OLD BEN and BOY
Chapter Five
Jerry had wanted to stay to the back roads as much as possible but his father waking up and firing at him had changed all that. He needed to get to the Hogan, do what was needed and then off the REZ before he got caught and now it was already daylight. So he turned onto US 160 heading southwest, he only needed to be on it for a few miles. But as luck would have it he got spotted by a NNP patrol car.
“Shit, damn my luck.” Jerry shouted out loud even though he was alone in the SUV.
He saw the patrol car making a U-turn across the median and turn on his flashing lights. Jerry floored the SUV and took off down the first gravel road slinging rock and dust in his wake. The patrol car did the same a couple of minutes later but by then Jerry had already turned right on a dirt road. He was almost to the last road before he would get to the Hogan. The patrol car was keeping pace with him about a mile and half back, but wasn’t over taking him on the rutted dirt roads.
Jerry had no way of knowing that the patrolman had already called in his chase and other NNP cars were on their way, as was Detective Aquilla from headquarters.
Jerry was driving as fast as the SUV would go and sometimes barely keeping it on the road. Finally he made the turn onto the road leading to the Hogan, just one more turn. He knew he would only need a minute to jump out, shoot the old man and dog and then get back in the Dodge to keep going. That cop would have to stop and see what he had shot at. All dreams of getting away clean were gone now. All he could hope for was to disappear before he got caught. Damn that Bobby, this was all his fault.
Jerry made the last turn onto the rutted track that led to the Hogan, he made some distance between himself and the NNP car, but not much. And he thought he could here another patrol car’s siren in the distance farther back. But now he could see the Hogan.
*****
Boy stood up before Ben and Bobby could hear anything well, and Ben leaned forward waiting for what had gotten Boy’s attention. Within a minute he and Bobby could not only hear the siren, but could see the lights flashing in the distance. That was when Ben could just pick out his SUV about a mile in front and then turning toward the Hogan.
Ben moved the rifle up and onto his knee with the butt nestled firmly at his shoulder, his back was now pressed against the scrubs trunk and he was sighting through the muzzle’s sight.
“Mr. Nicholson, what are you doing?”
“Just being ready son, don’t worry I won’t shoot your friend unless I have no choice.”
“Yes, sir.”
Ben could see when Jerry slid the SUV on the dirt leaving dust billowing forward. Then he saw the young man’s body against the background as he jumped out of the driver’s door and ran the few steps to the Hogan’s door. He stopped startled, he had seen they were not inside. He turned first toward the scrub trees and he saw the horse grazing, but before he could make the clear reference he heard the patrol car getting closer. Jerry turned and fired his pistol at the patrol car, which in turn skidded on the dirt to a stop. Then he turned back in the direction of the scrubs. But before he could take a full step forward Ben fired off a round out of the rifle hitting the dirt just in front of Jerry to his left near the Hogan. And without hesitation a second one to his right and a few feet behind him so Jerry would know he was not out of range.
Jerry jumped back and turned around facing toward the SUV, but as he got close to the vehicle the officer fired a shot in the air and shouted. “This is the Police, stop, throw your weapon on the ground and put your hands in the air where I can see them.”
Jerry panicked raised the pistol and fired at the officer again sending two shots toward him. The officer responded as he had been trained firing two shots back, one hitting Jerry dead center of his chest. Jerry seemed to stand for a couple of seconds before crumbling in the dirt where he stood.
Bobby immediately went to stand, but Ben dropped the rifle and held him down by the shoulder.
“Don’t move, wait until the officer calls out to us. Then we can answer throw the rifle away where he can see it and raise our hands. Then he will tell us to lay down or stand still. We need to do whatever he tells us to do until he is certain who we are.”
“Yes, sir. Is Jerry….”
“I think he is dead, Bobby. That looked like a clean shot from here. Now just stay quiet and do whatever I do, which will be whatever that officer says.”
By now the second patrol car was nearing the first. When it stopped, there was an agonizing several seconds before both policemen started walking toward the SUV and Jerry’s body. Once they were there, the first one yelled toward the scrubs.
