Mail Order Man

by Heather Gray

  With that, Arty led the ladies over to where their quilt was spread. It was exactly where Samuel had placed it last week. Minnie busied herself getting out their plates, and then the foursome headed up to the tables for food.

  Unlike last week when everyone was content to take their time and wile the afternoon away with idle conversation, Sarah felt a sense of urgency in the air this week. She wanted to be done with the niceties of church and back at home as quickly as possible. Home. Sarah missed her own home. It wasn’t much, but it was all hers, and she missed it. More than her home, though, she missed the feeling of safety and security she had prior to all this Eligible Female business. Would Larkspur ever return to a place that felt peaceful and calm? Praying it would be so, she longed to feel restful within her own hometown again. Sarah chuckled as she realized that she longed for what she once might have referred to as boredom.

  There was less joking around this week as the family made their way through the food tables. Arty carried his own plate and piled it high like a growing young man would. Neither Minnie nor Sarah felt they needed to take extra food for him. In fact, they even remembered to give the young man two plates, and he filled both until they were heaping. As they returned back to their quilt and settled in, the ladies sat on the ground, but Arty sat on a crate he had situated there against the tree. This allowed him to sit above the ladies so he could easily see what was going on in the crowd while still allowing him the comfort of sitting down to eat.

  “My goodness, Arthur, that’s quite a lot of food you have there,” Mrs. Smith said as she finally noticed what the girls had been smiling about.

  “Yes, ma’am. Ma says growing boys need their food, and I’ve been growing plenty,” Arty answered with another blush.

  “Tell me, Arthur, how is your family these days?” asked Mrs. Smith.

  “Ma’s strong as ever and doing the best she can with all the work on the farm. My brothers help a lot. Pa took sick a few months ago. He’s doing a lot better now, and Doc says he’ll make a full recovery, but it’s been a hard couple of months. My work as a deputy lets me bring home a little extra money to help out. ‘Sides, I never did like farm work the way the rest of the family does.”

  Sarah read between the lines. She’d known Arty long enough to know there was probably a lot he wasn’t saying. Things were likely worse at home than he was letting on. He got embarrassed easily and didn’t like drawing attention to himself. Knowing that about him, Sarah supposed he might be an odd fit for a deputy’s badge. Then again, maybe that would be exactly the thing he needed to give him confidence and help him not to be so shy.

  “Does Doc know what’s wrong with your pa?” Sarah asked compassionately.

  Arty shrugged. “He wrote a specialist in Chicago and got some information. It was a lot of big words I can’t remember none, but Doc followed that specialist’s instructions, and it helped a lot.”

  Minnie spoke up, telling Arty, “I’m glad you got the deputy job and can help out. That’s got to be a real relief to your Ma. I’m sure both your folks are right proud of you.”

  Arty, of course, blushed and ducked his head. “Ah, thanks Miss Minnie. That’s right nice of you to say.”

  With that, the foursome returned to their meals. Sarah noticed Arty sat up taller after Minnie’s compliment, though, and began to look more like a man of the law and less like the young man she’d gone to school with.

  ****

  While everyone was still eating, the mayor stepped up to the podium in front and began to speak. “Thank you everyone for coming out today. There are a couple of brief announcements I want to make, and then I will hand everything over to Reverend Green for the festivities. Many of you have stopped into my office to ask about whether or not we’ve found the person who placed the Eligible Female ad. I wanted to let everyone know the person who placed the ad did come forward...”

  Before he could continue any further, the mayor was interrupted by the crowd. The huge uproar was completely unlike the respectful way the townspeople had acted when the mayor first told them about the ad at the town meeting.

  Sarah lost her appetite as she heard people yelling out, “Who was it?” “Are they in jail?” “We want justice!” If she was this upset, Sarah knew Minnie must feel awful. A quick glance at her friend showed a ghostlike pallor.

  Mrs. Smith gathered up the girls’ half-empty plates and said softly, “I think I’ll leave this for the dogs.” She went behind the tree and scraped the food off of their plates and then put some leaves over it so it wouldn’t be immediately obvious to anyone what she’d done.

