IF EVER Chapter II

CHAPTER II

     Times were good for few.  Even in Chicago this was very evident.  The train station was filled with people not knowing were they were going.  The streets housed the many unfortunate unemployed migrants.  Tension was high and for some, hustling had become a way of life.  For others, crime was their escape from poverty.

     Frank Bernard Jr. had been raise in a small midwestern town.  He had left at age sixteen in search of a more carefree life.  In the ten years he had lived in Chicago he had returned only once to his hometown to see his mother and younger brother.  His life, to some, seemed full and luxuriant.  The truth was his means did not always provide for his ways.

     Being the eldest of two sons, Frank had a commanding attitude towards life.  This attitude had not, at times, been directed in an acceptable manner.  His father offered very litle quidance to him as he was growing up and passed away shortly befoe the young Frank left home.  He loved material possessions and was willing to compromise to attain them.  His interest in the family store and life in the town of Candor was non-existant.

     Frank was a very handsome man.  He was medium built with a dark complextion and was always well dressed.  Even though he was smaller than his brother Tommy, he dominated him as they grew up.  Domination of others had become his strongest method of survival.

     Leaving home at age sixteen would have been a hard way for most.  For Frank it was the natural thing to do.  When he first came to Chicago, he quickly found a job at the north docks working for a shipping company.  His lack of wilingness to work at hard labor almost lost him the job in the early months.  He managed to stay on by continuely communicating his desire of wealth to those above him.  Because of his age and enthusiasm he worked mainly as a messanger.  After a time, his creative intelligence allowed him to advance to  a management position.  He finally left the docks and worked directly for the owner of the company.

     The company that Frank worked for had many interests.  They demanded complete loyalty and in turn provided a prosperous life for thoe willing to compromise.  Their business was sometimes over the line when it came to legal and ethical matters.  Frank involved himself with these aspects of the company.

     Frank had returned home two years ago for a short visit.  This visit could be more appropriately described as a chance to show off his success to his family and friends.  Because of his fast paced life and seemingly abundant fortune he convinced a local girl to return to Chicago with him.  His effort to influence her was probably not by chance.  Lynne just happened to be his younger brothers girlfriend.

     Lynne Palmer was a goddess like creature with blond hair and blue eyes.  Faultless proportionate features added to her beauty.  Her impeccable etiquette and love for life set her above all others in the small community in which she had been raised.  Her out of place refined nature had much to do with her decision to accompany Frank to a new world of excitement.

    The two years with Frank were not all that Lynne had expected or hoped for.  Life had its problems in the big city also.  Frank's work and his selfish ways had never let the two of them become close.  He looked at her as a trustworthy and devoted companion, and expected her to be so even when , on occasion he was unfaithful.  She came to see his lavish and destructive side, but felt she had no other alternative than to stay with him.  She had left all that she knew behind and had to make the best of it.

     Things had gotten pretty hot for Frank lately.  His lust for tangible wealth drove him to start skimming from the boss's share of the take.  There were people who wanted his position.  He could not trust anyone, and had fallen from the graces of those who supposedly controlled him.  It was time to make a move.

     On a hot day in August, 1936 Frank decided to leave Chicago, at least until he was able to restore himself financially and payback the money he owed.  This decision was more of a forced one than what he was willing to admit.  He was smart enough to know his time had run out.

     He called in his two most loyal men and asked them to accompany him.  These men had worked for Frank for many years.  Without question they did what they were told and were inadvertently mixed up in the dealings as much as he was.  Frank conveyed to them the seriousness of the situation at hand.  They, without reservation, agreed to go with him. Together with Lynne the four left Chicago penniless.

     Walter "Hands" Wilson was as large as a bull and as dumb.  He was a middle-aged boxer who had taken more that one beating in the ring.  Even though he no longer boxed, he had the strength and size to handle Frank's heavy work.  He knew no other way than to carry out orders.

     Henry Tucker, a former small time con-man, had given up his unsuccessful attempt at fortune to join Frank in a less demanding position.  His duties mainly consisted of taking care of Hands and occasionaly schemming with Frank.  He was sometimes referred to as "Weasel", not because of his shrewdness but rather his appearance.  His dislike of this label caused most of his friends to call him Tuck.

     Frank drove west out of the city.  This was unplanned.  It was the only direction that he had ever been.  Hands snored away in the rear seat.  Tuck, also in the rear leaning on the backside of the front seat was plotting a money making idea and proposing it to Frank as he concocted it.  Lynne admired the scenery.  It had been a long time since she had seen the country.

