Jane and the Fire – Part XIII

In 1958, young Jane has just moved to the city of Chicago, Illinois with her parents and cousins Billy. Jane and her new friends, the Landry twins, have just witnessed a secret meeting of the Three Thugs. The kids spied out an image of an old building that they know to be across the street from the bank. The “game is afoot,” as they say. Note: Thanks to some helpful reader feedback, the tense of the story is shifting from present to the past tense. Enjoy 🙌

Uncle Wallace began then to depart but turned back. “But just you remember, Mr. McCawley, I’ve got my eye on you. On you all!”

And on that note, he disappeared into the growing throng of customers. Up in the vent, as at the corner table below, important realizations were being arrived at.

“That settles it,” Paige whispered. “These Three Thugs are up to no good,” agreed Don. “Well, we’re going to get to the bottom of this,” added Jane.

“I don’t think it’s safe to meet here now,” said Mr. Bennet. “Give me the paper,” said Mr. McCawley. “What about tomorrow evening at Mr. Bennet’s?” asked Mr. Peele. They all nodded and hurried away.

“How are we supposed to find out more?” Don wondered aloud, “I mean, if they aren’t meeting here…”

“You forget,” said Jane, “Mr. Bennet is my neighbor. But they’re only meeting tomorrow evening.”

“Maybe,” Don mused, “we could explore a bit. Look around that abandoned building, you know…”

He was cut off rudely by a sudden rumbling all around them.

“Oh no!” cried Paige, “They’re getting ready to empty the laundry chute! It’s connected to this big vent” this former bit sotto voce to Jane “and actually, we’re not quite sure why this big space even exists, but WE HAVE TO GET OUT!! NOW!”

“Right you are, Paige!” agreed Don. They all began struggling to clamber back down the vent.

“What happens if we don’t get out in time?” Jane asked nervously.

“We’ll be trapped in here by the pile of laundry at the bottom of the chute, at least for 30 minutes, until we get noticed,” said Don doughtily. He made it sound as if this was something very par for the course.

This was less drastic that Jane had expected but she was beginning to feel a bit peckish already. Another thirty minutes, well…

They managed to hop out of the vent just in time. Paige was at the back, and – just as she  slid out of the vent into the bright noon sunlight – an enormous heap of soiled linen fell with a whump down to the bottom of the vent. They quickly replaced the trash can they’d pushed aside to climb into the vent and dusted themselves off.

“As I was saying,” Don continued, “we could go explore that old building. See what is to be seen and all.”

“I’m expected home for lunch now,” Jane said. “Wouldn’t you both like to come?”

They all went into The Hungry Eagle, so that the Landrys could ask their parents for permission to go to lunch.

A few minutes later, they were traipsing happily along the busy main road that led to Jane’s apartment. A major benefit of walking along such a loud road is that passing pedestrians can hardly hear a word one says.

In a few minutes they were in the center of the market square which was across the street from the park. They stopped at the park gate and looked at the crowds of people hurrying about their days.

“Funny how everyone has something to do today,” said Jane.

“And somewhere to be,” said Paige. She shielded her eyes against the glare of the noonday sun. “It looks like Mr. Bennet and Mr. Peele are pretty busy.”

Sure enough, the two men were standing in the shade of the very same old building that they had pasted into their false newspaper. They were arguing and gesticulating angrily. They were also inching closer to the door of the old building. It was obvious that they planned to scurry into the building as surreptitiously as possible.

The three kids looked at each other. They hesitated for just a moment, then quietly followed the two figures who had just reached the porch.

It was fortunate that Mr. Bennet and Mr. Peele were very preoccupied with their own argument. They didn’t notice the kids crawl, hands and knees, past the wide porch and line up quietly by the creeping mass of ivy on the side of the building.

“I was quite clear that I don’t like black coffee!” cried Mr. Bennet. “I told you ‘Cream and lots of sugar’ and ‘Black coffee is my worst nightmare!’”

“I don’t recall you saying that,” said Mr. Peele nonchalantly, “And anyway too much sugar isn’t good for health, so really you should be saying thank you.”

Jane held her breath. Mr. Peele had been strolling around the porch as Mr. Bennet struggled with the lock. If he had moved any closer to the guard-rail on the right side of the porch, Jane and both Landry twins would be in full view.

Mr. Peele raised a foot to move forward. Jane closed her eyes and steeled herself for the inevitable. Any moment now, Messrs. Peele and Bennet would notice them (the kids) – and this meant that the latter group would have to flee or be caught.

But nothing happened. Paige nudged her after a moment, and Jane opened her eyes to see Mr. Peele staring open-mouthed, with his foot still in the air, at the busy road.

What caught Mr. Peele’s attention? We’ll find out next month! 🙂