The Pigeon Man

Home > Other > The Pigeon Man > Page 5
The Pigeon Man Page 5

by Joel Edward Stein


  “This is very impressive. It looks like I’ve got a budding artist in my class. Why don’t you draw something for the art contest that the newspaper is sponsoring?”

  He agreed. “Give me a couple of days,” Danny said. “I’ll try my best.”

  Danny never thought of himself as an artist. He just liked to draw. It was something that made him feel good and the best way he knew to express himself.

  A few weeks after Danny’s art teacher entered his drawing in the contest she announced to Danny’s class, “Someone in this class won first place in the contest.” She hesitated to add a dramatic effect. “And that someone is … Danny Simon!” She handed him the drawing, now framed, and with a first place blue ribbon on it.

  Danny listened to his name being called out but thought that the teacher was talking about someone else. Then he heard cheers and applause. Kids from his class shook his hand, patted him on the back, and congratulated him. It was overwhelming but it felt good. It was good to feel good.

  “Danny,” his teacher said. “You should be very proud of yourself.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Richmond,” Danny said feeling a little shy at all the attention.

  At the end of the day he found himself hurrying to get back home. He couldn’t wait to tell Aunt Shirley and Uncle Max the good news. They both were very proud. But, of course, Uncle Max had to add a little of his humor to the compliments.

  “It looks like we have an artist in the family,” Aunt Shirley said to Uncle Max at the dinner table.

  “I thought we already had one,” Uncle Max said.

  “And who is that?” Aunt Shirley said scrubbing a pot at the kitchen sink.

  “You!”

  “Me?”

  “Now tell me,” Uncle Max laughed. “Who in the world can make better blintzes – crepes filled with cheese – than you?” He said this in between bites. “You are an artist with food. Don’t you agree, Danny?”

  Danny couldn’t deny that Aunt Shirley was certainly a good cook.

  After supper, Danny decided that he would go to the roof and show Delaney the drawing and the first place ribbon. After all, the winning drawing was of Feisty, Isabelle and Tobey. He wanted some way to see Delaney and Feisty again and this was his opportunity.

  ***

  Danny tried his secret dah dah dah DAH knock on the rooftop door but no one answered. He tried again and again. Still no answer. This time, Delaney won’t answer the door, Danny thought. After what had happened the last time he was on the roof, Danny could understand why Delaney wouldn’t want him back there. He walked back down to his apartment with the framed picture in his hand.

  Shortly afterwards, Danny’s doorbell rang. It was Bill Foster.

  “I thought heard something at the door,” Bill said. “And I figured it might be you.”

  “Mike’s been askin’ about ever since that commotion on the rooftop,” Bill said. “But he thought you was mad at him.”

  “Me mad at him?” Danny said. He couldn’t believe what he just heard. All along he thought Delaney was mad at him. “Why would I be mad at him?”

  “He thought you was mad at him because he didn’t talk to you when those boys were on the roof,” Bill said. “Ya gotta understand, Delaney’s been through a lot of things. Sometimes he acts a certain way because of that. But he’s a good man and ya can’t take things too personal.”

  It was a little confusing but Danny still didn’t understand why Bill was on the roof. “So how come Delaney isn’t with the pigeons?” Danny asked.

  “Mike’s in the hospital,” Bill said. He looked serious and shuffled from one foot to another.

  “In the hospital!” Danny was shocked to hear that. Delaney seemed so strong and powerful in spite of his bad leg.

  “Yeah,” Bill said. “When Delaney was in the war he took a lot of hits. There was a bullet fragment left in him after he came home.”

  “A bullet fragment?”

  “Yeah,” Bill continued. “He was shot in the side, near his heart and a piece of bullet was still in him when got back from the war. It didn’t bother him. Or at least he never said it bothered him. So he never took care of it. Well, it crept up on him last week and he collapsed.”

  “Is he okay now,” Danny said.

  “Yeah, he’s a tough cookie,” Bill said. “But the doc said if he didn’t get that bullet out than ole Mike Delaney would’ve hit the dust.”

