Published: 18 Sep 2025
Chapter 17 – A Mystery Wrapped in an Enigma
Now that I’d solved the mystery about the baseball caps, I was ready to pull out the plastic container and find out what was inside. After doing a little research, we discovered the plastic container was made by Tupperware before 1980, so now we focused on the contents of the container.
The first thing we pulled out was an old baseball glove that was much smaller than a modern baseball glove and much more crudely made. The leather was also very dark in color, and due to its size, we felt the glove must have belonged to a child.
“Damn, this glove looks really old!” Devin said as he handled it.
“Yes, so we’ll have to get on the internet so we can compare it to photos of baseball gloves from different decades to determine how old it might be.”
There was also a child-size baseball uniform in the container that appeared to be made of wool, and it had “O’Brien’s Hardware” stitched in two lines across the jersey. There was also a small baseball cap with ‘OH’ stitched on it, presumably standing for O’Brien’s Hardware, and a pair of faded shamrock green stirrups, or baseball stockings.
There was also a pair of Keds green canvas athletic shoes, which were referred to as ‘sneakers’ at the time, because the molded rubber soles allowed the wearer to sneak around without being heard. There was also a pair of larger black leather baseball shoes with metal cleats attached to the soles, so the owner must have worn this pair when he was older.
“All of this looks really old, but what’s in that other box.?” Devin asked.
There was also a rectangular box in the container as well, so I pulled it out and opened it. I was expecting to find another pair of baseball shoes inside, since the box had a shoe company’s logo on the lid, so I was surprised to discover it contained a collection of old baseball cards stacked neatly in rows instead. We each took out some of the cared so we could examine them to see if we could determine when they were from. After carefully looking over about a quarter of the cards, we determined they seemed to be from the 1960s or before.
“Damn, most of these cards look as if they’re brand new, except that the photos of the players on the cards appear to be a lot older and the statistics from a much older time period.”
“Yes, whoever owned these cards must have valued them greatly, because he took exceptional care of them before they were buried in this container.”
“Yeah, I remember Gramps telling me stories about what kids my dad’s age used to do with those cards when they were younger. He said they would use a clothespin or tape to attach these types of cards to the forks of the bikes so the card would reach into the spokes. Then, when they were riding their bike, the sound created by the card hitting the different spokes would make it sound like they were riding on a motorcycle instead.”
“Well, whoever owned these cards certainly didn’t use them for that purpose, and these cards probably didn’t get taken out of the shoe box very often.”
“Yeah, that would definitely explain why they’re still in such good condition.”
“It was a good thing that he’d kept them in the Tupperware container and then put that inside the wooden chest, and then put that into the canvas sack and tied it shut. By doing all of those things, it prevented the baseball cards from being destroyed by water damage or mold.”
“Yeah, and I bet the boy’s mother wondered what happened to her Tupperware container.”
“Yes, I imagine she did, since I doubt if he’d asked her for permission to use if for this purpose.”
“Why do you think these things were stored away like this?” Devin wondered aloud. “Do you think it was just to keep his siblings from messing with his stuff?”
“Maybe, or possibly he was worried that his parents would think they were a waste of time and money and throw them in the garbage.”
“Yeah, they could have figured those things were just childish nonsense and not worth the space they were taking up.”
“Or his mom might have found out that he took her Tupperware container and wanted it back,”
“Yeah, and he might have taken the wooden chest without his dad knowing he had that either.”
“Those are all very possible, but I just thought of another reason, but it’s a little morbid. What if the boy had a disease, like tuberculosis or measles, or was killed in an accident. Maybe he was hit by a car or died in a farm incident, so his dad put all the things that meant a lot to him in the Tupperware container. Maybe later he placed that in the wooden chest and then inside the canvas bag before burying it, as a memorial to his dead son.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s a possibility as well.”
“We can probably do some research online to see if we can find the names of the boys that played for the O’Brien’s Hardware team, but if we can’t find the info online, we may have to look elsewhere. We could try to find out if O’Brien’s Hardware is still around, so we can see if the owners have a list of those names. If O’Brien’s Hardware isn’t still operating, maybe we can find out when it closed and if the owners, or one of their worker or relatives, are still alive so we can ask them these questions.”
“We can also check out the property records for the land the hunting camp is located on and see who owned it back when it was a farm,” Devin suggested. “Maybe we can even narrow it down to the time period when the things in the chest were from, and then we can see if we can get contact someone related to them and see if they can give us any information.”
