Watching People Burn Read online

  WATCHING PEOPLE BURN

  JULIAN DARIUS

  Martian Lit (Edwardsville, Illinois)

  Copyright © 2009, 2011 Julian Darius.

  Kindle edition, January 2012. First print edition, December 2011.

  All rights reserved by the author. Except for brief excerpts used for review or scholarly purposes, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever, including electronic, without express written consent of the author.

  Cover by Julian Darius, from a historical photo printed in M.J. Ellsworth’s 1928 The Bath School Disaster. Book design by Julian Darius.

  Published by Martian Lit. For more information about this or other titles, visit martianlit.com/books.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Tertellian

  Chapter 2: Nellie

  Chapter 3: Pastoral

  Chapter 4: Agricultural Politics

  Chapter 5: Banging Your Head Against the Windmill

  Chapter 6: The Day Before

  Chapter 7: 18 May 1927

  Chapter 8: The Day After

  Chapter 9: The World Comes to Bath

  Chapter 10: And Under Lindbergh, the World Keeps Spinning

  Epilogue

  Afterword

  Prologue

  EXT. BATH TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN – MORNING

  A school bus winds its way down a country road dominated by farms – an idyllic setting.

  ON-SCREEN TITLES

  Bath Township, Michigan

  18 May, 1927

  Three small, cute children of various ages wait by the side of the road, a farmhouse behind them. They are the HART children: IOLA, 12; PERCY, 11; and VIVIAN, 8.

  The bus stops for the children. The bus driver, WARDEN KEYES, opens the door.

  WARDEN KEYES

  Well, hello, girls… and young Percy.

  PERCY HART

  Hello, Mr. Keyes.

  Warden Keyes closes the door, and the bus continues on its way.

  EXT. BATH CONSIDATED SCHOOL – MORNING

  The school is a long, two-story structure, with many windows. It is a primary school, from second to sixth grade, with students who are 7-12 years old and perhaps 250 students total.

  Warden Keyes’s bus pulls up to the school, where one other bus is unloading children. The scene feels very small-town, with many of the kids coming from a few families. Several teachers are outside, ferrying children inside and into class.

  One such teacher is BERNICE STERLING, a first-grade teacher. Among the others are BLANCHE HARTE (no relation to the children seen earlier), a fifth grade teacher, and HAZEL WEATHERBY. Blanche is performing double duty, ferrying pupils and tending to her own children: GAILAND, 12; LAVERE, 9; and STANLEY, 12. Bernice passes Blanche.

  BERNICE STERLING

  (to Blanche)

  Your little ones are energetic, this morning.

  BLANCHE HARTE

  Stanley, especially. You know I always have my hands full, as mother and as teacher.

  Bernice wanders over to Warden Keyes’s bus, which is unloading children.

  BERNICE STERLING

  Hurry up into class, little ones. School’s about to start.

  (to Warden Keyes)

  Good morning, Mr. Keyes. You’re running late.

  WARDEN KEYES

  It was the Cushman boy, Robert. Had to run back to the house for something. You know how it is, Ms. Sterling.

  BERNICE STERLING

  Indeed I do, Mr. Keyes.

  (to children)

  Hurry up, now.

  Bath Consolidated School before the bombing. (From The Toledo Blade.)

  INT. BATH CONSOLIDATED SCHOOL – HALLWAY – MORNING

  Children are filing into class, escorted by their teachers, including Bernice Harte and Blanche Sterling.

  BLANCHE HARTE

  (to Bernice)

  I’ll see you at lunch, Bernice.

  BERNICE STERLING

  If these little ones don’t rip me to shreds before.

  Blanche heads up the stairs to her classroom, in the north wing, while Bernice heads to her classroom, in the south wing.

  INT. BERNICE STERLING’S FIRST-GRADE CLASS – MORNING

  The tiny students are not in their desks.

  BERNICE STERLING

  Okay, class… to your seats, now. Class is about to start.

  The students file to their seats.

  INT. BLANCHE HARTE’S FIFTH-GRADE CLASS – MORNING

  Blanche is lecturing, the students already in their seats. Among her students are EMILIE BROMUNDT, 11; ROBERT BROMUNDT, 12; WILLA HALL, 11; PAULINE SHIRTS, 10; ELIZABETH WITCHELL, 10; LUCILE WITCHELL, 9; and LLOYD ZIMMERMAN, 12.

