Saving Medesha

by DK Land

  Ollie sat down next to Mabel and replied, with a smile, “Well, the least I can say is that it was sure a fun day. That little gal is a real firecracker. She can stand there looking pretty and all, and just about everything she says makes you laugh. She’s really a sweetheart.” Then, he added, “But, boy can she work! When things get busy, she’s moving in about ten different directions at once.”

  Harold looked up past Ollie, and said, “Good morning, Tandy.”

  Tandy smiled as she sat down beside Harold. “Good morning, Sheriff.” She looked over at Ollie and grinned. “Gee, Ollie! Sounds like somebody might be in line for a raise.”

  Ollie’s face turned red as he said, “Uh. Hi, Tandy. How long have you been standing there?”

  “Well,” she replied. “I heard you call somebody a firecracker, and you said that they were pretty.” Then she reached over and patted Ollie’s hand. “Don’t worry, Ollie. I don’t think that the person you were talking about really needs a raise.”

  Harold interrupted the awkward moment. “Say, Tandy. Where were you? I didn’t see you when I came in, and I haven’t seen you come through the front door.”

  Mabel replied, “Oh, Harold. I just don’t know what to do with this girl. I told her that the diner seems to be running just fine with the new girls, and she could have the whole summer off to help Ollie out. So, what does she do before she has to go over to the gas station? She comes in here and starts helping with the morning prep work.” She smiled as she shook her finger at Tandy. “Now, dedication is a wonderful thing, but people need to take time for their personal lives too.”

  Tandy defended herself, “But, Mabel! This is my personal life. I enjoy working here with you.” She looked over at Ollie, and continued, “I also enjoy spending time with Ollie, so my personal life is becoming better and better with each passing day.”

  Mabel held her hands up and said, “See? Now, how do you argue with that kind of logic?” Then she softened her tone. “Actually, Missy, I do understand exactly what you’re saying.” She looked directly at Harold and said, “If I didn’t have my work and my friends, I don’t know what I’d do with my life.”

  The cowbell clanged again as Paul Sorenson walked in. He yelled to the group in the back booth. “Mornin’ everybody. Are you all ready for the parade today? Starts at noon, ya know.” He paid Marti for a cup of coffee to go, and walked toward the door. “Oh!” he said as he turned. “Say, Harold! Did you know that we got those two flags back up, down at the Marina?”

  Harold replied, “Yes, I saw that, Paul. That’s great. Isn’t it?”

  The mayor smiled as he opened the door. “It sure is, Harold. That will teach those juvenile delinquents to mess around with us, won’t it?” He waved as he closed the door.

  Harold and Mabel laughed. “Juvenile delinquents!” exclaimed Mabel.

  Harold added, “Yeah! With their bare butts hanging out!”

  Tandy and Ollie were thoroughly confused.

  Harold explained as he continued to laugh. “Sorry, kids! I guess you could say that our friendly little town of Medesha no longer has to worry about being attack by vicious pirates.”

  The telephone rang by the cash register, and Marti called out, “Sheriff Wheaton. You’ve got a phone call.”

  Harold answered, “Okay, Marti. Excuse me, everybody. It’s probably the Mayor wondering why I’m not wearing a tuxedo today.” He walked up to the front of the diner and picked up the receiver. “Hello, this is Sheriff Wheaton.”

  A cheery voice replied, “Hi, Daddy. This is Shauni.”

  “Hi, Honey,” said Harold. “I don’t usually hear from you this early in the morning. Is everything okay?”

  “I’m fine, Daddy,” replied Shauni. “I was… that is… Jefferson and I were wondering if you’re going to be really busy today… you know… with the ‘Boat Parade’ and all?”

  “Well,” answered Harold. “It’s usually not that big of a deal. I’m sure that Deputy Walsh could handle it by himself for a while if there was something you needed me for. Why? What’s up?”

  Shauni hesitated, “Ah, I’d rather not discuss it over the phone. Would it be possible for you and Mabel to meet us at Jefferson’s house in about a half hour?”

  “I think that we could do that,” he said. “I’ll tell you what. If we can’t make it, I’ll give you a call. Okay? Otherwise, you can expect us in a half hour.”

  He walked back to the booth and said, “I’m sorry, guys. Duty calls. I’ve got to go take care of some business.” He looked at Mabel. “Would you like to ride with me, Young Lady?”

  She stood up and placed her hand on her chest. “Oh, my!” she said. “I’d probably take a ride with anybody that called me a ‘Young Lady’. You’ll excuse us won’t you? I’m sure that the two of you will be able to find something to talk about.”

  Ollie answered with a smile, “Sure. You guys go ahead. We’ll probably be able to struggle through it.”

  A short time later, Harold and Mabel were sitting on a couch across from Jefferson and Shauni. The coffee table was completely covered with sixteen piles of papers. Jefferson explained, “These are the copies of all the records the hospital has on all the kids that were involved in the illness. Now, Shauni and I have spent hours poring over these and we’ve only been able to find two things that all of those kids have in common. We’ll need some more time to complete our study, but so far, it’s just these two things.” He paused, “I’m sorry. I guess you could actually say that it’s three things that they all have in common.”

