“The one who finds my glasses will be richly rewarded.” It said.
His elderly wife and three grown children looked at each other with puzzlement.
“Is that really in there?” Ellen Fromm asked of the lawyer who had just finished the reading.
“Yes, ma’am. “ he replied.
“What in hell does that mean? The man never wore glasses in his life. He would rather not read than wear glasses.”
“I don’t know ma’am. But it does leave things a bit unsettled, doesn’t it?”
“What’s the reward?” she asked
“It doesn’t say. It just ends with that one line.”
“Well” Ellen Fromm huffed, “It makes no sense. No sense at all.”
Her widows dress made a swishing sound as she shifted about impatiently in her chair. Her round face framed by grey hair had redden slightly, part from anger, part from embarrassment.
“Maybe papa was writing in some kinda code.” Said Sally May, the youngest of the children.
“Oh, Shut up Sally May!” Came a retort from Caleb Fromm the oldest of the three. “You’re as dense as he was. Look Mama it don’t mean nothing. Pa was losing his mind at the end there. He just probably imagined something and wrote it down.”
“I think being in the war tetched his head.” Said Peter Fromm, “He won’t right when he came back. I don’t think he ever really got right from it.”
“Enough!” Ellen Fromm shouted. “I will not have you two speaking ill of the dead. Come on y’all lets go home.”
They left the lawyer’s office and walked down the dusty street towards their little house at the edge of town.
“You two boys need to find jobs now. Your pa left us nothing and I got bills to pay and debts to cover.”
“I can work too ma.” Sally May offered.
Ellen Fromm patted her youngest on the shoulder.
“No Sally May, I need you to keep doing the house chores like you’ve been doing. I am going to the city to have a talk with your uncle. One would think he would have some interest in looking out for his brother’s kin. Can’t believe he just disappeared right after the funeral like that.”
She packed up her old battered suitcase and caught the afternoon train into the city.
Neither of her sons went looking for work that day. Instead they stayed home drinking whatever whiskey their father had left behind and tormenting their sister who was still morning over the loss of her father.
“Sally May” shouted Caleb his lanky body stretched supine on the living room couch, “Go down in the cellar and fetch me another bottle of that bourbon pa had hit away, the old drunk.”
“Don’t talk about our pa like that.” Sobbed Sally May, her small body convulsing. “Ma said you ought not speak ill of him.”
“Well ma ain’t here, so I can speak anyway I want. Now stop your crying and do like I said.”
“Pa wont deserving of your meanness. He was so good to you but you was always sassing him.”
“So good to me? So good he left nothing for me. Nothing for me. Nothing for you. Nothing for any of us.” He sprung off the couch and grabbed Sally May by her blonde hair. She cried out from the pain.
“Now get down and that cellar and get me a bottle before I start beating on you.”
Sally May didn’t like the cellar. It was dark inside and cold down there. She made her way down the stairs, a lantern in her hand. Old boxes connected to each other by cobwebs were stacked along one of the brick walls. Old stuff in old boxes.
Henry Fromm had tucked whiskey bottles in with the old stuff of the box on the right. The two brothers had discovered this while their dad was on his deathbed. Now with him dead and their mama gone they were free to indulge.
As far as the boxes went, that was as far as they went. Once they found the whiskey, they figured they had found what was the best of their inheritance. The other boxes remained untouched as they had been for years. Sally reached into the that box on the right and pulled out what her oldest brother wanted. She looked curiously at the other boxes and noticed one she hadn’t really paid much attention to before. It was Henry Fromm’s “army box.” She remembered that what he called it, that memory alone triggering a sob.
“Sally May!” Caleb shouted from his couch. “If I have to come down there to get a bottle, I am gonna give you the whipping of your life.”
Up the stairs she went. Caleb snatched the bottle out of her hand the instant she presented it to him. She backed away, watching as Caleb tipped the bottle back and took a long drink. She knew from watching her father that in time this behavior leads to a very deep sleep. Peter staggered in and grabbed the bottle from Caleb, tossed his head back and put it to his lips. She was pretty sure he, like Caleb was very close to that deep sleep.
