Chapter 5

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Annie was sleeping in the window seat above the front door. She stirred when she heard something on the street below. There were loud voices and slamming car doors. She was relieved to see her father getting out a cab, supported by some stranger. She woke Mack and Andrew on the way down the hallway and then rushed downstairs. She met her father and his companion as they stumbled in the door. She was horrified to see their bruised and bleeding faces. “I knew it! I knew it!” she scolded as she drew near. “As soon as William came home without you, I knew you were going to do something like this. Just look at you!”

Annie turned to face the young stranger for the first time. His dark eyes were so intense she felt as though he could see right through her. She clutched her robe around her neck as she moved awkwardly toward him, turning her attention to the bloody wound. “It looks deep,” she said, her cheeks beginning to flush. “You probably should see a doctor right away.”

“It ain’t deep, and I ain’t gonna see no doctor.” Annie withdrew her hand quickly, deciding she did not like this young man and wished he would leave.

A steady stream of sleepy-eyed boys began coming down the stairs. They surrounded their father who had sat down at the head of the dining room table.

“Sure glad you never fixed this pocket, Annie,” he said. “They got everything else but not this.” He took out the yellowed, tattered piece of paper and gingerly laid it out on the table. “Peter, go get a map of Iowa. No, not Ohio – Iowa. Look in the encyclopedia or something.” He took the map, eagerly running his finger down the page. “There it is, right on the Mississippi!” Matthew cried out suddenly. “See! There’s our farm! Right there!”

Dazed, they looked at each other in total disbelief. “Farm! What farm?” they all said. “What’s he talking about? We don’t have a farm.”

“Like hell we don’t,” Matthew rang out triumphantly. “You’d better hold onto your hats, people, because tomorrow we start packing! We’re moving!”

This astonishing announcement met with another chorus of disbelief. They all looked to Mack to do their talking since he usually had the most luck arguing with their father.

“Pop, we don’t have any idea what the hell you’re talking about!” Mack began.

“We’re landowners now, son. By some stroke of extraordinary good luck, I am now in possession of 420 acres of the richest, blackest land on God’s green earth.” He kissed the paper like it was a holy relic.

Even Mack was speechless for a moment, but he recovered quickly. “You expect us to pick up and leave New York City to live in some God-forsaken hole in the ground? To farm? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my entire life.” He waved his hand as though to dismiss the whole thing and turned to walk out.

Matthew’s fist came down hard on the table. “Don’t you walk out on me! No, I am not crazy. I’m not even drunk. I’m making more sense now than I have in a long, long time. Now you listen to me, all of you. You live under my roof and I support you very well, true?” He stood with his hands on his hips, surveying the little group fiercely. “All my dammed life I have done exactly what was expected of me. The only thing I ever managed to do on my own was to marry your mother. Well, I want this, do you understand?” He paused to take a deep breath and study each of their faces. “I wish your mother was here because she would have loved the idea. But she’s not – all the wishing and praying in the world is never going to bring her back.” He clinched the small piece of paper in his fist and waved it over his head empathetically. “But I am still alive and I am through sitting around, waiting to die, too. So now you just listen and listen good. This family is moving!”

He turned toward the liquor cabinet to pour a drink and remained with his back turned, indicating that they were dismissed.

Sonny had watched the whole spectacle from a back corner of the room. Matthew motioned for him to sit down at the table with him and offered him a cigarette.

“You probably think I’m crazy, too, don’t you?” Matthew said.

“I think it don’t matter what I think,” Sonny replied as leaned over to light his cigarette from Matthew‘s gold lighter.

Matthew sat there, contemplating for a time, drawing deeply on his cigarette. “You can’t go back to your job at the bar, right?”

“No, I reckon not.”

“You’re not originally from around here, are you”

“No. I was born on a reservation…..in the Midwest.”

Matthew mulled it over slowly. “Well, do you have any experience working on a farm or with animals?”

“Livestock? Yeah, I did a lot of odd jobs for farmers when I was a kid.”

“I’d like to hire you. I need help to at least get started. I’d make it worth your while.”

Sonny slowly surveyed his surroundings. “Let me get this straight. You want to take all this and all of them out to this farm in Iowa?” Matthew nodded.

“Sure,” Sonny said. “I’m in.”




Annie was still pacing around her room when she heard her father and the stranger come upstairs. Her worst fears were realized – this Sonny character had somehow involved himself in her father’s crazy scheme. She went to the guest bedroom and knocked. She opened the door to find him standing awkwardly, holding his injured arm. She realized that would afford her a good excuse to open some dialogue. “Hello,” she said. “I heard you come up. I thought perhaps you might need some help. I can bandage that for you.” She moved closer to him, frustrated that she was blushing again.

