“Girls targeted, Captain…should we proceed closer?”
“No! Remain where you are soldiers. Get your slingshots-err, guns-ready. Alright boys, aim…FIRE!!!”
Billy and his group of ‘soldiers’ sent a barrage of dog turds hurling over the fence of Billy’s next door neighbors’ house. Their target was a group of innocent girls who had just finished giving each other makeovers. The girls’ painted faces looked up just as the onslaught was upon them and the boys laughed wildly as their targets were hit.
“Billy Anderson! You are going to pay for this!” The ringleader of the girls, Amber, screamed towards the fence, where she noticed the boys running quickly back into Billy’s house.
“Billy, I hope you weren’t just tormenting that Amber girl again,” Mrs. Anderson said as the boys stumbled into the kitchen, muddy and out of breath from a combination of laughing and running. She was too busy making lunch to really care, though, and she simply gestured towards the laundry basket in the corner. “I’ll wash your clothes later.”
Billy, beaming from his recent accomplishment, nodded to the back door. “Alright soldiers, it’s time for your Captain to eat his meager lunch.” Mrs. Anderson shot him a disapproving glance, but said nothing. Billy motioned to his mother, “Good thing she’s the best darn cook in the regiment, though. I’ll see you fellows in an hour where our conquest will continue!” He high-fived his friends as they piled out the house. They stood outside for a moment, looking like lost puppies without their ‘Captain’, before scattering back to their own homes.
Billy turned back to his mother, shaking his head. “Those men are the bravest I’ve ever seen.”
“Billy, please wash up for lunch,” Mrs. Anderson said with her back turned.
“Where’s Pops?” Billy asked as he washed his hands in the kitchen sink.
“Your father was called into work today. He said he wouldn’t be back until after dinner…Billy, what on earth is that horrid stench?” His mother finally turned and looked at her son. His once clean brown hair was matted and covered in mud and his new jeans torn at the knees. He scrubbed his hands under the sink water, trying to get the dirt out from beneath his fingernails. “Billy, what did you roll around in? And your new jeans! What were you doing out there?”
“War…,” Billy muttered under his breath. “It can do things to ya. Lost many good men out there-”
“Billy, please stop that nonsense. Go on, take a shower and change your clothes…and PLEASE spend some time on your hair! You smell like a dirty dog.”
“But Mom, I’m going out again after lunch! There’s no point in taking a shower now; I’ll just get dirty again later anyway,” He laughed and dried his hands with some paper towels. His mother was just putting the finishing touches on his sandwich and as soon as she was done he grabbed his lunch eagerly. “Looks good, Mom!” He smiled up at her and she faintly smiled back.
“I just don’t want you getting into trouble out there-”
“Don’t worry, Mom. I’m one of the best soldiers in the regiment. That’s why I’m Captain,” He winked at her as he started for the back door, sandwich in hand.
“Where do you think you’re going, young man? Sit down and eat your lunch, please.”
“My men need me, ma’am. I can’t let them down!” Billy saluted his mother as he dashed out the door and back into his make-believe world.
****
“You know, your cat hates your guts.”
Billy shrugged in return to his friend’s words, tilting his cowboy hat over his eyes. “Hand me my whip, Mark.”
Mark sighed, “What are you going to do this time? Kill it?”
“Mittens just so happens to be resting on top of a very important place; a battle happened here long ago and buried beneath that beast is an ancient artifact from said battle. That artifact belongs in a museum! A mere cat never stopped Indiana Jones from getting what he wanted and it’s certainly not going to stop me. Now hand me my whip.”
Mark handed Billy the ‘official’ Indiana Jones toy whip and scooted away from his friend as to not get in the way. Mittens lay on the grass basking in the hot afternoon sun, her tail twitching lazily. Billy stood up and gently approached his prey, whip in hand. He raised his arm in preparation for the attack.
“BILLY!” Mr. Anderson’s voice bellowed from the house. Upon hearing the loud noise, Mittens’ eyes opened and seeing Billy’s attack position, she hissed and bolted under the safety of the back porch. Billy groaned in disappointment and reluctantly started walking back to his house.
“Go home, Mark. I’ll see ya later.” Mark stood up, rolling his eyes, and ran home.
“What, Dad?” Billy slammed the back door after entering.
