Andrea Donovan Pt. 04

Ricky and I had discovered, much to our dismay, that the office wall inside the little Texaco was a lot more durable than it first appeared to be, it also stank of wet, rotten wood. ...It was in all honestly -- a rotten job I reflected now as I began walking toward the Lazy-G. The outside morning air of the Arizona Desert suddenly seemed a lot sweeter than it had previous to our first attempt at demolishing the rotted wall this morning and it felt good to be in motion again with the sun on my face.

...I walked the five minutes back to the ranch and went up to the front doorway. Upon entering the house, I walked up to the kitchen bar and grabbed the keys for the little green Chevy. Turning toward the doorway again, I suddenly stopped when I noticed Brenda quietly sleeping on the sofa with a light blanket over herself. Travelling always seemed to wear out Brenda and it usually took her a day or two to recover completely from a long road trip. Most times her recuperation consisted of several long naps during the following day or so and accompanied by a lot of liquids - almost as if she were getting over a cold. Brenda had spent years working within the intensity of the E.R. and was thus geared a little differently than the rest of us were. Smiling now I took out my phone and filmed Brenda as she slept with Wolfie lying on top of her chest. The cat was obviously very satisfied and emanating a mixture of loud snoring and purring sounds as he contentedly cuddled with Brenda. It was probably the first time he had ever cuddled with anyone I suspected and, like most of us; he seemed to delight in the contact of another.

Wolfie was also wearing his new flea and tick collar I now noticed. The color green did look good on him...

Stormy was, herself asleep, upon the sofa's backrest in the spot usually occupied by Wolfie and Yogi was sleeping on the floor next to the sofa, his large frame taking up most of the space between the sofa and coffee table, he was also snoring lightly. Andrea was with Duffy this morning and the two ladies were interacting with Pippi Longstocking again until noon or so. Mark and Peggy Morgen were probably getting to know Andrea and Duffy quite well by now I speculated, smiling to myself.

...Doesn't surprise me that Brenda would be the first one to establish trust with Wolfie, I thought as I continued filming the two now. What did surprise me slightly was the fact that, even with his keen sense of surrounding; the feral cat seemed to remain asleep upon my entry into the house; maybe he was just comfortable within his new environment now. Quite obviously Brenda spoke "kitty cat" I thought as I finished filming the two and walked outside again.

I got into the old Chevy and started the engine. After a minute of warm-up I drove the short distance to the little Texaco and backed up to the open doorway. I got out of the cab then and, lying under the rear bumper, attached a chain to the frame rail of the vehicle. Next, I connected another chain to the one already attached to the truck and preceded into the main foyer, dragging the chain behind me. The added length of one more chain was needed to go through the holes which Ricky had already drilled into the rotting fiberboard. We then connected the chain to itself, thus creating a loop of steel chain through the holes within wall and leading back to the truck.

"OK, you're sure you didn't go around any of the steel support columns with the chain? We don't want to drag down the whole roof, Ricky -- that'd be a mell of a hess" I said.

"I didn't, and it won't take much to drag this crap down, Tim. Just let me get out the door first, please.' Ricky said as we headed out the door together.

I threw the Chevy into low gear and began watching my review mirror as I slowly inched forward. With one moderate tug on the chain, Ricky and I watched the dilapidated wall come tumbling down with a horrific crashing sound.

"Bravo ...Mel Hess would be proud, Tim" Ricky said unemotionally through the open window of the passenger's window.

"I think he's been here, alright" I said looking at the awful mess within the rearview mirror now.

I shut off the engine and followed Ricky into the building.

"Watch for nails sticking up" I warned.

"I will" Ricky replied.

"Damn, now it really stinks in here" I said wrinkling my nose at the rotting wood smell.

"Smells like a Mississippi whorehouse in here" Ricky grunted.

"How would you know? -- You've never been to Mississippi" I said.

Ricky ignored my sarcastic comment as we both surveyed our brand-new, larger mess. The office and front foyer were now essentially one room except for the three vertical dark red steel support columns separating the two spaces.

"Tim, look at this" Ricky said, pointing upward, a second later.

Ricky was inside the Texaco's office beside the metal desk now and pointing upward toward a, one foot by one foot, square, metal box which was welded to the closest vertical steel support column. The fiberboard had previously been covering this metal box before we had torn down the false fronted wall a minute earlier.

"Power box" I said, nonchalantly.

"No Tim, it's a safe" Ricky corrected.

"Ricky it's a delinquent power box, this place was built in nineteen fifty three and has probably been remodeled half a dozen times" I said rolling my eyes.

"Brother, it's a SAFE -- or else it's the first power box that I've ever seen with its own rotary dial and door handle" Ricky said defiantly and removing his safety goggles to emphasize his point.

I walked around the debris pile and over toward Ricky. I then banged on the box with my knuckles but instead of hearing a tinny sound all I heard was the slight rapping sound of my flesh against cold rolled steel and lots of it apparently. I then walked around beside Ricky and looked up at the box. I saw numbers upon a rotary dial and an "L" shaped door handle. Ricky then reached up and tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge.

"Why the hell would anyone hide an inaccessible safe behind a false fronted wall?" Ricky asked aloud.

"Maybe it's full of money" I said looking at my little brother.

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More to follow