"Believers"

A Story by Jack Buckner

Old man Willy teaches Little Davey what it really means to be a believer.

“Believers”

By John Smith

Old man Willy walked out of the screen door and over to his old wooden porch swing and sat down. The outdated wood creaked and the chains rattled as he began to swing back and forth. His name is William Tanner. He was seventy-eight years old. He had dark skin and a baldhead with a thick gray mustache under his nose. He sat there for several minutes before he looked across the wheat filed that was growing in his front yard and saw Little Davey running through it.

Davey was the son of Lois Miller, the closet neighbor to Willy. She lived about a mile down the red dirt road that ran beside Willy’s house. It was just Davey and Lois that lived in that house. Randal Miller, who had the reputation for being the town drunk, died tragically in a boating accident when Davey was only two. Lois was still bitter on the accident. That’s when she found friendship in Willy. She would bake him apple pies once a week and sent Davey down the road to deliver it.

Most of the town figured Davey would end up just like hi father. But not Willy. He was a strong believer that you can grow up to be whatever or whomever you want. Davey ran up the stairs of the porch of the old man with the apple pie in his hands. He handed the pie to Willy and sat down beside him.

“Hey Willy!” Davey said happily. Willy smiled at him and opened the plastic lid covering the pie. Davey was twelve years old. He was a quite shy you man. He got teased a lot at school because they too thought Davey would grow up just like his father. ‘The acorn doesn’t fall far from the tree’ as they would say to him. He would also be teased due to the fact that his closest friend was over seventy. But it was true. They were the best of friends. Davey went over nearly every chance he got. He loved the old man and the old man loved him. Willy saw Davey as the son he never had and Davey saw him as a father. Willy stood up from the swing and walked over to the screen door. He turned around and looked back at Davey.

“Let’s dig into some of that pie! What do you say kido?” Willy asked him. Davey shook his head eagerly. Willy turned back around and walked inside. Davey looked over to the table beside the swing where the pie was sitting. Beside the pie was an old black and white photograph of a woman. She had dark skin and short black curly hair. She was thin and short. He picked up the picture and began looking at it. He looked on the backside of the picture. In blue ink it read MY LOVE LADASHA. Meanwhile Willy walked back out of the house holding a long silver knife and two paper towels. He walked over to the swing and sat back down on it. Willy handed Davey a paper towel He reached over on the table and grabbed the pie and began to cut it in to small triangles. He picked up a slice with the pie and handed it over Davey. Davey grabbed it with the paper towel and smiled at the old man with thanks. The old man then grabbed himself a piece of pie. They began eating it. Then Davey looked over a Willy.

“Who is Ladasha?” Davey asked curiously. Willy bowed his head and placed the paper towel on his lap. He whipped a tear from his eye and looked at Davey. “Davey? What’s the matter?” Davey asked him. “Did I say something wrong?” Davey continued. Willy smiled at him.

“No son, you didn’t do anything wrong. Ladasha was my wife.” Willy informed him.

“You were married?” Davey asked him surprised.

“Yes. It was a short marriage.” Willy said to him. Davey looked down at the ground and then back up to Willy.

“What happened to your wife Willy?” Davey asked.

“Well son, you know how I served in the Navy years ago?” Willey asked him.

“Are you kidding? I love it when you tell those old war stories!” Davey said enthusiastically. Willy giggled and continued looking at Davey.

“Well, while I was gone, one day I got word that something terribly had happened to my wife.” Willy started. Davey leaned in hanging on his every word.

“What? What happened to her Willy?” Davey asked him.

“She…was…rapped and murdered in this very house.” Willy said. Davey gasped with shock. “I was devastated, especially when I found out that she was five weeks pregnant.” Wally informed the young boy. Davey placed Willy’s shoulder.

“I’m so sorry Willy! I didn’t know!” Davey said to him. Willy smiled at him.

“It’s okay Davey! It was a long time ago. I’ll see my wife and unborn child soon.” Willy said. Davey looked over at him strangely.

“What do you mean?” Davey asked him. Willy smiled.

“I’m a believer Davey. I believe that people get what they deserve. I believe in the perfect ending. I believe in happiness after death. I believe in God almighty!” Willy said to him. Davey continued listening. He reached over and gave Willy a hug. “Davey, don’t give into what other people say about you. Don’t ever grow up the way they tell you. Don’t ever pretend to be someone you are not. Be who you want to be.” Willy concluded. Davey nodded and looked down at his watch that read 4:40.

“Oh crap, I got to go! I was supposed to be home by 4!” Davey stood up and ran off of the porch. “Bye Willy!” Davey said. Willy waved.

“Be sure to thank your mother for the great pie!” Willy yelled. He walked back over to the swing and sat down.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER

Davey was clattering away at the keys on his laptop on a new manuscript he was working on when hiss wife, Debra, walks in with the newspaper. She lays it on his desk and walks behind him. She put her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek.

“Are you almost done?” Debra asked him. Davey smiled and kissed her back. He looked over at the newspaper where it read OBITUARIES. At the top of the page was a picture of a man with dark skin and a bushy gray mustache under his nose. Under the picture it read William Tanner. He began to tear up as he picked up the paper. Then the phone began to ring. Davey reached over and grabbed it. He pushed the TALK button and answered.

“Hello?” Davey asked answering.

“Hey Davey. I’m sure you have heard of Willy’s passing.” His mother said on the other end of the line.

“Yeah.” Davey answered back beginning to cry.

“He left everything in his will to you. He also wanted you to do the eulogy.” His mother informed him.

“What? Why me?” Davey asked.

“You were the closest thing he had to family. I just thought you would like to know.” She said.

“Yeah mom! Thanks! I love you. Goodbye.” Davey said hanging up the phone dazed. Debra grabbed the newspaper from him.

“Who was William Tanner?” She asked him.

“He was an old friend! He was my father figure.” Davey replied. He stood up from his chair and walked to the door.

“I need to be alone for a little while.” Davey said walking out of the room.

On the day of the funeral, Davey looked as at everyone as he and the other men in his family carried the casket to the grave. They sat it down beside the grave and walked back into the crowd. The priest stood up and looked over at Davey.

“Davey, I believe Mr. Tanner wanted you to say a few words.” He said to him. Davey nodded and walked over to the casket.

“Good morning everyone. I’ll admit that I’ve never done this before. But I’ll try to do my best.” Davey began. “Willy was dear friend to me and my family. He was the nicest man I had ever met. He taught me what it meant to be a believer.” Davey continued. The crowd began to mumble and talk amongst themselves. “You see, he, other than my mother, was the only one who thought I would grow up to be nothing like my dead beat father. I proved you guys wrong. This man saved my life.” Davey continued. “Now I can’t quote the book. The chapter or the verse! But this man taught me what it means to believe. Weather that means religion or other things. I am a believer! Are you?” Davey concluded. He walked back into the crowd and grabbed his wife by the hand and led her to their car. They got in the car and drove away from the cemetery as Brooks & Dunn’s 2005 hit “Believe” came on the radio.

Courtesy of TTP Entertainment

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© 2013 Jack Buckner

Author's Note

Please leave comments and tell me what you guys think!

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Featured Review

Lyn Anderson

This is a beautiful human story - your knack for weaving complex scenes into characters with good back stories in a short story is very good. If you are looking for critique, I can find nothing more than a couple of typos - hi should be his, kido should be kiddo, and hiss should be his

Posted 10 Years Ago

1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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Reviews

Clara

Lovely short story, John.
I too, believe in happy endings and this was a nice write.

Be careful with your spelling though.
I think you missed some words in the story too.
Other than that, I enjoyed reading this.