Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2010 21:52:48 -0600
From: dnrock@rock.com
Subject: The Beneficial 11

The Beneficial
by:  dnrock(dnrock@rock.com)

11: Something That Resembles Normal

"Did you boys have a good camp," Tom asked?

"It was awesome dad.  I like all the neat winter sports and I even like
winter camping, as long as Richard shares my sleeping bag," Eddy replied.

"How about Conrad did he have a good time," Tom inquired?

"I think so, he was glued to Peter most of it, We like the sauna too but
not the jumping in the lake part." Eddy said.

"All the Novices wanted to do was lay on the bench and get their butts
fucked." Richard informed.

"I'm sure you older boys were some up set about that too," Tom quipped in
his most sarcastic tone of voice.

"Hay what's in the box," Eddy asked?

"It is a gift for us from Garth.  He was flying from Amsterdam to Munich
over the last week.  I am not sure exactly what is in it but I'm sure we
will all like it, Garth has good taste.  We can open it up when Peter and
Conrad are here, those are my instructions," Tom explained.

That did not happen for several days but when it did they were quite
surprised.  In the box was quite a selection of interesting things.  Along
with instructions.  Tom read the instructions.  First, everyone is to get
naked and sit on the floor.  So they did, all got naked and sat on the
floor.  Now this took a few minutes as everyone seemed determined to get as
much sugar from the two boys as possible.

Second, open the package marked number 1.  It was a DVD called How To Love
Your Boy.

Three, "put in the DVD and watch it until the introduction is finished then
pause the machine and read the next instruction.  Fondling, kissing and
petting are to be shared at will during this game," Garth's note said.

They watched the intro.  It introduced the actors, mostly young boys, who
were dressed only in the briefest of undies.  Each boy was named and did a
slow turn around for the camera.  The adults were introduced next.  Each
adult, mostly young men in their 20"s did the same.  Some were smooth, some
with lots of body hair.  All good looking and all appeared to be very well
hung.  The voice over went on to say things like, "Your boy needs to be
kissed frequently or your boy needs to be fondled as often as possible."

One of the men would step up to a boy and demonstrate.  "Your man needs to
be kissed..." One of the boys would demonstrate.  The intro ended and Tom
paused the machine.  He opened the next box, it was relatively large.  In
it were 5 pair of lederhosen, (leather shorts) the shorts were very supple
and new.  They were all quite small, having two zippers running down the
front on either side of a front panel.  The panel was black and the body of
the shorts were white.  Each pair had a name tag inside.  Tom distributed
them and read the next instruction.

"Put on the lederhosen, making the experience as enjoyable as possible."
They knew what that meant and did just as directed.  Eight hands assisting
each one in turn.  The shorts fit tight, like leather driving gloves, they
hugged each contour of the body.  The front panel had lots of crotch room
to accommodate the erections of the older boys and men.  Being extremely
tight they translated the body heat to the surface and relayed the
sensations of any hand or other body part that passed over the surface.

The game went on as the actors demonstrated what the man should do to
please his boy, with the live participants then acting out that activity.
"A man must keep his boy well fed, A boy needs lots of protein" and the
film claimed male sperm is just full of high quality protein.  "Your boy
should be encouraged to take his protein supplement orally, as well as
anally."  The actors were now embraced and the man was fondling his lad.
"Feeding your boy, giving him nourishment is as important of providing love
and affection.  Make a game of the task using your imagination, for example
the man can gently tease his boy by letting the boy expose his penis but
keeping it just out his mouth's reach."  This went on as the man removed
the boy's leather shorts. The boy was of course achieved his goal allowing
his mouth to be fucked and drinking all the ejaculate his partner could
produce.  Tom's little team then acted out their own versions.  There would
be other times, other games and other nights.

.........................

The detective work was paying off and the cops were about to close in when
a phone call came in from one of the prosecutors.  She wanted a
confidential and off the record meeting with Tom.  During their
investigation they discovered someone else snooping around, that had
nothing to do with politics.  The snooping was directed at Eddy, with only
minor attention being paid to Tom and Edith.  The assistant DA could not
reveal much except to say they did not know why anyone was snooping round
their personal lives.

