by Tonya Kappes
“Lester thinks that Hank is right about Greaser getting out of town.” She shook her head. “We just can’t believe it. I should’ve known when he asked to see Lester that something was up.” She adjusted herself on the couch, pulling her leg up underneath her. “Prisoners never ask to see us. But you know Lester.” She pulled the mug up to her lips and took a sip. She continued, “Trying to save the world.”
“He’s a good one,” I said.
Gosh, I sure hoped she was right about Greaser.
“I can’t believe they can’t find him.” She took a bit of the cinnamon roll and a gurgle of happiness came from her throat as she mmhmm’d. “There’s only one way into Normal and one way out.” She was referring to the curvy country road that led to our little town.
“Hank said the dogs stopped tracking Greaser’s scent at the road, which makes me think he was picked up by someone.” I didn’t want to put too much thought into it because I was afraid that I’d tell her what I really thought, that he was hiding in the woods somewhere.
“You’d think if they stopped every truck and car going out of Normal, like he said they were, they’d found him by now.” She was right. “Do you think someone helped him?”
“I don’t know.” My thoughts exactly. “Let’s just be happy that you and Lester are safe and leave all the hunting down to Hank.” I took a bite of the cinnamon roll.
While Betts and I finished eating our cinnamon rolls, we continued to watch the news. Both of us cheered when they interviewed Queenie about the reenactment. She was standing at the entrance of one of the trails where Colonel Theophilus T. Garrard had led his troops to the battlefield site.
She told the history of the battle and why they decided to have the reenactment at this time of the year instead of on the October date of the actual battle.
“I had no idea they started to get ready for the battle so many months before.” Betts shrugged and got up to get another cinnamon roll.
“I was looking over the maps Queenie laid out on the conference tables at the library yesterday and I said that I can’t believe as a kid who went to school in Kentucky that I never learned about these battles.” I scooted to the edge of my seat. “Speaking of the reenactment.” I took the last sip of my coffee. “Do you need a ride? I’m heading over there now.”
“I’m not going to be able to go. When Queenie first said they were going to do it this month, I knew it would be hard with taxes due. Plus, Lester is having a hard time getting the taxes done for the church, so I’m going to have to try and help out over there.” A long, exhausted sigh escaped her. “Besides, I’m still a little shaky from Lester’s ordeal.” She held out her hand. It was a tad bit trembly. “I know I wasn’t in there, but I could be a widow right now if Greaser . . .” Her voice cracked and trailed off.
“Don’t think like that.” I stood up and put my arm around her. “Everyone is fine. Greaser has left town and the reenactment is going to happen. Why don’t you get as much of the paperwork for the Laundry Club done as you can and come watch a little of the battle.” I squeezed her shoulder before I removed my arm. “I bet you didn’t know that I’m pretty good with numbers, so why don’t you let me take a look at the church’s taxes tomorrow.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. I mean, you already helped me out so much with the cleaning jobs and . . .” she stopped talking when Hank began his news conference update.
There wasn’t much news to report. There was no change. The police were in place, and the FBI was setting up more checkpoints and had their people positioned around Normal. He assured everyone the reenactment was a go and that officers would be on duty there. He looked so handsome. His green eyes flickered as the camera swept across his face, the sun hitting him perfectly. It was a darn shame how men didn’t have to use makeup or a filter to get a great photo with perfect lighting.
“You know.” Betts clasped her hands together. “I will take you up on that offer. I’m going to get some paperwork done and I’ll be at the reenactment. I bet I can even get Lester do his soldier duty.” She rose up on her toes, clicked her heels, and saluted me, which had both of us laughing. “We have to move on. Greaser is gone and he didn’t hurt us.”
“That’s the Betts I know and love.” A huge smile crossed my face. It was a big relief to see my friend coming back to life. “You tell Lester that I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning.”
“You’re such a gem. I have no idea what Normal would’ve ever done without you.” Betts gave me another hug.
“Hey, you two!” The bell over the door of the Laundry Club dinged, signaling Abby’s arrival. She was carrying some rolled up papers under her arm. “I saw you in here and thought you were probably getting ready to go to the reenactment.”
“I am. Betts will meet us there. And you are just in time for a cinnamon roll.” I walked over to the coffee station and put a cinnamon roll on a napkin. “Here you go.” I exchanged the pastry for the rolled up documents in Abby’s arms. “Do we need to get these to Queenie ASAP?” I asked when I noticed they were maps.
“No. Hank.” She took a bit of the yummy goodness, the cream cheese icing dripping down onto her bottom lip. She licked it off.
“Hank?” I asked.
“Yeah.” She did the gimme gesture and took one of the maps from me. “This is a map of the part of the Daniel Boone National Park where they last tracked Greaser.” She looked over at Betts with big eyes. “Sorry. I should be more sensitive.”
“I’m fine.” She waved off Abby’s thoughts. “We are all concerned about it. It just happened to be Lester who was used as a pawn for him to escape.”
“Pawn?” Abby asked, a concerned look in her eyes.