“Whoever fired those two shots earlier, stand up very slowly with your hands high in the air, so we can see them. Then don’t move a muscle, not a hair until we come to you.”
“Yes sir, officer.” Ben yelled back as he and Bobby stood up with both arms of each, reaching for the stars.
As the two walked, with guns still drawn and pointed in Ben and Bobby’s direction, one of them recognized Jerry.
“This is Jerry Denbow, what the hell is going on here?”
“Well, that SUV is the one the BOLO is out on, about that old tourist from West Virginia, and one of those two there looks elderly, he’s the one that answered me.”
“I think your right.” The second answered as they kept walking. Just then two more NNP squad cars approached the scene from the east and turned toward the Hogan, one of them a detective’s car. When these two were just feet away the second one spoke again. “Wel,l this is the first thing that doesn’t surprise me. What is going on here Bobby, any time I see Jerry, you are close by.”
It was Ben who spoke before Bobby could. “He came here to save my life, he rode that Paint of his for three or four hours trying to get to me before that other one did, the one you called Jerry.”
“And just who are you, Old Man?”
“My name is Ben Nicholson, the one you shot kidnapped me seven days ago while I was at Canyon de Chelly. I’ve been shackled in that Hogan ever since. Bobby here came riding in this morning before dawn on that Paint. Said he and Jerry had a fight last night when he heard what Jerry was planning to do. Jerry knocked him out sometime around midnight. But he got home and to his horse and then came here hoping to break me free before Jerry got here. I was lucky he did.”
“That’s one hell of a story, Mr. Nicholson. Is this the way it happened, Bobby?”
Bobby hesitated just a moment letting Ben’s version sink in before he spoke. “Yes sir, pretty much. I knew Jerry wanted to get off the REZ, but I couldn’t let him kill old Mr. Nicholson here if I could help it.”
“You got any ID Mr. Nicholson?”
“Not on me, that one over there took it, it’s probably on him somewhere and whatever is left of the eight hundred dollars he took off me as well.”
“No wallet or credit cards?”
“I would guess the money and ID are in the wallet. That’s all that was in there.”
“Okay, you two can put your hands down for now, but walk in front of us as we walk back to the body. I see a detective is here now, he can sort this all out.”
They walked around Jerry’s body as they got close to the Hogan, SUV and now could see that the detective was Aquilla.
Aquilla spoke to the officers first and got their version of what had happened. Then he looked inside the Hogan for a couple of minutes before turning back to where Ben and Bobby stood. “I am assuming you are Ben Nicholson from West Virginia?”
“I am.”
“Can I see your wrists, Mr. Nicholson?” Ben readily held his wrists out to Aquilla and the detective saw the bruising on his right one from six days in the shackle. There was also a small nick in it from Bobby filing the shackle into two pieces. ”I am glad you are okay sir, I have talked to Sheriff Logan from Hard Luck Creek, he called me yesterday about the possibility something had happened to you. And you Bobby, I hear you have been very brave trying to help Mr. Nicolson. But why didn’t you just call us?”
“I should have Detective, I know that now. But at the time all I could think about was keeping Jerry from killing Mr. Nicholson. I guess I was just too scared to think.”
“Well, you might call it scared, but I would call it something else entirely.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Well both of you go find a place to rest a little while, if that’s okay. The officers and I have a little work to do. Could we help you with anything like water maybe?”
“That’s okay Detective Aquilla, Bobby brought water and Jerky with him, if he can go back to the scrubs and get it. By the way the rifle he brought is there too, I fired it twice myself to keep Jerry from running our direction. It’s close to where you see the horse tied if you want one of your officers to go get it for evidence.”
Aquilla nodded, told one of the officers to go with Bobby and let him get the horse and their belongings but to rope off the area and bring the rifle back to him. Ben went and sat on the running board of his SUV and waited, Boy right beside him every step.
