Will Baker is Dead, Episode 3 - "The Pain of Time"

She blinked a few times, thinking back over her loss.  The sun had not yet come up, yet she laid there awake.  “What am I gonna do without you, baby?  How am I gonna make it?”  The woman felt her chest, a pain in her heart not unlike the one that claimed her husband all those years ago.  As Veronica turned over in bed and looked at the picture on her mantle, the one next to her old, red digital clock flashing in the darkness, she sighed.  Veronica had been without her husband over ten years now, and it was always nights like this when she missed him the most.  Talking softly and slowly to her husband, though to speak above a whisper would give away the illusion, “I miss you, Archibald.  I miss you, bad.  Happy anniversary, love.” 

            The old lady had given over to the fact that she would never get back to sleep now.  Even if it was just past 5am, the sun would start nosing over the horizon within the hour, and she could never sleep through that.  Between the light skies and the birds, it would take a miracle for Veronica Davis to sleep past 7am these days.  She spent the first hour getting herself ready for the day.  She put the rollers in her hair first, because today was a special day.  And it was going to be a tough day.  It’s always best to look your best when the days are at their worst.  Veronica had always told Archie Sr. that, and now she tried real hard to tell herself. 

            The house was as quiet as usual, but this morning Veronica had to work at keeping the volume down.  Her grandson, Archie, was in town.  That is to say, he was further in town.  His parents, his dad being Veronica’s son, lived on the other side of town towards the more suburban parts of Horizon.  The cynics called it “Metro Horizon,” since everything out that way seemed to revolve around the only other real city close enough to count.  Her son, Archie Jr., had said that they wanted to stay close to her with his father gone, but not close enough to buy the then vacant, brand new house across the street.  Now, a nice young couple lived across the street and occasionally looked in on Mrs. Davis to make sure she was taken care of, and her daughter-in-law would bring the grandson by to visit and to give her some alone time.  She knew how the game worked, but Veronica didn’t mind.  She’d been around long enough to see that you take opportunities when they’re given, no matter how ill-meant they are. 

            Now Archie (technically the Third, but he didn’t go by that) slept late in the summer, and Mrs. Davis didn’t want to wake him up.  So she took her morning tea out to the front porch, rollers still in and all.  By now, the dark blue sky had tints of orange, just peeking up over the tree line and the new houses across the street from her.  Or at least newer. 

Mrs. Davis and her husband had moved closer to town back in the late fifties after they married and after some problems had come up in the old neighborhood, but then the town caught up to them a good forty years later.  By the time builders were asking to buy their home, Archie Sr. had been dead a few years, and she couldn’t stand to part with it, so Mrs. Davis stayed put where she was.  This had been their home for so long that she couldn’t stand moving.  Archie Jr. kept telling her to move in with them near Atlanta, but he wouldn’t be willing to buy the house across the street from them.  They eventually compromised, but it took some work on her part. 

So as he slept, Mrs. Davis sat on her porch and admired the waking neighborhood she found herself in.  It was a nice place, full of beautiful gardens and well planned out sidewalks.  Most of the driveways had cars no older than three or four years old, most of the houses had kids no older than a year.  And here was Mrs. Davis with a ’78 Buick she couldn’t stand to part with and a twelve year old sleeping in the back room.  Not to mention the fact that she was a good fifty years older than the average homeowner on the block.  It made her laugh, usually, thinking about how little she really fit in the neighborhood she predated and had lived in for so long.  Today, it just made her think about how much she missed the man who made her belong. 

While the sky was still dark enough to dream, she slipped back in her mind to the day their lives were set.  They’d dated a little while, the much coveted Veronica Wallace of Horizon and Archibald Davis, but they’d broken up because he lied to her about his job.  Most importantly, he didn’t actually have one yet and had been spending all of his money from his last job on her.  Well it happened that there was a barn dance that night a little ways out of town, and so Veronica wanted to go and dance off the blues that he’d given her.  And as small as the town was, all the young men had heard of Archie’s bad fortune and made their way out, too. 

