Like Father... Like Son Read online

  While Ben was at school, he tried out his skills by setting up his own little businesses, such as selling homemade lemonade on a stall from the driveway. He would take an extra lunch to school and sell it to the highest bidder. Of course, nether Beth nor David knew about the school escapades.

  David, sitting in the cell, realised that it was during Ben’s early teen years that things started to take a turn towards the maliciousness that led to where he now found himself.

  He hadn’t realised, that what he thought was Ben’s appetite for the business, was hiding a greater desire to take over and outdo his father. Why or what had sparked the craving still wasn’t clear to David. Had he been too busy to see what was happening right under his nose or was he just clueless.

  David searched his memory banks trying to see what it was that had sparked Ben’s mission. There were no friends that he knew of that could have steered Ben in the wrong direction. However, David realised now, way too late, that he didn’t really know who Ben’s friends were, let alone what influence they had on his son. Beth had shown concern a few times, but David had brushed them off as her being overprotective.

  Oh, wow, I really didn’t listen to her at all. How lonely her life must have been during those years? It’s more than amazing that she was still so very gracious to me when Ben made his move on the business and tossed us out. She happily went back to work to make sure that we could eat. However, I guess that she probably had better company at work than she had at home. I really was that busy. When did I lose sight of the prayer that I prayed the day Ben was born?

  With sudden clarity he realised that God hadn’t allowed these things to happen to him, he had brought them on himself. He had pushed God out of his life and God had given him the freedom to do what he wanted but it also meant that he was now dealing with consequences of that freedom.

  He hadn’t deliberately pushed God away. It wasn’t like he had stood up one day and said “God, get out of my life.” It had happened by degrees, one half step at a time. There was the first night when he had decided that he didn’t have time to read Ben a story book, to pray with him when he put him to bed. That one-off night had turned into more nights. The occasional night working back late turned into working back late nearly every night. It had taken years for the habit to develop but David realised that it had happened, and that most likely Ben resented the lack of attention. Had he been too naïve to think that his son would end up hating him so much. Beth had tried to warn him, but he wasn’t listening, that was obvious. Well, I’ve now got myself into a pretty pickle, how do I get myself out of this mess.

  5

  Once the twins had arrived, it become clear to Ben that Harry really had no interest in him as a person, he was just a puppet. Harry still knew what strings to pull, and Ben didn’t have the courage to stand up to him because if he did, he would make sure that Gloria found out and that would always cause problems at home. Ben admitted sometimes that he was getting very tired of the Harry games.

  There was a spare office in the building, it was the one that Harry had indicated would be his when he started at the business, but he had managed to unseat his father without occupying it. He had used a similar office next to Harry’s without his father being fully aware that was where he spent most of his time. He now wondered if it could be put to better use. It was helpful that it had an access door to his office. Maybe if he locked the door to the hallway, he could convert it into a small sitter, with a pull-out bed. That way he could spend some nights here in the building rather than go home and face the same music every night and maybe find some comfort as well. There were a couple of women in the office who he knew would be willing to give him what he wanted. The twins were now in their teens and the noise they created was annoying. They fought constantly which was nothing new, once, when they were smaller, Ben had come home to find them scrapping on the floor. When he had tried to separate them, Gloria had told him to let them be as they were only playing, but boy it had looked very nasty to him. However, he had given authority to Gloria, and he wasn’t going to argue with her, it just wasn’t worth the bother. As long a Gloria didn’t complain to her father about him working too hard, it would work, but he’d have to be careful. One whiff of a scandal and he would be in trouble. There had to be a way to make it work, even if it was only now and again, just to give him a break.

  He went to the pub across the street to have a couple of drinks before he went home. He couldn’t afford to have more; he needed his wits about him more now than ever before. If he was too mellow, he was likely to give in to Gloria’s demands without carefully weighing up the financial consequences, and she was trying to spend more and more money. He had made his bed, and even though it was extremely uncomfortable, he had to stay in it for the moment. If only his in-laws would disappear for a while or forever. The more he thought about this, though, the more he realised that Harry was the problem, and he really still did love Gloria, he just wished that she would go back to being the woman that he first met. Yes, things were hard and had he been able to make the choice years ago, he would’ve walked away. In that moment, he resolved to stay faithful to her for long as it took.

  6

  Early the next morning, having slept better than he had in years, David woke as he heard someone approach his cell. You become very sensitive to noise very quickly once you start living on the streets. The door of the cell opened. The Police Officer, who had taken his name at the desk when he had been brought in, seemed nice enough and was standing in the doorway. He was most likely about ten years younger than David.

  ‘Ok, sir, you need to come with me’, the officer said.

  ‘Are you letting me go?’ David asked.

  ‘No, sorry sir, don’t tell anyone but I have arranged for you to have a shower and there are some clean clothes from the lost property box for you to put on. You look as if it’s been a while. I’m sure it will make you feel a bit better.’

  ‘Oh, thank you sir, it certainly has been a while,’ David smiled. He went to shake the officer’s hand, but his hand stayed by his side.

