by Linda Ellen
With that, she said a small prayer for her brother’s safety, and then lay back down to try and go back to sleep. The feeling of dread, however, wouldn’t subside.
*
Once everyone was up, ate breakfast, and Vic and Tommy had left for the station, Louise found herself standing at the kitchen sink, washing the dishes. The phone on the wall by the door started ringing and a shiver of fear ran down her back. Billy!
Drying her hands on her apron, she walked over and picked up the receiver.
“H…hello?”
A man on the other end cleared his throat and began, “This is Chaplain McDaniel at Veteran’s Hospital…I’m calling to try and locate Mrs. Willis Hoskins…”
“Yes, that’s my mother…hold on a minute,” Louise answered, her voice a bit shaky. Oh please…don’t let this be something bad about Billy! Somehow, however, she knew deep down that it was.
Her hand quivering, her mouth suddenly dry with trepidation, Louise nervously set the receiver down on the counter and brought both hands to her face trying to bring her emotions under control. Walking back through the house, she found her mother making her bed in the room she shared with Jimmy.
“Mama?” Louise began, hesitating for a moment as Lilly turned to meet her gaze. “You’re wanted on the phone…it’s a chaplain at the Veteran’s Hospital.”
“Veteran’s Hospital? My lands, I hope nothing is wrong with one of the boys,” she exclaimed as she followed her daughter out the door and down the hall. Both of them, however, knew it must be something bad – why else would a chaplain at a hospital be calling?
Lilly picked up the receiver and addressed the man on the phone, listened a moment, then nodded. “Yes, certainly. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
When Lilly hung up the phone, she turned to Louise. “Your brother, Billy, showed up at the hospital yesterday and they kept him overnight. They want me to come…said Billy listed me as who to call in an emergency.”
“I wonder what’s wrong? Did he get in an accident? What did the chaplain say?” Louise queried, trying to ignore the niggling suspicion that it had something to do with his drinking.
“He didn’t say, just said to come,” Lilly responded, but Louise could tell by the look on her mother’s face that she didn’t feel good about the situation.
“Come on, I’ll drive you. We’ll take the boys up to the station and let Vic know what’s going on.”
They did just that, and within the hour, they walked through the main doors of the Veteran’s Hospital on Zorn Avenue – the newer, seven-story, red brick, 494-bed facility that had opened just several years prior. Louise had heard about it and seen pictures, but she had never had the need to go there…until now.
Stopping at the front desk and inquiring after the chaplain who had called, a man standing to the side turned and introduced himself – as if he had been waiting for them. Louise swallowed down her apprehension and reached over to grasp her mother’s hand as she and Lilly followed him down a short hall to his office.
After they were seated and the chaplain had offered to get them something to drink, which they declined, he began, “Mrs. Hoskins, your son, Billy, arrived here to the hospital in a taxi at around 7:30 last night. He was complaining of abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, fever, chills…a general malaise…” he paused, clearing his throat. Louise tried to imagine what would be wrong with her brother…Influenza? Appendicitis? Absently, she also wondered if this chaplain had been on the job very long, as he seemed to be uncomfortable speaking with a patient’s family members. As he continued, she pushed that thought away and tried to concentrate on what he was saying.
“The surgeon on duty took him right in and performed a procedure…they were, however, unable to…they tried their best…” he paused again, this time meeting her eyes.
Suddenly, Lilly realized the truth. Perhaps she had felt it the moment she got the phone call, but she sat forward and looked the chaplain in the eye. “Are you trying to tell us that…he died?”
With a reluctant nod, he whispered, “Yes. I’m so sorry.”
Louise felt the room tilt; she couldn’t believe her ears! Her little brother? Dark haired, blue-eyed, handsome Billy Hoskins? The baby she had taken care of and dressed like he was her own doll? The boy who had loved to ride the rides at Fontaine Ferry? The youngster who had followed her and her friends around everywhere she went, driving her crazy? The young man who had been such a part of her life from the time she could remember? How could he be dead? He was too young! Why, he was…he was…only twenty-eight!
