Hollywood

by Ed Nelson

  At lunch we talked about the upcoming double date on Friday. This took us a minute, after that the two Toms and I talked about basketball. Ohio State was in a rebuilding year. We figured they would do good to break even for the season.

  They did have a pretty good forward by the name of Bob Knight. He was okay, probably one of those who would play basketball in college and then you would never hear of him again.

  While we discussed the fine points of Ohio State Basketball the girls discussed what they would be wearing on Friday. I half listened, it was interesting. I never knew it was so important to wear the right clothes at the right time. Sure a tux for prom, a suit and tie for other special events, but for anything else clothes were just clothes.

  After school I returned home to a different world. My parents were sitting in the kitchen and my father looked like hell. There was no other way to put it. Something had hit him emotionally and hit him hard.

  Mum looked up as I came in the door and said, “Jack just learned his father has died.”

  I didn’t know what to say.

  Dad looked up so I did say, “Sorry Dad.”

  I really didn’t know my grandfather Ross Jackson. He lived in Princeton Indiana where he ran and owned a feed mill until he retired. My grandmother Anna and Ross had divorced in the early 1920’s. He had remarried to a Florence who had two sons by him named Ross Junior and William. They would be in their mid to late twenties now.

  She didn’t want any of his sons from his first marriage around, so we had never visited. I understand that after the war Mum and Dad and I lived with them for a summer, but I remembered nothing about it. Mum says Florence never made her welcome and she was glad to leave.

  Dad and his father had not spoken in almost ten years, but it still hit Dad hard. At least Florence had called and let him know. From what I had been told about her she might not have. The funeral was on Friday and we would be going. We would drive over on Thursday and stay in a hotel, attend the funeral on Friday, and return home late Friday night.

  I know it was selfish but my first thought was that my date with Cheryl was ruined. As soon as I thought that I set it aside. The date was just delayed, family was more important than my date. Dad needed us with him so we would be there.

  I did call Cheryl and let her know what was going on. She sounded a little disappointed but understood.

  At dinner Dad explained to everyone his family situation. We would be attending the funeral, but not spend time with his step-mother or step-brothers. After dinner he took me aside.

  “The other kids won’t notice but none of my other brothers will be there.”

  “Why is that?”

  “There is no way to sugar coat this, I am the only natural son of Ross Jackson by Anna Jackson. She and Ross’s marriage was truly one of convenience. I don’t think they even liked each other.”

  “Why did they get married?”

  “She was pregnant with their child. They got married and then the child, Clyod died from influenza, which was very common in those days. The child was the only reason they got married and when he died what little semblance of a marriage they had died. They stayed together because in the early part of the century divorce was almost impossible.”

  “How do you know that you are Ross’s son?”

  “Blood tests and he acknowledged it. Apparently they tried to make a go of it at one point. Obviously it didn’t work out and they were finally divorced in 1927. I was seven years old at the time and remember us packing and leaving.”

  “We went from a nice house in Princeton, Indiana to a shack outside of Patalaska, Ohio. That was the beginning of hard years for us. The depression hit soon after. Ross did send money and Mom worked, but we never had anything.”

  “Ross got remarried in 1930. Anna remarried in 1932 and I never got along with her new husband Jim Warren. He is Wally and Jims father. After the war Mum and I needed a place to stay till I could find work. Jim Warren wouldn’t let me stay at his house. I called Ross and he let us come, over Florence’s objections.”

  “What was Florence’s problem?”

  “Money, Granddad Ross’s feed mill was worth a lot in those days. She wanted it all for her sons.”

  That explained why I never really knew my American Grandparents. Grandma Anna would come to our house when she was alive and now I understood why we didn’t go to hers. Granddad Ross never visited us. What a messed up family my Dad had.

  I didn’t know my English Grandparents because they were so far away. They still sent packages to every one of us kids on Christmas and our birthdays. There would be a knit item from Grandma Newman. These were always a hoot since she didn’t really know our sizes. There would be a book, English candy and best of all English comics. I loved, Beano.

  Thinking of the Beano comics made me pull out my old ones and reread them. I needed some lighter thoughts tonight. I really had to laugh at the antics of the Golliwogs.

  Chapter 4

  Wednesday started out dreary. All my classes seemed to be slow no matter how busy I kept. Mum had given each of us boys a note for our school offices to let them know we would be out Thursday and Friday. The only good thing on Wednesday was lunch time.

  Each of the kids there said words of sympathy. Cheryl had talked to Tracy about our double date and word had spread. I told them that I really didn’t know my grandfather not having seen him since I was very little. One neat thing was that Tammy Woodstock had joined us and was sitting next to Tom Wilson. I guess his serious side was working!

  I told everyone our plans and that we would return on Saturday.

  Tom Morton asked, “Could we do an afternoon matinee on Sunday?”

  I replied, “I don’t see why not. I’ll check at home to be certain but let’s plan on it if everyone can go.”

  I really hadn’t planned to start something but the next thing I know Tom and Tammy are included in our plans. The backseat would be crowded with four of us in the back. This created major dress questions. So many that Tom Wilson and Tammy change seats, so the girls could plan their apparel.

