by DK Land
After a moment of silence, as Ollie continued to smile at her, Tandy said, “So… Ollie… What was it that you wanted to talk to me about?”
Ollie appeared to be losing his nerve as he began to speak. “Well… You know, Tandy? You know how… well… uh… you know how you’ve always sorta thought of me as a… uh… well, I guess as kinda like a big brother?”
Tandy sat silently with her brows furrowed and her hand tightly squeezing the handle of the coffee pot.
Ollie swallowed in an attempt to regain his nerve. “Well, what I’m trying to say is…uh… um… Ah heck!” He put both of his hands, palms down on the table and blurted out. “Tandy, do you like to fish?”
Tandy was dumbfounded. She had known Ollie Torgerson her whole life. She’d known in her heart for almost half her life that she loved him deeply. Ollie wasn’t a ‘Hollywood Hunk’, or even a smooth talking ladies man. No, Ollie was just Ollie. But, to Tandy Williams, he was the hero she dreamed of after reading her romance novels until she fell asleep at night. There wasn’t a single thing about Ollie that she saw as imperfect. She felt that she knew just about everything there was to know about the man, and she loved every facet. She loved his bright red hair, and his wide infectious grin. She loved his big strong arms, and the fact that he towered over her diminutive stature like a brick building protecting it’s occupants in the midst of a raging Minnesota blizzard.
Because she knew this man so well, she also knew the importance of the question he’d just asked of her. She knew how important fishing was to Ollie. She knew that fishing was the one thing in Ollie’s life that gave him joy and peace of mind. She also knew that, in all the years that she had known him, she had never heard him ask a single person if they liked to fish. Fishing was Ollie’s religion. His service station provided him with a way to make a living, but fishing was his reason for living. It had always been an extremely private part of his life. As far back as Tandy could remember, she had never seen Ollie go fishing with another person. He always fished alone. To Tandy, Ollie’s questioning her about whether she liked to fish was almost as stunning as if he had just asked for her hand in marriage.
“Tandy?” Ollie interrupted her thoughts. “Tandy? Are you alright?
She wiped her hand across her face, as she tried to think of something to say without betraying the nervous quiver that she felt in her voice. “Oh, sure, Ollie. I’m just fine. Really, I’m just… I’m fantastic!”
“Did you hear what I asked you?” he inquired.
“Yes! Yes!” she answered, louder than she had intended. “I’m sorry. I mean… Yes, I did hear your question. And yes, I do like to fish. In fact, I really love to fish. The only thing is that I don’t get much opportunity to go fishing.”
She’d never seen Ollie grin wider than at that moment.
“Great! Uh… Wonderful!” he replied. “I was wondering if… well… I know that you and Mabel are going to be starting to work part time pretty soon, and I was wondering if you would like to go fishing with me this summer?”
She reached across the table and grabbed one of his large hands and exclaimed, “Oh, Ollie! I would absolutely love to go fishing with you. I really would!”
Just then, the cowbell clanged and Tandy turned to see Shauni Wheaton walking into the diner. Her face fell as she thought, “Oh, Gawd! What an absolutely horrible time for Shauni to show up.”
As Tandy turned to look at Ollie, she was surprised to see that his smile hadn’t diminished at all. He still sat there with his big grin as he tried to formulate his thoughts into words. Finally, he said, “Oh, this is going to be so great, Tandy. Heck, I’ll be able to show you all my little secrets about how to catch fish, no matter what the weather is or what time of day it is.” Then his smile faded and he lowered his voice as he suddenly became very serious. “And another thing that I’ve been thinking about, Tandy… I was kinda thinking that… well…”
She began to feel a surge of worry as she asked, “Yes, Ollie? What is it?”
“Well,” he said. “I know that we’ve been good friends forever, but ya know…”
Tandy said nervously, “Ollie, what are you trying to say?”
He breathed deeply and said, “I was thinking… that is, if you’d want to… I was thinking that, being that we’ll be spending a lot of time, just the two of us, out in my boat fishing. Well, I was thinking that it would give you and me a chance to really have some long conversations and really get to know each other. You know. Maybe a little more personally than just good friends?”