Images came rushing in, Billy as a toddler, learning to walk and talk…Billy on his first day of school…Billy grinning around a missing front tooth and excitedly asking her if she thought the tooth fairy would come…Billy in the middle of the boat as Vic rescued the family during the Flood…Billy running in fear from the nurse who wanted to give him a smallpox shot. More images swam through…Billy as a handsome, lanky teen, dancing with pretty Bernice Grant to the silly song, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B”…Billy crying in Sonny’s arms at their father’s funeral…on and on the memories came. This couldn’t be real.
When the room righted itself again, Louise slowly realized she was holding a small glass of water that the chaplain had obviously provided, and that he was kneeling at her chair, patting her hand. She turned her head and saw her mother in the next chair, using a handkerchief to wipe at a continuous flow of tears.
Now, Louise realized she had tears on her own cheeks. Oh Billy! My sweet Billy boy, my little brother! I…I didn’t even get to say goodbye!
Reaching over to place a hand on her mother’s arm in an attempt to comfort, Louise opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. Clearing her throat, she tried again. “You okay, Mama?” Lilly answered with a small nod.
Louise turned to the chaplain, asking softly, “What…what was wrong with him?”
“The doctors ruled that he suffered a pancreatic hemorrhage. It had progressed too far and they were unable to stop it in time,” he answered gently, gripping her hand, obviously worried whether she would be all right or not.
Louise didn’t know what to do or say. She felt numb and confused. The kind chaplain seemed to understand, and he murmured softly, “We’ve called your husband. He’s on his way.”
At that moment, Louise centered all her thoughts on that piece of information. Vic…she’d hold on until he arrived, then everything would be all right…
*
“Oh babe, I’m so sorry,” Vic whispered as he rocked her gently in his arms. Although the thought of Louise’s younger brother dead came as a blow to him, as he had truly loved his brother-in-law, he knew the news had hit his wife hard, and he was especially concerned because of her condition.
“I…I can’t believe it…” she sniffled, burrowing her face into his uniform shirt and clutching his sides tightly. Her heart felt compressed, to the point of pain, and it was hard to draw in a deep breath. However, she managed to squeak, “My sweet Billy!”
“I know, babe. It’s a shock…we didn’t even know he was sick…”
Louise nodded against him. “It was probably the drinking. But…some people drink for years and years and nothing happens…Billy was still young…” she whined softly.
“Sometimes that happens…” he murmured, not really knowing what to say to make her feel better. He glanced over, watching Louise’s other brother, Sonny, doing his best to comfort a distraught Lilly. Only, how does one comfort a mother who just lost her son?
After a few minutes, Louise sniffled again and turned her face, speaking softly, “I woke up early this morning, feeling scared, so I got up and got a drink of water, washed my face…and I saw him just as clear…like he was standing right there looking at me. He kind of smiled…but his eyes were so sad. It was about four o’clock…”
Vic stiffened for a moment, and then tightened his arms around her. “That chaplain said Billy passed away at 3:55…”
Louise ga
sped and leaned back enough to see her husband’s face. “He…he came to see me…to tell me goodbye,” she whispered in awe, the knowledge swept over her in a huge wave of emotion, which helped just a bit to relieve her sadness.
Vic smiled tenderly and bringing up a hand holding a dry handkerchief, he dabbed at her tears. “Yeah, seems he did.”
Louise nodded, staring at nothing. “I wish I…could have helped him not be so sad…after he came back from the war…”
“Well…the chaplain told me that he spoke to Billy when he first arrived…he said he got right with the Lord. Your brother’s not in pain anymore, honey. Try to hang on that… Some day you’ll see him again.”
*
Much like when Willis had died; Sonny and Vic took care of all the arrangements. They made sure Billy had a nice gravesite at Calvary Cemetery, in the Veteran’s section. It was under a pleasant shade tree, right alongside a walking path.
