MORNING COFFEE

Now here is how these dawg’s minds works” said Jordon, “basically he wants to do anything you want him to. So you got to be able to communicate. We do it like this.”

Jordon was standing behind Buddy and called Buddy’s name. After a few long seconds Buddy turned to look at Jordon and Jordon immediately gave Buddy a bacon bit. Mr. Jordon had brought lots of bacon bits. Eventually Buddy looked away at Johnny. Jordon called Buddy’s name again and gave another bacon bit the instant that Buddy turned to look at him. It didn’t take long for Buddy to learn to look at Jordon immediately every time Jordon called his name.

“Now he knows his name, he knows I want him to look at me when I call his name, and that he will get rewarded for doing what I want him to do. And in addition he likes to spend time with me, so he likes training. At his age a dawg can take about ten minutes of training in a session, but a little bit everyday adds up fast” said Jordon.

“Wow, that’s really neat! How do you teach him to sit? He won’t sit when I tell him to” said Johnny.

“You get in front of him” said Jordon, “tell him to sit, then wait for him to do it. The second his butt hits the ground, he gets a treat. No sit, no treat. Eventually he will sit even though he does not know what ‘sit’ means. But he will learn fast. Sompen else you can do is hold the treat about six inches higher than his head and slowly move it over his head to his back. His head will follow back and sometimes he will sit without realizing it watching the treat. Try it, I expect Buddy to be sitting by tomorrow.”

Buddy, like Johnny, was a fast learner.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “…it was time for some clean up!”

After a month Johnny had gotten pretty good at pumping gas, cleaning windshields, and keeping Crenshaw’s Texaco ship shape. He had mastered the art of keeping all the customers feeling that they were being taken care of, even during busy times. Mr. Jenkins was good to him and allowed Johnny to bring Buddy to work with him. Buddy spent most of his time laying around, but would get excited when Johnny would call him to show off his tricks like retrieving a rag or the squeegee or a screwdriver. And Buddy knew the difference, he would run fetch whichever Johnny asked for!

Johnny decided it was time to ask for a favor. There was a work pit in the garage bay which would make it easy to work on the underside of a car, but Crenshaw’s Texaco hadn’t had a mechanic in ten years due to the depression.

“Mr. Jenkins, you have pit in the bay, but no mechanic using it. It is covered and is full of old trash. Can I use it to work on my car after hours”, asked Johnny hopefully?

“That pit hasn’t been used in years, but if you clean it up, sure you can use it” said Mr. Jenkins.

Mr. Jenkins really liked Johnny, he was a good employee, always on time, and always hustling. Gasoline sales had actually picked up some, probably because customers liked Johnny’s positive attitude and quick service.

That evening after work Johnny looked over the pit, it was time for some clean up!

Crenshaw came by a few days later like he normally did to make sure everything was going well. He was impressed by the cleanliness of his service station and knew Johnny was responsible. But the pit was cleaned out, and its concrete walls whitewashed. Crenshaw had never talked with Johnny any more than to just acknowledge him and say, “Hi”.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: "… I want the smoothest running T in Chester”.

Crenshaw walked over to Johnny, “What is the deal with the work pit?”

Johnny was a little intimidated by Crenshaw, but he spoke right up, “Well sir, Mr. Jenkins said I could use it after hours if I cleaned it up. I did all the work on it after hours.”

“So you are doing mechanical work on your car here after hours?” asked Crenshaw.

“Yes sir, I sure hope that’s Ok.” said Johnny.

“Ok with Jenkins, Ok with me”, said Crenshaw, “he is the one you have to make happy.”

Johnny got brave, “Mr. Crenshaw, I can do all the regular maintenance on a car, oil change, antifreeze, set the timing, adjust the carburetor, etc. And on a Model T I can troubleshoot, remove, and replace almost any part. Maybe you could go back to doing tune ups here with me as your mechanic, there are a lot more cars in town than there were years ago when you shut it down.”

