Chapter 5

That Friday night, a little after seven, Mr. Parsons came back home. Even though Mr. Chalmers and Mrs. Parsons had both assured me that Mr. Parsons was going to leave me alone, and, I'd been told to stay out of his way, right after dinner he asked me to join him in his study. I'd never been in this room before, since it was reserved only for Mr. Parsons. I was a little nervous when he led me into the study. It was a smallish room, maybe fifteen feet by fifteen feet, and one whole wall was covered with books and notebooks in a dark brown wooden bookcase. The wall behind his desk was filled with pictures. All of the pictures had Mr. Parsons in them, usually with one, two, or even more other people in them as well. I saw one picture with Mr. Chalmers, Mr. Parsons and another, older man who looked a lot like a slightly older version of Mr. Chalmers, the way he looked now. Mr. Chalmers and Mr. Parsons looked about twenty years old in that picture. Mr. Parsons went over and sat behind his desk. He motioned for me to sit in the chair in front of the desk.

"Look, Benny, I guess you and I got off to a bad beginning. I thought we should have a talk, and clear the air between us."

"My name is Kenny, not Benny."

"Really? I could have sworn it was Benny. In any case, Kenny, I wanted to try to clear things up, and to try to start all over with you if I may. I know that Bertie and Bunny have already discussed my new living situation, as well as what has been agreed on between the three of us. We all stand to benefit a great deal, financially, if and when the merger is completed. That merger is the single most important consideration for each of us at the moment. This means that we're all prepared to make sacrifices, and to tolerate situations that we normally wouldn't dream of.

"I've given my word to Bunny that I would find a way for you and I to co-exist together, for the good of everyone. I don't see us becoming friends, or anything more than bare acquaintances, but I'm certainly willing to try to see if the two of us can manage to get along together. It's in everyone's best interest that you feel the same way."

"Mr. Chalmers told me about the merger, and how important you are to making it work out. I already told him that I'd try not to do anything to make you mad at me again."

"That's good, Kenny. I've got my plate full already, what with all of the details that will need attending to. I'll be in residence here Friday evenings until early Monday mornings. The rest of the time, I'll be working and spending my time in the city, or off on business trips for the company. I see little reason why we both can't be civil during those times when I'm here. Bunny tells me that you are becoming an avid golfer, and that your interest has spurred Bertie's own enthusiasm again. I'm glad. Golf was always a game she excelled at, and it gets her out in the open air. She needs an interest to keep her from always dwelling on her infirmities. In spite of what you've witnessed between Bertie and me, I remain fond of her, and continue to wish her well. In fact, it was only after Bunny told me about you and Bertie golfing together that I was able to grasp your positive potential in living here with us."

"She's a nice lady, and a very good golfer too."

"She is all of that, and more besides. If she would only choose to exercise better control over her spoiled self indulgences, she would make a fine marriage partner. I have little tolerance for people who refuse to practice the same self discipline they would demand in others. But, enough of that. This talk is about the two of us, and about whether or not we can agree to put aside our personal differences for everyone's mutual benefit. Speaking for myself, I know that I can." He stood back up then, and came around the side of his desk. He offered me his hand to shake. I stood up and put my hand out also.

"Thank you, Mr. Parsons. I've been worried, ever since Mrs. Parsons said you were coming back." He gave my hand too much of a squeeze. I had to wince, and I made a noise, because I hadn't been expecting that. He released my hand quickly, pretending that it had been an accident, and that he didn't know his own strength. He even apologized, but we both understood that the hand shake was his real message to me. I guessed that Mr. Chalmers had put him up to having that talk with me. I told him not to worry about hurting my hand. I knew that what I'd just learned was worth more than the little bit of pain he'd given me.

