The Peter Charles - 38. Chapter 38

Glen and I turned in, sleep came quick and four came even quicker. I was surprised when Nicky and Jamie join us blessing the ocean. On the way to the bow, we met Charles coming out. “I’ll get the stern nets.”

“Glen, help the boys and I’ll help Charles.”

“I’m surprised to see you up so early.”

“I have a job to do.”

With the first net up, Charles looked puzzled. “This net should be fuller.” Then he opened the hold. He looked, looked again and then looked at me. “Did you pull the nets last night?” I smiled, then we pulled the other net, now that he knew he wasn’t as concerned.

“Dad, we aren’t doing as well as last week.”

“No, we aren’t. I’m going to check the charts.” I made sure I fixed a coffee for Charles. Then I went to the bridge for the charts. “Nicky, where did you put last week’s chart?”

“In the cupboard where we store them.”

“It isn’t here.”

Nicky came up on the bridge, “I put them here.” I looked at the chart we were using, I started to laugh. “What’s so funny?”

“This is last week’s chart.”

“No"

“Yes” I showed the chart to Nicky and where we marked it last week.

“I’m sorry Kev, I must have placed last week charts with the new charts.”

“That’s okay, we didn’t do bad, we’ll be full we’ll just go in a little later.” I felt sorry for Nicky he kept saying he was sorry. He told Glen what he did. Glen told him it was okay, not a big deal. To Nicky it was a big deal.

He was still apologizing, “Look Nicky, if that's the biggest mistake you make in life , you’ll have a very good life.”

“But it won’t be the only mistake I’ll make in life, I know that.”

“Then don’t worry about it.”

“If you don’t stop, I’m going to take your car and give it to Dad.” He laughed and that seemed to break his mood. Then we talked about his car. That was good for at least an hour.

The boys came up, “Dad, you didn’t wake us up.”

“That’s okay, Pop and I wanted you all to get a good nights sleep.” We pulled the nets at ten and at two, then headed home.

Nicky let Charles steer us home. About one hour out, Nicky blew the horn and took over the wheel. Charles stayed with him till he had to supervise the dropping of the anchor and tying up the boat.

Unloading the holds, having a package for the cannery men who helped, filling pans for the Wharf, Uncle selling fish, all seemed to be a dream. We loaded the chests onto the truck, Nicky went and brought the car down for the other chests. We stopped in at the Wharf for a drink, then headed home to shower and dress.

Now the fun part for the boys, especially Charles he gets a kiss, is delivering fish to our customers. First stop is at Grams, we watched as Charles disappeared down the street. “Kevin, can I see you for a moment?”

“Sure Gram, what’s up.”

“I have a sister in the East who isn’t doing well. I haven’t seen her for a long time and I’d like to go for a few weeks. I wonder if the boys could stay with you.”

I chuckled the boys spend most of the time with me now, “Gram, think nothing about it, we’ll be glad to have the boys. How are you going to get there?”

“I was planning on taking the bus.”

“No, I’ll book a flight for you and we’ll see that you get to the airport. I’ll stop by later you can give me the time you want to leave and return.”

“Dad, let’s go.” I gave Gram a hug and we continued to Mom and Dad’s for a late lunch. The week-ends have become a routine, fishing, delivering fish, eating at Mom and Dad’s. I never realized how routine my life had become. Glen has made a significant difference in my life and now with all of the boys, I felt very rich.

We delivered our fish to Jamie’s parents, Johnny’s parents, Paul’s parents and for the first time to Rusty’s parents. “I’ll get a pan, be right back.”

“Rusty, you need to pick out a fish for your folks.” I watched as he opened the chest, he picked up a fish, Jamie showed him the pan.

“Thanks Kevin, Glen I had a lot of fun.”

“You know Rusty, you’re now one of my boys, so next week I expect to see you again.”

He shook the hand of Glen and myself, gave a hug to Jamie. “There goes one happy boy, you did good Jamie.”

“Thanks, but I think someone is a little upset that I didn’t spend the weekend with her.” Jamie didn’t seem up set about his girlfriends attitude. I thought this relationship won’t last long.

Arriving at home, I took Tommy and showed him a room in the annex. “Tommy, I need your room for a very sick young man, how would you like to sleep here.” He smiled, and gave me a hug. He signed, I love it, I gave him a hug and a kiss on his head. It didn’t take long for him to round up the boys to help him to move. When he was done, he came and sat next to me. I put my arm around him and pulled him into my side. I was going to put my plan in action tonight.

That night as the boys went to their room, I took Glen by the hand and went to each boy’s room. We spent about five minutes with them, talking about the week-end and the week ahead. What we talked about wasn’t important, what was important is that they had our undivided attention for that five minutes. They were smiling as we tucked them in and that was worth a lot to Glen and I.

