ANGER DISTROYS EVERYTHING

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Note: This story is just one of seventeen taken from a novel by JAlexander called “SHIPWRECK”  

The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)

David felt very uncomfortable as he approached #5 Anger Street. The place looked eerie, like something out of a horror movie. He couldn’t help but notice that the front gate was smashed into hundreds of pieces, so he had to watch his step as he walked over a section that had nails protruding out of it.

Once inside the yard, David found himself standing in front of a big red pick-up truck and across the windshield was a sign that read:

FOR SALE

By owner’s wife and son

 

He felt chills going up his spine and the weird feeling didn’t leave him as his eyes settled on a wreath hanging on the front door. Taking a deep breath, he rang the doorbell. When no one answered, he knocked a few more times and waited. He was just about to leave when a woman in a uniform opened the door and asked, “How may I help you Sir?”

“Hello, Ma’am, my name is David McMaster and I’m doing a survey on ‘Anger’; I was wondering if I could speak to the homeowner?”

Turning her head, the woman looked into the room behind her and then back at David saying, “You can come in if you wish; the lady of the house is at home today, but she can’t speak, so I’ll have to answer your questions.”

“That’s very kind of you, Miss.”

“I’m just doing my job, Sir. My name is Caroline; I’m Rose’s…sorry, I mean Mrs. Canter’s caregiver. Please come in; she’s waiting in the living room.” 

David noticed two things upon entering the room: to his right was a big white leather couch and to his left sitting next to the big picture window was a woman in a wheelchair. Caroline came into the room and pushed the lady of the house up to the coffee table. This was directly across from where David had laid his notepad and was now sitting in a big chair.

Without looking at David, Caroline asked, “How old do you think she is?”

“I’m not good at guessing some one’s age but I would say she is probably in her seventies or eighties.”

“Would you believe she is only thirty-eight?”

“No way, that’s impossible! I don’t believe you; please tell me her tragic story!”

“I will, but first, I need to tell you how she aged thirty years in such a short time. It was “Anger” not hers, but her husband’s. The man had more anger inside of him than this whole town put together. They started dating in high school and then got married when they were in their late twenties. Everyone knew Gordie Canter, but most only knew him as “The Tin Man” because, the one thing he could do well, was body work on cars!

It was obvious that Gordie had some major issues. The problem was that everyone knew it, except poor Rose! Gordie had lived with his parents until he and Rose got married and when he was home, he was spoiled rotten, especially by his mother! Whatever Gordie wanted, he got, or else he made every one’s life, a living hell! “When Gordie didn’t get his own way, he didn’t just sulk and stomp his feet; oh no, not The Tin Man! He acted out his “Anger.” Like the time he chopped down his parents’ front door, and then the telephone pole in front of their house, all because he wanted his own phone in his bedroom, and his father refused.” “Gordie’s “Anger” didn’t come from what others did to him, but rather, from people not allowing him to have everything he wanted!

One of Gordie’s greatest desires in life, was to have a son! A little boy he could spoil; but not give him more than he had gotten, so, he (Gordie) would always remain the King of the castle!”

“Rose didn’t want to have children right away, so Gordie was very unhappy. He told her she should have warned him before they got hitched, that she didn’t want kids!”

Her story continued; “One day Gordie said to Rose; “Okay fine; if you can’t give me a son, I want a new boat and motor, and it has to be the best one on the lake!”

“Gordie, I’m sorry, but we can’t afford a new boat; we have too many bills, so, we can’t just buy a boat!”

“Are you telling me, I can’t have a boat?”

“Oh no, Honey! I’m just saying you will have to wait; maybe it will be in our budget next year!”

“Fine; if you say no boat, then it’s no boat.”

Rose went to work the next morning hoping that everything would be okay when she got home, but things weren’t okay. As a matter of fact, she almost fainted when she walked in the front door and there wasn’t one piece of furniture left in the house! When she approached the back door, she could hear Gordie singing and then she saw him throwing the top of their living room table on a big fire. He greeted her with a smile and called out, “Honey! I thought we could have a BBQ tonight, and maybe roast some marshmallows. Don’t you think that will be a lot of fun?”

The look he gave her sent chills through her body, and this made the hair stand up on the back of her neck. She should have left him that day, but she didn’t! Sadly, she lived to regret that decision!

“It wasn’t long before The Tin Man got his new boat, and Rose bought new furniture for the house. Gordie also talked Rose into starting a family, and they had a son, who they called Tommy. He was Gordie’s pride and joy, but when Tommy acted up, Gordie wanted nothing to do with him.

One day, the three of them went shopping. Tommy was about three years old and he saw a train set that he wanted. But when he was told he couldn’t have it, he started crying and screaming as loud as he could. Gordie was very embarrassed and he told Rose to shut him up or else! She picked Tommy up and tried to console him, but that didn’t do any good. Gordie looked at her and said, “You and your spoiled brat aren’t fit to be in a public place; so, go sit in the car until I’m ready to go home!”

Rose and Tommy sat in the scorching heat for about two hours when she saw Gordie coming toward the truck eating an ice-cream cone and drinking a cold bottle of pop. Rose felt like giving him a piece of her mind, but didn’t get a chance, because he just walked up to the driver’s side and told her to get out. Rose grabbed Tommy and had just enough time to move away from the vehicle, before Gordie drove off leaving her on her own.

