I caught on quickly.
Pa’s gun establishment was right next door so I could easily see who came and went from his place each day through the large plate glass restaurant windows.
Days turned into weeks on the job - during this time I began to notice a black Ford Crown Victoria 4-door sedan with two shady looking men, sneaky might describe them better, kept showing up on a regular basis. They were usually dressed in dark business suits and one carried a black leather satchel the other one never carried anything.
Going into Pa’s place they would look around nervously. Their heads would dart from side to side checking to see if someone might be following or watching them. No one was following them, but they acted as if someone was watching them - there was - me!! However, those knuckleheads were different guys each time.
They would come visiting Pa’s business every couple of weeks and stay for an hour or so. Sometimes more than a month passed before they showed up, but sure enough, like a bad penny, the black Ford, or one similar, returned again. Pa would hang up the “Closed” sign or take a piece of Scotch tape and stick a hand written note on the door with words saying, “Had to make a delivery back in a little while”. Pa had all kinds of handwritten signs. Some of the ones I remember said: “Gone to bank, back later," or “Gone to post office” will return shortly”, and “Gone to pick up parts”. One read “Equipment failure at restaurant," and the only store bought sign he used had the black word “OPEN” on one side and a big red “CLOSED” on the other.
If Pa put the “CLOSED” side out he meant the business was “CLOSED." No one dared ask him why he was closed; he might be inside but he was gone, get me... G-O-N-E – “CLOSED."
Back to the two strangers we talked about before. No one ever asked Pa about those two fashion paragons. They might be different dudes but the black Ford sedan looked the same (but of course all black Ford sedans look the same) and the suits looked identical to the ones that came off the “Cheap Suit Importers” rack. They always wore those stupid hats. You’ve seen them, the kind the gangsters wear in the movies. Go figure, no one wears hats these days. How obvious – they looked so stupid, I voted for them to wear the Mickey hats. You know the ones with the big ears, but what do I know.
I have always made straight A’s in school, so I said to myself, ‘Self, something’s going on over at the gun store, something is not right with those two fashion models.’ One day as the “sedan” arrived my suspicions got the best of me. This constant watching and waiting for the strangers to arrive began to become almost obsessive. I swallowed hard, took a deep breath and approached 'Jaybird' (Jaybird is our nickname for one of Baba’s restaurant managers).
Quietly I quizzed Jaybird, "I need to ask you something? It may be none of my business, but why does the Ford sedan, and the two guys, come visit Pa? I’ve noticed that car comes around a lot.”
* * * * *
Jaybird answered, speaking in a faint whisper and so extremely low and quiet even the other nearby employees wasn’t able to hear what he uttered. As I held my breath I thought I would explode - I believed everyone in the room heard my heart pounding within my chest. I thought he had better tell me something and fast for I felt myself keeling right over. At last he spoke, “I have my suspicions but sometimes suspicions can get you into trouble! Maybe you do not need to pry into your Pa’s business!”
His answer exploded inside my head. What did he mean? Did his answer indicate something good or something bad? I had already picked ‘bad’ because Jaybird had rather spread a rumor or tell a tall tale than eat when he’s hungry. To have fun he would get something started to watch the participants squirm. I was wondering whether his clandestine answer signaled one of those times? ‘Maybe I didn’t want to know, was Jaybird nuts!’ The brain in my head said I didn’t want to discover the answer but I realized at that moment - I HAD to find out the answer.
I followed up my question with, “I have never seen those two come out with anything but that black satchel, have they ever bought anything?”
Jaybird slipped up close to me, so close I discerned the aroma of Old Spice from his morning’s shave and the hint of onions on his breath, and said, “There are stories… I don’t believe them you understand,” Jaybird ventured, “ but it has been said your Pa was, uh, involved in something a long time ago and whatever that, uh, ‘something’ from his past, however innocent it might have been, was they won’t let him forget it!”
It puzzled me at his attempt at secrecy and I muttered, “Are those guys the ‘something’? Are they part of his past?”
