Chapter 23
Wednesday morning arrived, and so many people in Gibsland were on their way to their jobs.
Back at the Randall home, James was dressed in his mall security uniform and had his breakfast of French toast and coffee.
He walked out of this front door and headed to his Impala in the driveway.
While he walked over to his car, James eyed Bernard's home. He thought about his little meeting with Bernard last night and could not shake off that feeling the old man looked familiar.
He got behind the wheel of his car, started it up, then backed down the driveway. He paused while he looked to his right, which was his regular drive to work. But not this morning, as he changed his mind and made a left turn and headed down Montvale in the opposite direction.
This path allowed James to glance at Bernard's home when he passed by it. He started up his new obsession – his new neighbor.
The morning continued, and James and Cindy were at their jobs.
Back at Bernard's home, he opened his garage door.
He got inside and started up his Hudson, then drove it out to the driveway, got out and closed the garaged door.
He hopped back inside his car and drove down the driveway, then made a right turn and headed down Montvale Street.
Bernard spent the next hour, driving around Gibsland to get a feel for its layout.
He eventually drove his car down Crestmont Avenue.
He pulled his car into the parking lot of the First National Bank. He parked, got out of his car, and went to the entrance of the bank.
Bernard walked into the bank and stood by the doors while he looked around at the tellers and customers.
He looked around the walls and saw two surveillance security cameras tucked up in two corners.
Bernard's bad tooth acted up and shot some excruciating pain in his right jaw.
He turned around and went out the door.
None of the tellers or customers noticed Bernard while they went about with their banking business.
Bernard was still in pain while he headed back to his in the parking lot.
A little while later, Bernard finally found Dr. Spangler's Dentist Office off Oakhill Avenue. He pulled into the parking lot and parked his Hudson.
Bernard entered the dentist office and walked up to the front counter where Kathy the receptionist worked taking care of the customers and callers.
"May I help you?" Kathy asked in a pleasant tone and followed with her typical warm smile.
"Yeah, I'm not a customer, but I have a bad tooth that is killing me in my lower right jaw. I need it pulled and need it pulled now. My neighbor Cindy," he replied, then forgot Cindy's last name. "Ah, Cindy."
"You mean Cindy Randall."
"Yeah, that's her."
Kathy looked at the appointment book. "I could get you in to see Dr. Spangler in an hour."
"Okay. Can I pay with cash? I don't have any medical insurance," he said and cringed in a little pain.
"Yes, sir."
"I'll survive an hour of pain."
"What's your name?"
"Bernard Sanders."
Kathy wrote down his name in the appointment book. "Please have a seat over in the waiting area."
Bernard nodded that he understood and walked over to the seats.
Over in the Gibsland Mall, James walked around Steve's Science Shop in the upper concourse. He often walked around the stores to show any potential shoplifters his presence so they might think otherwise about stealing any merchandise.
He stopped midway down an aisle.
He saw a Fingerprinting Kit located on the bottom of one of the shelves. He picked up the box and checked it out then placed it back on the shelf.
James continued to walk around the store and checked out the various neat items and customers.
An hour had passed, and Cindy walked into one of the operatory rooms where Bernard relaxed in the chair.
"Hello, Mister Sanders. I'm glad you took my advice and came to see Doctor Spangler," she said while she walked over to Bernard's left side.
Bernard gave her a forced smile to play it politely.
Doctor Spangler entered the room and walked over to Bernard's right side.
"Hello, Mister Sanders. I'm Doctor Spangler. So, I hear you have a tooth giving you some pain?" he said while he sat down in his chair
Bernard nodded in agreement.
Cindy sat down in her chair.
"Open wide," Dr. Spangler said after Cindy handed him mouth mirror and probe.
Bernard opened his mouth, and Dr. Spangler started checking out Bernard's mouth with the mouth mirror and probe.
After a few painful probes, Dr. Spangler removed the tools from Bernard's mouth. "Your tooth is abscessed and needs to be pulled. Let me get you numbed up with some novocaine."
"I don't want that stuff. Pull it without it," Bernard said and looked serious.
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure as it keeps me tough. Back in the day, I would pull my own when I couldn't afford a dentist."
Dr. Spangler looked over at Cindy, who rolled her eyes, thinking that was stupid.
"If you insist," Dr. Spangler said.
"I insist."
Dr. Spangler nodded at Cindy. She grabbed the forceps off a tray behind Bernard's head and handed them to him.
Dr. Spangler placed the forceps inside Bernard's mouth and started pulling on the bad tooth.
Bernard cringed in pain, but he looked like he started to enjoy it.
Cindy cringed in sympathy pain.
Bernard did not make a whimper while Dr. Spangler finished extracting the bad tooth out of its socket.
Cindy shoved cotton wads into Bernard's mouth to soak up the blood. While she performed that task, she noticed his teeth badly needed cleaning and saw two opened spots of missing teeth in the upper part of his mouth.
A little while later, Bernard was at the front desk and gave Kathy cash for the services rendered.
"Thank you, Mister Sanders," Kathy said while she handed him a receipt.
Bernard just stared at her with his hard look then walked off to the door.
Kathy shrugged off his rudeness then answered the phone when it started ringing.
James walked into the Ton of Books store in the upper concourse.
He headed straight to the Crime section.
He scanned all the books on the right side of the aisle. Nothing interested him, so he started checking out all the books on the right side of the aisle.
Then one book caught his attention on the shelf where he picked out that book the other day. He reached out and grabbed it and checked out the cover. "How did I miss this one?"
