Tom sat on a bench next to a lamppost. It wasn’t any different than any of the other lampposts except for the name attached to it, which was something he hadn’t paid much attention to. It might’ve meant more to him had he fought in a war. Everyday he walked passed the lampposts hardly noticing them…now he appreciated the light, though there wasn’t enough to read by.
The moment he climbed up into Judge Baylor’s lap he was transported to Daddy Hayes’ farm. He hadn’t been to the farm in several years, and the barn had been replaced with a boxcar. He had spent a summer crisscrossing the country with a circus and was then struggling through college, yet it took him back to Christmases on the farm when he placed his hands on Judge Baylor’s knees and pushed himself up into the old man’s lap.
He wasn’t afraid of sliding off. And what was wonderful and mysterious about it was that it calmed and relaxed him. And that was in spite of the statue being cold, wet, and slippery. Here it was almost one o’clock in the morning, but one could come here other times day or night…to have their picture taken or play on the statue… or during the day while students scurried past and have Judge Baylor remain perfectly still for them…and then, to have Tom climb onto his lap.
Wednesday (January 15)
I won’t know the results of my final exams for several days, so I can do nothing more than wait. I feel better today. I live knowing things could’ve been worse. I could’ve been arrested for a break-in that I didn’t have anything to do with; I kept my cool through it all; and I think that I not only avoided incriminating myself, but may have come out ahead because certainly it got my mind off of my exams. Now it’s neither here nor there.
I slept in this morning, because I needed the sleep, and I’m in no special hurry, and was thinking that maybe I pulled it off. I’m very glad that my finals are finished. Gee whiz, I might live after all. I was going to push on and finish one final paper today. Except I’m not as focused as I should be, but I’ll do my best and have it completed in time. Now if I could only explain to my parents why I didn’t come home for Christmas. But of course I can’t. Now they’re expecting me between semesters.
Now please don’t think I’m trying to sabotage my college career. It’s only the second, third, fourth time that I’ve quite. The worse night I found a lap to sit in, literally. And a knee to cry on. You wouldn’t believe that I felt warn when I almost froze to death. Now I better get to work. Your friend, Tom
My parents and I should be able to put up with each other for two weeks. Just in case you might receive a telephone call from me. I’ll be all right. It’s impossible to keep me down. And of course, if you can’t come to my rescue, I can always go camping. Yes, in the middle of the winter, that is if my sleeping bag still has its loft. I hope it won’t be a waste of time.
And as Tom made his way down from Judge Baylor’s lap, someone was busily burglarizing the Baylor Drugstore. The burglar jimmied an upstairs window, came down steep stairs into the main part of the store and went after drugs. He knew what he was looking for and obviously had cased the place. When people heard about it the next day, most of them said, “I’m sorry to hear that. You see, it goes to show you….”
Tom saw the burglar flee. He didn’t get a good look at the thief when he jumped from the roof of the Sidewalk Theater next to the drugstore. He could’ve been six feet tall. It was hard to say how much he got away with. “You mark my word, he was after drugs. And, that’s not all. He walked with a limp.”
“Walked?”
“Well, ran.”
Could this have been a student that they were looking for? It didn’t seem likely. The police questioned Tom for over an hour and made him wait an hour more before they let him go. “Sorry son, we had to check everything out. Some of what you told us didn’t make sense. Yes, yes, of course. We know it’s exam week. We had to make sure.”
There wasn’t an apology or an explanation other than this. Then, you have to add into the equation Tom’s respect for law and order. Otherwise he would’ve run off the same as the burglar.
“You ought not get caught wandering around at this time night. You never can tell what could happen. Why this isn’t the first break in we’ve had on campus…when people get desperate. You say he jumped from the roof and could’ve broken his leg?”
“Yes,” agreed Tom, nodding his head. By that time he would’ve agreed to almost anything. After the ordeal he returned to the library feeling confused and bewildered. Luckily no one had touched his books. But he couldn’t calm down and was too rattled to study anymore. It disturbed him that he had been a suspect and was dumbstruck by that realization.
Randy Ford