Tandy was truly amazed. “Ollie,” she replied. “I would like that more than you could ever know.”
“Really?” he asked. “Do you really mean that, Tandy?”
As tears began to well up in her eyes, she replied softly, “Yes, Ollie, I really mean it.”
Ollie said, “Well… I really have to go and get the station opened up, but maybe… if it isn’t too busy during lunchtime, we could talk a little more about this. Do ya think so, Tandy?”
She touched his hand and smiled as he rose from the table. “Well, if you would like to take your lunch about an hour later than usual, I’m pretty sure that we could find the time to talk a little.”
“Okay, Tandy. Thanks. Uh… so I’ll see you about one o’clock, or so then.”
“Sure Ollie,” she answered. “We’ll see you then.”
Ollie turned and walked to the front of the diner and said, “Good morning, Shauni! How are you on this very beautiful day?”
Shauni replied, “Good morning, Ollie. I’m pretty worn out from putting in all those hours at the hospital. But, other than that, I’m doing really well. How are you doing this morning?”
“Ho boy!” exclaimed Ollie. “I’m doin’ great! It’s a great day to be alive!” He turned to Mabel as she stood behind the cash register. “Here ya go, Mabel,” he said, as he threw down a twenty-dollar bill and headed for the door.
“Ollie!” yelled Mabel. “This is way too much. You only owe me five dollars and fifty cents!”
Before he closed the door behind him, he turned and said, “The rest is a tip for your waitress. Ya know, Mabel, she’s a really good waitress. You should really consider giving her a raise.” Then he was gone.
Smiling, and swinging her hips, Tandy walked slowly toward the front of the diner. “Did ya hear that? I’m a ‘really good waitress’!”
Mabel stared at Tandy. Then she looked from Shauni to the twenty-dollar bill, which she still held in her hand, and then back to Tandy. A smile began to creep over her, as she said, “Something tells me that you and ‘Mr. Big Spender’ had a pretty good conversation, Missy.”
Tandy continued swinging her hips as she walked behind the counter and into the back room. Before she closed the swinging door behind her, she turned and said, “Mr. Ollie Torgerson and I have a date to go fishing together.”
Mabel turned to Shauni, and laughed. “Wow!”
Shauni said, with a grin, “Mabel! Ollie always goes fishing alone! I think we just might have the beginning of something pretty spectacular going on between those two.”
Mabel replied, “Oh, Shauni! I hope to God you’re right.”
Then Tandy suddenly reappeared from the back room with a look of terror on her face. “Oh, Lord!” she said as she raised her hands to her forehead.
“Tandy, what’s wrong?” asked Mabel.
“Did you hurt yourself, Tandy?” said Shauni.
“No! No! It’s nothing like that. It’s worse than that,” replied Tandy.
Mabel and Shauni asked in unison, “What did you do, Tandy?”
“Well,” she replied meekly. “Ollie asked me if I liked to fish, and if I’d like to go fishing with him this summer while you and I are working our part-time schedule.”
“Yes,” answered Mabel. “That’s really great… isn’t it?”
“Oh, you guys!” whined Tandy. “When I was in high school, you could never get me off the water. I was out there on water skis all summer long
. And I absolutely loved to swim. Some of us girls used to swim from the Marina all the way over to Vander Island and back.”
“I know, Tandy,” said Mabel. “You were like a fish back then.”
“As you may recall, Tandy,” said Shauni. “I was one of the girls that you used to swim over to Vander Island with, and I agree with Mabel. You were like a fish back then.”
“But, don’t you see?” Tandy asked. “That’s just the problem. Oh, darn it anyhow! I was so excited when Ollie asked me if I’d like to go fishing with him. I even told him that I love to fish. But, you guys, what am I going to do? Ollie's going to think I’m nothing but a stupid girl! I have never caught a fish in my life!”
Chapter 8
Across the street from Mabel’s Coffee Shop, Sheriff Harold Wheaton was sitting in his office talking on the telephone to Dr. Gerard Slocum at Medesha Memorial Hospital. “Tell me, Gerard. Do you think that this could have been something that all of these kids could have come in contact with recently? You know, some kind of gathering where all of them were together, with none of the other kids in the community around?”
