by R. P. Wolff
Minutes later, Acton came to the phone. “Hello.”
“Acton, it’s me, Jefferson.”
“This better be fuckin’ good. I was a sound asleep.”
“I’m sorry to bother you, but have you heard from Lucky?”
“No, what time is it?”
“It’s past midnight. As you know, he was supposed to report to me, and he hasn’t.”
“Hey, it’s only midnight. He’s probably having some fun. You know him. He likes to drag things out. Leon’s probably screaming like a little girl, and Lucky’s loving it.”
“What should I do?”
“Just hang tight. He’ll show up. What could possibly happen?”
“Maybe Leon got away, and they’re chasing him.”
“Maybe.” Acton paused. “If that’s the case, Lucky will be calling you shortly from a phone booth. Just call me in the morning and let me know what happened. I don’t want to be woken up again. I have faith in Lucky. I’m not worried.”
The call ended.
The Sheriff had a bad feeling about the situation.
~~~~
Leon had been jogging, hiking, and walking for hours. He stubbed his right toe on a rock, and his whole body ached with all that occurred. He had no idea what time it was. Damn, he wished he took Lucky’s watch. He knew it had to be close to sunrise. He had just crossed the railroad tracks and felt a little safer now that he was in the black side of town.
He increased his jog to a sprint through the woods. He had to get home before the sun rose. Surely, the police would be looking for Lucky soon. If he wasn’t home, that would be bad for him.
Finally, he reached the end of the woods and darted across Route 12. He hoped he saw someone that could give him a ride home. He saw a car approaching from the distance. Even though he was in the black side of town, he couldn’t be sure if there was a Negro in the car because Route 12 was a main road. He dropped down to the ground in the shoulder and peered over to the car to get a better view.
Then he saw it. The light on top of the car—it was the police! Oh no, they were probably looking for him. He squatted down and buried his head into the ground in an attempt to hide himself. The squad car fortunately kept going and the police officer apparently didn’t see him.
Leon shivered. The cops were probably looking for him. His days were numbered, he thought. He was prepared to die earlier in the evening. He accepted this fate. He couldn’t go through that again.
Leon realized that he had to stay off Route 12. He weaved his way through the inner roads of the south side of Dodge County. He didn’t want to disturb anyone living in a farm because he didn’t know them, but he would stop another Negro driving a car. The only problem was that there wasn’t anyone on the roads at this early hour.
~~~~
Mama Brooks stayed at home and worked the phone. It was near sunrise. The whole neighborhood was searching for Leon, but they did not dare go on the white side of town. So they searched the black areas. Many of the Negroes that had vehicles drove through the area. Mama Brooks instructed them to call her frequently with updates. So far, the updates were all negative news.
Mama Brooks sat in her rocking chair and gazed up into the ceiling. Tears ran down her face. Although she hoped that Leon was alive, she feared that he was tortured and killed. She sobbed uncontrollably at the thought.
She was so proud of all her children but especially, Leon. Her and her husband worked hard to educate their children, but Leon was the most ambitious and the only one to pursue college. Mama Brooks worked at two dry cleaning stores on the white side of town. The stores also did laundry, which was Mama Brooks’s job. She also sang at a local jazz club on some evenings and earned a little money doing that as well. Negros said that she had a beautiful voice.
As a result of her hard work and having a lot of kids to feed, she didn’t eat that much and she was very skinny. But she always wore a nice, neatly-pressed dresses, even around the house.
James Brooks was also a hard worker. He was a mechanic at a service station on the black side of town, but he didn’t make as much as his wife did because Negros couldn’t afford to pay a lot for auto repairs.
Nevertheless, Mama Brooks and her husband provided a decent living for their children. But now, one of their beloved children was missing and this was tearing up Mama Brooks.
James Brooks and Fletcher walked around the neighborhood and recruited people to help in the search.
No one refused.