“Unless we can find a name that’s connected to both the baseball team and also has the same surname of one of the previous owners of the land, then we may never know who owned these things. It would have been a lot easier if the boy’s name had been on at least one of the things that we found in the chest. Otherwise, we may never know who this stuff belonged to or why the chest was buried out here.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of a shame, but we can also do some research on the baseball cards to see if any of them are worth any money.”
“Yeah, I believe there might be some cards from the 1940s to the 1960s that could be worth a lot of money, if we’re lucky enough to find any of those cards in the box.”
“We can hope we get lucky.”
“Yeah, but we might not be able to do any of the necessary research until over Christmas break or after we get back here in January.”
“Yeah, we can take these things back to your house with us so we can do some research when we’re there for Christmas or after the New Year.”
“Ok, that sounds like a plan, and it now seems possible that the chest might contain a small fortune yet, just not exactly what we thought it might be. We’ll just have to examine the cards and catalog them to discover how much they might be worth.”
We had solved the mystery of what was inside the chest, but now we have a lot of research to do before we’re able to find out who these things belonged to, if we’re ever able to find out. We also have to do some research on whether any of the baseball cards are valuable, and if so, exactly how much they might be worth. Until we’re able to find time to do that, we’ll be returning to our classes and getting ready for finals and working on the projects and papers that will be coming due.”
“And we’ll also be getting ready for the visit to the hospital and training our replacements for to take over for us next year. I just hope we can do it well enough in the time we have left before the break.”
Now that we couldn’t do any more, and before it got too late, we called the fraternity to speak with one of the guys that would be replacing us next year for the Christmas visit to the hospital. One of the other frat brothers answered the phone, and after we told him who we wanted to speak to, he went to inform them. Eventually, one of them came to the phone and identified himself.
“Liam, would you and Chuck be able to meet us at the campus newspaper office on Friday, around 3:00?”
“I know I can do it, and I’ll check with Chuck to see if he can as well. What do you have in mind?”
“First of all, we want to introduce you to the newspaper staff, and then we want to explain about when we pick up the donated money from there so we can do some shopping. We also want you to see how they store the donated toys there until we’re ready for them, and after you’ve seen that, we’ll take you shopping with us to show you how we go about selecting appropriate toys.”
“Ok, that sounds fine, so I’ll meet you there on Friday, and I’ll try to make sure that Chuck’s with me.”
“Great, because that’s important, so we’’ll see you then. Oh, and we’ll also explain to you about using some of the donated money so you and Chuck can buy your elf outfits so you can go with us to the hospital this year. You and Chuck will need your own outfits to do that, and we’ll show you where we bought our outfits. You’ll be able to take the outfits with you after we’re done, and we’ll leave our outfits with you after Christmas in case your replacements are our size, to save money.”
“What about Santa’s outfit?”
“My grandfather has volunteered to keep doing this for a while, so he’ll keep the Santa outfit. We’ll also make arrangements to pick you up at the frat house on the last Friday before Christmas break, so we can all ride to the hospital together.”
“Ok, sounds good, so I’ll see you on Friday.”
Now that those things were taken care of, we decided to get cleaned up a bit, since we’d been rummaging around in the dirt at the hunting camp, and then we’d go out to do some Christmas shopping. We didn’t want to wait until the last minute and discover all the good stuff was sold out, because we had to buy gifts for our families, as well as for each other.
We decided to shop for each other fitst and agree on a place where we’d meet up after we were finished and then we’d shop for our parents together, since each gift will come from both of us. I found one present for Devin, but I’ll have to shop online as well, and I was wondering if he was having better success. It took a few hours for us to finish our shopping, and then we rushed back to the house so we could hit the books. Except for a break we took to go to the dining hall for supper, that’s what we did until we turned in for the night.
When we arrived at the dog park on Monday, Preston was all smiles and couldn’t be nicer. “I really appreciate that you and Michael came back early and went to all that trouble to fix a wonderful Thanksgiving meal for me and your other friends. You also forgot to give me the receipts for all the things you purchased for the meal, so if you can bring them with you tomorrow, I’ll be happy to reimburse you for everything.”
“I can do that, but we’ll be happy to split the cost of the meal with you, since our other friends joined us as well.”
“No, I want to pay for everything. You two did enough by returning from your break early to fix that wonderful meal.”
“Ok, I’ll bring the receipts with me on Wednesday, but we’re still willing to split the cost with you.”
“No, I insist that you allow me pay for it all, since you fed and entertained me and Bailey on Friday and Saturday nights.”
“Ok, if you insist.”
