Maple Grove's Only Newspaper of Record—Vol. 1 No. 28—Edited by Mr. Ellison, Town Archivist & Historian
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
The warm weather has held another week. The mornings are cool, the afternoons reach the high sixties, and there has still been no hard frost. Most of the leaves are down. The rakes are out on every street, and the piles do not last long, because every child in the village has been told not to jump in them.
None of this is what the village is talking about. Since Tuesday morning, the village has been talking about Gordon.
The particulars are set down in the Police Blotter, where they belong. In brief: a two-year-old went into Main Street, Gordon went in after her, and two vehicles met in the middle of the street at a speed this editor is assured was within the posted limit. No one was hurt. A great many people cried, not all of them under the age of five.
At the diner, the question is whether Gordon stepped off the curb or lunged. Those who were there say he stepped. Those who were not there say he lunged, and the distance has been increasing.
Gordon has declined to discuss the matter. Asked by this editor for a statement, he said he had been on his way to get coffee. He has since been bought eleven cups of coffee. He drinks one a day. The remainder have been accepted, with thanks, by Belle.
📜 POLICE BLOTTER
MAPLE GROVE POLICE DEPARTMENT—INCIDENT REPORT
Reporting Officer: Officer Sanchez Week of: October 17-23
Main Street, in Front of Brewed Awakenings—Two-Vehicle Collision. Reported by Officer Wilson. At approximately 10:20 a.m. Tuesday, the Mommy and Me group was leaving Brewed Awakenings when two-year-old Rosie Harper let go of the hand of her mother, Emily Harper, and ran into the street. Gordon, of Gordon's Hardware, was approaching on the sidewalk with Belle, of Belle's Antique Shop, for their mid-morning coffee. He went off the curb, took hold of Rosie, and put her back on the sidewalk. Witnesses agree it took less time than it takes to describe.
A southbound car driven by a young woman of the village was approaching at the time. She states that she heard screaming, did not know where it was coming from, and turned the wheel to the left. Her car crossed the center line and struck, head-on, a northbound pickup truck driven by Police Chief Carter. Both vehicles were traveling at or under 25 miles per hour. There were no injuries. Damage to the front of both vehicles. Officer Wilson notes that the Chief bought the truck the previous Tuesday.
As a party to the collision, Chief Carter did not take the report. Officer Wilson's report states that the Chief "looked at the front of the truck for some time."
Mr. Dan Harper, the village's insurance agent, a high school classmate of the Chief's, and Rosie's father, came out of his office down the block when he heard the commotion. Once his family was settled and he had heard the whole account, he informed Chief Carter that he would personally cover the damage to the truck. The Chief then instructed the responding officer that the driver, who had stated several times that she would never drive again, should be released with a warning.
Mrs. Harper, the driver, the children of the Mommy and Me group, and a number of bystanders were in tears at the scene. Jenna McGregor of Brewed Awakenings brought out tissues for the adults and cookies for the children. Officer Wilson reports that this was effective in both groups.
Before the vehicles were moved, Lisa, also of Brewed Awakenings, smudged the scene of the collision and, with the Chief's permission, the Chief's truck. The Chief also permitted her to place crystals along the curb and one on the dashboard of the truck. It is still there. Final Disposition: Collision report filed. Driver given a verbal warning. Rosie Harper returned to her mother unharmed. Damage to Chief Carter's truck to be paid by Mr. Harper. This editor is not certain that is how insurance works. Mr. Harper has assured this editor that, on this occasion, it is.
Mildred, who saw the whole thing from the café window, has described Gordon's movement as "a clean extraction." Asked where she learned the term, she said she must have read it somewhere. This editor has checked the library's holdings. It is possible.
📋 COMMUNITY NOTICES
Main Street Speed Limit—25 miles per hour, at all times. Police Chief Carter reminds motorists that the limit on Main Street is 25 miles per hour, and that it is a limit, not a target. He asks drivers to watch the sidewalks as well as the road, and asks parents to keep hold of small hands near the curb. Until his truck is repaired, the Chief will be driving the department's spare cruiser. He asks that residents not remark on it.
