Date: Sun, 23 Mar 2008 15:14:54 -0700 (PDT)
From: E Walk <cane_lane_candy@yahoo.com>
Subject: The Mark and The Mole Chapter 12

The Mark and The Mole
By E Walk
(Copyrighted by the author)
Edited by Radio Rancher

Chapter 12 - Don't Get Too Comfortable

Everyone had assembled in the foyer and Father Lawler went to Chad and
whispered, "Chad son, they are not going to take your sons from you.  I'll
fight tooth and finger nails to make sure that they don't.  The bigger
issue here is, what is going to happen to your other five brothers and
sisters.  I think it is God's calling that they live with you and the
Walkers for the time being."

Father Leahy came over and was talking to Chad and Tim, "Guys, I think that
you have both landed on your feet with this group of people.  I can not
imagine that Mr. Stone and Mrs. Young would even think to pull you out of
that environment.  I am sure that Mr. Stone and Mrs. Young are struggling
with what would be best for your brothers and sisters."

We went to semi fast food restaurant and ordered lunch, but Chad and Tim
hardly ate anything.  I couldn't handle the tension anymore and looked at
the two young guys. "Chad and Tim, let's go for a walk.  They'll save our
sandwiches for us."

We went outside the restaurant and sat on a bench.  I pulled the guys close
to me.  "Guys, everything will work out just fine.  Remember, I have met
your parents and I am sure that Mr. Stone and Mrs. Young will be see right
through them.  They have been trained to spot problem areas.  I haven't
been trained in that area, but I already know that your parents will
probably shoot themselves in the foot or somewhere else that hurts even
more this afternoon."

"Now I want you two gentlemen to get back in there and eat, so you have the
strength to support your brothers and sisters.  Is that understood?"

Chad must have been feeling better because he answered, "Dad Doug, did I
understand that we should go back in there and gorge ourselves so we would
throw up and everyone would leave because of the stench and then we could
go home."

I looked at Chad and couldn't refrain from laughing.  "You wait until I get
you home.  I am going to chase you around the house in front of your sons
with a wet spaghetti noodle.  What are they going to think when you are
yelling, 'I surrender.'"

That was all that it took to have the two teenagers to convulse in my arms.
Grandmother saved anymore tension. "Okay, you laughing hyenas.  We need to
get back to the church, so we can make plans to meet the rest of your
brothers and sisters."

We assembled back at the church and Mr. Stone took charge.  "I am going to
meet with Mr. and Mrs. Harmon and Father Leahy.  Mrs. Young and Father
Lawler will be meeting the other children one on one after they watch the
interaction between Chad and Tim and them.  Mr. Wilkins and the Walkers to
include Henrietta, Bryce and Doug, I would like for you to make the
proposal that you take Tim to live with you and see if the Harmons agree to
sign the paperwork.  We will deal with this before we start on the issues
dealing with the other five children."

He continued, "I would ask that everyone maintain a low profile until after
the Harmons leave if they do come.  Does anyone have any questions?"

I was surprised when Chad interjected, "Mr. Stone, Mr. Harmon is a salesman
and will not always say what he should, instead he will say what he thinks
you want him to say and Mrs. Harmon will agree with anything he says."

Mr. Stone looked at Chad, "Young man, that is a rather bold statement."

Tim interrupted, "But Mr. Stone, it is true.  He has been known to not
quite tell the entire story."

The discussion was interrupted because the other Harmons were approaching
the entrance to the offices.  Chad, Tim and Mike disappeared.  Father
Leahy, took those of us who were to be involved in the Tim matter to the
library.  Mrs. Young led the others to where Mike and Tim and Chad were
waiting.

The two areas were as different as night and day.

When the other five children saw Chad and Tim, they huddled around them and
hugged them.  The two youngest boys, Billy and Bobby, practically pushed
Chad and Tim over by jumping into their arms.  Billy asked, "Are you coming
home, please?  Dad and Mother won't let us do anything and all we get to
eat is cereal and toast. Please Chad and Tim, you have to come home."

Chad put Billy down, "Everyone, please listen to me, this is Mrs. Young.
She and Father Lawler would like to visit with you. They want to make
everything okay, so if they ask you a question, please answer them
truthfully.  I don't know what is happening yet, but I want you to meet
your two nephews as soon as possible."