~~~~
It was near sunrise, and the Sheriff was in panic mode. He barely slept during the night. Lucky still had not contacted him. He was tempted to call Lucky’s house in the middle of the night but thought otherwise. Lucky and the Klan kept Lucky’s wife in the dark on his excursions. If the Sheriff called her in the middle of the night, she would be even more suspicious of Lucky’s activities.
Instead, the Sheriff called the officer on the midnight shift, Sam Clark.
Sam answered the phone, “Dodge Police.”
“Sam, this is Jefferson.”
“Hey, Sheriff, you’re calling kind of early. What’s up?”
“Have you heard about Lucky Bennett’s whereabouts tonight?”
“Well, that’s funny you should ask. His wife called me about an hour ago. Lucky hasn’t come home tonight.”
“Fuck,” said the Sheriff. “Why didn’t you call me?”
“I figured you’d be sleeping. I didn’t want to bother you. I’m taking care of it, though. I got Ryan and Finley driving around looking for him.”
“Keep up the search. I’m going to get Junior’s ass up and have him search as well. I’ll be by the station in a little bit.”
“Okay, Sheriff. I’ll keep you posted.”
The Sheriff hung up the phone. Sam was a citizen of the Klan, but the Sheriff did not tell him about the planned lynching. The fewer people that knew about it, the better. He also didn’t want to ask Sam about the whereabouts of the other two guys in Lucky’s crew, John Favors and Tom Jenkins.
The Sheriff first called John Favors’s house. His wife answered on the first ring.
“Hello,” she said in an anxious voice.
“Hi, Tammy, this is the Sheriff.”
“Oh no, what’s happened to Johnny?”
“Is he home?”
“No, he’s not home,” she said irritably. “Do you know where he is at?”
“No, I do not.”
“How did you know he was not here?” she asked.
Damn, now he had to show his hand a little bit, which he didn’t want to do. “Well, Lucky’s missing too, so I thought I would check to see if Johnny was home because he hangs out with Lucky a lot.”
“Johnny has never done this. He might drink a lot, but he always comes home. Something is wrong. Can you find him, Sheriff?”
“Yes, we’ll do our best. I already have multiple squad cars looking for Lucky, and we’ll look for Johnny. Hopefully, we’ll find him.”
“Please let me know as soon as you find him,” Tammy pleaded.
“Sure will.”
The Sheriff ended the call. He called Tom Jenkins’s wife and got the same response. He was missing, and his wife was worried.
Next, he called Junior, his son.
“Hello,” Junior answered in a groggy voice.
“Junior, this is your dad. Get your ass up and into the station. Lucky and his wrecking crew are missing.”
“Holy Shit! You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m not.”
“What do you think happened?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think Leon escaped, and they’re hunting him down?” Junior asked.
“I don’t know. Just get to the station as soon as possible. Then we’ll discuss what we are going to do.”
~~~~
Shortly afterwards, the Sheriff met Junior at the station along with the midnight officer. The station was located near the south end of downtown.
“Sam, any developments?” t
he Sheriff asked.
“No. Ryan and Finley just radioed in, and they haven’t seen Lucky.”
“Tell them that they need to be searching for John Favors and Tom Jenkins as well. They’re missing.”
“Oh my God,” said Sam. “This doesn’t sound good.”
“Give me the phone,” the Sheriff ordered. “I want to call Luke and see if anything unusual happened on the evening shift.”
The Sheriff dialed Luke’s number. Luke answered on the third ring.
“Hello.”
“Luke, this is the Sheriff. We got an emergency down here. Lucky Bennett, John Favors, and Tom Jenkins are missing.”
“Oh, shit!”
“Did anything unusual happen last night?”
“Um, let me see. No, I can’t think of anything.” Luke paused. “Wait, I got a call that a nigger was missing. I think his name was Leon. But other than that, nothing major happened.”
The Sheriff ended the call and relayed the conversation to Junior.
Junior said, “Let’s pay Leon’s house a visit. Maybe his family knows something.”
“Great idea,” the Sheriff responded. “Sam, you stay here, but keep the patrols going.”