Shortly after dark both men passed out. Sally May went back down into the basement. Setting her lantern on the floor in the center she dragged her papa’s “army box” next to the light and opened it up. She pulled out his pistol, his hat, a belt and some medals. She found his boots and gloves, neatly folded. And she found his binoculars. His field glasses. She brought them over to the lantern and turned them over and over looking for an inscription. There wasn’t any. She peered through the lenses from both ends but saw nothing but what appeared to be a broken prism limiting the view of the right side. The binoculars had seen better days.
Holding the box so the light shined into its emptiness she inspected its insides to see if anything was written there. There was nothing. She turned the box over and inspected the bottom, but nothing was revealed. Finally, she put everything back. Everything except the binoculars. Those she took to her room and hid under her pillow.
Her mother did not come back the next day or for many days to follow. During that time the food supply in the little house dwindled and the money to buy some was almost nonexistent. The box with the hidden whiskey still had old stuff but no more bottles. Caleb worked for two day at the general store, in order to pay down the massive debt his family owed the store. It was enough to allow him to by a few provisions on credit including a small bottle of whiskey. Peter hired out as a ranch hand and lasted two days on the job.
Sally May did as her mother asked and took care of the house. She wanted her mother to come home. Her uncle frightened her. He was always touching her in ways that made her feel bad. During the funeral service he put his hands between her legs while everyone had their eyes closed in prayer. She pulled it away, avoiding any eye contact. She knew her mother had to see this man for money reasons but the longer she was gone the more Sally Mae worried about her.
When her brothers were gone, she would pull out the binoculars look through them at anything far away. The right side didn’t work properly but she would close that eye and look left eyed at telegraph poles, and a variety of birds. She liked the sense of those things being closer than they really were. One day she made a discovery.
She was looking through the binoculars while walking in the yard when she tripped on a rock. As she fell forward the binoculars fell in front of her landing on yet another rock. After Sally Mae got up and brushed herself off, she peered into the field glasses and discovered the chipped prism had slid into the cylinder on the right. Where the prism had been hanging before, was what looked like a small, tightly folded piece of paper.
She looked back on the surface of the binoculars. There was a crack on the right cylinder side. She had seen it before and assumed it was battle damage. Now it appeared to be more of a cut made by a knife than a crack. The fall had opened it a bit more. Sally Mae went into the kitchen and pulled a knife out of the drawer. She inserted it into the crack, twisted, and broke open the right side of the binoculars. There it was. Or there they were. Not one, but two small pieces of paper. Using two knives like a pair of plyers she reached in and extracted the paper. She unfolded and read them.
One was a hand-written note that said:
Your share of the loot is in your town’s bank at this account number.
Don’t get killed in this stupid war!
Your Pal, Marty
Followed by a string of digits.
The second piece of paper was a bank deposit slip for $50,000 with the same string of digits.
Sally Mae smiled “Oh papa!”
She stuffed the pieces of paper in the pocket of her apron and returned the broken binoculars to the box in the basement.
That afternoon she went to the bank and presented the two pieces of paper to the bank manager.
“Yes,” the bank manager said “The man who made this deposit left specific instructions that I was to give that money to the bearer of these two pieces of paper. Do you want it all now?”
“No” said Sally Mae. “Just wanted to be sure it was real.” I’ll be back later with something to carry it in.”
“Well you could leave it here and set up an account with us. That way the money will be safe.”
Sally returned the pieces of paper to her pocket and went home. Caleb was there when she arrived. He and Peter were huddled around the kitchen table and when she came in, they stopped talking.
“Girl, it don’t look like you got all your chores done. Where you been?”
“I was just out looking at the flowers down by the river.” Sally Mae said sweetly. “I’ll get to the rest of my chores straightaway Caleb. Whatcha boys talking about?”
“None of your business girl. Your only business is your chores.”
“We did get a telegram from mama.” Peter said. “She’ll be coming home on the morning train tomorrow.”
