The Castaway Hotel - 8 - 7. Chapter 7 - Many Changes

When the time came for me to meet with my attorney, I drove to his office and waited to be called in. After exchanging greetings, he got right to the point.

“Josh, what is it you want me to do for you?” he asked.

“I need to make changes to my will,” I advised him.

“What kind of changes?” he followed, skeptically.

“I want to eliminate all but one of my biological children from it and then replace them with my grandchildren. I also want my grandchildren’s shares to be set up in trusts, which they will be able to withdraw from for their educational expenses, when they are old enough to go to college. I also want the trusts set up in a way so they won’t be able to take the money out for any other reason until they reach the age of twenty-five.”

“I can do that, but what prompted this decision,” my lawyer followed, with his eyebrows raised.

“It’s a long story, but let it suffice to say that my biological children don’t really need the money,” I answered, cryptically. “The only one of them I’m leaving anything to is Robert. I know he can use the money and won’t squander it, but he also doesn’t have any children to give his share to.”

“Is there any other reason you’re just leaving him in your will?” my attorney pressed.

“Well, I trust him and that’s why I also want you to make him executor of the will and the administrator for all of the trust accounts. That way, my grandchildren’s parents won’t be able to get their grubby fingers on even one penny of my money.”

“It sounds as if this is more involved here than just that the others don’t need the money,” my lawyer offered. “This is a pretty drastic step and your disinherited children might contest the will, once you’re gone.”

“I figured they might, but I’m not making this decision lightly. I won’t give you the details behind my reasons for doing this, because as I said it is a lengthy story, but I feel it’s imperative I do it. Just make sure this document is drawn up in such a way that they can’t get it thrown out or overturned.”

“It’s your will, so I’ll change it however you request, as long as you are aware of what these changes mean and the impact they’ll have on your heirs,” he advised me. “From what I can tell, you understand the implications perfectly, so I will do as you request. I will also do my best to make sure it will stand up under scrutiny and won’t be invalidated. I’ll have my secretary call you once I have the new document drawn up, so you can come in and sign it.”

I thanked him and then left his office, feeling satisfied about what I had done. It wasn’t that I hated my biological children, but I had finally decided not to coddle them or give in to their demands. If they don’t feel I’m good enough to associate with while I’m alive and they are horrified by my life choices, then I’ll be damned if they’ll benefit from my death. Instead, I’ll leave their share of my money to my grandchildren, but make it so their parents will have no way to control what is done with it. I just prayed that making Robert executor wouldn’t cause the others to turn on him next.

I don’t know if this will bother any of them, once they discover what I’ve done, but I hope it does. It may not matter to them at all, but if it finally hits them, then possibly they’ll understand how I felt when they turned on me like they did.

Since I had settled on how I was going to resolve that issue, I focused on the next major event in our lives. In two more weeks Frankie would be leaving for Missouri, to begin his basic training. He was excited, yet nervous about this move, but he was convinced it was what he wanted and needed to do.

During the interim between when he’d signed up and until he began his enlistment, Frankie had been frantically working-out, to make sure he was in the best shape he could be in to start his training. He’d talked to others who had been in the military and heard the horror stories they had to tell about how the overweight and out of shape trainees were treated, so he was determined not fall into this category. Actually, he was probably in the best condition I’d ever seen him in and Frankie has never been in bad physical shape, no matter whose definition you were to use.

I took some time to discuss other issues with him too; because I knew there probably wouldn’t be a great deal of contact with him during his training period. Therefore, I wanted to get his reaction about whether he wanted me, or any of us, to come to his graduation ceremonies at the end of his training cycle. After thinking about it briefly, he answered.

“I don’t want you to go to all that trouble and expense, so you don’t have to come,” he advised me.

“It’s no trouble and I didn’t ask you if we could afford to go,” I corrected him, “I just want to know if you WANTED us there. I’d love to come see your graduation ceremony, but I wasn’t sure if having a bunch of us there might embarrass you or anything.” His face began to brighten.

“Heck, that could never happen,” he said, grinning. “I love all of you guys and could care less if anyone else might have a problem with it. You could bring everyone, if you want, but it might cost a lot and I’m not sure if all of the guys will be home from college by then.”

“Well, I’ll promise you this,” I told him. “I’ll be there no matter what else happens, and possibly I’ll bring some of the others. If I do, I promise I will also try to keep them under control. I’ll do everything in my power to prevent them from running out on the parade grounds to march with you,” I added with a laugh, “and keep them from sitting in the stands and verbally harassing you.”

“Oh, don’t do that,” Frankie joked back. “I’d like to see how the Army M.P.’s would handle that. Besides, it might be fun to visit my brothers at an Army prison camp. Heck, I might even try to get assigned as one of their guards, so I could torture them a little.” I was glad to see him in such a good mood, because I wasn’t sure if he was getting nervous about his big career move.

