Diana and the Three Behrs

by Fleeta Cunningham

  Seeing the woman had no intention of letting her boarder assist, Diana sat back with one of the lemon drops from her bag and watched the red sun paint a pale green and pink sunset across the horizon.

  Adler had a sweetheart, and she ditched him for a career. Now he and Papa Behr are going to have that small whirlwind taking over their lives. How on earth will they manage all the things a child, a girl child, needs? Tea parties and dressing up? Giggles and make believe? Wish I could be a fly on the wall and watch. She’s an adorable child, smart and pretty, but I think she just might have a little stubborn streak in her too, like her uncle. Should be lively at the home of the three Behrs.

  ****

  “We had quite a discussion at the bank after you left yesterday afternoon, Diana. Your skill made a deep impression on my employees.” Adler’s burly height more than filled Frau Hepple’s blue armchair. He shifted his long legs to a less cramped angle. “I think you have two very enthusiastic converts. Fred, my head teller, couldn’t stop talking about all the reports and office memos we could produce with that machine. Otto, the older fellow who handles loan applications, didn’t say as much, but I could see he was fascinated. He’d tried working that machine with nothing to show for it but frustration.”

  “Wasn’t there a third man?”

  Adler shrugged. “He’s interested, but not enough to spend his own time learning. For an hour off his duties, he’d be willing, but he’s the man who is always the first out the door at closing time.”

  Diana knew the type and would just as soon not have to deal with him. “Then we only need a place to hold the sessions. Do you have a spare office where we can work? It’s important for them to have access to the machines all the time, so they can practice.”

  Adler ran his thumb across his lips, a studied expression wrinkling his forehead. “I have a, well, call it a suggestion, Diana.” He paused, one heavy eyebrow raised above his piercing eyes. “I can arrange for you to have the small meeting room at the back of the bank. We use it when we have to conduct private business or have the banking commission in. Not large, but it holds six people comfortably. I thought we could turn it over to you for your training sessions while you’re working with Fred and Otto. If you locate the old timers you’re interested in interviewing, that would also be a convenient place for it.”

  Diana met the suggestion with enthusiasm. She’d wondered where she’d find a space to conduct any preliminary business for the professors. “It sounds perfect, Adler. Private and detached, out of the way of the bank’s business, and it shouldn’t be intimidating for any of the people I might interview for the professors.”

  He clasped his knees and leaned forward. “Good. We’ll plan on it. But there’s something else I want to talk to you about.”

  “Something about the research I’m doing for Dr. El?”

  He pushed up from the chair and stood, leaning on the carved mantel above the empty fireplace. “No, not that. I’m not sure how to ask.”

  Diana had never seen Adler uncertain of anything before. “I suppose the best thing is just to say it.”

  “Right.” He settled his jacket and drew a breath. “That…that performance you gave yesterday, when you blasted through my letters like they were nothing, turning out perfect copy in a snap…it was pretty impressive. Not just to Fred and Otto, but to me. I’d seen you work from your own notes with that secret cypher you use, but to see you take my scrappy handwritten copy and turn it into those neatly printed pages was remarkable. It got me thinking. Fred’s an ambitious young fellow, has a girl he’d like to make his wife, but he’s not making enough yet for her papa to agree to the marriage. If he can get this typewriting thing down, like you do it, I think he could take over a good bit of the bank correspondence for me. Be a nice promotion for him and a big help to me. Probably persuade his girl’s family to permit the banns. Now that we have Elizabeth, I need to be home more. Papa’s good with her, but he’s seventy, and a four-year-old takes a lot of energy. If Fred could handle more of the routine at the office, I could come in later and maybe leave a little earlier, be home with her enough to take some of the burden off Papa.”

  “I certainly see how that would be a help to both of you, but it hardly concerns me. I’ll be happy to give Fred all the encouragement and instruction he needs, but acquiring the skill is up to him.”