In a voice barely above a whisper he responded to my question. A voice so low I had to strain to barely hear him say, “I suppose they are…” Pausing trying to think of the right words he replied, “there are just some things, uh, I won’t ask him about.”
This strange visit, and Jaybird’s secretive conversation happened on a Friday night. Friday nights are always a busy time in a restaurant. Working families wanting to spend some quality time with each other and the chance to give mom a night off. She is able to enjoy herself for a change and leave the cooking to us; and best of all, when finished, we will clean up and wash the dishes.
Moms need I explain more?
* * * * *
I digress, back to my sinister thoughts. Even though I was busy Friday night I began to hatch… ‘THE PLAN’ - the scheme to unravel what those clandestine meeting at Pa’s store were all about. Maybe I might even figure out where the black Ford came from and who the two Joe fashions were. I might even discover what they carried in their black satchel. The answers could possibly be in Pa's safe in his gunroom. The gunroom would be the perfect place to hide a secret. The safe, THE PLAN... the adventure starts.
I would begin to set ‘THE PLAN’ into motion tomorrow, Saturday. Sister had a dance recital in Birmingham and I had planned on spending the night with Baba and Pa.
When Pa built his house he had the contractor build a tornado safe room downstairs complete with steel lined concrete walls and ceiling. Pa later converted that room to a ‘safe’ room for guns. The house and the gunroom had a state-of-the-art alarm system. The system had closed circuit TV, motion sensors, glass breakage sensors, infrared sensors, sensors on all doors and windows - none connected to a landline, all satellite monitored.
The room had been built around a giant 6’ high, grey, two-door combination safe.
It was too big to have been moved into the room later and the house would now have to be torn down to get it out! That sucker must have weighed a ton at least and I had the “key," well not a physical “key”. Years ago Pa had shown me where he had hidden the combination. The combination was in code but I thought I still remembered how to figure it out. He revealed the hidden code just in case something happened to him and Baba had to get into the safe…
The safe had to be the starting place... what did that safe contain? The safe was big, and heavy. Something “special” must be in it, at least that was the beginning of ‘THE PLAN’ – open the safe. I just knew in my bones it must hold the answer to the black Ford. I was confident it would also identify the two men and, most of all, the information in the safe might tell me what was in that black satchel.
Oh, how I wished I had never seen that black sedan!
I worked all day Saturday and as I worked the gears in my head were constantly turning thinking of the big old steel safe. My thoughts were constantly on the safe - I fantasized about that safe so much I could mentally feel the cold of the metal, hear the tumblers click as the dial turned, discern the metallic clang as the rods holding the door moved back from their locked position. Yes, the secret of the safe was going to be mine… MINE... all MINE...ha... ha... ha... all MINE... Damn (I mean darn) get hold of yourself Forrest!! I sound like Dr. Frankenstein!!
’THE PLAN’ began to materialize.
Saturday seemed to have been two days long. I would look at the clock - 11:15; a couple of hours later I would check again - 11:30 - a me
re fifteen minutes had passed!
I had the steps already envisioned: I would get off work at 7:00 pm; Pa would come up to the restaurant and get the days receipts and me sometime after 7 o’clock. Then he was going to Taco Bell and pick up supper (yeah right, dinner to you, but this tale is my story so - supper), for all of us. Once he got home he would go into his office, sort, count the daily sales slips and make the accounting entries for the next day; anyway, once home Pa’s activity should take at least an hour.
Assuming everything went according to my calculations, I would have at least an hour, to get the safe open. To go down stairs I would use the excuse I wanted to shoot some pool.
Pa had this magnificent old Brunswick full size pool table in the basement game room. He had gotten the table years ago from the old poolroom at the Yarbrough Hotel in Huntsville, Alabama when they went out of business. He had refinished the walnut rails, sanded and refinished all the wood, and re-covered the table’s top with new green billiard cloth. A year or so ago, he bought a new set of Brunswick pool balls and some new cues.
