Published: 14 Apr 2022

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Miriam eventually came upstairs to say goodnight to her son. She found him talking to Billy, so she told him he needed to leave his foster brother alone and get back to his own room and into bed.

Mark said good night to his ‘big brother’ and then headed to his own bedroom.

The Golderson’s home was peaceful and quiet that night.

Levi left for his bank on time, that Monday morning. When he arrived at his office, his first call was to his home office to tell them about his hearing about a possible opportunity for some of their investors.

Levi wanted to put together a group of people who would be interested in partnering with a private citizen, he was just made aware of, who has two projects under consideration, but had yet to turn a shovel of dirt. After he explained the projects to his bosses some more, he was given permission to proceed.

The boys were downstairs well before 9 a.m. as Miriam had asked them to be. They were full of vim and vinegar and were talking and teasing each other as if they were long best friends. Miriam liked the sound of that. It had only been four days plus since their teenaged foster son arrived, and since then, she already noticed subtle changes in their own son, which she had attributed to Billy’s influence.

Miriam, at first, was a bit skeptical about taking in such an older teen, but Levi said they didn’t know how long it would take to get called again, and that they should try this young man out, for their son’s sake. The man then reminded his wife that they could always call Ms. Turner, as the boys’ previous foster dad had done, and ask that he be moved, if he didn’t work out.

Billy turned out to be a total surprise to Miriam. He was polite, helpful, conscientious and very bright. She saw the teen had a way about him that told you he was very observant and he liked helping around the house, as well as his little ‘brother’, even if he felt the boy was spoiled, which he probably was, being an only child.

As the boys ate their breakfast, Kieran came to the back door. Mark told his friend he’d meet him outside in a few minutes. When the almost ten-year-old was done with his breakfast, he was about to leave the table when his ‘big brother’ coughed and nodded to the dirty dishes Mark was leaving.

Mark knew what his ‘big brother’ was telling him, without his saying a word. Mark quickly came back to the table, took his dirty dishes to the kitchen sink, rinsed them and put them into the dishwater. Miriam just shook her head at what she saw.

After Mark went out to the garage, she somewhat chastised Billy. “Billy, you know I would have taken those dirty dishes off the table,” said the foster mom.

“Yes, ma’am, I know you would have. But I believe … I believe Mark needs to step up and stop having others do for him what he can do for himself,” replied the teenager.

Miriam gave Billy a look that said she didn’t want to hear that.

But Billy wouldn’t let it go. So, he asked her what her son was going to do when he goes off to camp, or later to college, and who was going to pick up after him, then? Billy spoke up some more and said Mark needed to learn self-responsibility, so that when he is on his own one day, he could take care of himself.

Billy got up and took his dirty dishes to the kitchen sink, rinsed them and then put them in the dishwasher. He adjusted what Mark had put in there just a minute or two ago. The teen then walked out of the room to go outside to watch his little ‘brother’ and his friend do their exercises before they practiced pitching with Kieran catching.

Miriam wasn’t happy at the teen’s demeanor and what he said to her. She knew the boy was right, though. The thing was, she just didn’t like being told the truth by a fifteen-year-old. The woman smiled at herself and went back to finish straightening up the kitchen.

At the bank, Levi made his second phone call of the morning. This one was to Ms. Judy Turner, Director, Children’s Protective Services (CPS). He told Billy he would find out if CPS would fund his going back to visit Doctor Jennings. Doctor Doug, as the boy called him.

The secretary answered the call and asked how she could direct his call. When the woman learned who it was, she told him that Ms. Turner was in a meeting and wouldn’t be available for at least another hour. The secretary took down why he was calling and told the man either she or Ms. Turner would return his call letting him know if that request was possible.

Levi Golderson was disappointed that he didn’t get an answer just yet. But he knew many organizations would conduct a Monday morning meeting to discuss the week’s schedule and what their goals were. He told his secretary that he was expecting an important phone call from CPS and to find him when it came in, if he wasn’t at his desk.

The boys first did their exercises before Mark began pitching to Kieran. When Billy came out to the garage, he watched the two go through their exercises. When they were finished, he told them to warm up their arms some before they began. Over time, the teen noticed the two boys were getting used to one another and he knew team work was important between the pitcher and catcher.