It was four hours later before Detective Aquilla was ready to go back to police headquarters. There was a tow truck there with the SUV chained onto its bed, and they had brought an empty horse trailer to put Bobby’s Paint in. Aquilla had Ben and Bobby ride with him to Police headquarters. After another hour of discussions and both Ben and Bobby singing their statements they got to leave, Bobby rode in the truck pulling the horse trailer to his parents’ house, he had given Ben directions to his house after Ben asked for them. Aquilla took Ben to the Casino Hotel where Ben took a room.
Once Ben was settled in his room he called Harvey and brought Harvey up speed. He also asked the Sheriff to pass along the word to the Judge and anyone else who needed to know. Finally he said he wouldn’t be back in Hard Luck Creek for maybe a week or more, but he would call when he was leaving Arizona. His truck had to be repaired once the police released it, and they wanted him there for the Coroner’s inquest, and the police officers’ shooting incident investigation, all of which they had promised to expedite. Harvey understood and agreed to let everyone know.
The police officers’ investigation happened in just a couple of days and he was returned to duty, the Coroner’s inquest was the next day and the case closed officially. After that Ben put his SUV into a garage there on the REZ to have the rear window replaced and damage to tail gate repaired, the back seat he ignored for now. Bobby had followed him to the garage so he could bring him back and was at first mystified when Ben removed the driver’s door inner panel. But laughed when he saw Ben pull out his cell phone and credit cards in a baggy he had them in from the bottom of the doors frame.
Bobby and his parents spent the days waiting showing Ben many parts of the REZ that few tourists ever get to see. A couple of days before Ben was to leave the Police Department had a small ceremony for Bobby. The Chief of Police chided the youth for not calling them the night of the incident instead of putting himself in danger to help Ben, but in public honored him for his heroism. After the ceremony the chief and Detective Aquilla had a short talk with Ben and thanked him for his help and his help to Bobby, they smiled as they finished and shook his hand one last time. Ben knew by their appreciation that they suspected that his and Bobby’s statements left a few points out, but they were agreeable with why, Bobby had never been a problem for the Department.
Ben had also had several discussions with Bobby and his parents. He had offered to hire Bobby if they all agreed, saying he needed some help on his “Ranch in West Virginia” and offered him a salary that was more than the unfortunately still low average income of many people on the REZ, which was still only around twenty thousand a year. Also as part of the offer he would pay for Bobby to attend WVU and major in a field of his choosing. When they all agreed Ben had asked Judge Strong to draw up a contract which allowed Bobby to quit at any time he chose, if he changed his mind and had Martin and the Judge set up a trust with the funds in it to support all the costs. When that was done they emailed the documents to Ben so Bobby and his parents could review them. When all this was done Ben and Bobby with Boy left the reservation for West Virginia. Ben had called the Sheriff to let him know they were on their way.
Bobby enjoyed the trip since he had never been off the Navajo Nation before. He was amazed at the Mississippi River’s size, the largest river he had ever seen in person was the Colorado where it borders the northern boundary of the Nation. The green heavily forested Appalachians as they neared West Virginia had been the most beautiful he had ever been in.
When they got to Ben’s house he absolutely loved the vistas from the porch. The first day they went into Hard Luck Creek, he had been welcomed with open arms and appreciation by everyone (it was unsaid, but the word had gotten around that he had saved Ben’s life).
The first thing Ben had done was contact all the original contractors he used to build the cabin, he hired them to build an addition, another bedroom and bath for Bobby. When they were done you couldn’t even tell that the addition was newer than the cabin before. He had also had them add key pads to both gates so you didn’t need to carry an opener in the car to get in, just pull up to masonry post and punch in the code, it was the same as the one to the front door of the cabin. Now both Bobby and the Judge had that code. He had also given it to Mel, just in case she wanted to come for a visit.