     Irritated by Tuck's rattling on, Frank stopped his plotting abruptly.  "Tuck, shut up!  How the hell are we going to play that action without going back into the city?  We need money right now.  We don't have the resources or the time to set up a scam like that."

     Tuck murmured, "I was justtrying tofigure somthing out."

     "I've been thinking."  Frank interrupted.  "We've got to hit a small bank.  It's our best bet.  In and out before they know we're there."  He paused shortly.  "They'll never suspect a thing and their police force is usually asleep in those small towns."

     "Let's plan it out.  Whose goin' in first?  What should we use for masks?"  Tuck enthusiasticaly said.

     Frank retorted, "We don't need any planning.  We just do it.  What time is it?"

     "9:30"  Tuck answered.

     "I'll tell ya what.  We'll drive til late this afternon and hit the first bank we come to just before it closes."

     Tuck grabbed Hands by his jacket shoulder and pulled.  "Wake up, you big dog!"  He shouted.

     Hands moaned, "Hey cut it out.  What's goin' on?"

     "We're gonna hit a bank!"  Tuck repeated, "Frank said we're gonna hit a bank."

     Hands not completely awake yet, said, "Good.  Make it a big one.  I'm hungry."

     Lynne, listening, was concerned.  She knew Frank's business was not always on the up and up, but he had not, as far as she knew, ever been directly involved in something as straight out illegal and dangerous as this before.  She questioned Frank.  "Do you thigk robbing a bank is a good idea?  It sounds kind of dangerous to me.  Somebody could get hurt."

     "Dangerous?  What kind of trouble do you tink we're leaving behind?"  Frank was angry.  "Just shup up and do what you're told."

     Lynne was used to this kind of treatmet from her companion.  The men never included her in any plans.  When it came to Frank's business she knew very little, and didn't care to.

     Hands, wide awake by now,  remarked, "If we hit it big, maybe wecan fo out ta Wyomin' and buy a ranch."

     Laughing, Tuck replied, "You dumb idiot.  You never even rode a horse."

     "Don't call me dumb!"  Hands was mad.  "I've seen al the western picture shows.  I could learn."

     "OK then,  you're not dumb.  You're just an idiot.  And, you're to damn old to learn anything, you big dummy."

     "I'm gonna break your nose Tuck."

     "Just sette down, buddy."  Tuck defensively instructed.  "You're my big buddy.  Ain't ya?"

     "As long as you don't call me dumb.  I met a cowboy once.  He said them wil broncos dumped him all the time, and he was just a puny guy.  I'm alot tougher than him.  He couldn't hardly even stand up."

     "What was he drinkin'?"

     "Wine, but he had boots and everthing.  He said ridin' a horse was just like sittin' in a rockin' chair.  He knew Tom Mix and everything.  He used to have spurs, too."

     "What was he doin' in the city?"  Tuck asked.

     "He was jut bummin' around.  Ridin' the trains and stuff.  Had ta quit ranchin'.  Cracked his head wide open."

     "Well I guess you've got it made.  Your head's too hard to break.  You're a big dumb idiot."  Tuck observed as he slapped Hands on the back of the head.

     Hands grabbed Tuck by the collar and lifted him off the seat.  "You're a dead man, Tuck."

     "Hold it!  Hold it ya big dummy!"  Tuck hollered.

     "Cut it out back there!"  Frank demanded.

     Hands let go of Tuck, and said in a low voice, "I still think Wyomin's the place ta go."

     Frank drove until mid afternoon, listening to Hands complaining about being hungry and Tuck's stories of the good old days when he so shrewdly made it rich as a con-man.  He finally could not take it any longer and announced, "We're gonna do the bank in this next town."

     Everyone became very quiet, and the men in the back leaned forward to hear what Frank was going to say.

     Frank began with the plan that he hd worked out in his own mind over the lst several hours.  "It'll be about twenty minutes before we get there.  We'll park as close to the front door as we can.  We won't heed to cover ourfaces.  No one will recognize us.  Tuck, you and Lynne will go in..."

     Lynne protested, "I am not going to be involved."

     Frank calmly stated, "You're gonna do what I say.  You're already involved.  Now listen up.  Hands you wait until they've reached the teller window.  Then you step just inside the front door and cover them.  You'll have the sawed-off.  Tuck, you stick your pistol in the tellers face and tell him to start putting cash on the counter.  Lynne, your hands will be free.  Empty out your purse.  You're gonna fill it with cash."

     Lynne protested again, "I cann't do it."