Mr. Crenshaw looked at Johnny for a long time, thinking, and then said “Ok, here is what I will do. I will send a Model T over here that needs some work, you keep track of your time for everything you do, you get all the parts from my dealership, and you fix it up first class mechanically. Do it after hours, I will pay you when you are done. I want the smoothest running T in Chester.”

A customer pulled into the Crenshaw’s Texaco just as Johnny was closing up. He was driving an old Model T and it was coughing and sputtering, barely making it to the service station.


Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “sounds like something in the ignition. …"

“Need some help here” said the customer, “I’m passing through to Petersburg and Old Daisy just quit running right.”

“Sorry, we’re closing and we don’t do mechanical work anyway.” said Johnny.

“You got a bay right there.” said the customer.

“But no mechanic.” said Johnny.

“Come on now, I’m in sales, I have to get to Petersburg, surely someone can take a look at it.” said the customer.

“Ok” said Johnny, “sounds like something in the ignition. I’ll look at it, but I am not a mechanic.”

They pushed the car into the bay and Johnny thought about all the possibilities. The car had been running well and this ‘miss’ came on fast. A quick visual showed everything in place, but the wiring was old and looked very worn where it attached to the timing cover. He pulled gently on each of the wires and found one that was not connected. Repeated use of the ‘spark’ throttle had caused the wire to break at the terminal. Five minutes later he told the customer to fire it up. It started right up, but was running a little rough.

“Great, you got it!” exclaimed the customer.

“Running” said Johnny, “but awful rough.”

“Better than she was” exclaimed the customer excitedly!

“Give me another ten minutes” said Johnny.

Johnny removed the timer cover, it was full of oil and filings. He cleaned it carefully, cleaned and doublechecked all the connections including the broken one he had fixed earlier, and restarted the car.
“Unbelievable” exclaimed the customer, “better than new!”

“The customer asked, “Will a dollar cover it?”

“Ah, yes I guess” said Johnny, “I’ve never done any billing, I just pump gas and clean windshields.”

“Thanks so much” said the customer who got in and drove on in a car running better than it ever had.


Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “Wildest pick-up I ever had”

Tom,

This is the best story I have read in years. It reminds me of my youth reading the Saturday Evening Post and waiting weekly for the next installment issue. Your writing style is down home folksy and entertaining. I await the next installment with great anticipation.

Thank you for your efforts.

brasscarguy

Thank you for your kind comments. the story is fun to write as I have no idea where it is going! I have read your posts on another forum and have great respect for you as someone who really knows T’s.

And “Thank You” to the owner of this site for allowing me to post the story and giving me some guidance.

Comments are best posted on the following thread in order to keep this thread dedicated to the story:
https://modeltfordfix.discoursehosting.net/t/morning-coffee-questions-suggestions-comments-etc/305/1

The next morning Johnny explained to Mr. Jenkins what had happened the evening before.

“I didn’t know what to do” said Johnny, “the customer’s car was broken down and I thought I could fix it, but I didn’t want to without your permission.”

“You did the right thing” said Mr. Jenkins, “we’ll split the dollar.”

That afternoon a wrecker arrived with a beat up T that Crenshaw sent over.

“You the one gonna fix up this piece of junk” the driver asked Johnny?

“She’s a real beauty” said Johnny, “look at all that brass. But I just do mechanical work, I don’t know anything about body work or upholstery.”

“Wildest pick-up I ever had” said the Driver, “the shed didn’t have doors, so I backed up and went in to hook up the car. When I entered I saw a huge black figure move in the corner! It was a bear! I quick ran and jumped in the truck and that bear took off across the field. I never seen a bear before, it scared the hell out of me.”

“A bear, here in Chester, I’ve never heard of a bear around here” said Johnny.

“Big bear, it was a huge SOB, luckily it was as scared of me as I was of it” said the Driver, “but you never want to disturb a holed up bear, ‘bout had a heart attack!”

Mr. Jenkins had the T put into the bay where Johnny had cleaned the pit and Johnny had his after hours work lined up. He couldn’t wait for closing time so he could get started on the T Crenshaw had sent over.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Monday: “1912” said Crenshaw, “belonged to my father…"

Crenshaw came by the next afternoon and talked with Johnny.