Mr. Anderson sat at the kitchen table, an angry expression set on his face. He held a piece of paper in one hand and his cell phone in another. Mrs. Anderson sat across from him, her eyes downcast. She looked as though she had been recently crying. Upon seeing the piece of paper, Billy knew exactly what was about to go down and he quickly turned and started back outside. “Sit down!” His father yelled. Billy complied but sat as far away from his father as possible. “Do you know what this is?” His father held up the paper.
“A letter from Harrison Ford asking me to co-star with him in his next movie?” Billy smirked at his own sarcasm, but Mr. Anderson just scowled.
“It’s a letter from your school. You’ve been skipping class? I called the school and they said if you keep this up you’ll have to stay back a year!” His father slammed the letter down on the table. His wife jolted at the sudden movement.
“Billy,” his mother whispered, putting her hand over his, “we love you so much. We’re just trying to understand what’s going on here…why are you skipping class, honey? Are the kids mean to you? Is the teacher being mean to you?”
Billy shrugged, “No, I just don’t understand why I need to learn that stuff; it’s so stupid. I don’t think Indiana Jones had to learn that stuff-”
“Well, you’re not Indiana Jones!” His father raised his voice again. “When are you going to grow up, Billy? You’re eight years old now and you’ve got the brains to get good grades if you’d only try! You need to stop playing pretend and start living in the real world. This,” he raised the letter again, “will stay with you until high school. How will it feel to be older than everyone in your grade then, huh? How will it feel when you won’t graduate with your friends? You won’t think it’s so funny then.”
Billy looked down, tears threatening his eyes. Mrs. Anderson turned to her husband angrily. “He’s only in third grade. He’s still a kid. Let him be a kid for as long as he can; he’ll grow up soon enough and then you’ll wish you hadn’t been so hard on him.”
“I’m his father, Helen. This is between father and son,” he shot her a look and she stood up and left the kitchen, fresh tears running down her face. Mr. Anderson’s expression softened. “Billy, son, you can’t keep doing this.” Billy nodded, refusing to look up. “From now on, you’ll go to every class. When you come home you’ll do your homework here at the kitchen table. Only then may you go out and play with your friends, understand?” Billy nodded again.
“May I go outside now, please?” He whispered. Mr. Anderson shrugged tiredly. Billy stood up just as the kitchen phone began to ring. He moved to answer it, but his father got to it first. So Billy continued to the back door, but before he left he heard his father talking in a low voice,
“I told you not to call me on my home phone-”
****
“Multiplication? This is barbeque sauce…” Billy sat at the kitchen table trying to focus on his math homework but to no avail. He put his arms behind his head leisurely and stared blankly up at the ceiling, bored beyond comprehension. Suddenly he heard a light tap-tap on the back door. Excited, he quickly turned to see what it could be. Mark and some of the other boys from his group, Jon, Patrick, and Henry, stood outside on his back porch, grinning at him through the glass. Billy slid the door open a little.
“Hey, Billy! Whatcha doin’?”
“I’m undercover right now, boys. If the boss sees you here she’ll freak!” Billy said, referring to his mother.
“We just saw your mom’s car pull out of the driveway; she’s not home! Come outside!” Mark motioned to Amber’s house next door. “Her and her friends are swimming in the pool right now. How ‘bout we give them a little scare?”
Billy laughed and looked behind him, half expecting his mother to be standing over his shoulder. But his friends were right, she had left. He couldn’t think why she’d leave without saying a word to him, but he was only concerned for a moment and then he was out the door running across the yard with his buddies. The tree house in his back yard had a perfect view of Amber’s property and from one of the windows Billy and his friends could spy on her and possibly sling-shot some ‘gifts’ over her way. They climbed the ladder up to the tree house one by one, laughing and scheming about possible ways in which they could torment the girls.
But once up in their hide-out, they completely forgot about their previous plans and found themselves playing cards and drinking the bottles of Coke that Billy had stashed away for occasions such as this. An hour went by in this manner. They talked about some of their teachers from school, how much they despised the vegetables their moms forced them to eat, and about how a new Indiana Jones movie was being filmed.
“I got a letter from Harrison Ford, you know,” Billy said in a proud voice. “He asked me if I’d co-star with him in his new movie. But I declined. Told him my men needed me here.”
“He did not,” Jon gasped, wide-eyed.