The teenager watched for a few minutes more, and then he told Kieran to move his mitt around to give Mark different targets. Kieran wasn’t so sure he should do that, but Mark told his friend how they watched some Little League baseball games where the catcher would put his mitt high, low, inside or outside to mix up the pitches.

Kieran thought about what Mark told him, then he started to move his catcher’s mitt around the strike zone for his friend to throw at. Mark was beginning to get the hang of putting the ball where his catcher told him he wanted it. Billy watched and gave Mark some pointers about his throw

When it was after 10 a.m., the boys realized they needed to be down at the playground to meet up with the others to play some ball. The three got on their bikes and rode over to the park. As they approached the area, where the other boys were, they heard some cheering that they were finally there.

“It’s about time you got your asses here,” laughed sixteen-year-old Briggs. “We thought that you might have forgotten it was Monday and slept in as if it was still Sunday.” All the boys laughed.

Mark told them they went to the Skate Park yesterday and how some of the boys there thought Billy was a semi-pro from the skating gear he wore. Mark continued and told everyone about the Cove Skate Park professional grade gear Billy wore and then that Billy had his own Skate Park where he used to live.

None of the boys believed Mark, that was until the boy had his ‘big brother’ show them the pictures on his cell phone. Seeing was believing and the other boys were amazed that Billy had a top-notch Skate Park to ride on without a bunch of other kids getting in his way.

The new to the neighborhood teen, told the assembled boys that he had five ‘brothers’ and together they had a total of about fifty friends who came to The Cove every day to skate, swim and eat burned burgers and hot dogs. Billy told them they even shared cooking duties.

The boys asked Billy a bunch of questions about the Cove Skate Park and about what he said about cooking the burgers and hot dogs. The teen showed them the 6-foot grill they used, the dispensers, ice machine and everything else about the Pavilion. The boys couldn’t believe he’d been sent away from that awesome place.

The boys wanted to know more about why he was sent away, but Billy told them he wasn’t ready to talk to them about that yet. He did tell them that those three months living at The Cove were the best days of his life, and he would never forget his ‘brothers’ and what he got to do and the places he visited.

The boys understood what their new teen friend was telling them, so they finally got down to picking sides and get their game started. The team with Mark and Kieran figured they had the advantage as the battery was getting better each time they worked together.

But Billy spoke up and threw a monkey wrench into the game. He told them that his little ‘brother’ just threw for almost an hour and he wasn’t going to allow him to pitch for two more. The teen caused a big stir by saying what he did. But the teen stuck to his guns and told them they either accepted that or he and Mark were going home.

That caused an even bigger row to start up amongst the boys. Some of the boys asked who he was, that he could just take their friend away. Billy told them that he was Mark’s ‘big brother’ now, and he was now responsible for him and he wasn’t going to allow Mark to ruin his pitching arm, just because a bunch of locals wanted to play ball.

Hearing that caused an even bigger argument to ensue. Some of the boys wanted to beat up on Billy to prove their point. All Billy told them was that if they did that, he’d choose one person out of the group and beat up on them.

The teen then told them that he took on three football players at his old high school because they thought their shit didn’t stink. He finished by telling them one got a broken arm and one a busted nose and that all three were sent to the alternative high school, because they were the ones who started the fight.

Briggs had listened to all of the arguments and bitching and finally spoke up.

“Listen up … we’re wasting good playing time. Like it or not … Billy is Mark’s big brother and … and if it were Reese pitching instead, I’d protect him just as much. Now, let’s get the game going. In Little League, the pitcher can’t throw more than 85 pitches. Let’s keep count and when Mark gets to forty, he’ll stop. Does that sound acceptable to you, Billy?” finished Briggs.

Billy agreed to that and the game began. The boys played as they always had. After the slow start because of the opening disagreement, they all forgot about what happened and played as best they could. Mark finally got to his forty pitches and Billy wouldn’t allow him to pitch any more. But Kieran continued to catch for whomever did pitch.

The boys played until sometime after one. They didn’t care who won or lost, they were all hot and tired and now all they wanted to do was to just go swimming. They all agreed it was Jerry Huggerts turn to host the afternoon swim, so they all headed home for a quick lunch and then they headed over to Jerry’s to swim.

