Chapter 9: Changes

Monday, the telephone rang early in the morning. A light coat of dust had settled on the furniture overnight caused by yesterday's windstorm. Billy bounced out of bed, rushed into the living room and grabbed the telephone off the wall. "This is the Summers' residence," he said as he tried to imitate the way Sissy and Matilda answered the telephone.

"This is Doctor price. May I speak to Missus Summers, please?"

Panicked, Billy blurted, "Is my dad okay?"

"Yes, Billy," Doctor Price answered, as he recognized the voice, "I need to speak to your, er Missus Summers."

"You wait right here, I'll go get her," said as he let the receiver dangle at the end of its cord.

"Billy," Colleen complained, as she stood in the door of her room, "From now on you let me answer the telephone. Who is it calling?"

"Doctor Price, he answered as he ran up the stairs, stopped at the bedroom and yelled through the door, "Mom! Get up. Doctor Price wants you."

He heard a muffled answer, ran back down the stairs, grabbed the telephone receiver out of Colleen's hand and almost shouted. "She will be right here." He handed the receiver back to Colleen and hurried into his room to change from pajamas to regular clothing.

Billy hurried to his room and got dressed. Just as he came back into the room Millicent hung the phone up and said, "He is not coming home today. Doctor Price said he has a slight infection and decided to keep him two more days. He also suggested we get a hospital bed to make your father's recovery more comfortable.

"Buck said he'd send his wife Opal to speak to me about helping with your father. She might have her children with her. I would like for you two to look after them."

Before Billy could answer, Colleen turned on him and said in a deadly voice, "Billy, don't you dare say anything. You shut up. I do not give people orders."

Billy laughed at her anger and said, "Well you just give me an order, or doesn't that count?" The smile on his face made her angrier.

Before Colleen could say more, Millicent told them, "Here are my orders, Colleen, stop giving orders. Billy, stop teasing your sister." Suddenly she stopped and thought about what she had just said. Yes, Billy did seem to have always been a part of their family. He and Colleen fought and argued just like brother and sister and played together as if they were brother and sister. Aloud, she asked, "When they arrive, please help me."

"Boy, this I got to see, Miss Bossy not give anybody any orders." He grinned at Colleen.

"Billy! I mean it," Millicent spoke to him in a sharp voice for the first time ever. "Stop that teasing or leave the room. You are being very impolite."

"Yes, ma'am." He looked at her and hung his head, "I am sorry I made you mad at me. I don't want to do that ever."

"Oh Billy, I'm not angry with you. But you must learn to keep your tongue still. You hurt Colleen's feelings. You made her cry." Millicent smiled at him and added, "I realize you were teasing in fun, but you hurt Colleen's feelings."

Billy turned and saw the tears in Colleens eyes, "Aw, I'm sorry, princess. I was just teasing you." Suddenly, as he started to continue, a "croak" came out of his mouth. He looked surprised and tried again. "What just hap..." In mid word he croaked again.

"Billy, please stop making those frog noises," Colleen told him.

Millicent laughed, "Billy, your voice has started to change." She saw the horrifie

d look on his face. "It's all right, Billy. I believe almost all boys, when they make the transition to manhood undergo a voice change. Instead of a tenor, you shall become a baritone or perhaps even a bass."

Doubtfully Billy told her, "I don't think I'm going to like this."

"Never mind, dear. It merely means you shall sing and speak in a lower voice." Millicent tried to reassure him he might like the changes. Billy, on the other hand, did not appear to be reassured, in spite of her encouraging words.

"I shall ask Cook to begin breakfast," Colleen smiled at Billy, the hint of an impish smile on her lips. He knew she was laughing at him.

The doorbell chimed and Billy hurried to answer it. Sissy beat him to the door and opened it. Two plain looking women stood in the opening. "Yes?" Sissy asked. She gave the two newcomers a doubtful look.

"One of you is Buck's wife and the other is his cousin," Billy greeted them. Come on in and meet your new boss." Sissy frowned at Billy when he invited the strange white women into the house. She thought Billy was just too uppity.

"This here is Sissy," Billy told the newcomers. "She is real nice and takes care of a lot of things here in the house." He smiled and Sissy stopped frowning. It was so very hard to stay mad at Billy, especially when he gave out so many compliments.

"Mom," Billy announced, "This is Buck's wife and this is his cousin. They have come to help you take care of Dad." His voice broke twice while he was talking. He now knew for certain he did not like this voice change stuff.

"Billy, show the ladies into the music room. Ask Matilda to bring refreshments." Millicent smiled a warm welcome to the newcomers.

The newcomers looked around them at the finery on display. Finally, Opal stepped forward. "I'm Opal Comstock, Miz Summers. This here is Buck's cousin Nellie Comstock."

"You ladies go with Billy. I shall be along in a moment." She paused as she remembered, then asked, "Have you eaten yet? Breakfast will be served in a moment. Please join us."

"Why thankee, ma'am," Opal answered in surprise. "We would both be right honored."

"Let's go into the dining room instead and sit at the table while we get acquainted." As they sat she remembered another item. "I thought Buck said you would have your children with you."

