"Athena at Christmas"
They were 11 years old: Rodger and Alex and Richard, Patsy and Nell and Martha, Leon and Pete, and Billy Thomas. And there was Judith, too, and they all lived in the same neighborhood of houses and small apartments. Rodger and his brothers and parents lived on the fourth floor of one apartment building.
The father of Rodger’s friend, Alex, had been an early test pilot so Alex had lot of model airplanes. And Rodger’s father had been a major in the army. Playing “war” was one of their favorite things to do together.
One time they took one of Alex’s old model airplanes and put a huge firecracker in it – a 3-incher – and lit it – and sailed it off the fire escape from the fourth floor. It glided out a way – then exploded – caught fire – and crashed to the earth in a terrible tailspin. It was wonderful. They loved to play war and other games, too. The whole gang of boys and girls played kick-the-can after school and slinging statues and once they sat on the floor in a big circle at Judith's house and played spin-the-bottle. It was a powerful game (for 11 year olds) way back then … Powerful feelings.
But then … there was Nancy – Nancy Kelly. Nancy was different. She lived some distance from the others. She had dark hair, almost black actually, and the bluest eyes ever invented … and Rodger “loved” Nancy Kelly. He knew he did. No spin-the-bottle love. Real love … even if he was only 11.
Rodger would ride his bike over, at 5:00 p.m., to Nancy’s house. It was dark already. It was nearly Christmas. And he would sit there in the dark in front of Nancy’s house, too shy to ring the bell – just sit there and hope. Hope what? Hope Nancy might pass by the living room window – or, better yet, come outside to walk her dog – and he would say, “Oh, hi, Nancy … I was just riding by …”
But she never did.
It was a good time to be alive though. Rodger loved life – and he loved to roughhouse it with his friends (maybe because his father had been “military” and his brothers athletic). He played soccer and football and softball with the others, and he played hard!
He could sling the statue maybe the hardest. And kick the can perhaps the fartherest, and run the fastest – and pay war the fiercest!! He just loved playing war – perhaps because there wasn’t one – yet ... in 1938.
The boys would choose up sides – and dig trenches – and throw dirt clods at each other. If you got hit by a dirt clod they would call a truce – and the wounded “soldier” was taken out to the “common” hospital. For some strange reason the hospital was four wheel barrows leaned up against each other to make a shelter under them, into which the wounded could crawl – and the hospital was located right in the middle of no-man’s land for soldiers from both sides. What if they did that in a real war? Might compassion end the war sooner?
With Rodger and his friends, pretty soon, the inevitable happened! Billy Thomas was in the hospital when a huge dirt clod struck the wheel barrows. They fell on Billy cutting a gash in his head … and the war was called off!!!
Nancy Kelly had to come by then. Oh, why in the world did she come just then?
She walked right out here into no-man’s land, like Florence Nightingale, and put her handkerchief on Billy Thomas’ head and put her arm around him and said she was so sorry.”
The Nancy Kelly really got mad!
“Why do you do this?” she demanded, fists on her hips!!! “Why are you so rough – throwing things? Do you like to fight? Do you like to hurt?”
“Christmas is coming,” she said, “and the Prince of Peace. Why do you do this?”
Rodger was bewildered and loved her all the more. Don’t ask why. He just did. But she must be some kind of a religious fanatic with that Prince of Peace talk and they – at war! All they were doing was having fun! Why did she have to come along then and pay attention to Billy Thomas, too?
Why did he have to fall in love with her? “After all, I’m only 11,” Rodger said to himself. "Feeling this way is worse than getting hit by a dirt clod!”
They walked Billy Thomas home – all of them – Nancy with Billy.
“I wonder if she would put her arm around me if I got my head cut?” Rodger thought. Billy was all right! So Rodger said to Nancy, “I’ll walk home with you.”
“O.K.” she said.
“You have a dog, don’t you?” he asked, making conversation. “We don’t have a dog because we live on the fourth floor of an apartment building and dad says we can’t have a dog. What’s your dog’s name?”
“Thena,” said Nancy.
“Thena. Thena? What kind of name is that?”
“It comes from ‘Athena’,” said Nancy.
“Oh, I know about Athena,” said Rodger (the budding intellectual). “She was the Greek goddess of war, right? I’m surprised your dog would be named for a war goddess.”
“That’s why we call her ‘Thena’ and not Athena,” said Nancy, “because Athena was also the goddess of peace, you know. Did you that that, too? My mom says she was the goddess of peace and caring and giving. So mom said, ‘We’ll take the “A” away from in front of her name because “A” means against … So we’ll leave just the peaceful part, “Thena,” for her name, and let the “against’ part go.’ So our dog is named “Thena,” goddess of peace. Doesn’t it sound peaceful? Thena? And she is like that – peaceful and loving.”
That was more than Rodger wanted to know. You ask where’d your dog get its name, and you get a whole encyclopedia back. But … Nancy had black hair and the bluest eyes in the universe and when she wasn’t angry (which she was only when she was against being angry) she was so-o-o-o gentle, her eyes so-o-o-o kind – so beautiful – so – O God – she was so – well – so...
They were at Nancy’s house now – and Thena ran out into the yard – and she jumped up on Nancy – and Rodger got down on his knees and Thena jumped on him too – and licked his face – and kissed him all over his cheeks and chin as he turned his lips away from the dog’s tongue (the way boys do, anyway – maybe girls, too).
But he did do one thing more. He closed his eyes and pretended it was Nancy who had kissed him on the face – and maybe he was just off the battlefield – and she was a nurse – and she tended his wounds – and he loved her – and she loved him.
O God – nurse Nancy Kelly ... Nightingale!
Nurse Nancy Nightingale then opened her front door, and Rodger could hear a Christmas carol, It Came Upon a Midnight Clear, coming from the record player in their living room:
And man, at war with man hears not the love song which they bring – O hush the noise – ye men of strife, and hear the angels sing...
And, all of a sudden Rodger could hear it (he thought so) the love song of the angels (Ain’t Gonna Study War No More).
He was full of that love song (and of peace) of peace and love – and so smitten he stepped backwards off of the front stoop and landed in the juniper bush.
Picking himself up – all smiles – all grins – and brushing himself off, he said, “Merry Christmas,” to Nurse Nancy Kelly Nightingale, and backed across the lawn waving goodbye, stumbled backwards again – and sat down on THE HOLLY TREE ... Next time he would follow the street lamp and stay on the sidewalk … AND, for sure, the next time he rode his bicycle over there, he was going to ring the doorbell.
Now, Rodger’s name wasn’t really Rodger, by the way … “I cannot tell a lie."
Rodger’s name was Bobby.
O – let there be peace!
Watchman, tell us of the night …
Higher yet the star ascends –
Watchman, let thy wanderings cease,
HIE Thee to thy quiet home …
Traveler, lo, the Prince of Peace,
Lo, the holy child, is born.
jake wrote
cmiller wrote
the beginning of the story is like the song Juex sans frontiers, Peter Gabriel, with Suki and Sasha and Kit.....wars without tears
Posted on Tue, Apr 22, 2008
Nancy was only angry when she was "against being angry." That's great.
Posted on Tue, Apr 22, 2008