Standing beneath the large awning of the New Co-operative General Store, Elmer’s gaze was unbroken as the morning coal train rumpled by the opposite end of the Gallagher Block in downtown Dillonvale. Even though the little mining town — situated deep in the Short Creek valley — was just beginning to stir, little Elmer Lengyel had been staring through the store window for over an hour.
He had left the little, wood frame company house — that his coal mining father rented on Watson Street — early and without eating breakfast to get to the store before it opened, as today was the big day. Through the window, he could see the object of his desires glimmering below the sign that read “Buy 8 Bars of Lux Soap for 46₵ – Get a Ticket to Enter Drawing to Win a New Bicycle.” There below the sign was the new Shelby Flyer with its shiny badge, white wall tires and Morrow coaster brakes, the likes of which were never seen before in the entire valley, let alone Dillonvale.
Elmer had been dreaming of the Shelby Flyer ever since he first saw it in the store window. It took him a lot of convincing to get his mom to spend so much money on the Lux soap to get a ticket to be entered into the drawing, especially because the Lengyels were a Chipso soap family. But alas, she did a couple of weeks ago and he immediately filled the ticket out, entered it in the Lux soap box positioned next to the bicycle and every day since, he would walk by to inspect the box and the bicycle.
His daydream about riding the great Shelby Flyer up and down Watson Street was broken by the sound of a lock being turned, the creak of hinges and the tinkle of the bell positioned over the front doors of the New Co-operative Store. He looked up to see Mr. Azallion, the store manager, opening the door and calling out to him “I know it’s the big day for the drawing, but aren’t you a little early Elmer?” But Elmer didn’t answer in his haste to get into the store and over by the display where he could sit atop some shipping containers and get a good view of the Shelby Flyer and the Lux Box that only had a handful of tickets in it.
As the morning passed, Elmer sat back and took in the scenes of the store. Over in the corner next to the large ice cooler, Mr. Marzley, the butcher, pulled the meat saw down off the hook next to the bull horns that were attached to the cooler. He began preparing cuts of ribs for Mr. Kensicki, the WPA worker who fascinated Elmer and his brothers because of his strong Texas accent and stories of the Wild West. On the other side of the store, Elmer saw his teacher, Miss Kruzeski, talking to Mrs. Stock from Mt. Pleasant who brought her daughter Anna in to buy some gingham for a new dress.
Mr. Defatinis, the Italian tailor, was talking to Mr. Bernanek about getting his radio repaired and Mr. Zerla was delivering a package for Mr. Ridgeley’s funeral parlor. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Elmer noticed the clerk in charge of the drawing going to the store’s sole register and pulling out the remaining raffle tickets. He pulled out a long strip of unused raffle tickets and slowly wrapped them around his hand. Elmer watched in great confusion wondering what was going on. He watched as the clerk walked across the room toward the store office and handed the unused tickets to his son who was in Elmer’s class, and a bit of a rival.
The clerk gave his son all of the tickets and whispered in his ear, and then the boy disappeared into the office. It did not dawn on Elmer as to what was going on until he saw the office door open and the boy came out of the office with the tickets all neatly stacked. He gave them to his father, who promptly walked over and put them in the Lux soap box being used for the raffle. It was then that Elmer realized that the boy had filled out his name on all of the remaining unused tickets.
Elmer felt like he got kicked by a mule and there was nothing he could do because the clerk in charge of the raffle was the culprit. He looked around the store that was now filling up, hoping someone saw the scandalous deed too, but everyone seemed engaged in their own business. Elmer resigned himself to the fact that he would not win the great Shelby Flyer.
Elmer’s despair was startled awake by the sound of the mine whistle going off and an influx of miners beginning to filter into the store. Many of them he knew from church, or from coming over to the house for the card games his father held where all of the adults spoke in Hungarian. As he watched the miners mill about the store, he heard Miss Gavarkavick, the new young clerk at the co-op, ask him if he was ready as she grabbed the Lux soap box filled with tickets. She walked them over to the register and handed them to the clerk who was in charge, and who had obviously rigged the drawing.
A crowd began to circle around the clerk, but Elmer didn’t leave his post thinking there was no point in going up front to see the clerk’s son win the bicycle. Elmer only had one single ticket in the raffle box which was filled with all of the other tickets that were deposited throughout the summer and the countless ill-gotten tickets that just made their way into the drawing. Just as the clerk began to lower his hand into the box to draw the ticket, someone in the crowd yelled out “Shake the box,” which was the last thing the clerk wanted to do as all of his son’s tickets were perched on top.
The clerk shook the box, and as he stopped, Miss Gavakavick quickly reached in and pulled the winning ticket and handed it to her coworker. As the head clerk grabbed the ticket he announced with great bravado “The winner of the new Shelby Bike is…” and as he looked at the ticket his face dropped and he muttered, “…. Elmer Lengyel.” The clerk’s son shouted out “I wanted the bike, that’s my bike!”
Elmer could not believe his ears when he heard his name called and was grinning ear to ear as he walked up to the Shelby Flyer. His fingers hovered over the handlebars, as he was almost afraid to touch it not thinking it was real. Then, Mr. Azallion grabbed the bike, walked it through the crowd and said “Here you go Elmer, have fun and take care of it, it’s quite the prize.” With that Elmer threw his leg over the great Shelby Flyer and took off down Watson Street, the luckiest boy in the world.
Sometimes farming is like entering a lottery where you make all of the investments, but chance and luck play a major factor in results. We cannot control many components that affect our farms from the weather to seed viability to livestock health, but if we do everything we can to take care of the land and the products, are chances of success are greater. And much like the drawing for the Shelby Flyer, if we try and take shortcuts or cheat the system, disaster and failure are usually the result. So follow the lead of Elmer, do what you can and wish for the best!
Thank you to Mr. Posgai for preserving this story!
