‘Lord, Emma, here. My prayers will be abbreviated this evenin’ as, my boy, Clyde is sleepin’. Tomorrow will make or break ‘im. Please watch over ‘im lord. Amen.”
Her summer chintz dress flapped in the wind rhythmically in sync with the sheer yellow curtains as she swept her brow with her white handkerchief.
Clyde slept in his black Johnny Cash garb every night in his twin bed in his animal centric room – painted with all breeds of dogs — but his favorite was, a german shepherd. Clyde wore to bed a black button down shirt and black jeans. It was very hard on Emma to persuade him not to wear his Johnny Cash cowboy boots in bed.
She would yell each night before she fell asleep in her single, full bed.
“CLYDEEEEEEEEE, HONEY, YER NOT WEARING YOUR BOOTS RIGHT ? YOUR FEET WILL SWELL UPPPP!!!”
Clyde would scream. “WHATTTTTTT DID YOUUUUUUU SAYYYYY, MOM, I CAN’T HEAR YOU.” Clyde was a little hard of hearing.
She would patiently scream back while putting Pond’s cold cream on her face at night, her one luxury that calmed her nerves.
“I SAID, CLYDE, HONEY DON’T WEAR YOUR JOHNNY CASH BOOTS. YOU KNOW THEY WILL MAKE YOUR FEET SWELL UP AT NIGHTTTT RIGHTTT!!!
“NOOOO, OKAYYYYY, MOMMMMM, I’M NOTTTTTT!!! “
Emma knew darn well it would be so much easier if she went into Clyde’s room and told him about the destruction of his feet wearing his Johnny Cash boots, but she wanted him to feel independent and in charge of himself, besides she didn’t dare want to interrupt him talking to Johnny Cash, his mentor.
Religiously every night whether he has his occasional nose bleeds, his constant nasal congestion, or he just didn’t feel well, he would kneel at his bed and fold his hands in prayer.
“Hello I’m Claude Hennessey, Johnny Cash, and I’d like to borrow your words if that is ok, ” ‘I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down, livin’ in the hopeless, hungry side of town, I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime, but is there because he’s a victim of the times.’”
Emma would then slowly creep into his room to make sure those sweet up and down breaths of her boy, Clyde, were still in motion.
Clyde, always slept with one hand on his heart, so fitting Emma thought of the passionate boy that was born only to her.
“Can I buy ya drink?” Emma swung her long curly black hair around and flashed him a consoling smile. “ So, how long has it been since you have been a widow and all that ?”
His glasses hung low over his nose surveying her beautiful, innocent curves of her body. His inventory of her came to an abrupt halt.
“How did you know?”
“Ohhhhh, woman’s intuition. Your shirt hasn’t been laundered and you’re missing buttons. I can take care of it for ya if ya want.”
Emma thought, why I am offering to take of his laundry, I don’t even know him for God sakes.
“Five years. Gees, I look that pathetic?” He led out a broad white smile. Ohhhh, that’s alright, I’d like to buy you a drink though.”
“Hey, I saw you pull in, is that your BMW out front? My favorite car. A real beautttty! Wow, I’ll tell ya I just broke up with my boyfriend tonight. He was with another woman in my apartment. I caught them both. I guess he thought it would be excitin’ or somethin’. What a pig. I almost shot them both.”
She thought he was about ten years older. He had premature hair, steely blue eyes, and a sincere smile.
Her eyes were soulful, kind, and brown.
“Ohhhh, God,” he said. Good thing you didn’t. You would of ended up in jail. And, I wouldn’t have had the pleasure of talking to you tonight, ” he said. He scratched his close cut beard.
She laughed, “Wellllll. It would have been worth it.”
“Pardon, me if this too forward of me, but I can take you for a ride in the BMW if you’d like.”
“Sure. Let me just go the ladies’ room first.” She let out a deep nervous sigh.
She sat in the passenger seat.
“I love the color. It’s ebony. I want you to take me to that hotel up the road. “
“Do you mind holding me?” She said in the room.
He held her for a long while and before he knew it, he kissed her first on her forehead, her neck, etc.
He buttoned his shirt back up and felt like he never did before in his life.
“Well, I want to thank you for a beautiful evening. I’d like to buy you a nice dinner.”
“Gees, I don’t even know your name. Dinner? Sure. Okay.” She looked up at him amazement.
“Hey, what is your name,” she asked. “My name is Emma.”
“Al,” he said.
“We’llI see ya around, Al?” she smiled.
“Ohhhh, I’m a hell of a lot older than you,” he respectively chuckled.
“Well,” I’m in my thirties.”
“Ok, I’m in my forties.”
“You’re real good, Al,” she smiled. “I don’t even know you and I don’t do this all the time. “
“Emma, thank you very much for making me feel good.”
He took her hand and kissed it and she never saw him again.
She was so touched by his kindness and respectfulness. A tear slid down her cheek.
Clyde happily woke up. He immediately got dressed in his “day” Johnny Cash garb; ate freshly made pancakes with extra powdered sugar and literally skipped around in his yellow cap and black gown and all black apparel. Emma adjusted his cap in the mirror.