Mark had a game that night, so again he wasn’t swimming. After lunch, the boy told his ‘big brother’ to go and have fun, but he also asked him to be home in time to ride his dad’s bike with him to the ballfield for his game. Billy hugged his little ‘brother’ and then rode Levi’s bike over to Jerry’s to swim, hopefully with Alexa.

Mark felt a bit down because here he was again, not swimming when everyone, including his ‘big brother’, was. He knew the reason for his not swimming and not being out in the hot sun before a game, but he was a kid who wanted to be with all his friends and he wasn’t.

The boy was bummed out about it as he wanted to be swimming with his new foster ‘big brother’ and having fun as his friends were having with their older brothers. Tonight, and Thursday night, were the last two games of the Little League Baseball season for him, and he knew after that he could swim every day after they played some ball at the park.

Since he needed to stay inside and relax, Mark decided to go up to his room and continue watching the Little League World Series Baseball games that he and Billy had begun watching the other day. He was more focused now on how the pitcher and catcher worked as a team.

The thing he didn’t understand was why the catcher was always looking over to the coach before giving the pitcher a signal. Mark would then watch where the catcher was putting his glove, giving his partner the target to throw to.

Mark also saw how a few of the international teams, particularly the Japanese, would have the catcher smack his mitt behind the batter and then quickly move the glove to the opposite side for the pitcher to throw at. Sometimes that move would rattle the batter and he would swing at a bad pitch. And about 50 percent of the time the umpire called it a ball, when there was no swing.

Mark watched the games until he got bored with it, as he was by himself, and he kept thinking of all the fun his ‘big brother’ was probably having with everyone else at Jerry’s that afternoon. So, Mark walked over to Billy’s room to see what he brought with him.

The almost ten-year-old didn’t go rooting through his ‘big brother’s’ stuff, he just looked inside the room and looked around. He saw Billy had brought with him some stuffed animals, that he figured he’d have to ask him where he got them. He also saw a special coin on the dresser.

Mark picked it up and felt its weight. He wondered what metal it was made out of. The boy then looked at both sides of the coin. He saw on one side was the outline of the State of Texas and on the other side was the Texas State flag. He thought it looked like a special keepsake.

It was while the young boy was looking at his coin, Billy came up the stairs to change out of his swimsuit and saw his little ‘brother’ holding his special coon.

“DON’T SQUEEZE THAT COIN!” Billy loudly yelled at Mark, when he saw his little ‘brother’ holding the commemorative coin Mr. Ken had given him.

Mark was startled and immediately dropped in on the carpet.

“Mark … please put that coin back on the dresser,” added Billy, as he came into his bedroom.

“I’m … I’m sorry Billy. I … I was bored and … and I looked in your room and … and saw all your stuffed animals and then … and then I noticed the coin, so … so, I picked it up. But … but I didn’t squeeze it. Honest, I didn’t squeeze it! Wh … why shouldn’t I do that?” stammered out a still scared Mark.

“Mark are you sure you DIDN’T squeeze it? Tell me that you didn’t squeeze it!” loudly yelled at the youngster.

“I … I’m sure I didn’t squeeze it, Billy. I just picked it up and looked at both sides when you yelled at me to put it down,” answered Mark.

“But why shouldn’t I have squeezed it, Billy?” persisted mark.

Billy sighed and then figured if his little ‘brother’ had squeezed it the police would be there shortly. In the meantime, the teenager told Mark that the coin was a special gift that Mr. Ken had given him, and he didn’t want any marks or scratches on it and if he had squeezed it, he might bend it.

“Oh,” was all Mark said, to that explanation.

“Mark … listen … if you want to know about, or see what I brought with me from The Cove … please, just ask,” politely said the teen.

“As for the coin … it … it is very special to me,” began Billy, as some tears came to his eyes.

Mark saw the tears and asked his ‘big brother’ if it was because his former foster dad had given it to him and he cherished it above anything else.

Billy thought about what Mark had just said, and then he grabbed the boy and hugged him as tears still fell from the teen’s eyes.

“Mark … you don’t know how right you are. Mr. Ken … I … I thought I had found my ‘forever home’ and … and here I am no longer living with him and my ‘brothers’. And the coin … it … it was one of the first things he’d ever given me and I … well, I don’t ever want to ruin it or even lose it. It means so much to me,” offered a sniffling Billy.

