by Jim Laughter
At Robert’s request, Agnes took some of the extra paper and detailed their treatment by the agency. When they finished, Robert took the notes and sealed them in the packet. Addressing the outside, Robert went back into the post office and mailed the packet. Back at the ground car, he got in and sighed happily.
“Where did you send the packet, Robert?”
“Where it will do the most good, to the palace,” he replied and then told her the addressee.
“She was certainly right when she said that further interference would have serious repercussions!” Agnes said with a smile.
Inside the post office, the clerk placed the packet into a special canvas pouch. Soon it would be outbound on a journey that would not end until it landed in a certain red box.
∞∞∞
Floating down the street, Delmar was still staring at his graduation certificate. He brought himself back to the present and entered a small cafe where he and the Hassels had agreed to meet. He ordered coffee and sat just staring at the certificate. Without him noticing, the waitress brought his cup of coffee and set it down.
When the Hassels arrived, they found Delmar still staring at the certificate, a cup of cold, untouched coffee on the table. They quietly slid into the booth across from Delmar without him seeing them.
“I see your exam went pretty well,” said Robert in a voice loud enough to break the boy’s concentration.
“Huh?” was all Delmar could think of to say, noticing them for the first time.
Delmar looked from one beaming face to the other and broke into a grin. He was still speechless when the waitress came over and Robert ordered for all of them. After she had gone, Mr. Hassel nodded to his wife and she pulled a small package out of her purse. Robert took it and handed it to the boy.
“Here, son,” he said quietly. “We want you to have this.”
Delmar looked at the package for a moment before unwrapping it. Inside was an old silver pocket watch. The inside cover was engraved with the words: From the boys of the 653rd unit to a fine trooper. Delmar looked up at the Hassels, his question written on his face.
“I received that watch when I was released from my old unit after being badly wounded,” Robert said. “My injuries never healed correctly, and although I could have continued to serve on active duty, my limitations could endanger my unit in a critical moment. Rather than take that risk, I accepted early retirement.”
Pausing a moment he went on. “The other troopers gave me that watch as their way of thanking me for keeping the faith and protecting their future. It was mine and now it’s yours.”
When they finished their late lunch, Mr. Hassel looked at his watch and motioned Agnes and Delmar to the door. Robert paid the bill as they passed the counter. Soon they were speeding enroute to the Hassel farm and arrived in time for Delmar to walk home without his brother being suspicious. Mrs. Hassel had Delmar leave the precious certificate with them for safekeeping, and with a hug sent the boy on his way.
“There he goes,” Robert said as he watched the boy start for home. “If our boys had lived, that’s what I would have wanted them to be.” Agnes came up behind him and slipped an arm around her husband. Together they watched until Delmar disappeared over the rise.
∞∞∞
When Delmar came through the door of the Eagleman farmhouse, Dorn hit him hard from behind and threw him to the floor. He tried to kick the door shut but it sprang back open, breaking a pane from the small inset window as it slammed against the wall. Broken shards of glass fell to the floor, some of the larger pieces breaking again.
Delmar could feel a trickle of blood running down the back of his neck. In the dim light of the room, he could see his brother, drunk with a broken bottle in his hand, towering over him. The rage in Dorn’s eyes was unmistakable. Delmar eased himself slowly along the floor to gain a defensible position.
“Where you been, you little snot!” Dorn screamed drunkenly at him. “You went and tried to cause trouble for me with the social agency, didn’t you?”
Delmar, confused by the accusation, knew that he had not seen anyone from the agency in several years. As his enraged brother drew closer, Delmar prepared for the worst.
“Don’t you try to run, you little son of a Red-tail! I’m gonna beat the tar out’ta you!”
Finally fed up with Dorn’s abuse, Delmar kicked outward and connected with his brother’s ankles, toppling the inebriated man. Falling to the floor, Dorn was unable to get a good hold on the faster boy.
Delmar twisted free of his drunken antagonist and leapt through the open door, running hard for the road. He dodged the thrown broken liquor bottle as he fled.
“You better run or I’ll kill you!” his brother screamed at him and slammed the door. The rest of the small window in the door shattered with the impact.
Delmar ran as fast he could, putting distance between himself and his dangerous brother. Fearing that Dorn might run him down from behind, he cut across several fields. He knew Dorn would look for him at the Hassels, so he decided to avoid their inviting sanctuary. Instead, he scrambled deep into a nearby wood and found temporary shelter in an abandoned shack. He secured his makeshift shelter and sank to the floor. How could such a perfect day have gone so wrong?
∞∞∞
Checking the outbuildings for the night, Robert Hassel was surprised to hear a ground vehicle roar into his driveway and slide to a halt. He hurried around the side of the house and saw Delmar’s older brother, drunk and enraged pounding on the front door with the palm of his hand.
“Where you hidin’ that no good little snot?” the man yelled at the door.
Before he could intervene, Robert heard the door open and saw the drunken man stagger backward. In the light of the porch lamp, he saw Agnes standing firmly in front of the large man with her rifle pointed squarely at his chest.