“I do, and Bailey does as well,” and after he said that Bailey barked, possibly because he’d mentioned her name, since I don’t believe she actually understood what we were talking about. However, she might have just wanted me to unhook Bear’s leash so they could run off and play.
The conversation then turned to how well Bailey and Bear got along with each other. “I just don’t understand why Bailey doesn’t hit it off with some of the other dogs the same way that she does with Bear, and I’m not sure what I’m going to do after you two graduate. The month that you were gone last year at Christmas was difficult enough for Bailey, but this past summer nearly made her have a complete breakdown. I don’t know what I’m going to do to avoid a repeat of those situations once you’re gone for good.”
I commiserated with him briefly, and then I offered a suggestion. It was merely a “Hail Mary” idea, but Preston took it very seriously. “I know it won’t be easy, so I hope you can figure out something you can do to help her. If you’re lucky, maybe another dog shows up that she’ll get along with as well as she does with Bear, or maybe you’ll have to get a second dog that she can adjust to slowly and they can be together all the time.”
“You know, that’s not a bad idea. I could get a puppy to draw out Bailey’s maternal instincts and it would take care of the situation for me. The problem with that idea is that puppies can be a different kind of challenge. They like to chew on things and they also have to be house broken and trained.”
“So, your biggest fears about doing this is that the puppy would have to be trained and you’re worried about your furniture.”
“It’s not my furniture that I’m worried about. I’m worried what a puppy might do to the apartment. Let me explain. My apartment is part of a lovely older home of one of the wealthier citizens that once resided in Fort Collins. You see, the puppy might chew the molding and scratch up the lovely old wooden doors and floors, or it might also leave deep gouges in the plaster walls with its claws. It could do a considerable amount of damage while I’m at work, and not only would I end up having to pay for the damage, but I might also get evicted. I like where I’m living now and I’m not in a hurry to move somewhere else.”
“Then maybe you should consider getting an adult dog.”
“But what if Bailey doesn’t get along with the other dog?”
“Then allow her to help pick out the dog for you. Take her to a breeder’s location or to a shelter and see if she seems to hit it off with one of the other dogs. If you find a breeder of cocker spaniels, then you would have a pair of bookends. I forget, is Bailed spayed?”
“Yes, she is.”
“So, you can pick either a female or male and have it spayed or neutered as well.”
“That makes a lot more sense to me and I won’t have to worry about a puppy chewing everything in sight. I could also make sure it got trained while I have time this summer, because I hate the idea of having to move.”
“It’s one of the reasons why Mac and I moved into our grandfather’s house, so we wouldn’t have to move to a different residence hall every year.”
“So, you and Michael are related?”
“Uhhh, not exactly. We’re just really good friends and have known each other since we were five-years-old. It’s just that my parents and grandfather have sort of adopted Mac, and Mac’s parents have kind of adopted me too, so we’re just one big happy family, although not in a biological sense.”
“I see and you’re very lucky that you all get along so well.”
“Yeah, we are and we’re very grateful for that.”
A short time after we finished our discussion, I called Bear and we got ready to leave. I said goodbye to Preston and Bailey before we took off, and after Devin and I had both transitioned into ourselves, I filled him in about the conversation I had with Preston. I wanted Devin to be aware of everything we talked about, because I didn’t want him to mess up if we were ever all together again.
When we arrived at the house, I also got the receipts out for the things we’d purchased for the Thanksgiving meal and then I put them in the SUV so I wouldn’t forget them on Wednesday. And once that had all been taken care of, we got ready to head off to our first classes of the day.
The rest of the day and Tuesday went about the same as usual, since after our classes we continued working on the projects or papers that were due before Christmas break. We also had to complete any other assignments we were given, so they turned into long days and short nights, although the actual situation with the days growing shorter as we moved toward the winter solstice worked just the opposite.
We also went to the dog park on Wednesday and I handed Preston the receipts as soon as we arrived there, and he immediately reached for his wallet and handed me three $20.00 bills. “The total came to less than $40.00, so take this other twenty back and I’ll bring you the rest of the change tomorrow.”
“No, I want you to keep the extra twenty as a tip, since Michael and you did so much work to get ready for that wonderful meal, and you both provided the entertainment as well.”
“We only played UNO.”
“I know, but I hadn’t done anything like that in a very long time and totally enjoyed it, so you’ve both earned the extra money, as far as I’m concerned. And Michael and you also let me join you at the football game, and I enjoyed that as well.”
“Gee, thanks, but I feel guilty about taking this, since you also bought all of us something to eat and drink at the football game.”
“And Michael gave me the winter “Rams” hat to wear at the game, which my ears really appreciated, and he told me to keep that as well.”
