Frances saw her husband off to work one morning. "Glad things are getting back to normal?" She asked, rubbing his shoulders.
"I'll give you 40 minutes to stop doing that." He said. They both laughed, as she hugged him. "And define normal for me." She laughed with him and laid her head on his chest. " You're sure you're getting better?" He asked.
"I feel okay now. I have my days…I'm fine, Fred." Frances smiled up at him. "You know, how about I walk you to work today…..and I think I'll visit my brother Joe and his family. I've been dying to see our new little niece."
"6 kids already….Joe sure got busy!" He chuckled.
"Oh, you hush!" Frances laughed and grabbed his hand and they walked down their little sidewalk and the road and crossed the little wooden bridge.
"Bet she's a cute little thing…Katherine something?…." Fred wondered.
"It's Kathleen, honey." Frances corrected. "Kathleen Rose. They've nicknamed her Kate. Very cute, I think."
"At least its a normal one this time!" Fred laughed at some of two of his nieces' nicknames.. "Butzi…..Snooky."
"Those are special to them." She smiled.
"I know." He smiled. "Just like my little "Rosebud." Fred said, remembering his little niece back in Germany, Anna Lay. Not so little any more, of course.
"It would be nice for you to go back and see them again."
"Maybe someday." He said and looked down at his wife. "Well, this is your stop, my lady." They were just about at the Gruber's home now.
"Oh no…I'll walk you to work."
"Frances, go visit." Fred grinned. "I'll manage."
"Alright." She smiled and kissed him. "I'll see you later."
(
Meanwhile, Helen was working away from the college campus. Cleaning a gym. Only problem was, she didn't care for it.
"I don't like sweeping…." She muttered, talking to herself. "I don't like mopping this floor! I don't like sports, because they get it all scuffed up and I have to do it all over again. Plus the whole room reeks of sweat afterwards."
"Hey, is the gym ready yet, girl?" One of the young men asked. "We want to practice our wrestling."
"Yeah, I'm done….Just let me get out of your way." She said taking her supplies and started for the gym door.
"Wait a sec. We need a mat."
"Hold on." She frowned. Helen walked out the door and asked the main janitor for his key to the closet, and soon found one of the wrestling mats. She returned with it and left the gym and went into the hallway to get her things so she could go back to the college. She walked past a good-looking young guy in long dark grey boxing shorts that went past his knees, and a grey shirt. He stopped, looked at her and started following her till he got in front of her.
"Eddie!" She smiled. "I didn't even notice you."
"How's it going? Been what?...A month…two months since I've seen you?"
"About that." She nodded. "No work left at the college?"
"No." He shook his head. "Something's bound to break though." Eddie joked. "Might see you soon."
Helen smiled. "I was just about to head back to the college."
"I'm wondering about that…..I never expected to see you here!" He laughed.
"I work here."
"Aw, that's great. You like it?" He asked, crossing his arms and looked at her.
"Oh, yeah….I guess." Helen smiled and shrugged. "Brings money in."
"Sure." He grinned. "Well, I hate to keep you…and I have to get to my boxing. Unless you want to stay and I'll bring you over there."
"No, but thank you…..Walking's good anyway."
"True. Good exercise!" Eddie smiled. "I'll see you later." He said, and walked into the gym, went to the long punching bag that was hanging from the ceiling and started his routine. Some fast jabs, a few full force punches…..and he alternated with those a few hook and cross punches. Then he started bringing kicks into his boxing routine as he was practically a master in different forms of the martial arts. Helen stood at the door and watched through the window at him. Eddie worked up quite a sweat in a small amount of time, so he stopped to rest and get a drink. He took off his shirt and began again.
"Oh my gosh." Helen gasped, still looking through the window. She watched as every muscle moved and worked in his arms and his legs. "I need to go…" She gasped to herself as she couldn't stop staring at his chest. She nearly thought she lost her breath at the sight of him. "This isn't helping me any." She laughed a little and walked away from the gym door. "Looks aren't everything…..but those looks? Wow!" Helen grinned.
