Monday dawned bright as yesterday, but because the snow was mostly gone, the light streaming into the house was not as bright as yesterday morning. Pete was helping Izzy cook up a batch of eggs. Pa liked his poached, so that is how we all got them.
The lid from the stew pot made a tight seal when it was on the skillet. Steam billowed from the two “ears” on the cast iron skillet. The outside of the skillet was long black with burned grease. The inside was well seasoned with many bouts with melting butter. The eggs were sizzling in butter below and being steamed with hot water above. Soon, the eggs were just like Pa liked them. Izzy lifted the lid and cut the whites apart with the spatula and served up two eggs each. Pete retrieved ten slices of toast from the rack over the fire and we all had coffee to drink. Honey sweetened my toast. Pete took a turn at the honey, also. The whole breakfast passed without a word except those exchanged by the two cooks needed for planning and logistics.
Pa pushed his dishes aside and made a copy of the plain text code. “This is what we will give the sheriff,” Pa announced. “And this.” He held up my gum wrapper key. “We will say we are certain this is a good translation because of the key, but are unsure of how to untangle the letters further. We will admit we got a clue, but the message would have to be in three languages in just a few words and we thought that was unlikely since the coder was a criminal type. If they ask for that message, we will provide it without pronouncing it for them. Basically, let me do the talking. That should give us a couple of days before they catch up with what we know.”
“I also have letters for the insurance companies. Let’s go see Mrs Corrigan.”
The battery of the REO gave out in the cold of the night, so I was hand cranking the engine. It took four pulls to get it going and a lot of warming up before it ran smoothly. We unloaded in front of Mrs. Corrigan’s and knocked on the door. Kevin opened the door for us and said his mother was still getting dressed. He led us to the post office. Pa asked, “Have you still got that board full of wanted posters?”
Kevin said he would get it. He returned with a ring board with each poster trapped on two rings. The rings let you page through the posters like a fat book.
Pa searched for a few minutes, then he announced he found it. The picture of Baby Face Nelson was our man Lester from Bokoshe. The paper behind the Nelson poster was a reward for Lester Gillis, again his face matched our man in Bokoshe. $2500 for information leading to arrest. $5000 for capture of Lester Gillis. Aka George (Baby Face) Nelson.
Pa whistled. “Ike, it looks like you already earned a reward. I would say yesterday counted as a ‘capture.’ We will be going back to Bokoshe to see if the police will help us collect this reward.”
“What’s A K A?” asked Sam
“Also Known As…” Pa explained. “I reckon our Lester wasn’t lying about his name.”
Mrs. Corrigan joined us. Sam filled her in on the big doings in Bokoshe the previous day. “Ike’s a hero.” Sam gushed.
I gave the appropriate “shucks” and “t’weren’t nothin’” to finish the story. “I couldn’t have done it without Pa and Sam there to help me.” I truthfully added.
“You are a brave bunch; that is for sure.” Mrs. Corrigan said.
Pa said, “If you don’t mind Maggie, we need your car through tomorrow for the funeral, if that suits you OK? We were just going into Hackett to visit Letha and see the sheriff.”
“You’re welcome to the auto as long as you need it,” Mrs. Corrigan said. “I would be honored to ride with you to the funeral tomorrow.”
“We can make two trips, no problem.” Pa said. “One of us will be by to pick you up at 9:00 in the morning, Maggie. Thank you for all your help. By the way, can we post these here?” Pa held out the two letters to the insurance companies.
Mrs. Corrigan took the mail and smiled. “Sure Zack. That’s what a post office is for. The truck comes by today. The letters should be in Chicago tomorrow if the roads are clear. Be a dear and set out the flag on the sign for the truck as you leave.”
Again, the old car had to be hand cranked. Pa offered to spin the engine for me. I declined and the car started on the second crank. Mrs. Corrigan and Kevin came out on the porch to see us off. Pa gave a little wave. Izzy waved enough for everyone else. We stopped at the road and Pa set the red flag on the post office sign before we headed off to Hackett. We took the overland route via the meadow to shave 10 road miles off the trip. We were in Hackett in less than 15 minutes.
At the undertakers, the man said if we could wait a moment, Mom would be ready to view. I hated that word, “view.” I wanted to talk to Mom and tell her all that had happened. But, all we could do was “view” her.
Mom looked very pretty, and if you tried not to see the casket, she kinda looked like she was in a picture frame. They had sprayed flowered perfume all around. There were some flowers in the room with her that people had brought. There was a book to sign for each person who came to see her. “William and Merica Neighbors” was the last entry in the book before ours.
“Uncle Bill and Aunt Merica are in town.” I said. It had been more than 10 years since I had seen them last. They had never seen Izzy at all. I guess one good thing would come from Mom’s funeral was getting to see some of our relatives. “Can we see them before we go back home?” I asked.
“Meb-be,” was all Pa would commit. Then, “We have a lot of business in town first, and it has to be OK with them also.” Pa added. “I’ll tell you what, Ike and Sam, run over to the hotel and see if they are there. Check with them and see if lunch would be alright. We will meet them at the hotel dining room if it is OK with them. We will meet you at the sheriff’s after that.”