About halfway through the evening, with Veronica dressed in the finest thing she could come up with, and about fifteen guys asking for a dance, Archie walked in with coveralls and a wrench.  “Veronica!  Veronica!” he called to her, hoping to find the beautiful lady who escaped him before someone else did.  “Veronica, I need to talk to you.”

“What do you want from me, Jonah?” 

Uncharacteristically ignoring her attempt at annoying him, “Veronica.  I love you…don’t talk yet.  I love you, and I’m not gonna let this go.  I lost my job, and you’re right, I should’ve told you, but I thought that would send you away.  I lost my job, I didn’t quit.  They couldn’t pay me no more.  And I got a new one.  I spent all week looking for a new job just to get you back, and I told them I would do whatever they needed, at whatever price, and woman, I’ve got a job down at the mechanic’s.  Is that better?  I’ll work at whatever I have to.  I will work at whatever it takes to get you back.”

“Well congratulations at being employed Mr. Davis,” in mocking tones, “but that isn’t enough.  If you could go back and tell me the truth from the first, it might be enough, but this isn’t.  I’m sorry, Archie, but it won’t work.”

“Come on, V.  I didn’t tell you because I wanted to spend my money on you.  I wanted to spend my time on you, and I knew you wouldn’t let me without a job.  I could’ve gone another month on what I’d saved up, but I got a job and I’m trying to do it your way.  Please, baby, give me another chance.”

“No.  There’s nothing you could say or do, and that’s it.”  Truth is, she wanted him just as bad as he wanted her.  That’s why she hadn’t danced with a single one of the men, but she wouldn’t let on.  It was about then that the perfect song came on for Archibald, as “Fats” Domino started wailing out “Ain’t That a Shame.”  Without so much as asking, Archie walked over and picked that girl up in his arms.  While the big man moaned over 78, Archie spun the little lady around on the floor and kept doing what he could to win her over, but it had already been done.  By the end of the dance, he was forgiven, and by the end of the month, she was Mrs. Davis.  And had been ever since.

She came back to herself in time to see the nice young couple across the street, Will and Jules Baker, kissing each other goodbye for the day.  Veronica was especially fond of the young wife, Jules.  Jules would often come by and talk about gardening with her, and Veronica didn’t mind dispensing a few tips ever since she’d been out of the game with her bad arthritis.  In fact, she felt good about helping such a nice young woman grow such a beautiful garden, even if Jules did manage to overtake the longstanding record that Veronica held with such pride.   They were a beautiful couple, and seeing them this particular morning made Veronica feel a little better about the state of the world. 

After a while, she went in to replenish her morning tea and check on Archie, who still slept.  Veronica carefully pulled the rollers out of her hair, keeping that perfect curl that she held on to with unflinching strength.  As with most things in her life, it was how Archie Sr. had loved it, and so that’s exactly how she kept it.  The rest of the morning went about like this, calm and smooth.  Around 9am or so, Jules came over to just chat.  They talked about husbands and love and what Mrs. Davis spied from her porch that morning.  They talked about Archie and how he was growing up, seeing as how Mrs. Baker had really helped him out in her first year at the elementary school, getting him some help with these bigger boys that were picking on him.  But mostly, they talked gardening.

The poor girl was fretting about moles in her garden, something that Mrs. Veronica knew nothing about.  Veronica thought for a second, but she’d never dealt with them.  In fact, Veronica had never heard of anyone who’d ever had to deal with them in Horizon, but she wouldn’t let that affect it.  But she was not to let the girl who had done so much for her go without some help, even if it was made-up. 

