Gathering Fallen Rocks Ch 12

"I have the rest of the week for wearing blue jeans to work. Atwood hasn't decided if we're going to have another week of construction, so I need to go get some clothes out of storage. I don't know how much stuff I have to move out of the way to get to the boxes of clothes."

"We can go Sunday, but what about all the rest of it and why make two trips?"

"I guess I could rent a storage room here. It's all boxed. But I'd rather sell my furniture. I don't care what I get for it. Then all I'd have is linens and some personal stuff, which isn't much, maybe half a dozen boxes. I'm not sure I could get all of it in my truck, but it would be close. And there's a luggage rack on top."

"I don't know, Sweetheart, but I have a suggestion. If we're going to rent the townhouse, we could put the boxes in my room at Frank's."

"If I call around tomorrow and arrange for a second-hand furniture company to meet me at the storage room, can we do this in one day?"

"Will a second-hand furniture store do that on a Sunday?"

"If the price is right, they'd do it on Christmas Day."

As Gail drove Howard back to work, she was thinking about spending the rest of the afternoon helping Atwood and Philip. She saw Howard repeatedly taking his eyes off the road, looking at her.

"Howard, you want to tell me what's going on inside your head? I know something is, but I don't know what."

"You're really going to do this, aren't you? I mean leave all that life you had before this and move down here?"

"Of course I am. I wouldn't have looked for a job or a place to live, if I weren't serious. What did you think? That this is a lark for me, something to amuse myself while I'm on vacation?"

"No, not that, I meant about the problem with Santos. I was afraid you would let him run you off."

"Oh. Well, if I'm truthful, I'm not particularly happy about what he is or is not doing. But I'm not really afraid of him anymore. I suppose I'm cautious, or leery or maybe just watchful. But what I am looking forward to is finding a shred of proof that creates a tiny or even a miniscule threat of a cloud on the ownership of his land. Then I will have him playing in my ballgame, where I know the rules and he does not."

"That's some pretty tough talk," Howard announced. "Particularly from someone I've watched get almost hysterical when he walks into the ranch house."

"See, you said that you are good and that you are one of the best. Well, I am too. I'm very good, I don't know about being one of the best, but I have Atwood and he is one of the best. I don't know if he is aware that I know it, but I did a little research online. Atwood David Atwood broke a long-standing private land dispute, and he did it with a personal letter a man wrote to his sister, saying he didn't want his worthless son to have his farm. He wanted the land to go to his widowed sister and her two small children. After his wife died, she moved in and kept house for him, for a number of years. It was a case of adverse possession, or squatter's rights, which she had fought for a long time. When the man died, his son packed the woman and her children up and put them off the land, telling them never to set foot on his property again.

"After her lawyer filed the first lawsuit, the son paid off the first lawyer and then he paid off the next one, too. Atwood was number three and when she showed him the letter he took her and the letter to the courthouse, had it filed of record in the probate section and requested the abstract to the land be amended. By that time, the worthless son was dead and his son, who was not much better, and was trying to protect his oil well revenues, knew his case was lost. He moved the money Atwood couldn't find offshore and skipped town, leaving his wife and two daughters behind. The sister had a little house built for herself. She told the son's wife she could live in the big house as long as she wanted, but her daughters better marry well because they weren't getting any of the oil revenue."

"And you think Atwood can do the same for me?"

"Not only do I think it, I believe he has already found the beginning of the trail he needs to follow." She held up her right hand with her first two fingers crossed and grinned at Howard.

"Alright, tell me what I need to do."

"Go sit in the lobby of that bank until they hand you that abstract, and then bring it to Atwood."

****

Emily was on the telephone when Gail entered the office door, but she held up her hand, indicating Gail should wait just a minute. As soon as Emily could hang up, she said Atwood needed to see Gail, before she went to her office.

"Hello Gail, where's that good looking man of yours?"

