The Trust

By Roger Greider

For two years, Jeff Blake worked on a Ph. D. dissertation dealing with the mathematics of time travel. Being unable to complete it, he changed his college major and obtained an advanced degree in math education. Then In August, 2013, he and his wife, Joanne, who was a pharmacist, begin a flight from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Castchanotsha, Michigan in a fifty year-old Piper Cherokee Jeff had inherited from his grandfather. With them are their children, ten year-old Jim and 12 year-old daughter, Marty.
They are going to visit Joanne’s brother, Roy, whose existence they had just discovered. A storm forces them to land at Wilton, Pennsylvania, where they discover the residents believe the date is November 22, 1963. The town’s Mayor, Spring Williams, becomes fond of them, even though they argue about the date, both parties believing the other is running a scam.
Adjoining the town is a huge factory housing a refinery and a secret government research facility in which a bell shaped vehicle has mysteriously appeared. Three German scientists are in it, claiming they constructed the vehicle and escaped from Germany in the last days of World War Two. And they think the date is still 1945. They have research papers and notebooks showing the development of the vehicle. But they die a few days before Jeff and family arrive.
Spring is the principle Trustee of the Williams Family Trust and the residents of Wilton are all contributing family members; so each is a Trustee. Since Wilton can’t keep a pharmacist and the school has no calculus teacher, Spring takes Jeff and family to Indianapolis to meet a former Wilton pharmacist and convinces them that it is really 1963.
They are devastated at losing their promising life in 2013, but manage to keep their emotions in check. Jeff has a glimmer of what has happened from the work he has done on the failed dissertation. And Spring tells them she will make them trustees if Joanne will run Wilton’s Pharmacy and Jeff will teach Calculus in their high school. Being fond of Spring, they rent Clay House from her and are impressed with its beautiful furniture, which is made there in the factory.
Spring’s nephews, Winston (the Sheriff) and Grady hide the German research documents. Jeff saves Grady’s life, and Grady’s thirteen-year-old son, Bennie, wants to study aircraft maintenance. Bennie and Marty think they are in love. But a massive explosion at the factory occurs before the relationship blossoms. Jeff escapes in the Cherokee with his family, and as they leave the ground they discover it is the same hour of the same day in 2013 when they arrived in Wilton.
They continue their flight and discover by phone that an auto accident has put Roy in the hospital in a coma. To get to him quickly they land on a golf course. At the hospital they meet his wife, Betty, his thirteen-year-old daughter, Elizabeth and his seventeen-year-old adopted son, Rick. Later, at the huge house, they find the Police breaking up a wild teenage party.
Roy wants to adopt a large family and he and Betty are trying to buy the old mansion. It has been condemned by the City, and the contract they signed requires that he restore the building. But after years of trying he realizes he has bit off more than he can chew and is about to lose it.
With a local lawyer they believe they are solving the problem when they have to return to Tulsa to honor their commitments. On the way home they stop in Wilton and look in the newspaper archives, discovering Spring died in 1975. And at the Indianapolis bank they find out the Williams family trust account had been mysteriously closed out, also in 1975.
Getting back to Tulsa, they encounter many happy surprises that make it possible for them to see that Roy gets his restored mansion and assure them of a bright future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Roger Greider
• Release date: May 21, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301417322

Roger Greider

Roger Greider was born in Topeka, KS in 1924. In 1928 he moved with his family to Tulsa, OK where he lived until 1943. Graduating from Will Rogers High School, he attended Tulsa University for one year before enlisting in the Army at age nineteen. On the front line in Europe, he was promoted from Private to Staff Sergeant, earning three ‘Bronze Stars. After his honorable discharge in 1945, he attended Tulsa University, earning Bachelor of Arts Degrees in both music and mathematics and a Master of Arts in Math. He was employed as a mathematician in the Basic Research Division of Jersey Production Research Co. And in his thirties, while taking graduate work in both music and math at The Univ. Of Tennessee, he played first desk second violin in the Knoxville Symphony. From 1945 to 1970, he directed church choirs, played in many string quartets and Sang in barbershop quartets. From 1961 to 1964 he was an associate professor of mathematics at The State University of New York, campus at Oneonta. And while he was there, he played in the Oneonta Symphony, sang in a barbershop quartet and directed the Sweet Adelines In 1965 he enrolled at the University Of Oklahoma, where he earned a second Master of Science degree in math and a Ph.D. in mathematics education. He then taught mathematics at Oklahoma City university, The University of Central Oklahoma and Rose State College, where he was the Dean of the Engineering And Science Division. Roger now lives in Oklahoma City, happily married to his beautiful wife, Judy, who is a retired Doctor of Pharmacy. They enjoy membership in Quail Creek Golf and Country Club. Between them they have three sons, a daughter, six grandchildren and, at the moment, eight great grandchildren. He has published his war memoirs, “Warrior, A True Account of a WWII GI,” a 2nd edition, “Temporary Warrior” and five novels: “Moonfall,” “Time Tangle,” “The Chicken Yard,” “Time Ship,” and “The Trust.” As of November, 2013, he continues to write.