“I don’t know what you want but you have exactly ten seconds to leave my property!” she said, her voice hard.
His eyes wide with surprise, the man fell off the porch and lurched back to his truck. When he hesitated getting in, Agnes put a shot into the fence post next to him.
“Git, I said!” she yelled, “and don’t ever come back!”
Dorn leapt behind the controls and the vehicle spewed gravel as it reversed its course down the driveway. As soon as the truck was gone, Robert joined his wife on the porch.
“Good shot, Agnes,” he said, “but now I have to repair the fence post.”
Emptying the spent cartridge from the chamber, Agnes fed a fresh round in and cycled the weapon. “You know what I think, Robert? I think Delmar’s in trouble.”
“It’s obvious he isn’t at home or his drunken brother wouldn’t have come here looking for him. Wherever that boy is tonight, he’s going to be awful lonely.”
The couple remained quiet for a moment. They could still hear the noise from Dorn’s racing ground vehicle in the distance. After it finally faded, Agnes said, “We’ll go look for him at first light before his brother sleeps off his booze.”
“Sure wish I could help him tonight though,” replied her husband as they walked into the house.
Chapter Five
Early the next morning the Hassels were up at first light and ready to begin their search. Robert tried to think of how he would run if he were in Delmar’s situation. Naturally, he would leave the roads to avoid the danger of being run down. Taking to the fields would be a wise choice because of the difference in physical fitness between Delmar and his overweight brother.
The difficult part of the search would be determining how far Delmar would run before hiding. The boy had both good stamina and motivation, so he could have run quite a distance in a relatively short time. After several fruitless hours of searching, the Hassels decided to head for home.
“Robert,” Agnes said, “I don’t like the thought of that boy being out there alone and hungry.”
“I know what you mean, honey,” replied her husband, “but there’s not muc
h we can do until he shows up.”
Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a ground car pulling into the driveway. Robert looked out the window to see a police vehicle in the lane. As the officer stepped onto the porch, Robert opened the door and stepped out, Agnes just behind him.
“Morning, sir. Ma’am,” the officer greeted them.
“What’s up, officer?” Robert asked.
“We have a complaint against you for threatening a neighbor with a gun last night,” the officer said.
“That’s true officer,” Robert returned. “He was drunk and acting in a threatening manner toward my wife.”
“Is that true, ma’am?” asked the officer, looking at the small woman.
“Yes sir,” Agnes replied. “I told him to get off our property.”
“Did you shoot at him, sir?” the man asked Robert.
“No sir.”
“I shot at him,” Agnes spoke up. “When he hesitated, I put a slug into the fence post next to him.” She pointed at the blasted fence post near the officer’s ground car. The officer stepped off the porch and examined the fence post. He then returned to the porch and stood silently before the older couple.
“Well ma’am,” he began, “a complaint was filed, and we’re required by law to investigate. I’m going to have to give you a warning and charge you with assault.”
“What!” the couple exclaimed together. “What do you mean?”
“That’s right, folks,” he said. “As investigating officer I consider you, ma’am, as presenting a deadly hazard to innocent fence posts,” he added with a smile.
When the couple remained speechless, the officer continued, “I hereby place you into the custody of your husband and require you to perform two hours of target practice.” Robert and Agnes both let out a sigh of relief and smiled at the officer.
“What about the complaint?” asked Robert.
“We know the party who issued the complaint and have for some time,” the officer said. “In fact, he was almost too drunk to file the complaint. Officially, we had to investigate his complaint and I was the lucky one sent out to do it.”
“Why do you say you’re the lucky one, officer?” Robert asked.
“Because I’m the one who gets to ask for some of Miss Agnes’ famous apple pie.”
“Well then, let’s go inside,” invited Robert, holding the door for Agnes and the officer. Agnes stopped abruptly and turned again to the officer, her nose buried halfway up his chest.
“What are you going to say on your report?” she asked as she stepped back, a worried expression on her face.
“That the shooting was justified,” he answered. “Half the guys down at the station would like to run Dorn in, but can’t. In fact, they’re somewhat disappointed that you didn’t bag the scum. How could you miss?”
“I didn’t miss,” Agnes said. “If I’d shot him, there would have been a big mess to clean up and lots of paperwork afterwards. I thought hitting the fence post next to him would be sufficient.”
“In that case, ma’am, I rescind the requirement about target practice,” the officer said and they continued into the house. “I couldn’t have hit that close to the center of the post if I’d tried.”
They went inside and while Agnes cut the officer a large piece of pie, Robert poured them all cups of fresh coffee. Sitting around the table, they discussed the problem of Delmar’s brother.
“He’s been a problem to us for quite a while,” the officer said. “He’s had several run-ins with us, but nothing we can hold him on.”
“He has?” said Robert with open surprise. “We spoke to the director down at the social agency yesterday and she claimed that he was an exemplary citizen.”
“That’s a laugh!” replied the officer. “But it figures, knowing that agency.”