“Okay,” Sam replied.
Chapter 4
On the way to Leon’s house, the Sheriff and Junior confided in each other.
“Dad, this is bad. Something must have gone wrong. This is not like Lucky. Lucky should be home by now.”
“I know. I know. I’m very concerned. Well, if Leon got away, he will probably head home. You and I are going to camp out there until he emerges.”
“Maybe Leon is hiding in the woods,” suggested Junior.
“Well, when the sun rises, we’ll search the woods.”
“Dad, do you know where they were going to do the lynching?”
“Yeah, sort of but not the exact spot. It was supposed to be a little north of the lake.”
“Well, let’s check it out. What are we waiting for?”
“Shut the fuck up. I’ll give the orders around here, Son.”
“Okay, Dad, I’m sorry.”
“When the sun rises, we’ll check it out. I don’t want to check it out now because people would get suspicious that we would know to look there. I mean there’s over five hundred square miles of woodlands. Let’s give it some time. Besides, it looks like things went bad, so they’re probably not there anyway.”
They finally pulled up to Leon’s parent’s house and got out of the car. It was a little after five in the morning, but a person wouldn’t know it because there were many people in the street. The Negroes froze as they saw the police car appear. Negroes did not trust the police and feared them. They figured that they were part of the Klan.
Mama Brooks ran outside to the cops. “Have you found my Leon?” she cried. “Have you found my Leon?”
“No, we have not,” the Sheriff, said curtly. “Have you seen or heard from him?”
Mama Brooks short stint of optimism vanished. “No,” she said sadly. “I was hoping that you had found him and were bringing him home.”
“Well, we’re looking for him,” Junior said. “We’re going to stay here until he shows up.”
“Can you please drive around and try to find him?” she pleaded.
“Well, we have officers already driving around looking for Leon,” said Junior. “Can we come in your house and wait?”
Mama Brooks hesitated. “Why?”
“Because we want to,” the Sheriff snapped. “You’re sure Leon is not hiding in the house.”
“I wish,” replied Mama Brooks. “Please help me find him.”
“Okay, we’ll wait in our squad car, here,” said the Sheriff. “We got the radio and will be in constant communication with the other patrol cars. We’ll let you know if he shows up.”
“Thank you.”
“You make sure to let us know when he shows up, okay,” said the Sheriff.
“I sure will.”
The Sheriff didn’t know what to think. His men were missing and so was Leon. Should he listen to his son and drive by the area where Lucky was supposed to do the lynching? The sun would be up in about an hour, so he figured he could wait another hour.
~~~~
Leon didn’t have to walk too far before he spotted a Negro driving an old, beat-up pickup truck. Leon saw that it was a Negro, and Leon waved him down. The person stopped, and Leon recognized him. It was Tyrone Stevens, an older man in his fifties.
Leon peeked inside. Leon breathed heavily and spoke in a panic. “Mister Stevens … oh, thank you. Can you please give me a ride to my house?”
“Why sure. Leon, everyone in town is looking for you. Where have you been?”
Leon got into the car and they sped away.
Again, Leon could barely speak because he had so much to say. It was like he was on his death bed and needed to speak before he died. “Oh … um … it was horrible.”
“What happened, Leon?”
“You won’t believe this. They tried to kill me.”
“Who?”
Leon sighed. “Lucky Bennett, John Favors, and Tom Jenkins. They just tried to hang me.”
“What? How did you get away?”
Leon started sobbing. He couldn’t help it.
“It’s okay. It’s okay, Leon. Tell me what happened.”
“They … they tried to hang me in the woods, north of the lake. Some person came out of nowhere and shot ‘em all.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. The person was all covered. I don’t know. I think it was a he because the person was kind of tall. I think it was a white guy.”
“What do you mean you think it was a white guy? So he shot ‘em?”
“Yeah, he shot ‘em. I don’t know what to …” Leon sighed again. “And then they had me handcuffed. The person gave me the keys. I got myself out. The person left. Um … so there’s three white guys dead. I don’t know what to do. I got to see my pops.”
