Image by Dariusz Sankowski from Pixabay
Sgt. Vincent Trent was skilled at imitating people's voices and manners of speaking, and so, Theodore Stepforth, in his extreme old age, could come right out of his mouth. This, subconsciously, was one of the bonds between Sgt. Trent and his wife Melissa and his father-in-law Thomas Stepfotth Sr. – they were deeply touched by how much he had loved and learned from the father and grandfather they loved so much.
Theodore Stepforth, to the day of his death, remained in clear mind, and was telling stories that were helpful to the understanding of the younger people around him. The force of the master storyteller's wisdom had already reached his great-grandchildren, and would soon reach millions, just because Sgt. Trent, in a moment when racist behavior had infuriated his eldest daughter Vanna, reached back and picked up a story just as his younger daughter Velma walked back in, on the phone with cousin Vertran who she immediately put on speaker phone...
“Let me tell you what done happen in de world, daughter – up dere in de mountains dere done been a meetin' in de halls of de eagles, and dis here buzzard decide to walk on in dere and tell dem eagles what he reckon on dem and de proceedin'.”
Vanna burst out laughing, and Sgt. Trent grinned before continuing one of the favorite stories he learned from his grandfather-in-law.
“Dat buzzard jus' struttin' after he done got over de effort of even flyin' dat high, cuz' I don't care what dat song say 'bout 'I'm gonna fly like an eagle, into the future' – if you ain't no eagle, you ain't gon' fly like one cuz' you ain't built for dat dere. Ain't no buzzard built for dat – but here he come, out of breath, struttin' like he look like somethin' in de hall of de eagles, tellin' dem what he reckon on dem.”
“I ain't gon' even get into what he called dem eagles, cuz' you done lived long 'nuff in de world to reckon dat out for your own self. I also ain't gon' get into it cuz' the ramblin' of stupid birds don't matter, 'cept that all up an' down dis here Blue Ridge, the whole council of de eagles was havin' a good laugh all the other week, cuz' ev'rybody knows a buzzard cain't hardly eat 'cept what an eagle kill and leave, up dat high. Ev'rybody be knowin' but dis here buzzard dat done lost his natural bo'n mind.
“Now, hear dis here, darlin': dat Bible say right dere dat our ancestors started all dis here called civilization – it be in Genesis 10, 11 or so. Ain't nobody yet done nothin' but eat off what we built. In dis here United States, ain't nobody yet, in all 13 colonies, done nothin' but live off of what our close ancestors done built. Ain't got no money nowhere round here we didn't create – heck, we were de real money and folks still mad cuz' in 1865 all our close ancestors got to stop being all their money and walked away as free people.
“But hear dis here: no buzzard yet done stopped an eagle from bein' an eagle 'cuz he mad, or cuz' what he got to say or don't got to say. We done broke down dem old traps, and dis here buzzards keep buildin' new ones, but we gon' break dem down too, by and by. But hear dis here again: dat buzzard can do whatever he wants, but he still gon' be a buzzard.
“You an eagle, darlin'. Eagles don't stop being eagles for buzzards, and a wise eagle not gon' let some struttin' buzzard stop her from livin' like an eagle cuz' he struttin' and squawkin'. So what? Dat be all a buzzard good for, 'cept for still havin' to eat what de eagle leave behind! Dey ain't built for no more – and if a human wanna be a buzzard, he sho' 'nuff ain't gon' not NEVA be built for no more. Dat choice lock a man into bein' how he cain't grow and do better for nothin'. Racists ain't had a new idea in 400 years, darlin'. Don't stoop to dat level. You an eagle, darlin'. Walk, talk, and fly like an eagle, into de future, like dat song says.”
Vanna was in tears … it was like her great-grandfather had come back, through her father, to help her.
Sgt. Trent kissed his daughter's forehead gently.
“I was about to kill a man, the day your great-grandfather called me to the porch where he was sitting in the sun and told me that story. Obviously he called me 'son,' and obviously it was like 380 years then, but other than that, that's just what he told me, and it saved my life, that 'buzzard's' life, and yours, because you would never have been born had I killed that man who had insulted me. He had said what he had to say and was dumb enough to turn his back on me like it was 1902, but it wasn't. It was 2002.”
“Really?”
“I was just about to head out to Iraq, and had come by to say goodbye to the elder Stepforths that day. You would be made in your mother's womb later that same week.”
“Really?”
“Yep – I remember that because two weeks later, when I was stationed, your mother called to tell me she was pregnant again … and you were born nine months later. Now, you see what I would have missed, had Papa Theodore not reminded me of who I am?
“Look, Vanna, daughter of an eagle and thus an eagle: I know precisely what John Ghent is and so does Capt. Ludlow. He runs vending machines. The multinational providers of soda are killing his margins because they can right now. He needs us way more than we need him, because in about three months, if we and the local purveyors don't feed him, he is going to starve. Gen. Ira Hamilton personally hemmed this man up: Ghent can't even get into the Veteran's Lodge and its customers unless he is running veteran products – and only Ludlow Bubbly Inc. is ready now.
“Meanwhile, we and the Ludlows do not need to take the personal risk of running soda to the masses every day. Capt. Ludlow absolutely CANNOT afford to catch Covid, and neither can I. However, we can always find another way to safely get more supply over there – we can go earlier in the morning, for example. The old general knows everybody who has keys to everything. We have options. John Ghent is starving. He won't eat unless we feed him. Does he have sense enough to know we can take him or leave him? No. He's a strutting racist buzzard who hasn't had a new idea in 20 years, which is why the multinationals are abusing him – because they can.
“So, Vanna, you think I'm going to stop walking, talking, and flying like an eagle into the future we are creating with this company, just because John Ghent hates even the sight of me with the title 'vice president?' ”
“No, of course not!”
“So, do you need to get out of your good Christian character over a strutting buzzard who won't eat in a month unless you get out on the carbonator with me?”
“No, Dad, no … I understand now.”
“One more thing: you're attending online college at W&L University. That was a slick name change they pulled, knowing which way the wind was blowing. Know what it stands for?”
“No.”
“I'm trying to keep you from being mad every day of your life, in a world in which you are in General Lee's university, formerly Washington College before Lee spent the last five years of his life transforming it.”
Vanna jumped.
“What?”
“Hear this here, my daughter: even Washington and Lee aren't eating unless your generation feeds them. Hence the name change. Hence the online program and scholarship.”
“Oh, yeah.”
“You're an eagle, Vanna. You have to learn to take an eagle's viewpoint. Next year, you and I can throw over Ghent and W&L if we want – they live on what we kill. Not the other way. So, we use the opportunities we have right now and keep it moving. You don't have to pay tuition, and Capt. Ludlow and I don't have to be overexposed to danger in moving this company forward. Let the buzzards eat off that for now. Stay on the eagle path, Vanna.”
On the other hand of Velma's phone, Sgt. Trent's nephew Vertran said, “Wow … great-grandpa Theodore needs his own YouTube and Threespeak accounts... as long as he can come out of Pop-Pop and Uncle Vincent's mouth, he needs a bigger audience … .”
Good story on how the eagle feeds the buzzard. I have been thinking about what you said about newspapers and I think if someone published a newspaper that only told good stories, it would be a hit. Many people are tired of all of the bad news. Or is it just me who thinks this way?
There was a publication called "Good News" out here. My family always got it, but, it didn't last ...
that is sad that it did not last, maybe they should try again. This world really needs good news.