Jimmy's Zoo

by Robert James Allison

  ~*~

  They walked to Jimmy’s church, because Jimmy didn’t know where it was without walking to it. He didn’t know what street it was on or where on the street it was, but he could find it and he knew its name, because the pastor had told him.

  Mike and Jimmy stopped at the foot of the stone steps as Mike contemplated the best way to contact the pastor. It was Saturday and he figured no one would be in the church office and certainly no one would be worshiping today. The signboard out front confirmed his latter suspicion since no service times were listed for Saturday. However, the board indicated that the pastor could be reached at the parsonage adjacent to and part of the main church structure. It was a big place with a pre-school and large sanctuary. The name on the signboard said, “Central Christian Church” and a memory tugged at Mike’s brain. A distant memory that would not come to fruition no matter how hard he concentrated. Might have been connected to one of my deals, he thought, I had some development deals going on in this area of Chicago a few years back.

  The church sat on a corner and they located the parsonage on the street around the corner. Mike glanced at his watch and decided it wasn’t too early to make a visit. They walked up the steps to the parsonage and Mike rang the doorbell.

  Less than a minute later an elderly woman opened the door and asked, “Yes, may I help you?”

  “We’d like to see Pastor Fraley, please. That’s correct, isn’t it? The name on the signboard out front of the church said that Pastor Fraley was the senior pastor here and that he could be reached at the parsonage.”

  “Yes, may I tell him your names?” she responded politely and then said quickly, “oh, Jimmy, I didn’t see you at first.”

  Mike noted she hadn’t opened the door very far and he could see a chain still in place on the inside. Rough area, he thought and it looked it.

  “I’m Mike Maltby and I wanted to talk to the pastor about Jimmy.”

  Though the woman apparently knew Jimmy, she still didn’t open the door or make any move to remove the chain and Mike figured that she might know Jimmy, but she wasn’t taking any chances on Mike Maltby.

  “Jimmy’s not in any trouble is he?” she asked.

  “No, nothing like that,” Mike replied.

  “Let me tell him you are here. Can you wait just a moment?”

  Outside, Mike thought, wait outside. He didn’t blame her, his appearance probably didn’t invoke a lot of trust in people. Maybe Doc is right, he thought, maybe I ought to get a haircut and shave.

  It wasn’t a minute later that the door opened absent the chain and it was opened all the way this time as a man said, “I’m Pastor Fraley. Come in, please, come in. Forgive my wife, but we’ve had some trouble in the area lately and she is overly cautious.”

  “No problem,” Mike said as he stepped into the house and continued, “I don’t blame her at all, this looks like a rough neighborhood and I’m not the best-dressed guy on the block.”

  “Thank you for understanding. Please come into my study,” the pastor said as he guided them to a corner of the front room where a sliding door stood open revealing shelves of books and a small desk.

  Once they were in the study and settled into chairs, the pastor continued, “What can I do for you, Mr. Maltby, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, Mike Maltby.”

  The pastor hesitated in thought for some several seconds and then ventured, “Maltby…Maltby. Ever been to Central Christian before, Mr. Maltby? Perhaps some time ago?”

  “Not to my recollection, Pastor.”

  “I see,” he said and hesitated some more, saying, “I have a very good memory for names, one of my many blessings and I’m sure I’ve heard that name before. No more than that, I’ve had a Mike Malbty attending here, and spoken with him…or…no…no…her. It was a Mrs. Maltby,” he ended and he spun quickly to a computer on the little desk and rapidly stroked the keyboard.

  A moment later he said, “Yes, here it is. Almost three years ago, Mary Maltby. According to the visitor registry she attended regularly for several months and then never came back. I remember now...she was a very attractive and pleasant woman who said her husband was a successful businessman of some sort. He never accompanied her to services though. She said he was too busy and couldn’t make the time.”

  That vague recollection Mike had earlier was no longer vague, it was crisp and clear as if it had occurred yesterday….his mind replayed the conversation now.

