Dorothy Garlock - [Route 66] Read Online Free PDF

hospital.
    “Thank you,” he said as if she had spoken. “That spot in the corner will do just fine.” With that he left the barn.
    As she finished milking, Leona heard the scrape of the tin conduit, as Yates moved it to the lip of the pump so that he could fill the watering tank for the two horses and the cow. Then she heard the familiar squeak as he worked the pump handle.
    When Leona came out of the barn, Yates was crossing the yard on his way to the garage. Calvin tagged along behind him. JoBeth and Ruth Ann were on the back porch with a basket of eggs, gawking at the strange man coming out of their barn.
    “Why is he here?” Ruth Ann demanded when Leona reached the porch.
    “He's going to work in the garage until your daddy comes back.”
    “What's his name?”
    “Mr. Yates.”
    “I don't like him.”
    “You don't know him. Open the door for me.”
    Inside the kitchen, Leona set the bucket of milk on the counter and spread a cloth over it. She understood that Ruth Ann resented Mr. Yates for being here when her daddy wasn't. Leona admitted that she had felt resentment, too … at first. She excused herself by putting some of the blame on the man's stand-offish attitude and on his lack of communication.
    She knew that in the dead of the night, she would be glad that he and his rifle were here.
    The sheriff had told Andy repeatedly that by being out here in the country and on the highway that was used nightly by bootleggers, he was a “sitting duck” for robbers.
    And they'd had a few scares.
    Late one evening Pretty Boy Floyd had stopped for gas. Andy had recognized him immediately and passed the time of day with him as casually as he did with all his customers. He said the man couldn't have been nicer, but Andy had been shaken by the encounter.
    A month ago one of the campers had recognized the notorious George (Machine Gun) Kelly and his partner Eddie Doll who, back in January, had kidnapped a banker's son in Indiana. Andy had put gas in their car and sold them a new set of spark plugs.
    A couple of times a month, in the middle of the night, a bootlegger needing gas would pound on the door. Andy was always accommodating and, whether it was that or the fact that he was crippled, he had always been treated with respect by the “men of the night” as he called them.
    It would be interesting to see how Mr. Yates dealt with them.

Chapter 4
    W HY DOES CALVIN LIKE
THAT MAN? I thought Calvin was
our
dog.” Resentment made Ruth Ann's soft mouth turn down at the corners.
    “He
is
our dog. I see you got…one, two, three, four, five …six eggs. Good. That makes ten today.”
    “If he's our dog, why is he following …him?” Ruth Ann demanded.
    “He likes him. Maybe that should tell us that the man isn't so bad. You'll have to admit that Calvin is a good judge of men. Remember that bum that stopped here about a month ago? Calvin didn't like him, wouldn't make up to him no matter what he offered. And when the bum left, he took a pair of your daddy's pants off the clothesline.”
    “There's a sack on the porch, and I can't open the door. I want to get Calvin,” JoBeth screeched and stamped her foot.
    “She's in a snit,” Ruth Ann said. “She's just a stupid baby. You've spoiled her,” she added with a lofty air.
    “I'm going to get into a snit myself,” Leona threatened, “if you girls don't stop fighting.”
    “I want to go out,” Jo Beth yelled.
    “Then go.”
    “I can't 'cause of the sack.”
    Feeling her patience slipping, Leona went to the front door. Against the screendoor leaned a large paper sack. She recognized it as the bag Mr. Yates had carried into the garage from the car. Leona pushed gently on the door until it moved the sack enough for her to squeeze out onto the porch. JoBeth followed.
    The bag was chock-full of groceries. Leona could see cans of peaches, salmon, corn and packages of dried beans, macaroni, apricots and raisins. There were a couple of packages wrapped in white butcher