Clarion - 22. Chapter 22

Driving to town to buy fishing rods, the boys thanked Andy for showing him around. Cody watched the interaction through the rear view mirror. He was glad that Andy and the boys were getting along. They went to a sports store and bought fishing rods for the boys. Andy took the lead and picked out a rod for each boy. Cody saw a starter fishing kit and bought one for each of the boys. They were ready to go fishing. “Cody, let’s go to the trout stream and see what we can catch.”

Cody thought that was good idea, phoning home, “Alan, we're going fishing so don’t plan on anything for dinner. We will fry up some trout when we get home.”

Looking at the boys they had a big smile on their face. Arriving at the stream, Andy led the boys to his favorite spot. He helped the boys get their rods ready and showed them how to cast into the stream. Then he sat back to watch, Cody watched the whole thing with an amused smile.

Nels got very excited as his line became taut and a fish started to pull on his line. Andy showed him how to reel it in, Cody was smiling as Nels pulled the fish from the water, it was a fairly large trout. He was all smiles as he showed it to Cody. “That’s a big fish Nels, but we need more if we're going to eat fresh fish tonight.” It didn’t take Nels long to cast his line back in after Andy removed his fish. James had to add to the dinner. It wasn’t 10 minutes after Nels caught his fish, that James pulled in a fish as large as the one Nels had caught. Cody was happy to see the joy on the kids' faces. They continued to fish until they had caught five large trout. Heading home, the boys were happy, talking about fishing and wanted to know when they could go again.

“After dinner, if there is light enough, you can go and fish in the river.” The boys’ eyes lit up because this meant they could fish anytime. Cody took the boys down by the river and showed them how to clean the fish. James was ok doing this, but Nels hung back a little. “One of the things you need to learn is if you catch a fish in order to eat it, you have to clean it. It isn’t always a nice task but once you do it a few times you get use to it and then it isn’t a problem.” Saying this, Cody handed Nels a fish to clean. James had already cleaned three of the fish leaving two for Nels. Cody watched as James helped Nels by showing him how to do it. It was apparent that James would always be there to help Nels.

Taking the fish to Alan for dinner, “Dad, here’s dinner that Nels and I caught. How are we going to cook them?” The term dad did not go unnoticed by Cody and Andy.

“How about getting your other Dad to start the grill, we can grill them for dinner, ok?”

Cody had a big smile on his face as he put an arm around James leading him to the grill. “Nels, would you like to help me prepare a salad and the fish for the grill?” Nels with a big smile on his face nodded yes and moved beside Alan. Andy watched this with a smile. Alan noted that Andy was just standing there, “Andy would you please get a pie from the freezer, we can have that for dessert. Now there was a big smile on Andy’s face, pie meant ice cream and black berries.

Alan showed Nels how to cut the tomatoes and cucumbers for the salad. James came into the kitchen, “Dad said the grill is ready for the fish.”

“Andy, could you please get the aluminum foil so we can wrap the fish to put on the grill? Nels there are lemons in the refrigerator and a bottle of white wine, could you get that for me please.”

Once everything was brought to the counter, Alan rinsed the fish. Andy knowing what to do tore off five sheets of foil. Placing the foil on the counter, Alan added a fish on top of each piece of foil. Cutting the lemons in half, he told Nels to squeeze ½ of lemon on each fish. Then taking the white wine Alan sprinkled each fish with a little wine. Finishing off the fish with an herb mixture, he began to close the aluminum foil. Andy knew what to do so he showed Nels, while Alan got a platter for the fish. James came to take the fish out to the grill. Andy got out plates and silverware and headed to the patio. When he returned he showed Nels how to make coffee. Then he turned the oven on low and placed the frozen pie in the oven to heat.

The boys went to the patio to wait for the fish to be done. When Cody and James said the fish was ready, Alan and Andy went in to the kitchen to get napkins and drinks. The boys couldn’t wait to try the fish. I’m not sure what makes the fish taste so good, fresh caught or the grilling of the fish. The fish the guys brought home was the best I have eaten. The boys really enjoyed the taste, “I never ate fish before but this is delicious.”

“Cody, I’d like to take a trip to Erie this coming week-end. The boys need some new clothes and I want to look at buying twin beds for their room.”

“What are you going to do with the bed in that room?”

