Farewell PFC Polk: The End of a Nightmare (In the Valley of Hope Book 2)

by Richard Weirich

  Monday was an exciting day for Eddie. Early that morning, Walter Abernathy finally showed up and held a behind closed doors meeting with Otto Bly. Finally, something was about to happen. Eddie couldn’t wait. He also was dying to say something to Buddy about what he saw Saturday night. Not only were Buddy’s days with the program numbered but Eddie just had to know about that girl he saw him with. And he knew just the right time ask.

  As usual, Sally was their waitress in the hotel dining room and Eddie was about to put an end to her sweet talk to Buddy. When Sally stood by the table to take their order, Eddie fired his question at Buddy. “Hey, Charles. Who’s that babe I saw you with Saturday night?”

  Buddy failed to respond, just stared at his menu.

  Eddie wasn’t about to leave it alone. “You were all gussied up. Suit and tie. That gal must have been mighty special.”

  Still no response from Buddy and Sally was about to burst out laughing.

  “Saw you with my own eyes. You can’t deny it. At the Esso on 14th Street. Drivin’ a car, too. You’ve been holding out on us.”

  Will joined in on the conversation. “Charles, is that right?”

  Buddy remained fixed on his menu but grinning from ear to ear. “You caught me,” he said. “Guilty as charged.”

  Then Eddie turned his attention to Sally. “Old Charles here has him a gal. Bet that’s breakin’ your heart, ain’t it. We all figured you were sweet on him.”

  “Devastated,” she said smiling. “What can I get you fellas this evening? Turkey and dressing is tonight’s blue plate special. $3.50. Drink’s included.”

  Eddie looked at Buddy and then he looked at Sally and neither appeared rattled by his revelation. “I knew it. I was right all along. You have just been playing hard to get, playing up to Charles when you’ve really got a thing for me.”

  “That’s it,” said Sally sarcastically. “Playing hard to get and plan to keep it that way.” Now, may I please have your order? Other guests are waiting.”

  Will laughed at Sally’s rebuff of Eddie but Otto remained strangely quiet. He was faced with the unpleasant task of releasing one of the members of his crew.

  Friday was the last day of the month and payday. After their quick strategy meeting, Otto told Buddy and Will to load up the car and that he would be with them in a minute. When Eddie started to follow them, Otto told him to stop.

  “What’s up?” asked Eddie seeing Otto’s concerned look.

  “Had a little talk with Walter Abernathy a while back. We were hoping that you would become more dependable with your work. Not only did that not happen but you tried to pull that stupid stunt with Walter. There’s no way we’re going to put up with a lyin’, lazy, no account worker the likes of you.” Otto handed Eddie his final check and told him to be gone no later than 10 o’clock. “A Virginia Highway patrolman will be checking to make sure that you vacated the premises. We’ve decided not to press charges, but I highly recommend that you never try such a foolish thing again.”

  Eddie didn’t know what to say. He just stood there, staring at the door that Otto had closed behind him. Going to get me a lawyer, he thought. He was fully persuaded that he had not done anything wrong.

  The End of the Road – August 1953

  The clock was winding down on their summer romance, an inevitable ending to an enjoyable experience. Everything about the relationship between Buddy and Sally felt so good, so right. It was decision time. Was this really the end or just the beginning of something more permanent? Where to from here?

  Buddy’s last day with the Virginia Highway Department was less than a week away and, thus far, he had heard nothing about future employment with the state. And the time had arrived for Sally to return to the College of William and Mary. Classes began on September 1st.

  Granny Duffy pressed the issue at Sunday dinner while Sally helped her wash dishes. “Has he asked you yet?”

  “Asked me what?” replied Sally.

  “To marry you?”

  Sally took exception to the question. “My goodness, no. That’s not on either of our minds.”

  “Are you sure?”

  From the kitchen window, Sally watched Buddy throwing a baseball to her brother in the backyard.

  Lulabelle continued to prod. “Do you love him?”