“Mom, ttttell me about my father. Was he different like me?”
“Ohhhh, Clyde, now, you’ll be late for your graduation. And no.
“ Did you ever telllll him about me?”
“Wellllll.” Her eyes began twitching and her tongue clicked on her teeth.
“Why, because I’m different.”
“Yes, Clyde, because you’re different and he was 10 years older than me and I didn’t want to make him feel obligated to stay with us. I knew him briefly. Al, that was his name. He was very kind and I was so extremely happy to have you as my boy and I didn’t want anything to change that.
“Okay, Mom, bye.”
Clyde would say bye often when he got nervous about things. Then he would have to go to the bathroom. He also always gave himself a hug afterwards.
A rainbow of graduation hats filtered the dusky pink blue skyline. Yes, they were not the usual black stellar graduation caps, but they shined nevertheless. The graduates hooted and hollered at the tops of their fragile lungs; it was their night. They had worked so hard to achieve.
“And Now we would like, Clyde Hennessey, our high school Rainbow Beginning’s valedictorian, to say a few words to our new graduates,” announced the principal.
“Now that Covid 19 has turned its devastating cheek away from us, Rainbow Beginning’s…”
Clyde looked to Emma, his mom, for her rescuing guidance and Emma lip synched to him “ shiny floors can be walked upon again….”
Clyde forms a glorious bubble from his mouth and yells with excitement.
“THANK YOUUUUU MOM. JUST LIKE WE PRACTICED. RAINBOW BEGINNING’S SHINY FLLLOORS CAN BE WALKED UPON AGAIN. YOUR TENDER WALLS HOLD PROMISE AND
POTENTIAL FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS TO COME. BECAUSE OF YOUR CARING AND LOVING GUIDANCE, WE RAINBOW BEGINNING’S HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 2022 HAVE A BRIGHTER FUTURE AHEAD OF US!!!!! THANK YOU!!! “
Clyde immediately received a standing ovation. The crowd cheered. He could hardly contain himself and almost fell.
Emma yearned to rescue Clyde off the stage, but she held back.
Clyde regained his balance and gleefully continued “’ I can’t deny the fact, you like me. You really like me.’ These are the humble words, from my favorite actress, Sally Field. You know the flying nun. My mom and I would watch the reruns all the time.”
The crowd laughed.
With childlike zest, he threw his yellow graduate cap into many reaching embracing hands.
Today, Clyde, would be eighteen years old, Emma cringed and hoped he would live to 60.
Clyde had blonde hair, and wire rim glasses that grinned from ear to ear and today his steely blue eyes were more blue than ever.
She reflected on the doctor’s solemn words the day he was born, “‘ Emma, you have a son, but he has Down Syndrome.’” Emma had rejected all prior testing while pregnant. She was going to have this baby no matter what.
Sarah, Clyde’s girlfriend, caught his vivid yellow cap with her overbite. She talked with a lisp.
“Yayyyyyyy, Clyde, way to goethhh!!!”
“THANK YOU SARAH!!!! KEEP MY CAP!!!! DON’T GIVE IT AWAY! I’LL BE RIGHT DOWN.”
“Okay, Clyde, I’m not letting goethhhh.”
Sarah had very short hair – coal black with the pinkest complexion.
The pink intensified when she was around Clyde.
Later that evening Sarah and Clyde held hands and swung together on Clyde’s porch swing.
“ So, you gonna find out who your fathertth is Clydettth?”
“Yes, Sarah, I found his name in my mom’s oldddd phone book with an address.”
“Sarah, I am going to marry you and we are going to have children.”
“Yes, were are, but, Clydethhh, remember we want a puppy firstthhh to sssseeth if we can handletth suchthhh a responsibilitythhh. You won’t ever leave me will you, Clydetth?” cried Sarah.
“No, Sarah, you make my day, my week, my year, my life.” Clyde put his hand to his heart. “Yes, and we are going to call our puppy, A boy Named Sue, just like Johnny Cash’s song.” Clyde laughed.
“And our wedding song will be, I Walk The Line or Ring of Fire Clyde added and kicked his feet up high on the wooden porch swing.
“We will have bothhh songs”, exuded Sarah. “Clydethhh, silly, that is such a long nametthh to call a puppy, A Boy Named Suethhh, why not call him or her Suettth or let that be his middle name.”
“Okkk, I will think about it, bye,” said Clyde. He had to go to the bathroom. He kissed her hand abruptly and hail tailed to his house.
“Yes, bye, Clydetth, be careful driving when you see your fatherrrttthh. All will go welltthh I just knowethhh.”
She didn’t think anything of his abrupt exit, for she was very special too.
“Hello, I’m Clyde Hennessey. “ He figured that would be his intro since it worked so well for Johnny Cash. He had another one of his nose bleeds.
“So he repeated his intro again, this time and yelled it very loud into golden acres of land he witnessed when he drove up the driveway as he rolled down the window.
“HELLO, I’M CLYDE HENNESSEY. DO YOU LIKE JOHNNY CASH?”
