Joel: Book Eight ~ The New Patriarch

"Where is everybody?" I asked Gilda, as we entered a strangely quiet house.

"Cary's got them practicing soccer. At least that's what they were doing when I looked out a few minutes ago," Gilda answered. "He was showing them how to control the ball with their feet. I'm no expert, but he looks pretty good."

"Then it looks as if he's fitting in," Donald said. "My daughter is out there as well."

"Yes, she was out there when I looked," Gilda said. "It didn't look like she had ever kicked a soccer ball before."

"I think it would be a first," Donald said.

The three musketeers came stomping down the stairs after changing out of their school uniforms. "Can we have a snack?" Chris asked.

Before I could answer, Gilda said, "There are some bananas on the counter. It's too close to supper for anything else."

Evidently that satisfied them as they each grabbed a banana and ran out through the patio door peeling them as they went. I just shook my head and continued on my way to the bedroom to change my clothes.

When I returned, I looked out through the patio door. Lenore was, indeed, kicking the soccer ball. She wasn't very good at controlling the ball as she ran, but it was apparent that she enjoyed kicking the ball. The boys were helping her, as was Cary. There was a lot of laughing going on. When Lenore would fall down, one of the boys, usually it was TJ, would be right there to make sure she was all right and to help her back to her feet.

"They're going to make a soccer player out of her," Donald chuckled. "By the time she gets in high school, maybe there'll be a girls soccer team. My daughter the soccer star."

"There are worse thing she could be," I said. "Maybe I should bring that up at the next school board meeting. The girls don't have a competitive sport other than tennis."

We opened the patio door and walked out to watch the kids at play. When Lenore saw her dad, she ran to him and gave him a hug. "Cary showed me how to kick the ball."

"I saw that," Donald said. "You did good, sweetie. I saw you fall down, too."

"Uh huh, but TJ helped me up," she said and ran back to the "soccer" game.

We watched for a while longer until Gilda got our attention and told us that supper would be ready in fifteen minutes. Walking over to the middle of the game, we told everybody supper was almost ready and to get washed up. That started a stampede for the patio door.

"I'm going to have to get into better shape," Cary said. "They have worn me out."

"You were outnumbered seven to one," I said. "You'll get used to it."

"Homework time," I said when the supper dishes had been cleared from the table.

"Are you going to call Mr. and Mrs. Kim?" Larry asked. "We really want to go."

"I'll make the call," I said. "Now, go do your homework."

"Yes, sir," the three of them said, and hurried up the stairs.

"What's that about?" Donald asked.

"The Kim twins asked them to go to their house on Saturday and I need to confirm with their mom and dad if they knew anything about the invitation."

I made the call and was able to speak with Mrs. Kim. She confirmed that her sons had her permission to ask the boys to come on Saturday. She said that any time after nine would be best. I thanked her and hung up the phone.

While we were waiting for the homework checking to begin, I asked Cary if he could find his way to and from the school.

"It's not that hard," he said. "Manfred showed me where the younger kids were supposed to wait in case the van was late arriving. He's going to let me drive with him as a passenger, tomorrow. He said it would be my turn to drive the van next week. I don't see any problems."

"Did you go bring more of your things here from your apartment?" Donald asked.

"Yeah, I loaded up my car and was back here in time to ride with Manfred to the school."

"You know, you could probably sign up for an evening class or two at the university. After we get home from work, you're free to do what you want," I said.

"I'll think about it. It's too late for this semester, but I'll see what is available for next semester. By that time, I should have some money saved up."

"Did you call?" was the first thing Larry asked, when he climbed onto my lap to have his homework checked.

"Yes, I did," I said, trying my best to suppress a smile. "She said there was no way she wanted you three monsters to come to their house."

"Oh, dad, she did not," Larry said, giving me a light punch on the arm. "She said it was okay, right?"

"Yes, she said it was okay. I'll take you guys over to their house a little after nine and pick you up later in the afternoon."

"Cool!"

