Introduction
I`m sure that since you are a reader, you have no doubt been exposed to many and varied
stories. But I have a story, or more accurately a collection of stories, to share that
will stretch your imagination to the limits of what you might find credible. But if you
were willing to do the research, you could confirm what I will tell you, by checking
newspaper archives or other historic sources. Every event chronicled in the following
pages can be documented from outside these works. In some instances, that documentation
might be simple rumor. In others, it may be stories, which have been told within
institutions, and in others still, there is media that support the occurrences. While
there were people who were aware of extraordinary happenings at points in time, I am
perhaps one of the very few living persons with whom the truth behind the scenes has been
shared. And my source is unimpeachable. You see, my source is the source himself.
So let it be known that even though these tales are as true as any I`ve ever written,
legal counsel for myself as well as for Seth Watson have made it clear that the following
disclaimer must be included. The characters represented in these stories are not real
people, living or dead. And any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or not yet
living, is purely coincidental. That said, let`s get to the facts of the matter.
These are the stories of a young man, Seth Watson, who will spend all of his earlier life
either being ignored by everyone or teased for being a bookworm. It is true that he is
seriously into science and computers and by the age of twenty-three, he will have managed
to earn bachelor`s, master`s and Ph.D. degrees in physics with secondary studies in
information systems. At only twenty-four years old, he will make a breakthrough that will
somehow conquer time as we have understood it until now. With his discovery, he can move
at will through any timeframe he desires as simply as if he were finding the right movie
scenes on a DVD.
Since at the time he told me his story, it was in his past even though at my writing many
of the things are yet to happen in my timeframe, I will talk about some things in the past
tense even though the dates are in my future. By the time Seth shared them with me, these
things had already happened to him.
And so, to better understand this young man, you should know that in 2004, when Seth was
only six years old, his parents died in a plane crash. He received one hundred sixty
thousand dollars for each parent as settlement from the airlines. He also inherited the
house with no mortgage and all that was in it, as well as two nearly new cars. Granted
that isn`t a particularly large sum, but there are other things that will add to his good
fortune.
His father`s spinster sister came to live with him and raise him. She was a college
professor who taught nuclear physics for twenty-five years and had made some good
investments over that time. When she saw the need, she immediately volunteered to take
responsibility for the child. It was because of my friendship with his aunt that Seth
chose to share his story with me.
You see, I had taught creative writing at the same university where Victoria was on
faculty. And one of the things Seth wanted was to somehow reward his aunt for all the
sacrifices she made for his good. He wanted the stories of his successful travels to be
made available to anyone who would take the time to read about them. Seth feels that he
owes her a great debt. And I agree. She turned out to be the perfect substitute mother for
him. She fueled his interest in science and encouraged him to think and experiment. She
also taught him the value of investing. Since his parents had both worked, his father was
a banker and his mother a sixth grade teacher, they both had retirement. That contributed
to the child`s support while growing up. And Uncle Sam added his few cents worth through
the Social Security survivor benefits, which were enough to provide for his basic needs
through college when added to his aunt`s rather comfortable retirement.
But most importantly, it was Seth`s aunt who started him on the road to time travel. Yes.
You understood me correctly, time travel. She had a keen interest in the topic herself and
spent all her free time and her considerable knowledge in that pursuit. They built a lab
in the barn behind the house and the inseparable pair spent untold hours working there
together. And they met with success after success.
In 2022, when he was twenty-four years old, Seth`s beloved aunt died and left him with
the time machine they had created but not yet tested along with all her worldly
possessions. In addition to the money he was left by his parents, he received more than
fourteen million dollars in investments from Aunt Victoria.
After her memorial service on Friday, he decided to test the time machine himself. That
first Saturday morning, he went back to 1960. He only stayed long enough to pick-up a
newspaper from the front lawn of a house. The front page had an article about the coming
televised debates between Richard Nixon and John F. Kennedy.
When he returned home, he spent most of the day considering what he wanted to do with
this ability to time travel. By dinnertime, he had developed a very simple plan. The
newspaper had given him the understanding that his history had at some point been news.
But more importantly that same bit of information had been unheard of or even unimaginable
at an even earlier time. There were many things that fell into that category.
