“So you think that the ‘fresh set of eyes’ needs to actually visit the plant to come up with something new in this case?” Mr. Liu replied.
“Yes, I do. Jason and Daniel, would you be willing to go visit the DCC Chip Company plant?”
“If we are going to visit, how would we be able to ask a lot of questions of various DCC employees without arousing a lot of suspicion?” Daniel asked.
“I have an idea!” Jason exclaimed. “What if we visit the plant as a student reporter and photographer from the Merriam High School newspaper? You could announce that we are doing a special feature on local high tech careers. Then it would seem natural for us to be touring all through the plant, talking to all kinds of different people working there, and snooping around in general.”
“That seems like a perfect cover,” Richard said enthusiastically. “What do you say, Dad? Can you arrange VIP treatment for a couple of high school journalists?”
“Again you kids have come up with a good idea! I don’t see any problem with it. I will set it up for you next week. When would you like to visit the plant?”
“How about a week from Monday during our spring break week. We are free that day but going out of town on Tuesday,” Jason answered.
“All right, boys. I will set the tour up for a week from Monday. Why don’t you come at 9:30 in the morning? Thank you so much for agreeing to help me and our company.”
“Like we told Richard, Mr. Liu,” Daniel replied. “We are honored to be of assistance to you and your family. Richard is a good friend of ours and a worthy opponent on the basketball court!”
Mr. Liu beamed with pleasure at the compliment. “Richard, why don’t you show your friends to the door. And if you would like, you can go out and do something with them this evening.”
After Mr. Liu left the room, Richard said, “Wow, you guys should be diplomats or something. You certainly made Dad feel a lot better! And he even let me out for the evening! Let’s go get some ice cream or something. It’s on me!”
After the boys put their shoes back on, they decided to bike over to the ice cream store at a nearby strip mall. It was only a couple of blocks away, so even though it was getting dark, it was still possible to bike there. It was a pleasant clear evening, and the boys took their ice cream orders outside to eat.
“Thanks again for being so willing to help me and Dad out,” Richard said. “I sure hope that you guys will be able to discover something!”
“Oh, I am sure that we will be able to figure out a few things. If we put our minds to it and go over everything a number of times, we should discover something!” Jason said.
“I think we will end up getting to know the DCC Chip Company inside and out!” Daniel said in a half joking manner. “Before we are done we will check out all of its nooks and crannies.” Little did Daniel know how prophetic his words would turn out to be.
Chapter 4
The Wilkinson Family Meltdown
(Earlier in the Year)
Timothy Wilkinson was not having a good day. At school he had been given a referral to the office for being disruptive and rude in his English class. This was most likely going to result in at least a Saturday school session for Tim. Prior to that, his stepfather had told him that he was going to be grounded for the weekend for talking back to him and Tim’s mother, not doing any of his chores, and saying mean things to his sister, Grace.
On the surface, one would think that Tim had a lot going for him. He was of average height, had a big shock of dark black hair, hazel eyes, a slight ski slope nose, and a winning smile when he decided to use it. Tim was the same age as Jason and had a similar slender, athletic build. He had exhibited a number of talents in the past. Tim had a lot of motor energy that often was expressed in nervous tapping with his hands and feet. He had a lot of skill in the arts. He was a talented drummer and percussionist. He had played in school ensembles for a number of years, but lately had become less interested in being just a part of a large group. He wanted to branch out into his own music, so he ended up quitting the band when he got into high school. He also was a very talented actor, and had excelled in leading roles in a couple of school plays, again when he was younger. But actors must take direction to succeed, and as he got older, Tim’s desire for independence and doing his own thing again led him away from organized activities. These same mannerisms were exhibiting themselves in Tim’s home life. As he moved into his teenaged years, he became more and more rebellious against his parents’ authority, and a constant thorn in their side due to his contentious behavior at home and at school.
The entire last year was one disaster after another for the Wilkinson family, at least the one the Tim had grown up with. His mother and father had gone through a very messy and mean-spirited divorce. Tim’s father Jeff was a building contractor, constructing and remodeling single family houses in the Silicon Valley. During the real estate boom times, he had been highly successful, bringing in quite a lot of money. Unfortunately, Jeff started to fool around romantically with one of his clients, and eventually Tim’s mother, Shirley, found out about it. Jeff was also drinking heavily, and the arguments that Jeff and Shirley started having were heated, mean, and quite disturbing to the children. Shirley worked full time as a claims adjuster in a local insurance company. At work, she had met another man, Frederick Dawson. After all of the problems with Jeffrey began to emerge, she began seeing Frederick on dates, and began to build a relationship with him.
After about six months of steady arguing, Shirley decided that she couldn’t take it any more, and filed for divorce from Jeffrey. Although there was some fault on both sides, Shirley retained an experienced attorney, and instructed him to go for everything: their property, assets and custody of the two children. Instead of fighting back, or at least looking out for his own interests and his relationships with his children, Jeffrey continued his downward slide of drinking, ignoring his family, and having a series of affairs with other women who were just interested in partying. Things only got worse when Jeffrey realized that Shirley was becoming serious about Frederick, and that she was planning to marry him and completely shut Jeff out of her life.