I spent Thursday and Friday at the office with the IT department trying to get my head around what they were doing and trying to form a plan in my mind as to how to get the project under control. By the time I left the office on Friday to go pick up the twins and Chris, I had a pretty good understanding of what was going on.

I arrived at the school a few minutes after five. The boys were talking with a group of their fellow, cross country athletes and didn't notice I had arrived until I did a quick honk on the horn. That got their attention and they quickly said goodbye to their comrades and ran to the car.

"We still get to go to Chin and Cho's house tomorrow, don't we?" Lenny asked.

"Of course," I said. "It's supposed to be a nice day, so you guys can play outside."

"Chin said we're going to their health club so we can play tennis, so we gotta take our rackets," Larry added.

"Maybe you ought to take a change of clothes in case you get all sweaty playing tennis," I said.

"Yeah, maybe we could take a shower at the health club. Cho said there's a big shower room that has a pole with four shower things on it so four people can take a shower at the same time," Chris said. "It sounds neat."

"Dad, we have a meet next Saturday," Lenny said.

"Where's it going to be?" I asked.

"Some big park somewhere," Chris said. "Coach said he'd send all the information home with us on Monday with a map and the time we have to be there."

"Did he say how long it was going to be?" I asked.

"Coach said it was 5.8 kilometers, I think," Chris said.

When we got home the guys ran upstairs to change out of their school uniforms before racing back to the kitchen in hopes that Gilda had saved them a snack. Of course, she had. She pointed to a plate with three brownies on it.

"Thanks, Gilda," Larry said, around a mouth full of brownie as he and his brothers headed out the patio door to check on their dogs.

"Do you guys have any homework?" I asked, as the supper dishes were being cleared from the table.

"We do," Larry said.

"Me, too," TJ said.

"I don't," Peter said. "I got mine done in class."

"Good for you, Peter. The rest of you get busy and get it done today. That way you will have the rest of the weekend free," I said.

"Well, are you ready to take over the VP job on Monday?" Donald said, as we took our coffee into the living room.

"As ready as I'll ever be," I answered. "I spent yesterday and today with the IT staff. That area is my main concern. Great people, but they lack a coherent plan for completing the project. I'm going to have to put on my project manager hat. We have to come up with a realistic, written plan that everybody in the group understands and buys into. I'm not sure how they have gotten this far along without one."

"I told you that was the weakest area you would have to handle. Your predecessor was great at managing people. Not so much project management."

"Cary, you have been awfully quiet tonight," I said. "Anything wrong?"

"No, nothing," he said. "I've just been thinking about how lucky I am to have this job."

"From the way the kids have responded to you, I think we are the lucky ones," Donald said. "Are you confident that you'll be able to do the van driving next week? It'll be your turn for the duties."

"Sure," Cary said. "Manfred let me drive most of the time. And the van is a dream to drive after driving my old Taurus."

"Oh, before I forget," Gilda said, coming into the living room with her cup of coffee, "Tracy called and said one of his techs would come by tomorrow morning and give the dogs a checkup. He said the records show that they don't need any shots, but he wanted to make sure they hadn't gotten into any ticks or fleas."

"Did he say what time?" I asked.

"No, just sometime in the morning."

"Donald, you'll be here in the morning, won't you? I've got to take the three musketeers to the Kims' house, but I shouldn't be gone too long."

"I'm not going anywhere," Donald said.

As soon as breakfast was over Saturday morning, Chris and the twins were ready to go even though it was a little over an hour before I had planned to leave for the Kims' house.

"Have you guys got everything packed in your racket bags?" I asked. "Did you put in a change of clothes?"

"Oh," Lenny exclaimed, and all three of them ran back up the stairs.

I shook my head and poured another cup of coffee. I went into the living room and sat down. Shortly, Cary came out of his room carrying what looked like a laundry bag. "I'm going back to the apartment to do some laundry," he said.

Gilda heard what he had said and rushed into the living room. "Young man, that's my job. Give me those clothes," she said and took the laundry bag from a startled Cary's hand.

"Don't argue with her," I said. "When she gets that tone of voice, it's best to just do what she says."