  Tom Wilson reverted to the class clown. He pointed out that Mr. Watkins the tenth grade English teachers room is on the ground floor. That his desk if tipped sideways would fit through one of the classroom windows. He had hall duty at lunch time. If he was distracted several people could hand his desk out the window to others waiting. Then the desk could be taken anywhere.

  Now this was all theoretical discussion of course. We debated what to do with the desk.

  Tom Morton came up with, “One of the emergency exits for the auditorium is just down the way. If someone opened that door we could leave it on the center of the stage.”

  Then I had to open my big fat mouth. “We could do it before a school assembly. It would be close timing but wouldn’t it be neat if when they opened the curtains the desk was sitting there.”

  That led to further planning questions. How many people would it take? We figured six; two in the classroom, two outside, one person to open the auditorium door. Then there would be one person to make certain that Mr. Watkins didn’t come back into the classroom. The two in the classroom would go out the window and help move the desk.

  There was a concern about the desk drawers. It was a big old wooden desk with three drawers on each side plus a center drawer in the middle for pens and pencils. We didn’t want those to come open and dump their contents. We decided to take the drawers out and leave them if they were not locked. Any that were locked would stay as they wouldn’t be a danger of coming open.

  We decided we had a plan. Not that we would ever do such a thing but it was neat to think of it. With a plan this well thought out what could go wrong?

  We had got so engrossed in our planning that we hadn’t noticed that the girls were listening in. Their dress plans had been settled quickly.

  Tammy said, “I’ll be in the hall. If Mr. Watkins starts towards his room I’ll let out a screech. When he asks, “I’ll tell him I saw a
mouse.”

  Tracy joined with, “I’ll be at the auditorium door.”

  Then Cheryl added, “Rick and I can be in the classroom to lower the desk to the two Tom’s.”

  Tammy then asked, “What if the window won’t open?”

  Oops!

  Tom Wilson volunteered, “They open them every spring when it gets warm, so we know they work, but I will test it the morning of.”

  So we had a plan and team in place. Not that we ever intended to do anything. At least that’s what I thought at the time.

  We had cancelled Spanish that night as we all had to pack for our trip on Thursday. Dad called a hotel he knew of in Princeton and had made reservations for two rooms. He also went down to the Sohio station and picked up the latest road maps for Ohio and Indiana to plan our trip.

  It looked like we would be taking good old US Route 40 through Indianapolis, then turn south at Terra Haute on US 41 going through Vincennes, and making a left turn on Indiana 64 to go to Princeton.

  At dinner I asked if there was any problem with me going to the movies on Sunday afternoon. There wasn’t so I called Cheryl after dinner to let her know. She would talk to everyone else.

  That night I started a new series of two books that I had checked out of the library at school. They were based on a concept used during the nineteenth century.

  It was the story of people registered at birth in a business venture or trust where all dividends go to a charity. When only one member remained alive they would receive the entire principle which would be a fortune.

  In this story there was a three year registration period so there was up to a three year variance on the entrant’s ages. The list of all entered was made public. No one paid attention for the first fifty years.

  It started to get interesting as the number alive dwindled. After seventy five years it started to get dangerous. At ninety years it was just plain murderous. The participants by this time were too old and decrepit to do anything, but their heirs were very active. Today these are officially banned. I did wonder what happened unofficially.

  Chapter 5

  Thursday we were up and on our way after a quick breakfast. It would be a long day. As we went across Route 40 that day I pointed out sites from my summer vacation. Where the sheriff had stopped me in Urbana, the parade route followed in Springfield, spots I had slept in fields along the way. Denny and Eddie really paid attention to all this. I don’t think my trip seemed real to them until I was able to show where I had been.

  Of course we counted cows along the way. You lost your count when you passed a cemetery. Since Eddie and Mary were in the middle it was decided by Mum that Mary lost her count for any on the left and Eddie on the right.

  That would give either Mary and Denny the same count or Eddie and I. That would be decided by each of us having a bonus spot. Mine was a firehouse. Denny’s a high school, Eddie a grade school and Mary a service station. I think Mum stacked the deck for Mary.

  We stopped for lunch in Indianapolis at a new hamburger chain by the name of McDonalds. Their burgers were pretty good with their special sauce. It is a shame they didn’t have any indoor seating. We were really ready to get out of the car by then.

  We did stop at a Sinclair gas station where a kid filled the gas tank, checked the air in the tires, added a quart of oil and cleaned the windows. We all used the rest rooms there. Dad paid and gave a quarter as a tip. Mum thought this was too much but didn’t make a big deal of it.

  We made it to Vincennes around three o’clock. It had been a long day and we still had a ways to go. I noticed a war memorial at the court house. It was one of the tallest ones I had seen outside of a large city like Columbus or Indianapolis. We were just passed it when Dad had to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

  As we stopped I looked to my right. I was sitting behind Mum on her side of the car. Looking up slightly I saw smoke pouring out of a partially open window.

  “Dad, stop the car there is a fire!”