Gordon's Hardware—Regular hours. Gordon reports that foot traffic in the store is up sharply this week and sales are not. Most visitors come in, shake his hand, and leave. Gordon asks that anyone who wishes to thank him buy a box of leaf bags on the way out, as he has a great many of them.
Trick-or-Treat—Saturday, October 31, 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Main Street and the village neighborhoods. Porch lights on at participating homes. Motorists are asked to drive as though every child on the block is about to step into the street, because several of them will.
Fall Farmers Market—Saturday, October 31, 9:00 a.m. to noon, the town square. The last market of the season. Tomatoes remain available, against all expectation.
🏛️ HISTORICAL NOTE
On the morning of June 14, 1923, a dairy wagon belonging to Mr. Elmer Hale came up Main Street without Mr. Hale on it. The team, a pair of bays, had been left standing outside the creamery and had decided, in Mr. Hale's absence, to go home.
Mr. Lyle Pettibone, the barber, was shaving a customer at the time. He went out the shop door with the razor still in his hand, took the near horse by the bridle, and brought the team to a stop in front of the bank. The Gazette ran the story on the front page under the heading "Barber Halts Team." The customer is reported to have waited in the chair, half shaved, throughout.
The following week, the Gazette printed a letter from Mr. Hale. He thanked Mr. Pettibone for his trouble. He wished it known, however, that the horses had been going home, that they knew the way perfectly well, that they had done it before, and that they would have arrived without incident had they not been stopped in front of the bank and made to stand in the sun while a crowd gathered. He considered the team to have been delayed.
Mr. Pettibone did not respond in print. He went on cutting Mr. Hale's hair for another nineteen years.
This editor notes only that in this village, a rescue has always been followed within the week by a second opinion. This editor has heard several already. This editor offers the record without further comment.
🔍 Fellow Sleuths Worth Following
Candlesticks and Corpses by B.J. Cade
B.J. Cade was here in July with a dog parade. She's back with a haunted house.
The charity haunt at Wexler House is full of fake bodies, until the owner turns up as a real one. Willa Honeycutt was only there to drop off cookies. Then her Aunt Syl spots someone in a ghostly bride costume before the haunt even opens, and finds a note on her windshield telling her to stop talking about what she saw. Aunt Syl does not stop talking about what she saw. If you have an aunt like that, you already know how this goes.
The newest Willa Honeycutt, out October 18. Nearly every reviewer names the War Council, Aunt Syl and her two partners in eavesdropping, as the reason to read it. $0.99, or free in Kindle Unlimited.
FREE READS—OCTOBER TITLES
One more week of October, and one more week to raid the free shelf.
Browse October’s Free Books →
🍽️ THE MAIN COURSE
Next Saturday is Halloween. That's the week Parade of Peril happens.
It opens with Jenna finding a man she went to school with, standing in a field, posed like a scarecrow. He was a bully when they were kids. The second body turns up on a parade float, parked behind her own café.
Something happened in Maple Grove twenty years ago. Everybody Jenna grew up with remembers it, and nobody remembers it the same way. Jenna keeps asking which version is true. Joe would like her to stop asking. Joe, as you may have read above, has had a week.
If you want to read it the same week it happens, start this weekend.
Book 1, Scones, Secrets & Sabotage, is free →
✍️ Behind the Scenes
Still no frost. Last week I told you the tomatoes were getting one more week on the vine. They took it. There are about a dozen still hanging on out there, plus a handful of jalapeños that also didn't get the memo.
Most of the leaves are down now, so the grandkids have been over raking them into big piles and then jumping in the piles. Then raking them up again. Then jumping again. I can't say the yard is any cleaner. I'm counting it as yard work anyway.
See you next Saturday, fellow sleuths—same town, new trouble.
— Willow 🌿
Meet Willow
Author, School Board member, and gluten-free baker. I write the Jenna McGregor mysteries from my home in Michigan, fueled by coffee and Peloton PRs.
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