“Not usually, no, but one or two occasions I did.  They lost me the ’83 Garden of the year, I don’t mind you knowing.”  Actually, she lost the ’83 contest due to a fight between her and Archie Sr. which led to him tearing the garden up, but Jules didn’t need to know that.  “But after a while, I learned to put a little pepper in my garden.  Yes, black pepper,” trying to really sell the story.  Veronica could tell that Jules wasn’t buying it.  “Put a little black pepper in the soil around your plants and it’ll keep those bugs out of your garden for a whole season.  It messes with their noses, and all those blind diggers have to see with their noses.” 

She had thought for a minute about the most plausible thing she could make up to tell her, as Veronica had never dealt with wildlife of that size in her garden.  That didn’t mean she’d never heard of solutions, but none of them were ever tested.  She’d heard of certain flowers that warded off moles, but they were all ugly or smelled bad.  She’d heard of other insects you could introduce to the environment that might prevent their taking up residence, but it was never advised to put extra bugs in the soil, because you never know when your flowers are their meal.  After a few seconds of hesitant stalling, she finally settled on something that almost made sense, and that was mixing black pepper in the soil. 

“I…guess I’ll give it a try.  Thank you, Mrs. Davis.”  Jules didn’t seem to believe it too well, but Veronica heard no complaints or protestations. 

“Anytime, my dear.  And don’t you forget what I was saying about your husband.  That’s a good solid love you’ve got there.  Hold on to him.  One day he’ll be gone like my Jonah,” she added, still unable to get him off her mind.  “And you know what they say.  The men always die first.” 

“I surely hope so, Mrs. Davis.  Well you have a good rest of the morning, and I’ll see you later.” 

Jules walked away with a smile, which came across about as odd as her answer to Mrs. Davis’ joke, but it was nothing to fret over.  For another couple hours, Mrs. Davis sat on the porch and read the paper or just admired the kids who would run by from down the street and wave at her.  Being the only older woman on the block, she became a surrogate grandma for the kids who could walk about freely, often making cookies for them.  But today, she got to be MawMaw again while Archie was in town. 

“MawMaw, what’s for breakfast?”

“I was thinking about making you some macaroni and cheese like you love so much.  That sound good?”

“For breakfast?”

“Well when you’re breakfast isn’t until close to 12:30, then yeah.”

“I’m sorry, Mamma V.  I didn’t mean to sleep so late,” he lied, perfectly accepting the habit he survived off of so well. 

“Let’s go on in there and get you something fixed up.  Then I’m gonna take you to town in a little bit.  We’ve got some errands to run.”

After the two had lunch, Archie, or Jonah as he liked to go by now, with his macaroni that kids love so much and Mamma V with her simple sandwiches, they got ready for their trip to town.  Making a big lunch for Jonah made MawMaw, or Mamma V, or whatever he felt like calling her, feel like old times when she’d make this big lunch for the whole family on Sunday afternoon, usually involving collards and corn and all sorts of tow from the garden.  Today, some little plastic pasta and semi-fresh liquid cheese mix was her feast, and her favorite customer ate it all up.  “Now, you go and finish getting dressed, put on some clean shorts, and we’ll go to town, okay?”

Jonah loved going to town with Mamma V.  It was more fun with her than with his mom.  They always went to the busy stores in the city where she would have to watch him with both eyes and keep him tied to her hip almost.  Veronica would let him run in and do things for her and pick up something special for dinner all by himself.  Horizon Groceries was a safe enough store to allow for what would pass as carelessness most anywhere else.  “Jonah, son, can you run in and fill my prescription and pick up a roast for dinner?  I’m gonna go over here to the bank and it may take a while.  You’ll finish before me, so when you do, I want you to come on over to the bank.  Do you think you could walk safely across the parking lot?”

“Yes, MawMaw.  I’ll see you in a little bit!” 

And as he ran off towards the store, she shouted back at him, “And make sure they don’t short change me this time on the medicine!  They’ve come up about three days short going on a year now.”  Unsure whether or not he heard her, Veronica Davis went on over and parked by the bank.  It wouldn’t take her long.  Just a few minutes to go in and put some money in savings from her social security check.  She had already prepared her deposit slips and everything. 