"I told him to go to the bank and sit in the lobby until someone placed the abstract in his hand and then he's to bring it to you."

"Good, good, you are going to be surprised at what Phillip has found." When Gail said nothing, but began to smile, Atwood said, "You better sit down for this one."

Pulling a chair around so she could see both men, Gail said, "Okay, now tell me."

"That Magoo paper Philip found is an original, a letter signed by a "Gentleman" saying he had given forty pesos plus forty pesos to the governor, Francisco Vital Fernández, in appreciation for services rendered, by Plea and Blaz Maguna-goikoetxea, to pay for their land, after they each paid their own ten pesos. Evidently, it is actually a duplicate original. Such things were frequently done in those days. It's undated, but is signed by constitutional governor Francisco Vital Fernández, which would indicate the governor was accepting the money. It appears to be one of the documents prepared to comply with Decree 24 of October 13, 1833, which offered inhabitants of Nueveo Santander, who had livestock but no land, as much as five

sitio

each for a payment of ten pesos for each

sitio

."

"Atwood," Gail could hardly catch her breath, "You are frightening me, are we talking about a league of land, 4428 acres times five, that's more than twenty thousand acres?"

"Maybe we are," Atwood grinned. "And then again, we may be talking about forty thousand acres, depending on what each of the brothers did regarding family and so forth."

Atwood began to explain, while Philip Querexeta offered additional information. According to an historian, title to land involved proceedings recorded in the

alcalde,

or mayor's office, with a duplicate, or

expediente,

given to the applicant. The

expediente

was forwarded by the grantee to the governor along with the payment for the land with the title being granted under the seal of the state. The

alcalde

was then authorized to put the individual in possession of the land.

Gail could barely sit still. "If Howard doesn't get here with that abstract pretty soon, I'm going to the bank myself and demand it." What Atwood was explaining was maybe, perhaps, possibly, what they had been looking for—but maybe it had nothing to do with Howard's ranch.

Although Atwood wanted her to remain calm, he was a little excited himself. "I do not recall ever working on any land owned by a Maguna-goikoetxea. I don't even recall seeing that name on any land grants. I have done things on Pleas land, like the highway taking I told you about, and I know of a large block of land owned by a man named Blaze, from sometime in the mid-1830's, right before the Alamo. But, and I give you this heavy caution, but those plots of land are nowhere near the size of what this document indicates and the two acreages are miles apart. If I think about what this size would be, it's like from one side of Blaze land to the opposite side of Pleas land is just about that size, if you include at least a mile deep on the other side of the highway."

Gail was picturing the property in her mind. "So you think there was originally two pieces of land side-by-side and someone took, bought, or acquired, a chunk out of the middle of it?"

Atwood nodded, "Yes, and someone else bought or acquired a huge chunk of both properties, across the top and someone else got another huge chunk out of the bottom, which would have formed a big fat

'I'

. That would have left the two parcels of land Howard's dad described.

"There is a description in one old file, which I have a copy of in one of these boxes, called the

Benadito File

. I do not remember it word for word, but roughly it says that this mayor goes with a man to the land to give him possession. The document then describes a standard ceremony. The mayor takes the man's hand and tells him in a loud voice that, having paid the state treasury, he gives him this land in the name of the sovereign state of Tamaulipas. He is required to build boundaries of rough stone and mortar on his grant within four months or he will lose the title. The man then gave thanks to the state, sprinkled water on the land, cut some grass, and pulled some weeds, which he then threw to the four winds. At the same time he asked the witnesses to note that he had been given possession of this land by the mayor, and that no one there had contradicted his claim and right to the land."

Gail smiled, "That's the old description, or joke they tell, of how to establish a homestead."

"Yes, my dear, it certainly is. Maybe that's where the state started with the description of how to designate what land you were claiming as a home, and thus a homestead. But I think the description of claiming a homestead included that the man had to include a handful of dirt and turn around in a circle, or maybe that's the four winds part."