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The Trust

by Roger E. Greider

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Copyright @ 2013 by Roger E. Greider

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The Trust

Chapter 1

It was the morning of Monday, July 29, 2013, two days after Jeff and Joanne Blake moved with their children into a house in Tulsa from the small furnished apartment in Oklahoma City. Jeff had been raised in Tulsa and now had been hired as a professor at TU. Knowing that their financial position was shaky almost prevented him from applying for the loan, and he was surprised when the application was accepted. The house was a four-bedroom, three-bath; and it had a two-car garage.

The entire family was pleased with the location--close to the children’s school, the University and the Pharmacy where Joanne would be working. Jim, who was ten years old and twelve year-old Martha (Marty) would now have their own bedrooms. And both cars, though well used, would be out of the weather.

Marty helped Joanne clean up the kitchen after breakfast, and the family was getting ready to go to South Park airport. Joanne was going to practice touch-and-go landings in a 1962 Piper Cherokee One-Sixty. Jeff’s grandfather had bought the plane when it was new and had kept it at South Park, where its finish had become faded and dirty through the years.

The children had never flown in the plane and were going to see it for the first time since a professional paint shop had repainted it with a design Joanne had created to make the airframe look like a newer, faster model. In the car, waiting for Jeff to join them, Jim said, Is Daddy going to be sick for a long time, Mother?

Why would you have an idea like that?

Because; he looks upset sometimes, and before you quit school when Grandma and Grandpa died, I heard her tell Grandpa she thought Daddy was getting a delayed seven year itch.

Marty looked at him with a superior-to-thou look; That’s not what Grandma meant, dodo. She was talking about…

Joanne interrupted, holding her palm up toward Marty. Grandma was just referring to the long years Daddy spent studying hard and worrying about finances. And I stopped going to school because I got my degree and went to work. It had nothing to do with your Grandparents dying.

Then, Jim said; why didn’t daddy go to work when he got his Degree?

With the recession, a lot of people had a hard time getting jobs; I was lucky. But it took a while for Daddy to find one, and he felt bad about it; it’s been hard on all of us, causing us to occasionally be out of sorts.

No one spoke to Jeff on the drive to the airport except Jim; they talked briefly about why people kept their planes at airports instead of taking them home. But when they opened the hangar door and looked at the Cherokee, Marty screwed up her face, "It doesn’t look so bad now, but why didn’t we buy a new one instead of fixing up Great Granddaddy’s old fifty-year-old hand-me-down?"

Jeff said, It costs a fortune nowadays to buy a new airplane. If it hadn’t been for Grandma and Grandpa, your mother and I wouldn’t have had the money to go to college. And when your Great Granddaddy died, the only thing of value left in his estate was the plane.

Marty looked skeptically at her father, But his house was so big, and the times we went there to visit, Mother told us it cost a lot of money.

"Yes, Pine Grove is large. And it was expensive--and expensive to maintain. It’s where I grew up. But he lost it just before he died. You were only about six."

How can you lose anything as big as a house, Jim said?"

‘Losing a house’ doesn’t mean you can’t find it. Great Granddaddy had financial difficulties and he couldn’t afford to keep the house to live in anymore

Joanne changed the subject. Your father says the Cherokee’s an excellent airplane. Don’t you think the new paint job is pretty? And I think the tear-drop wheel pants make it look elegant.

Yes, but it’s so old, Jim said. "It’s older than you, Daddy. How come it’s not all worn-out?

Jeff chuckled, "Well, I am 32, but unlike me, the Cherokee had a major overhaul just before your Great Granddaddy died. I flew it a lot when I was in high school. And I remember how important it was for Grant to give the plane regular maintenance checks. The engine has zero time on it now; it’s an antique just like that 1975 Cadillac Grant drives. And they’re both like new."