When the divorce went to court, Shirley’s attorney was able to get almost everything that Shirley wanted in the settlement. She was able to keep the family house, was granted custody of the children, and a good portion of their assets. In addition, Jeffrey had to pay child support until both children were eighteen. Jeffrey didn’t take the settlement very well at all. It fueled the anger burning up inside him even more. A lot of this anger was taken out on Timothy and Grace. Although Jeffrey had been granted regular visitation rights with his children, he made the mistake of associating his son and daughter with the divorce settlement. Instead of trying to exercise his parental responsibilities with his children, and help them get through the trauma of the divorce and breakup of their family, he ended pretty much shutting them out of his life. This estrangement was difficult on Grace, but at least she had her mother to lean on. The effect on Timothy was devastating. The loss of his natural father in his life was very hurtful to him. Then his mother married Frederick Dawson and he became Tim’s new stepfather. Tim did not get along very well with Frederick Dawson. From the moment they met, they seemed to have a natural dislike for each other.
The rage and anger inside Timothy continued to build, and his method of dealing with it was to take it out on the school and his family at home. His circle of friends changed dramatically also. The only people at school he felt any kinship or sympathy with were other students like himself, who were estranged from their families, and wanting to rebel against their parents and authority in general. Timothy started to use drugs, and drink when he could get a hold of some beer or other alcohol. His downward spiral was becoming a whirlwind.
Now Timothy was waiting for the Vice Principal for Discipline at Merriam High School, a gentleman whom he had gotten to know quite well in the past several months. “What is it now, Timothy? When are you goi
ng to learn how to control your temper and your mouth? No student on our campus is permitted to show such disrespect for our teaching staff. Mrs. Moretti is a fine teacher, one of our best. She certainly deserves better treatment than what you have been giving her.”
“It’s not just Mrs. Moretti. It’s this whole school system and its stupid rules and regulations! I really don’t need to be treated like a caged animal!”
“Well I hardly think that your English teacher is an animal trainer, with a chair and a whip. Although that might be what she needs to keep you in line! What is the matter with you, Timothy? No student has the right to disrupt the learning of the other students at our school. If you can’t show respect for Mrs. Moretti, at least show some respect for your fellow students!”
“Can’t you see that I just don’t want to be here in school anymore! I don’t feel that it offers me anything important to my life!”
“Those are pretty mean words for someone who doesn’t even have a driver’s license yet! How do you expect to survive in our society without basic skills and education? But I definitely think that you need some time out to decide what you are going to do with your life. Your behavior and attitude are unacceptable. I am going to suspend you from school for three days. I am going to call your parents right now and have them pick you up. I am going to tell them exactly what you said to me. Over the next three days you need to have a very serious talk and reflection about your future, Timothy. If you are going to continue to be a student here at Merriam High School you need to have a major attitude adjustment!”
Shirley was in an important meeting with the company executives when the school called for her to pick up Timothy so he could begin his three day suspension. So Frederick had to drive over to the high school to pick him up. Frederick was already angry for having to leave work to get Timothy, and when he heard what the reason for the suspension was, he was furious. As soon as the two got in his car to drive home, he began berating Timothy for his bad behavior, his rudeness to people, and his disrespect of authority. Tim answered back with heated anger and by the time they reached their house, the two were almost ready to punch each other out.
Timothy was sent to his room for the rest of the day, and that night Shirley, Timothy, and Frederick had a heated discussion about his future.
“What is the matter with you?” Shirley asked Timothy. “When are you going to start making something of your life, instead of alienating and angering everyone you come into contact with!”
“Nobody cares about me. You two are so busy making your new life, you could care less about me! School is so boring and I have no interest in it any more. It’s not like I am learning anything important.”
“So what do you think that you are going to do in your life, without an education or any real skills?” Frederick replied. “Live off our family welfare or government assistance? Spend your life working in a fast food place because all you can do is flip burgers?”
“As if you would care one way or another what I end up doing! All I know is you don’t like me and I don’t like you. And yet you are sitting here acting like you are my father when you are not! Why don’t you just butt out of my life!”
“I am really tired of listening to you be disrespectful to Frederick and to me!” Shirley shouted back in an angry voice. “And also the way that you treat your sister, and act out at school! Who do you think you are going around and insulting everyone! You put down Frederick for trying to be a father. Where is your real father? I’ll tell you, probably drunk in some bar somewhere! And what about you, Timothy? Instead of developing your skills and talents, all you do is hang out with your loser friends, probably doing drugs and drinking. You keep up this kind of behavior and your future will be living in a cardboard box somewhere, all strung out and totally useless to society!”
“All I know is that I can’t wait to get out this place and go somewhere else! You don’t give a damn about me, and I am tired of pretending that we are a nice happy family when we are not!”