“Don’t believe him, Jon; he’s totally lying!” Mark punched Billy in the arm playfully. “Aren’t you, Billy?”
Suddenly Henry perked up and changed the subject. “Hey, Billy, who was that lady leaving your house the other day?”
“What lady?” Billy asked, placing another card down on the pile. “Your turn, Pat.”
“I dunno…but it wasn’t your mom. She had brown hair and she looked really young.”
Billy looked up at his friend, suddenly interested, “How young? Young like us?”
Henry shook his head, “No…young like…well I dunno! Young like twenty-five, I guess.”
“Well, what else did you see?”
“She drove a red car. Like one of those fancy, no-top cars. She’s gotta be your dad’s sister or something ‘cause your dad’s car was in the driveway, too.” Henry slammed his last card down on the pile. “I WIN!” He shouted, his whole face beaming with pride.
Billy looked at the cards in his hands, “My dad doesn’t have a sister…Hey guys, I gotta go. I’ll see ya later.”
“But we still haven’t pranked Amber yet!” Mark said, reminding everyone of their original plan. Then they heard a car door slam outside. Patrick stood up and looked out the window.
“Billy, your mom’s home.”
Without another word Billy flew down the ladder and back into the kitchen where he sat down and pretended to be doing homework. Just then his mother walked in the front door. “Hey, Mom! Where’ve you been?” Billy called out. His mother rounded the corner and walked into the kitchen slowly, her face ghostly pale.
“I’m-uh-sorry, honey. I forgot you were in here. I just went out to the…grocery store.”
Billy turned around eagerly. “Get anything good?” But his mother’s hands were empty. He then noticed her pallor. “You okay, Mom?”
“Yeah…why don’t you go out and play with your friends.”
“But I’m still not done with my homework…”
“I’ll help you with that later. You should go outside and play,” Mrs. Anderson busied herself with the dishes in the sink.
“Okay, Mom…” Billy got up, glad that he didn’t have to do his homework right then, but slightly concerned by his mother’s behavior. He walked over to the back door and almost stepped outside but then turned around to look at his mother again. “Hey, Mom?” She didn’t respond. “I love you.”
She finally turned to look at her son with tears in her eyes. “I love you, too, sweetie.” Billy smiled and then bolted outside to rejoin his friends in the tree house.
****
“Looks like your dad’s home early today, Billy,” The bus driver said as he opened up the doors to let Billy off at the end of his driveway. “That new Indiana Jones movie is out today. You gonna ask him to take you?”
“Well, Pete, I don’t know. You see, I think the Nazis are on to me. I gotta lay low for a while. I might have to change my name and move to another state. This may be the last time I see you, old boy,” Billy shook his head sadly. “It’s been real nice knowing you, Pete.”
Pete, the bus driver, laughed and tousled the boy’s hair. “My sister told me about how you’ve been improving your grades in her class. All the teachers are talking about how you’ve picked things up this past month. You deserve some fun. Ask your dad to take you…I heard it’s a real blockbuster!”
Billy nodded and yelled, “You got it!” as he bounced off the bus and up his driveway. As soon as the bus pulled away, though, he noticed the red convertible that was parked a little ways up the street. He looked at his house but didn’t move. After a few thoughtful minutes he sat down in the driveway, took out a notebook, and started his homework. A half an hour later, the front door of his house opened and a woman walked out of the house. When she saw Billy sitting in the driveway she blushed and started walking faster to her car.
“Hey,” Billy said as she passed by. The woman stopped and looked down at him.
“Hi,” She smiled and Billy couldn’t help but smile back. “You must be Billy.”
“Yeah…how’d you know?” He stood up and looked at her more closely; dark brown hair, in her early twenties. This was the woman Henry had seen leaving his house before.
“Your dad talks about you all the time,” Her warm smile faltered and she broke eye contact.
“How do you know my dad?”
“We work together…I’m Lizzy, by the way,” She held out her hand just as Mr. Anderson walked out of the front door. Upon seeing his son talking with Lizzy he quickly rushed over.
“Billy, what are you doing home? I thought you were hanging out with your friends today,” He stepped between Lizzy and his son inconspicuously.
“You said I had to come home every day and do my homework first, remember?” Billy eyes bounced back and forth between his father and the woman. “Where’s mom?”
They both looked at each other nervously and then his father said, “Son, why don’t you go in the house? I’ll be in in a minute.” Billy complied although not without suspicion.