"I didn't realize that laundry was included in the perks of the job," Cary said, staring at Gilda's back as she headed for the laundry room.

"There is something else you need to keep in mind," I said. "Every Monday morning a cleaning crew comes in and goes through the entire house. Although the service is very reliable and is bonded, it's best to keep your valuables put away and out of sight. It just eliminates the temptation."

"I don't think I have anything that someone would want to steal."

"That reminds me, did you bring your computer from the apartment? I can get it hooked up to the network after I come back from taking the boys to their friends' house."

"No, when I went to get the rest of my stuff the other day, it was making a scraping noise and when I tried to log in to my account, nothing happened. I think it bit the dust," Cary said. "I don't really need a computer at the moment, anyway."

"You could always use one of the computers in the boys' bedroom," I said. "I would prefer that you not use the one in the library," I said. "There are a lot of personal and business files on it. It's password protected, but there are ways around that for someone with good computer knowledge."

By the time I finished my coffee and had taken the cup to the kitchen, it was time for us to head for the Kims' house. The three of them had been standing around impatiently waiting to go. "Grab your bags and put them in the Lincoln," I said.

"Yes!" Chris exclaimed, and the three of them were through the back door and into the garage almost before I had finished speaking.

"Donald, I'm going to run an errand I just remembered while I'm out, so I may be gone a little longer than I had originally planned."

"No problem, I'm not going anywhere," he said. "We might be in the pool when you get back."

It was about ten minutes after nine when we drove up to their house. "There's Chin and Cho," Larry said.

I had to be careful as I drove up the driveway in order to avoid running over the Kim twins as they ran alongside the car. I stopped the car and the seatbelts were quickly unbuckled and the doors flew open. There were high fives all around. It was as if they hadn't seen each other for weeks instead of just yesterday. As I walked up to the front door of the house, James Kim opened it and came outside. We shook hands and chatted for a while. We agreed on a time for me to return and collect my sons.

"Guys! Guys!" I said. "I want you to be on your best behavior. I'll be back to pick you up around five o'clock. Grab your bags out of the car. I don't want to have to make another trip to bring them back."

"Okay, dad," Lenny said. I was surprised when the three of them gave me a hug after they retrieved their racket bags.

I got back into the car and drove out of the driveway and off to run my errand. It was about an hour and a half later that I arrived back at the house.

"They're all in the pool, except for Cary. He went to visit some friends, He said he'd be back later this evening," Gilda said, as I entered the kitchen.

"Good," I said and went back to the car to retrieve the packages that I had purchased on my errand. It took me about twenty-five minutes to get everything situated the way I wanted it and then went to check on the swimmers. It looked as if they were having fun, so I went to put on my swimsuit and join in the merriment. Manfred and Luke had come over to enjoy a swim.

Sometime later, TJ swam up to me and said, "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry," I said, giving him a hug.

"Yeah, but I'm really hungry," he said.

"Why don't you grab a towel, dry yourself off and go check with Gilda when lunch will be ready?"

He scrambled out of the pool, grabbed a towel and made a half-hearted attempt to dry off before running into the house. Less than a minute later he was back. "Gilda said she needed help to carry the stuff out to the picnic tables."

"Okay," I said, exiting the pool. "How about you and I help her?" I dried myself off, a little more thoroughly than TJ had, and followed him back into the house.

Between the three of us, we were able to make one trip carrying the platter of sandwiches, the chips and the pitchers of lemonade and glasses. It didn't take long for the pool to empty of bodies and rush to the tables. There was still a lot of water dripping as the kids took their seats.

After lunch, the boys decided to play with the dogs rather than getting back into the pool. Lenore and Donald slipped into the pool, along with Manfred and Luke, where Donald began giving her a swimming lesson. Gilda and I sat watching for a while. It wasn't long before Gilda began gathering the remains of our lunch intending to take it back into the house. I got up and helped her. There weren't any sandwiches left and the pitchers of lemonade were nearly empty. The chips were gone.

"I forgot to ask Cary if he wanted to go riding with us tomorrow," I said to Donald, when I returned. "We can always ask him when he returns."