“No, I’d just like to take a shower and get some sleep,” he said, turning away.

Annie knew she had been dismissed but ignored it. “Well, the bathroom’s right here,” she sang out cordially, as she flipped on the light. “I’ll be back with the first aid kit by the time you’re done.”

She went to get her mother’s much-used basket of bandages and ointments and then busied herself turning down the bed while she waited for him to finish. She expected him to come out with a towel wrapped around his waist, intimidating her with the well-defined muscles she suspected were hidden under his bizarre wardrobe.

But instead, he came out fully clothed with the sleeve of his wounded arm torn off at the shoulder. She opened the bandages clumsily, nearly spilling the whole basket. She could see the wound was clean and not very deep. She poured some of Kathleen’s favorite cure-all ointment on it and wrapped it. He never flinched or even watched what she was doing, apparently regarding her actions as unwanted interference.

“I suppose we should thank you for helping my father. I’m sorry you got hurt,” she said as she applied the tape sharply. “Why did you help him anyway? Did he offer you a reward?”

“No, he didn’t. But he did offer me a job.”

“So now the two of you are all set to go out there? Good God! That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!”

“Maybe, but your old man sounded pretty sure of it to me.”

Annie moved to the other side of the room and gazed out of the window. “Look, Mr. Jackson, I can lay my hands on a considerable amount of money. Why don’t you take it and get out of here. My mother died a few weeks ago and my father is having a very hard time adjusting, but I expect soon he will realize he’s making a horrible mistake. How about, say -- $10,000?” She turned to find him studying her again.

He didn’t answer at first. He tied his headband in place, and then picked up his leather jacket and studied the damage to his sleeve. He moved in a slow, deliberate way that Annie found infuriating.

“Look,” he said finally, “I think your father is going to do this thing, with or without my help. And I already told him I’d go along with it for awhile.”

“So what? I can get the money on Monday. Just take it and disappear. He’ll have no idea where to find you, and then maybe he’ll give up this crazy idea of his.”

Again, he did not answer immediately as though he were choosing his words carefully. “Let’s just go with this and see what happens. I’m a good worker and know a little about farming. I’ll stay out of your way if you stay out of mine.”

With that he turned away, looking as though he was going to disrobe. She had no choice but to leave, having accomplished nothing and feeling more unsettled than before.




Annie only slept a couple of hours. Remembering it was Sunday, she decided she’d better get the family off to Mass. When she came down the hallway, she paused at the guest bedroom door. It was open and the bed made. There was no sign of Mr. Jackson anywhere. She hoped he had changed his mind after all and was gone for good. As she came downstairs, she was surprised to see her father already at the breakfast table, his faced glued to a book. Something about farming, Andrew mouthed silently. Mack was sitting at the other end of the table, looking very sullen. He was wearing the same clothes he had on the night before.

The doorbell rang and Giles admitted Sonny laden with an armload of magazines and newspapers. “I know a guy on Times Square who gets newspapers and junk from all over the world,” he explained. “He dug all this stuff out for me…Here’s a Telegraph-Herald, the local paper in Dubuque. It’s a couple of weeks old, though.”

Matthew was obviously thrilled. “What a terrific idea!”

“Yeah, great!” Mack sneered. “At least our new hired can read.”

Both Matthew and Sonny ignored that last remark as they leafed through the piles of new reading material. Abruptly, Sonny turned to leave. Annie followed him to the front door where they were out of earshot of her father. “Where are you going?” she demanded frantically. “You can’t just leave!”

“I’ll be back in the morning. I don’t know, though. I bet I could make out pretty good here. You’d probably each give me $10,000.” With that, he walked out the door.

Matthew looked up from his reading material and saw Sonny was gone “You’d better watch out what you say around him, Mack,” Matthew warned. “He could take off your head without breaking a sweat.”

“So I’m supposed to scared of this guy?” Mack retorted. “I’ll say whatever I damn please to the sonofabitch! Why do you trust him anyway? He’s probably some two-bit hustler that’ll take off as soon as he can get his hands on some of your money.”

“Look, I don’t care whether you like the guy or not, because I do. He saved my butt last night. He says he’s from the Midwest and knows something about farming – I’m sure a hell of a lot more than any of us. He’s smart and keeps his mouth shut, which is more than I can say about anyone else around here.”

