Kansas City Calling: A Gannon Family Trilogy: Book 2

Copyright © 2015 Richard W. Ellison.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Certain characters in this work are historical figures, and certain events portrayed did take place. However, this is a work of fiction. All of the other characters, names, and events as well as all places, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

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ISBN: 978-1-4917-7252-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-7254-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4917-7253-9 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015911515

iUniverse rev. date: 09/14/2015

Contents

1. Kansas City Ranger

2. The Grand Tour

3. Timing Is Everything

4. Life from a Tree House

5. Creature on Campus

6. Sounds of War

7. A Night in Venice

8. Violence in the City of Fountains

9. Black Cars Prowling

10. Deep, Dark, and Hungry

11. Blue Ribbons and Murder

12. War and the Gannons

13. Hill from Hell

14. Adventure in Venice

15. Banking on the Brule

16. Letters from a Dark Tunnel

17. The Return of the Night Crawlers

18. Center High School

19. Race to Main Street

20. Nights of Armageddon

21. Pandemic

22. Old Mrs. Brownn

23. A Beauty Named Funke

24. Reunion in Kansas City

25. Long Road to Chapel Hill

26. Gannons to the Winds

27. Degree in Depression

28. Last Bite on the Plate

29. Tragedy and Decision

30. New Horizons

Reviews by Novelists:

Kansas City Calling, Book 2 of Richard Ellison’s trilogy once again treats its readers to a fast paced, character enriched, reading experience that captures a family’s excitement in living during America’s early Twentieth Century. Through the Gannon family, readers are thrust head long into the fast, early days of Kansas City. There, life is interrupted by WWI, Black Glove Society, Flu Pandemic, and the Great Depression, as the Gannon’s and friends fight for success from Kansas City to Venice – with an early walk-on-role by Jim Thorpe. Ellison has composed another exciting novel for readers’ literary entertainment.

Sidney Offit

New York based teacher and author

of: Memoir of the Bookie’s Son and others.

In Book 2 of the Gannon Family Trilogy, Richard Ellison skillfully carries the Gannon family story into the early twentieth century. Ellison deftly blends swift action and interesting historical architecture and personalities, such as Jim Thorpe and writer, Ernest Hemingway, with the story as seen from Kansas City. As John Gannon and his two American Indian friends attempt walking in the footsteps of their heroes, facing bigotry, shootings, and hoodlums, the Gannon’s lives are transported from South Dakota to Venice to WWI and the Flu Pandemic at home – treating readers to prime drama in this family action saga.

Jim Ainsworth

Texas based author of Go Down Looking,

The Rivers trilogy, and many others

…Richard Ellison’s meticulous research brings this fictionalized historic novel to life in epic richness. History buffs in particular will applaud this sequel that takes readers through one family’s achievements, scattering their lives, blending drama, loneliness and love. When young John hears the call of New York opportunities, readers will definitely want to join him.

Alvin Granowsky, PhD, is

author of dozens of World Book publications,

and two powerful, iUniverse novels.

Readers’ Comments

Kansas City Calling is a compelling novel of intrigue, and setting… making early Twentieth Century America come alive throughout this saga of the Gannon Family as they maintain their values while dealing with the Mafia, hardships, and explosive growth of their town.

Shirley Chiller, O.A.M.

Caulfield North, Australia

Book two of this epic trilogy of the early 1900’s kept me reading all night. A fascinating revisit in time and place, saluting the drama of families living amongst soaring growth, while dealing with the K.C. Bad Crowd, World War I, and the Flu Pandemic. Bravo!

Robert Nyilas

New York, New York

…Another home run - without reservation. I couldn’t stop reading this historic story-line, all brought to present day reality by vivid characters and their approach to hardships and achievements. "The Mafia be damned - Ditto the war and everyday travesties.

Jace and Susan Carrington

Dallas, Texas

The Gannon’s bring to life this fascinating, early American story of drama, hardship, and a growing Kansas City - confronting good times, disaster and death. A great read!

Doyle Hickerson

Austin, Texas

…a compelling novel. I couldn’t put it aside until I finished reading it.

Don LaRue

Dallas, Texas

In Memory of

Gladys Ellison Schultze

Foreword

Kansas City Calling, "Book 2 – A Gannon Family Trilogy", follows the Gannon’s as they build their dreams, achieving successful lives in banking, opera, art, and writing. Much like today’s modern society, the heavy pressures of time, distance, and loneliness, challenge this early Twentieth Century family as careers scatter them to the winds.

Themes of good and evil abound, calling for rigorous control to maintain family mores – as the Gannon’s struggle to cope with their promising, exciting lives, rushing head-on into the Twentieth Century.

