Charlie the Great White Horse and the Story of the Magic Jingle Bells

by Kenneth Mullinix

~Chapter 8~

  Black Jack Tilley

 

  Charlie ambled back over to his wagon. He stayed very far away from Louis and Chug. He was not feeling very well, over his recent encounter with Jupiter. Charlie had waited all year to meet Jupiter, and make a new best friend, and now this. Charlie thought aloud to himself repeatedly, "How can Jupiter not want to be friends with me?"

  Charlie thought that everyone liked him because he is so gentle, kind and hard working. He had never experienced anything like that before and he just could not make a rhyme or reason, out of the whole situation.

  Back at the fair's horse ring, Chug and Louis were having the time of their young lives. They and had completely forgotten all about Charlie and Jupiter, and what they had just witnessed. Of course, it was because there were so excited about the upcoming "Gazette Stakes".

  Who could blame them?

  While standing by the horse ring watching Jupiter again Chug now noticed, three odd looking strangers standing on the other side of the fence, over by the horse stables. These, cagey fellows who appeared to be new in town, all looked very scary and dangerous and were surely up to no good. You could tell just by looking at them, that something was amiss, and not right with them.

  All were dressed in black from the top of their heads to the bottom of their shoes, which seemed out of place for such a celebration. Each of the men was found to be short, pudgy in the middle, and mostly bald or balding. Each had on very large baggy black pants with a small, thin white stripe down each side, wore white dirty tee shirts with rolled up sleeves, and all wore very short-cropped hair as if a military man might wear. It was as if they were all wearing some type of a strange and very odd uniform, which Chug had never seen before and each uniform had been tailored and fixed so they would not look like a uniform.

  The three strangers all had tattoos stenciled on their large, hairy arms with various sayings and pictures that Chug could not understand or determine, what they meant, but he sure enough knew they could only hold, scary images or out of the ordinary faces. Whom these strangers were, or what they were saying to each other was unknown to Chug but they still, looked down right menacing and mean all the same.

  These men's arms were enormous and looked like they all had been doing push-ups their whole lives, or came from a life full of toil and labor. One of the fellows had a dark hooded sweatshirt on that hid his unshaven face, and the other two wore black skullcaps that looked a little frightening. By looking at them, you could hardly make out any real facial features other than the fact that all three of them were just, downright ugly.

  There was just no way else to say it.

  If all of the men had entered an ugly contest, it would have been a three-way tie for first place.

  Each one of the men every now and then looked around behind them or off in the distance, to see if anyone was looking at them. This made Chug even more fearful. Chug tapped on Louis's shoulder then pointed out the three loathsome fellows, and their out of the ordinary appearance.

  "What do you make of that?" asked Chug as he pointed again, over in their direction. Louis leaned forward, squinted both of his eyes a bit to try and get a better look, and then became immediately alarmed. Louis thought they looked like the three escaped bank robbers he'd seen pictures of, and had read about in the Centerfield Gazette, a few weeks back.

  Louis after looking closer was now almost sure that those were the fellows, who had robbed the Marion county bank a few years ago, and had just broken out of the Saint Louis prison, with the help of a few friends. Louis told Chug about what he had read in the newspapers about the bank heist, and the brazen daytime jail break, then motioned to Chug that they should go closer to, where they were, to get a better look at them, and to see if they really were those escaped convicts that everyone was looking for.

  Louis and Chug quietly made their way around to the other side of the horse stables at the far end of the horse ring. They came up closer behind the strangely uniformed men, while being sure to stay well out of view, so they would not be spotted, and have their company be known. They crouched down as low as they could, hiding behind the fair's main horse water trough, and again staying well out of sight, so as not to alarm the three little bald men. Louis was sure that those were, the bad fellows who robbed the Saint Louis bank.

  "That's those banks robbers I tell ya!" cried out Louis, who was just flabbergasted at what he was seeing."

  "Ya, sure Louis?" asked Chug with some doubt in his voice.

  "Yes, that's those guys. I recognize them from those photos in the Gazette. Mr. Beamer and Mrs. Beamer have been talking about that old bank heist and the jailbreak for a few weeks now.

  "I never heard anything about it Louis."

  "Well I sure did. I overheard em alright...then I read the article and saw the photos myself."

  "Well then we need to get closer to em, to try and listen to what their saying Louis."

  "Your darned right we need to."

  Louis and Chug both leaned forward around the water trough even further and quieted down to try, and overhear what the three men were saying or listen to what foul plans they were making.

  The one man that held the most respect of the other two, and appeared to be the leader of all three was, "Black Jack Tilly" who was from Saint Louis. He was doing all the talking while the other two mostly listened and shook their heads in agreement, whenever they heard something mean and evil.

