The Tale Of John

[John]

The Last and The First

An old man lay on medical bed his respirator making that loud clacking noise. He was ninety nine years old and these would be his last moment. The man that lay in the bed was named John. His last name was of no significance, the only record of him would be his birth and death. Other than that his life held no real importance or memorable quality except to him.

John blinked his eyes rapidly trying to clear away the hazy vision from his eyes. Just like every day for the past thirty he peered around the room that seemed to be of an almost blinding white to his eyes. To everyone else it would be an unremarkable off white with sun shining in. The lights florescent giving no real additional light to the room.

His respirator clanked as his eyes looked up at the device helping him stay alive. It was the only thing besides a few other medical machines monitoring his vitals that adorned the room. There were no flowers, no cards, or any signs that loved ones had been there. No one sat in the single chair in the room watching over the man with sad eyes.

The year was 2082, the month September, the day 14th. Two days from John's hundredth birthday. If he made it there would be no celebrations the only congratulations he would get would be from passing nurses and doctors. John would not reach the century mark though he will die this day. He will die an unremarkable death marked in some chart or another. No one will weep for him, for John has no one. He has no family left to speak of, never had any progeny to carry on his legacy. He never really had any friends that would care of his passing. The few that might have cared where all already dead and gone.

John would die alone like he had felt most of his life. His funeral would unremarkable, the state fitting the bill for his funeral. The priest residing over his burial would only be preaching to a congregation of a few nurses who had tended to John. They would not cry they never really knew the man but they felt sorry for the lonely soul and made it an obligation.

His last memory was looking around the room tears slowly reclouding his vision. His mind calling out to a God he long ago had forsaken asking him for a sense of peace at last. He had called on this being he didn't believe in countless time to grant him his release over his life time. Two days short of a Hundred years in that God finally granted his request. His eyes went shut and he just stopped breathing, his soul drifted away from his body. The flat line buzzer sounded throughout the hospital. By the time a nurse or doctor arrived it was too late John was already gone. He was finally free from his unremarkable life filled with regret and pain.

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John's earliest memory was of a good a time a simpler time in his life. It was a happy memory of him and his father. He couldn't remember what his dad said but he remembered him speaking. John was only three at the time; his head had a soft fuzz of blond hair growing in.

His parents would later remark how John was bald until he was three. At three his blond hair would grow in, at seven it would start turning to a brown. His father had been bald until he was four as a child so in that affect he was a chip off the old block. His parents would also remark that John could crawl then walk before he could stay sitting up do to his round butt. They would say he was walking and running before most kids do.

Those where all memories of his parents of him at an early age but the only one John could recall was when he was three. His father came home with a smile on his face through the front door. This was strange for the fact for as long as John could remember they had always used the side door to enter the house. Yet in this rare memory of early childhood his father came through the front door into the living room. Mom was in the kitchen washing something in the sink.

John was playing in the dining room where mom could see him from the kitchen as dad entered. John went walking towards his dad when he called out his name. He knelt down in front of John with a small toy car of some kind in his hand. Dad said something that John did not remember as his father opened the toy for him. His dad then put the toy care on the dining room floor and pushed down on it. Dad was again speaking as John looked down at his dad’s hand pushing down on the toy car.

John watched in amazement as his father lifted his hand off the car and it zoomed half way across the dining room floor. John smiled and laughed as he went to retrieve the car and bring it back. After his dad showed him a few more times how it worked John started doing it himself. The memory for John get's fuzzy after that as does whatever happened to that car. It probably got lost in a sea of other toys he collected as a child but the memory of it lasted the test of time for some reason. John latter in life often pondered why, maybe it was to show him there where good times in his life?

[John]

The Hammer and The Head

John was five now a healthy skin and swift on his feet. He was blond but at his roots you could tell his hair would get darker with age. It was a lazy summer day in town of two thousand people called lemon. The town was set in the rolling hills of the north western corner of South Dakota.

The town of Lemon was split in half by train tracks often referred to by the locals as North Lemon and just Lemon for the south side. The train tracks were also a boarder marker of South Dakota and North Dakota. So the town was split into two different states.