"I mentioned that we usually rode every Sunday, but he was noncommittal about whether he wanted to go with us or not," Donald said.

"Luke wants to go," Manfred said. He had swum over to where Donald and I were talking.

"How about Jeannie and Ginny? Do they want to go?" I asked.

"I think they're more interested in playing with their new little sister. I keep hoping that everything works out. They love Penny as much as Hildy and I do. Luke loves her, too. He'll get down on the floor and Penny will climb all over him," Manfred said. "Even though they really had no contact since she was born, there's a connection between them."

"I haven't been over to your place recently," I said. "How's the construction coming along?"

"They've been making good progress. The weather has cooperated so far. The framing is up and the foreman said they should have it sheathed and the roof started next week. It's still several weeks away from being to the point that Luke can have his own bedroom. He doesn't seem to mind sleeping in our den, but it will be nice for him to have his own room. Hildy is ready to start buying the furniture for the new addition, but I think I have convinced her to wait, at least, until it's closer to completion."

"Good luck with that," I said. "When she gets a bee in her bonnet, she lets nothing stand in her way."

"That's true," Manfred chuckled, "but I think, with four kids in the house, she's mellowed a bit."

"She has so much love in her," I said. "I don't know what I would have done without her when the boys first came to live with me. She was the glue that held us together until we truly became a family."

"I'll second that," Donald said.

"I've loved her since we were both in high school," Manfred said.

"How did you let her get away?" Donald asked.

"Unfortunately for me, she only had eyes for the guy she married and we went our separate ways. I went into the military and found and married a wonderful woman. We had twenty-two happy years until her death. I loved her deeply and we had a wonderful son," he stopped for a moment to regain his composure. The memory of his son's tragic death evidently overwhelmed him. "When I returned to the area after retiring from the Air Force, I ran into her at the church we both attended. I found out that we were both widowed, so I began courting her relentlessly." He laughed at that point. "Sorry, you're not interested in my love life. I got carried away for the moment."

"No," I said, "but we're interested in what makes her happy. She's very important to me and to the boys. They've adopted her as a surrogate grandmother," I said.

"I forgot to mention to you that Tracy's vet tech came and checked the dogs over," Donald said. "He gave them a clean bill of health, but said they needed to have the flea and tick collars replaced. He scolded us for not making sure the collars were replaced every month."

"Sounds as if Tracy has a competent tech working for him," I said. "We've been too dependent on Tracy to handle things like that for us. I'll add that task to the calendar."

At that moment, Cary came out to the pool where we were talking. He looked as if he were about to cry. He said in a timid voice, "You didn't have to do that. I really didn't need it right now."

"What's going on?" Donald asked.

"There's a brand new computer in my room," Cary said.

"Good," Donald said. "Everybody needs a computer. When you start back at the university, it will be vital that you have one."

"I know, but I can't afford to pay for that nice a one," Cary said.

"I don't think anyone said that you had to pay for it," I said. "It's yours to keep. Think of it as another perk of the job."

"Thank you," he said, turning quickly and almost running back into the house.

"That was a nice gesture," Donald said. "I think you overwhelmed him, just a bit."

"The way the kids have taken to him, it was well worth what it cost," I said. "He's not Mike, but he runs a close second."

"Come here, Luke. It's time we headed for home. Hildy will be wondering if someone kidnapped us," Manfred said.

"Nah, she wouldn't," Luke said, laughing. He climbed out of the water and dried off. They waved at the boys and took off for their home.

"Lenore, I think it is time for us to get out of the water, also," Donald said. "We're turning into wrinkly prunes."

Lenore giggled and climbed into her dad's arms. He climbed out of the pool with her in his arms, sat her down and grabbed a towel from the stack and began to dry her off. Gilda must have been watching at the patio door because she was suddenly grabbing the towel from Donald's hands and finished drying Lenore.

"Come along, honey. We'll get you showered and into some dry clothes," Gilda said, picking up Lenore and taking off for the house.

