MAGGIE’S PAL BILL
The Marvels live at 4510 Lindenwood Lane. Three houses down the street was a house with a very tall
bushy pine tree. The tree was wildly overgrown and covered the front window. The front step was sunken in. The aluminum siding was faded to a chalky blue. The house was tired and neglected. This is where Maggie’s friend Bill lives.
Like his house, Bill is overgrown, tired, and faded. But unlike his house, Bill gets loving care and attention from his little friend Maggie. Bill is a good man,
not a kind one. He holds high standards for himself and he lives up to them. That makes him good. But he is naturally crabby, and self-centered. That makes it difficult for him to be nice.
Maggie loves Bill wholeheartedly. She understands what makes him tick. Bill told Maggie long stories about his childhood, during the great depression. He never got to play with the other kids. He didn’t have
a bicycle. He often went hungry. Growing up poor can make a kid grow up too fast. That’s what happened to Bill.
Bill worked in a laundry when he was nine years old. They let you do that in those days. He and his older brother Sid would wake up at 4:00 am, Walk four blocks to the laundry to sort the clothes and linens. At the end of their shift they would each get a dime. They’d bring the money back to their mother where she hid it in a Quaker Oats oatmeal tin stored on the top shelf of the kitchen. After that, they would go to school. Maggie thought Bill was the bravest person she knew.
One day in early December, Maggie heard an ambulance screeching down her street. She threw on a jacket and
ran down to Bill’ s house. Two paramedics were in the driveway, popping open a stretcher for Bill. She managed to sneak around them and get in to the house before they did. Bill was lying on the couch with Collier his dog curled up beside him. “Phew!” Maggie said out loud. Somehow she knew if Collier was still snuggling up to his master, Bill had not yet returned to his...READ MORE 