The teen then looked at the time and told his little ‘brother’ he better go and get changed into his baseball uniform, while he changed into his shorts and polo shirt. The teenager told the boy to meet him down in the kitchen.

About seven minutes later, the two boys met in the kitchen. There, Billy told Miriam they were riding their bikes over to the baseball field and they’d meet Mr. Golderson there. The woman had totally forgotten about her son’s game that night, as she was getting herself ready to teach her class at the junior college. She told them she’d leave their father a note. Billy just inwardly smiled when he heard the ‘father’ comment.

The boys arrived right on time for Mark to get ready for his next to last game of the season. As the home team that night, the boys went out on the field first and they threw the ball around as their coaches hit some baseballs to them.

When they were finished warming up out on the field, that night’s pitcher began his warm up for the game. Mark’s coach asked him if his dad was going to be there tonight. Mark said his dad had planned to be there, and then he asked the man why. All the man said was for Mark to go throw some pitches.

The coach watched Mark throw some pitches, as he also watched for Mr. Golderson to arrive. The coach was more and more impressed with Mark’s ability and he knew that next year he could very well have a reliever on his team.

When Levi arrived at the ballfield, the coach went right over to the man and asked to talk to him alone. Billy knew he needed to be scarce, so he went down to the field to watch the players finish warming up before their game.

When Billy walked away, the coach thanked the man for having the teen leave them alone. The coach then told Mr. Golderson he had something important to ask him. He then asked Levi if he could allow Mark pitch the last inning or two of their final game on Thursday. Levi was surprised at the request.

The coach told Mark’s dad that he was very impressed with the way Mark had improved since he first watched him pitch, a few weeks back, and he wanted to give the boy some real time experience to see how well he’d handle pitching against batters.

He then asked Levi not to say anything to his son, as he wanted that to be a big surprise. He added, he also didn’t want Mark to go home and over-stress his arm by pitching more than he would normally, in order to get ready for their last game. Levi told the coach he was flabbergasted at the request and that he wouldn’t say a word to Mark.

The game that night was a lively one. Each team made many errors which allowed a lot of scoring. Mark also was good at batting that night by going 3 for 4 and garnered two doubles and a single. Levi was proud of his son and had only wished his wife was there to watch how well their son was getting at playing baseball.

When the game was over, Mr. Golderson gave the boys two options. The first was for them to put their bikes in the van and then they’d go out to dinner. The second was for them to ride their bikes home and he’d meet them there and then they’d go out to dinner.

That brought up a conversation as to where they would go for dinner. Levi mentioned a few places to the boys, but it was Billy who asked if they could get pizza for dinner and then eat it around the pool. He added that they could all have a night swim afterwards.

Mark thought that was a great idea, and he begged his dad to do that. The man then asked the boys what type of pizza they would like. Billy quickly said pepperoni and pineapple, or pepperoni and green peppers and/or mushrooms, or a combination, even.

Mark said he liked peperoni, but wasn’t too sure he’d like the other three items. Billy told his little ‘brother’ nothing ventured; nothing gained. Mark didn’t understand what that meant, so his dad told his son he should try them and if he didn’t like how it tasted, he could pick what he didn’t like off of the pizza.

So, that was what Levi Golderson did for his hungry boys. He ordered the pizzas before they left the parking lot at the ballfield. The man told the boys to be careful riding home and he’d be there soon with two large pizzas for them to eat.

When Mark and Billy arrived home, they stored their bikes in the garage and then hurried up to their rooms to change into their swimsuits. Billy had taken his clothes off before he remembered he left his swimsuit in the bathroom to dry.

So, forgetting he wasn’t at The Cove anymore, the teen, being bare-assed naked, casually walked out of his bedroom to go retrieve his swimsuit. As he did that, Mark came out of his bedroom, wearing his swimsuit, and giggled when he saw his ‘big brother’ naked as the day he was born.

“Billy, where … where’s your swimsuit?” asked a surprised, but giggling Mark.

“Oh, yea, I forgot I had hung it up in the bathroom after I took my clothes off. So, I just walked out here to go get it. At The Cove, us boys … we were always walking around upstairs in our boxer briefs or naked, depending on whether we were going to or from the bathroom. I forgot I wasn’t there anymore,” explained Billy. “Please don’t tell your mom.”