  Sally smiled and shook her head in disbelief at her grandmother’s persistence. Actually, neither Sally nor Buddy had expressed those three often misused I-love-you words. She really liked him but did she love him? Was he the one? Granny thought so and no doubt her little brother would agree. Her mom and dad were also fond of Buddy, but they had always insisted that finishing her education was in her best interest.

  “You need a batter,” yelled Sally’s dad while bounding down the porch steps. Buddy took on the role of catcher while Icky attempted to strike out his father. Howard Duffy readied himself for the first pitch as he stood by a rock that served as a makeshift home plate. Icky wound up, threw the ball, Howard missed, and so did Buddy. The ball went scurrying down a hill and Westmoreland the collie gave chase, retrieved the ball, and then put an end to the ballgame by playing his version of keep away.

  Sally raised the window and cheered for Westmoreland. “Way to go, boy. That’s showing them.” As she watched Buddy interact with her family, she decided that it was time for the two of them to have a heart to heart talk about their future.

  Aided by the cooling from an afternoon thundershower, Buddy and Sally went for a walk. She took his hand and pressed him for an answer to an important question. “Do you love me? I mean, you’ve never told me.”

  “All I know is that I’ve never felt this way about anybody,” said Buddy embarrassed by her question. “First time I saw you I couldn’t breathe. I remember thinking that no girl had ever had that effect on me before. And since that day we ran into each other at the Dime Store, you’re all I’ve thought about.”

  Sally laughed. “You still didn’t answer the question.”

  Buddy stopped and pulled her close. “Well, to be fair, love is a two-way street. Do you love me?”

  She looked at him for what seemed an eternity. “Last year I dated a college guy from Richmond and I fell crazy in love with him. We even talked marriage. We were together every chance we could get, just like you and me. Then, one night, he said he had to cram for an exam. Offered to help him study but he said he needed to be alone. So, I went out with some friends for a burger. Guess who was there with another girl? I was crushed and it took me a long time to get over it. Made up my mind that nobody would ever hurt me like that again.”

  “I wouldn’t do that to you.”

  “Not intentionally. Soon, I’ll be back in Williamsburg and you’ll be who knows where. Maybe one of those old girlfriends in your hometown will seem different when you see her again. Or in your travels, you might run into somebody like you did with me. Those things happen. Love happens. You don’t have to go looking for it to find it.”

  When Buddy saw the tears in her eyes, he feared the worst. “Are you breaking up with me?”

  “We can remain friends. Down the road, who knows what will happen?”

  “Just friends,” said Buddy now feeling like a load of bricks had been dumped on his head.

  She gripped his hand tightly. “Maybe the distance will do us good. It will help us to clarify our feelings.”

  Nothing in life had prepared Buddy for this. Even his mother’s lectures were of no value. The only thing she had ever told him about falling in love was to ‘stay away from hussies’ and ‘don’t let some pretty skirt take your money.’ All that training on his way to Eagle Scout was useless. He could apply a tourniquet to stop someone from bleeding to death or treat a venomous snakebite, but he was clueless about mending a broken heart.

  “I’m sorry,” said Sally seeing the hurt in his eyes.”

  “At least, I know how you felt when you got dumped,” said Buddy.

  “I’m not dumping you. I just think that we should give ourselves
some space, remain friends, and then see what happens. We’re young. Time is on our side.” Sally placed her hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes. When she saw his tears, she held him tightly.

  “I hear what you’re saying,” whispered Buddy, “but I still feel like I’ve been run over by a truck.”

  Buddy returned to work the next day, deeply hurt, with far too much time to think on his hands. As he sat in his roadside chair counting cars, he tried to put her out of his mind, but all attempts at thinking about anything else failed.

  The worst part of his day came at quitting time. He couldn’t bear to see her in the hotel dining room and he sure didn’t feel like eating. What he didn’t know was that Sally was also hurting and when he was a no-show it devastated her. At the conclusion of the meal, she brought a take-out order and asked Will to give it to Buddy. In the bag, he found a note. “It’s going to be OK. I promise. Love, Sally.” He was a little taken aback by the word ‘love.’ Didn’t know what to make of it.