A minute later Mr. Anderson followed his son into the house, quietly shutting the front door behind him. Just as he entered the home phone rang. Billy got up to answer it before his father could react. “Hello?” he asked into the receiver.
“Hi, honey! It’s mom.”
“Hi, mom. Where are you?” Mr. Anderson came closer to hear the other side.
“I went to the library to pick up some books. I should be home in about a half an hour…is your father there?” At that question Mr. Anderson shook his head at Billy. He looked at his father for a moment before answering, “No…but he just called saying he was coming home early to take me to see the new Indiana Jones movie.”
There was a slight pause on the other side and then his mother continued, “Good…See you later, hon.”
Billy hung up the phone and stared blankly at his father. “Well?”
Mr. Anderson tried to smile but failed. “Your mother doesn’t need to know about Lizzy, got it?”
Billy looked down and scuffed his feet against the floor. “You think Harrison Ford is going to make any more Indiana Jones movies after this one?”
“Billy-”
“Let’s just go, Dad.” And without another word the two donned their jackets, got into the car, and drove off in the direction of the movie theater.
****
“Hey, Billy?” Back in his tree house, Billy and his friends sat once again in a circle playing cards. Patrick waved his hand in front of Billy’s distant gaze and asked again, “Billy?”
Billy returned back to reality with a sudden jolt. “What?” He looked at his friends all crowded around him, staring at him with concern.
“We asked you how it was,” Patrick continued.
“How what was?” Billy tried to laugh off the awkwardness.
“The movie! How was the movie?” Jon shrieked with excitement, looking as though he was going to burst from anticipation.
“It was good,” Billy said quietly, placing another card down on the pile in front of him.
“That’s it?” Mark groaned, standing up. “You were talking about it like crazy the other week and now all you say is, ‘It was good’?” The boys would have preferred to be running around outside but the rain had resigned them to the dank tree house. Just as Mark’s words had come out the rain started coming down harder, sounding like gun shots on the top of the tin roof. The boys looked up with wide eyes as a clap of thunder sounded in the distance.
“I’m out of here,” Patrick said and quickly descended the ladder. The rest of the boys followed suit, running off to their warm, dry homes. All except Billy who sat in his tree house for another hour listening to the pounding of the rain above him. Eventually he made his way back home as well. Billy slid the back door open and stepped into the kitchen, bringing along a puddle of rainwater with him. As soon as he walked into the house he heard his parents arguing upstairs.
“…I know, Frank,” Billy heard his mother yell at his father.
“What do you know?” Mr. Anderson shouted back just as loudly.
“I saw you two…I saw everything. I know.” Just then she came running down the stairs, startling Billy who was waiting at the bottom. “Billy…what are you doing here?” She was deathly pale and shaking all over. Billy’s father was at the top of the steps glaring down at his wife and son.
“We’re not done here, Helen,” He hopped down the steps and stood by his wife. “Don’t bring him into this.” Mrs. Anderson refused to look at her husband and didn’t respond. Instead she smiled sweetly down at her son and then took her car keys and rain jacket and left the house. “She’s going to get herself killed out there,” Mr. Anderson muttered and quickly gathered his car keys and wallet and opened the front door in pursuit of his wife. But he stopped in the threshold and looked back at Billy, who had been silent the whole time. “I’m sorry about all of this, Billy. I really am.”
“I love you, Dad…I love you both,” Billy whispered, tears beginning to form in his eyes.
“I love you, too. Everything’s going to be okay,” Mr. Anderson gave his son a weak smile and then ran out into the downpour.
Billy went to the window and watched his father quickly drive away in the rain. Even after his parents were both out of sight he continued to gaze outside, trying to count each raindrop, trying to keep track of the minutes. After an hour and a half both of his parents returned in their separate cars. Billy watched his father get out of his car, walk over to his mother’s, and open the door for her. The rain had finally let up and the afternoon sun began to peek up from behind the dark clouds, illuminating the fragile couple as they embraced and cried in each other’s arms. The sun even shone in through the window and kissed the face of the boy who was watching with weary eyes. He felt old and tired, but watching his parents outside in the warm sunlight he realized he had never seen anything so beautiful. And then he too found himself crying uncontrollably.