  “Mike couldn’t you come just once?”

  “No, Mary, I don’t have the time. I’ve got to get this deal closed.”

  “But it’s Sunday, Mike.”

  “So what? The phones still work.”

  “But no one is in their office,” Mary stated.

  “I am and if no one else is then I’ll find them at home. Strike while the iron is hot, Mary. You know that’s how I work.”

  “The pastor asked about you, Mike. He’s a very nice man. I was hoping you could come just once and at least talk to him. Central Christian Church isn’t that far and it is a very friendly congregation. I feel at home there, but it’s not the same without you.”

  “Not today, Mary. You know I don’t go in for that church stuff. Got no time for it. You do the churching for us both. They don’t need me, just my money. You give them a nice donation for me, that’s all they want anyway.”

  “Michael Maltby, church is more than just a donation. You don’t go just to give money and they don’t want you to come just for your money.”

  “Well money is all they are going to get from me. You go on now, Mary. Take the checkbook with you. Donate however much you want. That’s the best I can do for them.”

  “And me, Mike? Is it the best you can do for me?”

  “Go on now, Mary. Let me work. If I don’t work you can’t buy all those fancy things you like so much.”

  “All I ever wanted was you, Mike. I never cared about the money or the things. I just want you to be with me, rich or poor.”

  “Well I care, even if you don’t and I’m not wasting my time going to church. By the time you get back I’ll have this deal in the bag….”

  “Mr. Maltby?” Mike heard as if from some distant place and his mind snapped back to the present.

  “Oh…sorry, Pastor Fraley. My mind wandered off for minute.”

  “Well…as I was saying. It was Mary Maltby, not Mike. Sorry, guess I got a little confused. Now what can I do for you and Jimmy? There’s no problem is there?”

  “No, we just wanted to let you know that Jimmy won’t be coming here anymore. He’s going to come work for me downstate on a sheep ranch or rather…for some friends of mine. I’m afraid I don’t know anything about sheep, but my friends do. They want Jimmy to come live with them on their ranch and work for them.”

  The pastor didn’t look thrilled, but then he didn’t look anything so far as Mike could tell…his face was unreadable.

  “I see…well if that’s what Jimmy wants then okay. I know he’s always loved being around animals and that sounds like a nice opportunity for him.”

  “I hear what your voice is saying, Pastor Fraley, but your face isn’t in agreement. You have your doubts I think.”

  “….well, yes. It’s just that I don’t know you and…well…you understand.”

  “Sure, no problem, but I’m going to leave you a card with my name and the address of my friend’s ranch on it. You can check it out, or me, for that matter to your heart’s content. Jimmy will be much better off there and he won’t be taken advantage of by his employer or his landlord and a myriad of other people who now do regularly take advantage of him.”

  “Yes, I fear you are right on that score. I always suspected that, but had no way of knowing for sure and no way to change things for the better. I have my limitations, too.”

  “No problem, Pastor. I took care of all that and I’ll see that Jimmy will be adequately taken care of. If you are in the area stop in and see him sometime.”

  “Yes, for sure
, I will, thank you for letting me know and for helping Jimmy. He has a good heart.”

  ~*~

  After Mike Maltby and Jimmy had left, Fraley went back to his study and picked up his phone. He had been senior pastor at Central Christian Church for twenty years and before that he had been pastor at other area churches. He knew a lot of people and had his share of contacts.

  “Detective Gibbons, please,” he said as the phone at the Chicago Police Division Three headquarters was answered, and then continued, “Pastor Henry Fraley.”

  “Pastor, what can I do for you? No more trouble at the church I hope.”

  “No, nothing like that, Sammy, but a man stopped by here today with Jimmy Peters in tow and said he was taking Jimmy away with him. He looked a little on the scraggly side, Sammy, and his clothes were well worn. I’m just a little concerned. Jimmy’s a good boy…man really, and I just want to be sure he’ll be okay. The man’s name was…”

  Detective Gibbons cut him off, “Mike Maltby, right?”