John like most of the children his age and younger he was born in a town about thirty miles North and west of Lemon. A place called Hettinger in North Dakota. Lemon hospital stopped delivering babies in the seventies to cut costs and the doctor staff. So all pregnancies where dealt with in the nearest possible place that being Hettinger.

Most of John's relatives lived in Lemon or in the surrounding areas on farms. John himself lived in town on the eastern edge of the south side. Facing his one story home painted grey with darker grey trim, to the left was the Crowses and to the right was the Gebharts. John didn't remember what the last names were of two people who lived across the street. One was an older woman in her sixties a widow and other an older man who never left his house except to mow his lawn and the widows and the empty lot between them.

Across the back ally to the right was the electric company which took one and half lots up. On the other one and half lot lived the Boltes. Kathy the matriarch of the Bolte family was the sister of Connie, John's mother. So John's closest playmates where his cousins, three of them. Chauntel a year older then John but born on the same day in the same month, Levon a few month's older then John, and Shana a year and half younger then John.

John could recall all the colors of the houses in the neighborhood and most of the people that inhabited it. Even after his family moved these memories remained with him all his life. Why such detail remained with him he didn't know maybe because for ten years of his life it was home?

So at five on a lazy South Dakota summer day John and his cousin Levon decide to play carpenter with a hammer they found in John's father’s tool shed. John despite being the younger of the two was always the leader and Levon his side kick. Even into their older years Levon was John's side kick and John never once minded.

Levon was cone headed goofy looking kid with some minor mental problems. You see when Levon was a baby he had to have surgery and the Doctor had to give him a spinal tap. The Doctor fucked up causing minor brain damage to Levon. John saw past that, John saw Levon as his equal, his best friend, and maybe his only friend in life. If anyone picked on Levon, John was always there to defend him. John from an early age swore he would give his own life in Levon's defense if he had to. John would swear he would give his own life if it meant Levon could live a normal life.

Even though most saw Levon as the side kick to John, Levon was more of a hero then he ever could be to John. So the duo decided to play carpenter on this summer day in 1987. They went into the Crowses yard where they saw something that just needed fixing.

They made their way to a tractor tire turned into a flower bed. John turned to Levon and was like we need to fix this, Levon firmly agreeing the flower bed needed fixing. So John positioned himself in the perfect spot to fix the flower bed. John didn't notice where Levon was standing and swung back for a mighty swing. He swung back the claw end of the hammer clunking Levon in the forehead. A small gash formed and started to bleed from Levon's head.

John turned around in shock his mouth wide open. Neither Levon nor John where aware Kathy and Connie where watching curiously. The two mothers came running over as they saw what had happened. Kathy grabbed the hammer from John's hand and rattled it back and forth in her hands as she started to angrily scream at John. Expletives that John no longer remembers came from her mouth along with asking him how he could do such a thing to her son. John's shoulders just slumped he didn't know what he had done wrong it was an accident.

Kathy turned to Connie and started screaming at her. What have you been teaching your worthless piece of shit son. What the fuck kind of mother are you, raising your son to be a violent psycho. Letting him beat on handicap fucking children for fuck sakes. You and your son are worthless pieces of garbage, I hope you and him rot in hell. Kathy dropped the hammer then picked up her five year old son and stormed off for her house.

John was in tears now as well as his mother as she picked up the hammer in one hand and reached out for his hand with the other. She walked him back to the house trying to reassure him it would be alright and she believed he hadn't done it on purpose. However he wouldn't be allowed near a hammer for awhile she tried to jokingly state with tears in her eyes.

Everything cleared up after a few days and all was forgotten as was Aunt Kathy's way. John would remember this memory for a life time though it was perhaps the first time he was told how worthless he was but it wouldn't be the last.

[John]

The Grandparents

There are many things that shape a person into who they become. John is no different many factors shaped his unremarkable life. Friends and relatives alike had an impact on who he was. So before we continue his story let's take a look at a few of these people who will come and go in John's lifetime. Let's start with his grandparents and take look at who they are and how they helped shape him.