  The first twelve weeks of summer flew by rapidly. The thirteenth week lasted an eternity. Buddy reasoned that suffering somehow slows down time while happiness makes it go faster. Maybe one day a heartbroken scientist would confirm his theory. Now, he just wanted to go home and hopefully, surrounded by friends and family, he would find healing.

  On Thursday, Otto drove Will to his drop-off location and took Buddy to breakfast where he would announce news that hopefully would get his top performer out of the doldrums. “Charles, as you know, every year we pick a member from one of our teams for a full-time position at the home office in Richmond. You’ve proven yourself to be the kind of employee that we want on our team and the job is yours if you want it.”

  Buddy was flattered by Mr. Bly’s offer. “What can you tell me about the job?”

  Otto went on to explain that Buddy would have an office in the basement of the headquarters building where he would be an assistant in the auditing department. Beyond that, he didn’t know the details but Buddy could find out more on Monday when he started his new job.

  Buddy was surprised at the suddenness of his new responsibilities. “Monday? I was hoping to go home for a week or so?”

  “You get a week after you’ve been with the Department for six months. You don’t have to let me know right away, but we do need an answer by tomorrow afternoon. I think you should take it. It’s an excellent opportunity. Plenty of room for advancement and, of course, there’s a hike in pay which they’ll tell you about on Monday.”

  It occurred to Buddy that, for the first time in his life, he had a bad attitude. Should have been grateful for the opportunity, enough so to jump right on it. But now he was ruled by negative thinking. The glass was no longer half full. It was half empty. Working in the basement of a giant cement building where there were no windows and sitting at a desk all day just didn’t sound like the career he wanted. Auditing? Didn’t that have something to do with math? He hated math. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was time to go back home, regroup, and get his head on straight. Living in Richmond was just too close to the girl who jilted him. If he was ever going to get over her, then it was time to move on.

  “We’ll be heading back to headquarters about 3:00 tomorrow. Let me know something before then,” said Otto while pulling cash from his wallet.

  “I’ve already made up my mind,” said Buddy. “Just don’t think it’s for me. I appreciate the opportunity. I really do. I’m sure there is somebody else deserving, like Will. He’s a good worker.”

  Otto was shocked by Buddy’s response and thought he just might know the reason. “Does your decision have anything to do with that girl?”

  “Probably so and I’m in no condition for starting a new job. Just need to get away.”

  Buddy still avoided going to dinner with Otto and Will, but he did want to say goodbye to Sally. As the end of her shift approached he waited on the front porch of the hotel. Just after 7:00 she opened the door.

  “Hey,” said Buddy getting up off a bench.

  “Thought you weren’t talking to me anymore,” she said, already glassy-eyed from seeing him.

  Buddy stood up and took her hand. “Can I walk you home?”

  “I suppose but it won’t change nothin’.”

  “Forgive me for the way I’ve acted,” said Buddy. “Never had anything hit me so hard.”

  “Nothin’ to forgive.” Sally regretted her decision but still believed it was the right thing to do. Did she have the resolve to stand her ground? “I understand. I’ve been feeling sad myself,” she said avoiding eye contact. “Double awful.”

  “Double awful?” Buddy stepped ahead of her, stopped, and then tried to get her to look into his face. “What do you mean?”

  “Felt bad that I wouldn’t wouldn't see you anymore and even worse for hurting you.”

  Buddy gave up on trying to get her to look at him, stepped out of her path, and then Sally started walking again. “Mr. Bly offered me that full-time job with the state,” said Buddy, who was experiencing an uncharacteristic aloofness from Sally.

  “That’s wonderful. You’ll do an excellent job for them,” she said and then picked up her pace. “Mama’s going to be worried about me.”

  He stopped but she kept on walking. “Turned it down,” called Buddy making sure that he could be heard.

  Sally stopped in her tracks and turned around. “What? Why?”

  “Just doesn’t feel right.”

  Her response took on an angry tone. “Now I feel even worse. You would have taken that job if not for me. That’s not fair. Did you do it just to make me feel bad?”

