Excellent Living up to the call One Man's Calling - ch 1, pt B by Wayne Fowler

The story began with Livvy, a single seventeen-year-old, being blasted with vomit as she carried a sack of flour and a new kitten to her home. Ben Persons, a young traveler fresh off a wagon train at Sante Fe rode north to Alpine, Colorado, spurred by a sudden urge that last day to hurry. Ben arrived just in time to remove the drunk’s hands, and instantly calming her. Livvy invited Ben to supper for saving her from further embarrassment. “Tobbs, he came from the north, way north, Michigan, or Wisconsin, or somewhere,” Ralph said, passing bread to Ben, encouraging him to eat heartily. “Says their snow was heavy, wet heavy. Ours is powder. His family was dairy, but Tobbs, he doesn’t like animals. You could tell, right?” Ralph continued without response. “He told me how a cow kicked him in the head, sideways. You know how cows can kick?” Ralph asked, his eyes fixed on Ben. “Straight sideways,” Ben answered, smiling at Livvy, who showed signs of barely tolerating her father in a kind and loving manner. “Pa said that was the reason milk stools always had just three legs – so’s you could skit clear right quick any direction.” Ralph chuckled. “Yeah, well, Tobbs, he don’t know any other way to make a living, but he don’t like animals.” Ralph, hearing his wife clear her throat, paid more attention to his plate. “Alpine needed a livery. Tobbs, he was going to strike gold, but … Where was I …? We came from Missouri. Just after those raiders came up from …” Ralph stopped mid-sentence, catching Mae’s scornful look. “Where was I?” “Tobbs doesn’t like animals,” Ben answered, glancing at Livvy with his infectious smile. “He lets you have as much of his barn as you need,” Livvy’s mother said, defending Tobbs. Ralph harrumphed, stamping his feet like they were in protest. After the simple meal of bread, beef and potatoes was finished, Livvy and her mother began cleaning up. The women allowed Ralph the honors of interviewing Ben, knowing that he would ask all the questions they had, and then some. “Didn’t see no gear on your horse? What brings you to gold and silver country?” Ralph preferred a story to an answer, believing that he’d already provided the response, meaning that every Alpine traveler was a prospector. “Following God’s lead,” Ben said. “And the mountains. Round one, and another, even more majestic fills your … your whole self. I can’t hardly believe what I’m seeing.” “Hah! Your neck wants to freeze looking at them, sometimes. Sometimes I hear ‘em talking, talking like my departed father.” May, Ralph’s wife harrumphed herself, wanting to hear Ben’s story. Never having heard anyone mention following God, the women’s wide eyes and gaping jaws bid Ben to continue. Knowing that their hospitality and their downright friendliness deserved as much, he told his story. “My pa died at Manassas. Some call it Bull Run,” he began, knowing that Yankees referred to the first real Civil War fight as the Battle of Bull Run. “The man that brought the news was my pa’s best friend in the army. He lost his arm on the same day Pa died. He married my mother before I was even born. That was near Flippin, Arkansas, just a spit from the White River.” “That the same as what bounded the Cherokee to the north?” Ralph asked, ignoring the fact that the lad omitted all references and descriptions of the boy’s family life. He understood that the rough Ozark Mountain country would have been physically demanding, but no more so than for millions of other primitive families. “The same. ‘Til they were escorted to the territory. I was determined to go to Bible College…” “You’re a preacher?” Livvy exclaimed. After a moment’s pause, Ben answered in the negative. “Naw, I was trained to, and could, but that wasn’t my calling. I knew it all along, but …” “You have a calling?” Livvy’s mother asked, dumbfounded. Livvy’s gaze to Ben would have been embarrassing had he caught her eyes. Ben’s smile halted further questioning. “Before I graduated, my grandpa sold his mill and died soon after. He left me nearly three hundred an’ fifty dollars. So I paid off the rest of my tuition, bought my horse, Red, and here I am.” After a pause, he added, “And that’s why I won’t allow you to pay me for the flour.” “Well, Son,” Ralph said, a title not missed