Billy's Victory...Chapters 3 through 10
Chapter 3
Billy loved riding on trains. He could count on one hand how many passenger trains he had been on. This would be number five. He had been on two train rides to watch his dad play ball, and twice he went on tour with his famous Grandpa Thomas.
The trips were always exciting.
But this time, Billy sat quietly. He laid his head back, focused his eyes out the window, and watched the land disappear behind him as the train rolled toward its destination.
He felt a warm hand on his cheek as his mother reached over and lovingly said, “We’ll be home soon.”
Billy’s eyes closed. It wasn’t long before the dream appeared…
A field, green in color--covered in a cloudy mist--could be seen in the distance. A small figure tried desperately to maneuver up a flight of steps but continued to slip and fall back into a dark hole.
Finally, after many attempts, the figure was successful. The figure reached the top of the steps, regained its footing, and raced toward the open field. Standing at the far end of the field was another figure. Tall, dark, and mysterious, the figure was on the move, taking slow and deliberate steps toward the center of the field.
The smaller figure continued to run hard and fast, but it never seemed to gain any ground. The dark figure remained far away. The clouds returned, blanketing the field, and the small figure would come to a stop, turn, and return to the base of the steps, vanishing back into the black hole.
Billy’s body began to quiver.
“Wake up...wake up, Billy, you’re having that dream again,” his mother said with a concerned look. Billy opened his eyes. He was back on the train, back in seat 4A — rolling toward Johnsonville.
Chapter 4
Johnsonville was a quiet, pleasant town located at the base of a mountain range near the Colorado-Utah border.
The town’s residents enjoyed all the seasons — fall, winter, spring, and especially summer, for the summer meant balmy weather, plenty of sunshine, and, of course...baseball.
The athletes at Johnsonville High School did their best throughout the year to give the locals something to cheer about, but more often than not, they were forced to play the “underdog” role and found themselves on the short end of the stick.
Due to the size of the enrollment, the school couldn’t field a football team, and the coaches spent a lot of their time recruiting in the hallways in hopes of assembling a big enough roster to compete against nearby schools in basketball and baseball.
So, when it came to sports, the Johnsonville residents didn’t have a lot to cheer about daily. But little did they know that a new resident would step off the train in a few hours, turning their summer into one to remember.
Chapter 5
It was only eight o’clock Monday morning, and barber Ted Carrillo already had them three deep. He was completing the final touches on what little hair the Johnsonville bank president, Jonathan Holmes, had left when the conversation arose regarding the town’s anticipated population explosion.
“Jonathan, did you hear Joan Reynolds and her son, Billy, are coming to town?” Ted said. “They’ll be in on the noon train, and George is flying in from California to be with them. He’s hanging up that clown suit for good.”
The three gentlemen, who were waiting for their turn in the barber chair, had spent the last three days helping Claire Thomas prepare for the arrival of her daughter and grandson, as well as her husband’s return. The three men were well aware of the recent events that had turned the lives of the town’s most famous family upside down.
After all, Claire Thomas was the town’s leading lady, so to speak.
She owned the only drugstore in the community and was currently in her fourth term as the vice-mayor.
The local townsfolk were amazed at the woman’s high energy level. She was always on the go. She kept Mayor Ezra Lockhart on his toes, managed three full-time employees at the drugstore, and maintained a perfect order at home while her husband was away.
The three gentlemen, Fire Chief Johnny Hayes, hardware and clothing store owner Cyrus Jones, and Little League coach Carl Perkins, were all former classmates of Claire and George Thomas in grade school and high school.
With more than fifty years of friendship in the books, there was no question that everyone in the barbershop and town as well would be going out of their way to make the family’s homecoming as comfortable as possible.
Chapter 6
The train rolled on...
Joan Reynolds noticed that Billy had fallen back to sleep. She hoped he would sleep comfortably for the remainder of the trip. As for her, there would be no sleep. She leaned her head back, took a deep breath, and suddenly, that fateful night was upon her.
The highway patrol officer took off his hat and ran his right hand over the brim of his Stetson in hopes of gaining an extra moment before bellowing out the words, “Mrs. Reynolds, there’s been an accident.”
On a rain-drenched stretch of highway just east of the Texas-Arkansas border, the driver of a semi-truck had lost control and crossed the centerline. The driver of the eastbound car was John Reynolds.
John was gone.
Up until that moment, Joan’s life had been picture-perfect. A small-town girl, Joan was raised in a happy home. Her father, full of wit and charm, was born with a special gift. He could make everyone laugh.
Joan recalls that whenever her father's name came up, she would always say, “If you can’t laugh around my dad, you’re not human.”
