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The Trifecta

"Gramps' Little Secret Black Book"

By Tony MessinaPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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The clouds were always thick and heavy, and would fill the room with cigar and cigarette smoke.

The haze would loom over the room like a storm cloud over a body of water. The white and grey vapor always made it hard to make out what was happing above waist level. Luckily Gramps had a unique pair of wingtip shoes that I could spot from any distance.

Growing up, I got used to the heavy cigar and cigarette smells. After so many years, I started enjoying it. The muffled sounds of the other men in the room were deafening. It was like a foreign language like nothing I had ever heard before. Gramps always brought me to the OTB whenever. I had chance to join him. OTB is an acronym for Off Track Betting, for those of you that did not know. It was the Mecca for old men in their golden years that liked to bet on the "ponies”, meaning race horses. See, Gramps had routines for everything; some may even call them ritualistic. He loved going to Church on Sundays or stopping by his Barber Shop to catch up on the current scuttle butt around town.

Our most memorable times together were when Gramps would take me to the OTB. We would go two to three times a week depending how his routines were that week and how well the "ponies" were racing. Gramps would always take me out for an orange soda afterwards no matter if he won or not. Some weeks were really great, and others not so much, but Gramps always had positive attitude and his Little Secret Black Book.

I asked Gramps what he kept in his Little Secret Black Book. He said, “Tommy, don’t worry about it. This little thing will bring a lot of dough one of these days.” It never left his side whether he was at home or out and about town. It always sat snuggly in the top left shirt pocket. I always wondered what he wrote down in that Little Secret Black Book of his. It must have been very important because he never let it out of his site.

One day I decided to put a plan into motion to get a sneak peek at Gramps Little Secret Black Book. Everything had fallen neatly into place. I mapped out where and when Gramps left his book unattended. I remember the day vividly. It was a warm late spring day in Athol Springs, Missouri. Gramps had just begun is Sunday bathroom ritual. I sprung into action with my Little Orphan Annie spy camera and set up an early warning trip wire in case I took too long. I slowly crept up the back stairs and into his bedroom. It didn’t take me much time before I had Gramps’ Little Secret Black Book in my hand.

I opened it and peeked at the first few pages. At first I could not make heads or tails of the marks, so I quickly started taking pictures with my trusty camera. Then I cautiously and carefully set the Little Secret Black Book back to its original resting place. Then I gingerly made my way back to the kitchen to establish my alibi. After awhile, Gramps came downstairs and he was none the wiser. He said “Buddy you want go to the OTB?” I replied “no, not this time Gramps. I have some home work to catch up on.” Unbeknownst to me that this was going to be the last time I saw my Gramps alive. You see, he had a stroke on the way to the OTB that day. While we were waiting for Gramps for Sunday dinner, the local authorities knocked at our door. They explained that Gramps was in accident and we should make haste to Our Lady of the Most Precious Blood Memorial Hospital.

My parents were beside themselves with grief. I will never forget that day as long as I live. I too was inconsolable since I was probably the last one to see him alive. I wept for weeks, even months. After some time I ask my parents what happen to Gramps’ Little Secret Black Book? They stated that, to best of their knowledge, it was lost in the accident, as the days turned to weeks and weeks into months. I forgot about the pictures I had taken of Gramps’ Little Secret Black Book. By this time it was late winter and I had nothing much better to do, so I asked my mom to take me to photo matt and develop the film. It seemed like an eternity before I got the pictures back. It was like having a little part of Gramps back. As I poured over the images I could not make heads or tails of the scribble. There were numbers followed by names then fractions. It was like reading a hieroglyphic. I carefully and neatly put the pictures back and tucked them in my book case for safe keeping.

Some more time had passed and I had nearly forgotten about the pictures. Then, one day I was cleaning out my book case. My bother Marcus was home from his deployment in Germany, so I brought up what the pictures were of and he looked them over. He knew instantly what they were. He pointed out that the first number is the race number and that the name is the abbreviation for a horse’s name. The last are the odds for that horse to win. The amounts with the circles are what probably Gramps lost and the ones with the plus signs are what he won.

It was nice to have Marcus home. It had been such a long time without a big brother around. With being the youngest and the only child for while, I had a set routine and chore list. Clean dog poop, wash the dishes, cut the grass, and collect the mail.

It had been almost year to the day that Gramps had passed, and all of a sudden there was letter from the 1st National Bank of Missouri with his name on it in the mailbox.

So after dinner the dishes were clean and put away, I asked Dad what the letter was all about. So dad showed me the letter:

Miguel S. Baker

2789 S. sparrow Lane

Athol Springs, MO 63012

Dear Miguel S. Baker,

We have been unable to reach you by phone. You safety deposit box account is currently over due. Please, promptly pay the sum of $200.00. To gain access to your contents of your safety deposit box, this written letter is your final notice. You have till February 28, 1985 at which point the contents will be donated on your behalf to the Sister of Most Virgin Mary.

Sincerely,

Mary Ann Andrews

I asked Dad enthusiastically “Well when can we go?” He said “We just don’t have $200 dollars lying around. “

I said “We have to find out what Gramps was storing in the safety deposit box. I said I would come up with the money!”

“Well Tommy” Dad said in a formidable voice,

“You do not have much time but, I cannot argue with your eagerness.”

So I got to work that very night. I counted about $43.57 in my Mr. Potato Head Bank. All I need was $156.43. So I went door to door shoveling neighbor’s yards, and earned $30 dollar in one week, but still that was not enough and time was getting short. I asked Mom if I could run a hot chocolate booth and she said that would be lovely idea. So I sat all weekend and made $60 dollars between that and shoveling. At this point I was about $66.43 shy of my goal. My Mother called me into the kitchen one day.

She said “Here honey here's the rest of the money. I know Gramps meant a lot to you to you.”

Monday after school, Dad and I went to the bank to pay Gramps’ service fee for the safe deposit box.

The Banker led us into a room where we opened the door to the safe deposit box. Luckily Dad found the key the day earlier. We then went to a private room so that we could examine the contents of the box. The anticipation was building. I couldn't imagine what was inside the safe deposit box! Was it rubies or gold doubloons? We opened the box and the only thing inside was a single black and white picture of a man and a woman. Dads began to cry. This was probably one of the only times I remember my Father crying. It was a picture of his Mother and Father on their wedding day. There was a code or something on the back. The inscription read R24-L15-R69. I asked my father what it meant, but he had no idea. We took the contents and went home. We shared what we found with the rest of the family and it was a bitter sweet moment.

It wasn't till sometime after that I realized what the code was for. It was late summer in Missouri and the air conditioner was broken and in that moment there was a blackout. In the midst of the confusion we were looking through the house for flashlights and candles. While I was in Gramps’ old bed room, I tripped over a throw rug. There appeared to be some loose floorboards. After a while I didn't think much of it until later that week. After the electricity came back on I went back to Gramps’ room, lifted up the rug and pried up the loose floorboards. I was shocked to find there was a floor safe.

Later that night when my Father got home, I asked him if he knew that there was a floor safe in Gramps’ bedroom. He said that he had no idea. In thinking back to the picture and the code on the back, I wondered if that was connected to the safe in the floor. It turned out to be a safe combination. With some fiddling, my Father was able to turn the combination and open the safe. He couldn't believe what he saw! There was approximately $20,000 in US currency, on top of which was a single betting ticket. It looked like Gramps had won the trifecta. We all began to cry. The family had struggled for so many years, and now this was an opportunity for us to all relax a little, and enjoy life, just like Gramps would want us too.

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