Philip Dampier's Blog

Charlie turned around first and found himself staring at a dark-skinned man with a small pistol.

“What?” Charlie asked.

“Where’s the money?”

Charlie pointed to the bag of tools where he had put the cash.

“Give it to me.”

Charlie reached over and opened the bag. Instead of cash, he pulled out a sharp knife, the one he used to cut the strips. He swung the knife, hitting the dark man in the arm. The arm jerked, and the gun went off. Charlie heard Toby cry out and Hannah scream. He turned to see Toby sliding off the bench, blood pouring from his chest. The gun fired again, and Charlie also slid down to the pavement. Hannah watched as the assailant snatched the bag and fled to the car. As soon as he shut the door, the driver took off without looking back or saying a word.

They buried Charlie and Toby at the same time side by side on Charlie’s tree farm. Citizens of Southern City, who had known Charlie so well and thought of him as a town fixture, came to the funeral service and burial. It was the largest funeral in Southern City in anyone’s memory. The next morning, Maize gave Hannah the small teddy bear that had been Toby’s first gift requesting she take it to the wall and place it on the bench where Toby had sat to make his only basket. Before long friends filled the bench with teddy bears and the sidewalk adorned with gifts of flowers. Many of Charlie’s customers brought candles and lit them.

No one understood the shooting. Someone estimated that Charlie would only have had three or four hundred dollars or so. Why would even the most hardened criminal kill an old man and a young boy for a few hundred dollars? It didn’t make sense. The candles burned until it rained and then they went out. The cut flowers died in the next day’s sun while the bears sat silently, staring into the empty street. Hannah decided that she would go to the wall the next day and retrieve the small bear. If Maize didn’t want it, then she would keep it with her little basket. Hannah knew she would never forget Toby.