“That’s quite enough out of you, Timothy!” Shirley replied in a voice seething with anger. “If you want out of school, I’ll take you out. I think it’s time that you learned some real discipline and respect. Now go to your room and stay there! You are grounded day and night until further notice. You can just rot in your room until you are ready to be respectful to Frederick and myself!”
A very angry Timothy got up. He kicked at the coffee table causing some drinks to spill. Then he stormed off to his room and slammed the door really loudly. Soon there was the noise of loud heavy metal music coming out of his room.
Back in the living room, Frederick went over to Shirley and put his arm around her. “Are you okay, dear? That boy sure has a bad attitude and foul mouth! I know what he said had to be hurtful!”
Shirley was nearly in tears. “I’ve tried my best to raise a family, but I just don’t know what to do about Tim. He just seems bent on totally self-destructing! I feel that we have no control over him anymore! It’s embarrassing getting these constant calls and complaints about his behavior!”
“I really think that it is time for Timothy to go somewhere else. He is a time bomb waiting to explode here. He needs to go to a place where he can be broken down and learn some discipline and respect. He has developed such a bad attitude, there is no way that normal people like you and I can control him or even co-exist with him!”
“What can I do, Frederick? I can’t just abandon one of my children, even if he is a discipline problem.”
“What that kid needs is to go to one of those boot camps for troubled kids. You know, like the military basic training, but instead of going into the military, they have a whole program to change the kid’s attitude and behavior. I heard Bill Laughlin talking about a camp in the Sierras that has a program for teens. Why don’t we check it out for Timothy?”
The next day Frederick got the telephone number for the boot camp from Bill Laughlin, and by the next evening, Walter Gaither, a recruiter for the camp agreed to meet Frederick and Shirley at their home. Walter was very smooth and fast talking. He quickly explained how Camp Chinquapin worked. Students went through different levels of achievement and acceptance in the camp, and gradually their antagonism and opposition to authority was replaced with a desire for it, especially since the camp system promoted teens sent to the camp into positions of authority as they earned it in the training.
“Do all camp members end up accepting the discipline and stop their willful resistance?” Shirley asked.
“Oh yes, that is one of the hallmarks of Camp Chinquapin. We pride ourselves on our success in changing the attitudes of rebellious teenagers. In most cases, it takes about a year from when the teenager is admitted to the camp until he or she is ready to graduate. In some cases, it takes longer, but there are cases where it takes less time. It just depends on the individual.”
“What is your success rate with the teens that are sent to the camp?” Frederick asked.
“Our standard success rate is around 95%. Occasionally we get a very difficult case, but we are usually able to solve that case, also, if the parents agree to our Phase II discipline program.”
“What is the Phase II program?” Shirley asked.
“With Phase II, the parents give us complete authority and custody of their child for a period of one to two years. It is a longer and more rigorous training, and sometimes we send the teenager to several of our other training locations around the world. It is a phenomenal program with guaranteed results.”
“I don’t know about Timothy. He is so stubborn and willful lately. Will a program like this really work for someone like him?”
“I think you would be surprised to find out that most of the teens that come into our program are just as stubborn and willful as your son. By removing him entirely from an environment where he is able to control and manipulate the system through bad behavior, we are gradually able to make him rethink his entire life and lifestyle.”
“You
are describing an environment with a lot of restrictions and discipline. What about Timothy’s emotional needs?”
“The head of our camp, Roland Thomason, is a trained psychologist who has specialized in the study of adolescent behavior. He is a strong advocate for tough love and retriggering our camp members’ sense of duty and honor. Gradually they earn their way back into normal society by learning and practicing correct behaviors. The camp stresses team building and learning to think of others before you think of yourself. It is a tough road to travel for our teenagers, but they must make the journey!”
“It sounds like a good program, but I fear that Timothy will not go easily into your program and will fight you a lot of time! Will we be able to monitor his progress?”
“Yes, of course. But in the first months of the camp training, we discourage direct involvement until the teenager has begun to fit into our system. We do encourage them to write to you on a regular basis, so that they don’t lose all contact with their natural families.”
“Shirley, maybe you should give the camp Phase II authority, since you know what a handful Timothy has become.”
“I am so confused as to what to do, Frederick. I feel like I am giving up my responsibilities as his mother!”
“You know that you are going to have to do something, Shirley! We cannot continue to live this way much longer. Think of what Tim’s behavior is doing to Grace!”
“It seems like such a drastic step to take!”
“Sometimes drastic times require drastic measures!”
“How do you bring Timothy into Camp Chinquapin?” Shirley asked Walter Gaither.
“The intervention we make is very much like a reprogramming. Most likely Timothy will resist us when we come to take him away. If you do commit him to our program, we ask that you do not tell him that you are doing this. Otherwise, he may attempt to run away or binge on drugs or alcohol, or do something that may hurt himself or others,” Gaither replied.
When The Chips Are Down Page 3