  Arty had moved the crate so he could stand up and lean against the tree, keeping the women and all the goings-on in his line of sight the way Samuel had taught him. Sarah could see he’d also unsnapped the strap on his holster so he could get to his gun more quickly if needed. Even with that preparation, Arty stood there, plate in hand, continuing to eat. He made such a comical sight Sarah had to smile. She had no brothers, and her dad had been a light eater, so she’d always been amazed when she’d seen how much food the boys at school could eat and how nothing ever seemed to come between them and their food.

  Returning her attention to the front, she could see Mayor Smith moving his arms to motion the crowd to settle and quiet down so he could be heard again. “Everyone, I understand your desire for justice, but I need to tell you that no laws were broken.”

  There was another uproar, and this time it took more time to calm. Henry, who had asked about the perpetrator at the first town meeting stood up and declared loudly, “Mayor, you promised us whoever did this would have to answer to the sheriff.” After the crowd loudly agreed, he asked, “Why are you going back on your word?”

  More yelling from the crowd ensued. Finally the mayor continued, “The person who placed the ad did so innocently, not realizing the full import of what they had done. They came to me and admitted the part they had played in our town’s current predicament. The person is terribly remorseful for what has happened. I give you my word the person who placed the ad had no malicious intent and is not in cahoots with any criminals. Had the person placed the ad for the purpose of causing trouble in Larkspur, that would have been illegal, and the sheriff would be taking action against the person. As it is, though, placing the ad was simply a demonstration of bad judgment. No harm was ever intended.”

  Again, the crowd yelled its displeasure. Clearly everyone wanted some form of justice. They wanted someone to pay for what was going on in their town. One man yelled, “I can’t leave my wife and daughters alone because of all the unseemly men suddenly in town, which means I can’t earn my living, and you’re going to let this person off without any punishment? Someone needs to pay!”

  Sarah prayed for the hearts of the people and for the mayor as he again tried to get everyone to quiet down so he could speak. Each time the crowd got angry, it took longer and longer to get them settled.

  By this time Arty had finished his lunch and was standing, back against the tree, hand resting on the butt of his revolver. Without taking his eyes off of the crowd and the mayor, he spoke, “Mrs. Smith, I need you to kindly pack up the basket and get everything ready so we can leave quickly if the need arises.” Mrs. Smith quickly gathered the last few items that remained on the blanket. All three women could see their buggy. It had already been positioned for a quick exit, should the need arise.

  “Should I go put the basket in the buggy?” Sarah asked.

  “Not yet. I need you all to stay close,” Arty replied.

  Sarah missed Samuel and wondered where he was. She had not seen him with any other families or in the crowd at all. Arty meant well, and with each passing moment he seemed like more of a lawman and less of a young schoolboy, but Sarah still longed for the comfort she felt whenever Samuel was there.

  The crowd finally began to quiet again, but the mayor still had to strain his voice to be heard above the din of those who continued muttering to one another.

  “Ev
eryone, I need you to listen to me. You are right. Justice must be served. Justice must be brought to those who deserve it, though. If anyone in this town breaks the law, including all those men who are passing through right now, then justice must be brought to bear. As a town, we need to stand together so we can fight against any criminal element that may be trying to infiltrate our town. There is someone in this town that made an innocent mistake, though. Though it was certainly a mistake made in poor judgment, it was not intended to harm and was not illegal, and to that individual I believe we must extend grace. For that reason I will not give you the name.”

  The people, sounding more like a mob by the minute, began to bellow out their displeasure again. The mayor no longer waited for them to quiet down but instead exclaimed over their sound, “I urge every one of you to be vigilant so we, the citizens of Larkspur, can be strong to fight the true criminals that might come into this town now and in the future!”

  All sense of festivity had left the gathering. “Let’s move now, ladies,” Arty spoke quickly.