The snooper was a licensed privet eye of good reputation and appeared to
only be interested in locating Edith and Eddy, she thought he should know
about it.  Tom thanked her profusely and got the investigator's name.  He
was able to find his phone number and office address quickly.  It appeared
he often worked for several of the larger law firms in the city, locating
missing people and things like that.  Tom got on the internet to find out
as much about the fellow as possible but that was not all that much.  He
gave it some thought and settled on his personal lawyer, Fred.

The lawyer was able to come up with a picture of the man and the make and
model of his car.  He also brought in his security firm and had them sweep
both townhouses for bugs.  None were found but they suggested he watch his
cell phone traffic, just in case and installed a system in Edith's house as
well.  Tom did not like going behind Edith's back but he thought he had to,
just in case.  Eddy's safety was more important than his friend and son's
mother's privacy, especially if he just kept it to himself and his lawyer.

Some how he had to find out who the fellow was working for, if he knew
that, he figured it would be much simpler to figure out why and evaluate
the potential danger.  Tom knew that Edith had changed her name before Eddy
was born and she was 16 at that time, so still a minor, those records would
be sealed.  He remembered she once said she grew up in a small town in the
southern most part of the state.  From a few of the phrases she used he
figured it was in an area populated by Amish people, although she did not
seem to be of the faith herself.  That narrowed it to only a few locations.

He got in his car and took a drive south.  Being a science writer and
pseudo journalist, he had a press identification from the paper and a
reputation, he reasoned he could stop in a the local high schools and get
access to their libraries.  There would only be three prime candidates he
would start with the largest.  Knowing Eddy was 9 and Edith was 16 nine
years ago, he only needed to review at most two yearbooks to try and
identify her and get her old name.

Pay dirt at his first stop, Elwina Hoffman.  He found exactly what he
needed, checking the next year's book for her absence, to be sure he had
the right person.  Edith had not changed all that much, hair color was the
same, style different but her bright eyes and engaging smile were
unmistakable.  Tom made a bit of a show looking up some science stuff in
the encyclopedia and chatted with the science teacher a bit.

Tom then went to the public library and looked up her old family name in
the phone book.  Three Hoffman's in the town.  He took down the addresses
and went out.  The first was a very elderly couple, retired he learned from
the people at a local corner store, when he stopped for directions.  The
next address was a middle aged couple with teenagers, judging from the cars
parked in front.

Edith had told him she was an only child.  That left Manfred Hoffman and
possibly his wife.  He drove to that place.  It looked right.  Middle aged
couple? Well kept neat house, no evidence of teens, neat to a fault.  Tom
parked a few doors away and studied his map.  In a small town like this, a
strange car would draw attention so he pretended to be lost, looking at his
map and talking on his cell phone as if getting directions.  Since it did
not look like anyone was home, Tom drove slowly down the streets that
parallel the main drag.  He was not sure what he was looking for but he
would know it when he found it.  His eye caught a small sign on a small
building, Manfred's Repair.  "I wonder, he thought."  Tom stopped across
the street and a few business down.  He pulled out the cell phone and
called the number on the sign.

"Manfred's Repair", the man answered.

"Mr. Hoffman please," Tom said.

"This is he."

"Mr. Hoffman my name is Tom Trotter with International Appliance Parts in
Rochester, and I'd like to send you one of our catalogues if you would be
interested."

Hoffman was and gave Tom the address and postal code.  Okay, he had
established that much, now what.  He drove to the County Courthouse and
looked up tax and birth records.  He found Elwina's he also found her
mothers death certificate, the lady had passed away about 14 months ago.
Tom was sure Edith did not know this, although she has always said her
parents were dead and perhaps had done her grieving some time ago.  He also
learned that Hoffman owned his house and some other properties in the town,
the little shop being one of them.  He would do a credit check on the man
and his business.  He found no evidence of Eddy's birth or Elwina's come
Edith's name change.  That did not happen in this community he thought.