“I thought maybe Mary could use it and if not I’m sure we can find someone to use it. By the way shouldn’t Ralph be stopping soon? He should be on his way back tomorrow.”

“Yes, I was thinking we should take the boys with us to introduce them to Ralph. There’s no school tomorrow so it would be a good time.”

Saturday morning about 6 the phone rang. It was Ralph and he was 2 hours out and he'd meet us at the diner. Cody woke the boys, I made the coffee and toast. Since we would have breakfast at the diner, I didn’t want to make a big breakfast. Cody and I were sitting at the table with our cup of coffee when two sleepy boys sat down at the counter. I poured their orange juice and gave them their toast. “Why are we up so early, it’s Saturday.”

“A friend of ours drives a semi from Philly to Chicago and is on his way back. We meet for breakfast at the diner just off of I-80. That’s where we’re going this morning. So eat your toast that should hold you until we get to the diner.”

Ralph was surprised to see us with the boys when he arrived at the diner. Cody introduced the boys and explained that they were our foster children. Ralph took the boys to show them the semi while Cody and I ordered breakfast. When they came back, “That’s a neat truck.”

“It’s not a truck Nels, it's called a semi. It’s used for long hauling.”

Ralph smiled and the boys smiled when they saw their breakfast. While we were eating, I mentioned that the following week-end I wanted to take a trip to Erie. Ralph asked why not Pittsburgh, I told him I thought Erie would be closer and I’m curious as to what that city looked like. “Now that we have permanent guests, we need to replace the queen size bed with two singles. We haven’t figured out what to do with the queen size bed. I guess if we can’t find someone to take it, we’ll give it to some charity.”

“I could use a new bed. Do you mind if I take it?”

“No, that would be great. I have two more trips to make before I get a three day break. I could pick it up then.”

That solved the problem of the queen size bed. I made plans on going to Erie the next week-end. That night as we were sitting on the patio, we could hear the boys talking. They must have been in the hot tub. “James, calling both of our dads Dad is confusing. We need to have a separate name for each of them.” When Cody and I heard this, we chuckled. “How about we call them Dad A and Dad C?”

“I wonder what they will settle on. Maybe call me the old dad and you the young dad.”

“Maybe they will call you grandfather.”

“Don’t laugh. It actually wouldn’t matter what they called me as long as it isn’t ‘hey you’.”

The next morning we found out what our new names would be, Dad for me and Pop for Cody. And that was fine with both of us.

The following week-end we did go to Erie, all five of us. As soon as James told Andy we were going to go to Erie on Saturday, we had another rider. The trip wasn’t bad, it was shorter than going to Pittsburgh. After shopping for new clothes for the boys, we looked at single beds. James picked out two he liked, helped by Andy and Nels just went along with the idea. Then we decided to have a late lunch by the lake. There were a few sightseeing boats and one fishing boat that was ready to leave. I looked at Cody he nodded yes, I bought the tickets and we went fishing or rather they went fishing. The boys caught some nice size fish which we had to take home. I bought a small cooler and filled it with fish and ice. On the ride home, the boys relived the fishing. I smiled at Cody and he had a big grin on his face. The man was happy.

It wasn’t long before summer was upon us. That meant walks in the woods for me and ATV for Cody and the boys. Robert asked me to make one European trip to help one of our clients. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for a family vacation. I called Mrs. Benish to find out if we could take the boys out of the country on a vacation. There were some legal documents that I would need. I contacted a lawyer in Butler and arranged for the papers to be sent to him. Miss Brown went with me to record the papers. Once that was done, I needed to get passports for the boys so they could go with us. I checked with Mary and she had no problem but insisted on paying Andy’s fare. I got the same from Rich’s dad. They both wanted an itinerary of the trip and how long we would be gone. I wasn’t sure how long because I hadn’t planned the trip. I called Robert to find out how long he would need me, during the discussion I mentioned that I was going to take the family with me. I had previously told Robert about fostering two boys.

That evening I discussed with Cody a possible itinerary. “I have to be in London for three days, so I thought while I’m at work; you could take the boys sightseeing. We could then go to Spain, Italy and finish in Greece. How does that sound?”

“That sounds great, how long will we be gone?”

“Maybe 4 weeks; I’ll have the company’s travel agency work on an itinerary and we’ll see how it goes.” That’s how the conversation ended. Cody had agreed that might be the best way