On Monday morning, with a trip to his bank, he started a process that would keep him busy
for more than three months. During each visit to the bank, he withdrew two thousand
dollars from his account. Next he would go to the mall to a collectors shop specializing
in vintage currencies. There he would purchased as much nineteen thirties to late nineteen
forties currency as he could with the money he had. As the days passed, he repeated the
process until over a period of time he withdrew a total of two hundred twenty thousand
dollars from his accounts. His many purchases of vintage currency finally yielded $198,040
in old bills. You see, in 2022, the federal and state revenue services have gotten even
more interested in large dollar transactions and, even though the total amount he withdrew
and converted was relatively small in relation to his total deposits, he wanted to avoid
any flags and certainly any investigations.
But when he finally felt he had done an adequate job to meet his plan, he prepared
himself and packed for another trip back in time. So as not to be so different that he
would stand out in another time, he wore a navy blazer, gray pants and a white shirt and
navy striped tie. When he was satisfied with his image, he traveled back to 1946, and at
the trust department of the bank that would through several mergers become his
contemporary bank, he established a trust for his heirs, namely himself. He then used the
trust account to invest money in the stock market, buying airlines, communications and
common stock of a business machines company that was founded in 1911. He knew that after
WWII, and the arrival of technology that would bring about the computer, this company,
which had been mostly overlooked as a potential investment, would become an industrial
giant.
When he again returned to 2022, he found himself an extremely wealthy man. In the ensuing
seventy-six years, his trust had amassed an incredible fifteen billion four hundred fifty
two million dollars. This was after the trust department of the bank had filed a tax
return in each of the tax years between 1946 and his present.
Then he began to use time travel to do things he could not do in his own time. His after
tax investment income is more than two hundred million dollars each year. It is redundant
to say that the simple requirements of daily life like being present for work, managing
financial affairs or earning money was not of concern in Seth`s life.
His only pursuit was his happiness and that had to do only with the hobby to which he has
dedicated his life. He used his time travelling ability to go back in time and, as he
called it, "experiment". He does things that the law and morals prevent us from
doing but, since he can go to a time when science and technology were not so developed, he
can commit anti-social acts and not be apprehended by the police. And he has always wanted
to try his hand at some sorts of con games and other things as well. He has adopted one
major rule. No matter what he may consider doing, he will only travel back to a time
before he was born, so that there is no way he can be prosecuted for any crime of which he
might be guilty.
* * * *
So it is that these stories that follow are the accounts of Seth`s travels through time
and his encounters and escapades. And while you may not believe them to be true, you will
still feel the thrill of vicarious experience that comes with being "present"
and involved as a witness. Happy reading.
1959
CHAPTER 1
Time travel was not only possible, but also really quite simple. The only difficulty was
that the arrival or destination time was not exactly predictable. It wasn`t far off, but
it could vary a couple of days one way or the other. On his first "experiment",
Seth decided on the late fifties. He and his aunt had decided they had to not only know
where they were going in time, but they had to know about the physical conditions they
would encounter when they arrived suddenly at some other time. To have better control,
they had purchased a tract of undeveloped land that was near town. It was about half
wooded with a natural clearing near its center. They had built a block building in this
clearing to house the time machine. It was there that Seth went when he was prepared to
make his trip.
He had attempted to arrive in 1959 in late summer or early fall. Within seconds, he noted
that the indicator said that his present time was October 28, 1959. He stood in the
machine and grabbed a jacket from the cargo area stepping out into the empty clearing
where he was now located. From an outside compartment, he pulled a large camouflage tarp
and covered the machine. He knew the general direction of the center of town and started
walking with that target in mind. He had with him about five thousand dollars in cash and
a faked driver`s license identifying him as Dale Thomas.
After walking about twenty minutes, he saw that the surrounding area was increasingly
more populated. Just two miles or so from his arrival point, he realized that he had
passed inside the town limits. He found the Chevrolet dealers "OK Used Cars"
sign and walked onto the lot. Strolling around on the second row and the back of the lot
he found the ideal vehicle. It was a 1950 Ford panel delivery wagon. It looked just like a
station wagon except where the windows would have been in the sides behind the front doors
were solid panels and there was no rear seat. And instead of floor covering, the surface
was like the floor of a pick-up truck.
As he was looking it over, a salesman approached.
"Good mornin`."
Seth only nodded and continued his examination of the truck. At least he saw that it
already had a trailer hitch with a ball installed. That was something he had expected to
have to have put on himself.
