[legendsport]

February 24, 1934: Los Angeles, CA:

"And.... cut!" the director bawled. He stood up and smiled. "That was some good work, everyone. Let's wrap for today and we'll get back to it tomorrow."

Dorothy Barrell walked off the set with a wide smile of her own. She was thinking of Joe.

She reflected that his discovery of her one-time "affair" with Billy Whitney turned out to be a good thing. Maybe not for Billy... his nose had been broken and his vision had only recently returned to normal. Dot had never seen Joe so... angry. It was frightening, but thrilling in a way. It was one of the things she loved most about him... that undercurrent of barely restrained violence. She knew it was what had made him a great football player, and from what she'd heard, a very promising boxer too before his first wife put a stop to that.

Joe had returned from Georgia a chagrined man. He had professed his love for her and his desire to work things out. She had replied that there was nothing to work out: what she did she did for him, in a misguided attempt to help him connect with his son. Since that had worked, she didn't regret it. She only regretted that it had hurt him when he'd found out.

His Coastal California team had been dynamic in the East-West Bowl, defeating Nobel Jones - Joe's old school - by a score of 21-3 and avenging Coastal's lone loss - a 20-14 loss to Noble Jones in Georgia on December 2nd, the only dent in a 12-1 season. That the AP had anointed Bayou State the national championship hadn't dampened Joe's pride in his team's accomplishments.

As she wiped the make-up off her face, Dot continued to think about Joe. He was currently in Wyoming, talking to a promising high schooler he hoped to convince to attend Coastal and play quarterback for him. She frowned in concentration as she tried to dredge up the kid's name, but was drawing a blank. She had chided herself to pay more attention to the things that were important to her husband. He did his best to stay current on her chatter about what was going on at the studio. She knew it galled him to go to studio parties and see people who knew he was a "failed" actor, but she also knew that some of them, at least, liked to be around him because of his success as an athlete and coach. She thought Joe secretly liked that too, and who could blame him?

"Hey, Dot, you need a ride?" asked one of her co-stars. Henry was cute, and young, certainly younger than her and a good decade younger than Joe. But she thanked him kindly, noting she had her car with her. "Joe's off on a recruiting trip, so I have the car," she explained. He gave a wave and nod and was gone.

Dot pulled a piece of paper from her purse. On it, Joe had written his itinerary. He had left the previous morning, flying first to Salt Lake City, where he'd change planes - he was flying on one of the new Boeing 247s - for the flight to Cheyenne. Dot had never been to Wyoming, and in fact, neither had Joe. While he was packing he'd laughed and asked her if she thought he should pack a cowboy hat, "just in case."

She smiled and shook her head, then looked back at the paper. He'd spend one night in Cheyenne, meet the quarterback and his parents and try to sell them on Coastal California. Dot reflected that shouldn't be too hard a sell: Coastal had a winning pedigree and the world's best weather. Who could beat that?

He should be flying back today. A quick "in and out" trip he called it. Similar to the one he'd made at Christmas to his parents' farm. Though this time he was a lot happier when he'd left the house.

Dot put the paper back in her purse. She changed clothes - the elegant gown she'd been wearing was not only inappropriate for driving, it also belonged to the studio.

Fifteen minutes later she was driving back to the bungalow, the top of the convertible Cadillac down. She drew a lot of looks from pedestrians and other drivers. Some she figured recognized her - her list of credits was growing ever larger - and others she knew looked just because she was an attractive woman driving a fancy car.

She arrived at the bungalow and parked in the driveway. She looked up at the blue sky and noted a nearly complete absence of clouds. No need to put the roof up, she thought and walked to the front door.

She opened it and her son Charlie, now going on four years old, gave her a huge smile and came running towards her. He held a drawing in his hands.

"Lookit what I made, Mama!" he cried. She took the paper from him and looked. Three stick figures... "That's our family!" Charlie said. "Papa, Mama and Charlie!"

"It's lovely, Charlie," she said and bent over to kiss the top of his head.

Consuela, the woman who worked for Joe & Dot as a combination housekeeper and nanny, came out of the kitchen. Dot frowned upon seeing the other woman's face. She appeared to be very upset.

"Consuela is sad," Charlie told his mother.

"Consuela? What is it?" Dot asked, a knot of fear forming in her gut.

Consuela, apparently overcome, burst out a stream of words in Spanish, a language Dot didn't happen to speak.

"Wow, slow down dear." Dot looked down at Charlie. He appeared to be perfectly fine and there was no sign of anything wrong in the bungalow. So what had Consuela so upset?

"Did something happen?" she asked.

Consuela nodded and tears ran down her cheeks. "The policia? They come here."

"The police? Why?"

"They say..." she stopped and blubbered. "They say Mr. Joe's plane? It no arrive in Cheyenne."

Dot's blood ran cold. "What do you mean his plane didn't arrive?" she said, her voice a husky whisper.

"The policeman? He leave this..." Consuela handed Dot a card. On it was printed "Sergeant Henry Wilson, Hollywood Division" and a phone number.

Dot felt surprisingly... numb. This had to be a bad dream, or a mistake. Nothing could have happened to Joe. Just a mistake.... those words ran through her mind over and over as she picked up the phone and dialed.

When Sgt. Wilson answered, Dot identified herself in a calm, cool voice.

"I'm sorry to the bearer of bad news, ma'am," Wilson said. "The airline said your husband's plane never arrived in Cheyenne. There was a big snowstorm in the mountains. They're searching for the plane."

"So they can't find the plane?" she asked.

"That's what I've been told. They have other planes up and are looking for it."

"How do you lose an entire airplane?" she asked.

"Ma'am.... they're assuming the plane went down. The last radio contact was just after takeoff. Then... nothing."

Dot heard a whine in her head, and it slowly grew louder. The sergeant said something else about "not assuming the worst; they may have been able to set down somewhere" but the whine grew louder and louder.

The last thing she heard was Consuela's gasp and Charlie's wail as she collapsed in a faint.

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