Published: 28 Apr 2022

From Previous Chapter:

Mark asked his ‘big brother’ if he ever played soccer. Learning he hadn’t, Mark said he’d teach him, and laughed. Billy told his little ‘brother’ he’d go out with him and see what he could do, but that he had two left feet and would probably be really bad at the game. The teen then asked if they played at the park as they did with baseball. Mark smiled and said they did.

After they talked themselvestheir selves out, the boys headed up to their rooms. Mark talked with his ‘big brother’ about soccer and the positions and rules. The teenager again told Mark that he’d give it a try, but added that if he feels he can’t do it, he’ll sit down.

The boys told one another good night and visited the bathroom before going to bed. It was a quiet night in the Goldersons that Friday night.

Mark was always up first, so he used the bathroom before his foster brother. When the young boy was finished, he knocked on Billy’s bedroom door to make sure he was awake. Billy told him to come in as he had the previous day.

“So, what are we doing today? Are we going to play baseball or soccer?” asked the boys ‘big brother’.

“Well, I think we’d play baseball first. But before we do, I’ll ask my friends if they are going to get ready for the fall soccer season. If they say they are, I’ll try to get them to start playing soccer on Monday. How does that sound?” replied Mark.

“That is good to know. It gives us a plan to go by, and when your mom asks us what we’re going to do, and you know she will, we can tell her your plan to start soccer on Monday,” spoke up Billy.

Mark smiled at the reply and then told his foster brother to hurry up and get dressed, so his mom doesn’t get mad that they aren’t down in the kitchen before nine. Billy agreed, threw off the covers and then got out of his bed. The youngster again snickered when he saw the big bulge in his ‘big brother’s’ boxer briefs.

“What are you snickering about? Huh?” laughed Billy. “I bet you have the same problem every morning, so don’t stand there laughing at me. You never know what morning I’ll be waiting for you to come out of your bedroom, and then I see your tented pajamas. And you can bet I’ll return the favor, bud!”

Mark apologized for what he did, but he said he never saw anyone like that in the morning and to him it was funny. Billy asked his little ‘brother’ if he’d ever spent the night at a friend’s house, and if his buddy didn’t have that same condition in the morning. Mark thought about that for a few moments and then said it wasn’t as big as his.

Billy bopped Mark on the back of his head and then went to the bathroom to relieve the pressure in his bladder and get his morning friend to go away. The teen then put on his morning attire before he and the young boy went down to the kitchen for breakfast.

Miriam didn’t have a prepared breakfast for the boys that morning. She was working on the assignments her English Students turned in last night and wanted to have them all graded and back to them on Monday.

With no prepared breakfast for them to eat, Billy went about his usual cereal making scenario. He got out the cereal, a bowl, the milk and then he chose a banana from the bunch hanging on the rack on the counter.

Mark watched what his ‘big brother’ was doing, and then asked him if he’d help him do that to his cereal. Billy told his little ‘brother’ to get everything and join him at the breakfast table.

After Mark sat down next to his foster big brother, Billy had the youngster pour the cereal into the bowl, but not to add the milk yet. The teen then told Mark to peel the banana and once that was done, he gave the almost ten-year-old a table knife and then told him how to cut the fruit into his cereal.

Mark was sort of ‘all thumbs’ as he tried to cut the banana. He’d never done that before and none of his banana pieces were the same size. Mark felt embarrassed at the way he cut up his fruit. But Billy knew that it would take his little ‘brother’ a time or three to get the hang of it and he told him that. Mark smiled at his ‘big brother’s’ encouragement.

The two boys ate their breakfast in silence, but they would occasionally look at one another and smile, or giggle. Mark then commented that the cereal did taste better with some fruit in it, and he hoped to try it with blueberries or strawberries someday.

Just as the boys finished their cereal, Kieran came over as he usually did. It was just past nine o’clock. The two young boys then went out to the garage to do their exercises. They were still checking out the ones in the book Mark’s dad got for him, so they tried some of the exercises they hadn’t done yet.

Billy cleaned up their breakfast dishes and then headed out to the garage to make sure the boys didn’t do any of the exercises wrong. He watched what they did and read the pages of the book of that exercise they were performing to determine if they indeed were doing the exercise correctly.