"If you need a good used delivery vehicle, this is the best one I`ve got right now.
It belonged to Hodges Market. It`s got a flathead V-8 and overdrive. Radio and heater both
work real good. We had to put a clutch in it when it came in. But even with eighty
thousand miles, she`s still gotta lotta life left in her."
"What are you askin` for it?"
"Three ninety five. You got a trade?"
"No."
"You payin` cash?"
"Yes."
"We might be able to do a little better on the price then.
What kind of work you plannin` on doin` with it?"
"... Oh, I`m a veterinarian. I`ll have to build a cage in the back for smaller
animals."
"It`d be perfect for that. Want to take it for a drive?"
"Yes."
The salesman hurried back to a little building sitting up on brick stilts and with a
large flat window overlooking the lot. In moments the salesman came out the door with a
license plate under his arm and a key ring in hand. After opening the driver`s door, he
started the engine and then went around to the rear of the car and clipped on the plate.
"There, take `er for a spin. And when you get back, just park right in front of the
office and c`mon in."
He was a little surprised at the roughness and poor handling characteristics of the old
Ford, but then he considered that it had no power steering or power brakes and it had
pre-radial tires. Still, it seemed to run okay. He was far more interested in reliability
at this point than anything else. He could only have a problem if he were caught in the
act. The gray/beige color was pretty non-descript. He decided it would work perfectly.
The salesman was sitting at a metal desk, which looked from its green drab color to be
military surplus. He offered Seth a seat across from his seat. Seth sat.
"Well, what`d you think?"
"It`ll work just fine. I`ll give you three fifty for it."
"Well now, I`m pretty sure I could get the boss to go along with three
seventy-five..."
Seth took out a cash clip and pulled off three one hundred dollar bills and a fifty
before responding.
"But I won`t. Three fifty or nothing. Tell the boss that."
He placed the bills on the desktop and sat back. He watched the peddler and waited. He
knew that whoever blinked first was the loser. The salesman pick-up the phone and dialed a
five digit number and waited. Seth could hear the flat buzzing as the phone rang. Then a
woman`s voice and the salesman asked to speak with Don. After a brief hesitation another
voice was on the phone.
"Boss, I got a customer here whose ready to buy that `50 Ford panel delivery we got.
He`s offered me three-fifty. I told him I thought I could get you to go along with three
seventy-five."
He listened to the other voice for a second.
"Three ninety five ... okay, I`ll let him know."
Then he was addressing Seth while holding his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone.
"He says he really needs the three seventy five."
Seth didn`t make any verbal reply but simply picked-up the bills he`d placed on the desk
and put them in his pocket and stood to leave. He didn`t even reach the door before the
salesman had put the phone down and called to him.
"Hey buddy, wait. Don`t leave yet. Maybe I can get him down to three fifty. Let me
try one more time."
Seth stopped at the door and turned back to face the salesman and waited. Again the call
was placed "across the street" and this time the boss agreed to take the three
fifty. Within a half-hour, Seth was in his new car and on the road.
* * * *
The time machine was mounted on a trailer so that when he left the dealer`s lot, he went
immediately to the clearing outside of town and covered the machine with a canvas tarp and
hooked up the trailer to the Ford. His next priority was ... what did they call it during
those old western movies? He smiled as he remembered the name ... he needed a hideout.
That meant a realtor. He headed east and about forty miles down a two-lane highway he ran
into Hillsboro. It was a smaller town, but not too small. A population of about forty
thousand. He drove into town and stopped at the first real estate office he saw. Inside
the front entrance of the surprisingly modern building, he found a receptionist sitting at
a desk behind a counter. She looked up and squinted at him through pink plastic framed
glasses and smiled.
"Hi there. Can we help you?"
"Yes. I`m looking for a small house to rent. Maybe with the option to buy. I`d
really like something with a barn and some acreage."
She picked-up the phone and spoke briefly before putting it back into it`s cradle.
"Mizz Perkins will be right out to help you."
Within just seconds a woman in her late thirties or early forties who was slightly
overweight, but neatly dressed in a navy suit and white blouse came past the
receptionist`s desk and extended her hand.
"Hi. I`m Charlotte Perkins. Is there something we can help you find?"
He grasped her hand and shook it firmly.