Tom drove, on the other side of town, he found a small second hand shop.
He stopped and browsed, looking for, he was not sure what.  He found a
small cassette tape recorder that appeared to work.  It was ten dollars
with two blank tapes.  He bought it.  Opening the back he cut one of the
power leads with his Swiss Army knife, the one he kept in the glove box,
and headed to Manfred's Repair.  Tom entered wondering if the fellow had
ever seen his picture or if he as yet knew his name.  Hoffman did not seem
to recognize him as Tom thrust the recorder at him.  Of course he could fix
it right away and in about two minutes had the lead soldered back on.  It
would cost Tom another five.

Hoffman was a handsome man, about his dad's age, perhaps a bit younger.  He
was starting to gray but had light, dirty blond hair, blue eyes, a sad
expression.  Eddy looked a lot like the man, in fact he was a younger
version of him.  Edith also showed a lot of family resemblance to him.
Over on the back counter was an old photograph of a woman in her late 30's
that looked a lot like Edith.  Probably her mother Tom thought.  They
exchanged pleasantries for a few minutes but the phone rang and Tom thought
it best to take his leave.

He stopped at a connivence store and bought some batteries for the
recorder.  He then went to a diner about a block from the repair shop.  He
sat down for pie and coffee and began playing with the recorder.  Tom
mentioned that it had not worked for a long time but Manfred had just
repaired it for him.  "Hell of a nice fellow," Tom commented.

"Oh yes, very nice, and does good work, keeps all this old junk operating."
she pointed to the appliances on the back counter.

"Seemed sad though," Tom commented.

"He has had a difficult time of late, wife died about a year ago."

"That's to bad," Tom emphasized.

"Yes, she was just a wonderful woman, so kind and gentle, died of a broken
heart."

"Oh?"

The Death Certificate said a brain aneurysm, but to this lady it was a
broken heart, not an almost impossible to predict body plumbing failure.

"Yes their daughter ran off about 10 years ago and no one has seen or heard
of her since."

"Ran off?"

"Why yes, she up and quit school, although she was not old enough to do it,
and got on a bus, not seen or heard from since."

"Kind of a wild child was she?"

"Oh no, just as nice and sweet as her mom.  More coffee?"  Tom nodded, "The
Hoffman's never said why she left, he never talks about her and she was
just broken hearted, lost the will to live, I guess."

Tom needed one more piece of information.  He drove around the block and
down the alley.  He spotted Hoffman's car, A little sign in each back
window of the four door announced the business.  It was a black, Chev about
three years old.  He noted the license number and headed back to the city.

Tom explained all he knew to Fred the lawyer.

"I think we need to ascertain just what Hoffman's interest in Eddy is.  He
must know he has a grandchild.  Judging from when she withdrew from school
and when Eddy was born, I would guess Edith was three months at the time.
He must have known that."

"Do we know how he found her and how she came to the city, finished school
and even lived, before she changed her name?"

"I don't know how the PI located her or why Hoffman even commissioned him
but Hoffman must have been able to put the guy on the right track.  I
learned she was in the care of social services and they supported her
through a special high-school program and the community college.  They must
have looked after the name change, her current name and Eddy's are in their
records as clients.  All details are sealed."

"I asked Derek about the situation but he would not tell me anything except
to confirm that the boy is in excellent health, as is Edith."

"Assuming the grandfather wants some access rights to the child do we have
any recourse?  Since Edith has always maintained the boys biological father
and her parents are dead."

"I suspect we can fight the thing if that is what Edith wants to do and it
sounds like she will.  Since you adopted him and share his parenting, you
also get a say.  I don't think this will come to that however, my
experience in these matters suggests there is more than meets the eye here
and Hoffman has something to hide.

I had my staff check into police reports and newspaper ads; we found no
missing person's report or advertisements, personals kind of stuff to
suggest the Hoffman's were trying to locate or contact their daughter.  Yet
you say neighbors were unaware of the reasons for her departure and the
mother was "broken hearted" but not searching for a runaway.  Without that,
on the surface, it looks like she was considered abandon or turned out.
That is probably why SC took her into their program and felicitated the
name change.  That more or less extinguished his rights."

"Edith did tell me once that my adopting Eddy and giving him a new name,
was just more insulation to her past, that the Strong name was made up and
had no tradition connected with it."