While the boys did their exercises, Billy went looking for the dolly Mr. Golderson mentioned to him. He searched all over the garage and was about to use his cell phone to call the man to ask him where it was, when he saw it standing up in a corner.

Billy then called Briggs to see when he wanted to try to bring his grill over. The two had talked yesterday about bringing it over, but not when. Briggs asked Billy to bring the dolly over to see if it would even work. Billy left the two boys to continue what they normally did.

When Billy arrived at the Oxtters’, Brigs was waiting for him. It took Billy a little longer to get there as he was walking and not riding Levi’s bike as he does when he and Mark go to the playground.

The two teenagers looked at the grill and then at the flat dolly and then they tried to figure out how they could mount the grill on the dolly, and then wheel it over to the Goldersons. They lifted the grill onto the dolly to see how they could balance it on there and slowly wheel it.

The teens saw, after a few false starts, they could balance it as one pushed and the other pulled it along the way. Briggs decided since they had the grill on the dolly and they were able to move it as they were, they should continue to take it over to the Goldersons.

While Billy and Briggs walked the grill over to the Goldersons’ home, a car passed them, but neither took notice of it. But the people in the vehicle did notice one of the teens. They had been looking for Billy for the past few days, ever since Mark gave their address to the caller on his ‘big brother’s’ cell phone.

The men in the vehicle wanted to get a hold of Billy Dirketson for the longest time. And now that he was no longer living at The Cove, that had armed guards protecting him, they figured they had a better than good chance to grab him.

Now that they had found him, and out in the open, they quickly turned the vehicle around. But by the time they’d done that they saw the teenagers were going towards the teen’s new home and were getting close. They knew they lost their chance, so backed off to regroup and make other plans.

Briggs thanked Billy for helping him bring their grill over. The teen told the new foster teen that he’d see him at the park later to play some ball. Briggs then walked home, alone. The men in the vehicle watched as the wrong teen was out walking by himself.

It was after ten o’clock that the boys got on their bikes and headed over to the playground to play some baseball. The people in the vehicle had parked down the street from where Billy resided, and watched as the three boys headed away from the home.

The four people in the vehicle talked about what they were going to do. One suggestion was for them to overtake the three right there, grab Billy and take him away. They decided against that, as there would be two people who could remember the license tag and their faces as they didn’t bring masks of any kind. The four just followed well behind the small group to see where they were going.

Mark, his foster brother, and Kieran arrived at the playground and headed over to the ballfield. A few other boys were already waiting for the rest of the guys to show, so they could get a ball game going. Before long there were twenty-two boys there that Saturday morning. A few more boys from other streets came by to see if they could get into the game.

But before the boys began picking teams, Mark, true to his word to his ‘big brother’, asked how many were planning to play soccer that fall. Learning that about twelve of them were planning to play soccer, he then asked them when they planned to start training.

Some of the boys said they weren’t sure, but they knew they needed to get their legs and lungs in shape as their teams would begin training and the season would start the week before Labor Day. Mark said that if they show up Monday at the park, at about ten, they could all start training together.

The people in the car who were interested in Billy watched from afar and saw that there were now, way too many boys around their target for them to try something. So, instead of sticking around and calling attention to themselves, they decided to drive away and come back in a couple of hours.

The group of four knew where Billy lived. They just needed to find a good opportunity to snatch the teenager and take him where they intended to pay him back for what they thought was his squealing on ‘Smokey’. They went and got lunch and talked about what they could do next.

The boys had two good teams picked and with eleven players on each team they made sure everyone got to play and bat. Mark pitched the first three innings for his team and the boys who never batted against him were surprised at how well he did. They then learned he pitched Thursday night at his Little League game and had been learning to pitch for next baseball season.

The boys played for almost three hours when some of their cell phones rang. After answering the call, the boys said their moms wanted them home for lunch. As they began leaving, Mark reminded those who were going to play soccer to stop by at ten Monday morning and they’d start getting in shape. He also told them to bring their soccer balls with them.

Mark and his ‘big brother’ headed home for their own lunch. Today was Mark’s turn to host the swim, but because they were hosting the Oxtter’s and Wrockman’s for a cookout later that evening, Mark switched off with Jerry who was supposed to host Monday’s swim.