*****
Over the next three years Bobby had settled into his new life and actually so had Ben, Ben was enjoying the companionship. Bobby had registered at WVU the very first semester after he got there and was doing very well, he had new friends at the college, a few had even visited him at the cabin. One of those was a young woman (Bobby’s age) who was a secondary education major, they had met in a couple of classes even though Bobby had settled on criminology and police science as his major. Her name was Gail Singleton and Gail’s mother was one half Cherokee from the eastern band in North Carolina, Gail’s grandparents and a few other relatives still lived there. She and Bobby had been there so he could meet them.
Ben had also taken Bobby to meet his daughter Mel and her husband Sean a couple of times over a holiday. Both of them had accepted Bobby like an extended new relation. Bobby had also accompanied Ben on his yearly trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Ben went there every year on the week before Memorial Day. It was then that he always visited his and Mayme’s favorite beach, the same Beach that he and Mel had scattered her ashes at, and also where he was planning on his and Boy’s ashes to be scattered at one day. Ben had a gut feeling that before long Bobby and Gail would decide to become engaged and later on married, he would not be wrong.
Just before Bobby and Gail graduated they did just that. Shortly after they did though Boy passed away one night in his sleep. Ben had known it was close, Boy had begun to slow down for the past months. Then in the final few days lost his appetite or usual eagerness for even a short walk outside, on Boy’s last evening Ben had let him have his favorite treat for dinner, a hot dog with mustard and Ketchup, and for desert he got to lick a bowl of ice cream. When he went to sleep that night at the foot of Ben’s Bed, Ben slept beside him all evening. When the old cattle dog took his last breath, Ben had cried for a long time, his oldest friend was gone. Ben had Boy cremated and the box the ashes were in sat on a dresser in Ben’s bedroom. On his next trip to North Carolina, Boy’s ashes would join Mayme, he knew she would like that.
A few months later on a weekend when Bobby and Gail were flying to Flagstaff to visit his parents, Ben had called Mel, and talked her and Sean about coming that weekend for a visit and they had agreed.
*****
Mel and Sean had gotten to the cabin in the early afternoon, put their bags in Bobby’s room and taken a short walk with Ben around the property. They enjoyed the vistas from the cabin but were surprised in its remoteness since Ben was in his late eighties now.
After relaxing awhile Ben had taken them to dinner at the Hard Luck Café. Mel was especially pleased to find that Ben had talked to Jeanne previously and had a special dish ordered for her as she had been a vegetarian now for many years. They had also got the chance to meet many of the locals (Ben had talked too many of his friends here and invited them to dinner that evening so they could meet his daughter and son-in-law). The dinner was a success in every way. It had been late in the evening when Ben, Mel and Sean returned to the cabin, and Ben had went to bed shortly thereafter.
The next morning, after breakfast, Ben had asked them to sit with him in the living room, saying he had some things he wanted them all to discuss. He looked at his daughter with solemn eyes.
“Little girl I am turning 90 soon and there are some things I wanted you and Sean to know, just in case.”
“Dad, do we have to talk about this today.”
“I would like to. Don’t worry I am not dying tomorrow or next week, there is no cause for alarm. But it is time for you both to hear me out.”
“Okay, just don’t spring any surprises on me.”
“Well, I cannot promise you no surprises, but I hope none will be disagreeable. I am aware that you found out a couple years ago that I had paid off your mortgage before I moved here. And to your credit you did not call and argue with me about doing it, thank you for that. When I sold your mom and my house that was where I put the funds, I knew your mom would approve. I didn’t tell you I was doing it so you wouldn’t feel I was interfering in your life, you have always been very independent and wanted to be self-reliant. What you may not know is anything from that house that you might possibly want of your mothers is safe and in a storage facility only a couple of miles from your condo saved for you. I needed to sell the house and move, you see Boy just couldn’t get completely over his separation anxiety while we were still there, he would spend most of his days waiting at the door for your mother to come back home. I had promised your mom to take special care of him, if she was to go first. I tried to do just that.”
“Dad, I knew that. You have done just fine, Mom would be proud of you. And I know about the trust you set up at the bank so our payments would go there like a saving account, I didn’t get upset. I understood, its fine. If we hadn’t wanted to do some remodeling, we probably still wouldn’t know.”
