@ric350 Your post above was the inspiration for this chapter!
Chapter Twenty-Six: Guardian Angels
Montgomery, Alabama; January 9th, 1964; late afternoon:
It was getting dark as Miss Minnie May left the jail where she had brought her weekly pies to both Billy Robert and to the police officers that so kindly allowed her in every week.
Minnie May had quickly become a favorite among the prisoners. She sat and talked with both Billy Robert and some of the other prisoners. And she brought two fresh baked pies each week for Billy Robert and his “friends” in prison as well as for the police who guarded them.
The elderly Minnie May hated all the fuss the newspapers made about her dubbing her, “The Montgomery Pie Lady.” She allowed one interview with the local papers but after that refused “further such nonsense,” as she called it. “I’m just doing what I know the good Lord would want me to do,” she declared to anyone who would listen.
Now she was on her way to her car which she had left parked a few blocks away. In her mind her foremost thoughts were on what kind of pies she would bake for her next weekly visit. She still had some of that homemade apple pie filling left from last fall, and she also had enough pecans for a southern pecan pie which the police at the jail loved.
But, while Miss Minnie May was contemplating what to bake for next week, two men were watching her from across the street. Men who were determined to teach a lesson to Minnie May and “her kind” about mixing the races.
That lesson would involve taking Miss Minnie May and forcing her into their car further down the street. Then driving her to a field in the country where “the lesson” would be administered
At a nod from one of the men the two walked across the street and began to approach from behind Miss Minnie May.
Miss Minnie May was oblivious of their approach until she heard a loud yelp behind her. She turned around to see the two men that had been stalking her being handcuffed by two police officers even as two plain clothes officers came up to check on her.
“Now Miss Minnie May,,” said one of the plainclothes men, “you know you should keep your eyes open around here.”
“Oh, mercy!” A startled Minnie May said. “Well, thank you kindly, Officer Peterson.” Officer Peterson was one of the plainclothes officers whom Minnie had gotten to know during her weekly visits.
“Well, we can’t very well have the best pie baker in Montgomery get hurt now can we,” said the plainclothes officer. Even as he spoke the two uniformed officers were taking the two would-be kidnapers away to a waiting squad car.
“Ever since you started delivering your ever-so-delicious pies well the boys down here at the station were concerned with you walking back to your car alone and all. So, some of us hang around in this area to keep an eye on things.”
“Oh, you are the sweetest boys,” exclaimed Miss Minnie May. Later she would say, when a journalist finally persuaded her to tell her story in a three part article that would be published in several national newspapers that at that moment Officer Patterson, with his cornsilk blond hair looked just like a guardian angel to me.”
“Now, let me escort you to your car and we’ll see about one of our police officers escorting you home,” Officer Patterson said smiling.
Minnie May said, “Well, then, I suppose I’m going to have to do three pies next week for you boys and for Billy Robert!”
No one was going to mess with Miss Minnie May, if the Montgomery Police Department had anything to say about it.