     "Shut up!  Fill Tuck's coat pockets too.  I'll have the automatic in the car and watch things outside."  Frank reached into his jacket laying beside him on the seat and pulled out a pearl handled derringer.  "Take this Lynne.  You might need it."

     With tears forming in her eyes, Lynne took the small gun anddenounced the idea.  "You are staying in the car?  You stupid son-of-a..."

     Frank backhanded her.  "B***h!  Somebody's got to drive.  I know country roads better than anyone."  He paused and thought a minute.  "Tuck, switch guns with me as soon as you get back to the car."

     Except for Tuck reviewing the plans with Hands, it was quiet until they arrived at the town to be hit.

     Frank asked, "Does everyone know what to do?"

     Both men in the back simultaneously stated that they did.

     "How about you Lynne?"  Frank firmly asked.

     She answered in a broken voice.  "Ye-Yes."

     As they turned on to the main street, Frank was a little concerned with the size of the town.  This was alot larger than his old hometown.  They would probably have more than one old lazy sheriff on duty and possibly an armed guard in the bank.  He didn't say anything to the others.  He was relatively safe staying with the car.

     They parked directly in front of a prestigious looking stone front bank.  Tuck and Hands immediately got out of the car with their weapons hidden under their coats.  Lynne sat still, holding her purse with nothing in it except the pearl handled derringer.

     "Go!  Get out of the car."  Frank ordered.

     Lynne got out, just as a passerby commented to Hands on the weather being a little warm for them to be wearing coats.  Tuck grabbed Lynne by the arm and headed for the front door.  The passerby stopped and took another look at the three approaching the bank.

     When they entered the bank they saw that there was not a guard on duty.  Besides the one teller, there was a young lady making a deposit and an elderly gentleman sitting at a desk behind the counter.  Everything was going according to plan.  After the guns were exposed and the demand was made, the shocked teller piled money on the counter.  The other occupants remained motionless as they had been instructed to do.

     Lynne, holding her purse and derrringer in one shaking hand, stuffed money with the other.  Tuck crammed cash into his own pockets.  Hand seemed to be watching the two of them more than the few other people in the bank.

     Hands went out the door first, looking up and down the street.  Just as Tuck and Lynne stepped out the door, they heard a siren.

     Tuck screamed, "Let's get the hell outa here!"

     Lynne held the derringer in her left hand, while Tuck gave a hard jerk to her right arm.  She let the purse fall to the ground.  None of them noticed the purse, as they watched a police car rounding the corner two blocks away.

     The made it to the car where Frank was already starting to move.  They were heading directly towards the police car while another came into sight behind the first.  Frank steered the hood ornament right at the on coming vehicles.  The two black and white cars slid sideways one after the other to a stop, blocking the entire street.

     Frank yelled, "We're going through!"

     Lynne was terrified, as Tuck leaned out the window with the automatic weapon.  The police officers were on foot, pointing their guns at the speeding car.  Lynne crawled down to the floor.  She heard a blast of solid gunfire.  She did not realize what had happened when she felt a large jolting crash.  The gunfire stopped momentarily.

     The patrol cars had been blocking the street.  Frank had directed the sedan between the two obstructions.  They broke through but not without severe damage to the vehicle.  They were now sitting sideways in the middle of the street.  The right front corner was bashed in.  Steam was rolling out of the radiator.  The left rear door had sprung open after sideswiping a patrol car.  Hands had been thrown out of the car onto the ground.

     When Tuck regained his bearings, he stepped out on the running board and began to fire at the police officers again.  They returned his gunfire.  Frank wheeled the vehicle in the opposite direction of the patrol cars while Hands scrambled to reach his moving goal.  He made it to safety.  They turned right at the first intersection and headed north out of town.  Everything was quiet.

     Frank, waching the road ahead, asked, "Are they following us?"

     Hands murmured something, as Tuck answered, "It looks good.  I don't see anybody behind."

     Sitting up and looking back through the clowd of dust and steam, Lynne heard Hands moan, "I'm hit."

     She saw his large hand on his stomach.  Blood was soaking through his shirt.  She screamed, "Hands is shot!"

     Frank in an uncaring mood said, "We've got to find another vehicle.  We won't make it far with this one."

     They had drove only a couple of miles from the town.  The sedan was chugging and losing power.  Frank steered into a farmstead and stopped facing a pickup truck.  He ordered, "Get the guns and the money.  Lynne, you ride up front with me.  You guys  stay down out of sight in the back."

     As if by instinct Tuck was out of the sedan and climbing in the back of th truck almost before Frank had finished.  Lynne ran around the car and helped Hands to the new get-away vehicle.  Frank had the truck started before she got in.  They took off again with no one in sight.  They continued north for several more miles and then headed west.