Lilly held up well, only breaking down in tears once during the service. Sonny stayed right by his mother’s side, slipping an arm around her when he thought she needed the comfort. Edna and her husband Gene couldn’t make it, as they didn’t have money for train fare from New York – or so Edna had said when she had answered Sonny’s phone call. Vic had his own thoughts about the validity of that, since Edna’s husband worked for New York Central Railroad and could get tickets any time he wanted. However, he kept his opinions to himself, so as not to upset Lilly and Louise.
For the most part, the funeral was a somber affair, one in which Louise would later remember very few details. The one bit that stood out in her memory was the remarks made by her son, Tommy. No one else wished to or felt like getting up to say anything about the life of the deceased. Louise was too distraught, plus she’d had the fear of a superstitious old wives’ tale spoken over her by her friend, Ruth, who had blatantly and with much conviction, declared that Louise would lose the baby if she attended her brother’s funeral. “Everybody knows it’s bad luck, Louise – it just is!”
“Well, I don’t believe that!” Louise had shot back. “I’m going to my little brother’s funeral and that’s that. Nothing’s going to happen to the baby because of it.” Deep down, however, a seed of fear had been planted and she had to fight hard against it.
Sonny, who used to have a go-getter personality and was always ready with a joke, had changed dramatically after his marriage to the soft-spoken Sarah. Now a man of few words, he had gone completely mute regarding his feelings for his younger brother. Louise understood – Sonny was too afraid that he would get up there in front of everyone and get choked up, and to his way of thinking, make himself look the “fool”.
Doc Latham had agreed to officiate the service, but as he was gathering his notes to begin, seventeen-year-old Tommy signaled that he would like to speak. With a gentle smile, the pastor nodded.
Tom stood, walked to the small podium, and cleared his throat.
“Um…I thought somebody should say something about Uncle Billy, so I guess I will. He um…he was the best kind of uncle a kid could have, because most of the time, he was kind of a kid himself,” he paused and looked around at his teary-eyed family, the confused faces of his little brothers, and the friends that had made the trip to the funeral home, namely Alec, Earl, and their families. He noticed Bernice Grant wiping tears.
All eyes on him, he hesitatingly continued. “From my…my earliest memories when I was just a kid, Uncle Billy was always around, always laughing and joking, kind of happy-go-lucky. He’s the one who taught me how to tie my shoestrings…he showed me how to blow a big bubble with a wad of chewing gum, without letting it pop all over my face…he taught me how to shoot marbles, and beat all the neighbor kids out of their pennies,” he paused and smiled as some in the small audience chuckled. Gathering his thoughts, he glanced down at Louise, watching her wipe away tears as Vic tightened his arm a little closer around her shoulders.
“But my best memory of him was one night when he took me with him to see some friends downtown, and we ended up singing with them and goofing around. Before that, I didn’t even know he knew how to play music, but he sure did. He told me that night that I had the knack, too, after me and him sang a song together. He said I had real talent. I’ll never forget it…it meant a lot to me that he thought so.”
He stopped again, pressing his lips together as if he were thinking whether or not he should mention his next thoughts. Glancing around again, he went on, “He was different after he came back from the war. He didn’t laugh and joke like he used to…he didn’t come around much. I asked him once after that if being a soldier was exciting, and he looked me in the eye, real serious, and said, ‘Nephew, you better pray to the Almighty that you never have to find out.’ I never asked him again, but I knew that whatever he’d been through over there must have been pretty bad to change him that much. Anyway…that’s about all,” he finished with a shrug and a sniffle as he stepped down to take his seat, surreptitiously swiping at his eyes.
Several of Billy’s friends from Paddy’s, the small bar where he had made a few bucks playing drums or piano late at night, had come to pay their respects. At that point, they solemnly got up and made their way to the front of the small assembly. In honor of their friend, they brought their instruments and played a slow version of, “I’ll Be Seeing You.” It was one of the songs, they said, that Billy could play on the piano so well that patrons requested it all the time.
When they finished, one of the musicians saluted toward the coffin, mumbling, “We’ll be seein’ you, Billy Boy.” Then, he and the other band members respectfully inclined their heads to the family and shuffled quietly to the back of the small sanctuary.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the room when Doc stood to deliver the funeral sermon.