Mark snickered and said he wouldn’t, all the while he was checking out what his fifteen -year-old ‘big brother’ looked like without his clothes on. Billy could tell the boy was checking him out, but he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so he casually walked into the bathroom, took his suit off the shower rod and put it on.

“Billy … how old did you say your other ‘brothers’ were?” asked Mark.

“Hmmm, let me see. Robert was 14, Charles was 13, the twins were 12 and Matthew was 11. Why do you want to know?” asked the teenager.

“Oh, I was wondering how old they were and … and that they were walking around without their clothes on. It seems strange to me, I guess, that they would do that,” replied Mark.

“Well, I told you we took our showers together, so us seeing one another naked wasn’t anything special. I guess you could say that it was normal for us to do that. We never went downstairs in our boxer shorts unless it was very late at night, and we knew there were no women in the house,” clarified Billy, who then told his little ‘brother’ they needed to get down to the pool.

The two boys walked downstairs and Billy could still hear Mark giggling behind him. They immediately went outside to the pool. Mark showed the teenager where the underwater light switch was to turn the light on, which they did, and then they both got into the water.

About thirty-five minutes after they left him at the ballfield, Levi Golderson came home with two large pizzas – a pepperoni and pineapple, and a pepperoni, green peppers and mushrooms. The two boys quickly got out of the water, dried off most of their bodies, but especially their hands, and opened the pizza boxes.

Levi had brought out lots of napkins to wipe their faces and hands, if need be, and sodas for the boys to drink. He also brought out a cold beer for himself. The three sat down to still fairly hot pizza and took their first piece.

“Which one should I take dad?” asked Mark.

Billy smiled and told the boy to take a slice of the pepperoni and pineapple one first. He then told his little ‘brother’ to eat a piece of the pineapple off the pizza and see if he liked it. Mark did that and liked the taste. So, Billy told him to take a bite of the slice with pepperoni and pineapple. Mark smiled at the taste.

The three talked as they ate. Mark thanked his new foster ‘big brother’ for swimming late at night with him. He says he rarely got to do that as his dad goes to work in the morning and his mom just doesn’t like to swim that much.

“Dad … now that Billy is living with us … ahh, do you think we could, you know, have some of our friends over for a night swim?” tentatively asked the young Golderson.

Levi thought about that for a few moments, then asked his son which night he would want to do that. Mark said any night would be fun. The boy then added that it wouldn’t be all of the kids who swim after they play ball, but maybe the Oxtter’s and Wrockman’s.

Mark, before he got an answer from his dad, then asked Billy how often he got to eat pizza at his last foster home. Billy smiled and told his little ‘brother’ about the two sleepovers they had and they had over thirty pizzas delivered. Levi said that was hard to believe and asked who ate all that much pizza.

Billy then told the two Golderson’s how many boys there were at the sleepovers and that they had a Dive-In movie one time and a Patio Movie night the next time. Levi asked who made breakfast.

Billy explained how he and his ‘brothers’ had to convince Mr. Ken to have the first sleepover and how his foster dad asked them what they would feed all of their friends. The teen went into how the six of them came up with a dinner, breakfast and lunch menu and sold Mr. Ken on it.

Billy then explained what he and his other ‘brothers’ did to put the sleepover on and feed the masses. Mark was amazed that over fifty boys were at the sleepover and only Billy and his five ‘brothers’ and some help from a few friends fed them breakfast the next day.

Levi asked how much Mr. Ken helped. Billy told the man, with a chuckle, that Mr. Ken paid for it all, but they had to cook 20 gallons of pancakes and reheat a ton of bacon the first time. Billy then told them they had 22 gallons of pancake batter the next time and more of the boys helped.

The teenager then went on to tell them how they had sub sandwiches for lunch and that everyone made their own. He continued and said they had also bought a bunch of different meats, cheeses and bread rolls to go along with the tomatoes, lettuce and onions they always had on-hand for their hamburgers every day. The teen added they also got different chips and pickles for everyone to add to their plates and eat with their sandwich.

