On the way home, Oliver stopped at the hardware store to order a large quantity of galvanized wood screws for his fence, and said he’d come by the store sometime next week to pick them up and pay for them. On his way out the door, he ran into a man named Jarod Tate, a horse man whom he had met for the first time just last week. The two began to talk about horses, and Mr. Tate invited Oliver for a cup of coffee at a nearby diner. Oliver accepted. He picked up the sack containing Mr. Anderson’s soup bone from the front of the truck and tossed it in the bed of the truck for Bayo, and then the two men spent a good two hours talking about the business of horses. Afterwards, Oliver drove home.
At home with Bayo close by, he immediately walked into the barn and stopped in front of a long workbench inside the front part of the barn. A pegboard on which hung a myriad of tools ran the entire length behind the workbench. Oliver lifted an old drill from its outlined place and blew the dust off it. He smiled as if he were shaking hands with an old friend.
“There we are. It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Let’s see if you still have what it takes.”
He plugged the drill into one of three outlets situated on the lower part of the pegboard.
“Now let’s see. Slow.” He pressed the trigger a little and the drill turned slowly.
“Now fast.” He pressed the trigger fully and the drill turned fast. He smiled with satisfaction. “Ha! Technology can’t beat good old solid performance. Now reverse.” He flipped a switch on the grip of the drill and pressed the trigger fully. The drill started to turn the opposite direction, then popped loudly and sparked and smoked. Oliver dropped the drill onto the workbench and backed away, bumping into a very large object covered with a black tarp towering near him. The object rocked a little as the drill smoked and sparked on the workbench. Oliver quickly swiped at the power cord of the drill, unplugging it.
“Hmmm. Maybe a little technology wouldn’t hurt me,” he said, poking at the smoldering tool. He picked it up and blew the smoke away. “We’ll get a new one when we pick up the screws next week, ey Bayo? Maybe one of those battery-powered jobs.” He tossed the drill into a trashcan at the end of the workbench. Then his eyes fell on the large object covered with a black tarp that he had bumped into.
He slowly approached the object, looking up at it, and placed his hand on it. A slight look of pain crossed his face, and he bowed his head for a few moments. When he raised it again, his eyes glistened a bit, and he patted the object a few times before he turned and headed toward the house with Bayo leading the way.
He entered the house, went upstairs and changed into a bathrobe and slippers, then came back downstairs. He puttered around a bit, scanned the refrigerator for a snack, but found none that interested him, and wiped the kitchen table and counters. Then he went out to his chair, sat down, and began reading his Bible, which he kept under the end table by his chair. As he read, he petted Bayo, who laid his head contentedly on the armrest of the couch on the other side of his chair. After about an hour, he put the Bible back in its place and began to go up to bed when his phone rang.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Oliver? It’s Jess. Sorry to call so late.”
“Jess! Well, isn’t this a coincidence! I just tried to call you this afternoon. It’s been a while.”
“Yes, it has. I wasn’t here. I was at work.”
“Yes, I know. I thought I’d take a chance that you might be home for lunch.”
“Well, you missed me, heh, heh.”
“Yes, indeed I did.”
“So…how’ve you been?”
“Oh, fine, just fine. And yourself?”
“Oh, great…really great, as a matter of fact. Ronnie just got a big promotion at work today, and we went out tonight to celebrate.”
“Oh, did he now? Well, good for him.”
“Yes, it is. Just got back from a nice dinner and some ice cream.”
“Well, that’s great. A promotion…things are looking up, ey?”
“Yes...as a matter of fact, that’s kind of the reason I’m calling you.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. I was wondering if I could ask a big favor of you.”
“What’s the trouble?”
“Oh, no trouble. No trouble at all. But what I was wondering was if maybe Preston could stay at your place for a little bit.”
“Preston? Why?”
“Well, Ronnie got this promotion, and it entails a trip to Europe. I’m going to take a sabbatical from my job and go along with him as his secretary. We’ll be traveling all over Europe on business, and we just don’t feel we can take Preston along.”
