Chapter Six-Aidan's Quest

Chapter 6
Aidan

“Are you mad, Mr. Wade.  You sound mad.  I’m sorry I listened, really.” Aidan just knew Mr. Wade would change his mind about watching him and he would have to go back to that daycare again. 

Mr. Wade turned Aidan around and looked at him eye to eye. “Son, is that what you think.  I wouldn’t go back on my word like that, you know that don’t you?” 

“I thought I did but you sounded mad back there and Mrs. Riseman was kind of weird acting too.  Do people fuss when they like each other?  Is that what’s going on?”  Aidan scratched his head and counted the tiles on the floor, embarrassed because he forgot Mr. Wade already told him he didn’t like Mrs. Riseman like that.” 

“Lord no, son, we are not an item.  What am I going to do with you and your mother.”  Mr. Wade messed up Aidan’s hair affectionately and led him down the hall, hand on the boy’s shoulders.  “You’re gonna like Mr. Kelly.  You can ask him all those questions you have in that notebook of yours.  He’s a good sport, a bit hard of hearing though.”

Aidan shook Mr. Kelly’s hand and Mr. Wade excused himself, leaving Aidan in the capable hands of a friend.  This friend, Mr. Kelly, was a tall man with hair shiny and silver, brushed back with a wide toothed comb, the separations visible like plowed earth.  He had a pair of overalls on making him look even taller than his 6’1” frame. 

”I hear you have plenty of questions for me, so just fire away.”

“Really?  Were you in World War II like Mr. Wade said?  Did you carry a gun?  What about bayonets?  Did you use bayonets when you fought?”  Aidan took the words “fire away” quite literally and he knew he should slow down.  Well, he realized it after he just peppered Mr. Kelly with questions.  Oh, well, at least he realized it sometime.  Better than he used to be when he didn’t notice at all. 

“Whoa boy, one question at a time.  Yes, I was in the war, helped liberate some concentration camps in Europe.  And yes, I carried a gun.  Some soldiers had bayonets but we usually didn’t get close enough to use them.  When we did, they were not really enough when the other team was shootin at us. ?

“Did it make you proud to win the war?”  Aidan had seen a documentary that talked about how the US celebrated the end of the war in Times Square in New York City and how that must have been a sight they would never forget.  He wondered if Mr. Kelly had been there at Times Square but he didn’t want to interrupt him to ask right then.

“Well, I guess I was proud we won but I wasn’t always proud of what we did there.  Yeah, we were proud of liberating the camps but then again, we realized, for the first time the horrors that had gone on right under our noses so it was a bittersweet victory.  I gather you like weapons and that’s fine and dandy, but don’t forget that war isn’t pleasant for anyone involved.  It’s full of heartache and sadness, death, destruction, and a lot of other bad things.  It’s not something to jump into lightly.  I wish countries would think it over a bit longer before they throw troops to the slaughterhouses.  Oh, my, I nearly forgot I was talking to a kid.  Forgive me for anything I might have said to scare you.  I sure didn’t mean to.  Lets just say that when a man is in a war, he fights for his buddies, not necessarily his Army or his country. 

“But didn’t you fight for America?”  Aidan was puzzled about the fact that this man would fight for friends but didn’t want to fight for his country. 

“Well, yes and no.  A boy in the 40’s might enlist for America, or he might enlist to impress a girl or to get out of finishing high school, or because not doing so would cause a boy to be seen as a coward by his community.  It’s just what we all did back then, if we could, we served.  I’m proud of having the courage to enlist since I could not envision myself staying at home with the women and children and men who were not physically able to fight.  Even those who couldn’t fight were supportive of the cause.  America was proud of their troops and was not afraid to say so.  It wasn’t like it is now.”

“Why not?  There’s a war in Iraq now.  How come there’s men all over the place with nothing wrong with them and they aren’t joining the military? 

“Boy, you ask some tough questions, young man.  Wish I knew the answers.  You know, my grandson will be here any minute.  He’s meeting me for lunch.  Name’s Will.  You ask him that question.  Wanna stay and eat with us?”

“My mom’s coming to eat with me when she gets finished talking to someone.  But maybe she won’t mind eating with us too, if it’s okay with you?” 

“That’s no problem.  When she gets here, we’ll just bring her on over.  Maybe she and Will can get to know each other.  He’s single, and I gather your mom is too.  Who knows?” 