“You might have an idea there, and it might give me a little peace at home, but do you think the Army is ready for your brothers yet?” Frankie laughed again.

“You may be right about that,” he quipped. “They deal with some real bad-asses, but I’m not sure even the Army is ready for the Currie assault force. Besides, I’m not sure any of the generals are ready to have their beds short-sheeted or find oatmeal in their boots.” He had a point and we both had a good chuckle over the thought of such things happening.

“Okay, maybe I’ll come alone then, but I WILL be there,” I informed him.

“You know, I’m still not sure WHY you do all of this for us, but I for one am sure glad you do,” he told me, and I could feel the sincerity in his words. “Thanks, Dad. I’m really happy to be your son and part of this family.”

Frankie gave me a hug, as his way of showing his gratitude, and I thought to myself, ‘who needs my biological children when I have boys who appreciate me for who I am and not WHAT I am.’

After he went back to concentrating on his preparations to leave, I went to my computer to see if anything new required my attention. When I did, I discovered I’d received another email from Nick. I was somewhat surprised by this, since it was nearly time for him to come home, but I suspected he wanted to fill me in about his most recent trip before he got back. Eagerly, I opened his email, to see what he had to say.

Pop,

Man, I’m going to hate to leave here, but I’m really looking forward to getting back there too. I hope Shannon is as excited about me coming home. Anyway, I just got back from my trip to the Foz do Iguacu or Iguacu Falls. They’re on the border between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. I think I told you my host brothers, Will and Marcos, were going to go with me, because they’d never been there before either. Mom and Dad left me enough money, when they were down here for Christmas, so I could take them too. It was fantastic and we all had a great time.

Man, you won’t believe it, but the Cataratas do Iguacu is actually a series of 275 falls that extend for almost two miles. It’s huge. The water from the Iguacu River cascades over a gorge and creates permanent rainbows around the falls. The best view is from the Brazilian side and it’s really neat. We even took a boat ride and rode in a helicopter to see the falls better, but I was disappointed, because the helicopter ride didn’t last very long. It was over in about ten minutes. That sucked and was a rip off. Well, it was a great view, just way too short.

Anyway, I learned two-thirds of the falls were on the Argentine side, so we went there to see them better. That was really neat too, because there are walkways you can follow that go right under the falls. We got wet from the spray, but it was a blast.

We all shared a room together on the trip, so, of course we fooled around some, but we were all careful. I’m going to really miss them, because they’ve been a lot of fun. Do you think maybe we can bring them to stay with us sometime? Pleeeeeze. It would mean a lot to all of us and I’m sure the others would really like them too.

Well, I’ve got to get going. We’re ready to head back to their place now and I’ll spend one more week there, before I catch my flight home. Can’t wait to see you and show you all my pictures and stuff. I’ve got loads.

Love you all,
Nick

It always amazes me how upbeat he is about things and that he’s made the most of this experience. I’m thrilled he decided to do this and it’s been such a positive experience for him, but I’m still worried about whether he truly heeded my advice and was careful about having sexual encounters. I will make sure he is disease free and in good health when he returns. In fact, the various doctor appointments are already set.

Getting back to matters closer to home, I took some time during the week to run our prospective house parents out to see the two farms and give them an opportunity to check things out. I also answered all of their questions concerning the positions we had offered them. I explained what would be required and what they could expect in return. Once we finished, they told me they would think the situation over and talk about it with each other, before they let us know what they had decided. They both seemed very excited about the possibility, so I had a feeling they were going to eventually accept the posts.

The next day, Sally called me at work to let me know the couple had just called and announced they would be happy to supervise the other house. They were both looking forward to being able to raise more children and the husband was thrilled he’d still be working on a farm. Sally also informed me the husband was giving his notice to the owner of the farm he was currently working on, in order give him plenty of time to find a replacement. They also mentioned they were already starting to pack up their belongings and would be ready to move into the other house, as soon as renovations were completed. I thought to myself, ‘this is coming together quite nicely.’

Sally was also excited about the current situation. By expanding the operation to include two sets of parents and two homes, it would help her clear up some of her current backlog of cases. Good foster parents were hard to find and that meant she didn’t have enough suitable homes to place all the needy children in. Once the renovations to the second house are completed, she will be able to move some of her current clients there, which will free up other spots. We were nearly doubling the number of children we could take care of at the farm-homes and once Sally was able to assign children there, it will relieve some of the pressure she’d been facing at work.

Sally informed me she was going to select some of her older, more reliable cases for the initial placements, but she wouldn’t take children who were happy where they were or those who would be upset by such a change. She would only select children whom she felt would be able to help out with the chores, benefit from the change of situation and enjoy country living. She had some definite ideas about whom she thought would like to work with animals and learn some new skills, so she would approach those individuals first. This, in turn, would open up spots for the children who were currently living in the institutional group homes, while awaiting placement.

