IBO - Brian R. Lundin (100 books to read in a lifetime .txt) 📗

had four bedroom, two bathrooms, a large kitchen, front room and a den with a wood-burning fireplace against the north wall. It was richly decorated with a dark mahogany couch and two matching recliners. On a wooden table in the kitchen was a bowl of false fruits and a coffee percolator was sitting on the stove. The apartment was spotless and electric air fresheners, which were placed in the outlets, emitted a pleasant scent.
“This is very nice Eli, very cozy and comfortable.”
“I’m glad you like it, I hired an Amish woman who came in once a week to dust and clean and she does a terrific job, but we can get a bigger place if you want after we are married, “Eli said.
“I don’t care where we live Eli, as long as we are together.”
Eli showed Yolanda her bedroom, which was upstairs and they agreed to meet in the living room after taking a shower. After finishing his shower, Eli lit the fireplace and poured them a glass of white wine. He had used oak and pine shavings he had bought earlier that year for the fire and after twenty minutes, the house began to smell sweet and good. The atmosphere was deceptively pleasant despite the study falling snow and temperature outside. Eli had arranged some big pillows on the floor in front of the fireplace and Miles Davis’s, Porky and Bess, was playing in the background when Yolanda finally appeared. She was wearing a sheer nightgown that slightly hid her, well proportion body. As she stood in front of the large bay windows, Eli felt an overpowering love for her.
“Tomorrow at dinner you will meet my brother Billy, my aunt, uncle and Billy are all the family I have.”

