Daily Prompt
Hideout
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This story is about hideouts and gangs, except for the first one. It is about a cold blooded murderer. Usually when a crime is committed the person or persons committing the crime head straight to a hideout. It is a place to kick back, relax and unwind, to lay low and take it easy until things cool off. There is a large variety of hideouts, as many as there are people to hide in them, special ones for every hideout seekers individual desires and needs.

Cain Slew Abel
When the first murder was committed in this world, there were no sirens or 911 calls made. It was a premeditated crime of passion. Cain wasn’t really thinking very far ahead, because he really had no hideout to run to. The all seeing God knew all and saw all. He watched Cain , talk to his brother Abel, “let us go out to the field,” where he murdered him.

God decided to punish Cain by sending him to the land of Nod, in the East of Eden, a sleepy place that didn’t hold a candle to Eden West. Cain complained to the Lord “that he would be killed.” The Lord told Cain, “Not to worry”, and the Lord set a mark upon Cain so that whoever found him would not slay him.” Therefore whoever kills Cain shall suffer sevenfold vengeance.

Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and dwelled in the land of Nod east of Eden. We might consider that was Cain’s hideout and punishment combination, he will be a wanderer on the earth. Pre-meditated crimes of passion are still shining a bright light on human anger, weakness and self control.

Capone Gang

Al Capone was one gang leader who had many hideouts, he learned at a young age, if you live a life of crime, chances are you’re going to find yourself on the run. When the heat really gets on you, get out of town and lay low in a hideout somewhere. He had hideouts all across the country. His main crime, income producing area was around Chicago. He pretty well controlled everything that was going on in that city from prostitution to drugs and illegal alcohol. His competition was from the Northside Irish gang. His gang wars kept Elliot Ness and the FBI on their toes and really made them earn their Federal Pay.

The different gangs in Chicago were constantly at war with one another. On St. Valentine’s Day February 14, 1929 Al Capone lured some of the North Side gang, or the Irish-Americans into a warehouse on Chicago’s Northside. He promised them a shipment of stolen Canadian whiskey. The Irish gang was waiting in the warehouse where seven of them were gunned down. Two of the shooters were dressed as uniformed policemen, while the others wore suits, ties, overcoats and hats. Al Capone’s men had Thompson submachine guns, shotguns, almost every type of firearm imaginable riddled the bodies with hundreds of bullets. One of the Irish gang had been shot 14 different times, he was the only one left with any life in him, when the police asked him, “Who shot you.” He said, “Nobody shot me.”

Harvester Hideout

The dill pickle gang was a group of seven cousins, all quite well mannered and easy-to-please, not in trouble, much.. They didn’t really have any competition from other gangs in the community, since they lived out on a farm. They worked together like a well oiled machine, or a fine-tuned instrument, maybe a Stradivarius. Each one had their own duty assignment which could be interchanged if someone was called away because of some chores or other unforeseen activities going on at the farm during the particular time of a planned mission.
One of the main object0ives was to have a look out watching the outside basement entrance to the house, extra lookouts, when available could be posted at will. Every house out in the country, even some in town, had an outside basement entrance that you could dive into in case of a tornado baring down on the place. The outside basement entrance was also used to bring in hundreds of pounds of potatoes, winter squash, pumpkins or any other garden produce that needed to be stored in a root cellar. Half of the cellar was colder, so it made an excellent root cellar. Carrots could be kept crunchy all winter in a box of damp cold sand.

Getting back to the watch detail, one person or two, would watch the outside entrance to the basement as I said, the other one would go downstairs and bring up a jar of those coveted, crispy, cold dill pickles from the back of the shelf. The missing jar clue always comes up in a court room case, never leave a gaping hole in the front of a full shelf. If it was a special occasion 2 quart jars of delightfully, dizzying, dill pickles could be retrieved.

Other gang members would be on duty in the kitchen, there was always a large wooden match box holder near the cook stove. Those wooden matches were not to be used, or even touched by children, that rule was set in stone back in the days of Moses. Evidently, with out a doubt, we heard, hundreds of homes, haystacks and barns, burned to the ground because of children playing with those self striking, Sulphur coated, exploding, older wooden matches. Well, maybe one or two barns burned, or a house and a haystack over a period of 100 years. I don’t really believe there’s ever been records kept of that type of rural fire information.

Back to my point, the matches were highly respected and used with diligent care. We all learned at a real young age, no one wanted to be ever questioned about missing wooden matches! When the match detail finished their high risk, acid reflux producing job, it would sort of mill around outside, looking nonchalant, if a seven or eight year old can even look nonchalant. There must have been a silent, invisible signal, just wait for the other members who were working on the inside yet. No Walkie-Talkie to be had, we tried two cans and a string, very limited distance, can’t hear me now, can you? No I can’t?

One of the most dangerous, riskiest jobs and the one with the most serious consequences, if caught, would be getting into the right dresser drawer where the Chesterfield cigarettes were kept. The bravest ones took that detail, they received special commendations for retrieving a pack of Chesterfield’s from the dresser drawer. Their helper was having distracting conversations in one of the other rooms, with said cigarette owner, no doubt the dining area. As soon as Arthur Godfrey’s Chesterfields were in pocket or undies they both would discreetly exit the house and start working their way toward the tree grove were the machinery was stored.

The Dill Pickle Gang hideout that everyone would gather and cool off at was the grain hopper, up on top of the old combine. Each one climbed the ladder and got into the empty grain hopper. Whatever business was on the daily agenda was discussed while we all ate those delicious kosher pickles and smoked Arthur Godfrey’s Chesterfield cigarettes. The easier, less stressful days of some fortunate Northern children. I just can not for the life of me see this happening in the south with canned persimmons or okra!

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