09-02-2020, 12:33 PM
Rosemary looked at him with great big eyes, almost wishing she had gone to school after all!
I saw the Eloy exit coming up and told Michael to pull off there for a quick stop at the "Flying Hook," as I've heard truckers call it. All of that coffee was really starting to hit.
After a very quick stop, and with my own new coffee mug in hand, we got back on the road north. I took a quick sip of my coffee and knew right away Grandpa was going to like it! That stuff was so strong you could drink it with a fork!
Grandpa waited again until we were back on the highway and rolling before he dropped another bombshell. "Michael, I know you said you didn't want any of the gold you guys picked up when you found the hidden room, but you are going to be a part of whatever I negotiate with the Southern Pacific today, whether you want to or not. By the way, I am in favor of building out the servant's quarters into apartments, but that is not my decision to make. I will make my thoughts known, though. Now, if those chests contain what I believe they contain, and what the CEO obviously believes they contain, seeing he is flying down here during his vacation up in Jackson's Hole, Wyoming, I expect there to be a very substantial reward. Now my fee for negotiating this is going to be a bit higher than my normal fee for representing my family. You guys have to buy my breakfast, and my coffee on the return trip. Thanks for turning me on to the Flying J, Justin. That is good coffee!"
"According to all I could find out about Sam Johnson's disappearance, he had $50,000 in gold coins as part of the merger of the Southern Pacific with the Union Pacific, for dispersal to shareholders, of which he was a major stakeholder. The value of that gold at present day value is in excess of three and a half million. That is melt value, and doesn't take into account any numismatic value of any of the individual coins. I'm sure there are some that are quite valuable. The S.P. had a reward offer of $5,000 for information locating Sam Johnson, which obviously includes the gold. If you increase the valuation of the reward offer by 70 times as the gold has increased in value that would come out to about $350,000. Now, I don't expect to be able to negotiate quite that much for you, but there is argument under Arizona law that you could be due as much as half of the find. I don't personally believe that is right for you to do, but if they don't want to reward you fairly we can always threaten to take it to court."
Michael spoke up first. Rosemary and I were totally flabbergasted. "I really don't care anything about a reward, Ben. I thank you, but to me returning what is rightfully theirs is the right thing to do."
"You are right of course, Michael, and I appreciate it. However, they are the ones who offered the reward, and I think it only fair and right you should receive your share of it. What you want to do with the money is entirely your choice. Give it away, or put it aside for retirement, or whatever. That money could go a long way toward buying a house for you and Susie; that is if you have the kind of ideas a smart young man like you should have toward her. Not trying to get in your business, and I apologize if I'm sticking my nose in too far." I smiled at Grandpa's comment, but quickly quashed it as Rosemary looked at me questioningly. It wouldn't do to give his plans away. Michael just nodded thoughtfully.
We discussed the matter between us for the rest of the trip to Bill's, but quit talking when we pulled into the parking lot. "Not another word about any of this until after it is all said and done," Grandpa ordered. "We don't need to stir anything up until we are ready to deal with it. Understood?"
We all understood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Winters stopped in the cafeteria for a cup of coffee at a quarter to nine. She needed the break. One of her patients, a child of nine had just died as the result of an auto accident two days before. She had hoped desperately the little girl would pull through, but it was not to happen. The little girl's mother had been killed instantly in the crash, and her father was in critical condition on the next floor up, but was expected to live. She had been in the room along with the Grandparents when Katie had breathed her last. Losing a patient was always hard, but it was part of her profession. Losing children though always hurt much worse.
She looked up as a shadow fell across her table and saw Dr. Meechum standing on the other side of her table. "May I join you?" Mary nodded wordlessly and waved at the chair opposite. "Rough morning?"
Silently Mary nodded her head, and then sighed. "I don't know why I ever thought I wanted to be a nurse. We just lost Katie. I thought she was going to make it."
"Little blond girl? About 9, was in a car accident?"
"Um hmm. That's the one."
"That's tough. I worked on her when she came into ER. I thought she had a chance."
"How do you deal with it? Especially as an ER doctor? I really don't know how you can work back there."
Tom let out a bitter laugh of sorts. "I guess eight years as a Devil Doc hardened me pretty much. You learn to compartmentalize it after a while. It never goes away, but you just suppress it enough to keep going."
"That's the second time I've heard you call yourself a Devil Doc. What's that mean?"
"Oh, sorry. I thought you would know. It's a nickname the Marines give us Navy Corpsmen. Marines don't have their own medical staff. It's provided by the Navy. We aren't really Marines, but we lived with them and worked with them all the time. We wore Marine Utilities, but we don't wear the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor insignia on the collar points because we are not Marines. Also, the service tape says US Navy."
"I knew they called you 'Doc', but why Devil Doc?"
"That's a takeoff of Devil Dog, the nickname given them by the Germans in WWI, 'Teufel hunden' in German. They started calling the Marines that at Belleau Wood because of the way they fought, never knowing they were beaten, so they never were. The name Devil Dog stuck, and some of them call us Devil Doc's if we do the job in combat with them. I take it as a real compliment, as being as close to being an actual Marine as I can be."
"How do you deal with it? With losing people, I mean?"
Tom looked down at his hands and saw a slight tremor in them. "You don't. Sometimes in the night it all comes back to you. Some guys turn to alcohol or drugs, but I try to channel it all back into my work telling myself I'm making up for the ones I lost by the ones I save." Tom looked up at Mary and then quickly back down at his hands. "Some are harder to lose than others. Winters, your husband, was the hardest because he took it for me. That should have been me on the ground over there." A tear welled up in his eye before he angrily dashed it away with the back of his hand.