I loved to go down into the basement and practice on this table. I had, I thought, gotten to be a pretty good pool player. Not long ago Pa and I played a game of 8 ball and I actually beat him. I mean beat him – for years he would let me win, setting up my shots or deliberating missing his, but in this one game I won. Pa even acknowledged my win.
Oh shoot...! I forgot… back to the safe – what if the combination’s hiding place had changed? What if he had changed the combination? What if he had locked the safe room? What if...? What if...? What if...? I needed to quit thinking about the whole thing; everything would work - it would go according to ‘THE PLAN.’
Like the epic John Wayne movie about the D-Day landing at Normandy, France in WWII,“The Longest Day" this longest workday finally ended too.
At 7 pm, the restaurant didn't have any customers in the lobby and there were no call-in orders that we had to wait on, so Jaybird went out into the lobby and changed the “Open” sign to “Closed." I detected the jingling as he pulled the door key from his pocket and finally locked the two big glass front doors.
No more customers tonight. What I had been worrying about did not happen - a last minute customer coming in.
Baba’s rule: ‘We’re open until closed’. Meaning if someone arrived one minute before closing time we would have to prepare their order as if they had arrived an hour earlier. Fortunately tonight no one came in.
I hurriedly got the mop bucket and started mopping the lobby floor. I did a good job because Baba would come in Monday morning and ‘pitch a fit’ if the floors had not been properly cleaned. I quickly emptied the trash receptacles, refilled the napkin containers and tried to get all my duties done as fast as possible. I even helped other employees get their close-up jobs completed.
I finished my work so fast Jaybird slapped me on the back as I scurried past him and he said, “Hey, what’s the hurry, big date tonight?” I shook my head 'no' and kept working as fast as humanly possible to get finished and be able to leave the restaurant.
Jaybird had to drive down toward Pa’s house after work and asked if I needed a lift. Perfect! This fit right in with my scheme. This would give me a little extra time to put ‘THE PLAN’ into motion.
I left Pa a note telling him I had already left with Jaybird.
I walked past the big grill on the way out. I could feel that’ the warm heat against my face as it was beginning to cool down; it was about as hot as I was feeling - I was nervous and sweating.
Jaybird opened the ice machine door and using the ice scoop re-arranged the ice in the ice machine. The ice would now have plenty of room to fill the holding container before Monday. The ice machine holds about 600 lbs of ice. On a Saturday we go through a lot of it. He was making sure we would have plenty for Monday; the restaurant is closed on Sundays.
I should have done that - ice...cold ice...it might have cooled me down a bit. Why was I so hot!!! Nerves...? Yap, that’s it....nerves!!
All the other employees clocked out. Jaybird and I were the only two left. He went into the back and flipped the switches to cut off all the lights. We made our double check of everything and headed out the front doors. Jaybird unlocked the two large plate glass doors and as he was locking them back as we went out he said, “You been giving much thought to what I said this afternoon?”
“Sure...why? I just can’t get those two men out of my head?”
Jaybird continued talking as we walked to his truck, “I’m not one to give advice, and…and I don’t take it very well…but Forrest, I realize he’s your grandpa but sometimes you need to ‘let sleeping dogs lie.’ I think this is one of those times.” Nodding my head I agreed, but thinking all along - I'm not listening to your babble Jaybird. You need to get this truck rolling and stop talking so I can get 'The Plan' underway.
Jaybird continued on as we seated ourselves in his truck, “Forrest you’re 15 years old, your Pa will tell you about these things when the time is right. I suggest you don’t push it – let him decide when the time is right. Both of you will realize when the time comes."
I thought to myself, ‘the time HAS come...it's RIGHT NOW!!
I also thought, ‘Jaybird please shut-up! What was all this talking about? I wished I had not talked to Jaybird; I had known not to listen to anything he had to say anyway. On his good days he hardly ever made sense, and obviously this wasn’t one of his better days.
Down deep I did realize, with as simple a mind as Jaybirds, he had put out some hefty wisdom and good advice that night; however, when you are 15 years old and an adult strings more than two sentences together we instinctively believe congruent wisdom must abound there somewhere.