“Good, so here is what I want you to Know. When I do pass, you will get a call from Judge Strong, he is my attorney and he will be handling my affairs as I have laid out in my will. I hope you realize that I am and have always been very proud of you, and that the only person I have ever loved more was your Mother, she was my life. And I am sorry if I never verbalized this before.” Ben paused only briefly, not allowing enough time for an answer and then continued. “In brief you will get almost everything that has accumulated from your Mom and my life. What you have little idea of is what that will entail. But first I want to let you know the couple of things that I am leaving to two others. First is this property and cabin. I am leaving that to Bobby. In part because he saved my life just a few years ago, but mainly because I knew you would not use it, this is not the kind of place you two would want to come to, and that is not meant to be hurtful, but I know my daughter. I know Bobby and Gail will enjoy living here and it will help them in their new life, rather like I paid off your mortgage from your Mother’s home of many years. Second is a small trust I sat up for a young girl here in Hard Luck Creek, it is a trust so she will have the opportunity to get a college education, if she decides that is not what she wants, it reverts to a trust to the high school here for the same purpose for other young graduates later to get a start at one. Everything else goes to you.”
“Dad, I am not worried about that. You should use whatever there is in the way you and Mom would have wanted. The money never was or will be important.”
“Thank you, Baby Girl. But let me finish. A long time ago I asked Mayme not to brag to you about what I do. I didn’t want you to ever feel obligated to be involved in any of it. I know you knew about the first book I published, but we didn’t bring up anything after that.” Ben took a sip of coffee and he could see the look of wonder on his daughters face as he continued.” But after that there were other stories and poems that I wrote that were published under pseudonyms.”
“You mean you wrote and published using another name? Why, Dad?”
“I guess in part it could have been fear of rejection, but mostly it was because I just enjoyed the story telling for itself. But for whatever reason, it grew more than we thought. Your wonderful Mom and a few others thought that some should be published. So, I did, I just did it using another name and with time, three different names. All of this doesn’t matter except some of them started making money and the real point here is that you will find much more of your inheritance comes from those endeavors. When I pass and The Judge goes over all of this in detail, he will tell you about my three different bank accounts, my personal one, the one in the name of an LLC where everything goes from my writing and other endeavors and a savings account, also in the name of the LLC. Then there is my safety deposit box, for that he will give you a sealed letter. Inside that letter will be the key to that safety deposit box and the letter itself. The letter is instructions concerning the contents inside the box. You should take my old leather brief case when you go, it is of the older style and is large enough to hold the contents inside the safety deposit box, if you decide to its contents right then and put them somewhere else. For now, that is enough talk about this.”
“That’s fine, Dad, but aren’t you going to tell us the names you wrote under?”
“Better than that, if you want to know, follow me and you can see for yourselves.”
Ben rose and walked to the office Mel and Sean following. When they got inside, he turned to one area of the bookcases and watched as they both looked where he was looking. It was Sean who spoke first.
“No, you’re not. It can’t be that you are Nick Edwards. Every one of his books are here and that one is the one that is coming out as a movie soon, I’ve been waiting for it to hit the theaters.”
“I hope I do not disappoint you Sean, but yes He is me.”
“Geeze, Ben. Disappoint me is not even close, I am flabbergasted. We both knew you liked to write stories, but I thought it was just stories that you and Mayme got some joy out of, not that you were a well-known author. She it, I don’t have the words.”
They spent the rest of their time looking and talking about Ben’s books. When Mel and Sean left, they had a new perspective about her father.
*****
A few months later Bobby and Gail both graduated. Gail accepted a teaching job offered her at Hard Luck Elementary. Bobby talked to Sheriff Long about the Police academy, and the Sheriff helped get Bobby accepted. Once Bobby graduated, Bobby was hired as a deputy on Hard Luck Creek’s Sheriff’s department.