“Did you look over my T last night” Crenshaw asked?

“Beautiful car” said Johnny, “what year is it?”

“1912” said Crenshaw, “belonged to my father, he bought it new. What is your assessment?”

“I didn’t have time to go over it entirely, but it obviously needs body work and upholstery which I can not do. The motor turns over easy, I did pull the plugs and had to tap a valve closed which was stuck using a dowel through the spark plug hole. Then I did a compression check and it’s good, 36 to 39 on all cylinders. I tightened the rod bearings, I can’t check the mains without pulling the motor, but I say we should get her running and then see how she sounds. It will need all new wiring and ignition, probably rebuild the carburetor, definitely clean the gas tank and sediment bulb, everything has to be gone through. Looks like she was sitting for awhile. “

“I’m going to fix her like new” said Crenshaw, “you get her mechanically first, then I will get the rest done. If you have questions you come by my dealership and talk with my Chief Service Mechanic, Joe. For parts just give Jenkins a list and he will get them to you. Take your time, do it right, no shortcuts, I need a dependable car.”

“Yes sir, thank you sir” said Johnny enthusiastically!


Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “But it looks like things are gonna change …"

Jordon liked Johnny, he liked working with him on T’s because Johnny took instruction and learned fast. He liked talking with him because Johnny was mature like an adult, but not crotchety and set in his ways like so many older people. And he liked him because who was a hard worker who usually succeeded at what he attempted.

“Johnny, you doin’ good boy” said Jordon, “you got a nice place to live that you set up, a good job with a future, and your whole life to look forward to. You impress everybody.”

“Well thank you Mr. Jordon” said Johnny visibly embarrassed.

“But it looks like things are gonna change and change big time, you got to look to the future and plan ahead” said Jordon.

Johnny slowly nodded wondering where Jordon was going with this? Jordon kicked back in his chair beside the woodstove and attempted to give Johnny some advice.

“There is a war coming Johnny, and it won’t be pretty. Hitler is a madman and this war will involve all of Europe, and we will get dragged in. War is ugly Johnny, bad ugly, you don’t want no part of it. I was in the big one, served in the trenches in France, did what I was told, and still have nightmares about it. There is no glory in it, you just have to do your job for your fellow soldiers and your country, hope you live unmaimed, attempt to forget the worst of it, and try to move on” said Jordon.

There was a long silence as Johnny tried to take in what Jordon was saying.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “…we need to prepare here on the home front…”

“If I am right, you will be involved” Jordon continued,” and there is nothing you can do to stop it. You’re almost 16, If we go to war and you are 18 to 24 you will be drafted. If you have a necessary job you can get deferred, but you don’t have no necessary job. You really have two choices, get drafted, eat slop, and sleep on the ground for two years. Or you join the Navy for a four-year-hitch, go to sea, eat well, and sleep in a comfortable bunk. I would go for the Navy.”

“Less chance of hand-to-hand”, Jordon added quietly.

There was a long silence, then Jordon started up again, ”so for now we need to prepare here on the home front. War brings shortages, shortages of everthing. I have to prepare, and I would like for you to help me until you have to go fight.”

“Mr. Jordon, I owe you so much, you know I will do anything you want, just name it”, said Johnny.

“It’s preparation, it is long term, and it will be a lot of work” said Jordon,” and it starts tomorrow. I figure we got two years. You are already trying to do too much. Keep your job at Crenshaw’s Texaco, but no afterhours car repair after you finish Crenshaw’s brass car. No more day hunting, we just spotlight deer at night and kill what we need. We need to fence in the fifty acres along the creek, I am gonna raise beef so I won’t go hungry when government takes everthin. And I will sell what I can’t eat, prices will be good. We need to concentrate on getting that pasture done. “

“You got it” said Johnny slowly nodding his head.