Her mother, on the other hand, was the family's taskmaster. There was nothing she couldn’t handle. The ability to persevere was her major strength, and Joan was counting on that family trait to carry her through the tough times ahead.
Joan knew she’d led a storybook life. She graduated at the top of her high school class, attended college, and fell in love with the star of the baseball team.
John and Joan were married in a beautiful ceremony in San Diego, California, followed by a week-long honeymoon in Hawaii.
Joan recalls that two days after the honeymoon, her husband began a 10-day road trip and a 110-game schedule with a Class-A team in Visalia, California. A year later, Billy Ray was born. It was the happiest day of the young couple’s life.
Joan remembered how hard it was for John to be away from the family. During those early years on the road, he constantly relied on late-night phone calls to keep abreast of what was happening on the home front.
However, the adjustments were made, and the young family managed to work it out. After all, baseball was becoming their livelihood.
After a couple of seasons, John was making a few heads turn and was soon promoted to Double-A. It wasn’t long before John and Joan made the offer on the ranch and headed for Texas.
Then trouble struck. Shoulder injuries, knee injuries, and rehabilitation, followed by more injuries. Then came the whispering from the “movers and shakers” in the Yankee organization. “He might be through. His arm is gone. He won’t be able to run on that knee.”
But Joan recalled how strong John was, both mentally and physically. Even during the worst of times, he would fight through it all, press on, and push himself toward that dream of his — to play ball in the majors and play for the Yankees.
He was so determined. Twelve years in the minors — five of those years saddled with career-threatening injuries before he finally got the call he was waiting for.
Big John Reynolds would have been a 32-year-old rookie.
Billy’s mother felt someone brush by her. It was the train conductor en route to the next car. She realized she had been deep in thought. She rubbed both her eyes and massaged the back of her neck.
Joan looked up and down the aisle of the passenger compartment. The seats were full of people heading for one destination or another — all of them with hopes and dreams and lives of their own to fulfill.
Joan, of course, had her destination all mapped out. She knew where she was going, and she knew sitting alongside her was a very special passenger. She was heading to a place that would surround her and Billy with a loving family and many, many friends.
She hoped, in time, that Billy would win his battle, set new dreams and goals, and look forward to the future.
Joan couldn’t think of a better place than Johnsonville to return Billy to reality. Johnsonville was where it all began for her. Would Billy’s new surroundings provide the right ingredients to bring the young boy back?
Joan was counting on it.
Chapter 7
Claire looked at her watch as she pulled the Crown Victoria sedan into her usual parking spot. The parking stall was not marked, but everyone in town recognized her car, and the residents were kind enough to park their vehicles elsewhere.
From time to time, an unsuspecting out-of-towner would slip into the spot, but Claire would pay them no mind. After all, this was Johnsonville, not New York City.
Still, it was Claire’s favorite spot; a few quick steps, and she’d be at the front door of her drugstore.
Claire couldn’t believe the time. It was nine o’clock.
Luckily, teenager Timmy Watson was scheduled to open the store. She once again would be blessed with great summer help. Timmy had just a few afternoon classes left at school. It was the final week of school, and he had his mornings free to make a little extra spending money.
Of course, during the winter, fall, and early spring, George was always home to help her run the business. Claire got out of her car. As she scurried to the entrance of the drugstore, she noticed how quiet Main Street was for a Monday morning.
Claire looked across the street and could see a few heads bobbing up and down in the barbershop. The Johnsonville Café, just four doors down from the drugstore, had a few patrons, but overall, it was a lovely, quiet morning.
Claire said good morning to Timmy and headed straight to her office at the back of the store.
She didn’t have a lot of time to spare. She had to pick up George at the airport in about an hour and a half, and Joan and Billy would be pulling into the train station around noon.
Claire finished up the cash deposit from the weekend, wrote out a note for her pharmacist, Oren Crane, who would be in at ten o’clock, hugged Timmy, and rushed out the front door. The bell on the top of the door rattled, signaling her hasty departure.
Chapter 8
“It’s your turn, Carl,” the barber said as Mr. Perkins put down the morning paper and moved ever so gently into Ted’s chair. “You go easy on me. I want the boys to still recognize me.”
Coach Perkins was one of the few old-timers in town who still sported a healthy head of hair, and he wanted to keep it that way.
Carl was aware of the promise he’d given his current batch of little leaguers at their first practice last week.
He had told them, “Win the District title, and I’ll shave my head.”
But for now, Carl ordered, “Ted, trim a little off the top and up the sideburns.”
Ted shook off the apron and placed it around Carl’s shoulders.
