The Kids Grow Up by Trish Hanan (novel24 .TXT) 📖

if you did it to me, what’s to say you wouldn’t have done it to the rest of the customers? I couldn’t take the chance. It wasn’t personal, it was business. You have a nice day now.”
Harry turned and walked away leaving David to think about what he said. But the man just sneered at him, he didn’t think about a thing, not that Harry expected him to, men like David Marshall tended to blame their mistakes on others. They seldom took responsibility for their own actions.
Harry went to Doug’s store and the two men went to his studio and Harry finally got his photo driver’s license so he was finally legal to drive in the town of Edenville.
“Great picture, Harry, the camera really loves your face,” Doug admired his work and handed Harry the finished card. Harry grinned and admired his face on the white plastic.
“You do good work, Doug,” he told the man who beamed. Everyone like hearing their work was appreciated. He left the studio and finally showed up on the work site. Everyone teased him of course, they were all smart-asses and he had raised most of them.
“Look who finally showed up, get enough sleep, Sleeping Beauty?” Sean taunted him. Harry grinned. Then he told them all about his miserable day starting with the two policemen this morning and smug David Marshall at City Hall. They all got a big laugh out of everything.
“Oh, man, pencil pushers are the worse, I’ll buy you a beer later, Dad,” Adam told him. Harry patted him on the back.
“And I’ll let you do that, Son,” he said. Jackson grinned.
“I’m glad to hear that Jake paid you back,” he said solemnly and all the kids nodded, they had really liked that part of the story a lot. Harry had liked telling them that part too.
“Me too, I think I’ll send him an email and tell him I appreciate his honesty,” Harry said almost to himself and continued to work. All the kids grinned and looked at one another. They really liked that idea.
Harry wrote the email when the got home and rewrote it six or seven times before he gave up and just was himself. Dear Jake, he wrote, I had the worse day today. It started this morning when I took Gertie and Bo to the beach to run with them and two alterian policemen informed me I couldn’t run with the dogs on my own beach because I couldn’t prove I was the Harry Talbert who owned the damned beach. In fact, I couldn’t prove I was Harry Talbert at all because I didn’t have a driver’s license. So I went to City Hall to get one and that pencil pusher David Marshall informed me I needed a damned report signed by Carl or Frank.
I took the report to Carl, who, could you believe actually wanted to give me a damned driving test to prove that I could drive. I told him where he could shove his driving test and he signed the paper and I took it back to City Hall. The license cost twenty dollars and I was reaching for my wallet to pay for the damned thing when David pointed to a damned sign that read: No cash, checks only. This really made my perfect day even grander. So I had to run home, grab a million dollars and run to the bank to open a damned checking account so that I write a damned check for twenty dollars for the license. That’s when Brian informed me that you had left a package at the bank for me some thirty years ago and we both opened it to find the million dollars you left for me. Thank you very much, Jake, I’m so glad that you were honest enough to return the money you took from our checking account.
I returned to City Hall with my temporary checks and that stupid imbecile David insisted that he didn’t want to take the damned thing because how did he know who I was because there was no name or address printed on it and how did he know who I was? I told him I was going to beat the shit out of him and since he didn’t know who I was he couldn’t have me arrested for assault. He took the check. And I was handed the correct forms to take to Doug to get the actual license. Then David whined and complained about me firing him from the bank.
I told him that the reason I fired him from the bank had nothing to do with him and me personally but had everything to do with business. If he was going to play with me and my money because he didn’t like me and wanted revenge, what was going to stop him from doing the same to other customers and their money? Banks were not the places for people to play around being cute; people didn’t appreciate cute in a bank. Of course all of this went clear over his stupid little head as usual and he pouted as I left.
I took the forms to Doug who took my picture and after five hours and much frustration, and treats of bodily harm to two people; I finally had my driver’s license. Now all I have to do is remember to carry the damned thing everywhere I go, especially in the morning when I take Gertie and Bo for their run on the beach. I hope your day went better than mine. Harry.
