Thursday, December 17, 2015

the golden gumdrop caper, part 11

by manfred skyline

illustrated by roy dismas and konrad kraus

originally appeared in the june through september 1956 issues of last stop - excitement magazine

editorial consultant: Prof. Dan Leo


for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





in our previous chapters, we met the international jewel thief stanley slade, recently recaptured after a daring escape from prison, and the notorious adventuress angie ricardo, recently sentenced to a long term in a federal penitentiary, who has been contacted by mysterious personages, who propose to get her released, for their own purposes..., including the "thin man"...

in the three preceding chapters we met the somewhat down on his luck artist pete palomine, who approaches the art dealer and gallery owner cosima collinson with a tale of wonders...
as pete tells his tale, cosima notices a suspicious character lurking outside ...



“car 721, calling 721.”

“721, donnelly here.”

“donnelly, i hope i’m not interrupting anything.”

“i’m here, sarge, primed and ready for action.”

“you near east 86th and madison?”

“close enough. and headed that way.” donnelly began making a u-turn on third avenue as he spoke.

“call from east 86th and madison. suspicious character in the area.”


“that’s it?” donnelly straightened out on third avenue and headed north. “did this personage actually do anything suspicious?”

“he aroused a citizen’s suspicions. a rich dame. just get on it.”

“a rich dame? young or old?”

“what do you care? we serve all citizens. young or old, rich or poor.”

donnelly was approaching east 83d street. “right. this rich dame, does she have an address? or a name? do you want me to reassure her if i don’t find anything?”


“her name is collinson. she’s really rich, we’ve dealt with her before. don’t you deal with her, unless the guy is actually breaking into her house. number 17. call me, if you find anything, or if you don’t find anything. got it?”

“got it.”

the conversation was over. donnelly turned left on 83rd street.

collinson. patrolman ignatius donnelly thought he recognized the name. and suspected he knew why the police had dealt with miss collinson before.


he knew there was a collinson art gallery on 84th street. art galleries were always complaining about suspicious characters and lowlifes hanging around their premises

donnelly thought he knew a thing or two about art and still had some interest in it. in his younger days he had aspired to be an artist instead of a useful member of society, and he had studied art on the g i bill before being forced to support himself by joining new york’s finest.

he reached madison and turned north again.


he slowed down at 86th street. there was a light on on the third floor of a building on the northwest corner. he turned left and and read the number - 17.

nobody hanging around right under the streetlights. donnelly slowed the car down to walking speed.

he crawled down 86th toward 5th avenue and central park. nobody, suspicious or otherwise.

ah - there was somebody. on the right side of the street, staying close to the buildings.


donnelly pulled up beside the walking man. a skinny little guy, in a hat a size too big for him and an overcoat a size too small.

the guy knew enough not to try to ignore him. donnelly got out of the car.

“good evening, officer. or should i say good morning?” despite the crummy clothes, a “cultured” voice. and the guy didn’t sound nervous. like he was used to being stopped by the police, or he naturally felt the police were there to serve him, or maybe some combination of both.


donnely approached him, and thought he recognized him. maybe it was just because he had been reminded of art school … but, no, he did know him.

“spence. spencer sinclair spence. the third or the fourth, i can’t remember which.”

the little man started. “do i know you, officer? you … obviously know me.”

“ignatius donnelly. from mother silver’s art classes. on thirteenth street.”

“donnelly! i never… never would have recognized you. you are … um…”


“all grown up.”

“ha, ha, all grown up. i think i recall someone mentioning you had … joined the force. is that a correct expression - ‘joined the force’?

“correct enough, spence.”

spence laughed, a laugh just short of a giggle. “i recall you had a nickname… can’t quite remember it…”

“it’s best forgotten,” donnelly told him. “but it was scarface.”

“of course. scarface donnelly! how could i forget?” suddenly spence stopped laughing. “well, what can i do for this morning, officer donnelly.”


donnelly looked back up the street. “we got a call about a suspicious character. from a woman named collinson. i don’t really know, but it might be a collinson connected with the collinson art gallery. “ he turned and faced spence. “know anything about it?”

spence hesitated. “well, i have to admit i was … what you might call ‘hanging around’ the townhouse on the corner back there. but i didn’t know who lived there. i was waiting for someone who had gone in there … a fellow who owes me some money.”

donnelly let spence’s story hang in the air for a few seconds. “so you were the suspicious character.”


“no, no. do i look like a suspicious - or dangerous - character?”

“maybe not to me. maybe to a woman looking out a window at night.”

“no, no, you see… i saw a nasty looking character myself. that was why i gave up my vigil.”

“your vigil?”

“waiting for this fellow who owes me money. look, we can go back there. he is probably still there and you can verify that he does owe me money. it is actually somebody we both know quite well.”

“oh? who?”

"pete palomine.”

“palomine! that jerk!” donnelly looked back toward the townhouse.

spence laughed nervously. “yes, palomine. he has certainly left us both in the dust, hasn’t he? fame-wise, anyway.”

“and he owes you money, spence? what great sum does he owe you, that you are going to follow him and beat him up or kill him for it?”

“ha. ha! who said anything about beating him up or killing him? but i was determined to confront him.”


“and how much money was this about?”

“fifteen dollars.”

“fifteen dollars!”

“you needn’t laugh, donnelly. i am sure you can tell to look at me that… that my ships have not been coming in with any regularity. fifteen dollars would mean a lot to me right now.”

“hey, i would pick fifteen dollars up myself if it was lying in the street. so why did you leave? because you saw me coming?”