  “Hit the dust?” Danny still didn’t understand the figures of speech Americans liked to use.

  “Well,” Bill said. “Put it this way. If the doc didn’t operate than Delaney wouldn’t have been on this good earth anymore.”

  “You mean Delaney would have died?” Danny asked.

  “That’s what I mean kid.”

  “Can we see him?”

  “That’s what I was about to tell ya,” Bill said. “We can visit him tomorrow when ya get back from school. But ya gonna have to get your aunt and uncle’s permission first.”

  Danny looked over at Aunt Shirley who was in the living room. She overheard the whole conversation, and nodded approvingly.

  “Of course Danny has our permission. We wouldn’t think otherwise. And send our best wishes to him,” Aunt Shirley said in a loud voice from the living room. The Ed Sullivan show was on the television and she couldn’t take her eyes off Frank Sinatra singing “The House I Live In.”

  “Thank you for letting me know, Mr. Foster,” Danny said. “I’ll be ready tomorrow.”

  Chapter 12

  Bill Foster was waiting in front of Danny’s building at four o’clock sharp. Danny was a little late from school. He ran up to his apartment and rushed back out to the truck with a shopping bag in his hand.

  “You got everything, Danny?” Aunt Shirley called to him.

  “I got everything, Aunt Shirley,” Danny said, out of breath, from halfway in the truck.

  As they pulled off, Danny felt strange going to see Delaney in a hospital. He just couldn’t imagine him being there, not Mike Delaney. The thought made Danny feel uncomfortable.

  “I noticed Mike give ya a box with medal in it,” Bill said stopping for a traffic light.

  “Yes?” Danny said. Why would Bill bring up the medal?

  The light turned green and Bill drove on. The hospital was in a different county and with the traffic it would take about a half hour to get there.

  “I’m gonna tell ya something about that medal. But let me tell you something about Delaney first,” Bill went on. “During the war, his army unit was in Okinawa. One of the men in the unit was a young man, no more than a boy really, that Delaney grew up with the neighborhood. The young man was the only son of his neighbors and the apple of their eye. They were terribly worried about him when he went overseas.”

  Danny listened intently as they drove across town to Pelham Parkway.

  “Now, Delaney was a big, good natured guy at the time. Kinda like everybodys big brother. And he told those neighbors not to worry one bit. He would take care of Jimmy, their son. He would guard him with his life and make sure no harm came to him.”

  Bill looked both ways and made a turnoff to the parkway.

  “One night, some of the men volunteered to go on a special mission where the fighting was especially fierce. Delaney volunteered and so did Jimmy. Delaney tried to persuade Jimmy not to go but Jimmy wouldn’t listen. So Delaney stuck to him like glue. They was on the side of a hill when the shooting started. The men were getting picked off like flies.”

  “Like flies?”

  “Yeah, the enemy fire was coming from all over and the men had no place to take cover. Now, Delaney was all over the place trying to save the men that were shot, and also keeping an eye on Jimmy.”

  Bill made a turn off the parkway where a sign indicated that the hospital was five miles away.

  “Where was I?” Bill said losing track of his story.

  “Delaney was all over the place,” Danny said.

  “Yeah, Delaney was tryin’ to take ca
re of himself and the men and Jimmy. And then Jimmy took one.”

  “Took one?”

  “Yeah,” Bill said. “Jimmy got shot. Delaney ran over to him and it looked pretty bad. He tried pulling Jimmy out of trouble while shielding him with his body. That’s when Delaney got shot. But Delaney kept on trying save Jimmy and the other men. When other soldiers came they found Delaney badly wounded but still fighting.”

  Danny was shaking his head. Some of the things he went through were like what Delaney went through. He knew what it was like.

  Bill drove his truck to the hospital entrance looked for a parking space. When he found one he stopped and looked at Danny.

  “That’s why he got the Distinguished Service Cross, the medal he gave you. I know he earned it,” Bill paused for a moment. “Because I was in his unit and he saved me.”

  “Wow,” Danny said. “Delaney is a real hero.”

  “He doesn’t think so.”

  “He doesn’t?” Danny couldn’t believe that. Why would a man who almost lost his life saving others not think he was a hero?

