All week my sister, Lil, and I had looked forward to going to
the Saturday matinee to see Dorothy Lamour in The Hurricane. We weren’t about to
let a threatening rainstorm keep us from heading into town. We could always wait
it out at the neighborhood tavern my father owned around the block from the
theater. It was the meeting spot for everyone.
Sure enough, the rain was coming down in sheets when we got out of the movie theater. The wind whipped our hair. Lightning cut the
sky like a knife. Thunder made the ground tremble. "Ready to make a run for it?" I said
to Lil.
We clasped hands and tore down the street to Dad’s tavern.
Halfway there Lil slid on the wet sidewalk. She went down with a thud—and
managed to pull me on top of her. We both started to cry.
A strong pair of hands lifted me up. I didn’t recognize the
man with the long beard. "Let’s get you home," he said. He took Lil in his arms
and walked us straight to Daddy’s place.
Inside, Dad looked us over but wanted a doctor to check us
out too. "Who was that man with the beard?" I asked him on the way back home. "I
thought I knew everybody in town."
"I do know everybody in town," said Daddy. "But I never saw that man before
in my life." Neither had anyone else.