by Livvy, “Tobbs could use a little help, not full time, I’m sure, but enough to pay for you and your horse’s puttin’ up. And you’re welcome here every evening for supper. Isn’t he May?” Ralph glanced to his wife. “A’course he is. Ain’t he Livvy?” Livvy melted, unable to respond, thoughts of matrimony and motherhood flooding her being. Ben’s smile melted them all. At a loss for words, it took his full concentration to keep from reaching to Livvy and hugging her tightly. +++ As Ben settled into the family routine, Mae offered her blessing for the two to take walks. Though nearly full grown, her folks still practically insisted she return by dark, despite being with Ben, the most trustworthy man they’d ever met. Though she could have broken free at just about any time, Livvy preferred after supper chores were finished and she’d had a chance to clean up. “So tell me about a calling,” Livvy asked on their first evening walk just off the road to the neighboring town of Wagonwheel. “What exactly is it? How do you know what it wants you to do? Is it a voice? And when did you first know about it?” Ben stopped and turned to face her fully. Grinning large, “Anything else?” Nonplussed, she added another question. “Was it like God called to Samuel while he was asleep in bed?” Turning back to continue their walk, hand-in-hand, Ben explained, “Naw. Wasn’t like that at all. I was nine when I first knew something. A spitfire of a travelin’ preacher come through. They built him a brush arbor and he preached twice a day for a week. He was a hellcat, I’ll tell you. Sit too close and you caught his spittle, him screechin’ an’ screamin’. Demons ‘round there didn’t stand a chance.” “That was your calling, him screaming.” “No. Truth is, I didn’t hardly hear a word he said. But the first night he preached … it was while he was praying. He even screamed that. Like God was deaf. That first night, I felt it. Here, in my chest, and in my throat. My head was full of God. And when I said yes, well that was it. I knew.” “So, you started preaching when you were nine?” Livvy asked. “No. Mostly what changed was that I liked to pray. It’s like talking to God …” “Shouting and screaming like the preacher did?” Livvy asked. Ben grinned. “I kind’ve think God plugs his ears with his fingers,” Ben laughed. “No, but I learned from that night on how my doing wrong hurt God. It got real easy to know what to leave alone.” “Like girls?” Livvy said, releasing Ben’s hand, her head tipping toward the ground, unsure whether she wanted to hear his response. After a moment of silence, Ben caught her hand again, smiling at her with his eyes. “Did you have girlfriends, then?” Livvy finally asked. “Sure, but before I could even guess if it was right, they’d up and marry somebody else.” Livvy’s laughter was contagious. “I can just see you,” she said. “You taking long walks with a girl, shining up to her, then go sit on a stump and stare at the sky for a month waiting for a sign from heaven.” She began to laugh again. Ben finished her thought; “Meanwhile, Joe Bob makes off with Sarah Jane. Over and over again.” “Until everybody’s married but poor Ben.” Livvy squeezed his hand, winking playfully. “How about in college?” Livvy asked. “Any girlfriends there?” “Too busy. There was a gal on the wagon train, though. Rebecca. But two days after we got to Santa Fe, her parents loaded the wagon back up and they left out for California.” Ben became solemn. “There’s an example. I would have gone on to California with them in an Ozark second, but my head kept turning north, toward the mountains. I just sensed an urging to Colorado. I didn’t feel right until I was on Red and headed here.” “To me,” Livvy said, squeezing Ben’s hand. “Did you love her?” Livvy returned to being more serious. “No, I don’t think I loved her, but … The calling isn’t like handwriting in the sky. I’m like most everybody else, I’d guess. Just do what seems right.” “I don’t think most people do,” Livvy replied. “Were you called to come up here, to Alpine? What was that like?” After a pause, Ben explained. “You ever seen a water dowser, the way his willow fork pulls? Or play with two magnets, the way they repel and pull? It’s not like that, but I do sense a strong, compelling urge. In Santa Fe I could have gone with the Sundersons, but the road north out of