“Well hello there, Mrs. Davis.  How’s my favorite neighbor today?”

“I’m doing real well, Mr. Baker.  Saw that wife of yours this morning.  She was looking real pretty in them gardening clothes.  Makes me wonder what you’re doing here instead of being home.”

“Well someone’s gotta make money for her to buy gardening clothes, Mrs. Davis.”  The two laughed, while he rang up her transaction.  “I could set my watch by you, Mrs. Davis.  Every week, right at lunchtime, I see you come in here with this check.  You know you can do this online now, right?”

“Child, if I knew how, I might.  Save my knees having to walk up here.”

“Still dealing with that, eh?  How’re the pills working for you?”

“Oh, they help, alright.  But it’s still there.  Some things you just can’t fix, Mr. Baker, I tell you.”

“I know how it is.  So is Archie staying with you this week?”

“Oh yeah, he’s over at the store picking up some…”

“Mr. Baker, I’ve got a man on the phone here, says he’s looking for a Bill Walker.  I guess he means you?”  The secretary in the back office came out and interrupted their cordial conversation.  “I’m sorry to interrupt you, hi Mrs. Davis, but he said it was important.”

“Yeah, it’s for me.”  Explaining it to Mrs. Davis, “A few of my clients keep getting the name wrong.  It’s been happening since elementary school, back when your husband would come in and make lunch on occasion.  In fact, I think he was the first to do it, and all the other kids picked up on it.  Drove me mad,” he reminisced, turning back to the secretary, “Yes, let me finish with Mrs. Davis, and I’ll be right there.”  He had the artful way of switching up his voice, speaking genially and almost like a Southern gentleman talking to Mrs. Davis, then with a professional starkness as he worked with the young lady from the back offices. 

“Well I’ll get out of your way, then, and you can go take care of your work.  Have a good afternoon, Will.”

“Thank you, ma’am.  And here.  Take a few lollipops for Archie.  He’ll like these.” 

She’d almost forgotten about him and where she had to go next.  “Oh, he don’t need anything like that.  Thank you, though.”  On her way out, Mrs. Davis passed by Ames Laurence, the owner of Horizon Groceries, probably coming in to work on payroll for the next week.  The two both lived on a pretty standard schedule, so this happened on occasion.  “Ames, how good to see you again!” 

“Good to see you, too, Mrs. Davis!  How’s Jonah?”

“Oh, he’s good, he’s good.  I’m on my way to pick him up now over at your store.”

“Well, I won’t keep you.  Have a good evening.  Come on in and see me some time.  I’ve always got a special stash of pastrami waiting to make those sandwiches you do so well.”

“I will real soon, yessir.”

Veronica thought about walking to the grocery store, after all, it was only right across the parking lot.  But with her arthritic knees, and her having been out of medicine for almost a week now, it just wasn’t going to work out this time.  So, she drove on over to the other side of the lot, and parked right up front where she could.  Now it was time to put her old self to work.  Ever since she was younger, back when she first met her Archie, Veronica had a way of working men over.  She always thought that she’d lose those feminine whiles as time wore on, but it only got better.  She learned the old secret that no matter what age you are, a woman has a way of speaking to a man that can block his mind of whatever else he should be thinking.  When she was young, it was her beauty that did it.  As she got older, it was that subtle maternity that got men wanting to please her.  Even if she got old, that never did.

She was certain that she’d given Jonah enough time to get her prescription and enough time to buy some roast, and he should be well in position now.  For the last few months, Mamma V had had her suspicions, but now it was time to see what they came to.  She walked slowly inside to the manager’s desk, just standing where she could see the cameras for the store.  There was the stationery camera that covered aisles two through seven, the overhead that saw aisles six through thirteen, and the one over the deli.  There was the stationary camera that watched the offices where the money was kept, and another stationary that watched the parking lot.  Then there was the rotating camera that watched behind the store.  That was the one that Veronica needed to see. 