Bobby looked at Chad like he was weird, "But I'm too young to be an Uncle."

Tim assured him, "Bobby, you are an uncle to two cute little guys and they
need you to help take care of them.  We are all going to need to help Chad
be the best Daddy he can be."

Mrs. Young had to turn away to get rid of her tears, and Father Lawler had
tears running down his cheeks under his glasses.

Mrs. Young asked, "Jenny, would you please come with me and Father Lawler?
Chad and Tim, would you please take care of your brothers and sisters for a
couple of minutes.

It was less than two minute when Jenny came out and announced, "Deanne and
Dianna, Mrs. Young and Father Lawler would like to speak with you.  Chad,
Mrs. Young said you were to call the Pizza Hut and ask them to deliver two
large pizzas and some sodas.  She said she would pay for them."

Chad had never ordered pizza before, but he got through the process.  When
the young man who was delivering the pizza walked into the church, Mike met
him and paid him.  The Harmon children began devouring the pizza and
Mrs. Young and Father Lawler joined us in the library.

The scene in the library had been anything but pleasant.  Mr. Stone was
relentless and finally got the Harmons to acknowledge that they had indeed
signed the papers making me Chad's guardian.  I was pleasantly surprised
when he Mr. Stone changed gears, "Mr. and Mrs. Harmon, I think it would be
in everyone's best interest if you also signed over the guardianship of
Timothy to Mr. Walker as well.  Just from the few minutes we have had
together, I don't think it would be in the best interest of Timothy for him
to ever return to your house."

Mr. Stone ran his fingers through his hair, "Mr. Hutchins, I believe that
you have some paperwork that would assign Mr. Douglas Walker as the
guardian for a certain Timothy James Harmon."

Frank pulled out the documents and without hesitation the Harmons signed
them.  Mr.  Stone looked at the papers, "We'll stop by your house on the
way out off town to get Tim's papers that we need.  Now, if you will excuse
me, I am going to go visit with my colleague and Father Lawler about other
issues that we need to address."

"I would ask that the Walkers, except for Mr. Doug Walker, accompany me.
Mr.  Wilkins, I think you and Doug should stay here and visit with Father
Leahy and the Harmons."

Mike told me later that Mr. Stone was like a madman when he came out of the
meeting.  He asked Mrs. Young two questions as he watched the five young
people devouring the last of the pizza.  He practically ordered, "Mr. and
Mrs. Walker and Mr. Long, I want you to take these young people to their
old home and collect their belongings.  Mrs. Young will go with you.  I
suggest that you get them out of town as quickly as possible."

The entourage left for the Harmon house accompanied by Mrs. Young.  The
children quickly gathered the few things they had, with Chad and Tim's
help, and everyone was packed and ready to travel.

Mrs. Young saw them off and came back to the church to sit in on the rest
of the proceedings.  That was when the meeting with the Harmons turned
really interesting.

The two vans started to Des Moines with Chad driving Dad's van.  Dad told
Chad to pull into a restaurant area at the Amana Colonies exit.  They had a
playground where the children could exercise.  They went into the
restaurant so everyone could go to the bathroom and Dad insisted that
everyone should have some dessert to hold them until dinner.

Chad reluctantly participated.  Chad suggested or rather insisted that the
young people have something other than carbonated beverages to drink.  He
set the example by having a small chocolate milk shake.  The other six
young people had no problem following that example at all.  But Grandmother
insisted that each of them have an apple turnover to make sure they didn't
starve.

When Mr. Stone determined that the others were well on their way, he turned
the heat up.  "Mr. and Mrs. Harmon, I am very disturbed by your attitude.
I can not, for the life of me, understand why you would bring seven
wonderful children into the world and be willing to practically give them
away.  Just so you know, all seven of the children are safely out of Iowa
City and will remain so until you can prove that you are capable of being
caring parents."

"I understand that Father Leahy has already recommended that you get
professional help.  I suggest you do so.  One of our case workers will be
contacting you on Monday and presenting you with the necessary paperwork
that indicates that the your youngest five children have been removed from
your care, for just cause.  They will be returned when, and only when, you
can prove that you are prepared to be suitable parents."