"Oh, we got them waiting out in the Ford. Nellie brought us in her car," Opal answered.

"Mother, may I invite the children in for breakfast?" Colleen asked, as she once again became the proper young hostess. "We could eat in the kitchen and not disturb you."

Millicent looked at Opal and asked, "Would that be all right with you?" Colleen can watch the children while we discuss your duties."

"Well all right," Opal told her doubtfully. "They are wild little heathen and we don't want to put you out none."

"Oh, we shall get along splendidly," Colleen reassured her. "I'll go fetch them right now." She hurried out the front door. In moments she led five young people through the dining room and into the kitchen. The first three young people ranged in age from about six to ten. The youngest and next oldest were girls; the eight year old in the middle was a boy. The oldest two were twelve-year-old twins, both boys.

Billy smiled to himself as they all trooped into the kitchen. He nodded once and sat at his usual place at the dining table, away from the three women. Matilda came bustling from the kitchen with her serving cart laden with food. Warm plates of ham and eggs and bacon were placed in front of the three adults and Billy. Side dishes of potatoes and gravy went on the table.

As she shoved the cart through the swinging door into the kitchen, a boy's voice could be heard, "No. I'll just go wait in the car before I let some girl boss me around."

Billy told Millicent as she started to get up from the table, "You go ahead in here, Mom, I'll take the older guys outside with me." He grinned to himself and picked up his plate of food and carried it into the kitchen.

"She getting a little bossy in here?" Billy asked the two boys as he set his plate on the table. Colleen frowned at him.

"Aw, she was trying to tell us how to eat," one of the two answered. Billy couldn't tell them apart.

Billy grinned his friendliest. "Hey, you mind if I paint the number one on one of your foreheads and a two on the other one? That way I can tell you apart. I bet your own pa has trouble telling you apart. I wish I had a twin brother. But I can't complain, I got Colleen here and she's better than a brother in some ways."

"She's a girl, what did a girl ever do that was so great?? One of the twins asked.

"Well, she shot at a man when he tried to sneak up on our Dad. And her and me took down another couple of men together. She even drew a gun on a man and was going to shoot him dead. I don't know many brothers ever did more'n that. Her and me, we're a team." Colleen smiled and looked down her nose at the twins.

"Billy, you know the proper form of that sentence is 'she and I, ' you said that to irritate me."

"Well, I did too, didn't I?" He grinned at her. "You know, Princess, you are more fun to tease than a mean watch dog." She snorted at him and he laughed back at her.

Billy turned back to the boys and told them about their recent adventures. "Then, when I stabbed that old Dick Trabing in the leg, Colleen here took the gun right out of his hand. She is the bravest girl I ever knew. In fact she's braver than anybody I know outside of Dad and Buck. Your daddy is pretty brave too."

One of the twins, Jimmy Buck Comstock, looked at her with new respect. "Well, if you done all that, why you so fussy about how I eat? I don't see it's any of your business."

"In this house we all eat properly." Colleen stuck her nose in the air and told Billy, "You entertain your two guests and I shall entertain the three younger ones. Come along." She led the three youngest of the five toward her room.

"Our Pa really likes you," Johnny Buck Comstock told Billy. "He says you got him his job with Mister Summers. So I guess you're okay."

Billy smiled without answering. "I'm still hungry, how about you guys?"

"Boy, you got a hollow leg," Matilda told him and dished up a fresh plate full of food. She smiled affectionately at him.

The twins watched Billy carefully chew his food and swallow each bite before taking another. "You eat pretty fancy your own self," Jimmy Buck told him.

Billy's face became serious as he told them, "Well, Dad eats real polite and he is rich. I want to be rich some day so I eat polite too."

"That's a load of hogwash," Johnny Buck said. "Sissified manners ain't going to make nobody no money." He clearly was not buying into Billy's ideas on how to get rich.

"Well, it also helps to be polite so people will want to do things for you." Billy smiled and took another bite. "You know your own self people don't like to do nice things for people they don't like."

"Whoever told you all that stuff?" Jimmy Buck asked.

"Your daddy," Billy answered and smiled at Jimmy Buck.

Jimmy Buck thought a minute and said, "Well, if my pa said it, it's so." He looked at Billy and asked, "When did he tell you that?"

"Right after I got him his job working for us." Billy laughed, "See, if people like you they do good things for you." Neither of the twins looked like they agreed with him.

Billy took one last bite and got up from the table. "Let's go outside. Matilda gets mean with people and whomps them with her rolling pin when she wants them out of her way." As they walked out the back door, Matilda shook her head in wonder at the changes in Billy.

"You all ought to get a cow, all this fine graze out here," Johnny Buck said as he looked out over the acreage behind the house. The house was fenced in on a single acre. Beyond the wrought iron gate in back of the house were more unspoiled acres of timothy grass. Alfred faithfully kept all the Summers' land irrigated.

Billy explained the plans for the unused land. "Colleen bought two ponies at the auction and as soon as we have it all fenced in and get a barn built, we'll bring then here."

Johnny Buck asked, "Who you plan on hiring to build your barn and put the fence in?" He watched Billy anxiously for the answer.