  Black Jack had the hairiest forearms anyone had ever seen before. The scraggly black hair protruded out in all directions of the rolled up sleeves, of his tattered white tee shirt. Both of Black Jack's feet, which were covered by jackboots, seemed to be very large for a man so small, and he had an extremely large round rear end that, barely fit into his black baggy trousers. Black Jack must have weighed well-over three hundred pounds, and was only about as tall, as Short Stack. When he walked, he actually waddled like a baby duckling, but when he spoke, he had a very deep and unsettling voice, that would bring chills down your spine.

  One of the other men was slightly taller than Black Jack Tilly he was?"Rags Martin"?from Kansas City. He was more comical or funny looking than he was scary, once you got a closer look at him. He just kind of, had a strange and weird looking face on him. He had a twin pair of the darkest, thickest, fuzzy black eyebrows you had ever seen before that made him look like, he was wearing a big pair of oversized spectacles, or had two large caterpillars fighting each other on his face. Every time he raised his eyebrows in speech, or to call attention to a story, the eyebrows both crossed over each other and ended up in a big tangled mess.

  The last of the three bad guys were "Cool Joe Biggs" from New Orleans. Now he looked like a nerve racking fellow. He had just a terrible mouth full of broken teeth that gave him an awful and most ghastly smile. Cool Joe had miserable rotted, yellow, and missing teeth that were shocking and appalling to look at. You could see one front tooth going off one way, a rear chipped tooth going off in another direction, one tooth was black on the side, three were dark yellow, one green, and two were missing right in the center of his mouth. Then add in that fat pudgy nose that had been broken at least a dozen times from fist fights, and was bent way over to the left side, and you can see this guy was one sorry sight to see.

  "What do you think we could git fer' him?" asked Black Jack Tilley as he pointed at Jupiter.

  "At least one thousand smackers and some pocket change", said Rags as he began flipping his fingers over and over again as if he was counting the money from the sale right there.

  "Come on now. We could git at least two thousand fer him." said Rags Martin as he gave Cool Joe what he thought was a good natured punch in his arm. Cool Joe smiled then gave Rags a very mean and evil look, which about scared Rags to death. Cool Joe let Rags think for a moment that the punch he received wasn't good-natured at all, then raised two fists up in air in a threatening
manner.

  "Just kidding", said Rags as he stepped back a few more paces to get away from Joe's reach, in case a roundhouse punch might be coming his way.

  "Ha?Ha?got ya?Ha?Ha!" laughed Cool Joe, as he made sure to show Rags his awful teeth again.

  Cool Joe never said too much, but was always paying attention to the goings on of the other two, and just shook his head in agreement, at all that was being said as Black started up again, where he had left off before.

  Black Jack was looking directly at Jupiter when he spoke.

  "Well I'm gonna ask for two thousand and were?ah?gonna to git it to. My friends, ole Big Sal Rossie, and her kid Squint-Eye Pete, and his boys down in Saint Louis?er?they will pay that much fer him. I just know it. Now you two listen up?real well like. We'll kidnap him and take him down to the Centerville train station tonight and then git him, on that?er?eleven o'clock train. Then git?him?er?down to Saint Louis and over to "Squint Eye Pete", so as he can get a good look at him. He'll know, fer sure how much he's...a...worth."

  "Sounds good to me boss" said Rags

  "Yeah?sounds real good to me?too Black Jack," said Cool Joe.

  Black Jack then started to laugh uncontrollably at the thought of so much money in his pockets, and of all the things, he could do with it. The other two started to laugh as well, right along with Black Jack until he slapped both of them in the back of their heads with his open hand to shut em up.

  "Quite down you two numskulls, someone might hear us."

  "Aw...ain't anybody around...any-who boss."

  "Yeah were?ah?all...alone."

  Black Jack pulled his black cap down even lower over his head and turned to look around behind him again, to see if anyone was listening, or heard what they were saying. He noticed Louis and Chug out of the corner of one eye, crouching behind the water trough and immediately gave both of them a deathly stare.

  Chug and Louis's hearts about jumped right out of their chest at the thought of being discovered by Black Jack.

  "Hey?what-ya two?er?kids doin back there?" asked Black Jack in a menacing tone.

  Both were so scared that they accidentally lunged forward and fell right on the ground, at Black Jack's feet.

  "We ain't...er...ah...doing, doing?ah?nothin. We're...a...just looking at Jupiter that's all," said a mumbling Chug.

  "Yeah?we're?ah?er?only looking at?Jupiter?" chimed in Louis.

  Louis and Chug stumbled to get the words out in grief, now thinking that Black Jack had just caught them both spying.