  “True enough, Diana. I think Fred will make a good hand for us. The trouble is, I need to have someone now, while we’re getting Elizabeth settled and into some kind of routine. I’m afraid my sister, because she was ill and…there were other difficulties…she wasn’t able to give Elizabeth the supervision she needed. The child is loving and can charm the bees out of their honey, but she’s been left to her own devices quite a bit. She can be a handful. I need to be home with her right now. I wondered…whether you’d contemplate…maybe two or three hours during the day…if you weren’t tied up with Elmsford’s project all the time…would you consider doing more of that correspondence for me? Like you did yesterday morning?”

  A woman in your office, Adler Behr? I do believe the earth just shifted on its axis.

  “I’d expect to pay you, of course. You’d have the meeting room all day. Just do letters and some reports for me as you could, whenever you could work it in.”

  “Adler, you and Papa Behr have done so much for me, getting me a room here, offering to introduce me to likely candidates for Dr. El’s project, even helping me get away from Tommy Gunn and his men, I’ll be in your debt forever. Of course, I can do a few letters and things for you.”

  Relief sent tension out of his rigid form. “You’ll do it? Bless you, Diana Woods. You have no idea how thankful I am that you agreed. Young Elizabeth is proving to be quite a headstrong child; she has enough energy for three little girls. Papa went to bed as soon as she did last night, and I wasn’t far behind. I could see we were in for some future difficulties. The only plan I could put together was to spend more time with her during the day and let Papa take the evening hours, when she’s wound down a little.”

  “Once she’s accustomed to her new home and knows you and Papa Behr better, she’ll likely be easier to manage.” Diana wanted to be encouraging, but she remembered enough of her own and Pamina’s early years to have some doubts.

  “We can hope.” Adler pulled a large watch from his pocket. “Speaking of Papa, I’m supposed to bring you to Bindler’s for lunch. He has an acquaintance, an old cowboy raised along the Pecos, who is still in touch with a lot of his old sidekicks; he thinks you’d like to meet this fellow. Did you have plans for lunch, or can you come?”

  “Since that’s what I’m employed to do, I’ll certainly meet your papa’s friend. I need to find as many sources as I can before the bickering owls descend on us.”

  Adler laughed aloud, and Diana was surprised to see how amusement transformed his rather stern countenance. “Bickering owls! That describes them perfectly. I’ve known Elmsford and King since I was a college freshman. They’ve been nattering back and forth forever. Pearce and his clutch of worrywarts didn’t change that when they joined forces with the old boys. If anything, between Getty’s deafness and Holmes’ pomposity, they added to it. Taken all together, they do sound like a convention of frustrated fowls.”

  Relieved that he didn’t take her description as disrespectful, Diana still thought it best to redirect the conversation. “Tell me about this cowboy your father has lured to talk to me. Did he make the old trail drives? Do you think he’ll have anything to offer the professors? I’d like to be able to tell Dr. El we’ve made progress, when I hear from him.”

  “I don’t know the man myself, but I trust Papa’s judgment. If he thinks you’ll find something worthwhile, I’m fairly certain you will.” He picked up his hat from the table near the entry and opened the door. “Are you ready to go? Do you have any other errands to do?”

  “I’ll need to get my notepad and a pencil.” She glanced upstairs. “I’ll just be a minute. I suppose I’d be
tter get my hat, too, though I trampled all convention and went without it yesterday. I think I’d better try to make a good impression on your papa’s cowboy.”

  “By all means, leave it behind. That cowboy is more likely to respond to a pretty girl’s face than a dignified lady in a hat.” A small smile still curved the corners of his mouth. “I like your short hair and the way the sun gives it a touch of gold here and there. Generally, when ladies cut their hair, they look odd, even a little masculine, I think. Not in your case. If every girl who cut her hair came out looking like you, I don’t think anybody would ever complain about bobbed hair again. Or even think about a girl needing her hat.”