It was going on 1:30 when the two boys sat down to eat their lunch with Levi and Miriam. As they ate, Levi told the boys they should change into their swimsuits as they all needed to get the backyard ready for their guests who would be arriving around four.

Billy spoke up and said they had hoped to begin cooking at four and would be eating by five. Miriam told the teenager that when you plan a cookout, you could never count on anything coming off on time. The woman said if they started cooking by 5 or 5:30 they would be lucky. Billy just shook his head. He told himself he’d better talk to the other kids when they get there.

After lunch was over, the boys went up to their rooms to change into their swimsuits and a nice t-shirt. When they came down stairs, Billy helped Levi set up the grills and put them where they’d be out of the way, but would be convenient for the cooks.

Mark’s job was to straighten up the yard. He took the pitchers rubber and home plate down so no one would trip over them. The boy was concerned they would have to remeasure where they went tomorrow. That was until Levi had his son pick them up and then he showed the boy the marks the two left in the ground. Mark smiled and knew they would be no measuring tomorrow.

Miriam, for her part, prepared her family’s potatoes to place into the oven to bake. She also cleaned the asparagus so it would be ready to place on the grill.

While the Goldersons were getting their backyard ready for the cookout, the Wrockman’s dropped off their grill. That was so the corn-on-the-cob could be cooked while the chicken breasts and sausage were cooking. Levi thanked them for that, as he’d forgotten they needed a third grill to do that, if they wanted to have everything ready at the same time.

Billy was taking it all in, what was needed to put a cookout on. He was used to cooking only hamburgers and hot dogs and lately on a six-foot grill where they had loads of space. But now that they were cooking chicken breasts, sausage and corn-on-the-cob and needed it all to be done at the same time, they needed the extra grill.

The teen’s mind was being blown away, seeing everything that needed to be done. He remembered back to when they put together the dinner, breakfast and lunch menus and those seemed difficult to him at the time. But now, he was seeing that was nothing, compared to what they were going to do that evening.

The Oxtter’s didn’t arrive until after four o’clock, so their plan to start cooking at four went out the window. And they knew they couldn’t really begin to cook until the Wrockman’s arrived because that wouldn’t be right. It wasn’t until 4:30 that Alexa and her family arrived.

The adults talked and talked and the teen cooks wanted to start so they could all go swimming before it got too late. Mark heard the teenagers talking, so he went to his dad and asked him when his ‘big brother’ could begin cooking

Levi smiled, then walked over to the teens and asked them what was their hurry. Briggs asked that if they were supposed to be the cooks, shouldn’t they be the ones who decided when the grills were turned on and the meats began to be cooked.

Levi smiled again, but this time Billy said he’d only cooked chicken breasts that one time and he needed Mr. Golderson to help him make sure he didn’t ruin them. The foster teen then asked his foster dad when he thought would be a good time to start cooking, so everything would be done at the same time.

Levi looked at his watch and told the teens to turn the grills on and get them hot. He added they needed to start the corn-on-the-cob as that might take longer than the meats did depending on how the women prepared the ears of corn.

Billy and Briggs quickly went to their respective grills and turned them on. Billy then went to Mr. Wrockman and asked him how to start his grill. The man showed the teen that it wasn’t any different than any other gas grill, it just looked different. It was the Wrockman’s grill they would use to cook the corn.

There were fourteen people at the cookout that Saturday evening, which meant there was going to be a lot of grilling done. Levi told the teens to put the corn, still in its husks, which had been soaking in ice water all afternoon, on the grill and not to forget to turn it so it was done evenly. Briggs assigned his sister Sydney and brother Reese to be in charge of cooking the corn.

When the other two grills were hot enough, Billy placed the chicken breasts on his grill. Briggs knew his Kielbasa sausage was already cooked and all he was going to do was heat it up and put a nice char on it. He knew he could wait until Billy began just about ready to put the barbeque sauce on the breasts before he needed to begin his part of the cookout.

Mark, Kieran and Dana all wanted to be a part of the cookout, and they kept bugging the teens for something they could do. Billy told them to put the table cloths out and then get the plates, cups, napkins and tableware out and ready for when it was time to eat.

Briggs called out to Sydney and Reese to see how the corn-on-the-cob was coming along. Sydney called back that it was steaming and smelling good. Reese said they’ve been turning it as they’ve been told. Levi went over and told them to turn the gas off as the residual heat would keep them hot but would keep them from over cooking the corn.

