Short Stories

JUST SOME OLD MAN

by Jim Newton 
10/29/20
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     As was his habit, on fair-weather days the old man sat rocking upon the front porch of the house he has referred to as home for many years. slowly rocking back and forth while looking but only half seeing all that passed before him in the street and in the yards of his neighborhood. Generally, he kept his right hand loosely balanced on top of an old wooden cane. His feet were covered in worn slip-on sneakers. At times, he looked to strangers passing by to be asleep with his eyes open. While at other times, he appeared to be staring absently into space.

     From a self-imposed distance for supposed security, more likely social laziness, none of his neighbors made the effort to know the old man. Of course, he had made attempts at knowing them, but to no avail. At times, they whispered to one another things like, "There's that creepy old man." On the days when the porch was unoccupied, never did a person raise concerns as to his wellbeing. The neighbors looked on with suspicion whenever the old man waved at the kids and spoke with them in a very friendly sort of way. In muffled voices, they expressed how odd they thought him to be in his friendliness toward the children. They rarely and coldly acknowledged his waves and attempts at friendliness.

     Once a week a van was seen in his driveway with the sign "SOUTHSIDE GROCERS" on the door. The van brought groceries ordered by the old man through his phone. It was a service his daughter had arranged over the internet because she lived two states away. Three years previous, he wasn't sure, he had been forced to give up driving after a stroke had caused his right leg to quit working reliably and he had been involved in two minor accidents. A son lived on the opposite side of the country, and, with his busy family and career, had many excuses but no time to visit. But the old man always knew they loved him, and always refused their offer to live with them. "This house is sacred - this house is filled with so many memories of my wife - your mother," he would softly say. He continued on with his life and complained rarely. His children and grandchildren inwardly thought that Grandpa had a plan. But Grandpa knew that God had a plan. He just had to be patient. So, when doctor appointments came up, the old man called the senior center that offered free transportation to doctors and the Social Security office and went on with his life.

    When the old man lost his wife of sixty-one years about four years ago, It was as if someone had cut out his soul, his heart, his will to live. Most of the thoughts running through his head as he sat on the porch were of her and him as one. He pictured her in his memories the very same way he pictured her up to the moment of her parting; she remained young and the most beautiful and kind-hearted person he had ever known. Memories flooded his mind with pictures of her walking beside him gently holding his hand, listening to his griping or future plans but usually taking his side in matters. She fretted over him when he worked too many hours or skipped meals. How uncountable were all the other wonderful things this selfless woman did that made his world and that of others better. He smiled as he remembered her answer to the grandkid that asked, "What does God look like?" She looked him in the eye and said, "God looks like you and me with a warm smile on our face and a heart filled with love." Then there was the time one of the granddaughters asked her, "Grandma, where does love come from?" She picked the granddaughter up and sat her on her lap. Her explanation was, "All Love comes from God, but by the time it comes out of a human's mouth, it is so diluted and polluted that it has lost most of its kick." The old man remembered fondly the time his wife greeted him upon his arrival home from work one day with the usual kiss and how was your day? On this particular day, she also carried an envelope in one hand. She looked at him with those somebody-needs-our-help eyes saying, "Our neighbor, Frank Carter, has a new job starting next week, but he has been out of work for some time. Well, after much prodding, Helen told me today if they don't have the house payment made sometime tomorrow the bank is starting foreclosure. Also, I peeked into their refrigerator and cabinets when she was in the bathroom. I saw nothing you would refer to as food. You know that could be us someday, and God..." A big smile crossed his face when he recalled cutting her off and chiding her with, "Now, you already had me before you brought God into the mix. Give me that envelope, I assume it has house-payment money in it, Detective. After dark, I'll sneak over and tape it to their door." Let me write something on the envelope. He wrote the words, "Take great comfort that God hears our prayers." How he missed her, but, through his faith, he knew someday they would be together in spirit. God always has a plan. He knew that it just takes patience.

     Once in awhile his thoughts played reruns of his wartime experiences like the time when he had been called on to save the lives of his fellow soldiers. It was a time he had faced almost certain death when circumstances had forced him to run across fifty open-yards to neutralize an enemy machine-gunner that was wounding and killing many of his fellow soldiers. He remembered praying while running, "God, you know that I have complete faith and trust in you, but you are scaring me to death!" His good friend had also exposed himself to the intense enemy fire to bravely lay down a cover-fire for him as he ran zigzagging toward the enemy position. His friend afterward asked him who that person was running beside him the entire way? The old man remembered how shaken he was upon hearing this. He didn't hesitate, answering, "My Lord!" His buddy never challenged him on this conclusion.

     He and his wife had purchased this home thirty five years ago when it and the neighborhood were new. Their neighbors talked and helped one another. It was common for neighbors to shout out greetings or, at the very least, to wave. Over time, the homes aged, and the original neighbors moved or even departed from this world. Naturally, the neighborhood along with its personal relationships began to die. The paint on the homes was no longer kept fresh nor were the lawns mowed regularly. Many homes became rental properties with families moving in or out having stayed only a short time with the opportunity never there nor the effort expended to get to know one another casually, much less personally. Few people had a stake in ownership or pride, and the ones that had ownership seemed to show little pride in themselves and even less in their neighborhood.