  Sarah leapt up and grabbed the basket, while Minnie picked up their quilt. The two of them, along with Mrs. Smith, hurried toward the buggy with Arty right behind them. The attention of the crowd was still on the mayor, and it didn’t appear that anybody noticed their exit. It was clear some of the people in the crowd had forgotten they were on church grounds, though, if the words being spewed were anything to go by.

  The women were not even fully seated before Arty leapt up and grabbed the reins, taking them away from the gathering.

  “Shouldn’t we be going faster?” asked Sarah when Arty led the horses in a slow walk.

  “Samuel said to make a slow exit so we don’t draw too much attention and only to rush escape if we were in imminent danger.” Arty answered.

  Knowing Arty was following instructions given by Samuel again made her feel better.

  “When I get you home, ladies, I am going to need everyone to wait with me while I unhitch the horse, and then we will go into the house together. I will make sure no one is in the house and then the three of you are going down to the root cellar.”

  “The root cellar?” gasped Minnie. “But why?” Sarah knew Minnie was not fond of small spaces and could understand her discomfiture over the order.

  Arty gave a quick glance to Minnie before turning his eyes toward the road again. He answered, “There are some things going on you don’t know about, and you, simply put, need to do as you’re told without question. I can’t explain it right now. Don’t mean to be high-handed here, but those are the facts.”

  “We trust you Arty,” said Sarah.

  Trusting the young man didn’t make the situation any less bizarre, though. The root cellar. Sarah could think of no good reason for the three of them to need to retreat to the root cellar. She could only think of bad reasons, none of which made sense. A tornado couldn’t possibly be in the offing.

  The foursome made their way back to the Smith house in quick order. Arty got the horse unhitched and settled. He led the women to the back door of the house and then drew his gun before entering. He reappeared at the door a short time later and quickly escorted the ladies down to the root cellar, making sure they each had a place to sit. Before they knew it, Arty was back up the stairs, leaving them in the cellar.

  Sarah admired that Arty was taking his job so seriously, but she had to chuckle as he told them to open the door for no one except him. When Minnie asked her what she found so funny in this horrible situation, Sarah said, “This door doesn’t lock from the inside. We don’t actually have any say over who can get into the root cellar.”

  While Sarah found this funny, it was clear Minnie did not. Her friend’s dislike of small dark spaces seemed to be affecting her sense of humor. Sarah went to sit by Minnie and said soothingly, “I’m sorry dear. I forgot how you feel about the dark. Would it help if we played a game or sang a song?”

  When Arty returned to the cellar, his arms were full. His return interrupted the chorus of “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”

  As soon as they saw he was back, the girls stopped singing and jumped up to help with his burden. Balanced in his arms were a couple of canteens of water, more ammunition than he probably needed, some quilts, and a sack of apples. Explaining each item, he said, “I brought quilts in case anybody got cold or damp. Don’t want nobody getting sick down here. Water if you’re thirsty, and apples… well, apples because they were there, and who knows how long we’ll be down here. Might get hungry.”

  With a shrug and a grin accompanying his last remark, it was clear who would likely get hungry before their time in the cellar came to a close.

  Chapter Thirteen

  After everyone settled back down into their seats Sarah began asking the questions on her mind. “Why do we have to hide in the cellar?”

  Arty’s answer was, “All I know is I was given strict instructions, and I aim to follow them.”

  “The cellar seems kind of odd, don’t you think? If someone was going to try to break into the house, we’d be sitting ducks down here. And surely the sheriff doesn’t expect anybody to break in. While the townsfolk are angry right now, I can’t see any of them doing something as violent as that.” Looking over to Mrs. Smith, she asked, “Can you?”

  Before Arty could answer any of Sarah’s hurried questions, Mrs. Smith spoke up, “Sarah, dear, sometimes we have to trust, even though we don’t understand everything.”

  Sarah nodded in agreement and waited for Mrs. Smith to continue. When the older woman said nothing more, Sarah could not let it rest. “That’s faith, right? Trusting and obeying even when we don’t understand?”