Briggs had already placed the sausage on the grill, but had only been warming it. He watched Billy and the chicken breasts and when he saw they were beginning to split and Billy was getting the barbeque sauce ready, Briggs turned up the heat and began to properly grill the Kielbasa beef sausage.

The women had been helping Alexa get the desert table ready with her special strawberry and pound cake dessert. Miriam added her apple pie and Delta added some different flavored pound cakes she had purchased at the big box store.

When the dessert table was prepared, the women saw the meats were just about ready, so they got the baked potatoes out and all the fixings. They also brought out sticks of butter for the potatoes and the corn as well as corn holders as the corn-on-the-cob would be very hot when it came off the grill. The asparagus wouldn’t take much time to cook, so it would be the last thing thrown on the grill.

By chance, or good luck, Billy and Briggs had their meats ready at the same time. The teenagers grabbed serving plates, placed their offerings onto them and brought them over to the table. They then threw the asparagus onto their hot grills and within a few minutes, while the adults and young boys were getting their plates ready the last item for the cookout was being readied.

Outside the Goldersons’ home, a car with four occupants drove by. They had concocted a plan earlier that they had hoped to use to grab Billy, but as they passed by the house, they noticed two strange vehicles sitting in the driveway.

They drove on by and at the corner, they dropped a teenager off and had him walk past the house to see if he could hear anything going on there. When the teenager passed by the Goldersons, he heard lots of laughter of female voices and some high-pitched kids’ voices. The teen figured they were having a cookout and would be there for quite some time.

When the three men picked up their junior partner, they were dismayed at the report the teen gave them. They had hoped on a Saturday night they could have found Billy out and about, but here he was in the company of lots of people, many of which were probably adults due to the two strange vehicles in the driveway.

The four miscreants drove around some more and talked about what their options were. The consensus was they had no options that night. Their target was surrounded by people and if there was a gathering of friends going on at the Golderson’s, there was no way Billy would be out of the property that night. They all decided to head home and try again tomorrow night.

The people at the cookout had nothing but praise for the cooks. Everyone loved that there were two different types of meats to eat and the adults commented that the side dishes were something they rarely had at a cookout.

The loaded baked potatoes weren’t something you would normally have at a cookout and with the addition of the roasted corn-on-the-cob all of the adults were thoroughly enjoying what the kids had planned for that night.

The women also enjoyed the grilled asparagus. That side dish was a complete surprise to them as they never figured kids would want something like that. They did notice Billy and Briggs eating it and they had Mark, Reese, Sydney and Kieran eating a few pieces as well. Alexa, they noticed, stayed completely away from it.

When it came time for dessert, Billy made sure the leftovers were put into coolers or the Goldersons’ refrigerator before anyone had a taste of what was on the dessert table. He told his cook mates that they needed to make sure no one got sick eating any of the leftovers tomorrow. The adults were all surprised how the foster teen handled the other kids.

Once Billy was satisfied that the picnic area was policed and everything was put away, the dessert table was open for everyone. Everyone loved what Alexa and her mom, Kimberly, made for them that night. The special dessert consisted of cut strawberries, pound cake, blueberries and lots of whipped cream.

Because it was made for fourteen people, the Wrockman’s put the dessert in a clear punchbowl sized container and there was plenty for everyone. Then, as the group sat and talked and they ate their dessert, Dana remarked that what was missing was homemade ice cream.

Billy was the closest to the ten-year-old and he bopped him on the back of his head. Corbin, Dana’s dad, thanked the teenager for doing that saying he didn’t want to get up to do it. Everyone laughed, as Dana lightly rubbed the back of his head.

The adults told the kids they did a great job putting the cookout on that night. They told them they now knew what it took to do that, so the next time they were at one they could appreciate how much time and effort went into getting it together.

The children decided it was time to swim, even though it was now well past 7:30. The boys eagerly dove into the inviting waters and began splashing one another. Mark enticed his dad, Levi, to get into the water as Kieran got his, Randy, and Dan’s dad, Corbin to also get into the water and play a few games with them. Sydney and Alexa did get into the water, but they stayed away from all the roughhousing that was going on.