Facing the Kansas City Mafia, murder, the Great Flu Pandemic, and WWI, young John Gannon, his friends and family, experience life against powerful forces…struggling through bigotry and danger to succeed. With settings in South Dakota, France, Kansas City, and Chapel Hill, John tests his limits, reaching a startling conclusion in launching his long awaited career plans.

***

Readers of this fast paced, adventure story will also want to read Monmouth in the Morning, Book 1 – A Gannon Family Trilogy, learning more of the background and challenges of the Gannon family as each member struggles to succeed in early Twentieth Century America.

Book 3 of this adventure trilogy, reaching new heights amidst tragedy and success, is planned for 2017. As the 1930’s and years beyond explode with hope and unchartered ambitions, readers don’t want to miss the climax of the Gannon story as John, his friends, and the Gannon Family fight life’s strong forces to fulfill their destinies.

Author’s Note

The names of the people in Kansas City Calling…Book 2 are fictional, as are many of the scenes and events that are portrayed. The exceptions are historical people mentioned throughout the novel, such as Jim Thorpe, and Ernest Hemingway. We salute them here for their achievements and places in history. Any references to people, time, and scenes from Monmouth in the Morning…Book l, apply to the same boundaries described on this page. While the Early American tribes known as the Mandan, Dakota, Lakota, and any others mentioned in this novel are real, their exact locations and tribal names described in these pages are fictionalized in time and place, and are used as a setting to capture the legacy of these special Americans. The principle theme of this trilogy represents in part, the actual lives of friends of the author. Historical documentation of events during WWI, the Flu Pandemic, and other well-known events, are fictionalized in these historic sites, portrayed primarily by the characters voicing them…who, may or may not always be correct in their conversations, representing the frailties of the spoken language.

Acknowledgements

To:   Sidney Offit

…Gifted Creative Writing Teacher, Novelist, and award winning teacher at NYU and The New School, NY, NY

To:   David W. Ellison

For his invaluable computer skills and assistance

To:   Phillip Marcus Ellison

For his parenting and management skills

To:   Leah Ellison Shields

For her helpful contributions

CHAPTER 1

Kansas City Ranger

The Kansas City Ranger slowly gained speed, climbing the long slope beyond the Brule River—the river where John Gannon and James Blue Eagle spent their first days of school together, exploring the land and dreaming about their future beyond South Dakota. Gannon expected his plans for Blue Eagle and Mercury to be tested far beyond Chambers. After all, Center High in nineteen seventeen was an all-white school.

John, still standing at his train car window, anxiously looked back at the Brule River for signs of his Indian friend. Moments prior, Blue Eagle had raced alongside John’s train car on Crazy Horse’s big Appaloosa stallion. Every passenger on the train had erupted with excitement as the great horse stumbled, and stumbled again, almost going under the train’s wheels. Blue Eagle had eased his mount off the rails to soft ground just minutes before going over a twenty-foot-high embankment into the Brule River.

Gannon’s throat choked with tension until he saw the horse and rider emerge from the river’s depths, swimming toward shore. John felt the backs of his legs press firmly against his seat as the din of loud voices discussing the Indian’s daring riding swirled about him. The stumbles, the audacious plunge over the cliff … the boldness of it all!

Gannon shook his head. He just had to risk it all! He could have killed himself, but no, a Mandan Indian chief’s son doesn’t back down from danger. It’s there; it’s a challenge. He’s compelled to do it. I don’t know if Kansas City is ready for him. Ready for him? What about Mercury as well?

The tension wrapped Gannon in a vacuum, momentarily shutting out the excited crowd in his train car. Gannon slowly pushed back in his seat. He rubbed his eyes with both hands. The anxiety drained him like a limp sack. He had so much time invested in his friend—such an important responsibility in his hands. Friendship was one thing; rescuing James Blue Eagle was quite another—especially after talking to James’s chief about the son’s future. Tom Gannon had remarked that John’s goal was far bigger than James Blue Eagle, perhaps embracing the future of the last band of native Mandan there in Chambers. Questions now surfaced about his latest plans and their workability.

Were his friend’s feats an omen—a prelude to the new dangers just moving into Kansas City? John had read the Kansas City Star of the previous week, reporting three deaths by a nasty group of men who had been tracked by police from Saint Louis and other towns. This was not in his plans for a happy life in Kansas City. John mentally filed it away as he squirmed to find comfort in his seat. He exhaled hard. Is that what certain humans do best—kill for power and control? What about my plans to introduce two brown-skinned American Indians to Center High School? Are those people going to come after us too? What the hell have I gotten myself into? Maybe Uncle Will has the answers.