After their conversation that drifted away from Mark’s original question was over, Levi told his son that he’d talk with his mother about having an evening get together and maybe they could make it a barbeque night where they all had dinner and then swim. That sounded good to Mark and he asked Billy what he thought. Billy was all for it.

Then, before the boys could get back into the pool, Mr. Golderson called to Billy and told him he had something important to tell him. Billy turned around and came back to the table. It was then that Levi told his foster son that they received approval, so that the teen could go back to visit Doctor Jennings.

Billy, with a great big smile on his face, thanked the man for doing that for him. The teen then asked how soon they could make his first appointment. Levi told him that he’d call Doctor Jennings in the morning to see what openings he had in his schedule. Mr. Golderson then told Billy that CPS would only approve six visits for him. Billy said that should be enough for him to finish up what they were working on before he was sent away.

Miriam came home a little after 9 p.m. and saw her ‘men’ were out in the pool. When she went out to the pool deck, she saw the pizza boxes. Levi yelled to her from the pool they left her some, and all she needed to do was heat it up in the microwave or toaster oven.

The woman took two pieces into the kitchen to do just that. And while she was inside, Levi decided to get out of the water, dry off and talk to her when she came back outside. The two boys continued to enjoy the warm water and played some games as the two adults talked.

Levi did ask his wife what she thought about having a cook-out Saturday or Sunday night with the Oxtter’s and Wrockman’s. He told her it was Mark’s idea and he thought it was a good one as they hadn’t entertained much that summer and it was going on the middle of July.

Miriam argued it would take a lot to put something like that on. But her husband argued that it was only Monday, that Billy was always wanting to help, and this would let him get involved and make him feel more a part of their family.

Miriam said that with Billy going with her to the grocery store she could pick up everything she needed and wouldn’t have to worry about carrying it all into the house by herself. Levi said that they should involve Billy from the beginning and then he told his wife about the sleepovers and the menu Billy help create and cook.

Miriam was learning more and more about her foster son and his abilities. She already knew the teenager was someone special, but to hear how he can lead and involve his other ‘brothers’, she said they should let their boys, and the Oxtter’s and Wrockman’s kids put the cookout on.

Levi said he didn’t know the other children all that well, and he’d want to talk to Randy, Delta, Kimberly and Corbin to see what they thought about the kids helping put the cookout on. The man said those would be his first calls before he’d make that decision.

Miriam said she’d call Delta and Kimberly tomorrow and see what they thought about a cookout on Saturday night, and that they should let the boys and girls put it all together. Levi said they shouldn’t mention the cookout to the boys until after she gets the Oxtter’s and Wrockman’s input. Miriam agreed.

It was now going on 10:30, so Miriam told the boys to get out of the pool and dry off. She told them they had enough fun for the night. Mark was going to say something, but Billy dunked him, and when the boy came up for air, the teen whispered it wasn’t worth getting her mad.

Billy thanked Levi for getting them pizza and letting them swim. Mark heard what his ‘big brother’ said and he said it to his dad as well, but he also hugged him. Billy didn’t go that far.

But, before the boys went up to their rooms and to bed, Mark asked his mom if his dad asked her about having a cookout that weekend. Miriam said he had, but they still needed to coordinate with the Oxtter’s and Wrockman’s before a final decision was made. The mom told her son they probably wouldn’t know until tomorrow night at the earliest.

Mark thanked his mom for telling him that. He then went over and kissed her goodnight and then he and Billy headed up to their rooms.

Mark stopped by Billy’s room after he changed into his pajamas. The boy again apologized to his ‘big brother’ for touching his coin. He then asked him where he got the stuffed animals. Billy told the boy he won them at the carnival Mr. Ken had the day of the fireworks.

Mark wanted to ask more questions, but his ‘big brother’ said they better get to bed as his mom expected them down before nine and it was almost eleven. Mark began to whine about having to go to bed, when he still had questions he wanted to ask.

“Listen up, Mark … maybe your whining will get your parents to let you stay up longer or get away with some stuff, but … it will NOT work on ME! So, save your theatrics for them. Now, go to bed!” was the last thing that Billy said to his little ‘brother that night.

Everyone in the Golderson household slept well that night.

The saga of Three Finger Cove continues. Let Chowhound know you are reading his story: Chowhound at CastleRoland dot Net

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