  “You didn’t have anything to do with it. It was the right thing to do.”

  Sally raised her voice. She wasn’t buying it. “So, if we had stayed together you would have turned it down? You had no intentions of taking the job so you could be close to me?”

  Buddy was unaccustomed to sticking his foot in his mouth. His broken heart had struck him stupid. Sally called him on his little white lie and he got caught. They were like two old west gunfighters, taunting each other from a distance, waiting to see who would fire the first shot. Suddenly, Buddy fired a round that made a direct hit. “By the way, the answer to that question you asked me is…yes. Yes, I do love you. That’s why I’m acting so crazy. There will never be anyone else but you for me. But you’re wrong about me turning down that job to get back at you. I did it because I couldn’t bear the thought of living close to you and not being together. I’m sorry that I lied. I guess love makes you do foolish things. But I am speaking the truth when I say that I love you. I will always love you.”

  Sally’s icy stare melted. She had that dear-in-the-headlights look. Stunned, motionless, silent. Tears began to stream down her cheeks and then slowly she walked toward him, threw her arms around him and hugged him with all her might. Finally, she allowed her eyes to meet his and then she kissed him, softly at first and then passionately. After a moment, that Buddy believed was pure bliss, she pushed him away. “I’ve got to go,” she said, unable to stop crying. And then she walked away and never looked back.

  Buddy stood there watching as she disappeared into the distance. He had thought that the pain he felt before seeing her again couldn’t get any worse. He was wrong. Now he clearly understood the full meaning of the word heartache. And then, like a mighty geyser exploding inside him, he broke down and cried like a baby.

  On Friday afternoon, August 28, 1953, summer was over. It would take a lot of healing to recapture the good memories that, for now, were veiled by the pain of lost love. At 3:00 p.m., Otto’s All-Stars returned to Richmond and early the next morning Buddy boarded a Greyhound bus for his beloved hometown where he hoped to find healing and a new direction for his life.

  Chapter III – Mama’s Worst Fear

  Back Home Again – September 1953

  Mable and Charlie Polk couldn’t wait for Buddy’s return. His collect call from the bus station was only the second ti
me they had heard his voice in three months. Mable had so missed talking to her son that she had reconsidered her letter-writing-only because it’s cheaper policy. She now reasoned that they could afford one brief long distance phone call per month. As soon as the conversation with Buddy was over she joyfully headed for the kitchen and began to prepare all of his favorite foods. All of them. Her rushed excitement produced so much clanging and banging of pots and pans that it sounded like a drum line convention. Charlie was equally excited, so much so that he didn’t even respond to the noise by humming a tune. He even chuckled at Mable’s newly acquired speed in the kitchen. She hadn’t moved that fast in years.

  Despite his dad’s offer to pick him up at the bus stop, Buddy insisted on walking home. Said he looked forward to breathing some of that fresh Strasburg air. His real reason, he didn’t want to be held captive in an automobile while his mother interrogated him about every minute of his life since leaving home.

  Even though he tried to force his mind to think about something other than Sally, it was to no avail. As the bus pulled away from the Richmond terminal, his sadness intensified. Every bus stop along the way was a reminder of the distance that now separated him from his first real love.

  When the bus stopped briefly in Front Royal, his spirits lifted. Home was just one town away. By the time the Greyhound coach reached the Strasburg city limits, he was actually feeling excited and he thought about how good that felt. If only for a moment, to feel that enormous stress lifted.

  He stood on the sidewalk briefly, taking it all in. Everything was just as he remembered. Nothing had changed. The drug store, the Newsstand, the Virginia Restaurant, the First National Bank, and folks that he had known for years. Stability, solid ground, familiar surroundings, home. This was just what he needed. Ten minutes later he was standing in front of the old white house on Capon Street. The old homeplace somehow seemed smaller than he remembered. Then he climbed the concrete steps, opened the door, and the reunion began. Hugs, kisses, joyous laughter, and the sweet aroma of his mother’s cooking. Moments later he was seated in the company of his parents at a banquet fit for a king but it didn’t take long for Mable to sense that something was wrong.