Santa Fe to Colorado was as strong as a magnet, drawing me. It wasn’t until I took my mind off Rebecca and focused on God that I knew, though. Soon as I got headed on a course, I felt a peacefulness all over. Heading here just seemed right.” “To me,” Livvy offered. Ben smiled with his whole self, gently squeezing her hand. “Matter of fact, that day you got …” “The kitten,” Livvy filled in, saving Ben from describing the sordid details. Ben smiled. “Yeah. Well, I woke with a start. Packed up, doused the fire, and kept Red at a pretty good clip all the way to Alpine.” “To me.” “Never got down from Red ‘til I saw you,” Ben finished. Livvy sighed, leaning her head on Ben’s shoulder. +++ “Town needs a church,” Ben said to agreeing nods everywhere he went around town, fitting it into every conversation. “Could double as a school and town hall,” he added to those less enthusiastic. “I could send for a preacher from the William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, where I graduated. Could be here, time we had it built,” he said to the generally accepted leader of the town, who was elected mayor as soon as the community was incorporated. Heads nodded assent among those gathered in front of the mercantile. Chorused among them were shouts of, “Why not you?” +++ “Heard you turned down the preacher position,” Livvy said. “Could be a real fine career. A real good thing.” Livvy was, and not for the first time, somewhat disappointed and confused, the same feelings as those that followed Ben’s reluctance to pursue her more physically. His kisses, though impassioned, lacked follow-through. Not that she would follow far, but he failed to live up to her expectations of behavior that might indicate an impending proposal. Livvy had already made her decision and was ready. She literally ached for him. “Not my calling. Don’t know what, but I know God’s got another plan for me.” Not wanting to hear what she felt coming, Livvy interjected, “Nothing wrong with being a church builder, and maybe deacon, or whatever they call ‘em. “Tell me again, Ben, what exactly is a calling? Are you to be a big city preacher? Or is it to another woman? One that will give you five hundred children,” Livvy’s tone clearly expressed frustration. Ben hesitated. Livvy continued. “Or something between? How do you know about a calling? Maybe sometimes a person could get it wrong.” Ben pulled her hand to his lips, kissing it gently. “You know how you are to one day marry, have children, raise a family? You know how certain of that you are? Well, it’s something like that. I just know that I have things to do. Who knows what small, insignificant things affect the next moment? I don’t know, maybe my intervention with you and that saloon drunk saved him from being shot by someone else. Maybe he never takes another drink. Maybe he goes home to his family and one of his sons becomes the president of the United States, or a war hero who saves hundreds of men. Who knows what a calling is. Maybe it’s none of that. I know I was called to you. And I sense that that call is … done. I’m called to move on, Livvy.” Livvy couldn’t quite contain a hiccup of a sob, choking it back. Her chest ached, pain that hurt more like a house fell on her than her previous ache. “I laid awake all last night. I’ll be leaving soon as your preacher gets here.” Livvy bolted before Ben could mouth the words, “I love you, but …” Her confusion devastating, she ran from their favored creek side park setting the hundred yards to her home, avoiding him the remainder of his stay. After the extremely awkward mealtime that next day, Ben took his remaining suppers in town. His heartfelt good-byes and departure from the family were tear-filled. Livvy, silent the entire time, offered herself in a lingering embrace, innocent but still intimate. Finally gurgling a farewell, Ben understood that he was welcome to return any time. Author Notes 2200 words - still more than I'm happy with for a FanStory post, but... Ben Persons: A young man with a calling from God Elizabeth (Livvy) Tolsen: daughter of Ralph, a wheelwright, and Mae Tolsen Mr. Tobbs: Alpine's livery owner Ralph Tolsen: father of Livvy Mae Tolsen: mother of Livvy Somehow or other, this will be combined with the first part of chapter one

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