Matthew spent the rest of the day totally absorbed in all the material Sonny brought him. There was no use trying to reason with him. Mack slammed out the door angrily that morning and was not heard from the rest of the day.




Monday started with business as usual. Annie was busy getting the boys off to school. She tried to assure them that everything was going to be fine and they had nothing to worry about, but she cautioned them not to say anything to their friends or teachers. She was sure they’d think their father had gone berserk. Even the young ones seemed to understand and promised to not talk about their father’s plans to anyone.

Matthew was up and dressed early. He took a pot of coffee into the library where he continued to pour over his stacks of reading material. Right on cue, Sonny appeared.

“Sonny!” Matthew called out happily. “Come on in. I cannot wait to get started.” He patted the young man on the shoulder. “I’ve already read a lot of the stuff you brought yesterday. Look here.” He pointed out a little ad for the Shannontown Pub and Grill, “Ah,” he said, rubbing his hands in lusty anticipation, “I bet the beer tastes good there.” He chatted on, pausing only long enough to yell upstairs. “Mack, get out of bed and come downstairs. We have to make plans!”

Mack came in and shuffled over the coffee pot, obviously suffering from a terrific hangover. There was a large purple hickey on his neck and a bruise on his lip.

“Annie,”” Mathew directed, sounding quite business-like. “Here’s pen and paper. You take notes. Andrew, Mack – you too, Sonny – let’s sit down here and get started.”

“Ah, ain’t this cute,” chided Mack sarcastically. “Matthew’s round table”

“Okay, now,” Matthew began, choosing to overlook his eldest son’s attitude. “The first thing we ought to decide is when we will leave.”

“Well, Daddy,” Annie said. “Don’t you think that we should at least wait till school is over. The boys have had enough upheaval in their lives. I think we should let them finish the year, don’t you?” Matthew looked a little deflated, disappointed in his daughter’s logic. He looked to Sonny for help.

“March is the beginning of the year on a farm,” Sonny said, not looking at anyone. “You gotta have time to get ready for planting.”

“Yeah, sure,” Matthew agreed eagerly. “That makes sense. Hard telling what kind of shape we’ll find things out there, right?” Again he was looking to Sonny for confirmation.

“Well then, how about this?” Andrew said, squirming a little in his seat. “How about you and Mr. Jackson go on out there and check things out. The rest of us can come when school is over in June. That’s only a couple of months.”

“Hey now! That is the best idea I’ve heard yet!” quipped Mack.

“No!” Matthew slammed his hand on the table. “We’re a family and we’ll stick together. We’re going out there together. I’m not giving you time to come up with more excuses. This is the last week of February. It doesn’t give us much time, does it. We’ll have to be packed and ready to leave by next Sunday – the first of March”

“Daddy! That quickly?” Annie gasped. But the look on her father’s face told her the point was non-negotiable. Maybe he really is crazy, she moaned inwardly.

“OK then, what about transportation?” Matthew continued.

“Doesn’t this place have an airport?” Mack asked. “Or how about a train? You can meet beautiful chicks on trains.”

“But what about all the supplies and luggage?” Andrew asked. “There will be a tremendous amount of baggage with this kind of move.”

“Jesus, Andrew!” wailed Mack. “You’re sounding as nuts as he is! What do you think we’re gonna do? Move this whole damn household – lock, stock, and waffle iron? You’re crazy! You are all crazy!”

“No, we are not.” Matthew gritted his teeth as though he was about to explode.

“We are going to do this thing one way or another. So we just have to figure out the best way.” He paused to compose himself. “And no, we’re not going to take the whole household. That would be pretty stupid since we have no idea what we’re going to find when we get out there. We’ll just take clothes and a few household items. Everything else we can buy when we get there, or have a moving company bring out what we need. What I’m concerned about right now is deciding how we’re going to get there.”

“How about a bus?” Sonny suggested.

“A bus?” they all echoed simultaneously.

“What kind of bus, Sonny,” Matthew pressed.

“A bus . . . like a school bus. You people are forgetting that were you’re going, there’s no kind of public transit or nothing’.”

“That’s true,” agreed Matthew. “What would we do when we get off this plane or train or whatever – hire cabs to take us twenty miles to the farm? So what you’re saying is buy a bus, pack all the essentials, and go. Sounds like a good plan to me.”

“Oh, God!” cried Mack in total disgust. Andrew and Annie were also exchanging looks of desperation.

“So now, we have to decide what we should bring?” Matthew continued. This time they all turned toward Sonny without bothering to answer themselves.