As they were talking about how to find other documents to begin proving the letter actually put property in the two brother's names, Emily transferred a call to Atwood's office. She announced over the intercom that Howard Pleas was calling for Atwood or Gail.

Atwood answered, "Are you at the bank?" Ten seconds later he said, "We are on our way." Atwood turned to Gail, "Howard is still at the bank, he said we need to get there before they lock the doors."

Gail was on her feet going out the door, as she offered, "I'll drive."

Howard was sitting in one of the chairs in the lobby of the bank. As Gail approached, he stood and said, "They can't find it."

Atwood asked, "Did that young loan officer make a copy for his file?"

"He said he did not." Howard then leaned over and said quietly, "But I think he's lying. He either has it or copied it."

Atwood patted Howard on the shoulder and looked at Gail, "Why don't you two sit down here for a minute. I'll go talk to someone with a little more authority than a young loan officer has. Maybe a little threat of calling some bank examiners will shake a little paper out of them. You think, huh?"

Gail and Howard sat side-by-side in the elegant chairs of the large bank's lobby, occasionally saying a few words to each other, but for the most part, they simply sat and watched the activity around them. Gail tried to give Howard a little information about Atwood and Philip's find, and said it may be wonderful news, but Atwood still had a lot of research to do.

A teller and a man walked toward the front doors, calling the entry guard over, who helped lock the front doors. The man pulled the tall drapes across the large windows on either side of the front door and then lowered the blinds to close off the front door from the view of anyone outside the building.

Tellers began counting money in their drawers as their computers printed out page after page of reports. One teller was short thirty dollars and she counted and re-counted her drawer. One of the other tellers came over to help and both laughed with a sigh of relief, when they find a fifty-dollar bill, stuck in with her twenty-dollar bills.

Gail watched a clock on the wall, as the second hand moved around and around the dial. She knew Howard was nervous, but he was also a little angry. She wished Atwood would hurry up or at least come tell them what was happening. About twenty minutes after the front doors were locked, Atwood walked out of a hallway beside the half wall of teller's stations, and came to where Gail and Howard were sitting. Howard started to stand, but Atwood motioned to him to keep his seat.

Atwood sat down across from them and said, "Several people are looking through boxes of documents in the safe. Your young loan officer said that when the abstract is found it will be delivered to my office. I told them we would wait."

Ten minutes later, a man in an expensive suit walked to Atwood and handed him a stack of papers. "Atwood, this is a copy. I believe our Loan Officer is going to spend many hours looking for that original. I do not think he enjoys the prospect of several years in prison."

"Thanks Raymond, I can work with copies for now. But Mister Pleas would certainly like to have his original. It is quiet an expensive process to prepare such a complicated document. If you are not able to locate the original, you might offer to pay for the research to reproduce it. I believe that would satisfy him, for the present."

The man walked to Howard, who stood, and introduced himself, "I am Raymond Loyola, president of this bank." After shaking hands, Raymond said, "I'm terribly sorry we've misplaced your document, sir. I assure you, if it is not located by the beginning of the business day tomorrow, this bank will certainly reimburse you and your attorney for any expense to reproduce and replace your missing document." He turned to Gail, nodded his head, and said, "Good day, gentlemen and ma'am. The guard will see you out."

All three of them walked toward the front door as the guard unlocked the door, followed them through and locked it behind himself, and then did the same to the outside doors, leaving them outside the bank building.

Atwood turned to Gail, "Will you take me back to the office?" Then he looked at Howard, "If you are not expected back at work, you might join us."

When they were inside Gail's truck, with the doors closed, Gail said, "Atwood, you are a fraud. You enjoyed that didn't you?"

He threw back his head and laughed, "Get me out of this parking lot before I make a fool of myself." Then he laughed some more and finally stopped to say, "I imagine that young loan officer is sitting at that twenty thousand dollar board room table. He has already ruined his career in banking and is just trying to stay out of jail." Atwood chuckled all the way to the office, slowing down as they were parking in front of the closed and locked door to their office.