“He’d bought it for himself before he bought the new hats for Lonny, Clint, and the two of us. He knew that Clint would want the same type of hat that he had, but he didn’t know which style Clint would prefer, so he bought two matching sets of hats.”
“And I benefitted by him doing that, because he had it in his jacket pocket and prevented my head and ears from getting really cold during the game. So, just keep the extra money and buy steaks for you and Michael the next time you go grocery shopping.”
After we’d discussed those things, Preston brought up another point. “Since we talked on Monday, I did a little research and found the name of a guy who breeds cocker spaniels and he doesn’t live very far from Fort Collins. He says he has several dogs that might fit the bill for me, so I made an appointment to drive out to his farm this weekend. I a;sp told him that I was bringing Bailey with me to help pick out the one she liked.”
“And how did he react when he learned you were going to let Beiley pick out the new dog?”
“He laughed, but he said that was probably the best way of getting a companion that she would get along with.”
We saw Preston again on Friday morning, and he was very chatty again. “I’m kind of excited about taking Bailey out to meet those other dogs this weekend. I hope it works out and she likes one of them. I went to the pet store to do some shopping last night and purchased two new doggy beds and a bunch of toys, some treats, and plenty of dog food.”
“That’s good, but didn’t Bailey already have a doggy bed?”
“Yes, she did, but I was afraid she’d get jealous and upset if the new dog got a new bed and she had to use the old one. I placed both of the new beds on the floor last night, to see if she’d choose one of those instead, and she did. I picked up the other bed this morning and set it aside until we got a new dog, but I left the old bed on the floor next to the new one, to see which one she’d sleep in tonight.”
“Which one do you think she’ll choose?”
“She must have slept in the new bed all last night, because she was still in it when I woke up this morning. I have a feeling that she’ll sleep in it again tonight, but I’ll leave both on the floor again to see if she does the same thing of goes back to the old one. If she seems to like the new one better, then I’ll donate her old bed to the shelter.”
“It sounds like a good plan and I hope this goes well for both of you.”
“Thanks.
Once that had been taken care of, we started talking about Christmas break.
“Are you going to be gone the entire break?” Preston asked. “The last final exam for the first semester will be held on December 17th and the second semester classes won’t start until Jan 21st, and since that’s over a month, I was hoping you might return a little sooner.”
“We might come back a few days early, but that’s all.”
“I guess I don’t blame you, so I hope I get lucky and find another dog that Bailey gets along with, because then she won’t be a problem for me. I hope you’ll come to the dog park as soon as you return to Fort Collins then, just in case I’m not lucky in finding her a companion, since last Christmas break was awful for her.”
“Was it really that bad while we were gone?”
“Yes! I was afraid that she was going to scratch herself to death, chew off all of her nails, or have a nervous breakdown before you returned.”
“Ok, we might even know the answer to that problem before we leave, but if you don’t find another dog by then, we can do that for you.”
“Thank you, and if I don’t find another dog that Bailey get along with, then she thank you when you return as well.”
The rest of our conversation was more mundane than what we’d just discussed, and eventually I called Bear so we could leave.
“We’ll see you guys tomorrow, because I won’t leave for the appointment with the breeder until after Bailey and I leave here,” Preston said as we were walking away.
“Yeah, we’ll see you then, so goodbye for now, Preston and Bailey.”
On the way back to the house, Devin and I transitioned into ourselves and then I spoke to him. “Preston is going out to visit a breeder after they leave the dog park tomorrow, after we all go to the dog park. He’s hoping to get another Cocker Spaniel to keep Bailey company after we go home for Christmas break, since we’ll be gone for a whole month. It will also help him over the summer too.”
“Yeah, that will be a good thing, and I hope it works out,” Devin replied. “I hope he gets a female dog, though, because if he gets a male, that dog might get jealous if Bailey wants to still do things with me while we’re here at the dog park.”
“I never thought of that, so I wasn’t able to warn Preston about it.”
“That’s ok, because if Preston shows up with another male, I’ll try to make friends with him and hope Bailey doesn’t get jealous.”
We then went through our normal Friday routine, and after we arrived back at the house, we waited until 2:45 before we drove over to the campus newspaper office. We were inside informing the paper staff about Liam and Chuck when they knocked on the door, so I went over to open it so I could introduce them to the staff.”
“Liam and Chuck, let me introduce you to the two most important people first. This is Ken Jablonski, this year’s editor-in-chief, and this is Anna Franklin, the reporter that will be following us around the hospital so she’ll be able to write about our visit.”
“It’s going to be strange having four elves this year,” Anna stated.