  “Yes, but how did you guess?”

  “I didn’t guess. You are the fourth person to call in the last two days.”

  Fraley’s heart sank and he asked, “Bad news then?”

  “No, on the contrary. Mike Maltby is on the level. Even the mayor knows him and in the past he used to be high society in the Chicago area, if not the entire country. He’s okay, Pastor and Jimmy is in good hands. I know this Maltby doesn’t look like much now, but a few years ago he and his wife, Mary…why they turned a lot of heads. The guy was loaded and I think he still is.”

  Fraley didn’t hear the last part, or anything after Sammy said, “his wife, Mary.”

  “Mary Maltby…I’m sure she attended here some years ago for a while, but he didn’t say anything about her…and she wasn’t with him today.”

  “She’s dead according to my information. Died a couple of years ago right about Christmas time. Not sure the ‘how’ of it, but she’s gone.”

  “Thanks, Sammy, see you in church tomorrow?”

  “I’ll try, Pastor, but we had a couple of murders last night and I’m swamped, that’s why I’m here this morning.”

  Fraley heard Sammy, but his mind was on an attractive pleasant woman from his past and a longhaired, unshaven man in rumpled clothing from today.

  ~*~

  All the way down Interstate 55 Jimmy stared out the window and whenever an animal came into view, he’d exclaim, “Look there! Look there!”

  Mike suspected that not only had Jimmy never lived outside of the city, but he probably had never even seen the outside of a city.

  Several times Mike had to pull off the interstate and travel a side road to get to a pasture where he could stop and Jimmy could get up to the fence to look at the cows or horses. Once he even had to find a way to a bean field so that Jimmy could watch some deer that had wandered out of the woods and were grazing on the beans. Jimmy Peters was in heaven.

  Chapter Three

  “Joe, I leave Jimmy in your care and I know that it will be the best.”

  “Sure enough, Mike. Did you ever see anyone take to animals like him? He ain’t been here an hour and those sheep are following him around and nuzzling him. I think he has already petted the wool near off that big old ram over there,” he said with a laugh, and continued, “that ram never lets any of us any closer than necessary, but look at him nuzzle that Jimmy.”

  “I realize you just met him, Joe, but tell me. What are the chances you can teach him something?”

  “Excellent. I don’t know what his IQ really is and I don’t want to know, but he is willing. Motivation is the key to education. Doc tells me you found out about that in West Virginia.”

  “I did and I don’t think you will ever find someone more motivated to learn than Jimmy. At least to learn about animals.”

  “Animals are all you have to know on a ranch, Mike. So long.”

  “So long, Joe. Say good-bye to Doc for me will you?”

  “Sure, Mike. Where to now?”

  “Can’t say for sure. East I think. Just where I don’t know, but east. Something out there, maybe.”

  “How do you know?” Joe asked.

  “I don’t know, Joe. I just go.”

  “That’s what Doc said, too. He says you ride the road with no direction in mind. You go nowhere on your own, but you always follow some compulsion to be somewhere and do something. He has an explanation for it though. He says God sends you where you are needed and that’s why you don’t know where you are going until you get there.”

  “That sounds like one of Doc’s explanations. He always says everything is God’s doing. Nothing happens without it being in God’s plan,” Mike responded skeptically.

  “And you don’t buy that, Mike?”

  “Not saying I don’t, but I’m not saying I do. It makes Doc feel better so let it go. Personally I can’t see where God would want me doing anything for Him. I do some good once in a while I guess, but that’s about as far as I take it. I don’t make more out of it than it is.”

  “Think what you want to, Mike, but the word’s out on you.”

  “What word, Joe?”

  “Around here the word is that if you need help just call on Mike Maltby and if you can’t find him, don’t worry, he’ll show up when he is needed. The word has spread farther than around here, too. Won’t be long you won’t have to ride to find people to help...they’ll come to you.”