“We’re going to do this every night. The boys need their time with us, not sharing with the others, I feel I have neglected them. This is important to them and to me.”

“I agree, it’s important to make sure they understand that we’re there for them and that we have time for them. It’s important to me also.”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s important to you, I should have included you when I said it was important to me.”

0-0

Monday morning started my last week of vacation. “Who wants to go with me to see Shawn?” I started something, they all wanted to go. “Okay, how about I take some of you with me today, some tomorrow and then some on Wednesday when we pick up Shawn to come home.”

So, Peter, Adam, David and Tommy were coming with us today. Glen drove the truck, he was going to do fish deliveries and then bring us lunch. I stopped at the Mom and Pop store to buy breakfast for Shawn and Tom, of course I had to buy some for the boys as well. I bought cartons of chocolate milk.

Walking into Shawn’s room, I was surprised. He was sitting up and smiling when he

saw us. I introduced Adam and Tommy to him, he knew the other two. Adam, being Adam, got on his bed, “You’re our new brother.” I looked at Adam, he had this uncanny way of stating things. Yes, I was going to adopt Shawn along with Steve and Frankie. Sometimes when he makes these statements it scares me.The boys ate their second

breakfast. I had to help Adam. It was a pleasant afternoon, the boys chatted, I chatted with Tom. He agreed to come and look after Shawn until he was able to look after himself. I felt better knowing that Tom was going to be there.

Glen arrived on time with lunch and chicken soup. Don stopped in, at lunch time, I

think he planned that. He had a sandwich or two as we talked about Shawn’s care. I told him Tom was going to help, he thought that was a good idea. I got the impression that Don thought highly of Tom.

On the way home, “You know Jamie’s birthday is this week.”

“Yes, Bob said he can’t find a junker. So I thought I would give him my car. It’s in good shape.”

“He’ll be happy to have a car. He has certainly driven that car a lot. We have to start Scott, Travis and Sammy on driving lessons.”

“Yes, I’ll arrange that for when school starts. I’m not sure if Travis is going to be here or not. I’ll have to ask Diane when she comes this week.”

As I suspected, there are no secrets among the boys. “Glen, can I see you a minute?”

“Sure Nicky, what’s up?”

“The boys said you were going to give Jamie your car. If he can’t have a car like mine, I’ll give him my car and take yours. He’s the closest thing to a brother I have now that you are living here. I know he loves my car and I want him to be happy.”

“That’s very generous of you, but his dad can’t afford a car like yours. He was looking for a junker to fix up for him, that’s when we offered our car. You know Nicky, the reason you got that car was because Kevin has an interest in that dealership. He showed a car to Jamie’s dad, but he can’t afford it. I think he’ll be happy with our car. He rides with you most of the time anyway.”

“I want him to have what I have, just like Mom and Dad treated us. I miss having a brother around and Jamie fills that hole.” I almost was ready to tell him when Kevin called me. “Let’s discuss this later.”

“What’s up?”

“I heard what Nicky said and I was afraid you were going to say something.”

“You’re right, I was going to say something. I never realized how close those two were.”

“He misses you and Jamie has filled that void. It’ll be okay, just you wait and see.”

Although Jamie’s birthday was on Friday, Bob and Grace agreed to celebrate it on Thursday. We’re going to have the party at our place, we’d pick up Grace in the morning, she’d help Scott and Travis prepare the meal. Bob would arrive later with the car.

Tuesday, off to the hospital with another group of boys. I bought breakfast for everyone, the appetite of the boys is something else. I wonder if I ate like that when I was their age. There was excitement as Shawn was going to be released the next day. Don showed up in time for lunch. I looked at Glen, we smiled knowing Don schedule his visits at lunch time knowing we’d share. There was plenty so it wasn’t a problem.

Wednesday, the boys were excited. I took the last group with me as we went to the hospital. I arranged for an ambulance to bring Shawn home, it was more convenient and certainly simpler than trying to get him in a car. Tom rode with him.

All of the boys had to welcome him, there was a constant flow in and out of his room. Popcorn, root beer was flowing freely. I asked Tom if he was going to travel back and forth or would he rather stay here, he chose to stay for the first week and then travel as needed. I showed him the bedroom over the office, “Can I move in here?” We laughed, it was a nice room.

“Kev, what are we going to do for fishing this week-end. We can’t take him on the boat.”

“Tom is here, I’ll make arrangements for Mom to check on him and get him some food. I need to make plane reservations for Gram, she is going to visit her sister.”

“I’ll handle that.” That got hm a kiss and the promise of more to come.