Salvation - 31. Chapter 30

“We’re almost home, Marcus.” Whenever we are met by the limo, it’s a guess if Peter is alone or has a welcoming committee. Today he had a welcoming committee, and I was glad.

The boys he had with him were more Marcus’s age, and surprisingly, two of them spoke French. I didn’t know that Moroccans spoke French as well as their dialect of Arabic. I knew France owned them at one time, but you would think they’d have reverted to their language after France gave the country back to them.

Marcus smiled as the boys started talking to him. Alex and I got hugs.

Before leaving the plane, “Don, be sure to have the plane ready to go in two days. I need to fly to Chicago and then on to L. A.”

Alex and I didn’t say a word on the way home. The boys did all of the talking. I looked at Alex and smiled.

As usual, the welcoming committee met us on the front porch. I saw some new faces, the cabinetmaker and one of the carpenters were there as well. I guess they wanted to see what the commotion was all about. I’m sure they were disappointed.

The boys took Marcus, and that was the last we saw of him for an hour. “Alex, we have to get him some clothes. I didn’t see any on the plane with him.”

“The driver of the car placed one in the plane’s luggage hold. I’m not sure you saw it?”

That was when Peter brought in a suitcase, “Sir, where do you want this?”

“Just leave it there. The boys will handle it. Coffee, gentlemen?”

Walking into the kitchen, our cook staff were busy preparing breakfast. “I don’t think I’m hungry; how about you, Alex?”

“I think I might be able to force myself a little something.” I laughed, and so did Alex.

Maria gave us a cup of coffee, “Where’s the new child?”

“I’m not sure, Maria. His name is Marcus. The boys took him.”

“He’ll be here soon, breakfast time.”

David set a small plate of toast and scrambled eggs in front of me. I laughed at Alex’s plate. They knew him, three pieces of toast, four eggs over easy and three large sausages, plus his coffee.

“I’m glad you could eat just a little.” I couldn’t keep in the laugh, and soon everyone in the kitchen was laughing, including Alex.

That brought the boys. As soon as Charlie and Alexi saw me, they head for my lap. I never thought my bony lap could be so inviting. Steven had Marcus and was telling him about our home.

The boys went into action, filling their plates, finding a place to sit and eat. Steven was guiding Marcus through all of this. As I looked over the boys, they were happy, and that meant I was happy also.

The cabinetmaker had converted two beds into a bunk bed and wanted my comments. I looked at the new bunk beds, tried to see if they would fall. They didn’t. “You did a good job. Now we can offer bunk beds to the boys.”

Alex’s face shone. I knew what he was thinking about.

I called Judy and said I would be in a little later. I went and showered, changed into my business suit, told Peter I wanted to go to the office as soon as he had finished eating. I was in my office, reading Marcus’s report when he came and said he was ready.

“I have a small list from Maria. If it’s ok, I’ll go shopping after I drop you off.”

“Yes, that’s fine, I’ll call when I’m ready to come home. Here’s the charge card for the shopping.”

We left, and traffic being a little light, if you can call traffic in the City light, we made good time. I worked on the California case. There were a few details I needed. “Judy, do we have any prints from this electronic device that was being shipped from Mexico?”

“No, the only thing we have is this written report of their trials. I still don’t understand what the issue is with this shipment. The import duties were paid, the papers the driver had clearly stated what the truck contained; there was no reason to impound the truck.”

“Do you have the statement from the government on why they impounded the truck or did they not give a reason.”

“Just it was impounded for suspicious reasons.”=

“It looks like they are just harassing a Mexican business. I’ll be going to Chicago to receive my fee for that case on patent infringement and then to California to do some research before the trial. I need a lot more information.”

Driving home with Peter, “The cabinet maker has a design for the dining room table. It’s very large.”

“Did he estimate how many could sit around the table?”

“No, but the table is of a ‘U” design. He said it’d be easy to expand if there was room.”

A ‘U’ designed table would be interesting.

Arriving home, a small greeting committee waited for me, of which Marcus was one. “Hi Dad, Maria said dinner would be ready as soon as you shower and dress.”

“Thanks Steven, tell her to give me 20 minutes, and then we can eat.”

It doesn’t take me long to shower after work, a quick soap and rinse. Dressing casually never takes long.

As I entered the dining room, Steven said I was to sit there. He led me to a place at the head of the table. I noticed Alex at the foot of the table. The older boys ate in the kitchen, I’ll be glad when we all could eat together as a family because that’s what we were becoming.

Table talk is always interesting. It was a time to catch up on the day’s events. And so it was with us, the boys talked about visiting the garden center, “Dad, we got three apple trees, all different apples, and two cherry trees and three different plum trees. They said we could grow bananas in the conservatory. Could we?”

“If he says you could, I don’t see any reason why not.