"I`m Doctor Dale Thomas. I`m a veterinarian. I`m lookin` for a place between here
and Cary. Maybe fifty or sixty acres a small farm house and a barn. Private but fairly
convenient."
"Well, Doctor Thomas, c`mon back to my office. I have a couple of listings that I
think will fit that bill."
Once in her office the woman went around the Danish modern walnut desk and took a seat,
sweeping her hand in the general direction of the two side chairs across from her place.
Seth took the one closest to the door and crossed his right leg over his left knee. He
watched as the realtor was flipping through some files on her desk and put one then
another of them on the corner of the desk closest to him.
"The top one there is probably the best, but of course it`ll cost you a little more.
There`s 88 acres, plus or minus. There`s a nice barn, which has a concrete floor. It`s a
dairy barn, but all the equipment is gone. It was sold at auction by the bank. It`s a
foreclosure. The house is small. There`s five rooms and a bath, but the second floor is
all open. It looks like they used it as a bunkroom. Has electricity and an oil stove for
heat and there`s a water closet too. There`s two other out buildings and a garage. It`s on
a state hard surfaced road. There`s a large pond and three large streams on the property.
The sales price is $12,500. There`s an option to rent it for $110 per month with the
option to purchase with $50 per month being applied to the downpayment."
"And an outright purchase?"
"$2500 down and about $75 per month plus taxes and insurance each month."
"No, I mean a cash purchase. What would the bank take for it?"
"Well, I don`t know. But if you`d like to make an offer, I`ll be glad to present it
to them."
"Well, let`s take a look at it first. What`s the other one?"
"Well, it`s not as good a match as the first one. For one thing, it`s more isolated.
And the main house is only four rooms. There is a tenant house on the property too with
four rooms and a bath. The barn and out buildings are older. It`s on a gravel road but
it`s state maintained. It has 112 acres, and more than half of it is wooded. The old man
who last owned it died without any heirs and the state ended up with the property. I don`t
know for sure that they would rent it, but you could probably buy it at a good
price."
"When could we see them?"
"Well, there`s no reason why we couldn`t go right now. I don`t have an appointment
until five. That`s plenty of time to see them both."
* * * *
The smaller of the two farms with the nicer house and the concrete floored dairy barn was
his choice. As they headed back to the office, he told her.
"I`d like to make an offer to buy the 88 acre farm. If you would draw up the
contract."
"I`d be glad too. What do you have in mind?"
"I`ll pay them ten thousand dollars in cash. Then I`ll pay you five hundred dollars
in addition to that for your commission. I`d like to close on Monday."
"I don`t know Doctor Thomas. That`s a pretty low offer."
"It`s high enough to buy the property. But just so they`ll know, this is my first
choice, but I already have another farm just the other side of Cary and they have already
counteroffered at a price I`m willing to pay. So it`s no loss one way or the other. If
they want a quick sale with no hassles, they can take it and if not, I`ll just buy the
other one. Can I know by noon tomorrow?"
"Well, I guess I can call them when we get back to the office. I`ll tell you, a good
earnest money deposit will help them know you mean what you say."
"I`m prepared to give you three thousand dollars with the contract, then another
three thousand when it`s signed and accepted and then the final four thousand at closing.
Is that earnest enough?"
* * * *
The bank accepted the offer and agreed to the Monday closing while they sat in the
realtor`s office. He paid the three thousand dollars in one hundred dollar bills and had
the contract drawn and signed it. He agreed to be back at noon the next day, which was
Wednesday, to pay the additional three thousand dollars and to pick up his copy of the
signed contract. Then he went back to his new farm and parked the car and time machine in
the barn and transported himself back to his present. He was only there long enough to get
an additional $10,000. On his return trip he was following an existing channel and was
able to arrive at the same time he had left. Since he knew that the farm was isolated
enough to give him all the privacy he needed, he went into the house through a window
which he had unlocked on his earlier visit with the realtor.