  A smile touched Mrs. Smith’s face as she answered, “Yes, dear, though I’ve not heard it put quite that way before, I think faith is a good way to describe it. So the question of doing as Arty says is a question of whether or not you have faith in his superiors, the ones who gave him the instructions he is following.”

  Sarah mulled this over for a moment and then asked Arty who had given him his orders.

  Arty was happy to answer. “Sheriff Spooner appointed me to keep an eye on you three ladies. After he appointed me, Mr. Livingston pulled me aside and gave me instructions on exactly what I was supposed to do. He was thorough, even told me to remember water and extra ammunition.”

  Puzzled, Sarah asked, “So, it was Samuel who told you to keep us in the cellar?”

  Arty nodded and said, “Yep, sure was. Even told me I could knock you unconscious to keep you in the cellar if’n I had to.”

  Shocked to her core and not entirely certain if Arty was being serious or pulling one over on her, Sarah asked, “But why? I don’t understand.” The whole thing seemed surreal to her, everything from sneaking out of the picnic to hiding in a dark cellar, let alone the part about knocking them out if needed.

  Minnie was becoming more agitated. The light was dim, but everyone could hear her breathing become increasingly ragged. She was trying to keep calm and control it, but Sarah could tell Minnie was reacting badly to the situation.

  “Miss Minnie,” Arty spoke up, “would you like me to light a candle? If we’ve got any down here, I’d be happy to. We need to stay down here, but we don’t have to sit in the dark if’n you don’t want to.”

  In the darkness, it was unlikely that anyone had seen Minnie nod her head. Sarah, sitting close beside her, though, could feel the nod and answered for her, “Arty, yes, please, Minnie would love to have a candle lit. Perhaps that will help us all to feel better in this strange situation.”

  “Here, Arthur,” said Mrs. Smith as she quickly found a candle and handed it to him with matches. Once the candle was lit, Minnie’s breathing settled into a more normal rhythm. The panic was evident on her face when the room first brightened but began to fade as the moments wore on, and the candle remained lit.

  Like a dog holding onto a nice meaty bone, Sarah was not willing to let the previous topic die. “I still don’t understand why we need to b
e in the cellar. Can anyone tell me that?”

  “Sarah,” Mrs. Smith said with iron in her voice, “you will not be told. There are issues you do not understand that we shall not get into at present. You will accept the mayor and sheriff have your best interests in mind, and you will trust that Mr. Livingston has properly instructed Arty in what to do. You will not question our deputy’s authority again, do I make myself clear?”

  Mrs. Smith had never spoken to Sarah with such firmness before, and Sarah was cowed. “Yes, ma’am,” she said. Then, to Arty, she said, “I’m sorry, Arty. It wasn’t right of me to question you like that. I am cursed with a perpetual need to understand things.”

  Arty nodded to acknowledge Sarah’s apology. Sarah noticed how he seemed to soak in the words of Mrs. Smith much as he had taken in Minnie’s praise earlier. He clearly appreciated being treated like a man and not a young boy. Knowing Arty was a good person, Sarah felt she needed to say more, but she wasn’t sure if she could say anything without again asking questions she’d been told not to ask.

  Minnie came to Sarah’s rescue saying, “You are a fine deputy, Arty. Sarah and I have known you since we were all little tykes, though, and we both keep forgetting you are now a grown man. I think your folks should be mighty proud of the fine job you are doing.”

  Before Sarah could speak up to agree with what Minnie had said, they heard gunshots. Everyone jumped. Arty rose from where he’d been sitting on the floor and turned his back to the ladies. He told them all to move so they would be against the side walls of the cellar and not in front of the door. They moved quickly. Being in town, the Smiths had a small cellar. With the cramped quarters in the cellar, there wasn’t room for all three ladies to gather on one side. Mrs. Smith stood against the wall to the left of the cellar door, and both Minnie and Sarah quickly moved to stand against the wall to the right of the door. Arty kept his position centered in front of the door, drew his weapon, and stood at the ready.