“To be honest with you, Harold,” said Gerard. “I think it goes deeper than that. I don’t think that these fifteen kids… or possibly sixteen, if we include Willy Sadler, were just exposed to some outside phenomena strictly by happenstance.”
“In other words,” replied Harold. “You’re still going with the possibility that these kids were intentionally infected or somehow exposed to this thing?”
“That’s exactly what Dan Roberts, Jefferson Cordain and myself have surmised,” answered Gerard.
Harold began to feel uneasy at the mention of Jefferson’s name. “So Jefferson is involved in the discussion and investigation of this episode also?” asked Harold.
“Well, of course he is!” said Gerard. “I know he’s not an employee of this facility, but he’s a very welcome volunteer. His expertise is most valuable to us; not only in digging into this particular problem, but also in the many day to day situations we encounter here at the hospital.”
“Oh, I understand completely,” said Harold. “I know you need all the help that you can get to get to the bottom of this thing. It’s just that I feel… well, I think that the Sheriff’s Department should be involved in the investigation also. It seems that you fellas are pretty convinced that this was actually caused by that ‘Tin Lizzie’ thing that you were telling me about. And, if that’s the case, then this is also a criminal investigation, and I would like to be kept abreast of all theories, discoveries, and people involved in trying to solve this case.”
“Oh… well, I guess you’re right, Harold,” answered Gerard. “I guess that we’ve all been so intent on looking at this situation from a medical viewpoint, that none of us has given much thought to the criminal aspect of it. I suppose I should tell you then, that we’ve also got Shauni helping us with trying to solve this thing.”
“Shauni?” asked Harold with parental concern. “Now, Gerard, there isn’t any possibility that she would become infected with some kind of unknown bug or something, is there?”
“Harold, don’t be so worried,” answered Gerard. “At this juncture, all original patients are completely back to normal. And another thing; not a single person above the age of twelve has had any signs of illness from being in contact with these boys. Well, for that matter, nobody at all has been infected in any way after contact. We are one hundred percent certain that this is not a contagious situation.”
Harold could hear Irene arguing with someone in the outer office. “I’m sorry, Gerard. I’ve got a situation here that I need to attend to. Before I let you go, I need to ask you something.”
“Sure, Sheriff. What do you need?” Gerard asked.
“Would it be permissible for me to peruse your patients records to see if it would help with my end of the investigation?”
Gerard hesitated. “I’m really sorry, Harold. Legally, you have to present a court order for us to allow you to look at confidential patient files. I hope you understand.”
“Of course,” answered Harold. “I understand. Listen, Gerard. I really have to go. It sounds like Irene is dealing with some sort of lunatic out in the other office. Maybe I’ll try to stop by the hospital this afternoon, so we can continue this conversation.”
After Harold hung up the telephone, he walked out to the reception area. Irene was saying, “I’m sorry, Mr. Mayor. I can’t allow you to interrupt the Sheriff while he’s on official business.”
Harold said, “It’s okay, Irene. I’m off the phone now.” He turned to Mayor Paul Sorenson. “Well, Paul. With the ruckus you were raising out here, I’m sure that the person I was talking to thought that I was calling from ‘Cheryl’s Daycare Center’ over by the factory. What the heck’s the problem now?”
Paul Sorenson’s face was red with anger. He shook a newspaper in front of Harold and said, “I thought that you were going to keep a lid on this flu thing. Have you seen today’s headlines?”
Harold calmly took the paper from Paul and peered at the front page. The headline read, “FLU EPIDEMIC SHORT LIVED”. He threw the paper on Irene’s desk and said, “For heaven’s sake, Paul. Now you want me to dictate to Jim Matland what he can and cannot print in his own damn paper? Now, I know that I have, on occasion, assumed that people knew certain things without my asking them in advance, but this is crazy. I guess I did it again. I guess I assumed that you’d heard of the term ‘Freedom of The Press’. Look it up, Paul. It’s in the U. S. Constitution, for God’s sake!”
