Adam Blake - 149. Chapter 149

I’m amazed at what people see and never see what is behind the act. Boys react to me because of how I treat them, how I go to battle for them, listen to them, and help them develop into fine men. I give them tokens to remind them of where they have been and what lies ahead. I am their confidant, and besides being their teacher, I am their friend. What I did in Liechtenstein, they know I’ll help them just as well. I thank God for the blessings he has given me, my job, my wife, my children, and my boys.

“Adam, the boys want to know if you are going to the cabin this weekend?”

“Yes, and make sure Seth is on the ball for the end of the year Festival. I’ll be at the College. I want to check out the wings. I heard one is finished, and the other one will be done sometime this summer.”

I never walk to the college alone. I always have an escort. This time it was Morgan. I put my arm around him as we walked. He was happy, and so was I. My sad little boy hasn’t cried since that time I held him at the cabin.

“Do you want a snack while I check out the West wing?”

“Can I come with you?”

“I’d love for you to come with me.” He reached up and touched my heart and smiled.

“Let’s see how many classrooms this wing has.” The classroom sizes weren’t large, students per class are limited to 12, and some classes were even smaller. Teacher-student interaction was critical for me. My method works best under those conditions.

We walked the distance, “Let’s go and see how much work the East wing needs before it is finished.”

By the looks of things, they should finish it in six weeks. I’ll notify staff they can start using the West wing.

We stopped and got our snack and then went to the pub for a beer, and that’s where I lost Morgan. He saw his friends, and I gave him some coins to treat his friends, a kiss on the head, and a hug. I started to leave, and it didn’t happen. Each of his friends and then all the boys in the pub wanted a hug and a kiss. I gave them all five coins. One more hug from Morgan, and I finally was able to leave.

The weekends were back on schedule. I had two more buses, a total of seven now. I had a food truck that Caleb drove. It was getting to be a major effort, but I enjoyed it. I still ran around the lake, only now it takes me longer.

I ended up putting more freezers in the basement. Now I had four large freezers. We did add an extension on the kitchen, and it didn’t take Caleb and Gaston long to fill the space with additional ovens and other kitchen equipment, one being a large industrial dishwasher.

Josef added a few more chalets and several small one and two-room cabins. Now my staff could come with us as well. I didn’t buy more boats, six were enough on the lake, anymore and it would be impossible to fish.

The fair went very well, and there were far more than the parents. My boys came back to enjoy the festivities. Finding room for them was a little difficult, but we managed. I always laughed when we have the jousts, a simple idea that further enforced the boys with the idea of being a Knight or King.

I met with my returning boys, we discussed various subjects and skirted the issue I dealt with in Liechtenstein. I assured them if they have a problem, I’ll be there for them.

When everyone had left, James dropped a bunch of papers on my desk. “What is this?”

“Applications for admissions”

“Where did they come from?”

“You met with the boys today. Didn’t they say anything?”

“No, are these from them?”

“Yes, most of them, there are few from the parents of the boys already attending.”

“I don’t know how to file these. The parents are easy, but the boys some of them are too young to be married, and those that aren’t too young aren’t even married.”

“That’s true, but they believe in you.”

“Put these in a file titled Second round of Knights. When a boy gets married, we’ll advance his request to married status, and then when they have the first boy, we’ll place in the application in the appropriate year.”

We have some of the boys from the staff enrolled. Even though their parents have a home on-site, the boys stay at the school. The girls attend the school in town. It’s a good school since I was a concerned parent, I made sure my teaching methods were being used. Marie kept me up to date on how the teachers were doing. “Adam, you should have never let the children read your book. Now they are telling the teachers how they should handle a classmate when there’s a problem.”

“If they have to tell a teacher how to handle a student, then we don’t need the teacher. Or I need to teach her or him about my book. Adam will be a Knight in a few years.”

“I need to look for a girl school. Some of the staff are suggesting maybe we should expand and have a girl school.”

“That’s not a bad idea. You could be head Mistress .”

“I’ll do it.”

That shocked me. I never thought she would give up on being a doctor to run a school. “Are you serious? What about your medical responsibilities.”

“I’ll still oversee the College, I’ll hire a nurse to be there all the time, and I’ll be on call.”

Just when I think that life is about to get routine, something else pops up. “James, ask Annie to come and see me.”

“Hi Annie, I have another project for you. I need a large piece of land close to this land. If we could extend any of this land, it would be good. I’m going to build a Ladies Academy.”

She looked at me, “Are you serious?”

“Yes, with more and more of staff having children, why not. The boys will come here, but it would be nice to offer the girls a chance of a good education like the boys.”

James never goes far, “The architect will be here tomorrow.”

“Thanks, James. Next time just come in when Annie is here.”

Annie left to go the county, “James, how long will it take before the staff knows.”

“I would say about 15 minutes. I’m wrong. I’ll bet that phone call is the first.”

“You handle it.”

Now I had two projects, one for the girls and one for Marie.