“The other major shortage will be fuel. Government takes it all and rations it. We got to make our own. Let me show you the equipment” said Jordon getting up.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “I’m not worried about Daddy …"

“Come, come in Sally, have a seat” said Pastor Willis smiling broadly and motioning to a chair, “how have you been?”

“I have been doing very well, thank you”, said Sally.

“I am glad you came by” said the Pastor, “I wanted an opportunity to talk with you one-on-one about you, your mother, and your father. I know you and your mother have had a rough time with him, and I want you to know that the church is ready to help any way we can.”

“We really enjoy church, especially Mom, it is her life” said Sally, “but I don’t think we are in need of any help.”

“Specifically I was thinking of your father and that situation which might be a little traumatic for anyone” said Pastor Willis.

“I’m not worried about Daddy as long as Mama is around, she knows how to handle him” said Sally,” but I do wonder about where the Bible says women are to be ‘submissive’, Daddy always talks about that.”

“The world works better when people behave as God intended” said Pastor Willis, “and if you remember back in Genesis man was punished for eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil by being expelled from the Garden of Eden and forced to labor in the fields. That does not mean literally that every man should be working in a field, but ‘field’ means outside the home. Woman, on the other hand, was to have pain in childbirth and be ruled over by man. God’s plan is that man and woman work together as one. When there are two people there are bound to be disagreements, so one has to make the final decision. God’s plan is that man makes the final decisions when necessary, and woman is submissive and abides by them. Households that work on that principal are more loving and have happy families because God designed man and woman to work together like that.”

Copyright Tom Hicks

Monday: ““Satan has gotten ahold of your Daddy …”

“So, if Daddy comes back Mama and I should do what he says?” asked Sally.

“No” said Pastor Willis, “Satan has gotten ahold of your Daddy and is using your Daddy to spread his hate. Your Daddy was a good man of the church, but somehow one of Satan’s demons got into him and he is not in control of himself, the devil is controlling his actions. If you submit to your Daddy you are submitting to the Devil who controls your Daddy, so you should not submit to your Daddy. You do need to love him though, and maybe he will come back to the church and we can work with him to get control of his life again.”

“Maybe an exorcism!” exclaimed Sally.

“Perhaps” said Pastor Willis, “it depends on what type of demon has possessed him, or maybe more than one. These things can get complicated because not all demons respond the same. Some can be lured out, others require more drastic measures, sometimes they have to be beaten out. But you can’t always tell because the Devil is tricky. It would really help if I could talk with your Daddy.”

“Oh thank you so much”, said Sally, “I knew there was hope for my Daddy through Jesus. Jesus is wonderful!”

“You can always count on Jesus!”, said Pastor Willis, “He takes care of all of us! I can’t imagine all the suffering in the world that would occur if Jesus were not looking over all of us. Jesus is our connection to God and keeps watch over everyone, making life good.”

“Well, how about Johnny, why did God allow God to beat him so many times?” asked Sally.

“The Lord works in mysterious ways”, said Pastor Willis, “we are not supposed to always understand, just trust in God that He looks over all of us and everything that occurs is in our best interest.”

“So it was in Johnny’ best interest that Daddy would beat him?" , asked Sally.

“Don’t ever question God”, said Pastor Willis, “it would indicate that Satan has possessed you too.”

“Oh no, I would never question the Almighty”, said Sally, “I know God loves me.”

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “Thirty two tires and tubes” exclaimed Crenshaw, …"

"Good!” exclaimed Pastor Willis, “Remember back when Mr. Crenshaw had that case Suborow induced Episodic Ezideephus? No one could cure him, the doctors gave up, and he darn near went to meet his Maker. So we put him on the prayer list. When I first went to lay my hand on him he couldn’t stop coughing, but I prayed over him and he healed up quick with Jesus’s help. You can see now that he is doing fine. God loves everybody, and through faith and prayer we can all be healthy! I just got to get to your Daddy.”


“Thirty two tires and tubes” exclaimed Crenshaw, “What the Sam Hill are you going to do with all those tires??!!?”

“War coming” said Jordon, “you remember the shortages during the last one don’t you?”

