Frank, Buddy, it's good to see you again! What's this I hear about you getting a new job down in Portland? You lucky dog, you. So tell me all about it. All I heard was that it had to do with that company your brother used to work for. What? Chief Foreman? Wow! Well, it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Unless, of course, it's me. Ha! Just kidding!

Oh, me? Ah, what's to say about it. What you're looking at here is your standard broken leg. I've spent the past couple weeks moving between my bed and this chair. I guess I shouldn't complain, though. As Ellie told me, "Thank goodness you're not a horse!".

Oh I knew you had to ask. This is so embarrassing. I wish I could say I was doing something heroic, but what happened as this: Remember how I told you I wanted to take my kid to a Husky game? Well, I did, and he loved it. When we got home, I though I'd impress him with some of the moves I remembered from back in high school. So, here we are running around the yard, I get the ball fade, do some fancy dodges and end up tripping over the dog.

That's right! Laugh, Mr. Chief Foreman! Fortunately, the dog walked away without a scratch, but do you know what the worst part was? There I was lying in pain on the sidewalk and I look up and there's my kid as white as a sheet. Right away I could tell that he thought that he was partly to blame. So I had to bite the bullet and try to calm him down without showing that I was in abject agony. The things you have to do to be a father, eh?

Speaking of Nate, did he tell you about the essay he's writing for school about the history of Kirkland? Yep, he's been talking to ol' Harry French, and in turn Harry has referred him to some of the old-timers in town. Him and Harry hit it off quite well. You should hear some of the stories he's been told. He's been taking good notes, and every time he goes to talk to someone, he comes back and tells me the tales. He's heard things about the area that I didn't even know about. In fact, I think he's talking to someone up on Rose Hill right now.

Oh, which reminds me! Remember when I saw you last, it was when that guy got shot up on Rose Hill. Well do you know who it was? Remember last year when you and Joe and I went fishing, and when we got back and started divvying up the catch, that hobo came along and begged us for some food! Right! That guy! And Joe gave him a few trout and he thanked us? Right! That's the guy!

So you probably remember that he was pretty harmless, right? A little touched, maybe, but harmless. Well, the cops went up there thinking he was this escapee from some asylum back in Pennsylvania. According to them, he came at them with an ax, so they plugged him.

Well, it turns out that he'd been living up there in a tar-paper shack for five years. So right off the bat they hadn't investigated very well. And from what I heard, most of his neighbors thought he acted a bit queer, but they said that in no way was he a menace to the community.

So anyway, a lot of people were in an uproar, and for good reason. They had a big indignation meeting up at the Rose Hill clubhouse, and the upshot of it was that the Deputy Sheriff resigned. People wanted the dismissal of the two Seattle Detectives that were with him, but you know big city cops! They're not going to listen to us out here. They think we're a bunch of rubes.

Hey, before I go on, my throats getting dry from all this yapping. Do me a favor, will ya, and please get me a glass of water from the kitchen. Oh, very funny! Yeah, you’re just helping out a crippled old man. It's not like I asked for my shawl or anything. Hey, I think I hear Nate coming in the door.

Nate! C'mere boy! Hey, when he gets back from the kitchen, why don't you tell Mr. Th ... Nate? ... What's the matter, son? ... Oh ... Oh no ... Come on over here, son ... there, there ... these things happen ...

Oh Frank, Harry French just passed away.

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