"I think that's a good idea," I said. "It won't be long before I have to go pick up the three musketeers. I hope they've behaved themselves."

"I don't think you have any worries on that account," Donald said. "I can't remember them ever being out of line."

"No, but they can get rather noisy."

"Yeah, they're teenage boys. You can expect that."

"I know. It's hard for me to believe they're teenagers," I said. "It seems like only yesterday that they first came into my life. I don't regret a minute of it. I guess Manfred's trip down memory lane has caused me to remember some of the difficulties I encountered making it possible for them to stay."

"You have alluded to that several times," Donald said. "I've never wanted to intrude, but I am curious. Sometime if you want to, I would like to hear the whole story. It probably would make an interesting book."

"Nobody would believe it. A single man given custody of six young boys? In Texas? No way."

"You're right." Donald said.

"Hey, guys," I hollered. "It's time to put the dogs back in their run and then you need to get a shower taken."

"Sure, dad," TJ replied. "Come on, Bandit, back in your yard."

When it was approaching five o'clock, I took off for the Kims' home. As I drove down the driveway, I saw a sheriff's car parked in front of the house. 'What the world is going on?' I wondered. I parked the Lincoln and started for the front door when it opened and my three boys came bounding out. They all started talking at once and I couldn't understand a word they were saying.

"Whoa, guys," I said. "One at a time."

They looked at each other in silent communications before Chris began to speak. "We were playing tennis at the health club. We were playing doubles and we had set up a rotation so we all got to play equally."

"Get to the good part," Larry insisted.

"Anyway, they had two indoor courts. We had one of them and there was a man and a woman playing on the other one. All of a sudden the woman began screaming and when we looked over the guy had collapsed and was flat out on the ground."

"Yeah, and the lady was yelling, 'He's not breathing! He's not breathing!'" Lenny said.

Chris took up the tale. "You know we had the CPR class in PE last year, so we ran over to see if we could help. There was no one else around. Neither Larry nor I could find a pulse. I started mouth-to-mouth and Larry started chest compressions just like we had learned. Lenny ran to the check-in place and got them to call 911 and ask for an ambulance."

"They thought I was joking at first, but I insisted that the guy was not breathing and there wasn't any pulse," Lenny said. "The check-in guy still hesitated to make the call until I started yelling at him. I told him, if the guy died and he didn't call 911, he could get his pants sued off. A crowd was gathering by this time and he finally made the call. I went back to the tennis court and relieved Larry."

"Yeah, my arms were getting tired from all that chest-pumping," Larry said. "I checked the guy's pulse and could barely detect one."

"We paused the mouth-to-mouth and chest-pumping to see if he had started breathing on his own," Chris said. "We were ready to restart when he took a small breath."

"We watched for a while to see if he would continue breathing, but after one more he stopped," Lenny said. "So we started doing it again."

"We kept it up until the EMT guys got there and took over," Chris said.

While the boys were relating their experiences, I was standing there with my mouth open and tears in my eyes. "Come here, you guys," I said and grabbed them in a tight hug. "I'm so proud of you. You know you probably saved that man's life."

"Dad, you're squeezing us," Larry said.

I couldn't help it and started laughing. When I calmed down, I asked, "What's the sheriff's car doing here?"

"Oh, he came to have us tell him what happened," Chris said. "He asked a lot of questions. He said he knows you. Do you know a deputy named Jessie?"

"Yes, he's a friend," I said. "Did Chin and Cho help with the CPR?"

"No, they hadn't taken CPR where they went to school last year," Lenny answered.

Jessie and James Kim walked outside where we were standing. Chin and Cho joined them. "You boys saved that man's life," Jessie said.

"What's the man's name?" I asked

"Henry L. Williams," Jessie said. "He's a lawyer with some big firm in San Antonio. More than likely he'll be contacting you as soon as he's out of intensive care. I wouldn't be surprised if his wife does so before then."

"Well, if you don't need the boys anymore, we'll be heading home," I said. "Guys, say goodbye to your friends and don't forget your racket bags." That caused all five of them to run back inside to retrieve the bags.