  As Blanche continues lecturing, Lloyd Zimmerman stares to his side, distracted by something unseen by the rest (and by us).

  BLANCHE HARTE

  Lloyd, why are you not paying attention?

  LLOYD ZIMMERMAN

  (pointing out the window)

  There’s a fire.

  Everyone turns to look out the window. In the distance, smoke rises.

  ROBERT BROMUNDT

  Wow!

  PAULINE SHIRTS

  Does anyone know who’s farm that is?

  ROBERT BROMUNDT

  That’s a big fire.

  BLANCHE HARTE

  Well, I’m sure the volunteer fire brigade will have things under control shortly. What do you say we go back to learning, children?

  EXT. BATH TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN – MORNING

  A volunteer fire brigade truck races down the country road, heading towards the fire.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #1

  Looks like it might be the Howell farm. Maybe the Kehoe farm.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  Sure is big.

  EXT. BATH CONSIDATED SCHOOL – MORNING

  Birds chirp. Everything seems bright and green.

  Then a sudden and massive EXPLOSION rips through the school’s north wing, causing that part of the structure to collapse in a cloud of dust and debris. The sound is deafening. Rubble falls all around.

  Windows SHATTER for blocks, sending people screaming.

  INT. BLANCHE HARTE’S FIFTH-GRADE CLASS – MORNING

  The explosion ROCKS the classroom, causing it to collapse, cascading down to the first story, and the roof caves in upon the room. Children scream and tumble. Dust fills the room, blocking out the light.

  EXT. BATH TOWNSHIP, MICHIGAN – MORNING

  The volunteer fire brigade truck is racing down the country road, heading towards the fire, when we hear the shockingly loud sound of the explosion.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #1

  (spinning around)

  What the hell was that?

  INT. BERNICE STERLING’S FIRST-GRADE CLASS – MORNING

  In this other wing of the school, on the ground level, the explosion ROCKS the room like a sudden, massive earthquake. The floor shakes wildly, books go flying off the shelves, desks move and fall over, and children tumble around. Dust falls from the ceiling and the walls, then comes pouring past the windows and under the doors. Bernice Sterling stands in place, in shock.

  EXT. BATH CONSIDATED SCHOOL – MORNING

  Most of the entire north wing now lays in rubble. Dust hangs in clouds in the air. Debris litters the lawn. Screams of children mingle with the sounds of collapse and settling.

  Bystanders begin charging onto the scene.

  On the uncollapsed southern side of the building, children begin evacuating, largely on their own and in dazed states. Some are wounded and bleeding.

  As the dust begins to clear on the north wing, we see that the roof is on the ground. Children are trapped under the roof, their arms and limbs poking out from under it, covered in bloo
d and dust from the rubble. We realize that smoke is pouring up from beneath the debris – there’s a fire somewhere, underneath the rubble.

  The scene is one of chaos.

  A dust-covered Bernice Sterling, exiting the building still clearly in shock, begins haltingly to gather a few exiting students.

  BERNICE STERLING

  Stay here, children. Stay together.

  Bystanders rush past her and towards the collapsed portion of the structure. Some children follow them. Bernice turns to see the devastation.

  Bath Consolidated School after the bombing. (From Monty Ellsworth’s 1928 The Bath School Disaster.)

  BERNICE STERLING

  My God. My God. My…

  Bystanders, teachers, and children begin pulling a few bleeding, wounded, and dead children out of the rubble.

  Teachers and children wander, sometimes bloody and dazed.

  Crying children are carried, bleeding, from the rubble. A young, dead body is carried out. Children stand around it, staring, in shock.

  An 8-year-old boy, G. CLEO CLATON, exits the school, dazed from the blast, and begins wandering around outside.

  Cars begin to pull up, then more and more, as everyone in the area converges on the sound of the explosion. Among these cars is the volunteer fire brigade, seen earlier.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #1

  (shocked)

  Is that the school?

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  Come on, let’s get those kids out.

  Workers attempt to lift the roof in vain.

  Another car pulls up. MR. AND MRS. MACDONALD get out.

