The old man’s bridge

this is one of my first short stories, what does everyone think

             In this town there was this grand river that passed right through the middle of the town. It spread the town into two. The only way to cross from side to side was through a bridge. The bridge was quite humble until not too long ago when a new more marvelous one was built to replace the old one. The new bridge was a sight to behold. It was the town’s most distinguished landmark and of the whole county. The bridge became synonymous with the town name so when one said the name of the town, the image of the bridge would pop in one’s head.

Under this amazing bridge lived this homeless man. He always kept mostly to himself never really bothering anyone. Only minding his own business and he never begged to anyone for anything. The only time people paid attention to him was when he greeted them “good morning” or “good evening.”  So for the most part he was ignored by the town.

But there was always this one boy who would pass by and greet the man back. Every morning as the boy headed to school and afternoon when he headed back home. He lived in the side of the town where the schools were not located so he had to cross this bridge every time he headed to school. The boy who was cheerful whenever he greeted the old man and the old man responded with a gentle smile, greeted him back. It had become their daily routine. Never did the man stop the boy to continue the conversation or vice versa. It was just a greeting and nothing else.

Acknowledgement was what the greeting meant signified to the old man that he still existed. As time passed the young boy became older and moved away from this town. Of course it was so that he could continue his education. His parents decided to move away as well since the job was located out of town and the boy no longer went to the school, so little reason was left for the parents to stay as well.

About 10 years passed from the time the boy went to college till he decided to visit this town where the he grew up. He wanted to see how much changed in the 10 years that had passed but nothing significant happened except one thing, the bridge. It did not seem as marvelous as he used to remember and imagine it. It was there but there was more trash scattered around the bridge and maintenance needed to be done in some places that surprised him since all the times he crossed it, these kind of things were never an issue. It was subtle changes but changes that tarnished the image that the young man had of the bridge. “Why” was the word that kept popping in his head.

The place where he could get probably find some answers was at the town hall. So as he went towards the town hall, he noticed something or rather noticed that something was missing but could not figure out what it was exactly. When he reached they town hall and started to ask around, all he got were blank stares and they also did not realize that the bridge had these issues. After they dug up old files and they noticed what was missing. It seemed that some time back these reports that were filed every time up keeping or maintenance needed to be done were not being filed.

That seemed odd and to make things more strange, the person who filed was always the same person, rather than different people, which was usually the norm. So I asked the people if I may see the files to see who it was the written the reports, and what has happened to him. After digging up they noticed that they haven’t received any new requests or forms to maintain the bridge since about four years ago. In the forms they noticed that they are always filled out by a man named James Finner. Who is this James guy and why hasn’t he written and submitted any new requests to maintain the bridge?

So the boy asked the people there and none seemed to know. The boy then decided to investigate and ask the man why he hasn’t continued submitting these forms to maintain the special bridge the boy grew up with. He searched through the yellow book and the town’s census to find out where James lives at.

 But there wasn’t a James Finner who lives in this town for the last decade or maybe more, “How peculiar “the boy thought. Is it a phantom he jokingly thought so he decided to google the name but it was going to be hard since he doesn’t know anything about this James Finner guy? As he is scrolling down the page and clicking different sites trying to see if this person was the one he was looking for. After an hour he ends up in this website about this architectural firm. It stated that James was the man who designed and made sure the bridge was built the way he specified. Aha the boy thought.

The boy’s face lit with a look of satisfaction. And a feeling accomplishment like managing to find the answer to a hard math problem. But there was a problem it showed that James hasn’t been employed in this firm any more for decades, still this was the only lead the boy had so he decided to call the firm and see if they had any information about James. So he called only to get the response he wasn’t looking for, which was that they didn’t know anything about James but they did have the address he lived at when he worked for the firm.

 He went to the house to find this couple living there. They looked very mature and did mention that James and his family were the previous owners but they moved over 25 years ago. He asked if they had any information about them and the couple pointed to another house who they said that this old man had lived in the neighborhood his whole life.

Finally, maybe he found a good source to unveil who and where James is. The boy now getting a little bit more obsess with finding and knowing who James is then he thought he would. So he knocked on the door just to see this old man come out.

The boy introduced himself and quickly explained that he was looking to find this James Finner and mention where he used to live and the old man said “yeah we know who he is and his family too” what a relief, he then asked if the old man knew how to get in contact with them but again he got a negative response.

The boy then asked if they can tell him about how the family and James was like and the old man told him a little but about what he was like. He described him as a calm, nice person. He kept mostly to himself but they had a very warm household.

He told him how his family were happy and threw this small party where most of the neighbors were invited to celebrate the bridge completion. The boy wanted to still know more he mentioned that James was still around since he submitted the forms that kept knowing that they need to do to maintaining the bridge. The old man looked perplexed since he never seen James around so they moved away. He told the boy, that was weird since another firm scouted James because of the bridge so it seemed hard to believe James was back here all the along for the past 10 or so years. He asked if the old man knew who the new firm was.

The old man said that this firm had the name of this famous bridge in California. He asked “was it the Golden Gate Bridges” and the couple brightened up and said yeah that was the name.

The boy found another lead but felt almost as if he was being played with. Always finding another clue to keep going but not a big enough clue to know who James is, and what happened to him.

However, he decided to look up and call the firm anyway, only to get another dead, they just told him James has not worked for them in quite some time. Feeling defeated, he decided to call it quits. But only in searching for him. He then decided to pay tribute to the man who created one of the most magnificent structures the boy has ever seen. He got the town to build a plaque in the honor of James Finner. In a way the boy felt something he couldn’t say out loud, a feeling of sorrow, emptiness, and hollowness.

After the ceremony all these complex questions just swelled up and poured into the boy's mind and he used them to change the way he viewed the world. Thinking of what it means to create something and what happens to that after he is gone.

The boy thought "I just hope that James, whose life is gone, is just in peace. I do wish I could have met him in person, and know how his life really turned out."

Years passed by after all that was done when the boy got a phone call with the voice on the other side of the line saying thank you for helping to keep James legacy alive and when he asked the voice who it was that was calling, he heard a response. Except the weird thing it sounded like the voice of the old man he once knew.