(
Frances had visited with her brother and his family awhile and then went back home, did her normal housework, and stopped to rest in her rocking chair awhile and to look out at the street outside, and the large pine tree standing in their yard beside the house.
"I'm glad we saved that tree. Makes the house so cool in the summer." She said to herself. "Such a pretty day today too." It was a warm day in mid-April. The sun was out. It was indeed a beautiful day.
Frances looked over at the road and once in awhile, people would walk by. She saw a man come across the bridge and went up the road.
"Who is that?" Frances thought out loud. "Never seen him around here before. Hm." She thought.
The man trudged up the hill until he found a little brick house back in the woods. He came to the house and started pounding on the door.
Franziska Gruber was in her bedroom as she heard the pounding on her front door. "Now who in the world would be visiting me now?" She said, irritated, and got up and walked through her little kitchen to the door. "Now, now! Keep your knickers on! Whoever you are!" The 70 year old woman finally opened the door and the man sprang forward at her and grabbed her by her throat! It of course took her by surprise and she soon found out how stronger he was than her. He backed her up against the kitchen wall and she was trying to pry his grip from her throat. But she couldn't. He had such a fierce grip on her, she feared he'd choke her to death.
"Your money or your life…." He told her. Cold, angry green eyes glaring back at her….His teeth were clenched. He now loosened his grip on her.
"Please….don't hurt me!" She gasped, trying to get air into her lungs again.
"I said your money or your life, woman!" The man raised his voice.
"I don't have any money!" She cried.
"You have to have something here!" He spat, and tightened his grip on her more. "Where is it?" The man demanded.
"It's in a box….in that little wardrobe there. It isn't much…." She managed to choke out. "If you let me go…." Franziska started to say, but he tightened his grip once again. His hand crept up her throat to her just below her jaw. And held her head against the wall.
"Why are you doing this to me?"Franziska sobbed. "Let me go and I'll give you the money!...Please!"
He refused to let go, and pushed her in the direction of the wardrobe. She opened it as he loosened his grip just a touch and she grabbed the box of money she had. And she gave it to him. He opened the latch furiously and retrieved the money and counted it. "Six dollars….that's all?"
"I told you!" Franziska cried out. The man lunged at her again, but her eyes darted to her broom leaning up against the wall. She quickly grabbed it and tried her best to defend herself. He, just as quickly grabbed it from her, pinning it against her. "There's gotta be more here somewhere."
"There isn't! That's all I have…..Now, why….."
"Shut the Hell up, old woman!…..I ain't got a reason why I'm here and I don't need no damn reason!" He yelled roughly.
"Well, I don't have any more money. Are you so stupid that you can't understand that?" Franziska yelled at him.
The man got even angrier and slapped her multiple times and started beating on her. The blows hitting her so hard she could barely move and didn't even bother to try to fight him back. She couldn't. He was just too strong…He soon pulled out a hammer and began beating her with that. He gave her harsh blows to the head and Franziska soon went unconscious. He dropped her on the floor and left her there, taking the small amount of money with him.
"Better get away from here quick before the old broad wakes up." The man thought and started down the hill. He nearly ran past Frances' house and to the small wooden bridge.
"Now there that man is again." Frances said, looking out the window as he turned and went on Peru Road. "Why is he in such haste?" She thought, puzzled. She didn't know and figured she shouldn't bother thinking on it anymore and went back to her work.
It seemed like hours had past until Franziska came to. She woke up and looked around her room. "Where am I?...My God, what happened?" She moaned, and a hand went to her head and felt blood pouring. She looked down at herself and discovered she was covered with blood. Her own blood. Franziska tried lifting herself up and fell. She felt very weak and could barely move herself, but she tried again and grabbed the edge of her kitchen table and hoisted her body up and tried to walk, but fell again. She mustered up all of her strength and stood up and fell against the wall. Her back hit the wall and soon she tried to walk against it and get to the door. She tried walking through the woods and to the road down to her daughter's, trying her best to stay on her feet as much as possible.
Frances was in her kitchen getting things ready to make supper before her husband came home. She saw someone walking down the road again, and saw it was her mother. Frances saw her covered in blood from head to toe.