As the kids and their dads swam or played games, the women talked about Billy. Kimberly and Delta both wanted to know what it was like having a complete stranger living in her home.

Miriam told her female friends how Billy wasn’t anything like what they expected. She told the women how her foster son wanted to help around the house. She explained that he helps clean off the table when they’re finished eating, and he even asked her to show him how to use the washer and dryer so he could do his own laundry.

The laundry comment caught both Kemberly and Delta off guard. Miriam explained that her foster son did one load of laundry, until she sent him off to be with Mark, but when he came home, he put all of his clothes away. The woman also told her friends that the teen kept his room very neat and picked up. Something she thought she would have a problem with getting him to do.

Miriam told the women how polite Billy was, that he was also very laid back and attentive, and he wasn’t a know-it-all as many teens are nowadays. The woman went on to say she felt the teen was very mature for his age, that he had a good head on his shoulders and was trying hard to be a part of their family.

Miriam went on to say how Billy had a way about him that told you he was very observant and he’d already started changing her son, Mark. The woman told how the foster teen called Mark out as being spoiled and had told her that Mark needed to learn how to be self-responsible, so he would stop relying on others to do for him what he could and should do for himself.

Delta and Kimberly were taken aback by the comment that the teenager told Miriam about her own son. But Mrs. Golderson explained that her son was somewhat spoiled and all that did was bring it to the forefront. Miriam said Billy was changing Mark for the good, that they were becoming friends and her son was beginning to look up to his ‘big brother’.

The foster mom told her friends, that her husband was impressed with their foster son, telling the women he saw the teen was calm, wasn’t a know-it-all, seemed mature, and appeared very bright and that he wasn’t demanding at all.

Kimberly looked around, to see who was nearby, then asked Miriam if she could tell them more about her foster son and where he came from.

Miriam also looked around, to see who was nearby, and then began to tell the two women about what she knew about Billy. The woman then told the ladies about the reason why her foster son had been sent away from his last foster home.

Delta and Kimberly thought that it was outrageous that the foster parents would send the teen away for something that they both felt was relatively harmless. That was when Miriam told the ladies who the last foster parent was and what Billy told them was his stance on illegal drugs.

Kimberly and Delta were still not convinced that finding a little marijuana in the boy’s room was grounds for banning him from the house. Miriam then told her friends to Google the name and see if they still agreed with the man’s actions. So, the two women did just that. They took out their cell phones and Googled Kenneth Richard Thomas.

While the women talked, the dads and their kids, along with Billy, played some of the games that the boys usually played after their ball games during the week. Horsey was the one the younger boys really enjoyed as they got to be on their fathers’ backs.

Then they played Sharks and Minnows followed by Cannonball to see who could make the biggest splash. Briggs was declared the winner, but the men called foul as they complained he had practice before and they hadn’t. Everyone laughed at their pouting.

The boys wanted to play Marco-Polo, but the men said they were not going to play that game. They men said it was beneath them to continuously call out that name and so, if their kids insisted, they would get out of the pool and call it a night.

Corbin Wrockman, Dana and Alexa’s dad, wasn’t ready to get out of the pool as he was having fun with his kids. He had watched the boys play some new games the other day and he suggested they show them what they were all about and explain to them what was so good about them.

Billy explained the Walking Backwards game first and that was what they played. And because the Goldersons’ pool was deep the participants had to walk along the sides of the pool in the deep end in order to get to the other end. The men and the teens were made to walk backwards and they all had a difficult time walking along the sides of the pool. And just like the boys did the other day, when they tried to grab the sides to keep their balance the other team made them start all over again.

That particular game took longer than the men thought it would. But the boys had fun playing with their dads as they screamed at them as they encouraged them along. And even though there weren’t as many players that night, as there were the other day, the yelling was just as boisterous that the women called over to them to tone it down some.

The second game the group played was with the large painted washers, the size of a silver dollar. Billy mixed the teams up before they started. The teen explained they began with their washer on the drain and they had to replace it with a different color. Each team had eight washers of different colors to work with.

The men knew they wouldn’t have a problem retrieving and replacing the washers. The problem might come from the younger kids who might have a difficult time getting down to the drain and changing out the washer. No one would know until they began the game and since there were only five on a side, Billy said everyone should do the task at least twice to make it fair.