He strolled through the little bungalow deciding how he would use it. There was a porch
across the front and a center entrance that came into a small hallway. To the left of the
hall was the living room that was about fifteen or sixteen feet square with a small tiled
fireplace. Through an archway at the back of the living room was the dining room, which
had a hanging light fixture and three windows side-by-side along the outside wall and a
built-in china cabinet in the back left corner. The door to the right hand side of the
back wall was open and lead into the pale yellow painted kitchen and it’s white range and
refrigerator. There was also a door into the front hall and another door which when opened
revealed the basement stairs. He walked out into the hall and the first door outside the
kitchen was to the stairs that went up to the bunkroom upstairs. There was a door that was
open and showed the rear bedroom, then the middle door lead to the bath and the front
door, which went into the front bedroom. All the walls were painted in flat wall paints
and had obviously been done recently, probably by the bank just to make the property
saleable. Both bedrooms were beige as was the hall and living room. The dining room was
mint green. All the woodwork and floors were stained a walnut brown. He would just ignore
it. All the windows had venetian blinds and they all appeared to be in good working order.
That was positive. Tomorrow, after he went to the realtor`s office, he`d buy some
furniture.
* * * *
He had slept in a sleeping bag on the front bedroom floor and was up with the sun. In the
barn, he unhooked the trailer and backed the truck out into the early morning. It took him
thirty-three minutes to drive to Cary. By the time he got there, it was almost eight
o`clock. He stopped at a diner that had been made of a converted railroad dining car and
was mostly shiny steel outside and Formica and Naugahyde inside. He took a small booth and
had a country breakfast. After a couple of extra cups of coffee, he paid the incredible
check with two ones, leaving the remaining sixty cents as a tip. He found a furniture
store that was just opening and strolled through the displays. There he found a bed and
dresser for his bedroom, a sofa and chair with three tables for the living room. A dinette
table with two chairs would work just fine for the kitchen. Two rugs, one beige nine by
twelve was for the bedroom and a gray twelve by twelve for the living room. Then he found
a painted iron bed in a double size and a small dresser for the extra room. As he was
considering any other needs he might have, he saw two heavy oak rockers with cane seats.
He thought they would be perfect for the porch. He took the double mattress for his own
bed with him and asked the company to deliver the rest on Tuesday morning. After giving
them written directions to his farm, he left and headed to the realtor`s office to finish
that business. After the brief visit to the realtor, a brief stop at a general goods store
allowed him to buy sheets, pillows, two bedspreads, towels, kitchen wares and a set of
brightly colored Fiestaware dishes, some flatware and set of pots and pans and four lamps.
The next stop was a grocery store where he got enough basics to last for a week.
It was nearly three when he was able to get back to Cary to start his search. He started
in a nice middle class residential neighborhood on the west side of town. He cruised
several streets and finally at the intersection of a main thoroughfare and one of the
residential streets, he found a corner drug store with a soda fountain. There were at
least a half dozen teenagers headed into the front door just as he pulled to the curb. He
got out of the car and strolled into the little pharmacy. It was more crowded than he had
expected. About half the interior or the store was taken up with the soda fountain and the
three booths against the back wall. The fountain area was separated from the rest of the
store by a large dark wood magazine display. There were kids reading magazines, sitting in
booths and talking in the corners. He strolled over to the magazine rack and began to
browse. He could overhear conversations about a dozen different topics, but the one which
really interested him was between two girls who were both complaining about having to
baby-sit on Friday night because of the harvest ball at the country club. He could hear
that they were both going to be at their respective sitting jobs from six until … on
Friday. One of the girls was exactly what he was looking for. She was maybe five five or
six and nicely developed. He guessed her figure at thirty-three or four "b",
twenty-two or three, thirty-three or four. She had dark red hair and the brightest blue
eyes he could ever remember seeing in a redhead. She had an easy smile and pretty white
straight teeth. She appeared confident without being conceited. She was dressed in a plaid
shirtwaist dress that was mostly lavender and bobby socks and black and white saddle
oxfords. He noticed that her fingernails were painted with a bublegum pink polish and he
couldn`t help but wonder if her toes matched.
When she and her friend were finished with their drinks, they grabbed bookbags and headed
for the door, talking about everything from boys to homework. He followed. On the sidewalk
outside, they abruptly stopped and he excused himself and slowly walked to his car. His
pace allowed them to finish their conversation before he opened the driver’s door. He was
able to catch the brunette saying goodbye to her friend and using her name in the process.
So now he knew she was Amanda. He also heard Amanda say she was sitting for the Bishops
Friday night. He started the car and waited for several minutes before easing around the
corner and down the street where Amanda had walked. He saw her at the far end of the block
as he drove slowly by. In the drivers door mirror, he watched her walk diagonally across
the intersection and into the front yard of the house on the corner. He did a u-turn and
headed back up the street and was just able to catch her going into the front door of the
Dutch colonial there. Now he knew where Amanda lived. 1501 Woodland Drive.
