And Along Came Jake (26 page)

"Wow!" Little Paul said, looking around in amazement.

"This is where you father stayed, when he was just a boy." Madison said.

"Was this your bed, daddy?" he asked, pointing.

"That's right!" Jake answered "And over there was my little nightstand, and––oh my!"

"What is it, honey? What did you find?" Madison questioned.

Jake reached underneath his old bed and pulled out a small old wooden box. Both he and Madison smiled as he dusted it off. "Have a seat." Jake said to his son as he scooted over three wooden crates. "I wanna show you something."

Little Paul sat down, and anxiously waited to see what was in the old box. Jake opened the box containing all those newspaper clippings and pictures of the Beven and Tanner families.

They took some time, going through the pictures, and articles, telling their children everything they knew about Todd Beven, and that he was a hero, giving his life to save the Tanner's. They also told him Todd Beven's grave was only a few feet away from the back of the barn."

"He was a good man." Jake said, as he put the items back in the box. He looked around, and continued. "Yep, this is where I lived son, and this is where I met your mother."

"Why would you want to live here?" Little Paul asked. "It doesn't look very safe daddy."

Jake chuckled. "Well, back in 1935, this place was in great shape; I fixed it up real nice."

"Why didn't you live in a big house like we do?" He curiously asked.

"Well, let's see." Jake said, as he smiled, looking toward his wife, scooting his crate closer to his son. "I wasn't always a good little boy, in fact, I did something that no little boy, or little girl should ever do."

"What did you do, daddy?"

"Well son, back in the summer of 1935, I was only twelve years old, and I stole a sack of peanuts and a soda from Mr. Smitty's store…"

Jake went on, telling Little Paul the entire story of how he got to the barn, making it his own secret hideout. He told him how he met Madison, and how Mr. Brierly let him stay at the barn in exchange for helping out on the land, getting a job, and  going to school. He let him know all about Big Paul, and the many reasons why he was named after him. The story continued for quite a while, until a knocking at the door interrupted him.

"Come on out here, you guys." Mr. Brierly called in a friendly voice. "Abigail wants to take some pictures of y'all in front of the old barn.

As they walked out, Jake handed the small box over to Mr. Brierly. Mrs. Brierly put her new camera up to her eye and began to verbally move and position Jake, Madison and the two children directly in front of the barn. After a few snaps of the camera, she was suddenly interrupted by the sound of large vehicles approaching the old barn.

"Looks like they're right on time." Mr. Brierly said looking at his watch.

"Yes sir." Jake agreed.

"You Mr. Patterson?" A deep, rough voice asked, spitting chewing tobacco on the ground.

"Yes sir!" Jake said "You must be Al?"

"At your service." he said. "Well if I'm supposed to knock this old barn down, I suggest y'all get out of the way. anyone inside?"

"No sir" Mr. Brierly said "Knock her down, Al— let's get this over with."

Al and his crew of four quickly demolished the old barn to the ground. They cleared every bit of debris, then swiftly drove away. All Jake and his family could do was watch, as the place which was such a big part of their lives was gone and being hauled away, now nothing more than a pile of rotting lumber.

They all went back to the Patterson's house, ate dinner and reminisced about old times at the barn. After a while, the Brierly's went home, and Jake and Madison put their children and themselves to bed.

<><><> 

It was 6:30 sharp, the next morning when Jake, Madison and the children were awakened by the sound of loud, heavy trucks driving slowly past their house.

"I didn't know they would be here today." Jake said looking out his window, watching the two trucks roll by with new lumber on their flatbeds.

"I thought they were going to start rebuilding the old barn tomorrow. I wish I would've known, I could've made some coffee and baked cookies." Madison said.

"I don't know Maddie, looks like they're starting today." he answered.

There was a hard a knock at their door, Jake quickly put on his robe, and went downstairs, while Madison went to check on the children, letting them know that everything was alright.

"Good morning, Mr. Patterson!" A pudgy man with a thick grey mustache said, as Jake opened the door.

