Читать книгу The Homer King - Larry Fournier - Страница 6

CHAPTER TWO

Life-Changing Events

During the winter of 2017–2018, life for the three Duncan families was pretty much taken up with their daily routines of Blain and Kyle running the equipment dealership, while Jean and Terry were off to Salt Lake City for his chemo and radiation treatments on a regular basis. Their trips would last for several days at a time. Duncan Farm Equipment was also quieter during the winter months, but around February each year, activity would start to pick up as farmers would start to place their equipment orders or would start to schedule regular service appointments to ready their farm equipment for the coming growing season.

In early March of 2018, a fellow by the name of Jack Phillips came in and sat down in Blain’s office to discuss a major equipment order. Phillips worked as the farm manager at a large potato farm in Oakley, a few miles south of Burley. The company that owned the farm, SpudCo of Ontario, Oregon, had recently hired him to oversee the coming growing season operations from start to finish. Phillips wanted to trade in some of the farm’s older equipment and order some more modern, up-to-date potato-harvesting machinery. The order would include two tractors, a potato harvester, and a number of auxiliary sorting and conveying machines. Blain agreed to send Kyle out to the farm right away to evaluate and make a quote of trade-in prices for the used implements.

Three days later, Mr. Phillips was back in Blain’s office and the terms of the purchase were finalized. The net total after deducting the trade-ins came to just under $200,000, including the tax and delivery.

Jack leaned over the desk and, in low tones, said to Blain, “This is where you and I can make some side money real easily. You should jack up the price on the invoice to our head office by $40,000, and then split that overage equally between you and me.”

Blain leaned back and looked Phillips in the eye and said, “You must be kidding. We don’t do that sort of thing here at Duncan Equipment. That’s dishonest as well as fraudulent under the law.”

Phillips was silent for a moment or two, then put on his hat and, as he was exiting, said, “Sorry, we can’t do business with you—you know that you aren’t the only farm equipment company here,” and walked out.

Blain decided that his next move was to call the head honcho at SpudCo in Oregon, which he did. He never saw Jack Phillips again, and not long after, he heard through the grapevine that he had been replaced at the Oakley farm by another fellow.

In April, Alene found out that she was pregnant with their first child. This triggered lots of excitement and planning, and when she was far enough along for a sonogram, they learned that she was carrying a boy. Blain thought out loud, “Well, we are only twenty-five years away from the next owner/manager of Duncan Equipment taking over the business so that we can retire to San Diego!” The due date for the birth was mid-December. Christmas would not be the same for the family this year.

In September, Terry’s condition worsened. He had stopped taking the treatments in June because the side effects were so great, and tests showed that he was not getting any better. He entered the hospital in mid-October, and the diagnosis was that he only had a few weeks left. He decided to return home to pass his final days in mortality there, and on the third day of November, he moved on to the next life. Unfortunately, he would not live to see the new grandson born into the family the following month.

Terry’s last will and testament left the dealership in equal shares to Kyle and Blain. Their mother, Jean, had the family bank account, their home, and a large life insurance benefit, along with ownership of a commercial building that Terry had owned in downtown Burley, which was leased out to a furniture store. It had been the original location for Duncan Equipment, and Terry had retained ownership when they had moved to a new location. Fortunately, Jean would be comfortable financially for the rest of her life.

The dealership had experienced a good year in 2017, and Blain’s share of the profits almost equaled what he and Alene would have earned on their former employment if they had stayed in San Diego. Looking ahead, Blain had some good plans for expanding the farm equipment lines for the next farming season. Meanwhile, they had a baby coming in a few weeks.

Alene started to have labor pains in midafternoon of December 17. Blain immediately came home from work and drove her to Cassia Regional Hospital right there in Burley. This was a small local hospital that was part of the vast Intermountain Health Care network. The wait time began for Blain and lasted for over five hours into the early evening. Blain was joined by his mother during the waiting period, and they both were at Alene’s bedside for most of the time, other than taking a break for dinner.

When Alene was moved into the delivery room just prior to 8:00 p.m., Kyle and his wife, Katy, joined them, having left their children with Katy’s sister.

Ezra Russell Duncan was born at 9:15 p.m., and soon the family members were able to join the now weary Alene and her infant boy, who weighed six pounds ten ounces. A phone call was promptly made to Alene’s parents in California to announce their new grandson.

On their second visit with the pediatrician, he informed them that he had concerns about the baby’s neural tube, which is an element of the spinal cord. He recommended that little Ezra be taken to a specialist in Salt Lake City, whom he referred them to. The worried couple promptly made the appointment with the Spina Bifida Clinic in SLC, and the following Tuesday, they made the three-hour drive to the appointment. Further tests revealed that, indeed, there was evidence of spina bifida in the form known as meningocele. The extent of nerve damage was not yet known. Blain and Alene were assured that it may not mean serious symptoms or disabilities and that Ezra could have a pretty normal life. The advisory was that as time passes, further observations would reveal more about the symptoms and possible complications.

When Blain and Alene returned home, they asked that family and members of their church might pray for their little infant. Life had to move forward, but the Duncans now had a new burden to bear with an unknown future for their child. Tragedy and misfortune, however, would strike the family once more in the form of an unexpected phone call they received just over a year after the birth of their little boy, Ezra.

Blain’s cell phone rang as he and Alene were sound asleep one night in February 2019. He sleepily picked it up, removing the charging cord, and noted that it was 1:10 a.m.

“Hello,” he whispered.

“Blain, this is Jim Scott calling.” Jim was Alene’s father, and a late-night call like this left Blain wondering if there was some bad news that he was about to hear. “I don’t know how to tell you and Alene this, but Jason was in a terrible car accident tonight. He is in emergency care at the hospital in Chico.”

Jason was Alene’s only brother and was eight years her junior. He was currently enrolled as a sophomore at California State University in Chico, California. Jim said that he and his wife, Susan, would be heading to the hospital as soon as they could get ready. “We will let you know more later after we get there.”

By this time, Alene was awake, so Blain gave her the news, causing her to start crying in sorrow as she hugged her husband tightly.

“What else can possibly happen to us? We have this dark cloud hanging over us. We don’t deserve to have all this happening to us,” she lamented.

The news they received when Jim called the next day only made things darker and sadder. Apparently, there had been four students in the car—the driver and a girl in the front seat, and Jason and another girl in the back. They had missed a turn on a two-lane road at high speed, and the car hit a tree. The girl in the front seat was killed instantly, and the three others were taken to the hospital in Chico. Jason was in a coma, and the second girl had passed away during the night. They did not know how the driver was.

Gloom settled over the Duncan home over the next few days. Blain did not go into work the rest of the week, staying home to comfort Alene and help with the baby chores. Ten days after the terrible crash, the decision was made by the family to take Jason off life support, as there was no hope for his recovery. A funeral in Yuba City was arranged, and the details would follow. They were told that the driver in the crash would be the only survivor. He was facing charges by the county prosecutor. There was little solace in this news. Jason was gone, and whatever happened to the driver would not bring him back.

Leaving little Ezra with Kyle and Katy, Blain and Alene made the drive to northern California to attend the funeral. Alene’s parents and her younger sister, Pamela, along with other relatives and friends, packed the chapel for Jason’s memorial service, which was followed by his burial at a local cemetery. The couple returned to Burley the day after the funeral still saddened by the tragedy.

They had always known that trials were part of life, and they just needed to press onward as they dealt with the family losses over the past two years. Only their faith in the Lord, along with the support of their family and church friends, allowed them to keep functioning normally. Blain knew that he had to press on, keeping the business operating day-to-day while maintaining a cheerful countenance.