Free An Unmarked Grave by Kent Conwell Page B

senator way back"
    After leaving the sheriff's office, I pulled up in front of
the gas pumps at Hooker's. I don't know how old the pumps
were, but they were at least a couple of generations before
credit-card pumps. The frigid north wind was merciless. I
shivered as I filled the tank.

    Across the road, an old man in baggy clothes, a battered
fedora pulled down over his ears, and his coat collar pulled
up about his neck, shuffled along the shoulder kind of sideways, his back to the biting wind, his worn shoes kicking
up puffs of dust. The wind whipped his jacket around him.
After I topped off the tanks, I went inside to pay.
    I groaned in pleasure at the warmth inside. Mabel Hooker
stood behind the register, garbed in a bright red sweat suit,
her gray hair pulled back into a severe bun. She recognized
me immediately. A warm smile leaped to her ruddy face.
"Well, what brings you back here?"
    After I told her, she shook her head. "I didn't know the
man, but those what did said he was a real gentleman. Real
shame"
    "Yeah. By the way, the sheriff was telling me about the
UFO business your little town is known for" I glanced out
the front window. The old man turned down a narrow road
heading south.
    She laughed. "I suppose ever'place has to be famous for
something. Yeah. Big story back then. Every once in a while
even now it crops up, and we have a few curious sightseers
come through. That's about the only time old Marvin unlocks the museum, despite what his sign says"
    "Sheriff said you had a letter and a newspaper article
about it on your wall," I said, glancing around the store.
    She indicated two framed documents on the wall beside
the front door. "That's them right there. The mayor back then,
Jim Bob Houston, wrote the letter to the editor of the Dallas newspaper that had printed a story about the spaceship.
Seems Jim Bob's granddaddy, Jake, was one of them what cooked up the scheme. The story I always heard was that
Elysian Hills was dying, so one day when Jake was drinking with A. B. Smith and Howard Nash, both town councilmen, they cooked up the scheme. Way I hear, there was a
big commotion for a few months"

    I laughed. "I can imagine."
    Wandering over to the framed documents, I read them.
    The article from the Dallas Morning Telegram was dated
April 19, 1897.
    ... About six o'clock this morning the early risers of
Elysian Hills were astonished by the sudden appearance of an unusual airship. Evidently some of the machinery was out of order, for it was making a speed of
only ten or twelve miles an hour and gradually settling
toward the Earth. It sailed over the public square, and
when it reached the north part of town, it collided with
the tower of Judge Lewis' windmill and went into pieces
with a terrific explosion, scattering debris over several
acres of ground, wrecking the windmill and water tank
and destroying the judge's flower garden. The pilot of
the ship is supposed to have been the only one aboard,
and, while his remains were badly disfigured, enough of
them were picked up to show that he was not an inhabitant of this world.
    I couldn't help chuckling when I finished the news article.
    The second document, the mayor's letter, dated sixty
years later, was on Elysian Hills letterhead and signed by
the mayor.

    November 16, 1957

    Dear Mr. Wilson,
    Recently, your paper ran an article about the UFO in
Elysian Hills in 1897. This letter is to inform you and
your readers that the story was a hoax, perpetrated by
three local citizens.
    As mayor of our beautiful city, I feel I am obligated to
notify you of this matter. I regret any problems our citizens might have created.

    Being an ex-English teacher, I raised an eyebrow in appreciation at the succinct letter. Mayor Jim Bob Houston
must have had a pretty fair secretary.
    From behind, Mabel laughed. "Now you see what we're
so famous for."
    Turning back, I chuckled. "Makes for a good story. This
Jim Bob Houston, he still