"Hi Marty!" Jake said. "I thought y'all were gonna start tomorrow?"

"Yep, I thought so too!" Marty said "We expected it would take Al at least two days to demolish and clean everything, but he called me yesterday saying he and his crew were done, said it was one of the easiest demolitions ever, that the place nearly knocked itself down. So anyways, I wanted to surprise y'all and start today—hope that's okay?"

"Well Marty, we're surprised alright!" Jake said. "But sure, if y'all wanta' start today, be my guest!"

"Good Morning Marty," Madison said. "I'm gonna fix y'all some coffee and bake some cookies. Is that alright?"

"Oh, yes ma'am, that'd be just fine, thank you." He replied

"Okay" Jake said, going over the plans with Marty. "So it's going to be a two bedroom home with one bathroom, is that right? I'm asking cuz we just changed it from a one bedroom, to a two bedroom a few days ago."

"Yes sir, I've got the new plans right here in my hands. It's gonna take about three or four months to build, so it'll be noisy around here for a while."

"That's quite alright, Marty. Are y'all still gonna put the picket fence around Todd Beven and Paul Sutton's grave site?"

"Yes sir, that's all gonna be taken care of. Actually, the memorial plaques you wanted for Mr. Beven and Mr. Sutton have already been ordered; they should be ready in a few weeks."

"Thanks Marty!" Jake said. "I can't wait till it's finished."

"So, what are you gonna do when it's all done? Rent it out or something?"

"I honestly don't know, Marty; it's something that Big Paul always used to tell us, that we should never be afraid to rebuild. Of course, he wasn't talking about houses and such, but about life in general. However, that old barn was such a big part of my family, I couldn't just tear it down and not rebuild."

"Yes sir Mr. Patterson, I understand. Well I best be checking on my guys, have a good day now."

"Okay, you too––bye Marty!" Jake said

"Bye Marty!" Madison added.

The house took a few months to build, but Marty and his crew did a beautiful job. As they were busy building, Madison began painting again. She took the photo Big Paul gave them, of him and his wife on their wedding day, and painted it down to the smallest detail. Likewise, she painted the picture of Todd Beven and his wife and son standing in front of the old barn, and lastly she painted the picture that her mother took of her own family just before the old barn was demolished.

When the house was completely finished, she took the paintings and hung them in the home to pay tribute to Todd Beven, Big Paul and the memory of her family standing in front of the infamous old barn.

<><><> 

As time continued, a very important event was fast approaching for all veteran soldiers who fought in the Normandy assault on June 6, 1944.

The tenth anniversary of that dreadful day was now only a few days away. On June 4, 1954, Jake, Edwin, Big Tex, Ernie and their wives flew to France to commemorate the anniversary. They spent the next day sightseeing and touring around France. The four women absolutely loved it; however, their husbands were, anxious, nervous, and on edge the entire day. All they could think and talk about, was going back to the beach where total chaos took place, where they lost so many friends, and gained so many horrible memories, just ten years ago..

June 5, 1954 seemed like it would never end for the four war veterans; in fact, none of them got a wink of sleep that night. At 5:00 a.m. the next morning, June 6, 1954, the four soldiers got up, squeezed into their Army dress uniforms, and waited with their wives outside the Hotel for the bus to take them to the sight where they landed on D-Day.

The bus took them as far as it could down the beach, without getting stuck in the sand. They all got out, and walked the rest of the way, each one carrying a small American flag. The four women were amazed, listening to their husbands talk about what they remembered and trying to figure out the approximate location where they landed.

After fifteen minutes of searching, they went down to the low tide and were able to gather their bearings. They walked to the place where they believed they originally landed.

"Right here! Right here!" Ernie said "I'm almost positive this is where we were."

"Hey guys" Big Tex called, with sadness in his voice. "You remember Pvt. Tucker? How his body washed up right next to us?"

