On The Boardwalk

by Jeff Baker

They’d walked along the sidewalk downtown in front of the shops and old buildings, across the grass lot and onto the old wooden boardwalk towards Mr. Gruber’s Grocery Store. Willie had always loved the CLUMP-CLUMP his shoes made on the wood; he called it his favorite part of town.

Joey would always crack that it was practically the only part of town.

It was August after dinner and they were both fifteen. School wouldn’t start up for another few weeks. Joey and Willie couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t known each other and they had always been best friends.

“So, you still gonna join up after we graduate?” Joey asked.

“Yeah,” Willie said. “Soon as I’m old enough. I mean, Mom says I’ve still got time to think about it.”

“Yeah,” Joey said. “My Dad’s all for it. He was over in France back around ‘18.”

Willie whistled. “From Kansas to France. Wow.”

They stopped walking, just standing there at the edge of the boardwalk staring over at the railroad tracks in the heat of the August dusk.

“Hey! Guys!”

Mr. Patterson was standing in the doorway of the grocery store waving them over. “Get in here, you’ll want to hear this!”

Joey and Willie ran over to the store and found Mr. Gruber and several other people gathered around the radio Mr. Gruber kept behind the register.

“What’s…” Willie started to say, but somebody hushed him and the boys realized something important was happening.

The voice on the radio was finishing reading a speech. Then the announcer came on the air.

“That was President Truman from the White House where he has just announced the end of hostilities with Japan. The war is over. Repeat, the war is over.”

Then the radio went back to playing the regular program.

Joey expected cheering but there was none. The group was silent for a moment.

“We knew this day was coming,” one of them said.

Willie and Joey hadn’t thought it was coming.

“Finally! Thank God!” said another.

“Remember the Armistice?” someone said.

“Remember when the Civil War ended?” someone else said.

“I’m not that old!” someone said with a laugh.

But Old Man Lander, who had been a baby during the Civil War, looked over at the boys and nodded his head.

“Always remember this day,” Lander said. “It’s a great day.”

“We will!” Willie said with a nod.

“And how!” Joey said.

Mr. Gruber turned off the radio and bought the boys each a bottle of pop. Joey and Willie walked back, feet clumping on the boardwalk, through the grass and onto the paved sidewalk.

“Still gonna join up?” Joey asked.

“Maybe,” Willie said. “You?”

“Maybe,” Joey said.

And they would always remember August 14th, 1945.

—end—