August

Gus wasn’t ready to jump. He just liked looking down from the bridge imagining what it would feel like; the free fall through the air and then deep into the dark water. But he’d never learned to swim properly. There’d been no opportunity in the old neighborhood in Brooklyn. He had no intention of risking his life though strangely the concept of death sometimes intrigued him as much as it scared him. Many things intrigued Gus.1

Although his mother, Carla, couldn’t always see them, Gus had dreams. One was to go skydiving. He read about it once when his eighth grade teacher banished him to the school library for wisecracking during her lesson. He was fascinated by the photos, that day, of men flying through the air with billowing parachutes and also learned that he’d likely have to wait until he was eighteen to experience this for himself. Sometimes, on one of his walks, he’d stop on this small bridge, climb over the guardrail and sit with legs dangling, practicing his courage. Perhaps he’d join the Air Force one day he pondered.2

Nothing like the great bridges in New York, Gus thought. He remembered the Brooklyn Bridge; how he and the gang ran across once in the rain. He missed those guys; Zach, Ivan. They took to calling him Gus, but his given name was Augusto. When he was born, Carla couldn’t think of anyone after whom she wanted to name him so she chose Augusto; born on the twenty-fifth day of August. A good, strong name Carla thought. 3

Several years ago, when an old friend offered her a job in a real estate office, Carla decided that they should move to the ‘country’. She had worried about the trouble he could get into in Brooklyn. Once Gus got caught spraying graffiti. He sort of regretted upsetting Carla at the time, but he’d been bored and secretly enjoyed the feeling of marking those big loops and faceless creatures onto the wall.4

Walking was one of the things Gus always liked to do especially in the ‘country’. He liked to explore this new territory. Often, he’d rest on a big rock near the river, with a Cheerwine soda; kicking the dirt and leaves around with his sneaker to study weird bugs and spiders. Ivan once pulled legs off a spider when they were in the fourth grade.5

“Kid!” Gus hated being called that. “What are you doing?” 6

Gus had seen this man around town before; middle aged and transported by one of those scooter chairs for people who can’t walk. The two of them crossed paths now and again.7

“What!” Gus shot back. The man continued on his way then and Gus figured he’d spent enough time by the bridge for today so he headed towards home.8

Carla had left instructions about dinner. He fumbled his way through the preparation of meatloaf and shoved it into the oven. He set the timer, cleaned up the eggshells off the floor, took out the trash. When the meatloaf was done, he made a hearty sandwich and ate in front of the TV while watching a show about tigers. Carla called to say she was working late, so he covered the rest of the meatloaf and put it in the fridge.9

He woke up around 10 the next morning realizing he’d overslept. He was supposed to ride his bicycle to ‘extra help’ class by 9 AM. The answering machine was blinking so he pushed the button.10

“Gus, get your lazy ass over here!” That was Henry, a friend he’d met at school shortly after Gus and Carla moved to Webster. They got along well.11

“Sucker”, Gus chuckled to himself. “Too late for me to make it to class now.”12

But Gus was restless so he decided to go for a bike ride. He rode to town and got a carton of chocolate milk from Joe’s Corner Shop which was adjacent to a pizza restaurant. He remembered how Henry’s sister always admired the big hand painted sign that was embellished with artistic images like multi-colored leaves and steam swirling from coffee cups. As Gus headed towards the little bridge, he thought about Henry’s sister; how she was one of the prettiest girls in town and how he felt when she smiled at him. As he approached the bridge, Gus saw the guy in the scooter parked up ahead and scowled.13

“Pain in my butt”, Gus muttered.14

“Kid”, the man called out.15

“My name is Gus!”16

“Joe”, said the man and surprised Gus by extending his hand to shake.17

“My real name’s Augusto”.18

“My real name is Joaopessoa but please, call me Joe”. They both laughed and began to talk. Gus learned that this man owned Joe’s Corner Shop, though he didn’t work in it anymore.19