“I really think he asked for Lester on purpose to come to help in his escape. It’s not a big secret that Lester doesn’t like armed guards in with him when he witnesses to the prisoners. It was the perfect storm for what Greaser was planning.” She made a lot of sense that I’d not thought of.
“Hank wanted to get the original maps of the park from the library since they allow the prisoners to come to the library and use our resources.” Abby threw that out there like it was a topic of everyday conversation.
“Really? Like how Jeffery Damore escaped from the library in Aspen.” It was a known fact how he, a serial killer, had jumped from the third floor window of the Aspen, Colorado. library and lived in the mountains until they finally found him. “I wonder if Greaser had thought of that?”
“Not sure, but I do think he looked at these maps and got a sense of where he needed to head so he could get out of town fast.” She uncurled the map on the puzzle table and used the box of the unfinished puzzle to hold down the edges. “Here is the prison.” Abby put her finger on the map.
It wasn’t a map with cute streets, houses, and trees. It was a map that I didn’t understand, a topographic map. There were dark areas and light areas that looked like pencil markings, but clearly they meant something because Abby could read it.
“Here is Happy Trails.” She pointed to a light area with little dark offshoots. “These are the trails leading away from the campground into the National Park. Over here is where they lost Greaser’s scent.” She jabbed the paper. “By the Milkery. He would have never been able to get over there that quickly if he hadn’t known the land.”
“That’s crazy.” I shook my head. “Do you keep records of who looks at these maps?”
“Not really. I’m mean,” her face reddened and her voice softened. “We should. But this is Normal, not some big city.”
“But we are next to a prison.” Betts said, surprising us with her little jab. “I’m sorry.” She could probably tell by the looks on our faces that she caught us off guard. “If it didn’t happen to Lester, I probably would’ve said the same thing, but it did happen to Lester.”
“That’s usually the way it goes.” Abby reached across the table and patted Betts’s hand. “We don’t care about things that we should care about until they happen
to us. Like the maps. From now on, I’m going to make sure that everyone who pulls them from the archives signs a log.”
“Thank you.” Betts and Abby exchanged soft smiles.
My phone chirped with a text, interrupting the tender moment between friends.
“It’s Queenie. She wants to know where we are and there’s several exclamation points and a devil emoji.” I turned the phone around to show them. “We’ve got to go before one of Hank’s men has to detain her.”
“She’s over the top this year.” Abby gave Betts a quick hug and then I did the same.
“We will see you there.” I waved her off and held the front door for Abby, gesturing to where I parked the car.
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Betts, but don’t you think it’s weird they haven’t found Greaser at one of the checkpoints?” Abby asked the question that’d been swirling around in my head.
“More than weird. I mean, he could be hiding in the trunk of car, but I think one of the police dogs would’ve sniffed him out.” I shrugged.
“Or someone didn’t leave with him and he’s somewhere in Normal.” Abby glanced over at me. She gnawed on her cheek, her eyes dull with fear.
Eight
I had never been to a reenactment before and was excited to see all the spectators when I pulled up and parked in the parking lot next to the battlefield.
Normally the grassy field was filled with small tents for serious campers who only needed the basics to hike the Daniel Boone National Park. But today it was like I’d stepped back in time, to 1861 in fact. There were teepee type dingy white tents, horses, and people walking around in period clothing that I’d only ever seen in the bags Queenie had handed out yesterday at the library.
Old kettle pots were boiling above tented wood and open flames. There were dogs running around with no leashes, but you could see they were sticking close to their owners. Some soldiers with bayonets were hanging around an old barrel that was really a newly made beer cooler. They were drinking and having a good laugh. I recognized Darnell and Burt as two of the men.
“There you are.” Queenie jerked my arm, nearly making me drop my horse caretaker uniform. “I’m about to kill them.” She nodded towards the drinking group. “They think this is all a joke. I swear. I should’ve never given them the roles they wanted. I ought to kick myself in my behind for letting them.”
“I think it’s all in good fun. You need to relax. They showed up.” My hand swept in front of us to show her how her hard work had come to life. “Look at this place. You’ve done a great job. It’s time for you to enjoy and relax. Let everyone do their job.”
“I’ll relax once I get this uniform on that Bass boy.” She shook the bag and held a bayonet.
“Who?” I asked, though I knew I wouldn’t know who she was talking about.
“You know. The Bass boy.” She tapped her head. “My head is all jumbled. I can’t remember his name, but it’s Ronald Bass’s boy. He’s on the Rifle and Archery Club at the high school.”
“Is his dad the Principal?” I asked.
“Yes. I said Ronald Bass’s boy,” Queenie spat like I knew him or something. She jumped around. “That’s him over there. You go get your outfit on, right now.”
She scurried off to the thin boy about fifteen feet away, his back to me. I stood there as she jerked off his baseball cap and tucked it in the fanny pack under her Jazzercise sweatshirt, replacing it with a soldier’s cap.
The poor guy reluctantly took the items before Queenie shoved him off to take his post.
“Kids.” Queenie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms after she came back over. “I swear they don’t have brain cells.”
“I thought you were picky about who handled the bayonets.” I called her out on the firm stance she had taken earlier in the week.