  ‘Come on, this way please.’ The officer indicated that David should walk in front of him to a small room just around the corner. There was a toilet and a shower. It must have been available for the staff to use if they got messy in the line of duty. There was a towel, which had seen better days and clean clothes sitting on a bench. Soap and shampoo, the sort that you find in Motel rooms was also there. He was pretty sure that what wasn’t used would be thrown in the bin afterwards.

  ‘Please don’t take too long. I have other duties to get on with’, the officer seemed a bit nervous, so David got on with it. As much as he would’ve loved to stay there and just soak up the hot water and let it wash away the years of dirt and degrading lifestyle, he knew that time was of the essence.

  Still, he relished the feel of clean clothes and freshly washed hair, even if it was much longer than he would have liked. It was now clean and that was to be enjoyed.

  David was quickly returned to his cell. As the door clanged shut behind him, he smiled. A verse in the Bible came to mind. He couldn’t remember where to find it, but he remembered what it said. “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good,”. Yes, John had meant evil but here he was now with clean clothes, a roof over his head and four walls to protect him for the first time in a very long-time and that was good. Thank you, Lord, David breathed a prayer of thanks. His future was still uncertain, but tonight he would sleep better even than he had last night.

  He laid back down on the bench provided, it was hard, but it felt luxuriously soft compared to concrete beds that had been his for the months he had been homeless.

  As he laid there looking at the ceiling, the memory of his visit to his aunt and uncle’s when he was ten years old kept playing on a loop around in his head. Why now? Why did that memory keep coming back to haunt him, today of all days? He had failed as a father and the dream that had been born that day had become a nightmare.

  Uncle Ben, his parents didn’t talk about them very much and when they did it was just Ben and Jane. They had never visited them again. He didn’t even know what their surname was or if they were still alive for that matter. It had never occurred to him to go and visit them himself, which now seemed strange considering the fire that they had started in him at such a young age, maybe he had been more like his father than he wanted to admit even back then.

  Oh, God, why are you torturing me? I know I have failed you and myself.

  He spent the day, with his memories, no one disturbed him except to push his meals through the slot in the door.

  ****

  When Ben got home on Monday night, he was surprised to find both his children seated at the table waiting for their evening meal. Usually, one or both would be hiding in their room, or they would be in front of the tv, eating.

  He joined them at the table and started to eat. Things were very quiet for the first ten or fifteen minutes. When suddenly Liz, spoke to her father.

  ‘Hey, dad. We went over to Lillydale yesterday. We were having a look around the shops while mum was at the beauty spar. There were a lot of homeless people in the mall.’

  ‘I hoped you stayed away from them. Those people are just lazy bums, and they should just get a job.’

  Liz looked at John and smiled.

  ‘There was this one guy, we didn’t get very close’ John spoke with a cheeky tone in his voice, ‘I swear, Dad, it could have been you, only older.’

  ‘Do you think it might have been your dad?’ Liz asked,

  ‘Maybe,’ Ben answered thoughtfully, ‘I hope not, I don’t want him coming back into my life and causing trouble again.’

  ‘Oh, I doubt if he will be any trouble,’ John
said triumphally.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Gloria asked, ‘how can you be so sure?’

  ‘We saw him being carted away by the police, after he attacked some kid.’

  ‘Humm well let’s hope they lock him up and throw away the keys then.’ Ben muttered, ‘now let’s not be bothered with the dregs of society and finish our meal.’ Ben wasn’t going to let on to his kids, but the mention of his father had dragged up some very unsettling feelings.

  That night he lay awake for a long time. Something in what the kids had said or maybe it was the way they said it, worried him. They were fifteen now, John hadn’t seemed at all remorseful when he had damaged his car last week and now, they were wondering around malls aimlessly, what were they going to do with the rest of their lives. If they had time to walk around checking out homeless people in the mall of Lillydale then they had too much time on their hands, also something he had overheard at work was adding fuel to his worries. He had heard members of the staff taking about a disturbance at the mall, but when one of them noticed him in the vicinity the conversation had shut down and everyone went back to their desks. He had assumed that it was because they had been talking in a group instead of working, but now he wondered if it might have been John and Liz that they had been talking about. He might not have spent a lot of time with his kids over the years but something in the way John told that story tonight didn’t seem right; there was more to it, of that, he was sure. It was time those kids had something else to do other than follow their mother around. They needed to learn how to work. How he was going to make that happen without upsetting either Harry or Gloria he didn’t know but he had to make it happen and the sooner the better. Of course, once one went to work, the other would follow but he had no idea how to get them into the workforce without upsetting the status quo. He needed to talk to some of his mates to see if they would give John and Liz work after school, besides, those two needed to spend some time apart from each other in order to learn how to stand on their own two feet. He’d need all the negotiating skills that he had ever developed to get this done.

  ****

  David woke after a reasonable night’s sleep. On one hand, he’d felt safer than he had for the last two years. Sleeping on the streets was fraught with danger, particularly at night but on the other hand his sleep had been haunted with dreams of his failures. He ate the breakfast that was pushed through a slot in the door to a small shelf inside the cell. If he was going to get good square meals like that, he was happy to stay put for as long as they would allow.