“Mr. Kelly, why did you want me to ask your grandson the question I asked you?”  When Aidan was interested in a subject, he wouldn’t turn loose of an unanswered question and he had an excellent memory. 

“Well, I recon it’s because I tried to get him to join up in the army or some service and he flat refused.  Said he had a new business he was starting and he’s coming to tell me all about it. Can’t much blame him from steering clear of the military after what happened to his father.  Died in ‘Nam just before Will was born.  Vietnam was a whole different situation.  A conflict, they called it.  Didn’t even call it a war but folks carried guns and died just the same. 

“Was he your son, Mr. Kelly?”
“No, Will’s momma was my daughter, ya see, so I didn’t have anything to do with his daddy joining up.  Didn’t even know him when he enlisted, or was drafted I guess.”  Mr. Kelly leaned in and cupped his arthritic hands to shield his lips as he whispered to Aidan.  “They weren’t even married.” 

Aidan wondered why that was such a secret.  “My parents were married either.  Is that a bad thing?”  Aidan thought it must be bad for Mr. Kelly to whisper like that.  He’d have to ask his mom later.  He hoped she would be upset if he asked that kind of thing.  She seemed weird when he asked about his father, which he had been doing more and more lately.

“Well, look who the cat dragged in.  Come give me a hug, son.  Will, this is my new friend Aidan.  Aidan, this is Will, my grandson.”

Aidan was still trying to figure out why Mr. Kelly said the cat dragged his grandson in.  That sounded a little bit painful, really.  Anyway, he remembered to shake the man’s hand and sat back down in his old seat.  Aidan thought Will looked nothing like the old man, except they were both tall.  The man named Will had brown, shiny hair, glasses, and wore a pair of tan pants and a button down without a tie on.  Aidan noticed all kids of details when he met new people.  He was dragging a big black box on wheels with a handle on it.  Aidan wondered what was in the box and couldn’t help but ask.

“Mr. Will, what do you keep in that big box of yours?  I ask lots of questions.  I hope you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.  I like smart kids who aren’t afraid to ask.  Shows they like learning and respect that.  You like learning?”

“Yep, I mean Yes sir.  My friends don’t really but I do.  They call me weird but inside my head, I call ‘em stupid.  I just can’t say that in their face or they’d beat me up and I’d get in trouble for sayin’ a bad word.”  Aidan finally took a breath and saw Will do the same.  He excused himself briefly to get one of those short wavy orange juice glasses in the lunch line and filled it with water from the soda machine.  He figured he needed to make himself hush so Mr. Will can tell his grandfather all about his new business.  As he took his first sip, he saw his mom and Mr. Wade talking to each other in the doorway and then Mr. Wade left the cafeteria while his mom came to get him for lunch. 

“Hi, guys.  You must be Will.  Mr. Wade told me you had a new business.  Mind if I listen in?” 

“No problem.  I’ll practice my pitch with you folks and you can tell me where I need to beef up my presentation.  How ‘bout getting your lunch while I set up, and I should be ready when you get back.  Pops, ya want me to get your lunch before I start?” 

“Lord no, son, I got legs.  You get to work unloadin’ that box of yours and I’ll escort this pretty lady and the little professor to the lunch line.  Besides, you never did answer the little fella’s question and he won’t let you off the hook.  Better pitch your plan to him, son.  If he likes it, he’s liable to be your best advertisement.  Little rascal doesn’t forget a thing, and he sure likes to talk, right Ms. Margo?” 

“That’s my boy, Mr. Kelly.”  They walked toward the line, Aidan in front zeroing in on the desert section.  “Aidan, wanna get some meat and vegetables to go with the brownie, son?” 

“No ma’am.  Not really.  I guess you’re going to make me though, right?”  He thought he’d try anyway.  Sometimes when parents are talking to other adults, they sort of forget to watch their kids.  His mom rarely forgot, though.  She always noticed things like eating desert before dinner.  She’s so picky, he thought.  If it all ended up in the same place, what did it matter which one you ate first.  He thought of how he heard his mom tell Mr. Wade he likes routines and is a picky eater.  He must have learned that from her, he figured. 

When Aidan, Margo and Mr. Kelly arrived at the table, Will had everything laid out on the next table.  “Aidan, here’s the answer to your question.  This the laptop computer where I’ll show you the information video. This is the video recorder on a tripod so I can take myself asking questions.  This is the book that I put all the information in when I’m done.  I know you’ll have more questions so here’s a pad of paper and a pen.  Write down any questions or spots you think I might need to explain more about.  I’ll take ‘em home and sharpen my presentation.  Thank you guys for being my guinea pigs.”