A few passengers began changing train cars for myriad reasons, shifting in and out of Gannon’s view. A powerfully built young man in his twenties caught John’s attention as he entered the car, and from his side vision John knew that he chose a seat directly across the aisle. As Gannon turned to look at the man, just settling down from arranging his luggage, the man returned his gaze. John turned away quickly from making direct contact so closely, only to whip his head around for a second look at the powerful face.

The man smiled again and nodded. John’s mouth fell open in disbelief.

Are you … are you he? Gannon politely asked.

I am. I’m Jim. Was that someone you knew out there racing us to the river?

Sir, John asked, somewhat befuddled, I mean, yes, he’s my best friend. He’s James Blue Eagle.

Oh, I know who he is; I’m just surprised that you know him. I shouldn’t be, though; you’re likely coming from the same river town of Chambers back there. And you look to be about the same age.

John cupped his hand around one ear, straining to hear Jim’s words as the Santa Fe Ranger’s big engine powered its way up the long incline that lay before them.

It’s pretty noisy, Jim said. Move over here with me so we can talk. We have several hours before we get to Kansas City. Take the window here, and tell me how you know the Eagles."

As John moved across the aisle, his eyes swept the stature of his new friend—the strong shoulders, the sculptured American Indian face, the six-foot frame, the powerful legs. He looked as though he had been poured into his clothes.

My family will think I jest when I tell them I sat by our Olympic champion on the train to Kansas City. What an honor, Mr. Thorpe.

No more than talking to a friend of James Blue Eagle. And please—call me Jim. I’d like that. Tell me—how do you know the Eagles?

I met them at a Fourth of July celebration when we first moved to Chambers three years ago. We—James and I—became friends immediately. After some difficult discussions, we got him into our one-room school, and he made a friend of all of us. I organized a track team and found out immediately that he could really run. James and I became very competitive. Finally we got a coach, Coach Tiller, and he whipped us into shape pretty quickly. We won a few races at track meets but had some bad luck at the state meet. Food and the flu wiped us out!

What brings you to Kansas City? Thorpe asked.

I’m going to high school there. My uncle and aunt live there, but it has always been my destination. I want to be a writer. Kansas City, with its history and growth, has always sounded exotic. Good schools too. Since we moved west, it has always been ‘Kansas City calling.’ I sometimes hear it in my dreams. Huh … now I read that some nasty people are moving there from other towns. I worry about my plans.

Thorpe cut in, changing the subject.

What kind of speed do you boys have? You’re what, fifteen?

I’m sixteen this year. We were fourteen and fifteen back in Chambers. Speed? Oh, we clocked in at10.6 seconds, sometimes 10.5 in the hundred. One time the wind pushed us over the finish line at 10.45 seconds. Nothing at all like your speed, sir … I mean Jim. You are lightning on the ground.

That’s my name, you know. In Sac-Fox, it’s Wa-Tho-Huk, which means bright path. I was born during a powerful storm. The first thing my parents saw was lightning hitting the ground near our house. So they named me ‘path lighted by a great flash of lightning.’ We just say ‘bright path.’

That storm sure put fire in your legs. My father and I talked several times about your decathlon and pentathlon that you ran away with in the 1912 Olympics. The entire country was shouting your name. My dad says that you are the best athlete on earth—and a natural-born athlete, at that. We read about your ticker-tape parade in New York. You must have felt seven feet tall riding up Fifth Avenue.

Thorpe smiled but didn’t comment. It was silent for a few minutes. Still smiling, he turned to his young seatmate and said, Sounds like you and Blue Eagle did a lot of things together. I’ll bet you both were chasing girls most of the time.

John blushed at the sudden change of topic, recovering in time to say, Oh, sure. We were regular menaces to the ladies. You know, teasing them. But with our speed, none of them could catch us. More to the point, none of them could fish, so we didn’t invite them. I taught my friend Blue Eagle vocabulary and our white customs. He taught me about nature and many of the Mandan ways of life. We took to the wilds like we were born out there. Haggerty Woods, the Bad Lands. I loved it. I couldn’t even swim when I first met James, and I’d never heard of a bull boat, let alone rowed one. I’m going to miss our river town and the life there. Miss it a lot. Chambers is an amazing place, Jim. And the Brule must have the biggest fish of any river.

