The Peter Charles - 8. Chapter 8

Returning from lunch, I called Alex at the car dealership and told him what I wanted. He said they just got a metallic blue car that is really beautiful. I told him to mark it sold and I would stop over sometime this week with a check. Then I went to see Mr. Donaldson.

“Kevin, come on in, I have a favor to ask of you. I know you’re still fishing over the week-ends, Marge is blowing your horn about providing her with the best fish she has ever eaten. I have a golfing friend who thinks his son needs better friends. Would it be possible for him to join you and your fishing crew this week-end?”

“Sure, I’d like to meet him before we leave on Friday. He’ll need fishing clothes and I also want him to meet the other boys.”

“I’ll have him here tomorrow morning.”

“Good, I’d like to take my vacation in August this year. I’m getting married on August sixteen.”

“Congratulations, I’m sure we can accommodate your vacation plans.”

That evening I told Glen about my talk with Mr. Donaldson. “Do you know anything about this boy?”

“Only what Donaldson told me but I have a feeling that there's more that Donaldson isn’t telling me. I guess we’ll find out. I also bought Nicky his car. Maybe we can go and take a look at lunch time tomorrow.”

The boys were busy working on their models that evening. Charlie had sent over the expansion plans, Glen and I looked them over. “What are we going to use these rooms under the bedrooms for?”

“This room, we can move the freezers and refrigerator in which will free up space in the garage.”

“What about this room here, it’s rather large.”

“Maybe we could make that a craft room. The boys are spread out in the rec room working on their boat models. I could have shelves, tables and lights installed in that room. This is where we’ll expand the showers.”

"There’s enough space to set up showers like we have off of the workout room.” “

"Yes, we really need that. How about the bedrooms above those rooms, how are we going to access them, we can’t have the boys going outside and using the stairs?”

“The only thing I can think of is to put a hallway through the fourth bedroom. It would cut down on the size of that bedroom, it would be smaller than the other two.”

“We could always use it as a guest bedroom which doesn't need to be a large room.”

“So, you’re in agreement with these plans?”

“Yes, I think you should tell Charlie to go ahead. What about your office? You could use the bedroom for that.”

“That’s a good idea, but I was thinking of an office on the far side of the garage. A separate building, it would provide more privacy and a place where I could meet with my clients. Meeting here would be more of a problem.”

Friday morning, all of the boys were up and in the work out room. “You guys got up early this morning.”

“Dad, can we go crabbing while you’re at work?”

“Sure, you’ll need to take the chests in the wagon. Be sure to take some sandwiches for yourselves for lunch.”

“Can we buy our lunch at Chicken Shack?”

“If you want, or you may ask Aunt Mary to prepare lunch for you with the crabs you catch. If you do, just remember to share. Nicky, I’ll give you some money for Chicken Shack if the boys eat there. Tell Barney I’ll pay your tab when I come down later today.”

Driving to work, “Glen, we’re going to be busy at lunch time. I have the new boy to get outfitted at Jim’s and then we need to go and check out Nicky’s car. Maybe we should skip lunch or have Stella pack a lunch we can eat later.”

“Kevin, don’t forget our secret friends dinner party.”

“I won’t Marge, might have something extra for him.”

I was well into my work when Bess brought a young man to my office. “Kevin, this is Travis, he’s the son of Mr. Donaldson’s friend.”

“Hello Travis, come in and sit down. Thanks Bess. Have you ever gone fishing?”

“No, my dad likes to hunt, I’m not much of a hunter. I think Mr. Donaldson thought I’d enjoy fishing more. Anyway, he talked my dad into letting me come.”

“I think you’ll enjoy fishing with my boys. This afternoon we’re going to get you outfitted for fishing. So your dad’s a hunter?”

“Yes, he and his buddies go hunting a lot. They have a cabin in the mountains that they use. My dad isn’t happy that I don’t like hunting, he says that his friends tease him about it.”

I got the impression that this was a big problem. When a father can’t accept the fact that his son may be different, he not only expresses his disappointment but he’ll also cause his son to lose confidence in himself, the ‘I do not measure up syndrome.’ This causes low self esteem and a road for failure.

“Travis, what do you like to do?”

“I like to paint, I have won several competitions at school. My mother thinks I’ll be a famous painter someday. I’m not sure about that, I don’t think my dad will pay for my college if he thinks I’ll be studying art.”

“I think you and my son Scott will hit it off. He also likes to paint and I think he does a very good job. You’ll see some of his work when we go home this afternoon.”

I now have more insight into Travis’s problems . His dad is the great big macho hunter, his mother is the sensitive art supporter. Sometimes you wonder how two people with diverse interests manage to fall in love.