  “What are they?” inquired Harold.

  “Well, first, we have the fact that every victim was a boy. But, the main thing is their blood type,” answered Jefferson. “That’s the one thing that completely baffled me when I was doing all the tests at the hospital. Every one of those kids has type ‘AB negative’ blood.” He held up his hands and said, “That’s it. That’s all we’ve been able to come up with. However, it seems that it’s more than just a coincidence.”

  Harold sat up on the edge of the couch and said, “I agree. It’s got to be more than just a coincidence. How could all these boys have the same weird, creepy disease and also have the same blood type? To me, it seems like this would point to the reason that they got sick in the first place, if this were just a natural disease. I mean; it seems as if the blood type could make them more susceptible to some kinds of diseases. Couldn’t it?”

  Impressed with Harold’s reasoning, Jefferson replied, “Theoretically, that’s true. However, Shauni and I feel that, with all the things that have taken place during the course of this disease, this thing is definitely a ‘Tin Lizzie’.”

  Shauni added, “We also can’t forget the strange phone calls made by Judy. We’re fairly sure that those weren’t coincidences either.”

  Harold thought for a moment. “No,” he said. “I wish you weren’t, but, I think that you’re probably right. So,” he continued, “it appears that this ‘Tin Lizzie’ was designed specifically for people with ‘AB negative’ blood. Could it have been for any people with that type of blood?”

  “No,” answered Jefferson. “I think it was designed specifically for these sixteen boys. Your own daughter has ‘AB negative’ and she wasn’t affected by the disease at all.”

  Harold was surprised. “Oh, really?” he said. “I guess I didn’t realize what Shauni’s blood type was. For that matter, I don’t even know what my own blood type is.”

  “It’s kinda funny,” answered Jefferson. “Most people don’t know what their blood type is.”

  Mabel interrupted, “Ah, excuse me, Jefferson. You said there was actually three things that these kids had in common. Could you tell us what the third thing was?”

  “Oh, sure,” he replied. “I’m sorry. The third common feature shared by this group of kids is the place where they were born. They were all born in the clinic at the factory.”

  Mabel said, “I wouldn’t think that would be of much significance, would you? I mean, ha
lf of the kids in this community were born at Preston’s clinic.”

  “That’s probably true,” answered Jefferson. “However, we don’t want to rule out any of these common characteristics without further study. What I see as the major problem with these kids being born at the clinic is that we don’t have complete medical histories on any of them.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Harold.

  “I suppose, to a certain extent, it’s partially my fault,” replied Jefferson. “You see? A number of years ago; back when I was working at the clinic one summer… Preston Vandervork and I had a rather large argument.”

  “Yes,” answered Harold. “I’ve been meaning to ask you about that incident. The two of you always seemed to see things eye to eye until that summer. If you wouldn’t mind my asking, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell us a little about that.”

  Jefferson appeared slightly uncomfortable as he continued. “Well, back then, I had been developing a theory about ‘life force’. By ‘life force’, I mean that entity, or creation of God, which allows all of us to live and be who we are. I guess it could also be termed as the human soul.” He paused. “Um, maybe I should explain how my interest in all of this first began.” He cleared his throat as Shauni reached over and held his hand. “Back when I was a young boy, I experienced the death of my childhood hero, and I had a very tough time accepting his loss. I knew that we had his body to bury, but I wanted to know where that spark of life was that made him who he was. I had a consuming desire to know that, although his body had died, he still continued to exist, and he was still the same personality that I had idolized so much in life.

  As I grew older, the thought of finding my hero became stronger and stronger. I went to college to learn all that I could so that I could continue my search. The more I learned about the medical sciences, the more convinced I became that the one thing a person’s ‘life force’ is lacking at the point of death is a vessel in which to reside. That electrical energy, which contains all of a person’s thoughts and personality is alive and it cannot remain in a body that has died. The body can no longer contain it. At that point, I resolved to see if it would be possible to design a vessel in which a person’s soul could reside after it has left the body.

  At any rate, that theory is what I tried to explain to Preston Vandervork while I was working at his clinic. I felt that, because he was also a student of medical science, he would also understand what it was I was attempting to do. But, I was terribly wrong. He became furious. He told me to leave and never come back. He said that I had no right to live in his community, and I had no right to work in his clinic, and I had no right to provide medical help to his people. He acted as if he owned the world around him, including the people that resided within his world.”

  Mabel was aghast. She held her hands to her face as she said, “Oh, my word! I can’t imagine Preston acting like that! I can’t picture him saying those things!”

  “Believe me,” replied Jefferson. “He said those things and much more. I had the feeling that the man was becoming unstable. It was at that point that I resolved to try to do something to help the people of Medesha. That’s when I donated the land for the hospital. I felt that they needed a choice in who provided their medical care.”

  Harold nodded as he said, “You know? That reminds me of an episode I had quite a few years ago with Preston. When it happened, I didn’t give it much thought because it really didn’t seem like such a big deal.”

  “What happened, Daddy?” asked Shauni.