What a relief. The funeral parlor was more than I wanted to bear today. I was glad of an excuse to get out of there. Sam and I ran to the hotel.
“Is William Neighbors here?” I asked the room clerk.
“Neighbors - - Neighbors,” the clerk ran his finger down the register. This clerk was new to me and was dressed too fancy for his job. He was making such a big deal out of checking the register. Ha, what a laugh! Was it like this hotel had hundreds of people checking in? “Yep, they checked in last night. Room 203.” The clerk turned to check the cubby with that number. There were no letters and the key was gone. “Looks like they are upstairs.” The clerk told us. “Would you just like to go up to check?” he asked us.
“Yes, that’ll be fine. C’mon, Sam. Let’s see if Uncle Bill is in.”
I rapped twice and heard Aunt Merica’s song like voice.
“Just a moment,” she sang.
Bill and Mom were the brother and sister. But, whenever Merica and Mom saw each other, it was like they were blood.
Aunt Merica opened the door while still buttoning the top button of her dress. “Ike and Sam! It is Sammy, isn’t it? I would know you anywhere Ike, but Sammy was just a baby when I saw him.”
“He is still ‘just a baby’ Auntie. How are you?” I asked while she hugged each of us then both of us. Sam shot me the stink eye since I made the little joke at his expense.
“Come in. Come in. I was heart sick when I heard about your dear mother. What a horrid turn of events. Come in! Your uncle is out scouting the town. How is your father holding up? I can’t wait to see little Izzy. I bet he is mostly grown-up. What are you two doing in school? Where is Hill Oklahoma, anyway? We looked, but could not find it on a map. This seems an excellent little town. Is there much to do here?” the words came at us like a machine gun. Aunt Merica is a sweetie, but her battery never runs down.
“We can answer all your questions at lunch. All of us are in town to check on Mom’s funeral and filling out some legal paper work. If you and Uncle Bill will be available, we will meet you at lunch downstairs at noon. Is that agreeable with you folks?”
“Just try to keep me away.” she sang happily. “I can’t wait to catch up everything going on at your house. I’ll make sure Bill is there. He should be back already.”
“I’ll look forward to it, Auntie. And, I will bring the whole family of babies for you to play with.” I tousled Sam’s hair while I said the last. He slugged my arm and renewed the evil eye.
We ran off to the sheriff’s office. “Remember, Sammy; let Pa do the talking at the sheriff’s.”
“What choice do I have? I can’t get a word in anywhere in this family anyway.” He slugged my other arm.
“Ouch,” I squawked. “You are cranking the car from now on.”
Pa and Pete and Izzy were just coming out of the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Braxton was with them.
Pa said, “Here they are now. Sheriff, did you need to ask Ike anything?”
Just wanted to say, ‘hello’ and congratulate the lad on the fine catch in Bokoshe. Your father was telling me there might be a reward for that one!”
“Meb-be. I don’t know. It depends on those men in Bokoshe. I know you would do the right thing, Sheriff. I just don’t know any of ‘em to know what they will do.” “The sheriff thinks we should go through Mr. Wells, the lawyer, to claim the reward. He says the lawyers know all the ins-and-outs for collecting such and know the right way to ask. I thought we would at least stop in and ask how much it would cost,” Pa said.
“OK,” I said. “Do you need anything else on the code, Sheriff?”
“No, Nope, Your Pa gave us the pictures and the gum wrapper and your translation. Looks like its back in Fort Smith’s court to decide what else to do. I will have word to them this afternoon if I can get them on the phone. Thanks for that help, too.”
“Ike, it sounds like you have a cool head handlin’ a gun and handlin’ bad people with a gun. If you ever need a job, I think you can find one right here. It’s a pretty rare man that can handle what you did.”
“Couldn’t have done it without Sammy and Pa. But, thanks, Sheriff. That’s mighty nice of you to say. I’ll be finished with high school in May. Maybe I will see you when crops are in. Can I carry a shot gun?” I asked him.
“Heh-heh, Don’t you worry, Ike. We will give you time on the target range and then you can pick which weapon you want to carry.” Sheriff Braxton answered.
We bid the sheriff a good day and the five of us headed over to Lawyer Well’s office. “I thought you didn’t like lawyers, Pa. We can write a few letters.”
“I never had a lawyer try to get us money before. Usually, when they cross my path, they want money from me. But, it might be handy for someone who knows what hoops to jump through and where those hoops are located.”
The meeting with the lawyer was cordial and he said he thought he could do us some good. What is more, he said it would cost nothing if he failed to get the reward money and he would charge us 25% if he did recover the reward or some part of it. We all agreed, it was fair since he only got paid if he got us some money.
We went to lunch with our relatives feeling much better about our chances of keeping the farm.
Aunt Merica was holding forth telling about the latest scandals in Stillwater Oklahoma. My little adventure yesterday did not cut much mustard compared to the Mayor’s daughter being in a family way with no family in sight. Mom would have loved the talk. She always said being in a house full of men was like being alone. Frankly, I didn’t see the point. Nobody at the table knew the girl and Izzy was a little confused about which family way she was in. Pa, let out an uncovered yawn, just as the sheriff came in.
