FLEEING CAT SPRING. The Texas Special Escape JERRY L. MINSHALL

Transcription

1 FLEEING CAT SPRING The Texas Special Escape JERRY L. MINSHALL 1 1

2 Copyright 2014 Jerry L. Minshall ISBN This book my not be reproduced in any form without express written permission of the author or publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Printed in the United States of America Publisher: Zephyr Bulletin Press, Nashville, Tennessee All rights reserved. The story contained in these pages is fiction. Any reference to people who actually lived, events which actually happened, or places which are real on God s green earth, is used fictitiously. Author website JerryMinshall.com or ZephyrBulletinPress.com Cover Photo Jerry Moore Photo/R. Jackson Collection, provided by the Red River Railroad Museum, Denison, Texas 2 2

3 ~ Dedication ~ To all who go astray.. yet long for, and find.. Redemption. 3 3

4 ~ Prologue ~...the thought had never entered her head until she picked up the gun. Could she? Would she? She ever so slowly..hesitantly..raised the Colt Python.357, until it was pointed directly at the head of the sleeping man; the man she had married a few short days ago. He was lying there, dead drunk. His snoring was the only sound in the room. She tiptoed closer until the revolver was six inches from his temple. Will she?..she carefully cocked the hammer

5 JERRY MINSHALL 1 ~ C H A P T E R O N E ~ Wednesday May 29, 1963 Austin County, Texas I t was the happiest day of her young life. Lucinda Corrina Elgin got married. It was precisely one week after her 22nd birthday. From the time she was little, most everyone called her L.C.; to the extent that a lot of people thought her name was Elsie. Little Lucinda didn t like that. She vehemently informed one and all that she was L.C. And if ya don t like that, just call me Lucinda. At that point, if her mother wasn t close enough to hear, L.C. would cuss in a half-whisper, but cuss nevertheless. However, her new hubby didn t call her L.C., or Elsie, or Lucinda. Preston Walton called her Corrina. He d just bought a new album by a new singer. Bob Dylan was his name, and one could ve assumed that Preston had discovered for the very first time, there was such a thing in the world as phonograph recordings. He played the Dylan album over and over, and latched onto Corrina, Corrina as his pet name for his new bride. But that s a story to be told a little later. It had been a short, whirlwind courtship three weeks to be exact and L.C. had met Preston a mere three weeks before that. Preston was older. He was 39; a traveling dry goods salesman. He 1

6 2 FLEEING CAT SPRING told L.C. he called on stores from San Angelo to Nacogdoches, and all points south in the Lone Star State. At six-foot-four and strongly built, he was handsome; blues eyes, a full shock of black hair, and a winsome, confident smile. Walked with a bit of Texas swagger. L.C. was tending bar at the Longhorn Lunch & Bar in Bellville on the mid-april night that Preston first came in. He ordered a drink and a ham and cheese sandwich before going to his room at the Hotel Wayne. She set his Pearl beer in front of him with a warm smile. His return smile was just as warm as he said, Ya must have a lotta people tell you; you look like a young Barbara Hale. Who s that? L.C. asked. Don t ya watch Perry Mason? he shot back. Perry s secretary, Della. Oh, yeh. I didn t know her real name. Yeh since you mention it I have been told that. And, thanks. That s a nice compliment. A couple of boys in high school had even nicknamed her Della. L.C. s dad watched Perry Mason every week when he was home. And the show had given L.C. her first professional ambition. Not to be a lawyer, but a court stenographer. She thought that would be exciting; to listen to all that back and forth among the lawyers, witnesses, and the judge; and to have the responsibility of recording the precise permanent record for the ages. However, the opportunity (or money), for such training had yet to materialize. Preston was the only customer still in the bar at 11 p.m. Closing time.

7 JERRY MINSHALL 3 Sorry to run ya off, L.C. smiled, but I gotta lock up. Before she could stop, she heard herself say, Sure love to see ya again. Well! Preston, grinning broadly, ran his eyes up and down L.C. s comely figure. The feelin is damn sure mutual. I get through these parts often. 3