The barber had taken care of Johnny Hayes and Cyrus Jones in record fashion, as both men had hustled out of the shop and off to work, allowing Ted to concentrate on his next victim.
Ted positioned the chair so that both of them had a clear view of Main Street.
“Look, there goes Claire. It won’t be long before the family will be together.”
Carl smiled. He couldn’t wait to hear what Joan and Billy had to say about their new home over on Fourth Street.
Carl, Johnny, and Cyrus had spent the last three days fixing up Joan and Billy’s new residence, an old Victorian-style, two-bedroom house recently purchased by the Reynolds family.
The house was ready for its new owners.
Even the Mayflower moving van had rolled into town on Saturday and had dropped off all the Reynolds’ furniture.
Everything had worked out perfectly. Carl looked up at Ted and beamed. “It should be a great homecoming.”
Chapter 9
George’s plane was right on schedule.
Claire waited by the gate, watching as the ladder from the aircraft opened up like an accordion and fell softly to the ground.
The aircraft was full of passengers, but most of them were continuing to another destination. Six deplaned, and George was the last passenger to find his way through the aisle and down the steps.
The old clown maneuvered his way toward the gate and met his wife with open arms.
“It’s good to be home. Now, let’s go help our grandson.”
The train slowed. Billy glanced out the window. He could see people scurrying about as the train rolled to a stop.
Billy gripped his mother’s arm with his right hand and placed the index finger of his left hand on the window.
Joan leaned over. “There’s Grandma and Grandpa.”
Billy’s mother detected a slight smile on the face of her son. She let out a deep sigh and began gathering their belongings. Finally, when the aisle was clear, Billy and Joan raced to the front of the passenger car, down the steps, and into the loving arms of George and Claire.
Chapter 10
Billy sat quietly in the back seat of Grandma’s car. Still sporting that slight grin, he listened attentively to his Grandpa as the Crown Victoria rolled toward Johnsonville.
“Billy, we’ve got a nice surprise for you and your mom.”
Billy wondered what that could be.
As for Joan, she leaned forward and took one look at her mom, then at her dad. “All right, what are you two up to?”
George turned his head and gave his daughter one of those famous “Roscoe the Clown” grins.
“Patience...patience, you’ll just have to wait and see.”
George winked at Claire and then turned his attention back to the road. Billy looked out the window just in time to see a highway sign whiz by. The sign read: Johnsonville, 5 miles.
Joan was home.
She put her arm around Billy as her father took the first Johnsonville exit off the interstate. George turned left onto First Street, drove past the old courthouse and the town library, and then made a right turn and headed down Lafayette Lane.
He passed the fire station, the police station, the elementary school, and the high school, and finally, he weaved his way over Rainbow Bridge and into Johnson Park.
George wanted Billy to see the park. It was Johnsonville’s pride and joy.
Constructed a decade ago, the park features beautiful, tall oak trees at one end, along with bicycle paths and running trails for local Johnsonville residents to enjoy.
At the other end was the baseball field, complete with freshly painted bleachers that went all the way up and down the first and third base lines.
The field was in immaculate condition. The infield was covered in brown clay, and the outfield’s emerald green grass had recently been cut.
George slowed down the car and looked back at Billy.
Billy was sitting on his hands and knees, his eyes focused, staring directly at the ball field.
The old clown knew what he was doing. So did Claire and Joan. Billy remained silent, but his insides were churning. George’s little tour through town had made an impression on Billy. And it was just the beginning...
.
George took the south exit out of the park. He drove down Orchard Lane and sped past Johnsonville’s new mini-mall, which included a new grocery store, a pizza parlor, an ice cream shop, and a movie theater.
He turned right on Loretta Drive and then left onto Fourth Street.
At the end of the cul-de-sac was Billy’s new home, nestled behind two giant oak trees.
George pulled into the driveway.
“Well, what do you think?”
Joan put both her hands over her face. She was elated.
“Mom and Dad, you did well.”
Joan had known about the house all along. She just hadn’t seen it with her own eyes. John’s business partner, Robert Lipton, had quickly stepped in, just days after the funeral, and assured Joan that her business affairs would be taken care of.
Lipton, in record time, finalized the sale of the ranch and, with the additional help of George and Claire, completed both transactions just a week before Joan and Billy were scheduled to leave for Johnsonville.
As for Billy, it was all a complete surprise. Billy walked alongside the grown-ups as they all ventured up the sidewalk and onto the red-colored porch. At the end of the porch, Billy saw a white-painted swing; it hung from the rafters and looked strong enough to handle two people, maybe three.
The family reached the front door, and Grandpa Thomas handed Joan the keys, saying, “Be my guest.”
