Flying Clean

Flying Clean Chapter 11

Chapter 11

We followed the story in the newspapers as we traveled. The journalists claimed that the police believed fully that I had an unknown accomplice who had recaptured Susan, as I said, killing her to cover up the incident. It was this accomplice, they said, who had started the fire, aiding my escape. All four Desmond children were now believed to be dead, but the papers asked that if anyone happened to spot them alive, to report it at once. After the courthouse fire in Nebraska, the nationwide manhunt spawned several funds from civilians, bringing the reward for my accomplice to eighty thousand dollars. The reward for me was one hundred thousand and it was hinted that this reward regressed to the old days; that dead or alive might be acceptable.

After the incident at the train station, our route was easily identifiable and we were forced to turn south once again. We were in Kansas within three days and we no longer had any wish to go into town; that ordeal had been just a little too close. We spent our time in the fields. Because the possibility of capture was so present, so close, there was no joy to be found in those days in Kansas. We walked during the day, we huddled together at night, hungry and miserable and afraid. Every now and again, one of the twins would hug me for no reason at all and it painted a very stark picture on my heart. They didn't think we were going to get away with it. They thought that any moment could be their last with me; that they would presently be torn from my arms and thrust into the hard muscles of Harry Desmond. I saw these thoughts reflected in the faces of Susan and John, and I suppose they saw the same in mine. I like to think that maybe I was the strong one in those days, the one to remain positive that good would triumph in the end. I like to think that, but the truth is one I will never know for certain.

I tried reading to them at night, just like old times, but they didn't want to be distracted by stories. The four of them- and me, too, I guess- just wanted to spend time together. Words were not necessary, even hugs were unnecessary. All that mattered to any of us was our nearness. Whenever I hear the word Kansas, I think of the days and nights of sadly saying goodbye with our actions, instead of words. We weren't ready to split up forever, but it seemed we had accepted this inevitability.

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The next month was spent in Colorado and, thanks to a spell of genius on John's behalf, the days were happier, more relaxed. He had suggested, one day, that we write a letter to the F.B.I. saying that we had been spotted in South Dakota. That if there was focus to the north, we would be more likely to slip through the southwest without event. It had seemed a risky gamble, but we had tried it nonetheless and a week later the apocryphal report was considered hard fact in the newspapers. My accomplice and I had been conclusively spotted in South Dakota just that week. It was a lucky event that no one had bothered to check the postmark on the envelope. It hadn't occurred to any of us that our decoy could, in effect, lead the authorities right to us. But those were simpler days, and mistakes were made.

We laid low for a long time. As I said, it was a month that we made Colorado our home. This was for two very big reasons, but a third reason did exist. Firstly, the mountains were very difficult for us- where we were used to avoiding civilization in corn and wheat fields, this was not possible as we came into the Rocky Mountains. I know now that we should have gone through New Mexico and Arizona, but the heat of the desert likely would have turned out worse for us. But I don't know. As I think about the consequences of our time in Colorado, I grasp at any answer that would have possibly prevented it.