelly's room waiting for him to wake up."

"I was going to ask you about the video interview you did with the candidate while you were gone. How did that go?" I asked.

"Very well," he said. "He has all the right experience on the technical side, but a little weak in administrative and supervisory experience. So far, he looks better than what I can glean from those résumés I poured over. Although there is one candidate that I'm thinking of inviting in for an interview."

"What are you going to do?" I asked.

"For sure I'm going to invite Phillip Palmer to come back so that I can see him in person. I would like for you to meet him as well. I value your opinion."

"You're just trying to get rid of me," I laughed, raising my wine glass.

That got a chuckle out of Donald. "If I thought for one minute that you would accept the job, I would offer it to you."

"I'm flattered, but I plan to become more involved with the charities and besides, I don't want a ful-time job and all the headaches that go along with it."

"You men work out your management problems, I'm going to bed," Gilda said and started toward her rooms.

"Good night," Donald and I said.

"You've been awfully quiet tonight, Cary," I said.

"Yeah, I was fascinated by listening to the discussion of your businesses," he said. "Someday I hope to be in the world of business."

"You should talk to your brother," Donald said. "He's getting a taste of it now as an intern. He's going to learn a lot as he works in the different businesses."

"I have a little, but we don't have a lot of time together. Our schedules don't leave us time when we're both free."

"Even though I'm still on West Coast time, I'm still tired and think it's time for me to go to bed. I will see you in the morning, Cary," Donald said and carried his wine glass to the kitchen. I followed suit.

Friday at the office was back to normal now that Donald was back in the office. I had fewer interruptions and was able to accomplish some of the items that had been put off due to those interruptions.

Saturday morning I got the three musketeers up early so we could get to where they were going to run on time. They had brought their school running attire home from school yesterday. They came down the stairs dressed ready to run. Gilda had fixed, for them, a light breakfast of cereal and fruit. She knew they would be hungry when the race was over, so she had packed sandwiches, fruit and some freshly made brownies. All this went into a cooler along with several bottles of water.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"We're ready," Chris said, speaking for his brothers. "Are TJ and the others gonna come watch the race?"

"Donald is going to bring them in time for the start of the race," I said. "You guys have to be there a while before the race begins."

As I was speaking, Donald came down the stairs carrying Lenore. TJ, William and Peter followed close behind. They gave me hugs before they settled at the table. Before we left, I handed the paper with the directions to Donald.

"We'll be there at nine to see the start of the race," Donald said. "Is Cary going to go, too?"

"Yes," Cary said, entering the breakfast area.

"Okay, guys, we need to get going. I don't want the coach to get upset if we're late. Two of you grab the cooler and let's get a move on."

We got to the park a good ten minutes before Coach Williams had specified in his instructions. When the other two runners had arrived, he gathered the boys together and went over with them the rules for the run and then gave them a pep talk. After that he ran them through a set of stretching exercises, getting them warmed up for the race. I noticed that the coaches for the other teams were doing the same thing.

As nine o'clock approached, Donald arrived with the other kids and Cary in the van. A few minutes later the starter blew his whistle and had the boys line up in a single line across the start line. He gave them some last minute instructions before firing his starter's pistol. Now, watching a cross-country race is not really a spectator sport. The runners are out of sight for a good share of the race as they wind around through the trees and up and down the hills. Only the start and the last hundred yards or so are in view.

"Did they get lost?" Peter asked. "I can't see them."

"I'm sure they didn't get lost. We'll see them again when they enter the home stretch," I said.

"Okay," he said. "Can we go swing on the swings?"

"Sure, I'll yell and let you know when they come into sight."

"I'll go watch them," Donald said.

When I thought it was about time for the runners to be coming into view, I signaled to Donald and he herded the boys over to the finish line with me. A couple of minutes later a group of boys rounded the last clump of trees and began sprinting for the finish line. A young black kid was in front with Chris right on his heels. They blocked my view of the next runners until they got closer and I saw that Lenny and Larry were running side by side in stride a step or two behind. A second group of boys were several yards behind.

I could see Chris trying his best to pass the black kid, but every time he got close to doing it the kid put on a burst of speed and held him off. That was the way they finished. Chris was in second place and Larry beat his twin out for third by a last second lunge. Lenny later accused his twin of cheating, but it was all in good fun. In fifth place was a runner from New Braunfels High School.