Thursday morning found Seth at the public library. In just minutes, he was able to find
just what he needed. There were two Bishop houses in the general residential area where
Amanda lived. One house was only two blocks down Woodland Drive at 1724 and on the other
side of the street. The second family of Bishops lived at 4223 Melody Circle. He was able
to get phone numbers and names of husbands and wives from the directories as well. Now he
only needed to do a little recon of the area and he`d figure out some way to determine
which was the correct location of her babysitting job on Friday. One final item he got
before returning the directory to the librarian was a little info on Amanda`s family. Her
last name was Mackenzie. Her mom, Ellen was a homemaker and her dad, Paul was a doctor.
Seth got a phone number and then found the listing in the professional section of the
directory for Paul Mackenzie and found that he had a general family practice on Broadway.
What was most interesting in this find was that his partner was doctor Bernard Bishop.
Doctor Bishop lived at 4223 Melody Circle with his wife Harriet.
* * * *
Seth found himself a telephone booth and first dialed the number for the Mackenzie house.
After the third ring, a woman`s voice answered pleasantly.
"Mackenzie residence."
"Hi. Is Ellen Mackenzie in?"
"Yes sir. Just a minute."
After a brief pause another feminine voice was on the line.
"Hello?"
"Mrs. Mackenzie? I`m George Baker with American Family magazine. I talked with your
husband at his office and he suggested that I give you a call."
"Well, we don`t want to subscribe to any more magazines."
"No ma`am. Doctor Mackenzie already gets the magazine at his office. That`s why we
called him in the first place. I just need about three minutes of your time for a brief
survey. We`re doing an article on the growth of country clubs in America over the past two
decades. If you could answer just a few questions for me, it would really be
helpful."
"Well ... I guess that would be okay."
"Thank you. Now, does your family have a membership at a country club?"
"Yes. We belong to Willow River Country Club."
"And have you been members for at least ten years?"
"Yes. I think we joined the same year we moved here. That would be eighteen years
ago."
"Do you actively participate in social functions at the club? Like Christmas parties
or New Years` balls?"
"We try to go to all the special functions."
"When were you last at a social function?"
"It would have been the fourth of July dance and cookout."
"And when would you guess the next time would be?"
"This Friday night. It`s our annual harvest ball."
"Would you recommend membership in your country club to a new family moving into the
neighborhood?"
"Yes I would."
"And finally, do you think that country club membership is expensive and is it worth
the price?"
"I don`t really think it`s expensive when you consider what you get for the money.
We use the club as a family, you know, in the summer we use the pool and my husband plays
golf. Our daughter sees her friends there. And then the adult activities like the harvest
dance this Friday night. We see our friends socially and we really enjoy having it."
"Well, thank you very much Mrs. Mackenzie. I appreciate your time."
He hung up the phone and smiled. He had almost all the answers he needed. And what he
didn`t have, he could get pretty easily. He drove down Woodland Drive and turned left at
the corner by the Mackenzie house. Two blocks over, he found Melody Circle. He stopped at
the corner just long enough to check the house numbers on the four corners. It was obvious
the numbers were increasing from his left to his right. And the odd numbers were on the
far side, which was the left after his right turn onto Melody. This first block was the
thirty-six hundreds. He quickly drove down the street, which began to loop around to the
right as he approached the four thousand numbers. At the back outside of the circle, he
found 4223. It was a fairly new English Tudor two and a half story with a two-car garage
connected by a screened breezeway to the end of the house. The garage doors didn`t show
from the street since they were not in either the front or the side of the garage. The
white concrete driveway curved around the side of the garage and turned out of sight at
the back.
He drove back to the same phone booth and dialed the Bishop number. After two rings, a
woman answered the call.
"Hello."
"Harriet Bishop, please."
"Speaking."
"Mrs. Bishop, this is Ben Brewster. I`m a volunteer with the Cary animal shelter.
We`re doing a survey of pet owners in the area. Do you have a few minutes you could spare
to answer some survey questions?"
"Yes I do. And I`d like to ask you a question too."
"Okay. What`s your question?"