“So you think thirty two MODEL T tires will get you through a war” Crenshaw asked incredulously?

“Don’t you worry none ‘bout what I think, you just get me my tires”, said Jordon.

“I’ll order them tomorrow”, said Crenshaw.

“By the way” asked Jordon, “how’s Johnny working out?”

“That is an amazing young man” said Crenshaw, “I can’t believe he is only fifteen. Between you and me, I have plans for that boy. I want to start doing light mechanical work at my Texaco Station, tunes ups and such. I had my head mechanic at the dealership go over Johnny’s work on the T Johnny fixed, Johnny’s work is good. That T never ran so well! So I hope to have Johnny run the Service Station, I’ll find another boy to pump the gas, and Johnny can fix cars.”

“Why don’t you get him doing mechanical work at your dealership” asked Jordon?


Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: Little Petey jumped him…

“War with Germany coming” said Crenshaw, “Ford won’t be making any cars, so I won’t be selling any cars, so work at the dealership will be down. I will probably have to put in a couple more bays at the Texaco Station though, to repair all the old cars people try to keep on the road. And I will need someone responsible like Johnny to run the place. Now what are you going to do with all of those tires?”

“War comes, gas is rationed, tires are rationed” said Jordon, “which would you rather have, a Model T that sips gas and is easy to fix, or a modern car with a V8 that burns lots of gas and you can’t get parts for ‘cause they ain’t being made ‘cause the government took over all the factories?”

"Yeah, I might have to get some extra tires for myself too.” said Crenshaw.

Johnny was on his cot sleeping when Little Petey jumped him, on top, and hitting him with a 2X4. Johnny used a mighty effort and launched Little Petey off of him and into the side of the barn where Johnny commenced to pummel Little Petey with his fists, but Little Petey kicked Johnny in the crotch and started jumping on Johnny’s ribcage after Johnny went down. Johnny started biting on Little Petey’s ankle and Little Petey began hollering like a child as Johnny removed bite after enormous bite of Little Petey’s leg. Little Petey fell on top of Johnny and Johnny was smothering when he woke with a start.

“Whew”, he thought, “these nightmares with Dad attacking me have to stop.”

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “A Model T will run on alcohol?”

33
Johnny went to the far corner of the barn where Jordon had shown him the equipment’s hiding place under the floor and instructed Johnny about how to set it up. It was a masterpiece of copper work made back in the 20’s and would produce twenty gallons of alcohol in each run. Johnny pulled it out of hiding/storage and cleaned up each piece. Actually it looked like a pretty simple process the way Jordon explained it. Jordon arrived and they looked the situation over.

“Mash ain’t nothing but corn, sugar, and water in the right amounts allowed to ferment for a month at the right temperature” said Jordon, “a hunnert gallons of mash will give us twenty gallons of drinking alcohol which we run through again and then it makes ten gallons of grain alcohol which we can run a Model T on.”

“A Model T will run on alcohol?” asked Johnny.

“If you get the proof high enough and adjust the carburetor right it will run, not as good as gasoline, but it will get you around.” said Jordon.

“But we’re not making drinking alcohol, just alcohol for fuel?” asked Johnny.

“The first part of the process of making alcohol for fuel is making drinking alcohol, you got to run it through twice to get the proof high enough for fuel, but don’t you ever drink it. Your Daddy is a drunk so you are subject to being one too, don’t even start,” said Jordon, “but I might find selling a little moonshine on the side a good money maker when the war comes, so I might begin developing that market when we get this thing fired up. Some to drink, some run through twice to run the car on. Just don’t tell nobody, making whiskey is an incarcerable offence.”

“I won’t drink any, and I sure won’t tell” said Johnny.

“Now I gots some corn and bags of sugar in the back of my truck” said Jordon, “let’s get that unloaded and get these mash barrels started in your corner of the barn where we can keep it warm enough to ferment. We start a new batch of mash every week and in a month we can run off a batch of alcohol every week. Time to start production!”


Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “…young people aren’t as smart …”

34
“Good to see you again Sally” said Pastor Willis, “what can we discuss today?”

