Chapter 4

“Oh! Hello there. Billy, why didn’t you tell me we had company?” It wouldn’t register with Billy until the next day that Mrs. Ann had called Mr. William ‘Billy’, but when he did make the connection, that settled it for him. He definitely liked Mr. William calling him Billy.

“I’m Ann Baker, but you can call me Mrs. Ann, what’s your name?” “I’m Billy Brannon from next door” he said, trying on the nickname for the first time, “Very nice to meet you”. “Well, aren’t you just about the cutest thing I’ve seen all day. I’m sorry I don’t have time to stop and visit at the moment, but it is certainly nice to meet you and you’re welcome at our house any time and tell your Mom and Dad we’d love to meet them soon”. I will Mrs. Ann, but…..um…..it’s just me and my Mom next door.”, his eyes dropped to the floor searching for the words. “Oh, I see, well you be sure and tell her I said hello and that I’ll stop in soon once I get this house in order. Now I need to borrow Mr. Baker for a minute, but you stay right here and I’ll send him right back out, OK? “Yes Ma’am. And it was very nice to meet you.”

William and Ann stepped inside and they closed the door. Billy didn’t mind at all. He could use the time to gawk at the boat. He realized it said ‘Ranger’ on the side and he’d heard about them before. Now that he had a chance to look at it, he was sure it was longer than 20 feet and had a 225 horse power black motor on it. Wow! He didn’t even know they made them that big.

Billy knew he wouldn’t have long, so he set about taking in as much of that boat as he could. When he first saw the boat, it was covered, so he hadn’t seem much other than the hull. Even now, he couldn’t see much with all the tackle and boxes piled on top of it, but he could make out that it had 2 consoles and the biggest dang fishfinders he’d ever seen. One at the driver’s seat and another at the nose. The trailer had had 2 axles and the fenders on it matched the boat perfectly with the same sparkly flakes and in the well lit garage Billy half thought there were diamonds in the finish. Up at the front there was a big rubber piece mounted over the V of the hull. He’d never seen that before and wondered what it was for. He was so intent on studying it, he didn’t even realize his had had come to rest on the top cap and he was absent mindedly letting his fingers glide down the polished and smooth surface until he heard the door open. Quickly, he dropped his hand and put it in his pocket and did his best to look down at his feet quickly in the hopes that Mr. Will wouldn’t see.


Three minutes before, Ann had led William Baker deep just deep enough into the house to make sure Billy wouldn’t hear them talking and then turned around mid step and stopped William in his tracks. “William, I need about a dozen picture hangers so I can finish this hall. I want you to go to the hardware store and get them for me. But before you go, I want you to invite Billy over for lunch tomorrow at noon. And tell him to invite his Mother too. I think that boy doesn’t have a Dad around and I’ve noticed that his Mom hasn’t been home very much except at night ever since we moved in. It’s not right that he has to make his own lunch everyday and we’re going to change that.

When you invite Billy, I want you to ask him to come back over this afternoon if he can at about 3 o’clock and help you get that boat cleaned up. I don’t like it being all cluttered like that and he obviously was studying it just now. When you get back for the hardware store, I want you to help me hang these pictures and put away those winter clothes. That should give you plenty of time to go back out and meet Billy at 3.”

William had been so bombarded with orders that he realized his mouth was slightly open and he hadn’t blinked in too long. He took a breath in to start voicing his objections to getting involved with this “Billy” from next door, but just before he started to speak, he realized that just like the other kids that Ann had “adopted” over the years, this one was going to get adopted whether William objected or not. Matter of fact, whether Billy objected or not. Ann had decided. Mid-word, he changed it from “But” to “Be right back” as he reached for his keys.

Wannabe...

Chapter 5


William Baker had heard that determination in her voice many times before. There had first been Joe. Joe was the friend of the neighbor’s kids whose Dad died when Joe was in the 10th grade. Ann had seen to it that he was always included when manly things needed doing with William and that was even before they had kids of his own. Next was Tom, their oldest son Robert’s best friend. Tom’s mother died of cancer early on and Ann had stepped in to be his part time mother until Robert and Tom went off to college together. There were several others too, but most weren’t such long term adoptions like Joe and Tom. His initial reaction was to protest considering his current health, but quickly realized there was no point in arguing with her.

William stepped back into the garage and immediately saw Billy’s hand drop from the boat to his pocket. William noticed, but didn’t let on and tried not to make Billy uncomfortable about it. “Billy, I’ve got to run to the store for Mrs. Ann, and when I get back, I’ve got a few things I need to take care of, but I was wondering if you do me 2 favors.” “Sure, Mr. Will, I’d be happy to if I can”. “Well, we’ve gotten just about everything done in the house now, but this junky boat is bothering my wife and I could use some help getting it cleaned off and all this stuff put away. Would you mind meeting me back over here about 3 O’clock and helping me? I’m just not up to climbing up and down over and over and it would be a big help if you’d just get in the boat and hand me things down as I need them”. “Oh, sure I can do that. I’d really like to help you too”. “Great! The other thing, do you think you and your mother could come over for lunch tomorrow at Noon? We’d like to meet her and get to know you better too.” “Well, I’ll check with her, but I think she’ll be here for a couple of hours, midday tomorrow. I’ll check and let you know for sure when I come back over today.” “That will work. OK, I’ll see you at 3 then”. With that William Baker turned and walked Billy out of the garage towards his truck. “See you at 3 Mr. Will.”.

In all his years with Ann, he’d known her to be a patron saint of lost kids and he couldn’t remember a time where she’d made a mistake. She always had a knack for knowing what they needed and just when they needed it. Thinking about it now, she had the same knack for him as well. He just couldn’t shake the feeling that the timing was wrong this time though. Ever since his diagnosis, he had made it his task to making sure she’d have everything she’d needed after he was gone. The house was too big and too far out for just her and the land was more than she could care for. This city was closer to everything she needed and more central for visits to and from Susan and Robert with the airport just an hour away. And with the doctor bills really cutting into their savings, it just made good sense to downsize and re-prioritize some for her. William didn’t care where he died really. Made no difference to him, but he just couldn’t leave all those responsibilities for her to take care of. But this Billy just wasn’t in his plan. She would have enough to deal with in the coming years without adopting every little kid in the neighborhood. Then again….this was Ann. There would be no changing her mind now. Maybe like some of the others, she’d give him what he needed in short order so the boy could just move on in life. Still, he could see what attracted her to him in the first place: Skinny as a rail, unkempt, but polite as a preacher, interested and obviously without a rudder. Well, if this is what Ann wanted, then he’d see to it that it got done the way she wanted. He just hoped that his strength would hold out to get this job done so that after he was gone, there would be nothing left undone for her to deal with, which, was all he really wanted anyway.


Wannabe...

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