  Astonished to have heard fulsome praise and a compliment come from Adler Behr, and both in the same conversation, Diana dashed up the stairs to her room. She took a quick look in the mirror to see if some good fairy had dusted her with magic to draw such positive words from the reticent banker. No, she looked just as she had when she went down to meet him an hour before, her white middy blouse tidy and her pleated skirt swirling neatly below it. She quickly ran a comb through her hair, patted the waves in place, then gathered up her bag and checked to be certain she had her notebook and a pencil in it. Assured she was prepared, and wondering who Papa Behr’s cowboy might turn out to be, she tripped lightly back down the stairs. Adler, standing in a shaft of sunlight just inside the parlor door, somehow looked a little different, as if he’d shed a burden or put aside a lingering worry. Something about him, the way he stood or the set of his wide shoulders, had a youthful air, and the rare smile now touching his lips, bringing a softer look to his eyes, was almost boyish.

  ****

  Once inside the door of Bindler’s, Diana saw what the Behrs meant when they told her everyone in town, at some point in the day, could be found in the place. At a little past noon, not one table was unoccupied. Few had an empty chair. The buxom lass who carried laden trays and pots of coffee or pitchers of lemonade swished through narrow spaces between customers with the speed and grace of a gazelle.

  “Are you sure Papa Behr wanted us to meet him here? Now?” She peered over the tall men seated near the door, looking for a head of white hair.

  Adler gestured toward the back. “He’ll have a table over near the windows. He’s there almost every day, and Bindler’s daughter saves it for him. He’ll probably have Elizabeth with him, too, as well as the man he wanted you to meet.” He edged his way through the tight crowd, drawing Diana with him. Inevitably she bumped elbows and stepped over boots, but the patrons merely nodded at her apologies and went on with their meal.

  “There they are.” Adler turned a little toward the sunlight streaming in through the windows and started for the table in the corner. Diana saw them then, Papa Behr with his white hair shining, Elizabeth clutching a mug of milk in both hands, and a worn, weatherbeaten face half hidden by a drooping salt-and-pepper moustache. The elder Behr looked up and waved a welcoming hand. As they approached, he half stood, gesturing to the empty chairs on each side.

  “Did you get all the technicalities ironed out, young lady? Got the reins in your hand?”

  Diana sat in the chair he held for her. “I believe so, Papa Behr.” She gave a questioning look to the short, wiry man beside Behr.

  “This is Pete, Pete Calvados, Diana. He works up on the Hempstedt place now, but some years back, he drove cattle, mustangs too, for a couple of the big outfits.” Erlich Behr leaned down to address the shorter man. “Pete, meet Miss Diana from Fort Worth. She’s the lady I told you about. The one who is working for some important professors and wants to hear more about the old days. I thought, since you know just about everybody who ever rode the trail or met up with the boys when the drive was over, you just might be some help to her.”

  Pete held out a calloused and leather-like hand. “Don’t know why your perfessers would care, miss, but I don’t mind talking if somebody’s a mind to listen.”

  “Dr. Elmsford and his friends will be coming here in a few weeks. They’ll probably want to talk to you themselves. My job is to get an idea of what your experience has been so they’ll know what to ask about.”

  Pete gave a short bark of laughter. “Reckon there’s a wagonload of stuff I could tell that wouldn’t be suitable for a lady’s ears, nor some old perfesser’s hearing, either. Tell me what you think would interest this feller, and I’ll see what I know about it.”

  Adler intervened. “Why don’t we have lunch first? Then I can take Elizabeth back with me and leave the three of you to talk. Little girls get pretty restless when they have to sit too long.”

  The others agreed. Diana let the general talk flow around her and did what she could to amuse the little girl. Elizabeth had a new dress, one Papa had bought just this morning. She was very pleased to show Diana the blue forget-me-nots stitched into the white organdy yoke and puffed sleeves.

  “The blue flowers are the same color as your eyes. Did you know that?” Diana asked.

  “A’course. Unkler said my eyes are pretty.” She looked up. “You’re pretty, too. Unkler said.”

  Diana was relieved to see Adler had finished lunch, was preparing to leave, and apparently hadn’t overheard that part of the conversation. He lifted Elizabeth from her chair, the one with a box in it to raise her to table height. “I think we’ll take a stroll down the way and see if we find any licorice at the drug store. We’ll see you at home later, Papa.” He glanced back at Diana. “I’ll see you at the bank tomorrow? I’ll have everything arranged in the meeting room. You can talk with Fred and Otto and see what time will work for the three of you.” He picked up his hat and took Elizabeth’s tiny hand in his. “Thanks again for your help.” Seeing Elizabeth would quickly be lost in the crowded hall, he scooped her up and headed through the clustered tables. Diana watched for a moment, again touched by the care he took to see the little girl was secure.