I didn’t care I had ‘THE PLAN’.
CHAPTER SEVEN
PHASE I BEGINS
Even with all his talking Jaybird finally got me down to Baba and Pa’s house in one piece. I still had luck running with me also – Pa’s Dodge Ram did not block the driveway; indicating Pa had already left, within the last few minutes, to go pick-up the restaurant receipts. Now I had a clear shot at the safe room and the opportunity to begin Phase I of ‘THE PLAN’.
I had no sooner gotten out of Jaybirds truck when Pa’s two Labs started barking and howling as if a second-story man was sneaking up, but once they got a good sniff of me I became their ol’ pal again.
The yelping stopped, and the tail wagging began.
The ‘hounds’, as Pa calls the Labs, had settled down as I stepped upon the back deck and turned the latch to go into the house. It was a that very instance I heard Baba call, “Forrest, you out there? Come on in, what do you want to eat?”
Feeding my stomach was the last thing on my mind right now. My mind cried, ‘THE SAFE’, ‘THE SAFE’. So I mumbled some excuse about how I had eaten something before I left work and thought I might go down-stairs and shoot some pool.
Baba kept on at me anyway and asked, “Well how about stopping for a minute and tell me about your day.”
“Everything had been fine.”
I pitched my jacket on a kitchen chair and continued on down the stairs to the basement. No time to waste now that Phase I was ready to begin! The basement remained pitch dark but the light from the open door leading upstairs illuminated the door to the room that contained the big steel safe.
I had been in this basement a hundred times so finding the light switch presented no problem. I flipped on the lights, without even looking, and walked across the carpeted floor to the safe room door.
I was hesitant to reach down and turn the doorknob. My mind raced… did Pa have it locked… if he did, what method could I use to get in? I was going to get in, but how? I didn’t possess a key to the room. Pa had the only one, bound snuggly to his keychain in his pocket.
Nervous you say. I was so nervous, beads of sweat started to form on my brow. I thought I never knew it to be this hot down here. My imagination was playing tricks on me… in fact the tem
perature was quite cool here in the utter silence of that vast room.
I forced my hand to reach out and touch the knob. At the touch of the cold metal, I jerked my hand back thinking the knob had surely shocked me! My mind raced at a gallop - maybe Pa had the room rigged with electricity. ‘Stop this nonsense!' I thought and reached once more and grasped the metal knob, slowly I twisted the shiny round object not fully expecting it to turn. It moved!! Why did Pa have it un-locked!! The alarms must be off too!
I pushed the door open and immediately a blast of air from the enclosed room hit me squarely in the face. It was cooler and drier than the air I had, seconds before, been breathing. Pa had this room automatically controlled to maintain a constant 50% humidity and 60-degree temperature. Again, where did he get this knowledge? I’d think about his reasoning later now I flipped on the lights and there “IT” stood at the far end of the room!!
It was as big and as imposing as I had remembered. A brute of grey steel but I had the power to slay this monster, if Pa would allow me enough time.
Time...! I needed time...! I was here now, standing in THE room and glaring at the rectangular elephant-looking beast… this was the end of Phase I.
PHASE II BEGINS
Now began Phase II - I slowly walked over to a steely four-drawer filing cabinet. It stood shoulder to shoulder with my prey - the giant and little David. In this instance David had no smooth round river stone but he did have a secret in his heart. A heart disguised as one of the four-drawers. A secret Pa had placed there many years ago – the safe’s combination.
I remember it was written in code and stuck on the inside front of the second drawer, or was it the top drawer, no matter I could easily check. I pulled open the top one first - no not here. Now my mind started spinning again, had Pa moved the paper? What if I couldn’t find it?’ Again the what-ifs! I forced myself to calm down and slowly opened the second drawer and, presto! Sure enough there stuck my prize, the combination! It was taped to the front of the drawer on an old 3”x5” yellowed note card. It was underneath the front edge of the drawer rim, and if you weren’t looking for the card it could easily be overlooked (that had been Pa’s intent).