Gundle's Joy

My friend, Gundle, was real/not real but still more fun than anyone else I knew. We met when Dad and I moved to Westside. 

On our first day in the new house dad saw me crying in my bedroom and sat down next to me.

“What’s the matter, Jamie?”

“I miss mom, I wish she was here with us.”

Dad stared at the picture of the three of us that was next to my bed.

“I miss her too, keep praying she will get better and join us. She is doing the right thing getting help. When she comes back we can have some more adventures. Meanwhile, it’s me and you, and we can have some adventures of our own.”

“I also miss my friends, I wish we didn’t have to move.”

He put his arm around my shoulders and gave them a little squeeze.

“I’m sorry son, I know it must be hard for you. Why don’t you go outside and look for some new friends. It’s a beautiful day and there is a great park right across the street.”

Dad meant well, but he didn’t know how hard it was to make friends in a strange city. We both looked out the window where a woman was selling ice cream in the park. Dad gave me five bucks and told me to go out and enjoy an ice cream.

“Maybe she has your favorite flavor, gorilla fudge.”

I just shrugged and headed downstairs and out the front door.

 I was sitting by myself at the park eating my ice cream when this weird guy with red dreadlocks and a black Rosa Parks t-shirt walked up. He plopped down on my bench and asked,“ Is that gorilla fudge? I love gorilla fudge ice cream.”

“Nope, the ice cream lady told me she was out of gorilla fudge today but she gave me a nice big scoop of mint monkey breath. Would you like a taste?” I smiled and wiped my sticky hands on my jeans.

Red dreads stared at me for a second and then smiled. “Hey, you’re alright kid, I like people who enjoy mint monkey breath. My name is Gundle but my special friends call me Gundie. We can be special friends as long as you remember me.”

I handed him my ice cream and it turned into a piece of chalk. He took the chalk and drew a picture of an alligator being chased by a mynah bird on the bench. He started squawking and flapping his arms and we both laughed and squawked until people walking by gave us funny looks. That made us laugh even more. 

We spent the day jumping out of trees and pretending we were paratroopers in a big war. Gundie shot his raisin pistol at anyone who came near to protect us from the evil troops of Boredinium. The snooty soldiers ignored us and kept up their humdrum conversations about the price of groceries, the neighborhood and their tedious jobs.

A young man and woman walked by holding hands, they didn’t look at each other as the man said, “Did you see the price of hotdogs at Clemens Mississippi Finnmart?”

A pair of women with gray hair strolled by walking a small dog. Their back and forth conversations never paused “Mrs. Alcott had another baby, she named this one May, I wonder how Louisa will like having a baby sister?”

A couple of guys marched by dressed in neatly pressed khaki pants and polo shirts. The man who had a ring of short hair around his bald head was saying, “My boss, Mr. Fagin says the IRS is going to audit us, that’s a new twist.”

We both knew it was all a secret code to rob the world of anything that is fun and we plotted how we could foil their evil plans.

We had to come up with a strategy to stop their villainous schemes so I told Gundie, “We should sentence them all to two weeks of Christmas.”

Gundie laughed and said, “Let’s replace their cars with flying bicycles.”

We spent the long summer together plotting, scheming and skulking around town like two chimpanzee commandos protecting the world from men in plaid golf shirts. 

Nothing could stop Gundie, he could fly, recite poetry and read people’s minds, especially the playground director.

“Watch out,” he would warn me, “She’s gonna tell us to get out of the tree before we hurt ourselves.”

We would get real quiet when she walked under us and we never had to leave our crows nest. 

We could fly away together over the park and land wherever we wanted to. One day we spotted a baseball game going on. We landed in the bleachers to watch the game. Everyone on both teams was named Jacqueline. They all had black braids falling out of their green caps. 

Gundle pretended like he was the announcer.

“Now pitching, Jacqueline, at bat Jacqueline. Here’s the pitch and Jacqueline slams the ball out to center field. The center fielder Jaqueline goes, back, back, back and looks up as the ball sails into the bleachers. Home run Jaqueline! And team Jacqueline take the lead one to nothing.”

One day it started raining and we had to go in. Gundie stopped laughing for the first time all summer. His sudden change of demeanor had me worried.

“What’s the matter? I know a little rain can’t stop my special friend, Gundie. Nothing can conquer you.”

Gundie smiled weakly and stared at his muddy sneakers.

“It’s true almost nothing can stop me but I have one weakness just like Superman and I know that one day it will be the end of me.”

I was startled, how could Gundie have a weakness?

“I don’t believe it, you are the coolest kid I have ever met.”

Gundie picked up a comic book and shrugged.

“Jamie, I know someday you are going to forget about me and on that day I will cease to exist.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

“Are you kidding me? I will never-ever forget you.”

Gundie grinned at me and popped his knuckles, “You’re right, let’s not worry about that and have some more fun. Maybe we can hide some of your toy cars in your dad’s briefcase.”

“Great idea, imagine my dad having to explain to his boss why he is carrying toy cars in his briefcase.”

We both laughed and came up with ”plan briefcase” the scheme to free my dad from being proper. 

That night we snuck into dad’s office while he was grilling cheeseburgers in the back yard. We put a black 58 Ford F-100 truck, a blue and white 55 chevy and a red 78 Opel Kadett into his briefcase and sneaked back into my room.

The next morning, we watched dad leave for the office and grinned at each other in anticipation. It was all we could talk about all day.

We were waiting in the living room when we heard dad’s key in the lock. The door opened and in stepped my dad with his arm around mom. I screamed and ran into her open arms.

She hugged me and kept kissing me, we were both crying. She looked me in the eyes and said, “Oh baby, I have missed you so much.”

“I missed you too mama, are you gonna stay with us?”

“Of course, baby who else would I stay with?”

Dad wrapped his arms around both of us. His voice was breaking up when he said, "It is so great to be back together again. You are an amazing woman, Angela. Just look at you.”

I stepped back and took a good look at my mama. She had never been more beautiful. Her dark hair was picked out into a neat fro, her brown eyes were clear and her beautiful brown skin seemed to glow. 

She looked back at me with a beaming smile.

“That’s right baby, your mama is back. No more hangovers and passing out on the sofa. I am so grateful for you and your dad, you two are one of the greatest things In my life.”

We all sat down on the sofa together and momma told us all about living one day at a time and true freedom. Dad kissed her on the cheek and looked into her eyes with a smile.

“That’s the Angela I know and love. I will always love you but the amazing woman sitting next to me is really a blessing. I can’t wait to support you in any way I can. I know God has great plans for you.

We all laughed when dad told us about the look on Ms. Mayou’s face when he pulled out a toy Opel Kadett during a meeting with the other counselors at the center. 

“I hope you don’t mind son, but I love the toy Opel and I would like to keep it on my desk at work. It is just like the car your grandmama used to drive. We had so much fun in that car, we even went to a baseball game where every player was named Jacqueline.”

Gundle watched the whole thing with delight as he started to fade away. It turned out being forgotten wasn’t that bad after all. He had helped a little boy get through one of the worst summers in his young life. He realized his purpose was helping others and he had fulfilled that purpose. He was filled with joy as he shrank smaller and smaller until he completely disappeared.