  I exited our car as quickly as I could. I checked out what was in front of me. There was a jewelry store that was open and a door way that appeared to open to stairs that went to the apartments above the store.

  Eddie had got out behind me. I gave him the change in my pocket and pointed him towards a pay phone on the corner.

  “Call the fire department. Tell them you are across from the court house.”

  He ran off. Denny had followed Eddie out of the car.

  “Get the people out of the store.”

  I ran over to the door that appeared to open to a staircase. It did and I ran up the stairs two steps at a time. There were two doors that opened to rooms over the jewelry store. I laid my hand on the first door. It was hot. The paint on the outside of the door was starting to bubble.

  I ran to the next door and pounded on it. No one answered immediately, so I pounded even harder and shook the door knob. The door came open and a young lady with an infant in her arms was standing there. I didn’t give her a chance to say anything,

  “There is a fire and we have to get out.”

  I started to pull her out the door.

  She said, “Wait my daughter.”

  I rushed into the apartment; there was a three year old watching TV. I grabbed her and ran for the door. The mother had already started down the hall after she saw I had the girl. I could see smoke coming from the other door. It was about to burn through.

  I took running strides and passed the door. As we were about half way down the stairs there was a loud roar as the fire came through the door and had new oxygen available. We came out of the building and ran across the street. Dad had pulled the car around parked on the other side. He was just getting out. The whole incident would take longer to tell than it took me to go up and down those stairs.

  We came to a stop at the car. The young women looked like she didn’t understand what was happening. It must have been a shock. A stranger almost drags you out of your home and it explodes in flame.

  The three year old I was still holding wanted her Mommy and wanted her now! Mum took the infant and the young lady picked up her daughter. We could hear the sirens as the fire trucks approached.

  Denny came up and reported, “I cleared the store. There was an old man in the back who didn’t believe me so I carried him out.”

  That made me do a double take as I realized my middle brother was not so little anymore.

  Eddie told me, “I called the fireman like you wanted. Can I keep the rest of the change?”

  A police car came screaming up to the fire. Lights, sirens and tires squealing, when the cop hit the brakes I didn’t know if he could stop or not. He stopped jumped out of his cruiser and looked around. He saw us and ran towards us. The young lady ran to him. From the way they hugged I figured out they were married.

  They pulled apart. He had taken the three year old and she retrieved the baby from Mum. She told her husband what had gone on. Just as she was telling him the interior of the building collapsed. This started a whole new pillar of flame. Firemen were unrolling hose and hooking it up as fast as they could.

  I heard someone yell, “Turn in a general alarm. We will need every unit in town.”

  A man in a business suit joined us. It was the young ladies father. He introduced himself as Jim Hobbs and this was his daughter Melissa and her husband Bill Rose. The little girl was Ruth and her baby brother James.

  By this time Mary had come out of the car and was sharing her doll baby with Ruth. As little kids can do, they shrugged the whole thing off and decided that it was tea time.

  Melissa sobbed as she said, “Bill, what are we going to do. We didn’t have much but we’ve lost it all.”

  Bill replied, “Dear remember when you insisted that we buy a renters policy for our apartment and I didn’t think we needed it. You were right and I was wrong. Thank goodness we bought it.”

  Bill turned to Jim and asked, “Is it okay if I take Melissa and the kids to your house.”

 
“Of course it is, Martha would kill me if they went anywhere else.”

  The family went to the police car and got in. I noticed that Ruth had acquired a doll baby. I asked Mary, “Do you know she has your doll?”

  “I gave it to her, she lost her dolls in the fire and she needs one now.”

  “Good move squirt, I will buy you another one.”

  Maybe she isn’t the spoiled brat I thought, well at times she was, but she was going to be okay.

  The whole street by now was a tangle of hoses. It didn’t appear that we would be leaving for a long time.

  Jim turned to us and said, “Now what are your names, you have saved my daughter and her family and I don’t even know you yet.”

  Dad introduced us all.

  About that time a man in a suit came up, he asked, “Mr. Mayor I’m told these people saw the fire and helped everyone out. I will need their statements. We are treating this as arson until we know different.”

  Sergeant Dixon was business like in his questions but very polite at the same time. It was quickly established that I saw the fire, arranged for the call, had the store vacated and brought the young family out of the burning building. Somehow it all sounded like more than it was.

  By this time there was a small group of people standing around us. One stood out. I knew the type. Who else goes around with a cameraman taking pictures of everything? He stepped forward after Sergeant Dixon was finished. He introduced himself as John Taggart of the Indiana Sun-Commercial, the local paper.

  Before he could even ask the first question Mayor Hobbs told him to be nice to the heroes. The Mayor put so much force into that statement it made you wonder about their relationship.

  It sounded more like, “Be nice or I will rip your heart out!”

  Mr. Taggart didn’t seem intimidated but was gentle in his questions anyway. While we were being questioned the photographer had us three boys pose for a picture. Mr. Taggart wanted to know where we were from and what we were doing in town. When he, the Mayor and everyone standing around heard that we were on the way to our Grandfathers funeral they backed off and quieted down.