  The two boys slowly stood up and started to dust themselves off.

  "What are yer names?" asked Rags.

  "Yeah what are yer mangy kids, names?" requested Black Jack.

  "Ah, he's Chug and my name is Louis", said Louis while coughing a little bit from the dust.

  "Are you two boys spying on us?"

  "Nah, like I said?ah?mister...we were just looking at Jupiter. We ain't any spies and we didn't hear anything about any?ole?horse napping. Not even one word" said Chug all the while just shaking in his shoes.

  Louis thought the jig was up. He quickly realized that Chug had just giving them up, and that Black Jack now knew their plans. However, Black Jack must not have heard what he had just said.

  "That's right you didn't hear nothin. Good answer and keep it that-a way. I will remember you two fer sure. If you did hear anything, you better forgit about it, and git outta here right quick?or I'll skin ya both alive!" said Black Jack as he raised a grimy forefinger, then moved it across his throat, to show both the boys that he really meant business.

  "If I ever see ya two boys around here again, you're-a going to git it! Now, get-a moving on", said Black Jack again, but this time in an even more threatening tone.

  "Sure mister, we?hear?ya."

  "Yeah, you?don't have to tell us?ah?twice," said Louis.

  "Git!"

  Louis and Chug got especially scared after hearing that last threat from Black Jack and both took off running, just as far away from the fair's horse stables, Jupiter and the horse ring as they could get. Now they were more scared than ever, knowing that Black Jack knew whom they were, and had gotten a good look at them.

  "Do you think he knows that we heard about the plan to steal Jupiter?

  "I just ain't so sure Chug."

  "I couldn't believe what I told him. How could I be so?stupid? I was just scared to death Louis?"

  "I don't know Chug, I just don't know."

  "Holy cow, did you hear those guys? Can you believe what Black Jack just said and?ah?ah?are planning to do with Jupiter?" asked Chug with another nervous stutter showing in his voice.

  "Man, we got lucky that they let us go."

  "Yeah, they could have skinned us both a live right there. We gotta do somethin and?I mean quick", said Chug who was still shaking all over.

  Chug and Louis ran off at breakneck speed away from the horse ring as far as they could, not once ever did they glance backwards. Both boys were finally completely exhausted, now slowed down, and stopped running, after they thought they were far enough away, and out of danger.

  The state line would have been the best place to run to, but for now both boys found safety next to a wooden shed, behind the Ferris wheel.

  After catching their breadth, Louis turned and spoke to Chug.

  "We gotta do something Chug. Jupiter's in big trouble?"

  "I don't know what to do Louis, but we gotta think of something fast. Man this is no joke, they're gonna kidnap Jupiter tonight. Wait?wait?I've got it! I know what to do Louis. Let's get a, hotdog over there," said Chug as he pointed at a hot dog stand where a bunch of hotdogs was spinning, over a wood-fired grill.

  "I always think better with a full stomach, and those hotdogs sure do look great. Can't you smell em Louis?

  "You're always thinking about your stomach Chug."

  "I can't help it Louis, it's just the way I was raised."

  "Alright let's go get one."

  "One?how about four? Louis?"

  Both headed over to the hotdog stand, bought two hotdogs and lemonade, and then found a place to sit down on a nearby wooden crate, to talk about everything that had just become known.

  Full of nervous energy and now full of hotdogs and lemonade.

  Louis and Chug were in quite a tight spot. They had a horrible caper to foil, and a shameful crime to halt. They both now agreed (after talking for a few minutes and thinking over the situation) that they had to go get some help, and that they could not possible solve this problem all by themselves.

  Nevertheless, who would believe them, and whom could they turn to, to tell their story?

  Meanwhile back at the horse ring Black Jack Tilly leaned over and gave Rags Martin and Cool Joe another hardhearted look.

  "We've just got out of prison, and we ain't gettin caught, and we isn't going back to jail again for a second time, see. If you and Cool Joe bumble your way through this-a one, and we git caught again, you're both sure gonna regret it. I gau-ran-tee it!" said Black Jack in that slow Saint Louis drawl of his.

  Rags and Cool Joe both shook their heads in agreement that no screw-ups would happen this time around, while trying to kidnap Jupiter and that this time everything would go just as smoothly as planned.

  Rags leaned over closer to Cool Joe and said with a sly look on his face, and slightly joking tone in his voice, "Caught again for the second time. How's about being caught again...fer...the tenth time?"

  Upon saying this both Rags and Cool Joe, started laughing aloud which made Black Jack even more angry, and out and out bothered. Black Jack pulled off Rag's black cap and slapped him in the back of the head, with his open hand once again. Both of em shut up immediately knowing that this time, Black Jack intended this to be all business.