Billy would have been happy to know that through his death, two of his fellow musicians, who had also served with him in the war, gave their hearts, burdens, and torments to the Lord – bringing something good from something bad.
It was a memory Louise would ponder in her heart, always.
‡
CHAPTER 15
The Scare at the Fair
“Mama, Daddy said to ask you if you want to go to the fair,” Jimmy announced as he ran out into the backyard and over to where she stood hanging a wet towel on the clothesline. It was a Monday afternoon in late August, and the boy had secured the help of his older brother to telephone the station.
Louise turned toward him, clothespins in her mouth, and mumbled around them, “De Fai?” At his confused expression, she reached up to take the pins from her mouth and restated, “The Fair?”
He nodded vigorously. “Yep. He says it’s up to you!”
She eyed him, wondering how the boy had even heard of it. The Kentucky State Fair wasn’t something they had gone to as a family.
As if he read her mind, he expounded, “Me and Buddy saw about it on the television! They got rides, and ice cream, and cotton candy, and horses, and all kinds of stuff. Oh Mama, can we go, please, please, please?” By this point, seven-year-old Jimmy knew just how to charm his mother, knowing she could seldom resist his big hazel eyes trained on her so imploringly.
Louise had seen the commercials for the Fair as well, and knew that the city was pushing it this year as THE event for families – before school started again and lives settled back down into routine. The Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center, which was celebrating its grand opening that year, was supposed to be the most modern, multipurpose facility of its kind in the world. She had heard that NBC’s TODAY Show would broadcast live from the grounds. It was shaping up to be a big deal.
Just that morning, she had read in the paper that they were predicting attendance to top 500,000 during the nine-day event, and break many records. With a new stadium for football games, a large coliseum for rodeos, ice shows and horse shows, dozens of exhibits under twenty-two acres of roof, and scores of rides and midway concessionaires, it seemed to have something for everyone. Louise figu
red she wouldn’t be able to get out of going, although at five months pregnant, the prospect of all of that walking had her feet already aching.
With a sigh, she smiled down at her son and ran a hand back through his thick, dark hair, idly thinking he was due for his start-of-the-school-year haircut. Gently gripping his chin, she asked, “Is your father still on the phone?”
“No ma’am, he said he was busy, but he would see if he can take off early.”
The hopeful, expectant look on his face was too much to ignore. With a chuckle, she agreed. “Alright, call him back and see if he can take off before supper. Tell him we’ll pack a picnic basket and take it with us.”
“Yippee!” he hollered as he spun around and raced back to the house, yelling on the way, “Buddy! Buddy! We’re goin’! She said yes!”
Louise shook her head, laughing, as she finished hanging out the load of towels. It might be fun at that…Vic and I haven’t been to anything like that since the last time we went to Fountain Ferry…
*
“I can’t believe all these cars,” Vic mumbled as he obediently followed the orders of a red-vested parking attendant with flags pointing which direction to go to find overflow parking. “We’ll be lucky to find a spot – and remember where it is to come back to eat.”
Louise nodded, biting her lip as she tried to decide what would be best. In the back seat of their dark green Oldsmobile, Buddy and Jimmy were perched on the edge of the seat, barely containing their excitement. Next to them sat Tommy and his date, a cute blonde by the name of Jennifer. She was shy and about all you could get out of her was a giggle in answer to just about any question. Louise turned around and spoke to them all, “I think it’d be best if we go ahead and eat, then we won’t have to worry about taking time out to find our way back…”
They all agreed, and soon Vic found a spot to park the car. It was far from any shade trees, but it couldn’t be helped. They piled out and Vic opened the trunk to retrieve the basket. Lilly, who had stayed home to enjoy a rare night alone in the house, had packed a load of delicious food for them to take, including fried chicken, potato salad, pickles, a glass bottle of milk, and various other treats. It didn’t take the family long to eat their fill, as the boys were champing at the bit to get going.