  Hours passed and his life story continued to rotate around and around in his head.

  It must have been getting toward mid-afternoon when he heard the lock on the door starting to work. They were such noisy things. Metal scraping against metal.

  There was a loud clash as the lock on the cell door released. One of the Police Officers who had brought him to the station stood to one side. You’re a lucky man he said, this man here says he is a relative of yours and so you can leave, as long as you stay in his care. I suggest that you be on your best behaviour. We talked to one of the shop owners near where the incident happened, and they backed your story that the attack on the young man was staged. I guess they didn’t realise they were being watched. It’s getting late, come back in tomorrow and we will discuss what happens next.

  The Officer, who had arranged for him to shower and clean up, stepped forward. He was now dressed in jeans, a polo shirt and denim jacket.

  ‘Sir, I’m Patrick Hartigan, your mother and my mother were sisters.’

  ‘How do you know? I haven’t seen you since you were a few months old.’

  ‘I checked you out, so come with me and I’ll give you a lift home.’

  They reached a car parked in the lot. Patrick opened the door for David as if he was someone important. They drove in silence while Patrick manoeuvred the vehicle out of the lot and onto the main street and headed towards the south edge of town. It wasn’t a big place, but it was big enough for people to maintain personal space. Unlike small places where everyone knew all your business, true or untrue.

  ‘I’m surprised you knew I even existed. Mum and Dad never talked about your family, even after that visit. Gee that was fifty years ago!’

  Patrick laughed, ‘Don’t remind me, I’m fifty years old and starting to feel it. Particularly when I have to chase down offenders. Mum and dad talked about you a lot, particularly after Aunt Susan died. One of mum’s favourite memories was walking into the room when you visited them and seeing you talking to me. She felt that some sort of dream had been born that day, she used to say, “I saw it in his eyes”. They always felt sorry for your mother and you as a kid but were so proud of what you achieved. Dad kept track of what you were doing and how you were getting on. We’re nearly there, my wife has a cooked up a storm in your honour’

  ‘Honour,’ David almost sneered, ‘I’m no one to be honoured. I’m just a homeless bum.’

  ‘Not anymore’, Patrick returned. ‘We have a granny flat that Jo’s mother used until she died two years ago, and Jo insists that you use it. She asked the Lord about renting out after her mother died and she was certain that He said “No, your family will need it on Tuesday”. She told me that she had that thought three times that day. It was a puzzle to her as she has no family left. She was an only child like me. But, for the last two years she has vacuumed and made up the bed every Tuesday morning just in case. Every Wednesday she stripped the bed and put the sheets back in the cupboard. So today when I came home and told her that I had checked you out and that you were my cousin, she said that she’d finally had her answer.’

  Wow, I’ve been homeless for two years. God had a home prepared for me and I didn’t even know it.

  ‘Wow, that’s obedience in the extreme,’ he said out loud.

  ‘Well, she did say when I told her that I had found you that she nearly didn’t do it this morning. Then she remembered the Bible story of the ten virgins and how five were prepared and five weren’t. So, the flat is freshly vacuumed, and the bed is ready for you,’ Patrick said as he pulled into the driveway of a well-maintained modest house. It was a white weather board home, with green trims, two leadlight panels either side of a matching door made for a very pretty entrance, giving the house what most people would have called a calm, neat curb appeal. They both got out of the car, David looked at Patrick across the roof.

  ‘You got kids?’ David asked, his voice sounding harsher than he meant.

  ‘Nope, it just wasn’t meant to be. It was hard on Jo, but she eventually found other things to fill in the emptiness. She cared for her mother for nearly ten years and found that easier without having to juggle children as well. God knew what we didn’t.’ They walked into the house, Patrick stepping to one side to allow David to move through the entrance way in front of him calling out as he did so.

  ‘Jo, we’re home.’

  The lady that came into view, was short and plump, but her face lit up with the most beautiful smile.

  ‘Welcome, David, it is so nice to finally meet you. Come on through and I’ll show you your new home.’ She turned and walked back the way she had come. David didn’t move until Patrick gently prodded his back, nodding when David looked back at him. He followed Jo, as she walked into the kitchen, she turned right towards a door. The smells of a roast dinner assailed his senses. Oh, how long has it been since he had a proper cooked meal. Beth hadn’t been able to cook once she got sick and his efforts never managed to match her cooking. Tears came to his eyes. Jo had stopped, her hand on the handle.

  ‘David, are you alright’ she asked, concern written all over her face. He nodded and she opened the door. ‘This is your new abode’ she said leading the way through a laundry. ‘We share the laundry. You can do your own, I’ll show you how to work the machine later.’ She wasn’t going to pamper him, by the sounds of it. Beth had been one to spoil him up until she had returned to work after Ben had taken everything from them. Even then she had done more than her fair share of the housework, he realised, adding another blot to his already long list of crimes. Jo had moved into a small sitting room with a kitchenette along one wall. It was a beautifully laid out room, with carpet, a couch, and a small table. David stopped.