Jim looked at the wings on Jeff’s nylon jacket. Were you in the Air Force daddy?

No; I call this my ‘flight jacket’ because Granddaddy bought it for me when I graduated from high school, and I always wear it when I fly. It doesn’t weigh much and it’s comfortable. And it reminds me of Granddaddy.

They rolled the Cherokee out of the T-hangar onto the taxi strip to the sod runway, and during her instrument check Joanne turned on the plane’s low frequency radio. After takeoff, as they listened to the music, Jeff saw Marty looking between the front-seats at the instrument panel, watching the needle react to the direction they were flying in the pattern. "The radio is a Bird Dog, he explained, It’s a navigation aid; the needle points up if we’re flying toward the radio station’s antennae and down when we’re flying away from it."

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Joanne had been raised by foster parents and hadn’t met Jeff until she was in college at OU working her way through the first year of a Pharmacy curriculum. Jeff was studying mathematics and had been invited to a pharmacy student party. Joanne was there and happened to be sitting beside him when they were enticed to take part in a skit in which he called her Teddy Bear and she called him Papa Bear. They started dating and a few months later they decided they couldn’t live without each other.

Within a year, they were married and continued their studies with both working part time jobs until Marty was born. At that time, Jeff’s parents took over their educational expenses, including flight lessons for Joanne. But his parents died in an automobile accident before Joanne graduated

Student loans carried them through ‘til Joanne received a Ph.D. and went to work for a large drug store chain, becoming the bread winner of the family. The last two years, Jeff had worked on his Ph.D. in advanced mathematics. His dissertation dealt within the concept of time-travel, and he was having difficulty completing it.

Finally, worrying about not doing his share in covering the family expenses, he had changed his Major and earned a Ph.D. in Mathematics Education. Then, after sending out applications for a year with the feeling of being a failure, he was offered an Assistant Professorship at TU. And now, with Jeff and Joanne both out of school and working, they would begin the task of paying off the loans for tuition and the funerals along with making house payments.

But, this Saturday morning the touch and goes lifted their spirits, and on the last time around the pattern, Joanne pulled the power back on the downwind leg and put down the first notch of flaps. She was eying the touchdown spot and talking to Jeff; It’s been a while since we both finished college, and we’ve never taken a family vacation. Your teaching assignment doesn’t start for a couple of weeks, and I think we’re due. Why don’t we leave Friday and go somewhere to have fun.

Can you get off from work?

No problem. She tilted her head toward the back seat, What do you think, kids?

Jeff laughed, listening to their enthusiastic response. I think it's a unanimous vote.

Joanne said. The trip will be good for all of us. She was banking the Cherokee onto final approach. "And Friday is a good day to start. As a new Book Club member, I don't want to miss my first meeting Wednesday, and we shouldn't leave later than Thursday since you need to be back for your faculty orientation. It would be a bad idea to miss that on your first semester."

When she eased the yolk back into a flare, the wheels brushed and clung to the runway like magnets. Wow, Jeff said, that was as soft as cotton candy. You’re really getting good, Teddy Bear. He smiled, Or maybe it's the new paint that makes it handle so well.

No; it’s because my Papa Bear taught me everything.

That's true, Jeff said, but I guess your flight instructor might have had a little something to do with it.

"Hey; I think I should get a lot of the credit, myself."

"Well, yes, if you’re going to count talent."

"And modesty, Joanne added. Marty and Jim were enjoying the banter and all four were laughing as Joanne taxied back to the hangar. But the jovial mood got lost in the cares of the day as they started home.

Arriving at the house, Jeff stopped in the middle of the driveway and pressed the button to open the garage door. Marty, why don’t you go back to the curb and see if the post office knows we’re here yet? If there’s anything in the box bring it in the house.

Joanne said, I sent a change of address notice to the Postal service several days ago; we should have something by now. Then, noticing that someone’s dog had left a large deposit in the front yard, she pointed, giving a flat imitation laugh, Oh the joys of home maintenance; Jim, would you get rid of that. I don’t think the neighbors would be happy with us if we left it there.

Yucko, Jim said as he stepped out of the car; what will I do with it; bury it?

Joanne stepped out with him. No; scoop it into a trash bag and put it in the dumpster. Take one of the plastic Wall Mart bags in the garage; I stuffed them in the box by the kitchen door.