The name Hoffman roughly translates as hoff=hope and man=one.  That is the
limit of Tom's one year of university German.  He wondered if Strong had
some hidden meaning but it appeared not, as strong translates as stark.

"Why don't you get back to Derek, explain the situation as we know it and
ask him to give us as much genetic information as he can ethically manage.
We need to know if this is just some grandparent wanting to leave his
estate to his grandchild or if he is planning on kidnapping the boy or
something in between.  I don't want to bring this up to Edith, if we can
head it off at the pass.  By the way, I'll bet he left some genetic
material on the inside of that tape recorder.  Tell that to Derek and see
if he wants to deal with it or if we should send the stuff to a third
party, for analysis," Tom said.

"In the mean time why not have that assistant DA talk to the PI, since he
was discovered by accident during this other investigation, which will all
be public in a few days and he does not want to get caught up in that, so
give us comfort.  Can I tell her about Hoffman," Tom went on.

"I guess that won't hurt, we just need conformation of who his client is
and it would be nice to know how he found Edith and if he has given Hoffman
his report yet.  Perhaps he could be persuaded to hold off for a few days
if he has not yet done so, as a favor to the ADA you know," Fed suggested.

 ....................................

"Fred here.  Tom, got some good news and some other news.  First the good
news, the PI held up the report until the shit hit the fan last week.  He
was most cooperative.  He told the ADA that Hoffman recognized Edith
standing in the background of the news photos, from the department store
singing bit.  Hoffman did not tell him much except he wanted to find his
grandchild and to learn how the child was doing.  He seemed to have no
interest in Edith.  He did not think Hoffman was a kidnaper or anything
like that but he had only met the man once.  Hoffman had been referred to
him by Hoffman's local legal council.  I hope that puts your mind at ease a
bit.

Now for the other news.  Derek got back to me after examining your tape
recorder.  He found your DNA all over the thing but he found Hoffman's on
the solder connection.  He told me Eddy's biological father is a first
degree relative of his mother and that person is Mr. Hoffman.  We now know
why he is being so secretive and what is in those sealed records.

Since she was under 16 at the time of conception, he could to be charged
with rape.  No person under 16 can consent to sexual intercourse with an
adult, that's the law.  There is no statute of limitations on this type of
crime either.  We can only guess what happened but it is quite clear that
Edith left home to protect her unborn child and her father, knowingly or
not, from procession and jail, by not pressing charges.  I made some calls
and have found the man's lawyer so we know who to talk to, when the time
comes."

"Well Fred, it looks like I should go down there and have another meeting
with Manfred Hoffman, now that he knows the boy's name and address and I
guess my name too."

"Spoken like a true overprotective parent, Tom.  No, I think I should go
and meet with his lawyer and himself.  You are to emotionally involved to
be of any benefit.  With the information we have, I'm sure I can get him to
agree never to contact Eddy.  If he wants to include Eddy in his will or
something like that I can get that organized as a blind trust for Eddy
through the Beneficial.  If not we could care less as long as he never
attempts to contact him.  If you and Edith want to fill Eddy in on the
facts when he is older, that it your choice and what he would or would not
do with that information is his choice.  Assuming Hoffman shows sufficient
interest in the boy and sufficient contriteness or remorse, I think you
should offer to send him periodic reports of the boy's life and situation;
perhaps even some video tape and copies of his recordings, which I am sure
Harold will have him making in the near future.  What do you say?"

"I say.....do it.  I will send along a short tape of Eddy and write up some
stuff but before you give it to him, if you give it to him, he must promise
to always feed the chickadee's.  I know that sounds strange but when you
see the tape everyone will understand.  I think we had better never mention
this to Edith either, nor should he, make sure that's in the agreement and
lets keep all the correspondence through you legal types.  If the man wants
to contact Edith or wishes to make amends we can not and should not be
linked or involved.  Make sure he understands this."

.......................

The topic of the debate is "Taxation and the Public Good".  Mr. Klein to
support the proposition that the Public Good is ill served by taxation.
Dr. Anderson to support the proposition that the Public Good can only be
served through taxation.  From the flip of a coin, one side will present
for 20 minutes followed by the other for 20 minutes.  After a short
intermission each side will have a 10 minute rebuttal, followed by each
side having five minutes for summation. The moderator will ruthlessly
enforce the time limits.