The entryway opened into a huge living room. Billy noticed the furniture — the leather couch, the rocking chair, the end tables, everything was in its place.
A small dining area was off to the left. Mom’s favorite china cabinet was there, along with the maple table and six chairs.
The kitchen was at the far end of the house. The tall refrigerator was there. Billy would always need a footstool to reach the ice cream bars. The footstool was wedged in the corner, next to the sink.
Billy ran to the back of the house and found a huge sitting room with a fireplace. The television was there, and on one of the end tables, Billy noticed the new-fangled remote control gadget that had come with the TV his dad had purchased last year.
Billy moved quickly and, within a few seconds, had surveyed the entire first floor.
He checked out the big backyard, which was surrounded by a three-foot-high white picket fence. In the corner of the yard was a doghouse, big enough for Chipper to wiggle into.
“It looks like this will be a great place for Chipper, too,” Joan said to Billy as she watched her son re-enter the house from the screened-in back porch.
If there was one cog in the day’s extraordinary events, it was the fact that the station agent had advised Joan that Chipper would be arriving late, thanks to a cargo mix-up.
Joan had assured Billy that Chipper would arrive on tomorrow’s train. Seeing Chipper’s new doghouse made Billy feel a lot better about that situation.
Grandpa Thomas put his hand on Billy’s shoulder. “Are you ready to see your room?”
George, Claire, and Joan were all smiles as they followed Billy up the giant staircase.
Billy counted each step, twenty-five in all, he added, as he made his way to the top.
To the left, he could see his mother’s new bedroom. In the center of the hallway, a nice big bathroom containing an oval-shaped bathtub, big enough, Billy thought, to give Chipper a bath in.
At the opposite end of the hallway was Billy’s room.
With Billy leading the way, the family entered the room.
Billy stopped in his tracks. Joan put her right arm around her mother. “Mom, this is your handiwork, isn’t it?”
“I had plenty of help, but it was surely a race against time once the moving van arrived. But, I must say,” as tears trickled down her cheek, “it was all worth it.”
Claire nudged Billy. “You go on in and check your room out. You’ll see, it is not much different than your room back in Texas.”
Billy strolled over to his bed and sat down.
“I wasn’t sure where to put all those baseball cards,” his grandma said. “But there are plenty of secret, little hiding places around. "You’ll just have to snoop around a little."
Billy waited for the grown-ups to head downstairs before he started to explore his new domicile.
“I’ll put the coffee pot on,” George said. “You two sit down and take a load off.”
Claire and Joan had no trouble granting that request as they pulled a couple of chairs out and sat down at the kitchen table.
Claire chuckled as she heard a noise coming from Billy’s room.
“You know, Joan, we had a lot of help getting this place in shape. Johnny, Cyrus, and Carl painted the walls, scrubbed the floors, unpacked tons of boxes, you name it, and they did it. They’re an amazing trio."
“But, I must warn you. The garage is a mess. It’ll take a month of Sundays to get that place in order. About the only thing you can get your hands on is Billy’s bike, and I have a feeling he’s going to want that right away.”
Joan shook her head. She couldn’t believe her parents’ lifelong friends, Johnny, Cyrus, and Carl. They were always willing to go the extra mile to help out. Joan had given the trio a name. She called them “The Three Musketeers.”
“I think the garage can wait,” Joan said. “Manny promised to bring the station wagon to us in a couple of weeks. He has arranged to drop it off and scheduled a flight out of here to visit his sister in Modesto. That’ll give us plenty of time to work on the garage.”
Claire looked over at her tired husband. “Well, George. I think we’ve done all the damage we can do here. We need to get you home to bed. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get you unpacked. Billy will probably be over first thing in the morning to help you unpack that footlocker.”
Joan kissed her parents goodbye and waved to them as they pulled out of the driveway and headed home.
They didn’t have far to go. Billy would soon find that out. Up Loretta Drive, right on Auburn Hills Road, and then a quick five minutes up the hill in third gear on his bike would put him at his grandparents’ front doorstep.
Joan could still hear Billy scurrying around upstairs, so she poured herself another cup of coffee and sat back down at the kitchen table.
She would need to fix dinner soon. Her mom had been so kind as to fill the refrigerator with food. They had lunch on the train, but that was hours ago.
She looked out the kitchen window. The sun was setting, and a flock of geese flew across the now-shadowy sky.
Such a peaceful place, she thought. It was great to be home. It was great to see her folks again. They had been together at the funeral just two months ago. They had all said their goodbyes to John...together.
Now, it was time to begin again, for Billy’s sake. Today had been an excellent start.
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