“Well, I am glad y’all are still here. I was just notified by telegram that fellow you captured yesterday is loose again. A deputy was taking him to Fort Smith to the jail there. Apparently, the prisoner got hold of the steering wheel and rolled the truck down a ravine. The deputy is dead. The prisoner was ironed hand and foot, but he has had time to remedy that by now. I called Bokoshe to get the particulars. The police in Bokoshe said Les Gillis is pretty put out at you boys for capturing him. By the way, they think he is Baby Face Nelson just using the name Lester Gillis. He will probably be someone else today.”
Pa said, “He has bigger fish to fry. He was in Bokoshe lookin’ for his twice stolen money. He will probably keep lookin’ for it. I know there is none of it here or near our cabin.”
“Yeah,” agreed the sheriff, “But, he knows you were lookin’ for it too. He might be interested in what you know. I said what I need to say. Just be careful. Check over your shoulder from time to time. Let me know if you see or hear anything.”
“Hopefully, we can get Letha in the ground without a problem,” Pa said.
“Ike, we are going to buy Mrs. Corrigan a new battery for her REO.” Pa dug the little roll of bills out of his front pocket. “I don’t want us hand cranking the auto if we need to move out fast. Take the auto down to Smitty’s and see if he has a battery that’ll work. Get credit if you can. We will meet you here if it doesn’t take too long, or we will come down there if we are finished talking.”
I excused myself and went on my errand. I was glad my days as a human starter were almost over. I walked with the sheriff to his office where the car was parked. “Do you really think Baby Face will come here,” I asked.
“Depends,” said the sheriff. “Does he know where the money is without you? If not, he will come looking for you. I don’t think it will be too soon though. He won’t come until he has an automobile and weapons. That’s the way he works. If he is alone in this enterprise, it’ll take longer. If he has help, it’ll be sooner.”
“Thanks, Sheriff. That makes a lot of sense.”
“You got that shot-gun with you, Ike?”
“Yeah, it’s under the backseat. I thought you said he would be coming later.”
“If he is alone, it’ll be later. That’s what I said. He was locked in the back of prisoner transport truck. I don’t see how he could have got out if he was alone. He might have help. Just so you know… This information is not for wide distribution, so keep it under your hat, Ike. Just keep that big ole shotgun handy.”
Heeding the sheriff’s advice, I moved the shotgun to a place I could reach it by reaching back over the front seat from the driver’s position.
I checked the battery of the REO. It actually started the car. I headed down to Smitty’s. Smitty didn’t have the exact battery, but had one that would fit the battery box. He drilled a hole in the bottom of the box to let out some trapped water. He said ice around a battery was a killer because it squeezes the battery case and shorts the plates inside. “Even a new battery will succumb to that problem. “Make sure that hole don’t plug up and it’ll last you a good long time.” Smitty insisted on cash because it wasn’t our car and he didn’t know Mrs. Corrigan. I grumbled about the $6.50 price tag. Smitty took a dollar off because the old battery was a trade-in. I thanked him for that.
The starter button spun the engine much faster. It fired right up. I was relieved.
Pa and my brothers were coming down the street when I finished up. Pa was surprised to see the shotgun out from under the seat. I explained everything that transpired between Sheriff Braxton and me. “Well, it didn’t look to me like Baby Face had a chance to read our address off that post card. Even if he did, it’s pretty hard to find Hill Oklahoma even when you’re standing in the middle of it.” We all chuckled at our make-believe town.
“Why is he called ‘Baby Face?’” asked Izzy
Pa said, “He does have something smallish about his chin. He doesn’t exactly look like a baby’s face, but he looks childish in his small frame and short face.”
“Does he like the name?” Izzy asked.
“I don’t know,” said Pa. “I hope I am never close enough again to ask him.”
For the first time in several days, we arrived home while it was bright enough to tackle some chores. Pa said, “Put the auto behind the house so it is not visible from the road. Sam and Pete, check if Mrs. Corrigan would mind if we took down her post office sign and just put it up the day the postal truck is coming by. Hill Oklahoma might as well be invisible for a couple of weeks while all this sorts itself out.”
Every car and truck that drove by that afternoon was scrutinized by all the residents of Hill, Oklahoma. The post office sign was in the ditch by the county road in front of the Corrigan’s. It was hard to see unless you stood right on top of it.
Mrs. Corrigan had made us a big casserole. She sent it home with Sam and Pete. Pete joked that the conquering hunters had brought supper home again. “I hope you told Mrs. Corrigan thank you.” Pa admonished.
“Yes, sir. We did,” Sam said.
Sue was grateful for the much needed cleaning her stall received. Fresh straw was spread over the cold ground. The barn was straightened and the house was put to rights. The back door, rarely used, was opened and the path cleared out the back to where the REO was parked. The hinges received oil to reduce squeaks front and back before the house was buttoned up for the night
It would be a peaceful sleep tonight. But, both Pa and I kept one eye open and our ears cocked for strange sounds. The shotgun was handy leaning against the front door jamb.