The debating society had advertised well and kept the admission price to an
absolute minimum, wanting to fill the largest lecture hall on campus.  The
university radio station was broadcasting live.  Tom brought his
supporters, Eddy and his gang.  Edith had taken all the boys down to the
department store and had them dressed in identical light gray blazers and
black slacks.  Even Carl came, bringing his grand children, he had been in
the debating society in his day.

Tom had done his usual preparation work.  He wrote the oppositions speech
to the best of his ability, wrote his own position speech.  Prepared his
rebuttal to take 8 minutes, allowing for a few last minute changes, just in
case Klein had thought of something he didn't and wrote his summary.  Then
he memorized all three.  Tom drew with his theatrical training and teaching
experience, he would deliver his speeches as if they were soliloquies by
"The Bard" himself.  That was his hope, anyway.

Carl knew his friend, he had seen Tom in action many times over the years.
Carl made sure his speech writers were in the audience, he was sure they
could learn a thing or two from the experience.  Carl was also glad Tom was
not running against him, he knew Tom was the better orator, probably the
best in the state, maybe even the nation.  Carl was glad his political
opponents were lesser orators than himself, he was also glad Tom did not
write for them.  Tom was also the master the sound bite, from the political
side a true double threat.

Both he and Tom had received sound voice training as boys, mostly from his
mother.  He knew Tom could modulate his tone and enunciation with crystal
clarity, just like they were taught to sing.  He knew Tom would have
thought through every word and phrase for maximum impact and he knew; when
combined with his impeccable logic, and sense of timing, Tom would win the
day even if he spoke on a different topic then Kline.

Tom would design his speech like he played a game of chess.  If black,
drawing the listeners in by systemically destroying their defenses, point
by point or pawn by pawn.  He would command the center, faint to queen side
and strike to king's for a checkmate.  If white he would do more or less
the same, control the center, set the agenda, appear to expose a weakness
and crush the opposition when they attempted to attack it.

Klein would assume Tom spoke like he wrote, not realizing that writing for
magazines and newspapers, by necessity, lacks passion and intonation,
writing for philosophical journals, requires a type of rigor not amenable
to speech.  Both forms have little timing.  Klein would approach his
presentation like he does on his radio program.  Short burst of words,
supported by supposition or opinions and highly selective factoids, loaded
terms and phrases.  This is a style which will loose the audience's
attention by the mid point of his first 20 minutes.

His anti intellectual tone, if he lets it slip in, will not go over well
with the audience, mostly from the university community.  Not that Klein
did not have interviewing experience, he did.  His style is so ego driven,
he pays attention only to scoring points at the expense of others and
pushing his narrow, belief driven views of things.  For this man his
elitist, dogmatic views of social and economic theory, based on greed and
manipulation, was as strongly held as evangelical christian converts.

"Now boys and girls I know this will be difficult but I need to remind you,
in a debate such as this, clapping, cheering and shouting are bad form
while the speaker is speaking.  Chuckling at an obvious joke is acceptable
but I would rather you didn't.  You don't need to give me any support this
time out.  I suspect my opponent will hoist himself by his own petard."

"What's a petard, uncle Tom," Charley asked.  Margo filled the boy in.

Edith was very proud to be with her friend.  She knew Tom had degrees and
professional respect; tonight she was his date, so to speak and it made her
feel good to know, most of the young university women, women her own age,
were looking at her and thinking, "lucky lady, I wish it was me."

Tom was being greeted by many of the university faculty, a goodly number he
had taken undergraduate classes from.  Edith felt a bit out of her league
when meeting them at first but soon realized they were just people like
herself.  Tom and his clan, along with Mr. Klein and his guests, were
invited to a Debating Society reception after the debate.

The moderator welcomed the guests.  Introduced the speakers, by stating
their qualifications and restated the proposition.  He then flipped the
coin.  Klein was heads and he would lead off.  His presentation was just as
Tom had predicted.  Long on preaching, short on details, and often
repetitive.  His main theme was simply the public good is best served by
the market.  He offered a few examples of public institutions wasting
things as he sees it.  Klein did offer a definition of public good however
he managed to link it religious values, and made it extremely narrow.