     After about five minutes, Frank inquired, "Have you got the money?  Where's your purse?"

     She hesitated.  This was the first that Lynne had thought of her purse since being in the bank.  In horror she replied.  "I don't have it."

     "Damn woman!  Did you leave it in the car?"

     Fearful of Frank's wrath, she answered, "I must have dropped it in front of the bank."

     "Just what in the hell did you think was the purpose of this job?"  He shouted as he braked the truck to a stop.  Jumping out he asked Tuck, "Did you get the money?"

     "Yea, I got some."  responded Tuck.

     "How much?"

     Tuck counted as he pulled money from his pockets.  "I got twenty three dollars."

     Frank kicked the rear tire and started walking back towards the town.  He stopped fifty some feet behind them with his back towards them and stood a few minutes.  He shuffled his feet in the dust and then slowly returned to the truck.  Flooring the old vehicle, he did not say a word.

     They drove for two hours without a word being said.  Finally Frank stopped at a small roadside store.  He pulled up by the gasoline pumps and ordered a tank full.  Tuck and Hands were both sitting up in the back.  Over his anger, but still disappointed, Frank asked the group if they were hungry.

     Hands had his coat in his arms covering his wound and with a grim smile on his face, replied, "I don't think I could eat a thing."

     They bought gas, groceries, and some other supplies.  In all they spent less than four dollars.  They continued west.  Lynne made some sandwiches for Frank and Tuck.  They engaged in very little conversation.  At dusk, Frank announced that they would spend the night in a wooded area along a small river.  Tuck was upset that he would not be sleeping in a bed.  Hands was in pain.  Lynne really did not care where they were or what was to happen.

     Hands was feeling pretty bad after bouncing around in the back of the truck for so long.  He needed medical attention.  More than could be provided in this place.  He had been shot in the upper left abdomen and was possibly bleeding internally.  Lynne did the best she could tendng to his gunshot wound.  Frank and Tuck built a small fire.  It was late and it had been a long day.  Lynne layed next to the fire with no blanket feeling dirty and uncomfortable.  After a while Frank layed down next to her and quickly went to sleep.  She had many thing on her mind.

     She was thinking that her decision, two years  previous, to run away with Frank had been a terrible mistake.  She wished that she had never met him.  She despised him and his way of life.  It was odd that she had not  seen through his shallow dreams.  Material possessions meant nothing to her on this warm summer evening.  She craved real love and the caring and affection that goes along with it.

     Half asleep she thought of her earlier life in her hometown.  How, living with her parents, she had grown up with virtually no worries.  She remembered when she fell in love with Tommy and how wonderful things seemed at that time.  She wished that she was home again.

     At the age of fifteen, Lynne was an energetic young lady full of wholesome ideas and goals.  The Independence Day Celebration that year first brought her and Tommy together.  She thought it was so cute that in his bashful way he had asked her to dance.  Later that evening, as Tommy walked her home she got her first kiss.  He was so handsome.  It was the most thrilling thing that had ever happened to her.  He was always so loyal to her and when the other boys teased her about their relationship he would always defend her honor.

     There was the time that her cat died.  She had grown up with her Kitty Kat.  She was extremely disheartened at the loss of he confidant.  It was a meaningless event to everyone except Tommy.  He genuinelyh shared her grief.  He consoled her with compassion when no one else would listen to her sorrows.  She loved him for that.

     The Sunday that Tommy had brought her some wildflowers was one of her favorite memories.  They went for a long walk that day, miles up the creek.  he told her of wonderful exciting things.  He shared his dreams with her.  They were both so full of life.  They walked all day and spent the night together along the old creek.  His strong arms gave her a sense of security that she had never felt.  Sleeping under the stars she felt so clean and refreshed.  At least until the next morning.  Her father was so angry that she did not think she would ever get to see Tommy again.

     It was probably her eighteenth birthday that she most vividly remembered.  The weather was brisk that early spring evening.  Tommy had had dinner at her house.  Her family had all retired for the night.  They were sitting on the sofa.  After his usual joking around he becme very serious. He clumsily knelt down in front of her.  She can still remember what he said.

     "Lynne, you are all that matters to me and you are all that I need to be happy.  Please say that you will make me happy and that you will be my wife."

     She immediately broke into tears.  Poor Tommy was bewildered by her reaction.  All she could do was nod her head yes...yes.  He was the happiest man alive.  She and her mother ended up crying the whole night with the joy.

     He truely was her first and only love.  She had always known this.