“Brannon James, how are you?”  Veronica saw a young boy who used to bring her papers to the house.  Or at least he was a young boy, then.  Now he was a bit older, working as a manager and stock boy at the grocery store.  “And how’s that brother of yours?”

“Mrs. Davis, how are you!  I’m good, I’m good, just working here and making some money for the summer.” 

“Well you’re doing a fine job, Brannon.  You’re doing a fine job.”

“Well thank you.  And Nick’s doing well.  He’s getting ready for his senior season of football this year, hoping he can attract some school’s attention.” 

This conversation went on and on for a few minutes, keeping up casually about school and friends.  He even went so far as to mention a girl to Mrs. Davis, something she hadn’t planned to elicit from him during their façade of speech.  All the while, she kept glancing up at the cameras.  On the one she wanted, the rotating camera behind the store, she saw Jonah standing there for no apparent reason.  She tried not to give away her real purpose, keeping up appearances with the boy.  He talked on about where he wanted to go to school, ignoring the line of customers behind her.  Ignoring his job, really.  For a while, he almost asked her to go on, but Veronica started playing the helpless lady.  “Now I came in here looking for my grandson, have you seen him?”  And it worked like a charm.  He called an associate to go look for him, keeping up conversation, letting the camera rotate back and forth.  And after a good five more minutes, she had her answer.

There, on camera, Veronica’s heart broke.  She’d known, but never seen.  And now that she’d seen, she didn’t want to.  There stood Jonah, talking to a large man, probably about 6’5” and very stocky, and he pulled the cap off of her pills.  The camera rotated away, looking back to the loading dock, then back to Archie, folding up a few hundred dollar bills and putting them in his pocket.  She tried to hold herself in, and she succeeded at least until she got to the car.  She explained away herself to Brannon by remembering where she’d told Archie to meet her.  As most old women do, she managed to hide her feelings until she made it away from the store.  But when she got to the car, when she hid herself away, poor Veronica felt the disappointment of a failed child once more.  She felt how it was when her own son had gone away and dropped out of school, only for her to force him back in a month later.  She felt how it was when her oldest daughter shouted at her and promised never to call her again.  She felt once more how it was when, all those years ago, her own husband died without saying goodbye or “I love you,” that day, and it was as fresh this day as it was then.  Her heart was broken in only the way a loving mother’s could, and it was all her fault.  It was her medicine, and her folly that let this boy become prey to the sins of the world, and she had to end it now. 

After another hour, Archie came back to the car.  She had tears on her face, but the heat let her pass them off merely as sweat.  “Good timing, Jonah, good timing.  I just finished up.  You ready to go home?”

“Yes, MawMaw.  Let’s go!”  And so they did.  With a smile on his face the size of a cow’s tale, and a box in his hands, the two slowly moved on back home.  Jonah ran in real quick to put on some playing clothes, taking the box with him, and Veronica poured some tea to take out on the porch with her.  Jonah carried the box out there with him, ready to join her for some tea, and ready to give her something special.  “MawMaw!  I want to show you something.  I want to show you something!” 

“Come sit down, Archibald.”  She spoke in plain tones, bereft of emotion.  It wasn’t the anger in her voice that made him feel uneasy, but rather the void of kindness so often found there. 

“What’s.  What’s wrong?”

“Just sit down, Archibald.”  Her empty voice, giving way now to the beginnings of a heartbreak she had no intention of laying upon her young grandson, the boy too young to experience the depths of the world he had already witnessed and partaken in.  “I need to talk to you.”

“What is it, MawMaw?  What’s happened?”

“I saw you.  I saw you, Jonah, I saw you.”  She began to quiver, but had not yet fallen.