Sally thought for awhile, then look seriously at Pastor Willis and asked “Mom says I can talk to about anything, is that true?”

“Certainly”, replied the Pastor.

“There is something Pastor Willis” said Sally, “and I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but why are older people so often cranky. I keep hearing things about how young people aren’t as smart or hard working or as good as they used to be.”

Pastor Willis laughed, kicked back, and said, ”It’s just part of getting old. I can’t really explain it to you, but it is almost like older people remember being young different than it really was. Things change fast and some older people have difficulty figuring it out, while younger people seem to pick it up fast and accept it. For example, I am 55. Back when I was your age there were very few cars on the road. If you did see one it was a curiosity. Now lots of people have them, you see them all the time, plus there are lots of repair shops and filling stations. Cities like Dearborn have had a total cultural change with all the factory jobs. And we even have paved roads now, they used to be very rare, only in towns. Some elderly just never understand it or feel a part of it, consider how many older people you know who have never learned to drive, they just came up with a horse and buggy, not an automobile.”

“So it is not a case of the young people being any different now-a-days” said Sally,” it is a matter of being brought up in different times and surroundings.”

“Exactly”, said Pastor Willis proud that he had explained so she knew what he was trying to say, “Just consider my father. In 1917 he was sixty-years-old and every time he wanted to go somewhere he had to get the horses out of the barn, get the harness on them, hitch them to the wagon, and off he would go at a steady four miles per hour. He bought a Model TT and imagine the difference for him. He did not have to feed the horses or hitch them up anymore. Just turn the key, hit the crank, and off he goes at a steady sixteen miles per hour. FOUR TIMES AS FAST! He was a farmer, he was used to doing all his own maintenance work, and he learned to fix most anything on a TT real quick. And he didn’t need his wagon anymore, so he took the bed off of it and bolted it to the TT, then he took the buckboard seat off of it and bolted it to the TT right over the gas tank. Imagine the change this made in his life. Think of the change the internal combustion engine and Model T have made in everyone’s life! But a lot of his peers never caught on, they would see a broken down car and shout, ‘get a horse!’ Some people like things the way they were and have rosey colored glasses, they are the ones who don’t see things the way they were, but the way they think they should be. They remember the good from when they were young and tend to forget the bad. When a couple of these people get together they tend to talk that way, ‘cranky’ as you said.”

“I love talking with you Pastor Willis” said Sally, “you just explain things so well. Most adults don’t know how to talk to a thirteen-year-old girl, or don’t want to.”


Copyright Tom Hicks

Monday: “We found him Sheriff…"

35
“We found him Sheriff, we found Little Petey, and you won’t believe this…” panted the hunter who had been hurrying to the Sheriff’s office.

Turns out that a hunting party had gone into the woods just south of Jordon’s farm hoping to bag the black bear that had been seen in town. They came across Little Petey’s body which had been mauled by the bear. Apparently Little Petey had been camping out in the woods back from Jordon’s farm and somehow got into it with the bear which had killed Little Petey and chewed a lot of him up.

“We know it is Little Petey cause of the crease across the top of his skull from a skillet. It is full exposed” said the hunter, ”we got us a man killing bear on our hands!”

The huinters took the Sherriff out to the body deep in the woods behind Jordon’s property. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Little Petey was mangled badly, his left arm was missing, his right hand was gone, his neck was severed so badly that his head was almost off. But, there was not a lot of blood, this was obviously not the scene of the attack, and there was no blood trail. The weather had been cold, the attack could have been days ago, even weeks. But there was a drag trail in the leaves, so it hadn’t been too long ago, and the Sheriff began to backtrack on the dragtrail to find the scene of the initial attack.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: The bear had dragged the body almost a quarter mile

36
The news traveled fast, and the Baptist Boys were forming a hunting party to hunt the bear down and protect the community. The Baptist boys were sort of a secretive organization in most of their actrivities, but everyone knew about them.

Assissitant Pastor Ray Jacobs had directed the members who were avid hunters to “get that bear in the name of Jesus!”

