Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: GENTLE (10/21/21)
-
TITLE: Andy's Angst | Previous Challenge Entry
By Arlene Baker
10/27/21 -
LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE
SEND A PRIVATE COMMENT
ADD TO MY FAVORITES
I ain’t cried since I was… A scowl formed as he sifted dim, unwanted memories. Since I was about Johnny’s little brother's age. Johnny often shared his mother’s letters, filled with the antics of 5-year-old Willie. She always wrote of happy family times.
It’ll be a cold day before I’ll hear anything from my so-called people. He swallowed a snort. The Great War was Andy’s escape from the hell of home. On the battlefield he appreciated the equal opportunity to destroy his foe … not like that place where his father’s fists ruled. No, here the British government blessed him with gun and bayonet and turned him loose in the trenches. Every time the commanding officer ordered the men over the top, he led the charge, hoping his miserable life would end that day … as a hero on the Somme. Every time, he returned – alive and disappointed.
Not Johnny. His mama loved him. His daddy had taught him all the intricacies of running a gentleman’s stable. His daddy had handled His Majesty’s horses through the Second Boer War. The moment King George V requested volunteers, Johnny ran over to the recruit office and signed up.
As the smoke from their latest charge drifted east, Andy brushed his fingertips across Johnny’s cooling brow and allowed them to drift down to close unseeing eyes. Was that only six months ago? He shuddered. That is where he met Johnny. The happy kid in search of adventure while Andy hoped to end it all.
Why, God? He railed. Why is he dead and me still alive? He’s worth 10 of me. Maybe more. He studied the body again, torso shredded by a Hun blast.
At least he died at the top of the trench, so’s we could pull the body back. His parents will have a proper grave to visit him by and by. Not like those other blokes strewn across No-Mans-Land. Another shiver shook him. Too dangerous to retrieve their fallen comrades in that area, other soldiers watched in horror as rats consumed the bodies decimated by endless shelling.
Suddenly, Andy grasped his bayonet and sawed off a strand of Johnny’s hair. His fingers curled around it as an irksome tear escaped. God, let me die, too.
His thoughts turned toward Johnny’s family. I have to write them. They need more than a name on a dead roll. While he pondered what to say, a plan invaded his jaded mind.
“I will take your place.” He bent to whisper in Johnny’s unhearing ear. “I don’t mean to become a son,” he rushed to say. “I’m going to send my pay to them. I have nowhere else to send it. I can do it secret like so’s they never find out.”
Unfamiliar hope crept into his sleeping heart. That’s what I will do. I will help them in any possible way. He paused to bow his head.
Please, God. Let me survive this nightmare. I finally have a reason to live. Allow me to do so for Johnny’s family.
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.
Accept Jesus as Your Lord and Savior Right Now - CLICK HERE
JOIN US at FaithWriters for Free. Grow as a Writer and Spread the Gospel.
Kudos.