While Marty was diving for sunken treasure, Henry called Betje. She would be delighted to have Larry stay for the weekend. Reind would love to have the boy too. They had no children and had often thought of bringing Reind's sister's boy, Jan, to America to live with them. Jan's mother had never married and his father had no contact with the boy. Reind thought he needed a man in his life and now that he was almost thirteen, his mother would probably let him come to live with Reind and Betje. Anyway, "Bring the jongen to my house. Ve vill be happy vhen he come."
Henry then called the Trollers to get their permission for Larry's visit. They, at first, were very hesitant saying they had to ask Miss Burtch. Henry assured them that he would take care of any problem with Miss Burtch. Still somewhat hesitant they agreed saying that Miss Burtch might be pleased. She had wanted to send Larry to a farm but that someone was interfering with her plans.
Henry asked, "What did she say again?"
"She said that she couldn't take Larry to a farm because someone was interfering with her plans."
Interfering with her plans—winter beer ruining her plants—OK. That little stinker.
Marty plopped his naked, wet little self into Uncle Henry's lap. "You're getting me all wet."
"It's better than getting peed on, ain't it?"
"Well, yes but it's a lot worse than having a dry, dressed little boy in my lap."
"Ya'll jus gonna have to make do." Marty giggled as he mimicked Uncle Cecil and cuddled deeper into Henry's lap.
"I'll give you one kiss but I won't tell you a big surprise until you get yourself dry and get dressed."
"Why? You're already wet and you seen me naked before."
"You are cute all over. If Michelangelo had seen you, he'd want to make a statue of you but you're also civilized so get dressed."
"I ain't civilized. David at Aunt Myrt's is civilized. If I was civilized I wouldn'ta had information on my Venus."
"David is circumcised…"
"Oh, ya, that."
"And you had inflammation on your penis."
"You know what I mean."
"Yes, but, you need to think about what you are saying and say things right."
"Why?"
Henry had to fight back a smile. Even Marty's occasional recalcitrance was cute.
"Because I love you and you are smart and I want other people to know that."
Marty knew that he was had. Every time Uncle Henry said that he loved him, Marty knew that he would do anything the man said. "OK, but what if I forget?"
"I'll help you remember but I want you to try really, really, really hard."
Marty knew that Uncle Henry was mimicking him and he kind of liked being teased. He kissed Uncle Henry hard on the lips.
"Where did you learn to kiss like that?"
"I seen it on TV at Kmart. Ain't that the right way to kiss?"
"That's one way."
Marty started to slide off Uncle Henry's lap when a question occurred to him. "Do they civilize boys so they won't get information?"
"What did I just ask you to do?"
"Oh, ya. I remember inflammation but I can't remember that civilize word."
"Circumcise."
"Oh, ya, that."
"Most of the time." Henry did not want to get into a discussion of the practices of various religions. He slapped the boy lightly on the bottom. Go get dressed."
When Marty returned he was told of the weekend plans for Larry. Major Marty Moment. When the boy got it back together he said, "I bet Miss Bitch will be glad you found Larry a farm."
"Come here, honey."
Marty could tell from Uncle Henry's expression that this was a serious matter.
"Did I do something bad?"
"No, I need to tell you something. Your Case Worker's name is Miss Burtch."
"No it ain't. Everybody at Aunt Myrt's calls her Miss Bitch."
"I'm sure they do but her real name is Miss Burtch. Marty, bitch is an unkind word and I want you to try to remember not to use it anymore."
"How is it unkind?"
"It's what a mother dog is called. It's unkind to call a lady that."
"Miss Bitch…"
"Marty!"
"OK, Miss Burtch ain't no lady. She's mean."
"Do you like Miss Burtch?"
"No!"
"Then you don't want to be like her?"
"No!"
"If you're unkind, aren't you like her?"
"Oh, ya."
During the next week, Henry wrote a letter of resignation to the Governor. He said that he would serve until a qualified replacement could be found and that he would be available to fill in occasionally during the year.
Henry had Marty now. He did not need to keep himself busy to keep his mind off depression. And—he had some thoughts about how he and his boy could spend some time this summer. Those thoughts had to do with museums in Chicago, The Statue of Liberty in New York, National Parks, Hawaii—well, that should probably wait until Christmas vacation but—Alaska and who knows what else.
Henry called Les Daily. After the usual exchange of playful insults, Les wanted to know if Henry was getting senile or avaricious. He had shown no interest in his finances for 30 years, why the hell did he want to know his worth and the status of his will now?
"I want to set up a trust fund."
"How much you want in it?"
"How much do I have?"
"Depends on where the market closes today. Between sixty and seventy million."
"Jesus! Are you taking the thirty percent I told you to?"
"Yes. Your daddy's money has made us both very rich men."
"How much are you worth?"
"Didn't your mama ever teach you it's not polite to ask those kinds of personal questions?"
"Yes she did. She also taught me that smart-ass lawyers lie. How much you got?"
"I'm probably worth between thirty and forty million. You don't think I put only your money in my good leads, do you?"
"Well, I guess you are taking what I told you to take—unless, of course, you're lying now."
"I'm telling you the truth, Hank. We've both been very fortunate."
"I'm the fortunate one. I have you taking care of my money."
"How are you, anyway? The last several times I talked to you, you sounded like you were neck-deep in shit."
"Tell you the truth, Les, I was, for five years."
Henry told Les about Marty.
So—that's what the trust fund's about. "What do you want me to do?"
"How about twenty million."
"Damn, that must really be some kid."
"You have no idea."
Copyright © 2004 Gordon Klopfenstein
Posted 7 December 2024