Grandpa Philip

Born in December 1923 on a small farm eighteen miles north of Lemon. The youngest son with eight other siblings. His mother was full blood German imagrant and his father a full blood Swedish imagrant. He would often say because Swede's where laid back and Germans where more high strung being half and half made him perfect. It's hard to say where to start with this man there are so many layers and dimensions to him.

The man stood six foot one at his peak as did his father. His goal was to be as tall as his uncle Oscar who stood seven foot even. He never met that goal in his life time. Much like John himself who strived to be taller than his father who stood six foot five, John fell short only by an inch.

The man lived through one of the toughest times in American history the thirties. He never really talked much about the time before he got married but every now and then he would mention something. He would mention a redhead girl he used to chase after before he courted grandma. He would mention he wasn't much of a man of faith before he got married but his parents where presperterians.

What John found out from other relatives was this. Philip was somewhat of the black sheep of his family. He started smoking and drinking at the age of sixteen. He used to run alcohol from Canada to America to make some money. In the circles he ran in he was known as the Swede. It was here he met a man named Victor who became his good friend. Victor would introduce Philip to his sister Luella.

Philip would marry Luella after a long hard courtship that involved him cleaning up his life. He quit smoking, drinking, and became a faithful Methodist. Even though much like John his faith waiver every now and again.

Philip would take over his family farm as his brother and sister decided to head west for California. The farm would stay in John's family for at least three generations as Philip when he was forced to retire turned it over to his son Jake. Philip was also a member of the American armed forces only serving three years before the military let him go for medical issues. Issues that were never discussed but John thought it might have had to do with his grandpa's sometimes extreme depression.

Not only was Philip a lifelong farmer but he was also a writer. However none of you would have read any of his works. They where brilliant tales of growing up in the depression and in the Dakota’s. Some of the stories he would write where comical in material. This would later inspire John to write even though he had no where the talent of his grandpa.

It was said one time Philip had spent month's writing a novel. According to the few people that read it was something of a masterpiece. It could have been a great work of American Literature. After finishing the work Philip said it was crap and before Luella could stop him he threw the whole thing in a burn barrel and lit it on fire.

He would never write anything like that again, his biggest claim to fame in writing was for small newspaper called The Dakota Herald. However Luella would claim Philip rewrote the novel but never showed it to anyone. He kept it as a reminder of what could have been but never was.

Philip would lose his three middle fingers on his left hand in a bailer accident. He kept the three fingers in a jar as a reminder of what was lost and so that he could be whole in heaven when he was buried with them. Later in life he would lose his right eye when got a case of the shingles. The doctors would not let him keep the eye despite his asking.

John would recall at the age of eighteen his grandpa went to the washroom sink in the entry way opened a drawer and pulled out a jar. He walked into the kitchen and sat down beside John and slid the jar to him. John asked what is this, Philip just answered my fingers and I want to be buried with them. I want to go to heaven a whole man not in pieces like I am now.

[John]

The Grandparents

Grandma Luella

Born in March 1928 on a farm twenty miles North and East of Lemon. She was the middle child of three. Her parents where full blooded German Russian's. German Russian's are Garman's that migrated to Russia in this case during World War 1. Her father was a citizen of the United States by birth his parents had been the immigrants. Her Mother was a mail order bride straight out of Russia. Her mother spoke fluent German, broken English, and Russian.

The family was strict Methodists going to church every Sunday. Luella had an older brother named Victor who was friends with a Man named Philip who she would later marry. Luella only stood five foot four at her peak as age set in her spine would start fusing together making her considerable shorter.

Luella when growing up was the good child even going as far as trying to keep her older brother and younger sister in line. She stated that her mother hated her and doted on her other two siblings. She also stated that she was always tasked with the worst jobs and that she had no choice but be responsible.

She loved her father dearly even taking care of him in his final years along with help from her younger sister. She would later grow slightly bitter to her younger sister who lost the family farm to the government. However she would do well to keep herself composed and not show the fact. Her brother would say he wished he had been more of a famer; he never would have lost it.

Luella to her grandchildren was simply known as Lu or Grandma Lu. Here grandchildren all loved her and Philip even if Lu was an over obsessive neat freak.