****
A month had passed since the day Billy had witnessed his parents fighting for the first time. The weekend following the incident, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson went on a mini vacation, leaving Billy to stay at Mark’s house for a few days. But Billy found it hard to have fun with his friends; his mind kept wandering back to his parents and he wondered what would happen when they returned. Billy had heard the word divorce before. He knew a kid from school, Andy, whose parents had gone through a divorce. Andy hadn’t been the same since and Billy feared he too would change if his parents split.
But when his parents returned home they were the ones who had changed. Billy’s mother and father were happier than before. They explained to their son how they had struggled with some things but how ultimately they decided to go to counseling and work on their marriage. Billy wanted to be glad, but something wasn’t fully right. There was still something unresolved, he felt, and he wouldn’t be able to be at peace until he figured out what it was.
A month later he finally got his answer in the form of a red convertible. Billy was once again in his tree house hanging out with his group of friends, when all of a sudden Jon shouted, “Hey, look at that sweet car!”
All of the boys quickly jumped up and crowded around the window that overlooked the front of Billy’s house and the street. Billy pushed his way through his group of friends to get a better look. Sure enough, there was the red convertible slowly driving past his house. The boys watched for a few minutes as the car would pass the house at almost zero miles per house then speed up, turn around, and drive by over and over again. Billy’s eyes narrowed in resentment.
“That’s so weird,” Patrick laughed. The rest of the boys nodded in agreement.
“You know, Billy, it looks like that car I used to see at your house sometimes,” Henry turned to look at his friend. “That lady, remember? Who is she?”
Billy was silent for a moment and then he gave a sly smile, “She’s a Nazi spy. She’s been collecting information about me, gathering it up to send back to her Nazi base in Germany. She claims her name is Lizzy but sources have confirmed her real name is…Gretchen,” Billy looked away from the window and paced back and forth across the tree house floor. “Men, I have a new mission for you.” At those words the boys’ attention locked onto their leader and a few minutes later they had devised a plan to make sure ‘Gretchen’ would never return again.
“Hey, Lizzy!” Billy called out to the red convertible as soon as he was in front of the house. Ever since that weekend away his parents were joined at the hip at all times; they even had lunch together during Mr. Anderson’s work break. Neither of them was home so it was the perfect opportunity to get revenge. The car parked on the opposite side of the street and Lizzy got out and walked up the driveway.
Billy immediately noticed how much she had changed since he had last seen her; she was much thinner, her once beautiful dark hair was stringy and dull and her face looked pale as though she hadn’t seen the sun for a few weeks. She smiled when she saw the boy, a crooked, off-putting smile, much different than the genuinely friendly grin that had made Billy smile back once before.
“Billy! Where’s your father? I need to talk with him. Is he home?” She looked anxiously at the house, wringing her hands nervously and started for the front door. “Frank! Frank!!”
Billy glowered at the woman. “He’s on his lunch break right now so he’s with my mom. Why don’t you just see him at work?”
“I was-uh-fired actually. A little while ago,” Her eyes glazed over and for a second Billy almost felt bad for her. But then he remembered how Lizzy had tried to tear his parents apart and ruin everything. He couldn’t let her get away with that.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw his friends crouched in the bushes of the next house over awaiting his signal. In their hands were their slingshots and whatever they had managed to scrape together in a few short minutes: small rocks, dog turds, pinecones, bugs. Billy looked back into Lizzy’s desperate eyes and suddenly felt sorry for her. This wasn’t like the times when he and his friends had ambushed Amber and the rest of the girls; this was personal and he realized that wasn’t fair. He decided to give her a chance to redeem herself, to say she was sorry for everything. Billy was prepared to call off the attack if she did at least that. “Lizzy, I want you to stay away from my dad.”
She stared at him aghast. But then her surprise quickly turned to malevolence. “Oh, do you? Clever little boy…” She said with a clenched jaw.
“Yes. He loves my mom. They’re happy now so you need to just forget about it. Can you do that?” Billy gave a wink to Mark who had already made his way over to Lizzy’s car and was waiting for Billy’s ‘go’. At the wink he revealed the great surprise: Mittens. Mark placed the terrified cat into the car and took a cautious step back. Unfortunately for Lizzy, Mittens didn’t know the difference between cars and litter boxes and Mark stifled his laugher as the beast destroyed the leather upholstery.