  "Let's run over this again", sai
d Black Jack while he wrinkled his brow, and his black eyes became all the more beady.

  "Rags, remember that beat up wagon we saw coming into town by that old yellow farmhouse...at that bend in the road?"

  "Yes I remember it..."

  "Git that old wagon ready to hold Jupiter in and I'll hotwire that milk truck, that's parked over behind the Blacksmiths shop, and bring it around to hitch that wagon up, at about ten tonight. Make sure you git the bed in the back cleaned out real good like, so we can fit Jupiter in it."

  "Sure boss...at ten sharp."

  "Cool Joe, you go git those two old ropes we saw?er?earlier today, down by the Ferris wheel sometime tonight, and git something to make a blindfold with, so we don't scare Jupiter too much when we grab him. Make sure that rope is strong enough. We don't want him getting loose.

  "I'll git em Black Jack?and?the ropes and blindfolds ready?just like you said."

  "Again, we'll all meet behind the yellow farmhouse at ten tonight and don't be late.

  "We'll, be there boss...ten sharp."

  "We'll take Jupiter down to the Centerville train station for the eleven o'clock train out of town. We'll git him over to Saint Louis and sell him to old Squint-Eye Pete and the Barker Boys. We'll git that two grand, split it three-a-ways and be on easy street...from then on."

  "Yeah?easy-street?Black Jack."

  "Yeah?you gotta that-a right?easy street boss."

  All three started to laugh aloud once again at how Black Jack's plan seemed to be so well, planned.

  At the thought of being so darned bad and being so filthy rich in a few days all three of the "Missouri Rats" started kicking up some dirt around the horse ring, began stomping up their heels together and were off again, dancing in pure delight; at the thought of being so darn bad and foul.

  A chorus of:

  WE LOVE TO BAD.

  WE LOVE TO BE BAD was sung repeatedly by the slightly rotund, delirious three little men.

  The Rats finally calmed down after singing and dancing in celebration over their soon to be good fortunes, when Black Jack Tilly slowly turned to, Cool Joe after catching his breath and said, "By the way, Cool Joe is a pretty strange nickname. How'd you git it anyway?"

  "Well, you see Black Jack, if you or any other dirty "Rats" out there ever?and I mean?EVER?double cross me. I will put's?ya? on ice! Fer?good!"

  "Is that true Cool Joe? You've iced a few guys?" asked Rags who was now even more afraid of Cool Joe than before.

  "Yep Rags, that's as true as your standing there looking at me with that ugly face of yours."

  Rags gulped.

  "Why'd you think they call me Cool Joe?"

  Cool Joe rolled up his dirty white tee shirt, showing Rags and Black Jack a tattoo on his bicep that had, a block of ice with a closed casket on top of it, with a knife blade running through, both the ice and the casket. Cool Joe's name was written below the block of ice, in bold capitol red letters. Black Jack Tilley and Rags Martin both leaned in closer to Joe's rolled up sleeve, to get a better look at the tattoo.

  When Cool Joe flexed his muscle, the casket opened, to show a dead guy.

  Both now gulped.

  Black Jack deep down in his heart of hearts felt a lot as Rags did, and thought to himself.

  "I hope I never git-a caught crossing Cool Joe. I might end up on a block of ice, lying in a casket and be a goner like one of those other guys who crossed him."

  "I put's em on ice I tell ya! I put's em on ice!" said Cool Joe laughing hysterically while making his point again.

  "How'd you git your nick name? Rags!" asked Cool Joe while he started rolling back down his dirty tee shirt.

  Just as Cool Joe was asking this, Rags pulled out a large gray, dirty and torn up handkerchief out of his back pocket and began blowing his nose wildly. It sounded like the noise a foghorn might make, that is mounted, on a distant lighthouse; the sound was earth shattering and very disgusting.

  "Never mind just never mind," said Cool Joe "I think I gotta that-a one figured".

  Black Jack had had enough of this conversation. He started towards the far end of the horse stables in a big hurry. Looking back towards Cool Joe and Rags he said in haste, "You guys don't fer git, tonight at ten o'clock...behind the old yellow farmhouse outside of town. Make sure your both there and don't be late."

  Both nodded in agreement.

  Cool Joe and Rags headed back over towards Jupiter to get another look at him and to try to figure out, all that Black Jack had just told them.

  The coming night would be fraught with danger and acts of daring. Trouble for all had come to Centerville and only Louis and Chug, had found out about the mean and nasty plan.

  How would Jupiter the Show Horse, be saved and how would Louis and Chug, foil the evil plot?