Jeff pulled on into the small space in the garage not taken up by Joan’s car and the packing boxes as Joanne said, with an increasingly unpleasant tone, We need to unpack all this stuff and get rid of the clutter. It would be nice to be able to walk through here without going sideways. Then she added, with a hint of sarcasm, One good thing, there’s plenty of room to put it in the house since we have practically no furniture."

Defensively, with a fake smile that looked more like a sour face, Jeff said, We just have to decide whether we need furniture more than we need food,

Joanne barked, And what’s that supposed to mean.

Nothing; but you need to be careful with that chip on your shoulder.

Joanne ignored the remark as Marty came in with her arms full, dumping it in the middle of the living room floor. I think we’ll need a bigger mailbox.

Joanne struggled to change her mood. "That’s almost a week’s mail; our box will be big enough for our regular deliveries.

Jim came in, carelessly slamming the back door; That wasn’t so bad; picking up poop is easy. He elaborated, You just put your hand in the sack like this and…

Joanne interrupted his demonstration. Thank you very much, Mister Clean. You don’t have to show us; we get the idea. And don’t slam doors please.

Oh yeah, I forgot.

"Where’d you get a key to unlock that door?"

It wasn’t locked; I just came right in.

Joanne put the heel of her hand on her forehead, closing her eyes and squinting her whole face; then looked at Jeff, You were the last one to leave the house.

You’re the one that usually locks up.

I know, but do I have to do everything around here. In the corner of an eye, Joanne saw Jim’s unhappy face and faked a smile. Everything’s all right, Jim, you’re not to blame. I guess daddy and I will have to do better, won’t we.

Arranging the pile of mail into stacks, Marty said. Oh yes, I forgot; when I carried this in I saw a package on the front porch by the door.

Oh; good, Joanne said. Well, bring it in. It must be the Lap Top I ordered. Your father and I thought you might get some computer instruction in Middle School this year.

After weeding the junk mail out of Marty’s neat stacks, Joanne looked at the return address on a bulky envelope. Here’s a letter from Michigan. She looked at Jeff. I don’t know anyone there; do you?

"I can’t think of anyone; where in Michigan?"

Joanne looked at the name of the town, made a couple of attempts to pronounce it, and then showed it to Jeff. Oh yeah, that’s ‘Castchanotsha;’ both ts are silent. It’s a town just north of the Indiana border. I don’t know anyone that lives there either.

Well! My my, Joanne quipped with sarcasm; you certainly knew the location and the unbelievable name of the town where she lives."

"My God, Jo; the letter is addressed to you, not me. Why do you continue to believe I have something going on with every girl north of the Mexican border?"

Joanne gave a halfhearted laugh. Well, your grandma had her doubts about you according to Jim. And now who has a chip on his shoulder?

OK; I guess we’re even. He looked at Jim and Marty, who had been unhappily adjusting to exchanges like this for the last few years. Kids, I’m ashamed to say your mother and I have been showing you what not to do. It looks and sounds ugly, doesn’t it? And I’m going to try to do better.

Jeff thought he saw Joanne’s eyes moisten as she put her hand on his shoulder without smiling or looking at him. After that prelude, the letter will have to be interesting, Using a letter opener, Joanne saw it was mostly newspaper clippings. As she started reading the one handwritten page her mouth fell open, and she could sense Jeff and the children watching her startled expression.

Fearful that the letter would reveal parts of her past, she rationalized that it might disturb them. So, feigning self-criticism she looked at her watch and exclaimed, For goodness sake, it’s almost lunch time. Well, I can read this some other time, She stuffed it all back in the envelope. You can make a salad, Marty, and I’ll heat up the left-over roast from last night.

Jim asked, "But what’s in the letter, Mother?"

You can at least tell us what it’s about. Marty said.

Oh, I’m not sure, Marty; it looks complicated. It might be an advertisement. She changed the subject. I have an idea; instead of unpacking those boxes in the garage this afternoon, let’s all go to that park we saw the other day.

Jeff looked at her, wondering if her doubts about him might be fueled by indiscretions of her own revealed in the letter. But he dropped the idea, deciding that if she wanted to wait to read it, he could wait to hear it. I used to play at that park when I was a little boy; it has more things to play on now.

Excited, Jim said, "I want to go on that big slide. Was it there when you were little?"

"No; at that time there was only a little slide, but they have bars now and there are more swings. And I remember the kiddie pool."

"That’s a kiddie park, Marty said in disgust, looking at Jim. I’ll be in Middle School this year, so I’ll take a book and read while you play with the other babies."