  “Now, miss, as I said, I’d be right proud to help your man, but I just don’t know ’zactly what you want me to tell you.”

  “I’m never sure what’s going to be important to Dr. Elmsford or the others. I try to get general information that will help them decide what to discuss.” She reached into her bag and brought out the notepad. “Maybe we should go back to the beginning. When did you start working cattle? Where were you and how old were you?”

  “Wal, miss, I weren’t quite fourteen when I went out the first time. They’s seven of us boys, me the oldest, and Pa talked old Charlie Goodnight into taking me along on his first drive. Real adventure for a kid like me, you bet. Kept on with Goodnight till the rail head come to Fort Worth. Him and the widow lady what owned the JA, they came to a partin’ of the ways, and Charlie went out on his own. I didn’t like the new setup so good, and I drifted, too. Worked for Charlie for a while, then this one and that one, wherever the wind blew me. The days of the big cattle ranch was over, and me, not being a kid but a man growed, took other jobs where I could mostly sleep in a dry bunk and count on a steady source of beans and coffee. Been over to the Hempstedt outfit going on fifteen, no, it’s sixteen, sixteen year now.”

  “Did you bring cattle in to Fort Worth, Pete?” Diana knew the professors were particularly interested in the Fort Worth aspect.

  “Did, ma’am. Not a big drive, like the ones up to Kansas City and the like. But we had us a time in that old town, let me tell you. They was this place, a place where drovers and gamblers and such could get just about anything they could pay for.”

  Diana grinned. “Hell’s Half Acre? Yes, I know about that. I grew up two miles from it, though it was tamed and almost gone by the time I was old enough to know about it.”

  “Ma’am, ’scuse me for sayin’, but anything you heard was about one tenth of what went on. Dang reformers done turned it plum sissified by the time you come along.”

  Diana could see Pete wasn’t as forthcoming as he’d been in the beginning, probably because a good bit of what went on in the Acre wasn’t discussed in public places. Afraid she was
about to see him withdraw, she asked one final question. “Did you ever run across Butch Cassidy or the Sundance Kid? I believe they came to Fort Worth from time to time.”

  Pete stopped short and gave her a long look. “Funny you asked, miss. I didn’t have any dealin’s with the pair of ’em, but I have an old sidekick who rode with those boys a time or two. He managed to grow a little horse sense and git out before the law tied into him. Feller comes through here, visitin’ me and a cousin and a nephew long about the end of summer, usually working the harvest. Might be seein’ him in the next few weeks. You want I should ask him if he’d talk about Butch to those fellers of yours? He’d get a kick out of it, I s’pect.”

  A man who rode with the Wild Bunch? Elmsford would crow about an interview like that for weeks. It would make the whole side trip to Pfeiffer worthwhile.

  “If he comes, I know Dr. Elmsford would feel honored to talk to him.” She grinned at Papa Behr. He couldn’t imagine how grateful she was for this meeting he’d arranged. “He can get in touch with me through the bank or leave a message with Mr. Behr. Any time he can give the professor would be invaluable.” She thought of another inducement. “The professor is happy to compensate anyone who has some solid information about the time Butch Cassidy spent in Fort Worth.”

  “You mean this perfesser would pay somebody just to talk to him?”

  “That’s what I mean. It’s not a lot, but the professor wants to show his appreciation. If your friend is in the area, please tell him we’d like to hear what he has to say. Or any of the other men who made those trail rides, if they’d care to share their experiences, we’d like to hear from them, too.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll do it.” He tugged at his moustache. “Never heard of such a thing, payin’ a body just for doin’ a bit of gossiping about way back. Never did.” He pushed his chair back from the table, took the broad-brimmed hat from the rack in the corner, and turned to go. “Good seein’ you again, Behr. Nice meetin’ you, miss. Let the other boys know you’re looking to talk to ’em. Be seein’ ya on down the trail.”