This new book was titled "Life and Times of Henry "Hud" Hudson" by Frank Perron, and it was a new release that was placed on the shelves that morning.
James flipped through the pages of the book and saw it contains numerous pictures of Hud Hudson's life. But he got a strange feeling the second he saw a picture that was colorized.
James just had to have this book, so he walked away with the book in hand and headed off to the cashier.
Bernard relaxed at home at the rented kitchen table, smoking a Camel and drinking Jack Daniels whiskey.
His workday was over, and James drove his Impala down Montvale. Since Bernard moved in next door, James changed his route coming home, and no drove down the opposite end of Montvale. He did this change to provide the opportunity to do a little spying on Bernard's home.
He slowed down while he drove past Bernard's house. He glanced over his left shoulder for signs of activity in the old man's house. It was quiet.
James turned left into his driveway and parked next to Cindy's Monza.
James entered the kitchen, where Cindy worked on a tossed salad on the counter.
"Hey honey," James said while he walked over and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"How was your day?" she asked with a smile.
"Extremely boring. All the shoppers were well behaved."
Cindy saw the new book in James' right hand. "Buy another crime book?"
James glanced down at it. "I found a new one on Hud Hudson."
Cindy rolled her eyes. "Why have you become so fixated on that dead criminal all of a sudden?"
"I can't explain it. Maybe because he killed grandpa?"
"Whatever. Go wash up, dinner will be ready in a few minutes."
James walked out of the kitchen while Cindy carried the salad bowl into the dining room.
After a nice quiet dinner, James and Cindy retired to the living room to watch TV.
The sitcom show Eight Is Enough was now on the TV.
Cindy watched the show while James' was engrossed on the first chapter in his new book.
He put the book down then glanced over at Cindy. "This book states that Hud was shot during a bank robbery in November thirty-three. That Doctor Albert Harvey was later determined to be the one that removed bullets from the gang members. He's the same doctor that confessed, back in fifty-eight, to give Hud a nose job after he was supposedly killed," he said then went back to reading the book.
"That's nice dear," Cindy replied, but in reality, she did not hear his comment since she was too engrossed in the TV show.
Over at Bernard's home, he lay in bed smoking on a Camel in his white athletic tee shirt and white boxers. A round scar was visible on his upper right chest muscle, and a burn mark was visible on his right bicep muscle.
He listened to a transistor radio where the song Two Cigarettes In The Dark song by Bing Crosby played.
He started off at the opposite wall and pondered his plan with Gibsland while he smoked his Camel.
The night rolled on by, and James' lay in bed under the covers reading his new book.
Cindy walked out of their bathroom in her conservative nightgown.
While she walked to the bed, her eyes widen when she remembered something.
"I forgot to tell you something that happened today. Our neighbor Bernard Sanders came to the office," she said while she got under the covers.
James set his book down on his lap and was all ears.
"Doctor Spangler pulled a bad tooth out from his lower right side. But the strange part was that Bernard refused novocaine. He made the Doctor Spangler pull the tooth out without anything for the pain. He claimed it made him tougher. Then I saw where he had two other empty spaces in his mouth from the previous pulling. That man also needs to learn about dental hygiene or maybe a toothbrush," she said
James cringed in sympathy pain while he thought what it would be like to have a tooth pulled without anything for the pain. "Ouch!"
"That's not me. Fill me up with novocaine for any dental work that required drilling or pulling," Cindy said then she reached over and grabbed her Beauty book off the bedside table. She opened the page with the bookmark. She read where she left off.
James returned to reading his new book.
Thirty minutes passed, and James was on the last page of another chapter of his book.
His eyes widen when he read something of interest. "This book states that when fellow gang member, Jack Jenner was in the penitentiary, he told a fellow cellmate that Hud pulled out two bad teeth with a pair of pliers. Jack claimed that Hud felt it made him tougher, but also they got infected," James told Cindy.
She did not reply, so he looked over at her and noticed that she was sound asleep with her book resting on her bosom.
He yawned then placed his book on his bedside table. He reached over and turned off the lamp.
He closed his eyes and was soon fast asleep.
Hours had passed, and James had a dream.
In James dream, he was dressed in a black suit and wore a black Fedora hat. He raced a black 1930s Ford sedan down a small country road.
Then all of a sudden, James, still in his suit and hat," now peeked out behind a large tree. Behind him were four other police officers that hid behind other large trees.
They eyed a small white farmhouse across a grassy field.
"Okay Dan Dakota, it's me, the FBI. Come out with your hands up in the air," James yelled out from behind the tree.
"You'll never take me alive, G-Man," Dan Dakota yelled out from the farmhouse.
Then machine-gun fire from the farmhouse sprayed bullets into the trees by James and the other police officers.
The four police officers all ducked down for cover behind their large trees.
But not James, he showed no fear while he jumped out from behind his large tree. He all of a sudden had a Thompson sub-machine gun in his right and left hand
James fired his machine guns at the farmhouse. He looked like a hero from an action movie while he marched through the grassy field. His Thompson machine guns sprayed the farmhouse with bullets from his two machine guns.
James got halfway through the grassy field, still firing his machine guns. The sound of the return machine gunfire came from the farmhouse. Then hundreds of bullets penetrated James body.
Back in reality, James jumped up in a panic and immediately patted down his chest area for any signs of bloody holes. He was uninjured and then he realized he had a dream. He glanced over at Cindy, and she was sound asleep. He lay back down and closed his eyes.