As Atwood was unlocking the door he said, "You know that new time recording software that works every time you open a file?" When Gail nodded, he continued, "And you know those new phones? They have that display on them, you know, time, date, and caller ID. If you notice in the lower right corner, it tells you how long a phone call has lasted. Tomorrow morning, I want you to tell Petra, Emily, and everyone else, that they are to keep track of every telephone call and every minute they work on this abstract. I'm going to let that bank pay for my new telephone system and maybe at least the cost of that software." He chuckled all the way back to his office, while Gail waited for Howard so she could lock the doors.

As they walked down the hall, they heard Atwood exclaim, "Ah ha, I knew it! Whoopee, Howard you have to buy the steaks."

"What, Atwood, tell us, what did you find?" Gail asked as she and Howard walked into Atwood's office.

"They are the same people on the letter. Yep, date of grant is right and it's for one

sito

. I'll wager you that steak that what it said in that letter is true. They each bought one

sito

and another four were a gift, for services rendered. That gentleman was one happy fellow, or maybe one that got to live because of what those two brothers did for him. Now, all I have to do is find the other four

sito

each of them received and see what they did with them, kept, sold, made a gift or left them by will or descent."

Howard looked at Gail and asked, "You can explain all this to me later, right?"

"Yes, I can try." Once again, she showed him she had the first two fingers of her right hand were crossed. "Just remember it may mean nothing but a little bit of history. That's Atwood's job and it looks like he is in his element." Then she turned to Atwood, "You better let me make a copy for you to mark up. I've seen your other files and if we have to produce any of those copies, you don't want anyone to see how many times you corrected the spelling or wrote 'Rascal,' 'Shyster,' or 'Thief' on them."

Half way home, Gail's cell phone rang. When she answered, the caller said, "Gail, this is Betsy Fletcher. David and I are trying to leave town tomorrow morning. If you can come by, I'll give you your keys."

"Yes ma'am, I'll be there in a few minutes. Do you need help loading your car?"

"Oh dear, you don't have to do that. We can just take our time. If we don't get it done tomorrow, we can wait another day."

Instead of pulling into the driveway, she motioned Howard to drive in before her then she drove in the driveway behind his truck. She leaned out her window and asked, "You interested in helping the Fletchers load their car? I think they would appreciate some help."

"Okay, it will give me good practice for Sunday." Howard tried to dodge Gail's hand when she playfully punched him in the ribs and laughed because he held her hand, forcing her to drive one-handed while he nibbled on her fingers.

Gail explained that she wasn't trying to rush them, but multiple trips back and forth to their car and carrying loads of clothes and anything else they wanted to take home could not be good for David's weakened heart. It took Gail and Howard less than two hours to load all but the Fletcher's overnight things. Betsy promised to clean the refrigerator and bathroom before they left. Gail said not to bother, and then started doing those two things for her because she knew the older woman would do them anyway.

When they were finally home, Gail fell on the bed, "Oh, don't even ask me to get up for at least an hour."

"Come on, Sweetheart, go take a shower, you'll feel better and sleep better, too."

"No," Gail shook her head. "I'm just going to stay right here."

Howard walked to the bed and picked her up. "You wash it, or I will."

"Okay," she said. "You can wash it."

Howard put her down in the middle of the tiny bathroom. "Gail, I was not teasing."

"I'm not either. I've thought about it and I don't know why we are waiting. I don't know what to do or I would ... So, if you can teach me ..."

Howard looked at her for a long moment, "This is not for fun. This is forever."

"I know," Gail said. "I remember what you said about the church's requirements of conjugal love and the sacrament of matrimony. I may not understand them as you do, but I know what they mean."

"Alright, if it is what you want, please take a shower and then I will. I want our first time together to be very special. I'm not going to rush, I've waited too long."