Sally Mae said nothing but smiled at Peter. He was a bit kinder to her than Caleb, but not much. She walked outside as if to finish her half-done laundry but instead squatted under the kitchen window so she could hear what her brothers were saying.
“We need to pull this off before mama gets back.” We can hide out overnight in that cave up in the hills until things cool down.”
“The folks at the bank will know who we are. Even with masks on they’ll recognized our voices.” Peter said. “I say we leave and don’t come back for maybe a few years.”
Panic struck Sally Mae. Her brothers were planning a bank robbery! They would steal the very money her pa’s friend Marty had deposited there. She had to do something.
She returned to the basement and found a beat-up old canvas bag. With it she went back to the bank and withdrew all the money. On her way home she stopped by the general store, paid off the family debt and bought two bottles of whiskey.
She could hear her brothers in the kitchen as she came in the front door. They were beginning to argue over their plan. She scurried into her room and hid the canvas bag under her bed. From there she went to the basement and deposited one of the whiskey bottles in her father’s “army box”. Then she returned to the kitchen with the other bottle of whiskey.
“I found this.” Sally Mae said. “I thought you boys might like it.”
They looked at her and at the bottle. Taking it from her, Caleb inquired. “Where’d you find this?”
“It was in another of those boxes downstairs.” She lied. “Enjoy yourselves.”
It wasn’t long before the two brothers were drunk and yelling at each other. When they both went to the cellar in search of more bottles, she locked the cellar door. Realizing they were trapped the two men began to yell at her to let them out. She didn’t and the yelling grew louder and more profane. As she had hoped, they found the other bottle of whiskey in the army box. She could here them through the door.
“Look at all this stuff Pa left.” Peter exclaimed. “We can sell it all and make some money. All except these bi-nocks. They look ruined.”
“Yeah.” Caleb responded, “there’s probably more stuff in these boxes we can sell.” and he began to tear through the remaining boxes.
Sally Mae remained by the door listening to the sounds of things crashing about in the basement. The sound of broken glass told her that her brothers had finished off the second bottle of whiskey. One of them staggered up the cellar stairs and pounded on the door, yelling out her name. The voice was so slurred she couldn’t tell who it was, but she could tell from the sound that followed that he had lost his balance and fallen down the stairs.
Finally, the deep sleep took over and they were quiet.
Dawn came, and Sally Mae retrieved the canvas bag from her room and headed towards the train station. Mama’s train would be arriving soon, and Sally Mae was anxious to show her the money. Their money troubles were over now, and mama would be proud of her for preventing her two older brothers from becoming criminals. She stood on the platform as the train began to pull into the station.
The trains breaks squealed, the sound of escaping steam was everywhere. Passengers began to disembark. She saw her mama and started to head in her direction. But mama was waiting by the train for someone. A man got off carrying her battered suitcase and one of his own. Sally Mae froze. It was her uncle.
“Sally Mae!” shouted Ellen Fromm waving her hand from the other end of the platform. “You came to meet me! How sweet! I have exciting news Sally Mae. Your uncle is now your step daddy. That’s right. We got married!” The last word was practically a shout. “We sold his place in the city and he is going to be living with us.”
She grabbed Sally Mae in an embrace and whispered in her ear:
“Things are settled now, Sally Mae. He has money. We’ll be ok.”
Her uncle approached Sally Mae “How’s about you give your new step daddy a hug Sally Mae.”
She stepped back.
“Oh, go on” Ellen Fromm said to her daughter with a grin. “Give him a big hug.”
The uncle grabbed Sally Mae and squeezed her close to him, his hands running down her back and squeezing her buttocks. She pulled herself away hiding the disgust she was feeling.
“Whatcha got in that bag sweetie?”
“Oh, well… well “Sally Mae stammered as she absorbed the shock of her mother’s announcement. “I know you said I was to do chores only mama, but I am picking up some pin money running people’s mail up to the train. You all go on to the house. I’ll catch up with your shortly.”
Ellen Fromm and her new husband strolled together down the dusty street towards the little house on the edge of the town.
Sally Mae, with her beat-up old canvas bag went to the ticket window and bought herself a ticket for the next train going anywhere.