Feeling Eli pain, Yolanda kisses him and whispers in his ear,
“We have each other and we will have a family together.”
Eli and Yolanda fall asleep in front of the fireplace in each other’s arms.
The following morning Eli got up before Yolanda and started the coffee. The storm had dumped over two feet of snow and it covered the sidewalks. As he heard, Yolanda stirring there was a ring at the door. A young boy dressed in a heavy coat and wearing thick wool gloves volunteered to shovel the snow. He said that he was part of a volunteer group that tried to help the elderly. Smiling Eli told him to go ahead and the young boy reluctantly accepted the ten dollars Eli gave him.
“Ready for a scenic tour of Warsaw, Indiana, the heartland of the USA?” Eli asked Yolanda as she joined him at the table for coffee.
“Let’s go,” Yolanda said.
Eli pulled the 4-wheel drive Dodge Ram pickup out of the garage and they headed off. It was a nice winter day, the snow had stopped and the temperature was expected to be in the low forties, unusual for a December day.
“Feel like walking? Eli asked.
“Yes, it’s a nice day.
Eli parked the vehicle in the McDonalds parking lot on Center Street and they started walking south. Snow removal trucks were already out clearing the roadway while city workers were shoveling the sidewalks. According to the thermometer in the window of the bank, the temperature was forty degrees. Small children flopped on sleds and ice-skated. Older people they passed were dressed in heavy coats and scarves always had a big smile and a waived. An even older woman in a parka and rubber boots was chastising an old man for shoveling snow but she gave Eli and Yolanda a big smile before returning to her husband. They passed other people, mainly older people coming out of their small neat house to enjoy the pleasant morning. A young boy, maybe five or six years old pointed a real looking toy machine gun at Eli and he was quickly given a whack across the hind side by a stern looking man who mouthed an apology. Eli and Yolanda smiled at the man and young boy, who was crying and continued walking and had breakfast at the Courthouse Coffee Shop on Buffalo Street. There were tables covered with red and white tablecloths next to a big bay window. A circular counter that contained men in work clothes and friendly young female servers. Eli was well known in the small town. When he and Yolanda entered, they were greeted with hellos, handshakes and smiles. Eli recognized many of the people as the parents of young people he had successfully defended in minor scrapes with the law. There were three older couples sitting at a large round table. They were drinking coffee and talking about how the city was changing. They complained about the young people who drove their pickup trucks too fast, played their radios too loud and smoked dope on the back roads. Eli happened to glance at the headlines of the Warsaw Daily Newspaper. The lead story was about a police raid the night before where five young men had been arrested for selling drugs.
They stopped at the Kosciusko County Courthouse located in downtown Warsaw, that had been built after the Civil War and like many northern county court houses faced the north. It was built in 1882 and was a fine example of Second Empire architectural style and remnants of Japanese Magnolias were in a well-kept garden at the foot of the courthouse.
“Warsaw Indiana is a small town compared to Chicago, which is about one hundred twenty miles to the west. This is the heart of the “Bible Belt,” and most its citizens are law-abiding and God-fearing. Its population is about twelve thousand people, over 90% are whites, and 1% is black. The city itself is eleven square miles and only 20% of the people actually live in the city; most of the people live outside the city on small farms that grow corn. Most of the young people after graduating from high school usually leave the city for Chicago or Indianapolis, a big city to the south because there are better employment opportunities there. Warsaw has very little industry and there are not too many jobs. Most of the people I have seen or met are older whites whose families have been here for generations. The main street is named Center Street and it runs north and south for approximately two miles. Center Street is where most of the small family runs stores, government buildings, antic shops, businesses and restaurants are located and where the municipal buildings are. This old historic courthouse, conducts hourly tours. West of the city, about two miles on US Route 30 West is a large shopping mall; the lead store is a giant Wal-Mart discount store that sells everything; food, clothing and appliances.
Nestle in the heart of the city is the village known as Winona Lake. It has very nice and expensive homes and is situated on Winona Lake. As you enter the village you are greeted by a big sign that states “Welcome to Winona Lake, home of Billy Sunday”, Billy Sunday was a very popular evangelist. The next largest city is Fort Wayne, which is about thirty-five miles East of Warsaw and it has big city problems with gangs and drugs.”
They pass a middle school where a group of young boys gathered around an older boy smoking a joint. As Eli and Yolanda approached the group, the older boy tried to hide the marijuana cigarette.
“Damn,” Eli said as they passed the boys and acted as if that did not know what was happening.
As they passed the group, the younger boys gathered again around the older boy.
“What’s the matter?” Yolanda asked.
“Drugs are everywhere,” Eli said sadly shaking his head.
“I remember my first state narcotic case. A group of high school kids were stopped by a Deputy County Sheriff officer while driving the back roads in a pickup truck. The car was full of beer and the officer, a rookie right out of the police academy and not too much older than the kids were, decided to search the truck and found a small amount of marijuana. He arrested all the kids, two girls about thirteen and three boys about sixteen or seventeen.
Once they got to the police station they made all of them, strip and they searched their body cavities, finding nothing. The kids were all charged with felony possession and every other crime the cops could think of. The parents were outraged and the town was shocked, how could their could their little country town be infiltrated with drugs?
All of the town people were on the lookout for drug dealers, although I doubt they would recognize one if he was right under their nose. Anyway, one of the kids father was a well to do farmer and hired me to represent all of the kids. At the juvenile hearing, I asked the officer why he stopped them. He said he stopped them because there were too many of them in the pickup. When I asked him what they did to justify him stopping them in the first place he did not have an answer, he mumbled something. Of course, the case was thrown out and I got the reputation of being a good criminal defense attorney. The parents sued the county and the police officer and won a $10,000 judgment for each kid. The police officer was fired and the county and the police department hired police officers from Chicago to train them on how to conduct narcotic investigations proper arrest procedures in narcotic cases. The sheriff stuck by his guns and was quoted in the local newspaper that in the future his officers would act aggressively, but correctly in removing this cancer from the community, “This ain’t Chicago,” he said. Pretty soon all the meth dealers in the county was hiring me,” Eli said smiling
They wound up their tour at Eli’s law office where there was a shingle hanging over the door that read, “Eli Whitney, Attorney at Law.”

“Very impressive attorney Whitney,” Yolanda says to Eli.
Eli introduces Yolanda to Mrs. Gault his legal secretary, receptionist and para-legal. Mrs. Gault was a slightly built, older white woman almost fifty with dark brown hair mixed with gray that she wore in a tight ponytail and she was wearing a pair of thick lenses oversized glasses. She was dressed in a white, long sleeved, long full-length dress, which was covered with a cape and apron fastened with straight pins.
“Nice meeting you Yolanda, welcome to Indiana, she says as she gives Eli a hug
“You look well, I wonder why,” she said winking at Yolanda.
“It must be the weather,” Eli said, smiling at Yolanda, anything happening?”
“I have made a couple of appointments for you for next week, everything is fine, what are you‘ll plans?”
“We’re invited to dinner with my aunt and uncle tonight, a soul food dinner, yum,” Eli said rubbing his stomach. I will be back to work next week.”
“That sounds good, ever had any Amish food?” Mrs.Gault asks Yolanda.
“No, never heard of Amish food before,” Yolanda replied.
“The Amish is an old religious order that stressed humility, family and community and separation from the outside world. They do not believe in electricity or any modern