AS THEY WERE SAYING good night, Lucille Beemer said, “Wasn’t that just wonderful? All these people so happy to see you.”
“Yes, ma’am, it was. But I still don’t quite understand what happened. I mean, I got killed. Why am I still here? Why is everybody still here? I’m a little confused.”
“Of course you are, honey. We all were. I suppose the best way to explain it is that your body is dead, but you, Gene, are still alive. Does that make sense?”
“Some…I guess.”
“I used to question it,” said Lucille, “but not anymore. Nobody really knows how we got here. But I’m just glad we did. But, Gene, dear…now that you’re one of us, there’s a little something else I need to tell you about Still Meadows.”
“Yes, ma’am?”
“And again, we don’t know why it happens, but after they have been here for a while, some of our residents have left…quite unexpectedly.”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
“Well, one day they are here, and the next, they’re not. They just seem to disappear into thin air…and they never come back. At least, none have, yet.”
“Wow…that’s weird,” said Gene.
“I don’t want to upset you. I’m only telling you this, so you won’t be caught off guard, if it happens. Good night, Gene, dear.”
“Good night.”
Gene was tired, but he did not go right to sleep. That last piece of information about people disappearing was a bit unsettling. At this point, Gene didn’t know if this was good news or bad news. But either way, there was a lot more to being dead than he’d thought.
A few months later, Gene’s wife, Marion, and their baby boarded a train in San Francisco, headed to Elmwood Springs, Missouri. At last, they were coming.
Gerta and Ted, Elner and Ida, and Ida’s daughter, Norma, were all to be a part of the welcoming committee meeting the train. They had seen photographs of them but they were anxious to finally get the chance to see them in person.
Marion was not even Ida Jenkins’s daughter-in-law, but Ida used the occasion to purchase a new outfit for herself and for Norma. She told her husband, “It’s important we make a good first impression on her. After all, she’s from San Francisco. I just hope and pray Elner doesn’t show up in that old cotton housedress and tie-up shoes.” And, of course, Elner did.
It was a long trip with two train changes along the way, but they finally arrived. The first thing Elner said when she saw the baby was, “Oh my, look at those blue eyes and that blond hair. If she’s not the spitting image of Gene, then I don’t know who is!” Marion was as pretty as Gene had described her and almost as shy. During the ride back to the house, she hardly said a word, but just smiled as they all took turns holding the baby. Gene had told her all about his family, and it was amazing how right he had been in describing them. They all were as nice and as friendly as he had said. Gene had also told her about his aunt Ida Jenkins. At the time, she had thought he’d been kidding, but as it turned out, he hadn’t been. Ida never stopped talking the entire way home.
The following Sunday, they all went up to Still Meadows to show Marion where Gene was buried. Elner led the way, and when they got to Gene’s grave site, she said, “Here he is, honey.” Then she said, “Here’s your wife and baby…come all the way from San Francisco to see you!” Gene heard her just as plain as day and looked up and saw his baby for the first time.
Little eleven-month-old Dena Katrina Nordstrom was far too young to know it, but when Gerta and Ted took their new grandbaby all over town and showed her to everyone, people started to feel better, knowing there was a part of Gene that was still here. Pretty soon, the bakery opened up again.
The people out at Still Meadows heard the commotion going on down in the town, horns blowing, church bells ringing, but they didn’t know why. Things were quiet for a while, and just like everybody, they were concerned about the war. But as luck would have it, just a few days after V-J Day, Mr. Albert Snavely, by way of a burst appendix, came in with the latest news. When he told them what had happened, everyone was stunned.
“A what?” they asked.
“An atomic bomb…the biggest bomb that was ever made. Germany surrendered, but not the Japs. They just kept on fighting, so we dropped one bomb. And they still wouldn’t surrender, so old Harry Truman says, ‘Oh, yeah? Well, we’ll see about that.’ He dropped another one…and wham…we had ourselves a surrender in no time, signed, sealed, and delivered.”
“So the war’s over? We won?”
“Yes!”
You could hear everybody all over Still Meadows breathing a sigh of relief. Then Katrina said, “And the boys are coming home?”
“Any day now.”
“What about Ada Goodnight?” someone asked. “Is she still flying planes?”
“She’s already back, and she brought a new husband with her.”
“You don’t mean it? Oh, my stars…”
Coach Cready called out, “Hey, Gene…you were right, boy! We won. By God, we won!”
—
A FEW WEEKS LATER, Gene Nordstrom had a visitor. He had first met Cooter T. Calvert in the fifth grade, when Cooter’s parents had moved to town. And today, a tall and lanky twenty-two-year-old Cooter, still in his army uniform, had come out to see him.
Cooter walked up to the grave, stood there for a while, then squatted down on his haunches, pushed his hat back, and said, “Hi, buddy. I just got back, and your mom told me you were out here. Damn, Gene…of all the guys to get it, why did it have to be you? The best of the best. Everybody is still real upset. Your mom still has your picture in the window down at the bakery with the gold star. Anyhow…I just wanted to come out and thank you for being such a good friend. I mean, of all the guys, it’s hard to think about you not being here anymore. Shit…it should have been me. I’m just a screwup. But you…we all figured you’d come home and…anyhow…if you hadn’t let me tag along with you all those years and keep me out of trouble, I don’t know…but I’ll tell you what, Gene, I’m gonna do better. I owe that to you. I’m gonna try to live the best life possible…just for you. Your dad says you’re getting a medal—how about that, Kemosabe? I heard you got married and that she’s a real looker, too. You always did get the pretty ones. Anyhow…I don’t know what else to say. Except don’t worry about your folks. I’ll keep an eye on them for you.” He sighed and shook his head. “Oh, man, I just hope this war was worth it. You…of all the guys in the world…why did it have to be you?” Then Cooter, thinking he was alone, broke down and sobbed like a little kid.