Jane and the Fire – Part V
In 1958, young Jane is a twelve-year-old girl who has just moved to the big city of Chicago, Illinois with her parents and cousins Billy. When we last left Jane, she had decided to follow the sketchy Mr. Bennet and the visitor as they went to meet a mysterious “Jim McCawley” at the local park.
To her surprise, Jane sees the man who called on the Joyces by accident following him. This latter man pokes Mr. Bennet in the shoulder. “Well, Vinny, where is he? You know McCawley ain’t no honorable type, and we can’t be seen out an’ about like this.”
Vince Bennet levels a glare at him. “The only concern I have now is you, since you’re talking loud enough to wake the dead! Why don’t you shout to the entire park that Jim McCawley is waiting for us in the grove?” They enter a dark patch of forest at the edge of the park. Jane takes a deep breath and follows. She’s curious – what is Mr. Bennet up to? And who is this McCawley?
The park grove is shady and the ground is covered in dry leaves, which makes it hard to walk quietly. The visitor man turns around suspiciously at one point, but Jane jumps behind a tree and luckily he doesn’t see her. He turns back to Mr. Bennet and says, “Gosh, I’m jumpy.”
“Yeah,” says Mr. Bennet, “no one ever comes in here and there are a ton of little animals. Stop hopping around like a scared rabbit.”
They argue and keep walking, and Jane lets out a breath. After this, she climbs a tree 
and moves from tree to tree. Those dry leaves are unpredictable, and anyway she likes heights. They can’t have been walking for more than a minute or two, but the visitor man is already complaining. Mr. Bennet holds up his hand for silence and they both stop walking. There’s a big tree in front of them and Jane can hear a perky, cheerful whistle. The whistle gets a little bit louder and a man steps out from behind the tree. His suit is crisp and dry-cleaned, his shoes are shining like the sun, and not a speck of dust is visible on his velvety hat.
“Well, Jim,” says Mr. Bennet.
Jim McCawley grins like the Cheshire Cat. He opens his arms like a benevolent spirit and says,
“My gosh, it’s really been too long! Vince Bennet and Frank Peele – you haven’t aged a bit!”
“I could say the same,” says the newly-identified Mr. Peele, “Well-paying career, eh?” Mr. McCawley doesn’t respond but his smile grows more genuine.
“Enough talk,” snaps Mr. Bennet, “Let’s get on with it.” Mr. McCawley takes a paper out of his pocket and Jane forgets herself; she leans a bit too far to get a look at the paper and nearly slips off the tree. A dry branch cracks and falls with a crash. The three men freeze. Jane’s pancreas is in her chest and her face grows hot with nerves – can they see her?
“What was that?” whispers Mr. Peele. They are all looking at Jane’s tree but they can’t see her – fortunately, it is very leafy. Mr. McCawley glares at him. “It can’t be a person, idiot! How could anyone get there without us seeing him?”
How will Jane get out of this tricky situation? Read on next month!