“Hmmm…if you can’t take him, maybe you shouldn’t go.”
“Well, we have to go. It’s Ronnie’s job.”
“Well, maybe you shouldn’t go.”
“Oh, Oliver. I’m never going to have an opportunity like this again! When could I ever afford to travel all over Europe, let alone get paid to do it?”
“Well, maybe your son should come first.”
“Oh, don’t give me any of your big brother moralizing. If you don’t want to do it, just come out and say so.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want to do it. I’m just trying to see if you might consider other options.”
“Well, there’s no other option. Will you do it?”
“Well, how long would he stay with me?”
“All summer.”
“The entire summer? What will you do with him if I don’t take him?”
“Well, he’s always gone to summer camp for a couple months every year. As a matter of fact, we were going to send him to one at the end of this month. I suppose we’d just send him to a three month camp somewhere, but we’d rather not do that because we’re going to be all over Europe and difficult to reach in case of an emergency. We’d rather he stayed with family.”
“Does he want to come here?”
“He doesn’t know yet that he’s not going with us.”
“He doesn’t? Don’t you think this might be a good thing to talk over with him first?”
“I suppose so, but we don’t have a lot of time. We’re going to be leaving this Friday.”
“This Friday? Sheesh...”
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. We don’t have a lot of time. I need to know if you’ll do this so I can make other arrangements if you can’t. You’re our first preference.”
Oliver paused for a moment before speaking again.
“If he were to come here, I’d want complete parental authority. I’d want the authority to discipline and punish him at any time as I see fit. Now I know you disagree with corporal punishment, but I don’t. Would you be comfortable knowing that if Preston does something that I consider out of line while he’s here, he’s going to get some form of discipline, including but not limited to spankings?”
Now Jess paused.
“Weeeell, what do you mean by spankings?”
“I mean a firm swat on the rear, usually once or twice with my hand, but maybe up to five times with some kind of paddle or my belt, depending on the offense. How old is Preston now anyway?”
“He’s ten. He’ll be eleven soon.”
“Hmmm…that’s a little old for spanking. I tell you what – I’ll take spanking off the table. He’s too old for that, but I want complete authority to dole out any other form of discipline or punishment that I deem necessary at any time. If you can abide that, we have a deal.”
“Well, what are you gonna do to him?”
“How should I know? But you have my word that I won’t spank him. That’s a child’s punishment, and he’s getting near to being a man.”
“But what are you gonna do?”
“I told you I don’t know. You met my son several times before the accident. Did he look abused, beaten, or neglected to you?”
“Noooo…”
“Well, then…you’ll just have to trust me, Jess. I will treat him no different than if he were my own son, but you have to give me the complete authority of a father. If he were staying only for a day, I might be able to abide by your rules, but if he’s staying for the entire summer, it’s my rules. I want you to be clear on that. Take it or leave it.”
Jess paused.
“Ooooooooookay…”
“I have complete authority to discipline or punish him at any time and in any way I see fit, with the exception of spanking?”
“Yes.”
“Then we have a deal. What time should I pick him up?”
“Well, we leave on a three o’clock flight to Paris on Friday.”
“How about Friday at eleven o’clock? Then we could maybe have some lunch and visit a little before your trip.”
“That would be great. Just perfect. Oh, Oliver, I really appreciate this. You’re just the best brother…”
“Don’t mention it. I’m sure it’ll be an interesting summer for both of us. I’ll see you Friday then.”
“Okay, Oliver. Bye-bye.”
“Goodbye.”
Oliver sighed as he hung up the phone and looked at Bayo, who was still laying on the couch with his head on the armrest.
“Well, boy, looks like we’re going to have a visitor for the summer. How’s that strike you?”
The dog wagged his tail lazily, and Oliver chuckled as he turned off the lamp beside his chair and went up the steps to bed. Bayo slid off the couch in the dark and followed him up as Elmer sang “Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high” in the night air.