Mr. Harmon turned red as Mr. Stone was speaking, "You son of a bitch, you
can't take our offspring away from us.  Those two heathens that we brought
into the world by mistake will cause them all to go to hell."

Father Leahy looked at Mrs. Harmon and asked, "Mrs. Harmon, do you have
anything to say about what is happening?"

Mrs. Harmon shook her head, "I agree with my husband.  Whatever he says is
right."

I felt a number of shudders around the table when she made that last
comment.  All I could think was that the creep has beaten the poor woman
into the ground and has reduced her to a zombie.  The guys hadn't been
exaggerating when they described her as a yes woman.

Mr. Stone was very calm, "Mr. Harmon, for your information, my mother was
not a bitch.  She was a kind caring woman.  I was born ten years after she
and my father had been married.  My Father died when I was two and my
mother devoted her life to my sister and me.  You realize, I hope, that you
just told us that Chad and Tim were probably born out of wedlock.  This
makes this case even more bizarre.  I can not for the life of me understand
why you would just sign your sons away.  That is not going to absolve you
of your past sins."

Father Tom leaned over to me and whispered, "I'm beginning to wonder who
the men of the cloth are around here."

Mr. Stone stood, "Now, if you will excuse us, some of us need to leave for
Des Moines.  My granddaughter is having her sixteenth birthday party
tonight and I don't want to miss it.  Father Leahy, I hope that you don't
have any other things we need to visit about.  I hope that you and Father
Lawler will keep my office advised of what is happening with Mr. and
Mrs. Harmon."

Mr. Stone wasn't finished, "Mr. Walker, Mr. Hutchins and Father Lawler,
could you meet with us for few minutes, before we leave?"

Mr. Stone guided us into a small room and we watched as Father Leahy
escorted the Harmons to the exit.  When they were out of sight, Mr. Stone
started up again, "Ian, how many of your other a parishioners are like that
couple?  Chad and Tim were right on the money about them.  They are works
of art and I hope they threw the mold away when they made them."

Mr. Stone turned his attention to me, "Doug, are you and your family going
to be able to handle this influx of young people?"

Jerry, a week ago it was just Mike and me, Here it is New Year's Eve Day,
and we now have eleven more people living with us.  It will work, the star
that led Chad to Grandmother's house on Christmas Eve probably had this in
mind all the time.  I guess Mike and I had better be prepared for the
twelfth visitor to descend on us shortly."

"Sorry for the humor, but I am sure that between Mother, Dad and Chad, they
will figure out how to make it work."

Mrs. Young asked, "Doug, we have been invited to my daughter's house
tomorrow for New Year's Day dinner.  Might I stop by and visit since I am
going to be in the neighborhood.  It will save me a trip later."

I couldn't help myself, "Why not?  Mike's parents and probably Frank's
family will be there.  I'll have a shoe horn to pry you in."

We shook hands with the two Fathers, walked to the car, and as we pulled
away from the church, all I could say was, "Wow, this would make a great
human interest story.  There is no way I would subject these seven children
to the scrutiny that that would bring."

Frank, bless his heart, was concerned, "Doug, all those people can't fit in
your house for any length of time.  Everyone will become claustrophobic."

Little did Frank know.

After the stop for exercise and dessert, the other two vehicles made it to
the house.  Needless to say, the first stop for Chad was to check on his
two sons.  They were both asleep and so Chad whispered to his brothers and
sisters, "These are your two nephews.  Let me show you to the rooms where
you will be sleeping for now.  First, let me introduce you to Aunt Elaine,
Kendra and Kevin."

Little did anyone know what fate had in store for them.

Authors note: If you want to read more of this story and other interesting
stories, you might want to visit www.tickiestories.us.

Editor's Notes:

Quite an interesting New Years Eve, wasn't it. Well, I should say New Years
Eve Day. Once again Uncle Ed has brought us a wonderful chapter Complete
with some wonderful children to love and a couple of nasty parental units
to totally dislike.  Hatred is a terrible thing, so even though Those
people were extremely hate filled individuals, It will do no good what so
ever for us to hate them. We needn't waste our energies in such a fashion.

Those children will finally get the love they deserve, now and I couldn't
be any happier about that.

Darryl AKA The Radio Rancher