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THURSDAY MORNING MR. BARKLEY ANNOUNCED to Jim that Sam would be coming by to lunch with them.
“Would you like to join us?”
“Mike, I don’t want to impose and I’ve also got a couple things I need to do during the lunch break.”
Jim truly feared spending any amount of time with a law officer who might want more details about his past that he was unwilling to talk about, idle conversation or not.
“You won’t be imposing however we don’t want to interfere with your plans. Maybe next time.”
“Sounds good.”
When they left for the café, he followed. As they turned left down Main Street, he turned right toward the city hall. Before realizing it, he was in front of the volunteer fire department. A man about his age was washing the fire truck and this looked like his opportunity to learn what was needed.
“Hi, are you the driver?”
“No! I’m just a volunteer. The driver lives a block away.”
“I’m new in town and might be interested in becoming a volunteer. How often do they get called?”
“It depends on the time of year.”
“Why is that?”
“The fall is our most active time. The people around here burn leaves and end up letting the fire get away from them.”
“Oh... I bet that makes you guys mad.”
“Not really. It gives us the practice we need. Usually the fire is easy to bring under control and we get to find our weak areas.”
“Like what?”
“Well, response time... just to carry our people to the fire. Only a few people ride the truck and the others meet us there.”
“Sounds like a good approach.”
“Well, we couldn’t do it before we all got CBs.”
“How long does it take to get the truck on the road after a call?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“Where the driver is at the time of the call.”
“Oh, I see.”
“Our best time was five minutes, but we average about twelve minutes.”
“I guess that’s pretty good if you don’t have people staying at the station.”
“We think so. We all have jobs. Maybe one day we can have a manned station.”
“Maybe. Have a great day.”
“You, too.”
Jim then walked back downtown to the Red Dot food store. Strolling in he looked for one of the bag boys.
“Do you have an extra small box I could have?”
“Look in the storage room in the back of the store. That’s where we keep the empty boxes we collect after stocking the shelves.”
Jim quickly found just the box he needed with the top still attached. He tipped the boy with two quarters. That put a big smile on his face.
“Is there anything else I can do for you sir?” — the boy said.
“No, thank you, but I appreciate you asking.”
Jim thought: This has been the most productive lunch hour.
This was the weekend Peggy normally spent with her friend in Canton and Jim was not looking forward to Saturday and Sunday in light of that situation. He decided Monday would be the day he would start his plan. If everything went well he would be gone in three, at the most, four weeks. Still, he could not understand why the normal excitement he felt about completing a mission was not there. Could the killing of Billy Bob, be all that was needed in this town? He would know better by next weekend.
Jim had nothing else to do on Saturday and began to clear the weeds and scrub off Michael’s garden. Not only would it occupy his time, it would serve to deceive the Barkleys about his leaving. He really got into the business of cleaning the garden. Time was quickly passing by.
All at once he looked up from what he was doing in the garden and there stood Peggy all dressed in black. He was shocked to see her and first thought it was a dream.
“Peggy? What are you doing here?”
“I went to Billy Bob’s funeral.”
“You did? Why?”
“Oh, I’m related to him on my father’s side and I felt I owed the rest of my family that much respect. You sound like you are disappointed I’m here.”
“No way! Look how hard I’ve been working because I missed you so much.”
“Sounds like you just made that up.”
“Honey, I don’t know what to do with myself when you are not here.”
“Well, I’m here. What are you going to do now?”
“First, take a bath, then kiss you like you have never been kissed before.”
“Sounds good to me, but I can’t wait until you take a bath before you kiss me.”
“I’ll get you all dirty.”
“It’s clean dirt and, who knows, maybe I’ll take a bath with you.”
“That’s a plan.”
They fell into each other’s arms.
“Let me get my bag from the car. Then we can take that bath.”
The weekend was more heaven on earth for both of them. Too quickly Sunday had arrived and Peggy had to leave for home.
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