“Yes, but we have to train our replacements so they’ll be able to take over for us next year.”
“Will you be doing this again next year, or will you be graduating?” Chuck asked.
“I won’t be graduating until next year, so I’ll be here with you again, as long as you don’t mind.”
“No, not at all!” he replied without hesitation, and I believe he was thinking of her as a potential date, not merely a reporter.
“Ken, do you know who’s going to replace you next year.”
“Yes, but she’s not here right now, but I’ll make sure she’s here next Friday, if you plan to pick up more money then.”
“Yes, that’s a great idea. And as long as we’re here, I want to pick up the donations that have been dropped off so far.
“Ok, let’s do into my office and I’ll get it for you.”
Liam and Chuck saw that there was a small safe in the office and he opened it to get out the money for us. “Aren’t you afraid someone might break in here and still that?” Liam asked while he was doing that.
“They could try, but the safe is glued to both the wall and the fixed shelf with industrial strength glue, so it would take them a while to break it loose. I’m sure the alarms would have gone off in the campus security office before they get it out and I’m sure the campus cops would have those boys on the way to lockup before they got it free.”
“They could use a stethoscope and figure out the combination to open it up sooner,” Chuck followed.
“The campus cops should still have time to get here before they do that, unless they’re all asleep or chowing down on doughnuts.”
“I can’t believe you’d have that much money in the safe that the alarm would be hooked up to the campus security office,” Chuck continued.
“We didn’t until Mike and Devin started doing this. Campus security were the ones that suggested this arrangement after they saw the article in the local newspaper about their visit to the hospital.”
“Neat!”
As soon as I counted the money, we said goodbye to Ken and Anna, and headed out to the small lounge that was located near the campus newspaper office. I had my laptop with me, so I showed Liam and Chuck a few things.
“First of all, we buy presents for children from 2 to 12,” I began, but Liam cut me off before I finished.
“How do you know how many presents you’ll need?”
“We don’t at first, but the hospital will notify us with that information before our visit to let us know the children’s names, ages, and what room they’ll be in. That way we’re able to pack our bags accordingly with a sufficient number of toys for each age group, and this year we’ll let you two carry the bags and help Santa.”
“But how can you buy toys if you don’t know this information before you go shopping?” Liam continued.
“We just buy plenty of toys for each age group, and then whatever is left over after we pack our sacks and visit the hospital, we donate those items to Toys for Tots.”
“Ok, I’m beginning to see how this works now.”
We then explained the stores that we usually shopped at and how we looked for the sales they might be having online and wrote down the items we were interested on a list before we went shopping. That way we didn’t miss out on any of the best prices during the sales at end of November and throughout December until our visit. Once we made out the list, we took Liam and Chuck with us in Devin’s SUV to go shopping.
We went to a couple of the locally owned stores that we always tried to patronize first when they had good sales, and then we went to Target and Walmart afterward. As soon as we’d spent all of the money, we took the toys with us, but we’d have to wait until Monday before we’d be able to drop them newspaper office for safe keeping. We dropped Liam and Chuck off at the frat house after that, but we made an arrangement to meet them at the newspaper office again next Friday before they got out of the SUV.
After we dropped them off, Devin and I went back to the house and took the toys inside with us and stored them in the downstairs closet until Monday. Then, we hurried to get to the dining hall before it closed so we could have super, and as soon as we’d eaten, we decided to merely relax for the rest of the night.
On Saturday, we went to the dog park and Preston and Bailey were waiting for us when we arrived. As soon as I greeted them as myself, I unhooked Bear’s leash and let the two dogs run off to play, and then I turned to Preston and asked him a question.
“Are you excited about going to see if Bailey picks out a dog she likes and will feel comfortable with.”
“Yes, I am, but I’m also a little nervous. I hope she picks out a dog she’ll get along with quickly, because that will make it easier on me. I don’t want to have to deal with a moody dog again while you guys are gone over Christmas break, and possibly over the summer as well.”
“Yes, I understand, but now I want to know which doggy bed Bailey slept in last night.”
“She chose the new bed again, so I’m glad I bought two, but now I just need her to find another dog that she’s comfortable with.”
“I hope that happens for you later today.”
“Yeah, me too.”
We continued chatting for the next hour, and then Preston called Bailey. I think we’ll leave now, because I don’t want us to be late for our appointment.”
“I understand and I’ll be interested to see if you have two dogs with you when we arrive tomorrow.”
“Yeah, I’m hoping that will be the case as well,” he added, and then he and Bailey went out and got into his car and drove away.
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