"How could I forget." Jake answered, as he sighed. "I can still remember Corporal Gill—he was about fifteen yards in front of us—right over there. He was trying to take cover behind one of the amphibious obstacles. I remember him calling out for his mother, then he closed his eyes for about ten seconds, quickly picked up his weapon, then started to run as fast as he could towards the seawall. He didn't even make three steps, the machine guns cut him down before he even knew what happened."

They all walked very slowly towards the seawall, telling their wives in great detail every event they remembered as it unfolded. They stopped at a certain location, approximately twenty five yards away from the seawall; all four war veterans knew exactly what took place at this approximate location.

"This—this is about where Staff Sergeant Bradford died. At least, I think this is it." Jake sadly said hanging his head.

"I think so too." Big Tex added, falling to his knees while slowly embedding his American flag into the soft sand.

It didn't take long until the other veterans followed suit, falling to their knees and sticking their American flags in the same location. The woman watched, as their husbands, wearing their decorated dress uniform, put their arms around each other and sobbed harder than they've ever seen them before, as memories and feelings came rushing back, all at once.

"I'm sorry, Staff Sergeant Bradford!" Ernie cried, as he rocked back and forth. "I'm so very sorry."

They remained for about ten minutes, sobbing, remembering and embracing one another. Their wives knelt beside them, rubbing their backs, and weeping with them, knowing that this very beach held so many secrets, bad memories and horrible events. Only ten years before, on this very day, around this very time, there were bodies of thousands of American soldiers strewn across this beach, scared out of their mind, dead and dying.

After grieving for Staff Sergeant Bradford, each veteran surprisingly felt a bit of release, knowing they were able to take time, mourn and say goodbye to a friend and hero the world may never know or remember.

As they got up, the four women gently embedded their own flags into the sand right next to their husbands. They watched as their husbands simultaneously clicked their heels together, standing at the position of attention. Each one slowly put their right hand up to their right eyebrow and saluted their fallen brother in arms one final time. Afterword, they all slowly walked on to the seawall and up to the town of Vierville, continuing to explain to their wives every detail they remembered.

When the long, emotion filled day was over, the four couples spent their last night in France, before headed back to the United States. That evening, all four women fell asleep relatively quickly, being exhausted from the day's events. However, Jake, Edwin, Big Tex and Ernie all lay awake, staring at the ceiling, remembering, as silent tears trickled down their faces, and gently landed on their pillow.

<><><> 

After being back in the good ol' U.S. of A, Jake was in the house with Little Paul, trying to repair a kitchen chair while Madison was outside with Connie, hanging laundry. Suddenly, Madison flung the door open, with Connie in her arms.

"Jake!" she yelled. "I think someone's poking around the old barn!"

"The old barn?" Jake asked.

"The new house. You know what I mean, Jake Patterson. We always call that place the old barn, anyway—someone's out there!"

"Okay Maddie, stay here with the kids and lock the doors. I'm gonna get my shotgun and check it out."

"Okay, But please be careful, honey!" she warned.

Jake neared the new little house, gripping his shotgun tightly. All of a sudden, a boy about eleven or twelve years old came around the corner.

"Don't shoot, mister!" he said. "I wasn't doin' no damage to the house—honest!"

Jake lowered the shotgun. "What are you doing, poking around here?"

"Nothing sir, I was just looking for a place to sleep for the night. You see, I was getting a little hungry so I went to this old man's store and got a snack and a Coca-Cola. I knew it'd only be a couple hours before it got dark, so I decided to look for a place to sleep for the night. I tried to lay down behind one of the stores, but the owner shooed me away. Then I went to the park to sleep on one of the benches, but a Police Officer told me I couldn't sleep there either. Next thing I knew, I wandered to the baseball field. I was hoping to sleep in one of the dugouts but there was a late game going on, so I decided to sleep in the woods behind the baseball field, when I came across a faded path. So I followed it, and it led me to this house. I looked in the windows and didn't see anybody inside, and it didn't look lived, so I decided I'd try to find a way in, and stay here for the night. I'm sorry, mister. I'm just hungry and tired that's all. I didn't mean any harm—honest!"