  MRS. MACDONALD

  My God! Thelma! Thelma!

  Mrs. MacDonald accosts various students, grabbing them and trying to see their faces. She has to wipe the dust from some of them to make out their features. Mr. MacDonald follows her, shocked and helpless to control her.

  MRS. MACDONALD

  Thelma! Thelma!

  Mrs. MacDonald sees EMORY HUYCK, the school superintendent, nearby.

  MRS. MACDONALD

  Mr. Huyck, where is my daughter?!?

  EMORY HUYCK

  Mrs. MacDonald, please. I’m in as much shock as you. We’re trying to figure out what happened.

  The two volunteer firemen pass by, carrying a child’s body. Mrs. MacDonald sees it and stops them.

  MRS. MACDONALD

  Thelma! Thelma! That’s my Thelma!

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  I’m sorry, Ma’am.

  The firemen put down the body of THELMA MACDONALD, age 8. Mrs. MacDonald begins to cry and cradles her dead girl.

  MRS. MACDONALD

  God, no! God, no! Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no! Thelma! God, my Thelma!

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  I’m sorry, Ma’am. We have to go back inside.

  The two firemen depart, heading back into the rubble. Mr. MacDonald stands mute and paralyzed, holding his forehead, his eyes wide.

  EMORY HUYCK

  My God.

  As Emory Huyck wanders off, another car pulls up nearby, its driver’s window rolled down. Driving it is ANDREW KEHOE.

  ANDREW KEHOE

  Superintendent Huyck!

  Emory Huyck stops in his tracks and recognizes Kehoe. He approaches the car.

  INT. ANDREW KEHOE’S CAR – MORNING (CONTINUOUS)

  Kehoe stares out, oddly calm, as Huyck approaches. We see extensive shovels, nails, rusted farm machinery, old tools, and other miscellaneous junk piled in his back seat. Sitting on the passenger’s seat lies a rifle, ominously.

  EXT. ANDREW KEHOE’S CAR – MORNING (CONTINUOUS)

  Huyck reaches the car’s window. Through the window, we see the rifle on the passenger’s seat.

  EMORY HUYCK

  Andrew, get out and pitch a hand, will you? Someone’s blown up the school.

  ANDREW KEHOE

  Looks like they only got half of it. I bet if you look, you’ll find he tried to get the other half too. Probably explosives there too.

  EMORY HUYCK

  God, who would do that? Why would anyone…?

  ANDREW KEHOE

  I think you know.

  EMORY HUYCK

  What did you say?

  Huyck notices the detritus in the back seat and stares at it in confusion.

  ANDREW KEHOE

  You know what you did.

  EMORY HUYCK

  What’s all this stuff, Andrew? What were you doing with all this junk?

  ANDREW KEHOE

  It’s not junk. It’s shrapnel.

  Huyck looks Kehoe in the eye and becomes unsettled.

  INT. ANDREW KEHOE’S CAR – MORNING (CONTINUOUS)

  Kehoe reaches to the passenger’s seat, grabs the rifle, and points it into the back seat.

  EMORY HUYCK

  Are you telling me you did this? Andrew…

  ANDREW KEHOE

  No, Emory. You made me do this.

  We see what Kehoe is aiming his rifle at: a box of dynamite, buried in all that debris.

  EXT. ANDREW KEHOE’S CAR – MORNING (CONTINUOUS)

  Kehoe’s car EXPLODES with a tremendous sound, blowing apart Emory Huyck and sending shrapnel RIPPING through and the surrounding crowd, including some nearby people, who are obviously killed, and many others, who are certainly injured. Nearby car windows EXPLODE and the force of the blast knocks many backwards.

  G. Cleo Clayton (the 8-year-old seen earlier), still wandering around, is STRUCK by shrapnel and killed. He falls to the ground, bleeding and twitching.

  EXT. BATH CONSIDATED SCHOOL – MORNING (CONTINUOUS)

  Amid all the chaos, yet more chaos in interjected as people react to the car bomb, still burning furiously. Little of the car is left standing.

  At the rubble of the collapsed section of the school, rescue workers turn, in response to the explosion, to see the burning car and others dead and wounded, body parts strewn with debris, people screaming and running from the burning car, while others react to the wounded.

