The Mickey Mouse Watch

Buddy sat on the front porch steps in his bare feet. It was late summertime, and he had no need for shoes. The ones he had were too small anyway, and he wouldn’t get a new pair until Christmas. He sat there with his elbows on his knees, chin in his hands, avoiding the dirt lawn he was supposed to be raking. He wasn’t really looking at the dirt anymore.  His usually twinkling eyes were adrift. He was daydreaming again. He had taken to staring at the old Hickory tree across the road. Lost in his thoughts, he was thinking about his brother Lyton again. Lyton had gone off and joined the Army, and Buddy missed him somethin’ awful. Although he had a heap of brothers and sisters to play with, or to get into a tussle with, he missed his big brother-- the talks they shared and the times they just sat outside together in silence, listening to the tree frogs and crickets, and watching the lightnin’ bugs. that surrounded their humble little mill home in the foothills of the Western North Carolina mountains.

Out of nowhere, Buddy was startled back to reality by his Mama’s voice, hollerin’, “if that yard ain’t raked by the time I come out there to take the wash off the line, your Daddy will be hearin’ about it”. Buddy also knew that if he didn’t get it finished right quick, he would not get that last biscuit left over from breakfast that Mama had promised him if he got all of his chores done in a timely fashion.  Mama made the best biscuits!  After all, his Mama’s love was kneaded into every biscuit she ever made! Buddy’s family was a big one, with lots of brothers and sisters. Mama’s meals were always delicious, but they had to be stretched to feed her large family, and sometimes food could be scarce, so that last biscuit was always considered a treat, and sometimes even fought over.

Buddy was a happy boy, always with that special sparkle in his eye. He loved his Mama and Daddy, and all his brothers and sisters. But he really missed his big brother. Every night before bedtime, when he got on his knees to say his prayers, and count his blessings, Buddy would say an extra prayer asking God for Lyton to come home soon for a visit. 

As the summer slowly turned to early fall and the leaves began to change, Buddy would watch the sun set as the nights got cooler. He would often sit and wonder what a brave soldier like his brother might be doing. “Was he cleanin’ a gun? Was he shootin’ a gun? Was he patrollin’ an area lookin’ for the enemy? Or guardin’ a command post? Would he have to go off to war one day?”

Not too long into the month of October, Buddy was outside raking the dirt and scrambling to get it done before Daddy got home. He looked up to see a figure coming down the dusty road that led to the house. At first, he thought it was Daddy coming down the road after a long day working as a fixer at the cotton mill. But no, this person was moving a might faster than Daddy would have been after a long workday. Buddy put his hand to his forehead above his eyebrows to shield the glare of the setting sun. His heart skipped a beat or two, when he realized it was his brother Lyton coming down the road!

Buddy could not wait for Lyton to walk all the way up that dusty old road. He dropped his rake and ran as fast as his bare feet would let him; all the while looking backward and hollerin’ at anyone who would hear inside the house or out in the yard. “Mama, Lyton’s come home, I see him comin’ up the road!! Mama, he’s home!”. In all that excitement, he managed to trip over some rocks on the road and fell plum on his face. By now, Lyton was close enough that Buddy could hear him laughing at his clumsiness. When they reached one another, Lyton greeted his little brother with a rub on the top of his head, that soon turned into the kind of hug that lifted Buddy off his feet and spun him around in a circle “Boy, you need to pay better mind to what you’re doin’”, Lyton said with another laugh.

Buddy had a million questions for Lyton, but now Mama had come running down the road in tears, while affectionately scolding Lyton for not sending word of his return so she could have some hot biscuits ready with some pinto beans, and on a count that she would have prepared a special supper of some sort. When she reached him, they hugged for a real long time, and soon the others came runnin’ to greet their brave brother home.

Next morning after Buddy had dressed for school, Lyton came to him and told him he had brought him a present. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the most fancy, expensive thing Buddy had ever seen in real life, ever. A shiny, brand-new watch. But this wasn’t an ordinary watch. No, this was a Mickey Mouse watch! Buddy loved to look at the comics when his Daddy was done looking at the newspapers, and Mickey Mouse was his favorite. He had heard about Steamboat Willie and hoped to see it one day on a big picture screen somewhere. Lyton explained that Mickey’s arms would serve has the watch hands, and before he wrapped the band around Buddy’s wrist, he showed him how to wind the watch and said to him, “Now Bud, this is very important. Don’t wind the watch too tight. And only wind it once at night before you go to bed.” “Yes sir”, Buddy replied, with a salute to his brother, who he was so proud of.

But later that day at school, Buddy could not stop looking at his new watch. He could not stop thinking about how badly he wanted to wind the watch. It seemed like Mickey’s arms were moving as slow as the turtle he saw crawling by creek the other day. It seemed like it might be forever before he would be able to wind the watch. Every so often, throughout the rest of the school day, Buddy would wind the watch just a little “Just a tiny little bit won’t hurt it” he told himself. Later that night, he wound the watch one more time right before he said his prayers, until it stopped clicking.

The next day, during school, Buddy noticed the watch was no longer keeping time. It didn’t seem to want to wind anymore, either. It wasn’t making the clicking noise it had made those other times he wound it. Mickey’s hands weren’t moving, and he couldn’t hear the watch ticking anymore. His heart sank like an anchor as he realized that the watch had just…. stopped.

That evening when he saw Lyton sitting in the rocker on the porch, he went to him and said, “Lyton, my watch has stopped keepin’ time. Can you help me fix it?” Buddy took the watch off his wrist and handed it to his brother. Lyton inspected the watch, looked at Buddy and replied “Yeah, I can fix it. Come on, let’s go out to the woodshed”. “Shoo, what a relief!” Buddy thought to himself. Right near the shed, Lyton laid the watch on the big tree stump, that was used for wood choppin’. While Buddy waited by the stump, Lyton found the old axe that hung on a nail in the shed and returned to the stump where Buddy was waiting.  Lyton stood over the stump, looked once more at Buddy, and then swung the axe hard, shattering the watch to pieces with one blow. He looked at Buddy and said: “Now Bud, I told you not to wind the watch too tight, didn’t I?”

Buddy was heartbroken. He felt as if Mickey’s heart broke too, when the watch had stopped its ticking, and now both their hearts were just smashed all to pieces! He was so hurt and angry at his brother. How could his brother, who loved him so much, do such a mean thing!? WHY would he do such a thing? He didn’t think he could ever forgive Lyton.

 A few days later Lyton left, to return to his Army post. As the weeks passed with Lyton gone again, Buddy had nothing to do but think. And he knew that he had done what he had been warned not to do. He knew that his excitement had gotten the best of him. He also knew that he himself had ruined the watch first, and his big brother had been right. If only he had listened! He realized that there was a lesson to be learned in the hurt he felt in his heart. 

Months went by, and Buddy was sitting on the front porch steps again, avoiding the dirt he was supposed to be raking. His elbows on his knees, chin in his hands, and his twinkling eyes staring at the Hickory tree across the road. Lost in thought, he was thinking of his big brother who had gone off to the Army. Buddy missed him somethin’ awful. He wondered what Lyton was doing, and he said a little prayer, asking God for Lyton to come home soon for a visit.