The Peter Charles - 16. Chapter 16

Anna came out and started to laugh. She immediately grabbed Adam, “Who are you cutie?”

“I’m Adam and that’s my Pappy.”

She laughed, “Kevin, explain.”

"Well, Glen and I, felt that we didn’t have enough boys, so we picked up a few more. Gentlemen, introduce your selves to you Grandmother.”

That did it, the boys came forward and introducing themselves giving their Grandmother a hug. I looked at Dad, his eyes were moist, he knew these boys and he knew where they came from, to see this acceptance by Anna was a little too much for him. He left, he said he had to go to the bathroom.

Mom and I went to the car, I took out fish for her, with shrimp and lobster. “I have some shrimp for your neighbor as well.”

She took her pan to her kitchen and sent our Nicky with an empty pan. “This is for your neighbor.”

“Kevin, was Dad crying?”

“I think that Mom and Dad never realized how they would become grandparents so fast, it was a little over whelming. They were waiting for you to provided the grandchildren.”

“Do you think they will show favoritism when mine come along?”

“I can’t answer that. Grandparents have a lot of love to give. Better deliver that fish and shrimp.”

Nicky brought up an interesting point. Will Glen and Anna show favoritism? Thinking about it, I’d say no, Glen wouldn’t allow it.

Next stop, Johnny’s. John came out and handed me back the sweats, t-shirt and flip flops. “Keep the shirt as a souvenir.” He laughed as Johnny placed fish in his pan.

“Johnny, add some shrimp to that pan and one of those big lobsters. Are you coming back with us?”

“Yes”

“Okay I’ll pay you then.”

Next stop, Jamie’s. Bob and Grace came out, again Bob handed me back the clothes, I told him to keep the shirt as a souvenir. Jamie took some shrimp and a lobster along with his fish into the house. “Jamie, you coming with us?”

“Yes”

“I’ll pay you later”

Back in the car and on the road, next stop was Paul’s. Before he went in, “Paul, this is your share of the catch. Ask your mom for a big pan.” As I slipped the money into his pocket on his sweats. He went into the house and came out with his mom and a pan.

“Is that the biggest pan you have?” Paul whispered something to her and she brought out a roasting pan. That would do.

Taking the pan, “Paul, pick out two fish, some shrimp and a lobster.” His mother came and watched him, then I saw his dad come out.

“How was fishing?”

Before I could answer, “It was great Dad. We caught a lot of fish and I helped.”

He took one fish, I whispered two. He looked at me, I winked and he did. Then he took some shrimp, I whispered more. He looked at me. He took another two hands full, I whispered more. He shook his head no. I took a large hand full and added it to the pan. He took a lobster. I took it back and gave him much larger one.

His dad just looked, shook his head and went back inside. His mother took the pan and headed inside. “I guess I’ll see you next week Paul.” He had a big smile on his face.

We started to pull away when David, yelled to stop. “What’s wrong?”

“Paul, he’s running after us.” Jamie stopped the car.

I got out, “What’s the matter Paul?”

“My dad said this is too much money and you must have made a mistake.”

“No, I didn’t make a mistake.”

“He said I must give it back to you.”

“Come with me, let’s go and talk to your dad.”

“Paul said you want him to give his money back to me.”

“Yes, that’s a lot of money, you must have made a mistake.”

“No, the boys who work the boat share in the catch. Their share depend on what they do and how long they work on the boat. Minimum share is fifty dollars, that is what Paul earned. If he continues to go out with us, his share could be as high as one hundred fifty dollars.”

He looked at me like I was crazy. Paul stood by his dad’s side with the money in his hands.

“Paul, go and put the money in you bank or safe place, then if your parents say it is okay, you can come with us for the night. You can bring him home when you finish work with John Adams tomorrow.”

And so it was settled, Paul went and put his money away and then ran to the car.

The boys pulled him in and then the noise level went up several decibels. I wasn’t sure whose friend Paul was but it seemed not to matter. As I listened to them, I was surprised that none of the boys talked about Travis’s dad. If they did it was when Glen and I weren’t around.

“Dad, did you save any of those filets?”

“I think there are some, why?”

“For dinner tonight”

“I guess you’ll want shrimp and lobster as well.”

Then I heard, “Why not rabbit?” Travis was in the car.

“Travis, that’s a good idea, guys what do you say?”

“Fish”

Arriving home, the boys headed to the rec room, Glen and I unloaded the chests from the car. “Take these, the boys want fish for dinner.”

“Fish and chips”

“Sounds good” I took the large units off the truck and plugged them into the A/C outlet.

“Glen, I was surprised at Mom’s reaction to the boys today. Dad even had tears in his eyes.”

“Mom can’t wait to have grandchildren. I guess she realized she doesn't have to wait till Nicky has children.”

“Are you ready for the big day?”

“You know that Tuesday night I’ll be staying at Mom’s, tradition.”

“But tonight until then” raising my eyebrows,

“Naughty, boy”

The cooking team, Scott, Travis, Andy and Nicky went to work. The boys were in the rec room and it was quiet. I went down quietly, they were all reading. Peter was quietly reading a book to Adam. I don’t think if a herd of elephants came down they would've heard them. I went back to the kitchen.

“What are they doing? They are very quiet.”

“Reading”

The boys did a great job on dinner. They joked around as boys would, ugh this fish wasn’t cleaned, did you do it? All of the fish was cleaned properly and they knew it, boys can be teasers. One of the boys said his was handled by a mermaid, he could smell her perfume. Then they all started to get silly, I think it was a way to relax and get rid the stress caused by Travis’s father and the drama.

“I need to talk to Mr. Donaldson, he’s going to need to look for someone to fill in for me. I don’t think we can go three weeks without posting the transactions.”

“Could Bess do the job?”

“She could but since Lou works in investments it might be complicated if the Feds ever made a visit.”