Oblivious to what was happening to her car behind her, Lizzy gave a loud, sarcastic laugh. “Like I’m going to listen to a little boy. Your father will take me back. Maybe not today but he will. And I’m not going to stop until he does. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Billy smiled and sighed. “Oh, Lizzy,” he laughed, “I really wish you hadn’t said that.” Then he turned to his friends who were still crouched in the bushes and yelled, “FIREEE!!”
At his command, Jon, Patrick, and Henry began sling-shotting things at Lizzy’s car. She shrieked in horror as rocks and pinecones dented the exterior and the dog turds ruined the paint job. She sprinted over to the car and screamed even louder at the disaster inside. Mittens hissed and quickly bolted back to Billy’s house.
“Don’t come back here, Gretchen!” Billy’s friends all shouted unanimously. Lizzy glared at the group of boys and screamed in anger and defeat.
“You’ll thank me one day!” Billy yelled in her direction, but Lizzy said nothing as she started up her car and sped away.
****
Twelve years passed; Billy was now twenty years old and working at a jewelers. His parents had stayed together and were now living in Hawaii where they would probably spend the rest of their days on the sand drinking Pina Coladas. Billy still lived in the same small town in a small apartment and went to school part time. But mostly he worked at the jewelers helping young couples pick out wedding rings.
He had long since abandoned his mischievous ways, but he never forgot the events that had catapulted him into adolescence. Lizzy never came by the house again and Billy assumed she had most likely moved away due to her losing her job at the company. Ever since his cruel act he had longed to apologize to her, but he had to accept the fact that he might never get the chance.
Billy was working the day shift at the jewelers on a Saturday when a couple in their mid-thirties walked in towards the end of his shift. He barely gave them a passing glance as they walked up to one of his coworkers and started chatting about diamonds and bands and sizes. It wasn’t until the woman said something that Billy looked up at the couple from across the room. He recognized her voice at once: it was Lizzy.
“I don’t know, honey,” she said thoughtfully, pointing to one of the rings, “I like this one better.” Her soon-to-be husband nodded in approval. Billy slowly walked around the counters, nonchalantly picking random objects up and rearranging them along the way. He didn’t think she’d recognize him anyway but he still didn’t want to be seen. He was suddenly overwhelmed with regret and shame for what he had done to the poor woman as a kid.
Lizzy was hardly recognizable herself. Her hair was much shorter than before and dyed a deeper shade of brown and her face was radiating from the excitement of the upcoming wedding. She had never looked happier or more beautiful. He then realized he didn’t even need to apologize to her; she had found a good man to love and marry and seeing her happy was enough for him. He turned away from the couple and started packing up his things to go home for the night. Just then Lizzy and her fiancé thanked the man they had been talking to and walked out of the door before Billy could. He froze with fear as she passed him, but Lizzy didn’t even give so much as a glance at Billy. He gave a sigh of relief once they were outside the jewelers and a good distance away. Then he waved goodbye to his coworkers and started to leave.
But just as he was reaching for the doorknob Lizzy turned around and quickly sprinted back into the store.
“I forgot to grab a business card!” She exclaimed and looked straight at Billy. She stared into his eyes for a few moments and then said, “Well?”
“Oh, yeah,” Billy fumbled with his jacket and handed her a card with shaking fingers. “Sorry about that.”
“Thanks!” She smiled at him and turned to leave.
“I told you you would thank me one day,” Billy called after her, flustered and at a loss for words. She paused in front of the door, refusing to turn around. “I know you know who I am,” Billy whispered, his cheeks burning red from embarrassment. “I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for everything that happened back then. Also I’m really glad to see you’re happy now.”
Lizzy slowly turned around to look at him. But instead of being angry, which was what Billy was expecting, she was beaming with joy. Tears of happiness rolled down her cheeks. She opened her quivering mouth to say something but couldn’t; she simply stared back at him with desperate, soulful eyes.
Billy smiled back at her. “I forgive you, too,” he murmured through the lump in his throat. She gave a quick nod then turned and left the store. She ran to her fiancé and hugged him tightly. The man wiped the tears away from Lizzy’s cheek and whispered something in her ear. Lizzy laughed then and kissed him affectionately. Billy smiled as he watched the couple walk away hand in hand. It wasn’t until that point while watching them through the glass window of the jewelers’ shop that Billy finally felt something he hadn’t felt in many years: peace.