Lu had a degree in elementary education however she never became a teacher. She also had a nursing degree and physical/massage therapist certificate. She would be a nurse most of her working career going into physical and massage a few years before she fully retired. For the most part of her life she had been a homemaker raising her and Philip's four children and several adopted/foster kids.

Lu never drank drop of alcohol in her life; she thought anyone who did was an alcoholic. She never smoked or even tried it. The only drug she needed was her faith to get her by. Never once did her faith waiver God always had some purpose. She honestly believed if you prayed hard enough God would provide you with everything you needed.

She would state she never favored any of her grandchildren over the other but John knew differently. To him she always seemed to favor his cousin Mike more and would even get Philip to do so. John always felt his Grandparents didn't love him no matter what he did.

Lu was talented musician as well able to learn just about any instrument she put her mind to playing. She preferred the piano, organ, and acoustic guitar. She loved gospel, classical, and old soft country music. All other music was noise not fit for one's ears.

John would also note that she drove incredibly slow and thought the speed limits of fifty five where way to fast and reckless. She was also a nagging backseat driver telling you to slow down. She believed you always got where you were going and if you left early enough you would get there on time no need to drive fast.

[John]

The Grandparents

Together

Lu and Philip would have four children and several foster/adoptive children in their home. They would be married for over sixty years of bliss or misery depending on the day. Lu would say God was good to them and allowed them to tolerate each other that long. Philip would say it's about time I get working on finding a younger woman jokingly. Then Lu would say hey and smack him lightly. Philip would just smile and say I love you and finding a younger woman is too hard they run to fast.

Their children knew they loved each other and where soul mates. Even if in there eighties Philip would purposely start a fight with Lu then turn off his hearing aid so he didn't have to listen to her yell. Philip would say after sixty years you do that kind of stuff keeps the marriage exciting. Lu would just give him a weird look and shake her head.

If John had to say anything he would say this Lu kept Philip sane. Kept him from going too far into his personal depression he suffered all his life. Kept him from taking to the next step because Philip wanted to die from time to time. John would say Philip kept Lu insane. Kept her from a dull life and from being to over bearing and responsible for her own good. In the end they both needed each other and kept each other going.


There four Biological children from oldest to youngest Debra, Jake, Mark, and Ruth. There foster children Buddy, Susan, Labin, Lois, Amy, and Jory. There youngest son Mark is the father of John. John is the last male child in this blood line, the last to carry on the family name.

[John]

The Grandparents

Grandpa Donald

Born October 1931 and died December 1970. This man is something of a mystery to John since he never knew the man. All he has is various stories here and there of who he really was. He knows the man is half German from his mother’s side and that his father never really said just described himself as a mutt.

John knows Donald served in the served in the Korean War and was buried with honors in Black Hills national cemetery outside Sturgis. He knows Donald died of lung cancer in a Veterans hospital in 1970 twelve years before he was even born. He knows his mother was only ten when her father passed away.

Most of John's relatives remark how John is nearly his grandfather’s identical twin in looks. The man was described as laid back and easy going and love life. He was a hard worker and did various odd jobs after he left the service. It was one of those odd jobs that eventually gave him lung cancer.

John knows that Donald loved nature and would take his family on various adventures in the Black hills of South Dakota. One of the things he liked to do was pan for gold. He turned all of his finds over to the South Dakota School of Mines and to this day they have a nugget he found in there museum. Under the Gold nugget is Donald’s name and date and where he found it.

Donald's name is on the Korean War memorial in Pierre South Dakota. Where he is buried the grave plot is set up to hold three bodies one on top of the other. One is for his daughter Linda who is buried there and the other is set aside for his wife Audrey.

John knows the man died of lung cancer from being overly exposed to Asbestos. Before they knew how harmful the affects where John's grandfather was highered to remove it and install it. It was what inevitable caused his lung cancer.

The man was of Catholic faith weather he was a faithful man John does not know. John would guess that he was a casual church goer but not a strict Catholic.

This man is a mystery a piece of John's history missing from his life. The puzzle piece that will never be found to complete the picture. Without it John is left to wonder who exactly he is all his life.