* * *
A red and white brick cottage with a simple white picket fence came into view and blue, orange, yellow, and pink wild flowers surrounded the acres of golden fields while a man walked in the distance with his dog. A bright red barn lingered in the distance. This dog, a German shepherd, came barreling down after Clyde.
“Striker, Noooooo. Wait,” the steely gray hair man commanded.
Striker obeyed, sat and, happily looked at Clyde.
“Oh my God.” Clyde hugged himself. “You have a dog. Hello, I’m Clyde Hennessey.” He repeated again. He and his bloody nose walked closer to this man and the dog.
“Ohhhhh hello,” Al replied mixed with uncertainty and intrigue. “Can I help you?”
“Are you Al Jacobson? Do you like Johnny Cash? My favorite song is A Boy Named Sue, I think it is an important song and his father was trying to teach his boy about life and I find it funny,” and he hugged himself again.
“Do you like Johnny Cash?”
Al looked up at him with sympathetic steely blue eyes and at his nose. Clyde’s face was so familiar to him.
“Did you forget to lead with your left.? Yes, I’m Al Jacobson.” He grabbed a white handkerchief out of his pocket. Here, put this on your nose with pressure. Are you lost? Can I help you? Uhhh, yes I like Johnny Cash.”
“I knew it! okay, bye!” Clyde thought where am I going to go the bathroom. “My mom always says be careful about going in other people’s bathrooms.” He started to go in the weeds. He was about to hug himself again.
“Wait,” Al said. You can use my bathroom if you need to.”
Clyde clumsily ran in and Striker fell right behind him. When Clyde came back, Striker laid at his feet. Al offered him a glass of ice tea and he sat down.
“That’s right, sit down and put your head forward to help with the bleeding. That’s right.” Al’s gentle hand guided Clyde’s head forward.
“Oh, thank you. I love your dog. It’s like the one Sarah, my gggirlfriend, and I are going to get. I’m going to marry her, have children, and we are going to name our puppy, A Boy Named Sue, but my Sarah says it’s too long of a name and we might just name him Sue or make that the middle name. And our wedding song is going to be I Walk The Line and Ring of Fire, by Johnny Cash. And I just graduated and I just turned eighteen years old. And Emma, my Mom …”
“What did you say?” Al interrupted him.
Clyde ran out the door.
“My mom, Emma, can I pick these wild flowers to bring back to her? She will just love themmm.”
But, he before he even got an answer, he was already hugging a bunchful with the light peach fuzz on his arm.
“I insist,” said Al.
Al reflected on Clyde’s joyful rambling and then her name made him take another frantic study at Clyde’s face. No, it couldn’t be he thought, he it looked like Emma only fuzzy and gently distorted and a keen resemblance to him.
“She doesn’t know I’m here, but I just had to come and see you and if you got to know me. I think you would like me. I know I’m different, but my Mom says she didn’t want you to feel obligated….”
Al almost vomited right there. He discovered that this different boy, Clyde, was his. He had no words for Clyde.
Clyde affectionately, yet roughly tapped Al’s shoulder real hard.
“ OKAY, BYE. FOR GOOD THIS TIME, I DON’T HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM.”
He screamed even louder, “BYE STRIKER, IT WAS VERY NICE MEETING YOU. I THINK I LOVE YOU.”
The only words Al was mustered to say was, “Please be careful driving.”
“I WILLLLLLL,” Clyde happily screamed and hugged himself and drove away.
Al stepped out and watched Clyde pull away and he vomited amongst the wild flowers in his garden. He was livid with Emma. But, then he immediately thought eighteen years she carried this and never told him, not one word. He cried like a baby.
The pink sun shone brightly in the am as Al went into his red barn. Gently, he cradled the runt of the litter pups from a German shepherd Momma dog named, Stella, in the crook of his arm. She still laid her head on one of her pups. Al wrapped him in a white fuzzy blanket with some straw and found an old wicker basket that was just the right size. God, he hoped he wasn’t overstepping Emma. He knew this would be an extremely hard undertaking, but he felt oddly giddy.
He drove to Emma and Clyde’s house and gently placed the furry runt on the front step. He softly knocked on the door and swiftly drove away.
The yellow sheer curtain from Emma’s room lifted and was alarmed at ol’ BMW that drove away.
Clyde barefooted started screaming at the front step.
“OHHHHHHH,MY GOOOODDD, MOMMMMMM!!! A PUPPYYYYY!!!! A PUPPYYY!!!!” He hugged himself and kissed the puppy’s forehead like Al, his father, did to Emma so long ago.
Lisa Flanagan’s poem, ‘Just Enough,’ recently appeared in WNYC’s radio station’s April Poetry month web collection on the pandemic. Her poems on the 9/11 and Sandy tragedies have also appeared in The Trenton Times, Windsor- Hights Herald, and Mercer County Woman. Her first fiction short story debuted in U.S. 1. She lives with her adventurous husband and friend, Lee, and their dog, Sam. Her loving Mom, Saundra, has become her invaluable literary critic.