“What?  What did you see, what did you see?”  She could tell he knew, but wouldn’t give up himself so easily.

“I saw you with that man behind the store, Jonah.  I saw you!  What were you thinking, selling my pills?  How could you do this?  I thought I’d…I’d done better on you than them, Jonah.  How could you do this to me?”

“MawMaw, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I…I have something I wanted to…”

“No.  If it came from that money, I won’t take it.  You leave now.  You leave.  Come back in a few hours, and your mom should be here by then.  I’m calling her to take you home, then you’re telling her everything.  I don’t want to see you, Jonah, so just go.  I won’t watch for you.” 

Jonah didn’t speak a word as he walked away, tears ready to come from his eyes.  He walked down to the sidewalk and just left, soundlessly.  When he was finally out of sight, after Veronica had watched him leave with each step, she cried and cried, the proverbial tears of blood staining her dress and weakening her tea.  The old woman tried to stand and go inside, to keep the world from seeing her pain, so evident on the floor.  As she stood, edging out of the chair she had stood from so many times before, the ground dropped out from underneath her.  Poor Veronica, unable to see the steps before her, fell down the stairs and into the street, with not a soul nearby to help her up.  The work crowd wouldn’t be coming home for another hour, and both of her neighbors across the street were gone. 

She laid there for what could have been an eternity, and finally tried to pull herself up the stairs.  No matter how hard she pulled, it was no use.  Her rigid knees kept pushing coarse against the bone, and her split side, made worse by the frailty of age, no longer worked.  She rolled in and out of the world, seeing her husband, her grandson, and her neighbors, not understanding where she stood or sat, not knowing what was wrong.  In her head, she heard the voice of a man long gone, “Happy Anniversary, girl.  Now get up, love.  Get up.”  She tried to stand, but couldn’t.  She tried to move, but couldn’t. 

“Help me, Archie.  Help me, Archie.  Oh, God, help me, Archie.  I can’t move, help me, Archie.”  And an arm came under her, helping the small lady to her feet, and putting her in a chair.  “Oh, thank you, dear.  Thank you, baby.  Oh, I missed you, Archie, oh I missed you baby.  Come here, let me kiss you again, let me kiss you.”  She spoke out of her mind, and Jonah did what he could to calm her down, but she still wasn’t right. 

“I’m here, MawMaw, I’m here.  I called the ambulance, they should be coming here soon.” 

“Oh thank you, Archie.  Go get me some water.  Go get me something, baby.”  Eager to help his Mamma V, he ran in to the house and left her there in pain, even though she couldn’t feel it in her mind.  The woman sat, looking out across the street, seeing the shadow of her house in the street, and a man she knew from his days at the grocery store coming out of Will and Jules’ house.  She saw him and his hands, standing out against the plain white of his shirt, now stained in a dark red that anyone with eyes would know at sight.  She called back for the boy, screaming for the phone.  Calling out to him, now remembering who it was standing there with her, fully in mind due to the panic she realized and the urgency of the happenings at her door. 

“Someone, please.  Someone, come quick,” she cried at the phone in her hand as the operator picked it up.

“911, yes ma’am, we got your call, Mrs. Davis.  An ambulance is on the way.”

“Forget the ambulance, you idiot, I can wait.  I think someone’s dead!”

“Excuse me?”

“I just saw Robert Evans run out of the Baker house with blood on his hands.  I think he,” taking stock of the cars that were home, “…I think he killed Will Baker!”  

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would love to hear what y'all think so far!  Write me on Facebook, let me know, and please keep reading.  I hope you're enjoying the story so far, and I hope you've started to develop your own ideas about what's going on in the town of Horizon.  Next week, in Episode 4, I plan on showing you a little bit more of the aftermath in "Epilogue, Part I" (Title Pending).  I know, the numbers and the timeline are getting difficult, but hang in there!  And as always, if you don't already, follow me on Twitter at 42Cobras!  And thanks for reading!