“Well, you’ll need just clothes mostly – jeans, good boots, warm shirts and coats. And sleeping bags, too.”

“Sleeping bags!” Mack hooted. “What the hell for!”

“Because there’s probably no electricity, heat, or furniture,” explained Matthew. “Obviously, things like stereos and TV’s would just be a waste of space. We can send for those things later. We’ll have to pack very carefully.” He began to pace. “Now, I’ve decided that we shouldn’t tell anyone where we’re going. If your Aunt Esther found out, she might try to stall us. And I don’t need any more grief that I already have,” he said, glaring at Mack. “We’ll rent a garage for the bus and tell everyone we’re going on vacation or something. We’ll just say our plans are indefinite.”

“What about school,” harped Andrew. “We should get the records from the teachers, and medical records, too--”

“Fine, fine. You and Annie take care of that. I’ve got to see about getting some cash and bank drafts. I’d better call Sid right away.” Matthew left to call his banker.

Annie and her brothers exchanged worried glances when their father insisted on talking about money in front of this stranger. Sonny must have sensed their hostility, but didn’t show a flicker of response. His cool, dispassionate demeanor made them even more nervous.

Just then, Angelica, the maid, came in. “Excuse me, Miss, but Grace said I should bring Master Joseph down to you for some breakfast. She seems to have her hands quite full with the baby.”

“Of course, bring him right in.” The timing was perfect, she thought. Let young Mr. Jackson take a good look at what he’s getting into. No electricity, no heat. How ridiculous to think they could bring small children into an environment like that. She took the little boy onto her lap, struggling with him as always. He was never cooperative at mealtime. He’d thrash around and usually spit out his food. She hoped Sonny was watching, but he left the room, saying he had to make a call about a bus.

“Man, that guy is a real piece of work.” Mack stood up and pulled on his jacket.. “I do not understand why Pop trusts him so much. We have go to stop this thing before it’s too late.”

But he said nothing when Sonny and Matthew came back into the room. “Good news!” Matthew was beaming. “We already have a line on a bus. A guy in Jersey has it and says we can work on it in his garage. Great, aye? We’re going over there to check it out.” He flipped his car keys over to Sonny. “You drive. The less the servants know about this the better when people start asking questions.” And they were gone.

“He’s crazy! He is fuckin’ crazy!” Mack cried.

“Yes, Mack,” countered Annie. “We’ve got the general idea! You haven’t exactly tried to hide your feelings. And you’re probably right, for a change, but what can we do about it?”

Andrew started to pace at the opposite corner of the room. “Well, damn it, come on!” Mack demanded. “Let’s hear the gospel, according to St. Andrew!”

“Well, I agree,” Andrew said. “The idea does strike me as totally ludicrous. But I think we’re just going to have to accept it because I don’t think we can change his mind.”

“Jesus!” scowled Mack, sinking back into his char. “That was certainly earth-shaking. C’mon, Andrew, we have to come up with some sort of plan here.”

“Look, we’re looking at this like Pop is insane. But maybe he isn’t. I’ve heard of families deciding to turn their backs on good paying careers and affluent life-styles to move to the country or even the wilderness.”

“Sure,” sneered Mack, “Like Canada maybe?”

“No, now hear me out. Dubuque, Iowa, is not exactly the end of the earth. I’ve done some checking. It’s a fair sized city. They even have three small colleges there. Maybe I’ll start back to school at one of them next fall. Mack, you’re the one who’s supposed to be adventurous. How terrible can it be?”

“Pretty damn terrible!” exploded Mack. “You’re as nuts as he is. So they have little colleges there. So what? What about nice bars and restaurants or good looking’ chicks? Good God! You heard him. He’s talking farming – like tote that barge and lift that bale. And Bozo there – our boy Friday, he’s talking blue jeans and work boots! Jeez! The old man can play out some weird fantasy if he wants, but you can count me out!” With that, he stomped out.

Andrew took a long deep breath. The silence was deafening. “What should we do, Annie? Do you think Aunt Esther could block this thing legally?”

“I don’t know, Andrew. You heard what Daddy said. He said she especially can’t find out. We can’t do that to him, can we? He has that fire in his eyes again – he’s excited. He really thinks once he gets us out there, we’ll understand it and even like it. Maybe he’s right.” Her words sounded hollow without much conviction. “I agree with you, Andrew. We’re gonna have to go along with it for now and hope he comes to his senses soon. We can’t break his heart again. There’s no way he can pull this off, but we have to let him try.”

Chapter 6

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