John paused a moment and fiddled with his thumbs and fingers; then he continued. In my wildest dreams, I would never have thought I would get to know the things that Blue Eagle taught me. By the time I realized it, I was in my last year in Chambers before moving on to high school. I instinctively knew that James belonged there with me—and on to college as well. He’s become a project. Chief Grey Eagle agreed when I approached him. He told me, ‘Take him with you. Get him educated in the white schools and in the white ways.’ Looking at things now, I see that it is very hard on both of them. Kansas City is going to be even more difficult to deal with. We are going to an all-white—

Thorpe interrupted. What makes you think you can get an Indian boy in your high school? Indians have their own schools, you know. You’ve got some job on your hands, young man. How are you going to do that? In the same breath and in a firmer tone, Thorpe poked his right index finger lightly into Gannon’s shoulder, saying, "And while you’re at it, little chief, tell me why. Why would you help an Indian boy, capable as he is, make such a leap into the white world?"

Without flinching, John came back with "I’ll answer your last question first. It’s a mission that has been building inside me for over a year. It’s something that has grown into a goal—something that I feel I should do for my friend. Maybe it’s because James has become more than a friend … more like a brother. I have no brothers, and neither does he. I told my father, ‘That’s the entire equation.’ Yet it isn’t. My father reminded me that it’s much bigger than ‘my son and an Indian boy.’ It’s a small part of the equation … the good in the whole Indian–white relationship. ‘In a way,’ he said, ‘you are writing new history, amending the old.’ I ask you, Mr. Thorpe, wouldn’t one help his brother solve a big problem if he could? I think he would, and so does my father. Dad thinks it is a great idea. My father has had some amazing experiences in life, and I value his opinion more than that of anyone else I know. He thought my plans just might work if I thought them through and carried them out carefully, gaining confidence as I went.

I visited two reservations in Chambers; I talked with James’s chief. Some of those kids are bright, and they’re sitting in a no-man’s land, just crying out for someone to rescue them. They don’t even have a school. I can at least try to help Blue Eagle. If I fail, I may lose a close friend, but if I win, then I’ve helped my friend become educated. That’s the trophy. I’m going to high school, college as well. Why not James Blue Eagle? He will wilt away in his own waste on a reservation. And I’ll tell you this, Mr. Thorpe—and you know from your own experience and desire to win—just as my father always preached to us kids, ‘You don’t quit reaching for higher ground in life until you give it all you’re capable of, with all the cunning and strength you’ve got! Otherwise, it wasn’t much of idea in the first place.’ Now, for the second question. The oratory caused John’s face to light up in excitement. I know—

Thorpe held up his hand, saying, Well said, young man. You’ve learned some valuable lessons for a sixteen-year-old boy. Congratulations!

Oh, I have an ace up my sleeve as well, John said with a half-smile, looking Thorpe in the eyes. Then he asked, Do you think they would admit a Jim Thorpe to Center High School?

They might. But Blue Eagle, according to you, doesn’t have Jim Thorpe’s speed.

That’s true, but I am counting on our being fast enough to make the track team. I think that with some training, changing our techniques a bit, we can run the one hundred in ten point four, maybe even ten three. Then I will play my other ace.

Which is? Thorpe asked.

It goes like this: ‘Coach, you say that James Blue Eagle and I can run a bit. What if I told you that I have one other runner back home—a special runner who can take us to state?’ Just that little phrase, ‘can take us to state,’ will capture any high school track coach’s attention. Coach Tiller agreed with me. I don’t think our Kansas City coach will refuse me.

If you are going to tell me about a boy who runs like the wind and wears a half mask, let’s drop the subject. Keep him a secret. I may see him when he shows up. I just hope you’re successful. From what I hear … well, let’s just say that he may have Jim Thorpe speed.

You know Mercury? That’s amazing. He just crawled out of the woods, so to speak.

We keep track of our people, especially those who are exceptional.

I may very well be here to see him run—to see all of you, when I finish my business. Actually, Milwaukee has already signed me, but I’ll be a Giant pretty soon. I play outfield very well; hit quite well too. But what I really love is tearing up the base paths, especially stealing bases. They are there just for the taking. It’s like a big game with me, but many times it can be the difference between winning and losing. I like winning.

John looked at the great American hero in awe. He nodded agreement with Thorpe, saying to himself, Yes, I’d better keep Creature under wraps. I need him to make things work.

Thorpe turned, looking sharply at Gannon, and then he changed the subject.

Your uncle will likely coach you about taking care of yourself as you move about town. Kansas City is unlike any town you’ve ever lived in, and a boy your age can be vulnerable around a bad crowd. I’m mentioning this because you were about to bring up the subject earlier. I hear some pretty bad people have started to move into town from Saint Louis. So a word to the wise: just watch your step. Check with your uncle soon after you start to move about on your own. Then they talked at length about the city.

"Thanks for the advice, Jim. I’ll remember