The hierarchy of the leadership in the Baptist Boys was a secret, but Assistant Pastor Ray Jacobs was considered to be near the top. His position was more about keeping Chester’s white society straight on moral grounds, but somehow he had developed a keen interest in this bear, perhaps because it was now involved with Little Petey, and Assistant Pastor Ray Jacobs was involved with Little Petey’s widow.

The bear had dragged the body almost a quarter mile, but the Sheriff found where it had been drug from. Apparently the bear had attacked and killed Little Petey, then tried to bury him to keep other predators from getting at his body. Then for some reason the bear decided to drag Little Petey back to its den, although the Sheriff hadn’t found the den yet. No one in Chester was familiar with bear hunting or bear habits, the Sheriff would have to contact some friends in the mountains where bear lived and find out more about bear habits.

The Sheriff and the doctor inspected Little Petey’s bear chewed remains.

“Definitely Little Petey”, said the doctor looking at the skull, “I can recognize it because I doctored him after the skillet incident with his wife. And these other punctures are consistent with bear bites where the bear grabbed the body and dragged it.”


Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “I think I need to open this skull up …"

37
“Yep” said the Sheriff, “except this one”, pointing to Little Petey’s right temple, “one hole there, not a bite mark, and it is a clean hole not mangled like where the bear’s teeth were pulling on the skull with those other holes, and little larger.”

“Hmmmm” said the doctor, “I think I need to open this skull up and see if we can find what that hole looks like on the inside.”

“How long ago do you think the death occurred” asked the Sheriff as the doctor began sawing off the top of the skull?

“Hard to say for certain” said the doctor, “but in the neighborhood of four to six weeks judging by its condition and the fact that it has been outside in the cold.”

“That would explain why there was no blood trail, but overall it doesn’t make sense” said the Sheriff, “they found this body with fresh bear tracks all around it. Would a bear kill a man, maul his body, and then keep it around for over a month?”

“I don’t know about a bear’s habits, but this will add to your mystery” said the doctor pulling a small caliber handgun bullet from the inside of the skull.”

“I best mosey on out there where they found the body and see if I missed anything” said the Sheriff.

While the Sheriff was headed back into the woods Jordon ran into Crenshaw at the local clothing store in downtown Chester.

“Mr. Crenshaw, I heard you had a bad case of the Epizudus, how’s that cough coming”?”, asked Jordon.

“Tolerable”, replied Crenshaw, “tolerable.”

“Well, its good to see you well enough to get about town”, said Jordon.

“I thought I would get out and get some exercise”, said Crenshaw, “sitting behind the desk at my dealership all day gets wearing after a while. What do you think of this new Fedora?”

“Classy, I have heard that Dick really likes them.” Said Jordon.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “You’re going to buy the bull first?”, …

“Change a plans” said Jordon, “I got a line on a bull and we need to build a small fenced area for him before we fence the pasture. And a hog pen.”

“You’re going to buy the bull first?”, asked Johnny.

“A good bull is the most important part of a herd”, said Jordon, “and I found one! Angus, three years old, I’m talking a pretty animal. I got him and three hogs I don’t want, but they are part of the deal. The price of heifers is up, there are a lot of people thinking the way I am, but at least I got the bull.”

“How many cows are you planning on?”, asked Johnny.

“One cow per acre, fifty acres, twenty-five cows” said Jordon, “and that means twenty-five calves each year. I raise the calf up for a year and then sell it for beef, it gets replaced by another calf. I can build up a good herd by keeping the best of the calves. I hope I am wrong about war coming, but if it does the price of beef will skyrocket. I want beef to eat, and I can make a few bucks selling beef cattle. A first class operation, honest farm money, I don’t want to be runnin no Jitney.”

“And the hogs”, Johnny asked?

“Recent widow wanted to get rid of them to, I had to make a package deal”, said Jordon, “We raise them and eat them, you do lke bacon don’t you?”

“Yes I do!” Johnny said enthusiastically.

Copyright Tom Hicks

Tomorrow: “…We hire another boy …”