“Want to earn a few bucks?” the man asked. Gus hesitated. He didn’t really want to work in that crummy store although he surely wanted some spending money.20

Gus said “Yeah”. Then Joe explained that the job was not to work in the store but to help Joe around the house.21

“What the hell”, Gus thought to himself. They shook hands on it and Joe gave Gus the address. Gus agreed to be there at 3 that afternoon.22

Gus went home for a while. He lounged on the sofa and listened to some of his CD’s, then watched part of a Batman movie he’d seen several times before. He wondered how much money you needed for skydiving lessons. Then he set out for Joe’s house.23

“Door’s open”, Joe called so Gus went on inside. It was an ordinary place though way too many paintings on the walls, thought Gus.24

“I’m back here”, he heard Joe say. He found Joe in a spare room surrounded by crates of canvases, half finished paintings, cups of markers, pencils, brushes and a wooden box filled with tubes of paints.25

“You’re an artist?” asked Gus.26

“Used to be”, Joe replied. “These days my joints ache way too much”.27

“I want you to help me paint”, Joe said.28

Gus didn’t think that this would be a good job for him but over the next few weeks, Joe told him what to do. Joe would paint a little and Gus would clean the brushes, bring certain books from the living room shelves, mix paints and make sandwiches. As Joe had suspected, Gus had a good eye. Sometimes Joe would have Gus paint the sky, in a landscape, before Joe added the details bit by bit.29

“What do you think of this?” Joe asked Gus showing him a drawing.30

“You’re the artist”, Gus said, the first time he was asked.31

“You have 2 good eyes and a clear young mind”, said Joe. “Have an opinion!”32

Over time, Joe was able to accomplish a great deal with Gus’ assistance. A fine friendship developed between these two who were from different stages of life. One Saturday, Gus arrived to find Joe resting in the living room.33

“I don’t feel up to it right now”, he said.34

Gus asked, “Do you need anything or should I go?”35

“Don’t need a thing, thanks” Joe replied. “You can hang out awhile if you want. Grab yourself a snack.”36

Gus went into the kitchen; had a ham and cheese. When he came out, Joe was napping. Gus went into the studio and doodled with some of the markers. After a while, he decided to begin a painting of his own. He felt some of that same feeling of freedom he remembered from the graffiti incident; creating with loops and lines from his colorful imagination. When Joe awoke, he saw this and was pleased. Over the next few months, Gus continued to help Joe as before but also worked on his own sketches and paintings. One of his first efforts was a crude depiction of the Brooklyn Bridge from a photo. Later on, he did a painting of a distant figure skydiving with a red and blue parachute. A new dream that Gus had was to design an outdoor mural some day, maybe at a park.37

One day in August, Gus received the news that Joe passed away. He was awfully sad but not surprised as he had been watching Joe become more and more frail. Gus had set up a small ‘studio’ in his own house and he spent a lot of time in there now working on a painting entitled ‘Joe’s Corner Shop’. He’d been thinking of showing it to Henry’s sister. Carla was impressed with Gus’s developing talent.38

“Gus”, she called out to him one evening. “There’s someone here to see you”. He went to the front door and saw Carla speaking with a man on the porch.39

“Gus, Jack”, she introduced them. Gus was puzzled.40

“I’m Joe’s stepson”, said Jack.41

In Joe’s will, Gus learned, he’d left the store to Jack who planned to keep it open as Joe would have liked. And Joe left a modest savings account to Gus for his future endeavors. In addition, most of Joe’s paintings were to be given to Gus.42

Gus had not expected this; it brought tears to his eyes. The next day, he and Carla went to Joe’s house where Jack was sorting through some papers and other belongings. They went into the spare room to look through the paintings.43

“They’re fantastic”, Carla whispered. 44

And on an easel, Gus saw one he’d not seen before. It was almost completed; a boy, and a man in a wheelchair, by the bridge, watching the river. Gus picked up a brush and slowly began to instill sunlight into the scene.45