Bobby and Gail were married three weeks after he was hired. Their wedding was held in the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Nation in North Carolina, where Gail still had many relatives. The ceremony was a mixture of their two distinct Native American heritages. Bobby’s parents came from Arizona and many people from Hard Luck Creek were also there, including Ben. Also at the wedding were Mel and Sean, Mel was one of Gail’s Brides maids.
*****
Two years later Bobby and Gail welcomed their first child into their family, a beautiful little girl. They named her May Gail Nightsong. Bobby and Gail had also rescued a small Shit-Zu puppy named Cinnamon. As the two young ones grew they became inseparable and both were doted on by Ben.
*****
The evening of May’s second birthday around nine Ben got up from his easy chair and carried May to her bed. After reading her a story until she fell asleep and petting little cinnamon who was already in her pillow bed next to the crib. Ben went back and hugged both Gail and Bobby telling each one good night. The next morning, Bobby found Ben had passed away during the night in his sleep. Ben’s face showed no sign of pain or discomfort, in fact he looked perfectly at peace. Ben had just turned ninety-three a couple of months before.
The entire town of Hard Luck creek attended Ben’s funeral service, Mel and Sean were there as was Bobby and Gail’s parents. There were also people some did not know. Several people spoke during the service. Jimmy Joe Thompson and Guy Randolph both officiated. When the ceremony was over Jimmy Joe took Ben’s body back to his funeral home for cremation. It would be three days before it would be ready. Mel, Sean, Bobby and Gail were going to take his ashes to the Outer Banks in North Carolina to spread his ashes there as he had wished in the same spot as Mayme and Boy.
Judge Strong held the reading of Ben’s will the next day. Bobby and Gail were in shock when they heard he had left them the property in Hard Luck, Mel explained how her father had felt and her total agreement.
Later that afternoon, Mel and Sean went to the bank and after talking to Martin Fuller, were left alone with the safety deposit box. As her father had suggested she had brought his old briefcase. When they opened the box they first found a few sheets of paper on top stapled together, it appeared to be a list of Bens holdings; patents, copy writes, LLC ownerships documents, and on, he stated at the bottom it was here so she could cross check all the documents she would go over with the judge. This was as her father had described in his letter. Under those papers was a large manila envelope, in it were many Bearer Bonds, all in the amount of ten thousand dollars each. The note on top of them explained that they had come from the profits of the LLC after taxes were paid and since they were Bearer Bonds could be cashed in at any time for cash by whoever held them. Below that was a piece of cardboard covering the entire box when Mel lifted it out she and Sean gasped silently, they were looking at several stacks of cash bundled separately in denominations of nine thousand five hundred dollars each. Another note lay on the center of the entire assortment. It read; Mel this is the rest of the profits from the LLC, at others times differing from when I bought the bonds I took cash and bundled these notes. You find them in five currencies just in case some fall in conversion amounts, each of the five types are the most solid economies of the world. They are this unusual amount due to keeping them under the federal limit on amounts that have to be declared to the IRS. This completes the bulk of your inheritance. I have always and will forever love you beyond anything I have ever been able to say. This box is the one thing Judge Strong nor Martin Fuller have any idea of the contents of. Good bye, Little Girl, remember how much you have been loved by your Mother and I.
Several days later Mel, Sean, Gail and Bobby made the trip to The Outer Banks. After opening the urn and scattering Ben’s ashes at the same spot where Mayme and Boy’s ashes had been scattered before, Gail turned to Mel and spoke.
“I wish we had known we were going to lose him so soon. If we had we would have told him that night what we had just found out that morning. Bobby and I are expecting our second child.”
“He would have loved knowing that. I am sure he does anyway. Congratulations, is it a boy or girl?”
“A boy, and we had decided to name him Bobby Edward Nightsong. So we can call him Ben, in honor of your father. I hope that is okay with you?”
“I love it, Dad would have been so happy.”
“I have to believe he is already. He is now with your Mother and Boy.” Bobby interjected.
“Yes, He is.”