“Oh, shit! There’s three white guys dead and you’re missing. And everyone’s looking for you. Oh, Lord, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Let’s get you home to your mama and papa. Oh, Leon it’s so good to see you. We thought you might be dead. It’s so good to see you.”
After a short drive, Stevens’s car was on Finker Street near Pollard Avenue. Pollard Avenue was Leon’s street and only a few blocks ahead. They would need to turn right on Pollard to get to Leon’s house.
Leon saw his papa and Fletcher walking briskly on Finker Street. “Stop the car!” Leon shouted. “There’s my pops.”
Mr. Stevens slammed on the brakes, Leon jumped out, and hugged his papa. Although they were close, they rarely hug. Nevertheless, it felt so good to hug his father.
~~~~
“Oh, Leon, are you okay? Oh Lord, thank you for bringing my boy home. Leon you okay?”
Leon continued to breathe heavily and fought to say his words with every breath. “Yeah, Pops … Oh my God, Pops. Oh … Oh my God. I’m so glad to see you.” Leon gazed over at Fletcher. “Fletch, it’s good to see you. Oh …”
“Leon what happened? Are you okay? What did they do to your eye?”
“Pops, they tried to kill me.”
“Who,” his father said sternly like he wanted to kick their asses.
Leon fought to say the words, “Lucky Bennett …John Favors …Tom Jenkins. They just tried to kill me. Lucky burnt me several times with his cigarette and one of them was just underneath my eye.”
“How did you get away?”
“Some person came out of nowhere and killed them.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know. I think it was a white guy. The person came by. The person was all covered. The person had a hood on. The person killed them all. I don’t know what to think Pops. I’m glad I’m here.”
Leon cried. His father cried too.
“I don’t know what to do, Pops. They’ll probably think I did it. They are going to come after me. Please,
Pops, don’t let ‘em hang me. Please, Pops, I can’t take it. I can’t go through this again. I thought I was going to die out there.”
“Leon, come on. Calm down. I’m going to take care of you. I’m so glad to see you, Son. I’m so glad. Okay, we got a problem, though.”
“What’s that?” asked Leon.
“The police are at the house right now. The Sheriff and his son are at the house. What the heck. I don’t know. They’re not moving. They’re waiting for you. We can’t go home. I don’t think we can go home. I don’t know what to tell you, but we can’t go home.”
“Oh, shit,” said Leon. “Pops, where can we go?”
“Brother Stevens,” said James Brooks, “can we please go to your house? Please.”
“Of course. I’m glad to help you, bro.”
Leon continued to cry and spoke with shame. “Pops, I shit and pissed in my pants. I got to take a bath and get some clean clothes. Pops it was horrible.”
“Don’t be ashamed, Son. I don’t care what you did. I’m just so glad you’re home. Fletch, can you let my wife know that Leon is okay?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t tell her where we’re taking Leon. The less she knows the better.”
Leon and his father got into Mr. Stevens’s car, and Mr. Steven’s headed toward his house, which was about a mile away.
Chapter 5
As soon as Leon arrived at Mr. Stevens’s house, he asked him if he could call his mother. Mr. Steven’s did have a phone and gave Leon the phone. Leon anxiously dialed the number.
“Hello,” said Mama Brooks.
“Mama, it’s me, Leon.”
“Oh, Leon,” she whispered with joy. “It’s so great to hear your voice. Are you okay?”
“Yes, Mama, I’m okay. I guess. Why are you whispering?”
“The police are outside.”
Leon started crying. “Mama, they tried to kill me…. I miss you so much…. I can’t believe I’m alive.”
“Oh, Lord, thank you for finding my boy and bringing him home,” Mama Brooks prayed. “Fletcher told me what those animals did to you.”
“Mama, I got to let you go. Papa and I have to figure out how to handle this. I’ll see you soon.”
“I love you honey.”