Attempting to defend himself, Paul said, “You know what I mean, Harold. We don’t want this kind of publicity just before the summer boating season.”
Calmly, Harold asked, “You never did get over to the hospital to check this thing out, did you, Paul?”
“Well… no, not really,” he answered. “I’ve been too busy. You know that.”
“Well, Paul,” said Harold with sarcasm. “I’m sure if you’d been able to pull yourself away from your heavy schedule for just a few minutes, you would probably have discovered exactly who Jim Matland’s source was for today’s headlines.”
“Who was it?” asked Paul with anger in his voice.
Harold raised his voice. “It was his own damn kid, Paul! Jim Matland’s boy, Kevin was one of the fifteen boys that were hospitalized with this so called ‘flu’.”
Suddenly, Mayor Paul Sorenson felt rather meek. “Oh…” he said quietly. “I didn’t know that. Is Kevin feeling better now?”
“Paul,” replied Harold impatiently. “Why don’t you walk down to the newspaper office and ask Jim. I'm sure he'd appreciate your concern for his youngest child.”
“Yeah,” said Paul. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should do that.”
Without another word, Mayor Paul Sorenson walked out the front door of the Sheriff’s Office.
Harold looked at Irene and said, “Ya know? My grandmother had the same kind of personality as Paul Sorenson, and she never once considered running for mayor of Medesha.”
“I knew your grandmother, Sheriff Wheaton,” replied Irene. “She was quite a feisty individual, wasn’t she?”
“Oh, yes!” answered Harold. “You could have definitely called her feisty!” He paused as he turned to walk back into his office. “Oh. Say, Irene?”
“Yes, Sheriff Wheaton?”
He replied, “I wish you would call me Harold, rather than Sheriff Wheaton.”
Somewhat startled, she answered, “Yes, Sheriff Wheaton.”
* * *
At Mabel’s Coffee Shop, across the street from the Sheriff’s Office, Shauni Wheaton was just paying Mabel for her coffee and sweet roll, when Julius Benson walked in. As Shauni left, she said with a smile, “Good Morning, Mr. Benson. How are you today?”
“Good Morning, Miss Wheaton. I’m fine, thank you,” he replied, as he tipped his cap.
Mabel said, “Bye, Shauni. Hi Julius. You’re looking well today. Oh, it’s a good thing that
you’re running later than usual. We just got the morning paper in a few minutes ago. Our paper boy has been sick, so Jim Matland himself had to deliver them.”
He took out his two quarters and placed them on the counter and said, “Thank you, Miss Marten.”
As he turned to leave, Mabel said, “Say, Julius. Did you see the headlines? We had a bunch of kids sick in the hospital with the flu the last couple days.”
The old man stopped and glanced at the front of the paper. “Oh, I see. Well, it looks as if it didn’t amount to much. I hope those EEG machines that Mr. Vandervork donated to the hospital came in handy.” He left without another word.
Just then, Mabel’s telephone rang. She picked up the receiver, “Mabel’s Coffee Shop.”
The voice on the line said, “Hi, Mabel. This is Jefferson Cordain returning Shauni’s call. She left a message on my answering machine asking me to call her at the diner.”
“Well, hi Jefferson,” she replied. “I’m sorry, Shauni just left to go to the hospital. I’m sure that you can reach her there if you give her about five minutes.”
“Okay, great. “I’ll call her at the hospital then. Thanks, Mabel.”
Shauni was paged to the telephone just as she was leaving the nurse’s lounge. She walked down the corridor and picked up the nearest phone. “This is Shauni,” she said.
“Mornin’ Kid!” came the reply.
“Hi, Jeffer,” she smiled. “Did you try to get a hold of me at the diner?”
“Yeah,” he said. “Mabel said you’d just left. Was there a problem?”
She grinned as she replied, “Well, no. It’s not really a problem. Well… I guess, in a way, it is. It’s a girl kind of problem.”
“A girl kind of problem?” he asked. Then he couldn’t resist. “Almost every problem known to man is a ‘girl kind of problem’.”
“Now, Jeffer!” she scolded with a smile. “You know that’s not true!”