  The remains of Kehoe’s car, after the explosion. (From Monty Ellsworth’s 1928 The Bath School Disaster.)

  The two firemen (seen earlier) stare at the carnage, then turn back to the wreckage around them. Dust and smoke are still in the air. Children wail beneath the rubble. Other workers continue to pull dead and wounded children from the debris.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #2

  We are in Hell.

  VOLUNTEER FIREMAN #1

  Shut up and dig.

  FADE TO BLACK

  ON-SCREEN TITLES

  Watching People Burn

  Full credits wait until the end of the film, letting us to get directly into the story.

  Chapter 1: Tertellian

  EXT. KEHOE HOUSE – TECUMSEH, MICHIGAN – 1877 – DAY

  Another idyllic farm, with a large farmhouse. Its quiet contrasts with the previous scene.

  ON-SCREEN TITLES

  Tecumseh, Michigan

  1877

  Fifty Years Earlier

  INT. BEDROOM OF THE KEHOE HOUSE – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

  A solemn doctor stands over the bed, examining MRS. KEHOE, sweating and obviously sick. MR. KEHOE stands nearby. The door is slightly ajar, and we can some children’s faces peering in, trying not to be seen.

  MR. KEHOE

  Is there anything to be done?

  DOCTOR

  We can pray. But you should get her affairs in order.

  MR. KEHOE

  Thank you, doctor.

  EXT. BEDROOM OF THE KEHOE HOUSE – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

  The THIRTEEN KEHOE CHILDREN stand around the bedroom door, whispering and trying to hear what’s going on inside. A few of the older children look especially solemn, looking resigned to losing their mother. Among the children is Andrew Kehoe, age 5.

  The doctor emerges from the door, sending the children scattering. Mr. Kehoe follows the doctor, gesturing for the kids to make way.

  MR. KEHOE

  Not now, children! Out of the way! />
  Mr. Kehoe closes the bedroom door behind him and escorts the doctor outside through the front door. As soon as they have left, some of the younger kids, including Andrew, open the bedroom door and enter.

  INT. BEDROOM OF THE KEHOE HOUSE – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

  The younger children, including Andrew, tumble into the room, then become very somber as they stand around the bed, understanding for the first time that they may lose their mother. She continues to sweat and does not respond to their presence.

  ANDREW KEHOE

  Mom?

  The house where Kehoe drew up as a child. (From The Toledo Blade.)

  Mrs. Kehoe does not respond. One of the younger daughters begins to cry. Andrew stares down at his mother, trying to comprehend what’s happening.

  EXT. KEHOE HOUSE – TECUMSEH, MICHIGAN – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

  Mr. Kehoe shakes the doctor’s hand.

  MR. KEHOE

  Thank you for coming, doctor.

  DOCTOR

  You’ll be in my prayers.

  As the doctor walks off, and Mr. Kehoe reenters the house.

  INT. BEDROOM OF THE KEHOE HOUSE – DAY (CONTINUOUS)

  Mr. Kehoe enters to find the children around their mother. They look alarmed, half out of fear for being punished and half for their dying mother.

  MR. KEHOE

  Come on, get out of here. Leave her room to breathe.

  Andrew seems somewhat dazed and powerfully affected. As the children make their way to the door, he stops and asks his father a question.

  ANDREW KEHOE

  Is she going to be okay?

  MR. KEHOE

  (exasperated)

  I don’t know.

  ANDREW KEHOE

  Can I do something, father? I would do anything to help her.

  MR. KEHOE

  No.

  ANDREW KEHOE

  I’ll ask the Virgin Mary.

  MR. KEHOE

  Do that. Just get out and leave us be.

  Andrew exits the room and closes the door behind him. Mr. Kehoe collapses at the foot of the bed, putting his hand over his eyes.

  EXT. CEMETERY IN TECUMSEH, MICHIGAN – DAY – LATER

  Andrew Kehoe and the rest of his family watch as his mother’s simple pine casket is lowered into the soil, while a priest stands by. Andrew’s face is shattered by grief.

  INT. CATHOLIC CHURCH – DAY – LATER

  In a modest, country Catholic church, the entire Kehoe family sits in the pews, along with other parishioners, listening to a sermon.