“I’m in a pickle and since he’s the captain of the Rifle and Archery Club and available, I figured he was the best option I had.” She jerked her head toward the men around the barrel who were now toasting each other with their beer cans. “I swear, they think they can just live it up because Greaser is out of town, but they’ve got another thing coming to them.” She darted off towards them.
I grabbed a fist full of Jazzercise sweatshirt and tugged her back.
“Wait. They’ve been drinking and you don’t want them to get mad at you, even though you’re right.” I knew I had to make it seem like it was her idea to send me over to calm them down. “So, I think you know I should probably go over and say something.”
“I was just going to ask you to do that.” She circled her shoulders back and lifted her chin. “You go tell them to behave and that we are starting in twenty minutes, so they need to take their positions.”
I nodded and started to walk away to let them know to keep it down.
“And change your clothes!” She screamed at my back.
I held up the bag and waved it in the air without turning around to look at her.
Cars were pulling in, and some of the tourists and local folks had already claimed spots near the edges of the battlefield. A few people had set up some chairs and were already enjoying the early afternoon sunshine.
The weather was going to be perfect, just like Queenie had wanted and one of the reasons she’d moved the reenactment from fall to early spring, although she was telling the crowd it was due to the first meeting Colonel Theophilus T. Garrard had had about the Battle at Camp Wildcat .
In any case, the crowd was starting to gather around and they were ready for the reenactment, with not a bit of worry about Greaser being on the run.
“Hey, guys.” I moseyed up to the group of men. “We’re about to start, so can you please take your places so Queenie doesn’t start a real battle.”
“Sounds good, Mae.” Darnell said. “You know, you’re right about Greaser probably being out of town. Now I can rest easy.” He used the back of his hand to knock the guy next to him in the chest. “This is Burt Buggy. He was on the jury too.”
“Me and my wife, Louise.” He pointed over to one of the kettles boiling over an open flame. “She’s a nurse in the reenactment. We almost didn’t come in fear of Greaser, but we got us some police escorts.”
The dressed officers were standing on the edge of the battle line, right in front of the crowd.
“I’m sure it’s all good.” I pinched a smile and was happy to see some of them had started to walk away from the beer barrel.
“She should know. She dates Hank Sharp.” Darnell gave a good hard nod. “We are going to live it up at her campground tonight!”
“Cheers!” The two men clanked together their beer cans before chugging down what was left and following that with long belches that made my nose and lip curl in disgust.
The bugler stood in the middle of the makeshift battlefield and gave a revelry bugle call, which was our signal to take our places. My stomach grumbled when I walked past spectators with bags of freshly popped kettle corn from one of the vendor booths. The cinnamon roll was great, but not keeping me full, making me look forward to the after party at the campground.
“You better get that apron on before Queenie high-tails it over here.” Julip Knox stood near the makeshift horses stable where I was going to “tend” to the soldiers’ horses, only there weren’t any horses there.
“Hey, there,” I greeted her with a smile, happy to see that I wouldn’t be standing alone for the thirty minutes it took to do the actual reenactment. “I’m glad to see you.” I reached into my bag and pulled out the apron she was talking about. “I had to wait to the last minute to put it on.” I held it up to my nose and cringed when I got big whiff of the musty smelling cloth.
“They could do a better job cleaning them.” Julip laughed. “I’m lucky that I get to wear some of the authentic nurse things I collected at the thrift shop.”
“Yeah.” I doubled the apron string around my waist and knotted it. “I bet you get the pick of the litter when things come in.”
&nb
sp; “I do. I’m just glad that Mr. Deters lets me have that as a perk.” She shrugged.
“Where on earth did Queenie get all of these props?” I looked around at the cannons, the bourbon barrels, and multiple white tents.
“The high school has a great theater department and they let her use what they have. They store them in the basement of the school.” Julip pointed to the makeshift horse stall behind us. “Your stall is new this year. The drama teacher said they’d make one and then come up with a new play to use it in.”
I was going to comment but then a boom of a cannon exploded into the air, giving me a jolt.
“Here we go.” Julip vigorously rubbed her hands together with excitement.
I turned around to watch as the six cannons on our side of the battlefield went off one by one, obviously not with real ammunition. There were ten men on horses with swords in their hands and a line of men and a couple of little boys marching behind another man carrying the Union flag. Each of them had some sort of gun, even the young ones, which looked odd, but back then they were considered old enough to fight.
The cannon fire exploded from the other side and a plume of smoke hovered over each cannon long after the boom. A couple of men from our side of the battlefield fell as though they had been struck. I watched as Julip ran into action, rushing over to an injured soldier’s side, cradling his head in her lap, and pretending to cry. She was really playing the part as the horses and men with swords danced around her as the other side’s men on horses charged.
Julip didn’t even look up as the sword fight went on around her. She simply took items from her knapsack and tended to the man’s wounds. She finally gave up, laying his head gently on the ground and leaving his lifeless body.
“So now what for him?” I asked about the man just lying there.
“Someone will come cart him off.” Just as she said that, a man came out of nowhere, hoisted the lifeless soldier up by this armpits and dragged him off the battlefield.