John & Peggy

It was the middle of August, and it was hot. John had found the only shade on the beach. He had two beers left in his cooler. He had eaten only one  small hot dog with mustard only at the hamburger stand. Four beers on an almost empty stomach had not only given John a slight buzz, but now, he was sleepy as well. There was a cool breeze coming off the Gulf. The beach was unusually quite for this time of the year and John was soon off to dreamland.  John was a good man, widowed in his late twenties, no children, not that he had not wanted children but you see, Peggy, his bride at eighteen was unable to have children. It was because of an accident she had as a child.  John and Peggy were next-door neighbors. There was five years between their ages, and as you could expect, Peggy idolized the boy from the first time she laid eyes on him.                                                                                                                                          

  When John joined the navy, this fifteen-year-old debutante, was the best looking thing in the whole state of Alabama. Well she thought her dreams were completely shattered, she just knew she would never see John again. She just knew he would meet some USO girl, marry and never come back to her little south Alabama town again. Fate had other things in mind. John’s navy career was cut short, due to an early end of the war. When John was offered an early discharge he jumped at it. The Navy had been good to John. He had rated early on. His life on board ship was pleasant, but he never forgot his childhood, or his mother and friends and for all that his little hometown in Alabama. And on top of all, that he knew he had a good job waiting back home.

  John’s ship was birthed at Norfolk Naval Yard. Yes, there was a girl waiting for him. But after several weeks he was Alabama bound and kind of glad. She, whatever her name was, had made it quite clear that she would never move to any little hick town in Alabama with all the gnats and roaches. She had heard so many tales about the red necks of Alabama. She also had met quite a few other Alabama boys already. After four days of hitch hiking and stopping over to rest with another navy buddy who lived in Montgomery, John was walking through the front door of his mother’s house.  John’s father had died in a hunting accident when John was only five years old. His mother Sueann had never remarried, another reason John was glad to give up the navy. John loved his mother, but felt it was his duty to join the war. He had lost an uncle at Pearl Harbor back in the forties, not a favorite uncle or any thing like that. It was that with the war in Korea raging and the full-scale cold war with Russia, he just wanted something more to do.  He was not one of those Patriotic freaks; mind you he just wanted to cut loose for a while. Sueann’s health was good. She was in her middle forties and had a good office job. They both thought it would be good for John to be on his own for a while. Sueann did worry about the war. It was her brother who was killed at Pearl Harbor, but then they both had a strong faith in God, so off to the Navy we go.   But that’s all in the past now, John was back. He was upstairs in his room and all’s well with the world. 

  John was up at five. There was a world of things to do and cutting the grass was first on his list. It took half the morning to get the lawn mower ready. The blades were dull and the choke was nearly clogged. Sueann was not much at keeping the yard tools in tiptop shape. By the time the dew had burned off, John was ready to start mowing the lawn.

  When Peggy heard the lawn mower she wondered what Sueann was doing home from work, and one quick glance out the window her heart skipped a beat. Her house was a two story like Johns, and from her window looking down, there was John, she just knew it had to be him. She knew he had not married for she and Sueann had been real close buddies while John had been away. Really she knew his ever move, she knew he was coming home but not when, and there he was, no shirt on, short crew cut hair, and lean as a bean, glory be, and shut my mouth.  God is so good, At seventeen Peggy had been out of school six months, she had skipped the eighth grade and graduated at sweet sixteen, and was going hard on eighteen, Peggy had dated several boys, one nearly sweep her off her feet, but always back in her mind was John, and now there he was, all but six feet tall and one hundred and fifty pounds and soaking sweat. Peggy put on her best sweeter, combed her hair, dabbed on her best lipstick, grabbed a breath mine and