Was gonna make ya'll wait till Monday, but my conscience got the better of me. YES! I don have one. Pfft.


BTW, the word count on this thang is 17,619. Guess I'm not much of a short story writer after all.

Chapter 18

Over the next two days William and Billy worked on Billy’s house on odds and ends in the early part of the morning and spent the mid day on the boat and Billy fished in the afternoon to let William rest. In no time, they had transformed the bare boat into a fishing machine. William had cut some plywood and covered it with outdoor carpet and put down between the benches making the floor flat, but used 1/4 inch to keep the weight down and had glued strips of Styrofoam down between the ribs for support and to keep it from sitting in water. He had a couple of old plastic seats and a pair of swivels that worked out nicely for the front and back seats. They filled out the registration online at the library and Billy had insisted on reimbursing Mr. Baker for the $23 fee from money his Mom had given him. Mr. Baker agreed, but only after he talked Billy into a BBQ lunch and he agreed not to tell Ann about it. William installed some cargo netting on the front and back side of the middle bench to keep odds and ends in and showed Billy how to skull a boat. He also took his time making sure Billy knew to keep his weight low when moving around and the importance of a PFD and the throwable that doubled as a seat cushion. On the last day, they made a run to the store and bought a brand new paddle. Mr. Make Do had given them one, but it wasn’t in that good of shape and it was a good idea to have a spare anyway. When they’d finished up, William got some paint and Billy drew out the registration numbers on the front of the boat in anticipation of receiving the stickers from the state. When he finished, he turned to Mr. Baker and asked “Is it OK to name a boat this small or does it have to be big like a sail boat?” “Billy, it’s your boat, you can do whatever you want with it”. Billy moved the paint bucket around to the transom and went to work. After a few minutes, Mr. Baker moved around back to see what he came up with. “I think Mr. Make Do would like that Billy”. In black letters it read “SHADOW”.

They put away their stuff and made plans to move the boat up to the lake the next AM after they finished the fascia boards on the back of the house. Billy took off for the lake and William went back home. He opened the door grinning from ear to ear just like he had for the last 3 days running. He went about the house doing things and telling Ann all about the morning’s activities. When he got to the kitchen he turned the water on and was busily washing his hands when Ann said from behind him, “Billy, the doctor’s office called.”. Billy stopped washing his hands and looked up and out the window, but didn’t move. He hadn’t thought about any of that in at least 2 days. Without turning and continuing to wash his hands, he said “Oh. What’d they say?” “Well. They want to run more tests. They said the ones they ran weren’t conclusive and the lab messed one up and they want to run them again.” William finished washing, grabbed a towel and dried his hands then slowly folded it and put it on the kitchen counter. He used the time to gather his thoughts. It was time for Ann to know what he’d decided. “Ann, I” “So, I set the appointment for Tuesday and we need to be there by 9. Now, I’ve got clothes to fold and you promised me you’d look at the faucet in the spare bathroom”. She kissed him on the cheek and walked out of the room.

Twice that evening, William tried to bring the subject back up but every time he did Ann would cut him off and change the subject then take off to do something in the house. Later that night, he had tried one last time when they got into bed and Ann stopped him and made him go get her some aspirin in the front of the house. When he’d gotten back to the bedroom, she pretended to be asleep. He smiled to himself, set the aspirin on the night stand and got back into bed quietly as to not “wake” her.

He lay there thinking for a long time unable to go to sleep. Ann obviously didn’t want to hear it, but he had decided there was nothing else that could be done. The move was complete, the house was in order, Ann was all set. Besides, it wouldn’t be like he would drop dead mid step one day. With a little luck, he had a good little while left. Only Billy next door was left undone and even he was well on his way. He thought about all he’d done in these last few weeks. He sure would like to get to go fishing with Billy on that little lake but chemo would make sure he couldn’t if he let Ann talk him into it. No, his mind was made up and that was just the way it was going to be. He imagined fishing with Billy and all the things he wanted to show him. That made him think back to fishing with his Dad. He didn’t remember much from those first few trips but he remembered losing a good fish when he was maybe 6 or 7 years old and his Dad laughing about it when he looked at the line and the knot William had tied and slipped loose. He was mad as a hatter at his Dad for laughing about that fish, but he remembered his Dad putting down his rod and moving over in the boat to sit beside him and his Dad showing him how to tie a knot and how to check to make sure it wouldn’t slip. He remembered his Dad’s huge, rough hands on his showing him where to loop and when to pull. He often couldn’t remember what his Dad looked like when William was that young. It was hard to remember past that frail, sick man he became in that last year before he passed. But William always remembered those hands. He thought about that frying pan sized hand – hard as iron and rough as sand paper - on his when his Dad would let him run that old Johnson on his boat as he drifted off to sleep.


Wannabe...