Sal Westerman, the unoffical leader of the Coffee and Cake Checker Club in Bismarck, North Dakota, was on a two-week vacation with his wife Sylvia. His club didn't meet during the summer months, and Sal and Sylvia sometimes rented a lakeshore cabin and relaxed in a pleasant environment away from the big city.

Now, what constitutes a big city may vary according to your location, but in 1955 (the year in which all of these stories take place), Bismarck was considered a big city, at least for central North Dakota. The population would soon cross the 25,000 mark and for North Dakotans that was big.

The lake cabin was near Garrison, North Dakota, which had a population of 1,800 at best. It was just large enough for Sal and Sylvia to pick up groceries and supplies to take to the cabin.

Sal spent mornings fishing on the lake in a little rowboat provided by the cabin owners, and afternoons sitting outside with a checker magazine or two. Sylvia went for nature walks, did some sewing, and prepared rustic meals in the cabin's very basic kitchen.

Sal had noted, however, that about midway in their stay, a visitor would be coming from Pennsylvania. That would be Young Ed, who had already made a name for himself as a master problem composer and who corresponded regularly with Sal. Now, recall that in our last episode, Sal had started on a "secret" summer project to create a book of problems composed by Ed. Many of the problems were already selected and Young Ed and Sal planned to work together for a day or two to finalize the book. Young Ed couldn't stay very long as he needed to continue on to the West Coast to visit with relatives before returning to Pennsylvania at the end of his vacation from work.

Young Ed would be arriving in Bismarck by train and would take the daily bus up to Garrison. He wouldn't hear of Sal and Sylvia driving back to town to pick him up; it was more than enough that they meet him at the Garrison bus stop.

The day of Young Ed's arrival came. Sylvia didn't want Sal to drive as his eyesight was no longer the best, so she drove and Sal rode along. Young Ed had just gotten off the bus when the Westermans arrived. Even though they had never before met in person, Sal and Young Ed recognized each other at once.

"So good to meet you at last!" Sal said, giving Young Ed a warm handshake.

"Same here," Young Ed replied.

"Have a good trip?" Sylvia asked.

"I like the train," Young Ed said, adding, "I never did care for those noisy airplanes."

It was now late afternoon and Sylvia suggested they stop at a cafe before going back to the cabin. The Fisherman's Cafe was their favorite, and over an early dinner, Young Ed and Sal--- naturally--- talked checkers while Sylvia pretended polite interest.

The ensuing evening and nearly all of the following day was filled with checker work as Sal and Young Ed occupied the kitchen table and reviewed problems, draft writeups, and so on, only leaving the table when chased by Sylvia.

"I've got to put lunch out," she'd say, "unless you both want to starve. Go for a walk in the woods or go out on the boat for an hour or so!"

Young Ed and Sal would then good-naturedly set their work aside and get some fresh air.

The following day, just before noon, Young Ed and Sal pronounced their work done. The book was ready for the mimeograph machine. Sal agreed to do the final typing when he got back to Bismarck, and then send the manuscript to Young Ed, who would see about geting it duplicated and into distribution.

Sylvia made a last lunch of fresh fish she had picked up in town early that morning. Then it was time to take Young Ed to catch his bus back to Bismarck, where that evening his train for the West Coast would depart.

Young Ed and Sal didn't know exactly when they would meet again, but Sal said fondly, "We'll surely keep in touch and I'll get that manuscript to you before summer is over."

"Thanks for everything, Sal," Young Ed said, "and thanks, Sylvia, for your kind hospitality."

Then within minutes Young Ed was on his bus and off on the next stage of his trip.

"A nice young man," Sylvia said, "I'm sure he's going to have a great career and leave a wonderful legacy.

The years would prove Sylvia right.

---

Certain liberties were taken with this story. "Young Ed" is of course a fictional version of Ed Atkinson, but in 1955 the real Ed would have been very young indeed and certainly not traveling across the country. Other details, such as daily bus service to Bismarck, are also invented.

But what is certainly not invented is that Ed indeed left us a wonderful legacy, filled with sparkling checker problems and entertaining checker lore. Ed is surely missed, and we hope that our own "secret project" to publish a small volume of his problems, can come to eventual fruition.

Here's one of our last remaining Ed Atkinson compositions.

Ed's problems are always a delight. When you've worked out this one, click on Read More to check your solution.

Solution

22-17 14-18 32-28 24-27 3-7 12-10 17-14 10-17 21-32 5-9 29-25 9-14 25-21---A 14-18 or 31-26 28-24 White Wins.

A---Not 25-22 20-24---B 28-19 31-26 Draw.

B---Not 31-26 22-17 14-21 28-24 White wins.

Ed titled this problem Slingshot. Study it closely; we find the branch at Note A most interesting!