Jake read the email a dozen times laughing each time and grinning like a damned fool. He could just picture the whole day for his ex. And he could just see every scene as Harry had described it. He could have told Harry that he hadn’t closed his checking account in the first place, he didn’t even think of it. David had done it for him and just presented him with the gold and told him what he had done. Jake had been appalled but the other three had been so convinced that it had been so necessary that he had gone along with it and felt so foolish when he had found the sixty-four million in gold in the bin on the porch. Of course Harry would have divided the money up fairly, he was like that, even when his heart was breaking, he wouldn’t have thought of revenge or being mean and spiteful.
His day wasn’t going any better than Harry’s. The woman they hired for his dad had quit again and run out before Jake could grab her and offer her more money and the damned inspectors had come in and they had failed their sixth inspection. And to make matters worse, his dad had yelled at the inspectors and they closed them down for the week. A whole week and they couldn’t see patients. Jake didn’t know whether to be sad or happy because this closed week gave him time to catch up on his paperwork and clean the damned clinic. His dad’s side was a complete disaster which is why they closed them down. When the fool yelled at them, they stayed longer and searched for crap and boy did they find violations. His draws were jammed packed full of unused supplies and unopened supplies and his files were a disgrace. The inspectors were coming back in a week and if things weren’t better, they were going to close them down for six months. Dr. Jackson had yelled at Jake like it was his fault.
“Jake, you idiot boy, this is all your fault, you should be in here every day straightening up my files and cleaning up my office,” he yelled as the inspections were leaving. Jake looked at his dad like he was insane, he certainly looked insane, with his face all getting red with anger like it used to get. He got angry back.
“Oh, yeah, old man, how is this my fault, they’re your files and your damned office, you clean up your own mess like I do, you don’t see my files and my office like that,” he shouted back. Dr. Jackson looked shocked and wagged his finger at him.
“Don’t you yell at me, I’m your father, you’ll respect me by God,” he shouted at the top of his lungs. Jake laughed.
“Oh, really, it’s okay for you to yell at me but I can’t yell at you, that makes perfect sense, you stupid old fool,” he sneered and his dad had looked shocked. Their receptionist Miriam got her stuff and went home for the week. Jake sighed and looked at his dad.
“You’d better use this week to straighten out your files and clean out your drawers and get your office into tiptop condition so we can reopen, Dad,” he told him. Dr. Jackson glared at him.
“Why do I have to be the one to do all the work, why can’t you do it?” he yelled. Jake glared at him.
“Because it’s your mess, old man, why should I clean up your mess?” he yelled back. Dr. Jackson waved his finger at his son.
“Listen to me, you idiot boy, you’re not even a real Vet like me, you never went to Veterinarian College like I did, you just studied at home. You should be grateful I let you practice with me, now you clean up those files! That’s all you’re good for anyway. I’ll come back in a week so we can reopen,” he yelled and turned around and walked out of the clinic. Jake had been shocked and appalled and he knew his dad wouldn’t come back to do any work. He would leave it all to him. He felt like crying.
He sat in his nice clean and passed inspection office and reread Harry’s email and knew what Harry would have said to his father’s ultimatum. He would have told Jake to just pack up his stuff and leave the office just like it was and come home. Then he would have looked at his list of stores and found Jake his own Veterinarian Clinic over in Sherwood and all of the kids would have helped them build it and Jake would have gone into practice for himself and let his old man sink on his own.
“I should call Harry and ask him for a clinic and tell my Dad to go to hell,” Jake muttered as he looked around his office. And while he was asking for a clinic he should ask for a house and get the hell out of that miserable place he was living with that hag Violet. They could share custody of the dogs and maybe even date and eventually maybe they could get back together, that would be fantastic. Jake dreamed about that for a few minutes and then with a sigh put the email into his drawer and walked into the mess that was his father’s office and started to work. It was just a stupid dream.
The work on the four buildings went on smoothly. Everyone was experienced builders and they all had a great time, with forty-one, twenty-one year-old people working on them, they were going up like crazy. Harry did more supervising than building but he still had fun, especially now that he could run on the beach every morning. The first morning after he got his license he was