We were both optimistic, because the construction work on the two farms was moving along very nicely. The Becker home had been totally revamped and had a couple of additions included to it, so it was now set up to accommodate a dozen or more young men. The five upstairs bedrooms were made suitable for the current needs of teenagers and furnished for two to four boys each, depending on the size of the room. There were also three bathrooms on that level, to better handle the number of people that would be using the facilities.

The largest bedroom had been specifically designed to be used by four boys and had been built on as part of one of the new additions. It also had its own bathroom, so the four other bedrooms would share the remaining two bathrooms. Seeing those bedrooms were only set up for two boys each, it meant there would be a maximum of four people assigned to each of these facilities.

As far as sleeping accommodations, the boys would be provided with either a single or double bed. The largest bedroom had been designed for four of the younger boys, who would share two sets of bunk beds. The lower bunk would be a double bed and the top bunk a single. The older or larger boys would be assigned the bottom bunks and the other two would sleep in the uppers.

A master bedroom and full bath had been added to the lower level of this addition, for the house-parents. We felt it would give them a little more privacy, even though we had also added one other bedroom on the ground level. The young lady living with them was currently using that bedroom, but in the future it could be used for children having adjustment or behavioral problems. This would allow the house-parents to keep a closer eye on them, without constantly having to run up and down the stairs.

Some of the walls in the rooms on the lower level of the Beckers’ farmhouse had been torn down; so two smaller rooms could be combined into a larger area. For example, the dining room and the den were next to each other, so the wall between them was completely removed to make a larger dining area. This area was now furnished with a huge table and sixteen chairs, so there was enough room so everyone could eat together.

I also saw to it that a family room was added on to the rear of the house, to provide a large area where the children could watch television, play games or do homework. We even had a large-screen television set up in that room, so there would be no problems with such a large group being able to view it. We also placed a smaller television in the old living room, for the house-parents to use or to give an alternative outlet for those not interested in what was being watched in the family room.

The barn was also redone and updated. It was expanded to include more milking stalls and the equipment was modernized. A new milk house was also added, with a much larger storage tank and easier access. This was to accommodate the dairy co-op’s tanker-trucks, when they picked the milk up every couple of days.

Some of the smaller buildings, which were once used to house the hogs and chickens, had been converted into storage areas or made over to accommodate the horses that were to be kept there. In addition to all of this, we had each of the fences checked and then repaired or reinforced, to make certain they would be able to contain the animals that would be grazing there.

Similar work was also begun on the other farm, to bring it up to the same standard, except there would be no milking stalls or milk house at this location. The cattle kept there would be raised only as a source of meat, so no milking would be done.

A large chicken coop was also added at the old Becker farm. It was a two-level structure, built against the hillside, so it didn’t take up land that would be better for other purposes. One side of the hill had been dug away, to make a ninety-degree angle to the base. After building a stone retaining wall in front of it, to hold back the exposed dirt, the building was constructed so its back wall was aligned tightly against the stones.

The first floor had ramps leading out to a fenced in yard on one side of the building, where the chickens could exercise and eat. The chicken feed would be placed in shallow troughs there, instead of being scattered about on the ground. The lower level would be for multiple laying hens and nests were built against the walls, along three and a half sides of the building. Hopefully, these chickens will provide enough eggs to take care of both locations.

The upper level is to be used for the chickens being raised for eating purposes. That area had ramps going out the back, into a fenced in area on top of the bank, against which the chicken coop had been constructed. This area had it’s own feeding troughs, and this way the laying hens and other chickens would not intermix.

The four older tractors that had previously been used on the two farms were put up for sale. They were purchased by some of the neighboring farmers and then the Foundation purchased three newer, larger tractors and one slightly smaller tractor. Two of the larger tractors would be kept at the old Becker farm, while the other large tractor and the smaller one would be used at the other location. Everything was falling into place nicely and both farms would be up and running at one hundred percent efficiency in no time.

The couple we were hiring to supervise the second home was also helping to decide what renovations would be made and determine how many children would be housed there. That house was already larger than the Becker’s old home, prior to the renovations. That was because the former owners had raised five children of their own, so we would only have to include one addition, rather than the two we had built on to the Becker place.

I would also see to it that we provided the same type of facilities we had included at the other house, with possibly a few minor adjustments to accommodate the young ladies. I would make certain the house-parents had a first-floor master bedroom, which would be provided for in the addition, so more children could use the bedrooms on the second floor. I would also make certain this addition included a family room, with a large screen television, so there wouldn’t be any possibility of the girls claiming we had done more for the boys than for them.

Although I preach that life isn’t fair, I will try to be as fair as possible here, so none of these kids feel cheated.