I saw the Eloy exit coming up and told Michael to pull off there for a quick stop at the "Flying Hook," as I've heard truckers call it. All of that coffee was really starting to hit.
After a very quick stop, and with my own new coffee mug in hand, we got back on the road north. I took a quick sip of my coffee and knew right away Grandpa was going to like it! That stuff was so strong you could drink it with a fork!
Grandpa waited again until we were back on the highway and rolling before he dropped another bombshell. "Michael, I know you said you didn't want any of the gold you guys picked up when you found the hidden room, but you are going to be a part of whatever I negotiate with the Southern Pacific today, whether you want to or not. By the way, I am in favor of building out the servant's quarters into apartments, but that is not my decision to make. I will make my thoughts known, though. Now, if those chests contain what I believe they contain, and what the CEO obviously believes they contain, seeing he is flying down here during his vacation up in Jackson's Hole, Wyoming, I expect there to be a very substantial reward. Now my fee for negotiating this is going to be a bit higher than my normal fee for representing my family. You guys have to buy my breakfast, and my coffee on the return trip. Thanks for turning me on to the Flying J, Justin. That is good coffee!"
"According to all I could find out about Sam Johnson's disappearance, he had $50,000 in gold coins as part of the merger of the Southern Pacific with the Union Pacific, for dispersal to shareholders, of which he was a major stakeholder. The value of that gold at present day value is in excess of three and a half million. That is melt value, and doesn't take into account any numismatic value of any of the individual coins. I'm sure there are some that are quite valuable. The S.P. had a reward offer of $5,000 for information locating Sam Johnson, which obviously includes the gold. If you increase the valuation of the reward offer by 70 times as the gold has increased in value that would come out to about $350,000. Now, I don't expect to be able to negotiate quite that much for you, but there is argument under Arizona law that you could be due as much as half of the find. I don't personally believe that is right for you to do, but if they don't want to reward you fairly we can always threaten to take it to court."
Michael spoke up first. Rosemary and I were totally flabbergasted. "I really don't care anything about a reward, Ben. I thank you, but to me returning what is rightfully theirs is the right thing to do."
"You are right of course, Michael, and I appreciate it. However, they are the ones who offered the reward, and I think it only fair and right you should receive your share of it. What you want to do with the money is entirely your choice. Give it away, or put it aside for retirement, or whatever. That money could go a long way toward buying a house for you and Susie; that is if you have the kind of ideas a smart young man like you should have toward her. Not trying to get in your business, and I apologize if I'm sticking my nose in too far." I smiled at Grandpa's comment, but quickly quashed it as Rosemary looked at me questioningly. It wouldn't do to give his plans away. Michael just nodded thoughtfully.
We discussed the matter between us for the rest of the trip to Bill's, but quit talking when we pulled into the parking lot. "Not another word about any of this until after it is all said and done," Grandpa ordered. "We don't need to stir anything up until we are ready to deal with it. Understood?"
We all understood.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mary Winters stopped in the cafeteria for a cup of coffee at a quarter to nine. She needed the break. One of her patients, a child of nine had just died as the result of an auto accident two days before. She had hoped desperately the little girl would pull through, but it was not to happen. The little girl's mother had been killed instantly in the crash, and her father was in critical condition on the next floor up, but was expected to live. She had been in the room along with the Grandparents when Katie had breathed her last. Losing a patient was always hard, but it was part of her profession. Losing children though always hurt much worse.
She looked up as a shadow fell across her table and saw Dr. Meechum standing on the other side of her table. "May I join you?" Mary nodded wordlessly and waved at the chair opposite. "Rough morning?"
Silently Mary nodded her head, and then sighed. "I don't know why I ever thought I wanted to be a nurse. We just lost Katie. I thought she was going to make it."
"Little blond girl? About 9, was in a car accident?"
"Um hmm. That's the one."
"That's tough. I worked on her when she came into ER. I thought she had a chance."
"How do you deal with it? Especially as an ER doctor? I really don't know how you can work back there."
Tom let out a bitter laugh of sorts. "I guess eight years as a Devil Doc hardened me pretty much. You learn to compartmentalize it after a while. It never goes away, but you just suppress it enough to keep going."
"That's the second time I've heard you call yourself a Devil Doc. What's that mean?"
"Oh, sorry. I thought you would know. It's a nickname the Marines give us Navy Corpsmen. Marines don't have their own medical staff. It's provided by the Navy. We aren't really Marines, but we lived with them and worked with them all the time. We wore Marine Utilities, but we don't wear the Eagle, Globe, and Anchor insignia on the collar points because we are not Marines. Also, the service tape says US Navy."
"I knew they called you 'Doc', but why Devil Doc?"
"That's a takeoff of Devil Dog, the nickname given them by the Germans in WWI, 'Teufel hunden' in German. They started calling the Marines that at Belleau Wood because of the way they fought, never knowing they were beaten, so they never were. The name Devil Dog stuck, and some of them call us Devil Doc's if we do the job in combat with them. I take it as a real compliment, as being as close to being an actual Marine as I can be."
"How do you deal with it? With losing people, I mean?"
Tom looked down at his hands and saw a slight tremor in them. "You don't. Sometimes in the night it all comes back to you. Some guys turn to alcohol or drugs, but I try to channel it all back into my work telling myself I'm making up for the ones I lost by the ones I save." Tom looked up at Mary and then quickly back down at his hands. "Some are harder to lose than others. Winters, your husband, was the hardest because he took it for me. That should have been me on the ground over there." A tear welled up in his eye before he angrily dashed it away with the back of his hand.
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