Tom, offered a more conventional definition of the public good and through
well documented data and examples, illustrated why his definition was the
better choice and how the society has benefited, is benefiting and will
benefit in the future.  He also demonstrated beyond any doubt, faith in the
financial market to drive social policy was not only unwise but it just has
never worked, nor could it ever work.  The objectives of the two are simply
not the same.

In round two, Klein attempted to discredit Tom's position by selectively
quoting, mostly out of context, Keynes, Freedman, even W. F. Buckley.
Tom's rebuttal was devastating, he was able to completely quote, in context
and from memory those and other's, totally undermining Klein's position and
creditability, then he dropped the bomb.  Illustrating how the recent Enron
scandal was example of how financial markets aided their dishonesty and
attacked the public good.  Illustrating just how dependable faith in that
mythology would likely be.  He preferred reason over faith.

For his summation Tom demanded that society learn from its history and stop
make the same mistakes over and over.  He asked the simple question "Why
has the society developed the concept of the public good in the first
place, built institutions and devoted substantial resources to them.
Please examine the real motives of people such as my worthy opponent so
desperate to tare them apart."

The moderator thanked the speakers and the audience who gave a very loud
and sound, round of applause.  They had at least been entertained if not
stimulated to think.  At the reception most people were friendly and
cordial but Klein left early, he did host a morning program, leaving the
center of attention to Tom and his young admirers.  Somehow Eddy, Charlie,
Conrad and Carl's grandsons managed to surround themselves with a group of
attractive coeds, much to the delight of the big brothers.  Edith thought
that was so cute until she overheard the "Dr. Anderson" stories the boys
were weaving.

Tom was not at all bothered by it, telling her "what ever works, when you
under five feet tall" and smiling wistfully.  Margo and the other older
girls did not seem to need any help in attracting the young men that were
giving lots of attention to Marci and Jenny.  Carl and Julia took the
opportunity to politic but then that's his job, he of course had Wayne and
Bess helping them.  It was pushing 10 p.m. and time for the grade school
set to be in bed.  Tom stood behind the group of boys watching Eddy hold
court, until the action took a pause.

"Sorry to spoil your sub party but I know a group of students with
attendance taking classes in the morning."

Eddy's face dropped, he liked being the center, or a center, of attention.
He was about to protest, calculating the best approach when one of the
coeds piped up.  "Dr. Anderson, we really want to hear Eddy and his Gang
sing, please sir," she said with a "please daddy" young woman voice, the
same one that probably got her anything she wanted from her father.  Well
what could Tom do, bed time past or not, he would cave and everyone in the
room knew it.  Tom can't say no to the boys and is not any better with the
nubile young ladies.

Edith was about to attempt a rescue when Eddy bolted and ran up to Carl,
interrupted his discussion with the university president, dragged Carl
toward the piano in the corner of the room.  "Sorry Sir, we need our piano
player."  Eddy offered in that innocent but take charge, matter of fact
child announcement, alto voice.  Nine year old boys can get away with just
about anything, especially if they are reasonably polite, cute, and well
just all boy.  Carl realized this was good politics in any setting, lets
him project that kindly grandfather image, he would not object.  Tom held
up two fingers and Carl nodded, Tom hoped that would hold the number to at
least 4 or 5.  All the clan boys and girls sang with Eddy taking several
solo lines.  Tom could see the Dean of Fine Arts from across the room,
standing with his mouth open.  Well at least he would not have to deal with
him until the phone call came.

Conrad was quite taken by all this.  He had never been to anything like it
before, with all these adults treating him like he was more than just a
child.  "They even asked what I thought about real stuff," he told his
parents, with a sense of excitement in his voice.  Peter assured Deb that
Conrad had displayed perfect behavior.  She thought to herself that Peter
may be highly trustworthy but Edith would give her a more accurate picture
of her son's behavior.  Males and females seem to view these things
differently and held different standards and expectations, when it came to
manners and deportment.  Peter would not rat out his LB even if he had been
less then sterling in performance, these men all stuck together anyway.