Look who’s talking; last year you were playing dolls with your ugly girlfriends. Then in a whiney tone, mocking their play, Oh, don’t shake the baby. I think he’s hungry.

Marty raised her voice. "They don’t sound like that. And they’re not as ugly as the little runts you run around with."

Joanne put her hands together forming in a T. "Time out; time out. Marty; first, it’s traditional for boys Jim’s age to play on swings, bars and slides, and second, the word ‘runts’ is not an acceptable term to describe small boys; last, neither your friends nor Jim’s friends are ugly. And Jim, it’s also traditional for girls to use dolls to play at taking care of babies, and in today’s world, you might do well to pay attention to the game."

Jeff said, "You know, kids, when a mother bear sees her cubs doing something they shouldn’t do, she gives them a hard swat. And I hope that--no, I know that you realize how lucky you are to have a mother who takes the time to explain rather than swat."

Well, Joanne said, My lecture is over. Thank you, Papa Bear. Marty, Sweetheart; when I was Jim’s age, I never got to play at a park. So I’m going to put on a pair of Jeans after lunch and go on that big slide. You might enjoy it too.

Jim said, Didn’t they have parks where you lived, back in your day, Mother?

Well, let’s just say I didn’t see any. Then laughing, "And what do you mean, ‘back in my day.’ Today is my day. You can look forward to yours in the future. She hugged him. And I’m sure you’ll find it exciting."

During the afternoon activities at the park the unread letter wasn’t mentioned, and when they got home, Joan noticed two more dog deposits in the yard. Take care of those, would you, Jim? I guess that’ll be one of your chores. Your official title will be ‘Pooper Scooper.’

I don’t mind, Jim said, looking at Marty and tilting his nose up. I’m an official now.

Marty invented a nasty laugh. And your office is the dumpster.

While Jim was trying to come up with a clever cutting reply, Jeff smiled, looking at Marty. Careful; it won’t be long before your office will be the kitchen sink garbage dispose-all.

Yes, Marty, Joanne said with a snide undertone, We must preserve the tradition of the woman working all day and then coming home to work in the kitchen every night.

Jeff decided to say nothing, in the interest of avoiding an argument. The remark had too much truth in it. It stimulated his guilt for having spent two years failing to complete his dissertation while she worked to pay the bills. And he realized that she, with almost all rational people, believed that time-travel was only a subject for comic books.

After a good supper, when the children were in bed asleep, Jeff said with coolness in his voice, I know you’re reluctant to open that letter again. Is it just the children hearing it that worries you; or is it me?

"It’s both, but mostly it’s neither--it’s me. Jeff was surprised when she suddenly clung to him--something she hadn’t done for several years. From the few lines I read, the letter scares me. And what’s happening to us scares me too. I don’t know whether I want to read it or not."

Jeff’s voice softened. What could be in it that would scare you?

Chapter 2

The problem is, Joanne said, we don’t really know who I am. My parentage is a mystery and I was never adopted. I knew people were paid to keep me and I never had the feeling of being wanted. They didn’t treat me badly, but I didn’t understand what happiness was. I learned what it felt like to be happy only after I started college--during the successful struggle we had, working together toward our educational goals. But now, since I have a job, the wonderful feeling is fading; it seems to be gone and I’m sure it’s my fault.

"Jo, I have a similar feeling about what’s happening to us and it’s probably my fault, not yours. It may be because we don’t see each other as much now. He gave a little laugh. We had a happy time for a few minutes in the plane today, didn’t we?"

Joanne was starting to cry. "I know; oh, I feel so guilty. I’m afraid you think I married you because I thought your family was rich. But my years as a foster child had given me such a strong desire to never, never be dependent on any one else that I couldn’t have done that. Even so, I was afraid I couldn’t make it through college without help. Then while I was pretending to love you and enjoying every minute, it happened; I really fell in love with you. And now I don’t know what’s happened."

Jeff was smiling thoughtfully. I believe every word, Sweetheart. Actually I don’t care why you married me, I’m just glad you did. There’s one thing I’m sure of. And I knew it the day we met. Each time our bodies touched in that skit, I knew I wanted you to be my Teddy Bear till the day I die. Why don’t we read the letter and brave the danger together?

Joanne managed to stop crying. "You’re the best Papa Bear anyone could have; if you read, I’ll listen and I don’t think I’ll be so scared."