     In the last month, there had been two drive-by shootings, and three people killed as further evidence of neighborhood deterioration. Seconds after the last shooting, the old man had seen a car pass by at high speed. The sound of gunfire was familiar to the old veteran. He didn't run for cover indoors like many people. He sat and observed. As the car roared by, he made mental notes about the vehicle and its inhabitants. After a one-person argument in his head, he talked himself out of calling the police. Now, that same car was menacingly creeping down the street.

     The old man's mental radar and alert system came on. There was no doubt in his mind that the car was filled with the same young men inside. The car's occupants stared at the old man with those youthful-tough-guy sneers on their faces. A cigarette hung out the side of their mouths while one tipped a beer between drags. The old man watched closely and noticed the absence of a car tag. Ditto from the car the other day. The car cruised slowly by and down the street turning at the next intersection. It was at this moment that he became aware of the two little girls playing in the yard of the house next door.

     The girls playing were maybe five and seven he surmised. He had seen them several times playing always unattended, dirty, and unkempt in general. He thought them adorable just like his granddaughters. The girl's parents often exited their car with a beer in hand and looking the worse for wear. Frequent visitors at odd hours of the night raised his suspicions. He suspected drug dealing. Though he outwardly showed little interest, inside he was closely monitoring the situation.    

     While keeping an eye on the girls as they ran, shouted, and laughed, he kept his eye on the car with the creepy characters inside. The vehicle had returned. He came to the conclusion that there was about to occur another drive-by shooting. At the same time, he was convinced that it was going to be directed at the house next door where the little girls were playing innocently in the front yard.

     The fairly new-to-the-neighborhood people across the street from the old man sat watching television in their front room that contained a large picture window with open curtains. The wife happened to stand up at this time to close the curtains as the evening was darkening quickly. She commented, "I've never seen that old man across the street out of his rocking chair and off the porch before." Her husband nodded absently in a television haze.

     Just then, the old man had stood up to shout to the girls to get in the house, but realized what he really needed to do was run to them, grab them, and take them to safety - but his old legs.

      At this moment, the lady across the street continued watching as he came off the porch and began his race toward the girls. The old man, as was his custom in life or death situations, said a prayer, "God, I'm going to need my right leg to work for a bit here, and I have faith and trust in you to do just that to give me a chance to save the lives of these little girls." That said, he let go of the cane and took off like a young man of twenty-something toward the little girls that had taken absolutely no notice of his actions. The lady looking out her front window across the street was definitely paying attention to the old man.

     As the lady across the street observed the old man's actions, she let out a shriek, "Jerry, that old man is going to abduct those little girls playing in the yard across the street! You've got to stop him while I call the police." That is when she noticed the same car as the old man was seeing. She was another person that had seen the car in the neighborhood previously and thought it suspicious.    

     Meanwhile, the old man got to the girls a fraction of a second before the car pulled even with their yard. In that fraction of a second, he launched his old body into the air with all the agility and grace of that young soldier he had been so long ago. It was as though his body had been dipped in the fountain of youth. As he flew gracefully through the air, he grabbed both girls pulling them to the ground and to safety under him all in one smooth and almost effortless motion, an action he had practiced while serving in the army so many years ago was being put to use - again. Nobody observing his current actions knew any of this history.

     The lady and her husband from across the street looked on in horror as they heard several gunshots fired. Barbarity was unfolding before their eyes. The view of the old man and the girls was blocked by the car as those shots were fired. As the car sped up and flew away, there was no mistaking the real purpose the old man had in mind as he had run toward the girls. The woman's husband flew out the door running toward the scene while his wife called the police and followed his same path.

     Upon reaching the bodies, the husband first saw the two girls wiggle their way out from under the old man. Not wasting any time, he grabbed the girls and shuffled them back to his approaching wife. Next, he cautiously bent down and very gently rolled the old man over. "Oh my gosh, I think he's dead - I can't believe it. He was just running over here - and now - and now he is dead - gone. I'm telling you, this old man is a hero. I have never seen anything like it. He didn't even hesitate. He just ran over here and dove on top of them to protect them. He looked like a star athlete. what courage it must have taken to do this selfless act. He had to have known that he was dead the moment he took off running." He said all this in a quiet and reverent tone of voice as was due to the old man in the very least.

     His wife stood staring down at the old man with her arms around the girls while tears streamed down her cheeks. "I just thought he was some old grumpy man. We didn't even know his name. Oh, God, I wonder if he has a wife or kids? We know absolutely nothing about him. Bless his heart. How could someone this good be just across the street and we never even so much as said hello?"

     The police cars came streaming in filling the street while neighbors began to pour like water from the surrounding houses. One neighbor blurted out, "Who is that guy?" Another answered, "He's just some old man that lives in that house over there."

     One of the policemen who was bending over the body and listening to what had taken place. covered the old man's body with a sheet from one of the neighbors. He and the other policemen voiced offense at the identification of him as "just some old man." One of the policemen patted the old man's body softly as he said, "He's not just some old man!" Then softly whispering, "He's another one of God's lights that shone all too briefly. Take a good look. You won't see many people like this in your lifetime. Strange, but last night I opened the Bible to study and it opened to John 15:13: 'Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.'" The policeman finished carefully and lovingly covering the body, then proceeded to stand up, and, with tears rolling down his cheeks, saluted the old veteran whose purpose on earth was fulfilled and off to the eternal he had longed for - according to God's plan. Now, everyone there knew he wasn't "just an old man."