  “No,” Bill said. “Because he couldn’t keep his promise. The man he was supposed to protect was the only man he couldn’t save.”

  “Jimmy?”

  “Yeah, Jimmy. And because of that Mike didn’t marry the girl who was waiting for him.”

  “Why?” Danny asked.

  “Because after losing Jimmy, he didn’t think he’d make a fit husband or father.”

  Danny just shook his head in disbelief.

  “So ya see why he acts the way he does.”

  “Yeah,” Danny said.

  “I suppose he’s taking a liking to you, though,” Bill said. “He would never give that medal up to just anyone.”

  “Do you think so?”

  “I certainly do,” Bill said smiling, trying to lighten the conversation. Now, let’s go visit the old warrior and see what kinda trouble he’s causin’.”

  ***

  Delaney was sitting up in bed when Bill and Danny came in the room. His white hair was unkempt but the sparkle in his blue eyes was still there. A nurse was just leaving the room.

  “We better get this fella on home,” she said smiling. “Before he chases all the doctors and nurses away.” She winked at him before she left

  “Well well, look what the cat dragged in,” Delaney said.

  “Cat?” Danny said looking at Bill.

  “He’s just glad to see us,” Bill said.

  “How’re the birds doin’, Bill?” Delaney asked.

  “Real good. Real good,” Bill said.

  “That’s good to hear, Bill and ya know how I appreciate what yer doin’ but I got a change in plans,” Delaney said. “Ya don’t mind if Danny and me talk over some business arrangements, do ya?”

  “Not at all, Mike,” Bill smiled. “I’ll be outside walkin’ the halls. Give a holler when yer done.”

  Danny was still holding on to the shopping bag and wondering what was going on.

  “Sorry, but I really didn’t get a chance to tell you I’m sorry,” Danny said with his head down.

  “Sorry? What’s to be sorry about?”

  “For leaving the roof door open,” Danny said with a quivering voice.

  “Listen here,” Delaney said leaning forward. “I thought that was water under the bridge.”

  “Water under the bridge?” English had a very funny way of saying something, Danny thought.

  “You remember what I told you when you asked me how I tamed Feisty?”

  Danny creased his forehead trying to remember.

  “I said that ya gotta gain his trust. And it’s the same with people. Feisty can teach both of us a lesson about that.”

  “Feisty can teach us?”

  “Yeah,” Delaney said. “We let bygones be bygones and move on. You okay with that.”

  It sounded to Danny that everything was okay between them again. “Sure, Delaney. I’m okay.”

  “Okay then,” Delaney smiled. “So, tell me, what have ya got in the bag you’ve been holdin’ onto so long?”

  Danny reached into the shopping bag, pulled out another small bag, and handed it to Delaney.

  “What have we got here?” Delaney asked looking puzzled.

  “They’re called ‘blintzes’, Danny said. “Aunt Shirley said you might be tired of hospital food. Try one.”

  Delaney took a bite. “Oh my goodness!”

  “No good?” Danny said.

  “What! Are you kidding? That was one of the best things that happened to me since I got here. Tell Aunt Shirley she’s a marvelous cook and she just made a new friend.”

  While Delaney finished off the blintzes, Danny took his picture of the pigeons and first place ribbon out of the shopping bag and showed it him.

  “That is wonderful, Delaney said. “I always knew you had it inside ya to do big things and I expect bigger things to come.

  Danny beamed with pride. Somehow, Delaney’s response to the drawing made him feel best of all. It seemed that Danny, Delaney, the pigeons, and the artwork were all connected.

  “Now, I’ve got a favor to ask ya,” Delaney said.

  “A favor?”

  “Well ya see. Bill there, he’s a good man but he don’t know beans about pigeons. I need an experienced man to take care of ‘em while I’m gettin’ back to myself. Someone like you.”

  “Like me?”

  “Yeah,” Delaney said. “You think ya can do me that favor? And besides, I think Feisty’s been missin’ ya.”

  “I can do it,” Danny said. “But I also have something I want you to do.”

  “Yes? And what would that be?”

