Garner

Pressed for time, nuthin witty to say, hope you enjoy the story.




David listened to his stomach growl as he wandered down a dirt road just outside of a small town called Garner, Iowa. He had hoped to find a conveniently free meal but found himself in trouble instead. Small towns like Garner are usually filled with wholesome people with wholesome values. Thus the sixteen-year-old thief was ushered out of the town.


“All I wanted was a little food. Jeez, you’d have thought I was tryin’ to rob a bank or somethin’. Maybe I’ll head south a ways where people are a bit more hospitable.” David grumbled to himself. He had been on his own for close to a year now. He left his father’s dirt farm in the hopes of making a better life for himself.


The young Tennessean, David Brown, grew up on his father’s farm which would have been well enough for most any young man had it not been for the drought. A lot of the countryside had experienced the same sort of phenomenon. David’s father insisted on staying in Tennessee but David felt he had to choose between staying home and starving or seeing the country and starving. So he opted to see the great nation he lived in and all of the poverty it could hold in it.
1936 isn’t the best time to see the nation in all her glory but with hope in his heart David set out on his own. He tried to find work for himself doing most anything he could but the depression was on and anyone that had a job was doing their best to keep it and anyone that didn’t have work was trying to find it. Eventually he swallowed his pride to be able to swallow something edible. David hated the idea of stealing especially since he was raised as a good proper Christian by his mother but it was that or starve.


“Garner, Iowa and its residents don’t enjoy the company of thieves.” said the rough old officer as he dragged the young man to the edge of the town. “I don’t want to see you in this town again, son. We’ve got honest hardworking folks that live here and we don’t need sinners like you.”
David picked himself up from the ground and dusted himself off and without a word to the well-fed man with the pistol walked away. He kept walking until he came across an intersection with a decent shade tree and nice pond that may hopefully contain some tasty fish.


The shade was cast by a black walnut tree that had stood its ground here for more than a century. David hoped to eat some of its offerings but came to find the walnuts had already matured. As he had learned from his parents, black walnut trees hand out a nut that when fully developed has an unpleasant taste and is more trouble than it’s worth to get to through a hard shell. David still had a piece of string with a hook that he could easily catch himself dinner with provided there were fish to be caught.


David walked around the tree to get closer to the pond and discovered that he was not alone. Sitting in a swing that hung from the tree was a young woman. David and the lady had startled each other. David laughed at himself, “Oh--Hello ma’am.”


“Hello.” The blonde-haired blue-eyed woman answered coyly. David could see she had been crying. She used her kerchief to dry her tears.


“Excuse me miss but is everything alright?” David asked as he unraveled his fishing line.

“Yes. Everything is just fine, thank you.” She was obviously lying.

David asked again, “Are you sure ma’am? I’m no doctor or nothin’ but it looks to me your eyes are leaking or you seem to be upset over somethin’. If you don’t want to talk about it that’s fine but I’m gonna be here a while so I’ll just keep askin’. My momma taught me we should care about every livin’ creature on God’s green earth especially people. I can see you got some problems and if you’ll let me I’d be more than happy to lend an ear.” The woman sat quietly.

“Okay. My name is David in case you care to address me.”

David walked over to the woman and offered his hand. “I’m Lorna.” She took his hand and shook it.

“Pleased to meet you miss Lorna. Now what is it that has you all worked up?” The young man casts his line into the pond.

“Well Mr. David it just happens that I found out I was to be expecting a baby soon.” Lorna begins to swing herself lightly.

“Well that’s good news congratulations!” He smiles at her.

“Oh no it’s not especially for me.” She explains. “I am neither wed nor expecting to be. All of Garner would laugh at me and call me a whore if they knew. I can’t have this baby.”

“What about the baby’s pa? Where is he?” David took a seat on the grass.

Lorna almost burst into tears. “He-he was beaten to death not more than a week ago.”

“Beaten to death?” David asked with disbelief.

“Yes. He was accused of taking Mr. Henry’s horse. So Mr. Henry’s sons dragged him out of his bed in the middle of the night and beat him with shovels in a cornfield where he was found dead the next day. He didn’t even take the nag! Those Henry boys just wanted an excuse to hurt an innocent black man.” Lorna reveals.

“The father of your baby is a black man? If your pa is anything like mine then he won’t like that at all.” David recasts his line.

Lorna agrees. “My daddy just doesn’t understand that Paul was a good, good man. He was gentle and caring. He was a hard worker and always treated me kindly. I treated him the same way and one day we realized we had fallen in love. It’s not common especially around these parts but I couldn’t help how I felt about him. I’ve lost everything. I just want to leave this place and never come back. I want to just roam and see the country and find a perfect place for me in it.”
David thinks before responding. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I’ve been wandering around for the better part of a year now and I know one thing for sure: This is no life for an expecting mother. I’m having a hard time trying to take care of myself there’s no way I could handle a baby and this. I sleep in fields, I have to steal my food, and people can be just plain uncharitable sometimes. Don’t you think you could just go and talk to your dad and explain how all of this happened? He’s got to be a reasonable man. He doesn’t want you to live on the street.”
David walks over to Lorna to comfort her but she reaches into her handbag and pulls out a pistol. “Whoa! Easy there Lorna there’s no call for that. You’ll just get someone hurt.”

“My daddy has already heard all about his grandchild and has decided that he doesn’t want anything to do with my baby. He doesn’t want anything to do with harlot daughter either.” Lorna doesn’t want to listen. She knows the town she grew up in would never let her live in peace with her baby. She loved Paul more than she ever thought possible. She’s desperate to leave her small town and head to someplace better. “I just want to go somewhere that I can live without someone talking behind my back about the things I’ve done. I want to be in a place that I can be happy with my baby. I want to be somewhere perfect.”

David holds his hands up in plain sight for fear of the pistol. “Now I can’t think of but one place like that and it ain’t here on this world. As long as you have neighbors they’ll talk about you and sometimes it’ll be bad but that’s just people. Everyone wants something better for themselves but not everyone gets it and that makes people bitter. Bitter people try to bring everyone around them down to build themselves up.”

“As long as you’re unmarried and have a mixed baby your neighbors are gonna talk. They’re gonna snicker and laugh but to Hell with them. If you don’t regret what you done then why should you worry on what other folks are sayin’?” Lorna puts the gun down.

“Come on, now I can walk you back to that town and I’ll go with you to talk to your pa and we can talk to him all about the Henry boys and Paul and he’ll have to get used to the idea of his grandbaby because like it or not that little fella’s on his way.” David rolls up his fishing line still listening to his stomach rumbling. “Maybe you could even get me an invitation to supper.”

Lorna chuckles half-heartedly. “You know David you are a nice young man. Despite living like you do and the way people have not shown you kindness you still remain hopeful. I hope you find whatever you’re looking for.”

“Thanks, Miss Lorna. Now come on so we can sort all of this out.” David offers his hand to her and she accepts his help to her feet. He starts to walk in front of her and she knocks him over the head with the revolver she had in her handbag.

“I came out here to join Paul, David. I was ready to when you walked up. Thanks for trying but I don’t want to live in a place where people aren’t good to each other. My baby and I can find that perfect place. This gun will get us there as fast as possible.” Lorna tucks the gun under her chin and squeezes the trigger. She falls lifeless to the ground.