“We’ve had our frustrations with them too,” said Agnes evenly. “We tried to get them to do something about the abuse that man is inflicting on Delmar, but got nowhere.”
“You’ve got our sympathy, ma’am,” the officer said. “How is Delmar doing anyway?”
“That’s what we don’t know,” answered Robert. “After bringing him home from his graduation test yesterday, he went home and we haven’t seen him since. Then last night his brother came here thinking we were hiding the boy, so we suspect Delmar has run off.”
“That is interesting news,” remarked the officer. “You say Delmar didn’t show up here?”
“That’s right,” Robert said. “We went out and searched early this morning but couldn’t find him.”
The officer thought for a moment. “It’s probably best the boy didn’t come here. This is where his brother would look first. And if the boy is classified as a runaway, the social agency will have him sought out and arrested.”
“Do you think Dorn will report it?” Agnes asked.
“Don’t think so. If he did, they would cut off the financial aid they’re sending him to care for his brother. I’m sure he won’t jeopardize that.”
“That’s a relief,” Robert said. “I wish we could find the boy and help him.”
“Until he turns twenty-one, we can’t do a thing about getting him out from under his brother,” the officer added.
“There has to be a way,” Robert said.
The officer thought for a minute. “There might be one way, if we can find him,” the officer answered. “Of course, he has to be at least eighteen first.” The trio fell silent as they thought through the situation.
“I just hope he can stay safe until his birthday,” Robert said, shaking his head. “If he goes home, he’s in for nothing but trouble.”
“Well, he better not come here,” the officer said. “The social agency will probably have you under surveillance for a few days, especially after your visit to their office yesterday. If nothing else, Dorn and his drinking buddies will be watching your place.”
∞∞∞
The light filtering into the cold interior of the dilapidated shack fell on the huddled form on the dirt floor. With a shudder, the boy stirred and raised himself up into a sitting position. The back of his head still ached, and he could feel the bruises on his knees from hitting the floor when his brother had attacked him.
A metallic taste in Delmar’s mouth made him realize that at least one of his brother’s blows had connected. Though he didn’t recall being hit there, he checked his teeth with his tongue and found everything as it should be. His stomach growled and he ignored it of necessity.
After checking through cracks in the wall for anyone waiting outside, Delmar removed the barricade from the makeshift door and stepped out into the early sunlight. He washed and drank his fill at a nearby creek in an effort to quiet his stomach and to clear the bitter taste from his mouth. He returned to the shack to consider his options.
He knew could never return to the farm out of fear for his safety. Legally, his brother was still his guardian until he turned twenty-one. But the thought of over three more years like last night made him shudder.
His brother would check the Hassel farm, and Delmar refused to endanger them. From what Mr. Hassel had told him, he knew going to the social agency would only get him into more trouble, either with them or with his brother. This meant there was no other option. He would have to survive alone until he turned twenty-one. A deep sense of loneliness descended on Delmar at the prospect of hiding out for three years.
∞∞∞
The Hassels started trying to figure out how they could find Delmar, much less help him. They’d found no sign of him, and although discouraging, probably meant his brother couldn’t find him either. Robert figured that Delmar would avoid their place, and his brother showing up last night explained why.
Robert knew Delmar would probably hide out for a while and there were plenty of hills and hollows for that. Hunger would be a definite problem for the boy. There was little to live off of in the woods at this time of year. Anything from last season would be long gone, and it was st
ill too early in the spring for there to be much new growth. Water would be no problem, and Delmar was resourceful enough to build or find some sort of shelter. Food, thought Robert, would be the key.
All day he tried to think of how to find the boy but came up with nothing viable. While he was feeding the stock, he realized that he’d been trying to figure it out backwards. He didn’t need to find Delmar. The boy would find him. With the glimmer of a workable plan in his mind, Robert hurried back to the house for supper.
After washing up, Robert sat down while Agnes brought the last items to the table. She took her place at his right, and after a brief prayer to the Unseen One, they served themselves.
Robert had just gotten a bite of roast beef into his mouth when Agnes spoke up. “Oh Robert, I just can’t get my mind off of Delmar.”
“I know,” he said after hastily choking down the bite. “He’s been on my mind all day too.”
“What are we going to do?” Agnes asked. “How are we going to find him?”
“We’re going to do nothing,” Robert said. “When the time is right, he’ll find us.”
“What do you mean?”
“Right now,” explained her husband, “it isn’t safe for Delmar, especially here. Dorn will be watching us. He’s going to have to hide out until we can get this mess straightened out.”
“But what about food? How will he survive?”
“I’m sure he’ll do fine on all accounts except food,” Robert answered. “That’s where we come in.”
“How?”
“What I’m thinking is that Delmar will contact us when and where we least expect it. If we don’t expect him, neither will Dorn.”
Thinking for a moment, Robert continued. “What we need to do is always be carrying non-perishable food with us so when we do meet, we can give it to him quickly.”
“But we can’t carry enough food like that to feed the boy, and large packs will attract attention.”
“I know,” Robert said. “For now, the first move is up to him.”