“Mom, he called us guinea pigs.  Were not pigs?”

“What, oh, not really guinea pigs, Aidan.  It’s just a figure of speech.  It means you’re letting me experiment on you before I give my speech to a big group of folks.  It’s like when they try out products on guinea pigs to see if they are harmful or if they need to fix something before they let humans try the product.  Does that make sense?” 

“Guess so.  You can go on now.  I want to know what all this stuff is for.”  Aidan liked this guy already.  He explained patiently, taking Aidan’s question much more seriously than most grown-ups did.  He looked at his mom and she was smiling too.  Aidan knew she was thinking the same thing. 

Will explained his new business and Aidan managed to write down things without blurting his questions out loud, something that was not easy for him to do.  When he was done, he asked Aidan to summarize what the business was about in a few sentences. 

Aidan stood up and said in a sing-song manner, almost like he was bored but not really.  He looked at the ceiling as he talked, like that is where the script was that that he was reading from.  “Well, you ask a bunch of questions to old people and make a video of their answers then you look up stuff on the computer about where they lived and what happened when they were growing up and you scan copies of old pictures you get from the old folks’ relatives and you give ‘em a movie and a book only after they give you the money.  How’s that, Mr. Will?”

“You know what, Aidan.  You think your momma would let you help me out around here?  What do you think, Margo.  This kid just said in one sentence, one long one mind you but one sentence, what I just blabbered about for 20 minutes.  Wow, kiddo.  You do have a good memory.  I’ll bet you could come up with some questions for the old folks, couldn’t you?”

“Now I’m startin’ to take offense to this talk a’ old folks, boys.  I may be agin’ but I ain’t done yet.  Plus, you ain’t gonna get much bidness outta these here men and women if you start callin’ ‘em old.”  Mr. Kelly was drawling out his words in a cadence not unlike the re-runs of that hillbilly show where that whole family moved to that fancy house in California.  Aidan couldn’t help but double over, giggling so hard he couldn’t catch his breath. 

“Sorry, Pops.  Didn’t mean nothin’ by it.  But you ain’t no spring chickin’, ya know.”  Will was trying his own rendition of  that black headed boy on that same show.

“Yeah, sorry Pops. Mom, you can be Ellie Mae, try it.” Aidan tried to take a drink from his chocolate milk but had to cover his nose as it came out the wrong way.  He felt, not saw, the look his mother darted his way and mumbled, “’scuse me, ya’ll.”
“What’s so doggone funny here?  I leave to make a phone call and the whole table burst in hysterics.  You talking about me?”  Mr. Wade walked up so quietly, no one noticed him approach.  Aidan jumped along with the rest of them, still holding down a bad case of the giggles, Margo included. 

“Oh nothin’ old man.  Just a joke.  You wouldn’t get it anyway.”  Mr. Kelly hit his hand on the table and hollered, “My, my, my.  I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in years, have I Will?”

“Nope, what do you say we meet for dinner tonight.  I’ll treat you to something off campus if you folks are game.”  Will started tidying his equipment and excused himself to go get something for himself for lunch.”

Mr. Wade said he’d have to skip for the night after Margo got off work but urged Margo to take Aidan.  “Remember, it’s good for him to meet folks and learn his social skills, right Margo?”  Aidan thought Mr. Wade was really sort of trying to get his mom to like Will but he liked Will too.  He didn’t mind going along with the game. 

“Yeah mom, can we.  It’ll be fun?”  Aidan was excited but his mom just said she would think about it.  She had to go back to work and gave him a kiss on the forehead.  He didn’t mind that, as long as there weren’t any kids around.  “So, Mr. Wade, can we hang out here with Mr. Kelly and Will for the rest of the day.  I’m having fun.”

“I reckon.  Got some work I can bring in here while you help your new friend with that business proposal of his.”

“He’ll be fine with us, Alfred.  You go on and get what you need and we’ll be right here.  Not like I got somewhere else to be.”  Mr. Kelly waved him off like Aidan’s mom did when she tried to get him out of the house.  He was glad he could stay and couldn’t wait to help Will with his movies.  He pulled out his notebook and pen from his backpack and got ready to take notes. 


SWPoet
2752 Words