  Danny reached deep in the shopping and brought out the red velvet box. “It’s important to me that you have this back. Even if you give me something like that it will always belong to you. You must take it,” Danny said. His eyes welled up with tears. “Then I can do the favor for you.”

  “I’ll tell what,” Delaney said taking the box and hugging Danny. “We’ll share it. That okay with you?”

  “Okay,” Danny said wiping his eyes.

  When they both calmed down, Delaney hollered to the door, “You still there, Bill?”

  “That I am,” Bill said.

  ***

  When Danny got to his apartment it was already dark out. The sky was clear, the stars were out and a crescent moon seemed to smile down at him from above. He could sense that things wouldn’t always be perfect. But with friends and family and the pigeons on the roof, things would be okay. And that was okay with Danny.

  Joel began writing professionally at a later age. At first, he wrote short non-fiction articles for Black Belt Magazine and Inside Kung Fu. And then it was on to test passage writing for CTB McGraw-Hill. Later, (it took a while) he was able to get stories published for Cricket, a children’s literary magazine. The Pigeon Man (Pants On Fire Press) is his first novelette. A Hanukah with Mazel (Kar-Ben Publication 2016) as well as The Capture of Rafael Ortega (Pants On Fire Press, 2016) are forthcoming. There are many, many authors he admires. Among those who have influenced his writing are: Robert Cormier, Gary Soto, I B Singer, Bernard Malamud, and E L Doctorow. Joel currently lives in Florida with his wife, his son, his two birds, and a tortoise. When not writing, Joel enjoys playing the viola or practicing Tai Chi Chuan.

  THE CAPTURE OF RAPAEL ORTEGA

  by Joel Edward Stein

  During the final part of the 16th century, Spain had undergone dramatic change. Under the control of the Inquisitors -- a new set of rules changed the way people lived. And Rafael Ortega couldn’t be too careful. There would be serious consequences -- especially if the Inquisitors ever found out that his family was Jewish. Rafael’s mother, his father, and his younger sister had to keep their secret from everyone. But, one day, Rafael makes a mistake -- and his world is turned upside down. Inquisitors have stopped at Rafael’s house when he was out. And, on a desperate dash to get back home he takes a shortcut through a deserted alley.
A shortcut into the hands of a press gang -- sailors waiting to pounce on their prey. Now, gagged and bound, Rafael finds himself thrown aboard El Albatros; a Spanish Galleon that’s headed for the New World. His worst fears are realized. He may never see his friends, his family, his horse Estrella, -- and his girlfriend Inez again. Rafael is about to give up hope, but something unexpected happens -- Gustavo, the family’s faithful servant, stows aboard and finds him. Now, the two of them must deal with hardened sailors, treacherous seas -- and pirates. But, there is one thing that drives them more than anything else -- they must find a way to get back home. And while Rafael is far away from home, those he left behind have their own set of problems to deal with.

  Acknowledgements

  To David Powers and the wonderful folks at Pants On Fire Press who made this book a reality.

  See below for links to more young adult books by Pants On Fire Press.

  Past Lives. This is the story of how I died…repeatedly.

  J has been cursed for all eternity. In her very first life on Earth, she made the mistake of falling in love with her sister’s betrothed… and it was all downhill from there. In revolutionary France, J and the other members of Marie Antoinette’s court are forced into hiding, desperate to escape a wild uprising out for their blood. From there, she is reincarnated in America in the late 1800s, where she disguises herself as a man in the Confederate army and is surrounded by carnage and blood. In Austria in the 1930s, she became the only hope for her Jewish friends’ survival against the Nazi storm. Now, as a 21st century teenager, she faces mountains of extracurricular volunteer work and a ruthless bully all on her quest to get into a competitive college.

  Talk about a bummer.

  Beside her in each life, Sebastian finds himself on the wrong side of every battle. Always a soldier, he makes it his mission time and time again to rescue J with the hope that maybe someday they’ll get the chance to be together, if only that were possible. They say that everything happens for a reason, but can J and Sebastian find a way to break their curse and finally make a life together?

 

‹ Prev