"Oh my God!" She said shocked and ran outside.
"Ma….Oh my God, Ma…..Oh my God!...Oh my God, Ma, what happened?" Frances asked, franticly.
"I was robbed and beaten by some man….."
"Oh no…This is horrible!...Oh my God! Oh my!...Oh my God, Ma…We've got to get you to the doctor!" Frances sobbed, becoming even more frantic. "We need to…..We've got to go now!"
"Frances….." Franziska tried to say.
"We've got to call the doctor! And the police!….He could have killed you, mother!. He nearly did! We need to go right now, come on!"
"Will you calm down, first?" Franziska raised her voice.
"We need to get the doctor, Ma! You're in bad shape!" Frances cried.
"I know that! But I don't want you to have a panic attack before we go!...Now you calm yourself down!"
"Mother, you're so stubborn!"
"Maybe that's a good thing. Now are we calling the doctor already?"
"Yes! Of course!" Frances rushed her mother inside and had Fred, as he was home now, run across the way to the neighbors to use their new telephone. He called both the doctor and the police and they were both there as soon as they could get there. Franziska, after her wounds were cleaned and the gash on her head fixed up, was asked questions about the attack. She couldn't describe her attacker except for his eyes and the hammer he had used. Frances spoke up saying she had seen the man, and described what he was wearing.
"I'm sorry I can't tell you much. That's all I can remember. He just had knocked on my door and started….choking me. Asking me for my money…..All I had was $6…He started fighting me again. I tried fighting back….but he fought back harder." Franziska started crying. "I'm still shaken up….."
"It's alright, Ma." Fred wrapped an arm around his mother-in-law and tried comforting her. "You don't need to say any more…"
"That hammer he used." She gasped, a hand reaching to her now bandaged head, remembering the horrific event.
"Don't say anything more…..It's all over. You're alive…." He whispered.
Frances gently hugged her mother. "That man should be put to death for what he did. How…..aweful." She cried.
"The police are handling it…They'll be keeping an eye out for him." Fred said.
A/N: The robbing was actually a true story. Frances had seen a man hastily coming down that road. She wondered who he was and why the haste? And it turned out, that man had knocked on her mother, Franziska's door. When she opened it, he grabbed her by the throat and almost choked her to death. He told her, "Your money or your life." Franziska, in fact, had only $3 to $6 to her name. He took a hammer and gave her a blow to the head, knocking her unconscious. The man obviously, took the money, and ran back down the hill, and Frances had seen him then. She later saw her mother stagger down the hill, covered in blood. Frances became frantic, but Franziska was tough even then, and ended up calming her down! The doctor and the police were called then, but the robber had made his escape. Until a few weeks later, this same man robbed another man, and also hit him over the head with a hammer. Another man had seen this robbery take place and started chasing the man. The robber tried hitting this man as well, but he wasn't hurt too bad. Turns out, one man saw the robber being chased by several people and stopped the robber by blocking the way with his truck. The police caught the robber finally, and he was sentenced to only 25 years in prison. This all took place in either the years 1934, 1936, or 1937. My dear old grandpa was told all this, and who it was that robbed and had beaten his great grandmother, by his grandmother Frances, when he was 16 years old.
Franziska never quite got over the attacking, and they say she developed a goiter from it and had it the rest of her life. She had become afraid to live alone, and so she moved in with her daughter and son-in-law. She used the upstairs bedroom. This room used to be mine and my sister's room and is now just my sister's room. :)…..Franziska also moved in with my grandfather and his parents for a time until she moved to the Mt. St. Frances nursing home, where she lived until she died in 1948 at the age of 84.
My great grandfather Eddie Walbrun, in fact did boxing, and knew jujitsu and karate and other forms of martial arts. He was also a fisherman and a hunter.
Not sure about what Frances was saying about that pine tree? Turns out, our place was covered with them. They ran too close together and they had to be cut down...and of course, so Fred could build the house there. Well, turns out, they saved one tree. Which stands next to the house still today. :)