Later that night, after everyone was in bed, I heard Mr. Parsons yelling at Mrs. Parsons again. I couldn't sleep until after there was quiet coming from their room. I knew that I'd have to stop seeing Bea while Mr. Parsons was staying at the house. I didn't have to stop thinking about her though, so I did think, and I played with myself while I thought about her. I started wishing the weekend would be over, just so life around there could get back to normal again. There was a different atmosphere in the whole house when Mr. Parsons was home. I didn't think anybody liked him. Only Mr. Chalmers had anything nice to say about him. Bea had told me that I already did sex better than Mr. Parsons did. I wondered if he did sex with Mrs. Parsons now. I guessed, since they were married, they had to. That made me feel bad for Mrs. Parsons. From what she had already said, it wouldn't be her choice to do that.

Saturday, all of us had breakfast together. This is when I found out that Mr. Parsons and Mr. Chalmers were going to play a golf game against Mrs. Parsons and me. At the breakfast table, Mr. Parsons was telling Bunny and Bertie that I would have to tee it up from the men's tee, not from the lady's tee that I was used to. It took several minutes for him to do it, but he finally got them both to agree to that. It looked to me like Mr. Parsons was the strongest one there. He seemed to wear the other two down. I didn't mind teeing off with the men. I already knew I wasn't going to hit it as far as they did. I also knew that Mrs. Parsons and I were probably going to win. I had already seen Bunny play, and I knew I could probably keep up with him. Mrs. Parsons had said she could play better than Mr. Parsons, and she also said he didn't like her beating him.

When we got to the golf course, Mr. Parsons insisted that he and I share a golf cart. He said he wanted to get to know me better. I saw that Mrs. Parsons looked relieved that she wouldn't have to be in the same cart with him. I didn't try to get out of it. Two men came out with all of our golf clubs, except for Mr. Chalmers, because he had once again brought his clubs with him. At the first tee, Mr. Parsons insisted that he wanted the bet to be something other than money. He said that was so I would have something at stake, in case I lost. It was finally agreed that the losers had to wash all of the cars. They decided that my car was going to be the limousine that Hans had driven us to Springfield in. Winners got to sit in lawn chairs, drinking lemonade, and watching the losers work.

Mrs. Parson's explained that we were playing stroke play, and that her score and mine would be added together, and Bunny's and Mr. Parsons would be added together. Whichever team had the smaller total was the winner.

On the front nine, I shot a fifty four. I was nervous, and hit a ball out of bounds on the fourth hole, and took three strokes to get out of a bunker on the eighth. It was a deep green side bunker, and my ball was buried in the lip at the top of it. Bunny shot a fifty four also. Mr. Parsons had a forty one, mostly because he hit his tee shots and his approach shots really well. His putting wasn't very good. Mrs. Parsons shot a forty, four over par. We were ahead by one shot with nine more holes to play.

On the back nine, our side gained one shot on the tenth and another on the eleventh, to stretch our lead to three shots. Mr. Parsons hit a long iron second shot from the fairway on the par five twelfth hole. The ball bounced twice in front of the green, and then rolled on up to about twelve feet from the cup. For the first time in person, I was going to see someone actually putting for an eagle. His drive had been about fifty yards out in front of the rest of us. Mrs. Parsons had sliced her tee shot into the rough, and then had to try to advance her ball between two tall trees. She almost made it, but the ball hit a branch at the last second, and dropped almost straight down. She wasn't going to be able to get on in less than four from where her ball came to rest.

Mr. Chalmers second shot was a low roller, what he called a worm killer, but it rolled for a really long ways. My second shot wasn't very good either, and my third one wasn't even close to the green. Mr. Chalmers hit his third shot up onto the fringe of the green and had about forty feet to the hole. I managed to get on in four, but I then three putted from about thirty five feet for a double bogey. Mrs. Parsons hit a good third shot, but her fourth shot went long, so she had to chip on, and then two putted for a double bogey. Mr. Chalmers was able to two putt from the fringe, with a very nice first putt, and he made a rare par. Of course, Mr. Parsons had to go and make his eagle putt, and we went from being up by three shots, to being down by three.