The other day, the deeper pool made it more challenging for the teams. That night, the only players who had some difficulty were Kieran and Dana. Both dads yelled encouraging words to their sons to take deeper breaths and flutter kick harder to get down to the bottom and change out the washer.

The ten players had fun playing those two new games. The dads liked that there was something new and different to play in the pool beside the standard Horsey, Cannonball and Sharks and Minnows and the dreaded Marco-Polo.

The group talked about how much fun it was to play together as a family. The kids said they didn’t do something like that often enough and they should try to do a cookout at least once a month. The dads said they’d talk to their moms to get their take on doing it that often.

While the dads and kids played the games, the women talked some more about Mr. Ken and Billy. Delta and Kimberly were still puzzled by Mr. Ken’s action. Miriam told her friends that the foster parent can have the foster child removed at any time for any reason and his reason was he wasn’t going to allow someone who had illegal drugs found in his room to remain in his house.

The two women were still appalled at what Mr. Ken did to Billy, but what was done and they couldn’t do anything about it now. Kimberly was still interested in Billy and what she heard her kids talking about. She wanted to know if it was true that the foster teen did live where the fireworks came from and that the carnival was at the place where Billy lived.

Miriam told the ladies that Billy did indeed live at The Cove and the man, Mr. Ken Thomas owned the estate on the lake, and that he also paid for the fireworks that night and the carnival they saw in the distance. She told them that Mark remarked that if they’d gone over there that night, they might have met his foster brothers then.

Miriam continued and told the women about the Skate Park Billy had at The Cove, and the professional grade helmet and pads his foster dad gave not only him, but his other ‘brothers’ and their friends. Just mentioning that Billy had other ‘brothers’ caused the two women to ask if Billy was able to stay in contact with them.

Miriam had to explain that Billy’s other ‘brothers’ were the five other boys living at The Cove, two of which were Mr. Ken’s adopted sons and the other three were also foster sons. She continued and told her friends that twice they had sleepovers with more than fifty kids and they served pizza at night, cooked pancakes the next morning and had the boys fix their own sub sandwiches for lunch.

The women said it was hard to believe, but Miriam told the women she saw some of the pictures her foster son had on his cell phone. Then she added how Billy told her and Levi that they ‘burned’ the burgers and hot dogs every day at The Cove, and that he just came off a nine-day and three-day trip with the man who once was his foster dad.

It was then that Miriam remembered how Billy stood up for Mark when the older boys at the park wanted him to pitch more than Billy thought he should. Miriam explained how her son wanted to be a pitcher and that Billy had been helping him, but when it came to his pitching Billy wouldn’t allow him to overdo it.

Delta said she remembered Dana telling her and Corbin something about Taylor getting really mad that Billy was interfering with what they had before the ‘foster teen’ showed up. Then Kimberly joined in and said Briggs told her that he agreed with Billy and that if someone was trying to ruin his brother’s arm, just so they could play baseball, he would have done what Billy did.

As it got later in the night, the dads, and the kids in the pool, got tired and they all came out looking for something to eat. The dessert table was still open, so they all grabbed a plate and dug into the strawberry dessert, the apple pie, or the different flavored pound cakes.

The men asked their wives if they wanted something off the dessert table and after hearing they didn’t want anything, they grabbed a cold alcoholic drink and sat down with what they took from the table and talked to one another.

The kids also got the dessert they wanted, grabbed a soda and sat around talking about the cookout and how much fun it was to swim with their dads. The day was something they hadn’t had in a long time and they were all happy they had the chance to do the cookout that night. They then started to talk about whose turn it would be the next time.

By eleven o’clock, the moms said it was time for them to go home. Everyone thanked Levi and Miriam for hosting the cookout, but the Goldersons told them to thank the kids for doing the heavy lifting that day.

The adults agreed and said they did such a good job they’d let them do it the next time. That brought about a lot of laughter. But the kids weren’t too sure the adults were kidding.

Everyone walked out to the front yard to see the Wrockman’s and Oxtter’s off. They all said their goodnights and the families got into their vehicles, backed out of the driveway and drove off towards their homes.

The Goldersons then went inside and the boys went off to bed. It had been a long day and everyone was tired and they all agreed to clean up in the morning.

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

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