  “Can’t believe that, Joe. I haven’t done that much and I doubt many people around here even know my name. Those that do know it elsewhere usually know it because of something I did to them, not for them, but those days are over. ”

  “Well, like I said. You think what you want, but you’ve done a lot all over this country for people and more people than you’d believe know your name for the right reason.”

  “Well, if you say so, Joe. So long again and thanks for helping Jimmy. He’s special.”

  “He seems to be and it’s me who should be thanking you. Jimmy is the type of person I always wanted to educate, but never could find the right niche from which to do it.”

  Mike nodded solemnly, climbed on his motorcycle, punched the starter button and as soon as the engine caught he wheeled it around in the lane and down to the hard road. East, he thought, as he hit the hard road. Something east.

  ~*~

  East it was, but not very far east. Just over the Illinois line in Indiana. An easy fix for a change. All that was needed was a little well placed money and a word or two in the right ear. The problem was solved. Even more easily than Vern Stephens.

  A longhaired, scraggly man appeared on a motorcycle in the spring and faded away a few months later. No one knew his name, or from where he had come. All they knew was that when he arrived the problem seemed to disappear. A small child walked again and a father smiled again. Everyone was so busy celebrating with the family that they didn’t notice a motorcycle fading away into the distance. That suited Mike just fine.

  ~*~

  Mike stood at the kitchen window and stared out at the snow. It was late December and the snow was piling up rapidly. The temperature was down to 15 degrees and falling fast. The wind was howling outside the house and whipping the snow with a fury.

  “Why so thoughtful, Mike?” Doc Collins asked as he entered the kitchen.

  “The snow, I guess,” Mike responded distantly, “It reminds me of the year Mary died. All of a sudden I was reminded of all that happened that December and all that has happened since.”

  Mike was thoughtful for a while and then said, “Doc, you never had any children did you? In fact I don’t ever recall you mentioning even the most remote of relatives.”

  “That’s right, Mike. No children, my parents are long dead and I had no brothers or sisters. I’ve had a full life though, Emma, friends, patients, and this old farm.”

  “Doc I want to thank you again for letting me room with you through the winter. I didn’t feel like another winter on the road, even do
wn south, and I don’t feel right in that house of mine with Mary gone.” After some time he added, “Still, it’s good to see the snow again.”

  “You’re welcome anytime, Mike for as long as you want. I’m a lonely old man and I welcome the company. Since Emma died and I stopped practicing I don’t have much in the way of variety anymore. My life’s pretty dull these days.”

  The rumble of a truck interrupted their conversation and they both looked out the window to see the Ranney’s truck rolling up the driveway.

  “I knew it,” Doc said and continued, “Every time I make donuts those boys show up. I think they have some kind of donut radar or something.”

  Bob Ranney, the youngest of the Ranney boys, was the first out of the truck followed closely by Joe and Sam. All three reached the back door at just about the same time and Doc was already there to open it. The Ranney boys were about all the company he got anymore and he was always glad to see them.

  “Morning,” Doc said as he opened the door.

  “Morning, Doc,” they all said almost in unison as they hustled in out of the cold.

  Bob said, “Mike called and said you made donuts last night.”

  “Oh he did, did he?” Doc said and continued, “Well I wondered how you boys knew. Have a seat.”

  “Morning boys,” Mike said as they took their usual seats at the kitchen table, staring at the plate of donuts Doc deposited in the center.

  “Glad you boys could make it. I was curious as to how Jimmy was getting along and I knew Doc’s donuts would bring you around.”

  “He’s doing real fine. Good worker and learns fast,” Bob said.

  “Good. I was worried he might not be able to learn enough.”

  Bob responded between bites of a donut. “He’s good help and the tasks on a ranch or farm aren’t that complicated. With good supervision he does real well. Besides, he loves animals and that counts for a lot on a ranch.”