  “Well,” he replied. “I stopped a car for speeding just outside of town. When I pulled him over, I realized it was Preston Vandervork. Like I said, it wasn’t such a big deal, but when I gave him a ticket the man gave me such a look as I’ve never seen before. It was one of those, ‘if looks could kill’ kind of looks. I thought at the time that the guy seemed to feel that I had no right giving him a ticket. You know? Like he thought that he was above the law? Anyway, as it turned out, Preston completely ignored the ticket and refused to pay it. Eventually, the judge over in Plentywood just canceled it.”

  Mabel commented, “I am just appalled! I’ve never heard anybody say anything bad about any of the Vandervorks.”

  “Well,” replied Jefferson. “It’s not my intention to spread stories about people, or to make people lose their respect for others. I guess the point that I was trying to make is that we really should have the complete medical records of all of these kids. Otherwise, there could easily be something we would miss that could be of tremendous importance in trying to solve this mystery illness.”

  “So, where are the remaining records located?” asked Harold.

  “They used to be kept in the Records Room at the clinic, and I’m assuming that they’re still there,” answered Jefferson. “I’m sure that Preston wouldn’t have destroyed such important files.”

  “Can’t we just ask Preston if we could have access to those files?” asked Mabel.

  “No,” replied Harold. “I see why Jefferson is so concerned about this. Preston knows that Jefferson is engaged to my daughter, and I’m sure that if I were to request those files, he’d know that Jefferson was involved in some way, and he’d just deny that he had them. And, if I were to get a warrant, I’m sure that he would ignore it. Just like he did with the speeding ticket. In fact, the judge would probably refuse to even issue the warrant. He’s the same guy that canceled Preston's ticket.”

  “So, what can we do to get those poor kid’s medical records?” asked Mabel.

  The four of them looked back and forth from one to the other. No one could seem to come up with a suggestion as to how to get their hands on the files.

  Suddenly, Mabel had an idea. “I know!” she said. “There are two businesses in town that everybody seems to stop at on a regular basis. One of those businesses is my Coffee Shop, and the other one is Ollie’s Service Station. Because of that, we are probably the ones that have gotten to know almost everybody in town on a personal level.”

  “But, Mabel. How’s that going to help us get the files?” asked Harold. Then he said, “Oh, boy! Listen to me. The only legal way for us to have those personal files is to get a warrant. I’m the Sheriff of this community. I shouldn’t even be a part of this conversation.”

  “Harold!” scolded Mabel. “This is far more important than whether it’s legal or not! Those kids; in fact, this whole town has had a terrible crime committed against us. We need to do this to solve this thing.”

  Harold agreed. “I know,” he replied. “I guess you’re right. If it means losing my job in the end, I guess it’s the right thing to do. So what does your Coffee Shop and Ollie’s Service Station have to do with this?”

  Mabel answered, “We know everybody that works at Vander-Wear. Maybe we could think of somebody that would be willing to go in there and get the files for us.” She hesitated for a moment as she looked at Shauni and Jefferson. “Harold is always accusing me of being too trusting of people, so maybe I shouldn’t be the one to decide whom we should ask. If you three wouldn’t mind, I think it would be a good idea to include Tandy Williams and Ollie Torgerson in on this. They both know everybody in town and I’m sure that they would be able to suggest someone that works at the factory that could get us those files. I know that both of them can be very discreet, so we wouldn’t have to worry about either of them blabbing all of this to anybody else.” Then she added with a smile, “And, another thing. We all know that Tandy spends most of her time thinking outside the box, so I think her thoughts would be very beneficial to us in getting this solved.”

  Shauni, Jefferson, and Harold looked at each other for a moment and finally nodded in agreement. Harold said, “Alright, then. We’ll include Tandy and Ollie in this. But, I would like to be the one to talk to them first.”

  Mabel smiled and said, “Great! Ollie always has his station closed on parade day, so I imagine that the two of them are probably still at the diner talking to each other in the back booth.”

/>   Harold rose from the couch and said, “We’d probably better get into town right away, Mabel. The sooner we can talk to Tandy and Ollie, the sooner we’ll be able to get a look at those files.”

  When they stopped at the diner, Marti had told them that Tandy and Ollie had gone over to the service station to take inventory. Harold decided that talking to both of them in the closed station would provide the assurance of privacy, so he and Mabel walked next door to Ollie’s. When Tandy appeared at the door alone to let them in, Harold asked where Ollie had gone.

  “Deputy Walsh stopped by about twenty minutes ago and asked Ollie if he would mind going out in the boat with him for one last check for Lester’s body before the parade begins,” answered Tandy. Then she added, “Ya know? I’m sorry, but, some people are just a little too dense to be allowed to walk around by themselves!”

  “What do you mean?” asked Mabel.

  She placed her hands on her hips as she answered, “Well, when Larry Walsh was in here a bit ago, he mentioned that some guy in a boat stopped him out on the lake last night while he was looking for Lester. The guy was wondering what a Sheriff’s boat was doing out there, and Larry said that a local person was missing and he was just checking the lake to make sure that he hadn’t gotten in trouble and drowned.” Then she pointed her finger at Harold and Mabel and said, “You wouldn’t believe what that guy asked Larry.”