Jane and the Fire – Part XVIII

In 1958, young Jane has just moved to the city of Chicago, Illinois with her parents and cousins Billy. Jane begins to follow the activities of an apparently nefarious mysterious neighbor and his gang of thugs. However, on the afternoon before the neighbor, named Mr. Bennet, and a known associate are due to scope out an  abandoned mansion in the neighborhood, they take a rough tumble and incapacitate themselves – for the present. However, Jane has also discovered that her uncle, a native Chicagoan, and another new apartment neighbor, Mr. Almond, both have stakes in the mystery unfolding.

The silence was sharply broken with a loud crash just outside the door. Mrs. Joyce hurried outside. Jane ran out with her. It appeared that Mr. Bennet had slipped on his front door mat and tumbled down the stairs and, for the grand finale, crashed into Mr. Peele by the opposite wall. The resulting equal-and-opposite reaction had thrown them both tumbling head over heels down another flight of stairs. The ambulance and firefighters were summoned and both Thugs were carted away to the hospital.

“It appears that they’ve broken one limb each!” Jane heard a neighbor say in shocked surprise. Another, more sardonic neighbor, Grumpy Mr. Almond, overheard too. “Is that all?”

“At least they’re out of action for tomorrow,” he grumbled to himself as he moved away. Jane heard him and looked up in surprise. What did Mr. Almond have to do with the Thugs? Did he know what they were up to? She hurried back to report her findings to the twins.

The Christmas holidays passed quickly as always, and Jane let the Bennet-Peele-Almond-Uncle Wallace mystery pass out of mind. After Christmas, there was New Year’s, and in the spirit of the holiday season there was little that reminded Jane of the mystery that still lingered unsolved. Even Uncle Wallace, perpetual homebody that he was, went away to visit family in Delaware. Mr. Bennet lived a recluse as he recovered. Mr. Almond won a sweepstake and left town for Hawaii, as Mrs. Joyce reported one morning at breakfast.

And the wintry days passed quickly without incident.

One morning, as the aimless holiday break period began to wane, Jane and the twins wandered the wide, cold, empty staircases of the Joyces’ tall apartment building, pretending to be miners. Paige was in the lead, pretending to shine a flashlight ahead of her, to check if the mine was safe. They swung imaginary pickaxes, pretending to check the wallpapered masonry for huge, valuable diamonds. Jane took a big step forward and gasped. Mr. Bennet, Mr. Peele, and Mr. McCawley stood huddled around the top of the staircase.

The Three Thugs looked at the kids standing frozen on the stairs.

“Well?” snapped Mr. Bennet. After a prolonged, doctor-required recovery period, neither he nor Mr. Peele nor Mr. McCawley were much in the mood for delays.

Jane got over her surprise enough to speak. “It is good to see you up and about, Mr. Bennet, but didn’t you break your leg?”

“It was a sprain, and it was my wrist. You seem misinformed, as do all the occupants of this apartment. Children ought to be not seen and not heard. Now be off!!!!” The Thugs continued their conversation in low voices and walked on.

“Did you see that?” asked Paige. The children exchanged looks.

“The Thugs are back!”

The action will certainly be picking up in the weeks to come. Stay tuned for whatever comes next… in the next edition!