“i told you. this really scary looking bruiser showed up, on the other corner. maybe he was waiting for palomine too. anyway i got cold feet and left.”

donnelly thought for a few seconds. “tell you what, spence. why don’t you get in the car? we will drive around a little, see if we can spot this desperado. then we’ll take it from there.”

spence’s shoulders slumped. “i don’t suppose i have much choice.”

“no, you do not. listen, if all goes well maybe i will end up buying you a cup of coffee and we can talk about old times. how does that sound?"

spence sighed. “that would be very nice.”

part 12






Thursday, December 3, 2015

the golden gumdrop caper, part 10

by manfred skyline

illustrated by roy dismas and konrad kraus

originally appeared in the june through september 1956 issues of last stop - excitement magazine

editorial consultant: Prof. Dan Leo


for previous episode, click here

to begin at the beginning, click here





in our previous chapters, we met the international jewel thief stanley slade, recently recaptured after a daring escape from prison , and the notorious adventuress angie ricardo, recently sentenced to a long term in a federal penitentiary, who has been contacted by mysterious personages, who propose to get her released, for their own purposes..., including the "thin man"...

in the two preceding chapters we met the somewhat down on his luck artist pete palomine, who approaches the art dealer and gallery owner cosima collinson with a tale of wonders...



pete continued his tale:

and so the digging of the mine, to unearth the golden pearl at the center of the earth, continued apace.

and all the other preparations for the celebration of the emperor armon-mu’s one hundredth birthday continued apace.

for almost two years, no clouds of discord appeared on the vast blue horizons of the empire.

even the weather conspired to advance the general felicity, and exceptional grape harvests provided a seemingly inexhaustible flow of wine to heighten the general glow of anticipated celebration.


in the midst of all this, a series of events transpired, hardly noticed at the time, but which will have great effects on our story.

among the many princelings born to the many wives of the emperor was a certain prince joto, a youth who seemed to have nought to attract notice, except the fortunate circumstance of his birth.

it had long been the imperial custom to assign the lesser princesses and princes to marry the sons and daughters of the myriad little kings and princes and chieftains whose tiny domains were interspersed among the vast reaches of the empire.


a clerk in the imperial bureaucracy assigned prince joto to marry one of the daughters of gow, a chieftain in a remote mountain kingdom on the northern borders of gondwana.

prince joto rebelled. the thought of a life in a mountain kingdom did not appeal to him, and he was in love with a young woman who called hersellf green star and who danced and juggled in a traveling circus.

joto declared his love for the young woman, and wrote a note to the clerk informing him that he, joto, intended to marry green star and ignore the imperial edict.


the clerk ignored this and wrote back to joto giving the details of his itinerary to the mountain kingdom.

joto appealed to the lord high chamberlain and various other functionaries - there was no question of his appealing to the emperor, who was not aware of his existence - but all his entreaties, whether in the language of passion or the language of the courts, were ignored.

eventually, a retinue of imperial guards appeared at joto’s chambers. the sergeant in charge informed the young prince that they were there to escort him - either to the mountain kingdom to embrace his assigned wife, or to the imperial mines, where he could expend his body and soul in the unearthing of the golden pearl - the golden pearl of armon-mu.


it was his choice.

joto did not hesitate, and after a last passionate embrace with the beauteous green star, was led away to the mines.

this event aroused little interest among the busy citizenry of atlantis. a few minstrels composed songs about the sad affair, but among the few who listened to them, most thought a mythical romance was being celebrated.

and so it came about that prince joto was laboring in the deepest level of the mine when the cataclysm struck that marked the beginning of the end of the mighty empire.

*


at this point, pete’s recital was interrupted by williams, the butler.

“excuse, me, miss. and mister palomine.”

cosima, who had looked neither enraptured nor obviously bored by pete’s story, looked up. “what is it, williams?”

“i am sorry to interrupt, miss, but i have noticed rather a suspicious looking individual lurking outside.”

“oh? are there not always suspicious characters outside? it’s probably just one of conrad’s lowlife friends. getting up his nerve to ring the bell and put the touch on him.”


“if you will trust my judgment, miss, this fellow looks like a bit more than that. for one thing, he does not, shall we say, give off an air of indecision. and he keeps moving about, not waiting in one spot as he would be if he were waiting for someone to pick him up. always a bad sign.”

“you know i trust your judgment, williams. what do you think, pete? sound like anybody you know?”

pete had turned a little pale. “um - i - i don’t think so.”

“you don’t think so?” cosima drawled. “how about getting up and taking a look at this mystery man?”


“no need for that,” williams offered. “i can step outside and tell him to be on his way.”

“no, no! “ pete cried. “you don’t want to do that!”

cosima laughed. “so you do know who it is. don’t worry, pete. you are safe with us.”

williams turned to go, but cosima stopped him. “don’t you go, williams. i will just call the police.” she got up and went over to a telephone on a small table in a corner.


pete did not look too happy, but cosima assured him, “don’t worry, i am a collinson, the police will at least humor me.”

she dialed. “hello. police headquarters? no, it’s not exactly an emergency, but my name is cosima collinson and i live on east 86th street and i would like to speak to someone. thank you.”

after a few seconds. “yes, officer. there is a shady character lurking outside my apartments. on 505 east 86th, just off madison. it is probably nothing, but i have a guest who is a bit nervous about it… thank you so much. thank you. i believe the policeman’s ball is coming up… put me down for forty tickets. that’s c-o-s-i-m-a collinson. thank you again. good bye.”


cosima put the phone back down on the little table, and looked at pete. “that was not so difficult, was it? if you are still a little nervous, you can stay the night. williams, get the guest room ready for mister palomine, will you?”

“very good, miss.” williams slipped away.

“you still want to go on with your story?” cosima asked.

“why not?” pete managed a brave smile.

“why not, indeed? why don’t we freshen our drinks first?”



part 11