The Untold Story

THE  UNTOLD  STORY

         He got off the Greyhound bus at the depot and entered the only convenience store cum coffee shop of the village. As usual, all customers turned their heads to see the new customer. He tipped his hat and set on the counter. No one seems to recognize him and he was glad of that. The coffee was warm and fresh and relaxed him a little bit, before taking the next step into his old world.

         Edward came out and took a deep breath and started walking toward the farm. The air was crisp and cold and he kept his brisk pace for next half a mile or so. Then he turned left and was facing, the path to his family farm. The way ahead was covered with light drifting snow and was barren – neither human nor cattle have left footprints on the snow. He hesitated to proceed and just stood there and stared at the farm and the house. His heart started pounding and he started to wonder, the condition he will find his mother and his kid brother Micky. He was unable to move, his past was whirling all around him, just like the prairie wind, which was churning snow flurries.

                                                *  *  *  *  *


         Fifteen years and eight months had passed since he left the farm. No, he did not leave the farm.
He was taken away from home rather unwillingly. Ed would have given anything to be beside her Mom, at that time of need but events turned the other way.

         Edward was fourteen year old, when his father died in a farm accident. He was trapped under the combine and by the time Uncle George, his farm hand, brought him home he was dead. Life had turned around since then. Uncle George almost occupied the status of head of the house and Edward knew Mama planned to make it legal and marry him next year, after mourning for her late husband, for a year. Uncle George had already started playing the role and everyone accepted it, except Edward.

         “Mama, he is not the right person for you”, Ed told his mother in a conversation, when the mother let the oldest son know of her plan.

         “Ed, you know, we need George and he has taken care of the place, since your Papa passed away, suddenly. I need him to help me with the farm and raise you two boys.”, mother added

         Edward wanted to protest but had no words to say. He did not dare to tell what he instinctively knew. Mom and Ed were close but they never discussed such things and Ed lacked words to express his feelings and his fears. So he dropped the subject

         Edward kept an eye on George, something to keep a watch. On the other hand, George had started telling the young lad, different chores to do. Edward did not mind doing things around the house and the farm. The work around the farm made him feel grown up and he had started traces of adulthood, with hair growing everywhere. Ed was fourteen that summer but looked like sixteen year old. He was courteous to all and carried his shoulders straight. He did make few extra bucks here and there, helping other farmers and they all liked him.


                                            *  *  *  *    *



         Ed suddenly became conscious of his state of immobility and looked around to see if anyone had noticed him standing there. Then he looked at his mother's home and decided to abandon to plan to meet the family. But he did not turn around – He saw a young man getting off a horse and taking the animal to the barn. He waited to see, who was the person. May be the farm no longer belongs to his family and his mother is dead and Micky moved away.

         He automatically propelled toward the farm and the house. He again started walking briskly, with the determination, the one he started the journey yesterday. The man had come out of the barn and as he was going into the house, he saw Edward and came toward him.

         Edward could see it was Micky. All through these years, in the prison, he had visualized Mike growing up, in his mind and today mike was not much different from his past imagination and Mike had no difficulty recognizing him either. The two long lost brothers were in deep embrace and hugging each other and petted each others back as they moved toward the house entrance.

         The frail old lady inside the house was Edward's mother. He would not have recognized her, if he had met her in a strange place. Mama was loving but cold today. Her face was all wrinkled but her eyes were still staring at Edward and questioning, “Are you still crazy?”. Edward tried to look the other way and saw Mike's two little children, Aron and Betty. He was proud of Mike's taste in selecting a wife, Elizabeth. She was a warm and beautiful woman.

         After the meeting, hugs and tears, no one had much to say and Edward was glad when Mike suggested that he should take a little rest before they have dinner. And Edward ended in his old room and just slumped on bed and closed his eyes. It was too much, too much to absorb and still not much to say or his inability to express, what he wanted to say..

                                            *  *  *  *  *


         Mama and Uncle George were drinking that evening and then Mama went to her bedroom and Uncle George asked Ed to chop some wood, after all winter was coming. Edward agreed and started splitting pieces of log and neatly putting them in a pile. Suddenly, Ed thought he heard Micky calling him. With an instinct of a young boy, Ed knew of the danger and he saw the barn door half a jar. He moved toward the door and saw George half naked trying to catch Micky, who was hiding behind some hay stacks. Ed knew what was going on. He had been in that situation six years ago with George but escaped and always avoided him since then. Now George did not bother him and Ed knew that if the situation occurred now, he could handle it, with physical force.
         
         “Leave him alone or I kill you”, Ed yelled. What happened after that no one has narrated. The next thing he knew was that his ax had hit something and George was lying in a pool of blood. Mama sent Edward to his room and the State Troopers came to take him away. He remembered himself saying again and again to Mama, “ I am sorry Mama, what I have done”.The only thing Mama said as she looked at him,” You are crazy, you should be locked up”. He was tried and sentenced as an adult, no one showed sympathy toward him and he could not tell the court, why he killed George, Mama never came to see him during the trial or all those years of imprisonment. Ed was bitter toward Mama, it was his fault that he did not tell her the reasons of his action.



                                                *  *  *  *  *


         Ed was shivering in bed and crying. Then he got up and took hold of himself, just like he used to do in prison. He has faced life to its core and survived its bitterness. He took a shower and shaved.

         Just before supper, Mama and Micky were in the kitchen and Elizabeth was somewhere getting children ready for their meals. Ed walked beside her mother, with a determined mind.

         His mother saw him approaching and was equally determined to know something from his oldest child. Before Ed could say a thing, She asked, in a tone that mother's often use to question a
child's wrongdoing, “Why. Ed? Why did you do such a crazy thing, in God's name?”

The answer came from Mike not from Ed, “ Mom, George was molesting me in the barn”

         Next the apple pie plate Mama was holding crashed on the floor and Ed supported her from behind as she collapsed on the floor. The two boys carried her to her room and three of them hugged and kissed each other without a word. They may have stayed like that except Aron came looking for his Grandma and that brought fresh smile on their faces..


                                                                        1400 word count