"I`d like to volunteer to work at the shelter. I really love animals and I have some
free time. Can you tell me who to contact?"
"Well, yes. I`m the person you should talk with. We`re always excited to get
volunteers. I have your name, address and telephone number. Let me put you on our mailing
list and we`ll invite you to our next meeting."
"That would be great. Now what is your survey for?"
"We are trying to raise awareness about an over population of domestic animals. We
of course encourage owners to have their pets fixed to avoid any unwanted litters. We`re
trying to determine some statistics about pets in the community."
"Okay. I`ll try to answer them."
"First of all, do you have a pet in the house?"
"Yes. We have two cats. Big Persians."
"Males? Females?"
"They`re both females."
"Have they been fixed?"
"Yes."
"Do they stay inside?"
"Most of the time."
"Any dogs?"
"No."
"I`m assuming there are children in the house?"
"Yes two."
"Are they at an age that might cause you to add pets in the not too distant
future?"
"We have two girls. They`re seven and eight. The cats are their`s. So I don`t think
we`ll add any later."
"Did you have pets when you were growing up?"
"Oh yes. My brothers had dogs and I always had a cat."
His tone quickly switched to a casual conversation style, which showed his interest.
"Oh? How many brothers do you have?"
"Two. One older and one younger."
"Do they live here in town?"
"Oh no. One`s in Chicago and my baby brother is in San Diego."
"I guess you don`t get to see them very often then."
"Not Mark, the one in California. He`s only been here once in the fifteen years
we`ve lived here."
"Well, Harriet, I`ve taken enough of your time. The other questions have to do with
dogs, so you won`t have replies for them. I really appreciate your taking the time to chat
with me. And I really look forward to meeting you at our next meeting."
"Thank you for calling, I enjoyed talking with you. And I`ll certainly be expecting
a call later."
* * * *
All the necessities were falling into place. Now he only needed to do some simple
shopping for some specialty equipment. Just as he entered town, he saw the Hillsboro
Hardware sign and pulled into the gravel parking lot and stopped at the front of the
store. Inside, he found a number of items he needed. He made several trips to the back
counter and placed his selections in a pile there until he had completed his shopping. The
booty included eight medium padlocks, fifty feet of smooth one-inch link chain, six
splicing links, two 100-foot bundles of soft cotton sash rope, four dozen threaded eye
bolts which were three-eights inches in diameter and with one and a half and two inch
diameter eyes, six big-dog leather collars each about sixteen inches long and one and a
half inches wide, six medium-dog leather collars each about twelve inches long and one
inch wide, six smaller-dog leather collars which were twelve inches long and
three-quarters of an inch wide, four extra-small dog leather collars which were eight
inches long and half an inch wide. All were black and soft leather with roller buckles. He
got four braided leather leashes, two six foot and two eight foot. He also bought a sheet
of soft leather that was about an eighth of an inch thick and about three by two feet and
a twenty-five foot roll of 1/4-inch rawhide lacing and a curved leather knife. His total
was less than fifty dollars.
* * * *
Once back at his farm He set to work on his guestroom. He decided to use the upper
bunkroom and went there. The furniture had been delivered earlier in the day and he had
left the painted iron bed unassembled. He moved the pieces upstairs and put it together
there against the only blank wall space that would accommodate it. He then put a plain
white sheet over the mattress. Above the bed, he installed four of the eyebolts just above
the corners of the bed and a row of three equally spaced in the center of the bed with one
over the headboard, one over the footboard and one in the center of the bed. Then he
installed two rows of seven eyehooks in the floor. The two rows were about four feet apart
and each of the seven in a row was about a foot apart. These preparations done for the
moment, he turned to other tasks.
Back down in the kitchen, he worked at the kitchen counter, cutting a kidney shaped piece
of leather from the large sheet. The piece he cut was about eight inches long and three
inches wide at the widest point. One of the long sides was straight while the other long
side narrowed to about an inch just in the middle. He then selected one of the big-dog
collars and cut it into two pieces each of which were eight inches long. The ends he cut
were then aligned with the ends of the leather piece and attached there with a rivet gun
leaving the buckle on one exposed end and the tapered end with holes on the other. It was
a perfect blindfold with a strap to attach it. Finally, he went to his truck and installed
six eyebolts in the floor at evenly spaced points along the sides of the rear floor.
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