Here was another opportunity to leave The Tin Man, but once again, she went home and decided she would carry on with her life like nothing had happened. As she was walking in the front door with her little Tommy, she heard Gordie yelling from the living room, I want a new red truck! Rose glared at him, and then threw her arms in the air shouting, “I give up!” Walking into the kitchen she said out loud, “Lord, you’re going to have to take him or me, because I can’t go on living like this!”

She no sooner had the words come out of her mouth when she heard a loud noise coming from the living room. She rushed in and saw Gordie lying on the floor. He was holding his head and yelling for someone to help him because he couldn’t handle the pain. He repeated over and over, “I want my Mommy, I want my Mommy!”

Rose thought she might be able to comfort him, so, she got down on the floor and put his head on her knees. She told him to relax and everything would be okay. After about ten minutes she stopped rubbing his head, because she thought he was sleeping, but he wasn’t! Opening his eyes, he declared, “My head doesn’t hurt anymore, so, let’s go buy my new red truck!”

A week later, Gordie got a call that his new truck was in and he could pick it up whenever he was ready.

“Come on woman; you and the kid need to get ready. You can drive me there and then you can come home on the bus. I sold our piece of junk to that weirdo down the street and I told him to come to the lot and get it, so you better take your garbage out before we go unless you want to bring it home on the bus.”

When they arrived at the car lot, Gordie was like a little kid, walking around his new toy, touching it like it was made of pure gold. Rose got out of the car and stood there holding her son Tommy.

“Gordie, what do you want us to do now?”

He gave her his Humphrey Bogart routine and said, “Anything you want Sweetheart, as long as it doesn’t involve me or my new red truck.”

Rose was too mad to cry and too hurt to say anything else to her husband.

As she exited the bus, Rose looked up the street and all she could see was an enormous big red truck in her driveway. She also noticed there were three men standing on the sidewalk talking to Gordie. When he saw her, he said, “Well I see my lovely wife and my handsome son are home at last!”

When she was close enough, Gordie gave her a slap on the behind and laughed out loud saying, “Get in the house woman and fix my supper, while I talk to these men!”

From inside, Rose walked over to the front window and could see that Gordie was giving the men instructions to build him a new fence. After the men left, Gordie came inside and told her that they would have the fence and gate finished by the end of the week. He wasn’t talking to anyone in particular, just saying out loud what was going to happen.

Sure enough, the fence was up in a few days. After he inspected it thoroughly, he told the man to go to the house and his wife would pay him.

“You’ll have to take a check, because I don’t have enough cash on me.”

Rose asked, “How much will it be, Sir?”

“When we put on another coat of paint it will be $499.95 plus tax.”

Rose looked at him and exclaimed, “isn’t that a lot of money for twenty feet of fence and a gate”

The man explained, “It would have been a lot less, but your husband wanted special wood and a rush job.”

“Here you go,” Rose said, as she handed the check to the worker. When she looked out the big picture window, she could see Gordie on his hands and knees, obviously in a lot of pain.

Calling out, “Excuse me,” she ran past the contractor and out the door to help her man. One of the workers asked her if she needed any help?

Without looking up she said, “No thank you, I’ll be okay!”

With a concerned look on her face, she asked Gordie if he wanted her to call the doctor. “No, it’s just one of my stupid headaches; just help me to get into the house.”

Rose might have been small but she managed to get him into the house. As she helped him into one of the big chairs in the living room she said, “Honey you’ve been suffering from terrible headaches lately; maybe you need some medicine to control the pain.”

“Listen to me woman; do you think I’m stupid or what? I know you just want to get me doped up with pills and then sign me into a loony bin, so you and your boyfriend can ride all over town in my new red truck!”

“Don’t talk like that, Gordie! I love you and I don’t want any other man in my life.”

“Well, I’m not taking any chances; I’m putting a lock on the gate just in case!”

Over the next few weeks, the headaches became a lot worse and were happening more frequently.

 BLACK SATURDAY

There was nothing unusual about the start of the day. Rose was doing her house cleaning and Gordie was out in the garage, hammering away on an old car. He needed some tools from the basement but didn’t want to leave Tommy alone; then he saw that the gate was closed and his little boy was playing in the sand box, so he decided to make a run for it. He was gone a lot longer than he expected and when he walked out on to the deck, he dropped the tools and started screaming, “Get away from my truck, you little monster!”

Tommy thought his Daddy was just having fun with him, so he ran around to the other side of the truck and continued hitting it with the hammer. He kept saying over and over, “Look at me Daddy; I’m fixing your truck!”

Gordie was getting one of his headaches as he chased little Tommy around the truck. Finally, he decided to just stop and wait and when he did, Tommy ran right into his arms. Grabbing the hammer from his little hand, Gordie raised it over his head and was mad enough to hit his son! When he heard Rose pounding on the big picture window, he lowered the hammer and pushed his son to the ground, giving his wife a look that said, “It’s all your fault!”

Before Gordie could walk away he felt Tommy grab hold of his leg and through his tears he cried, “Why are you mad at me Daddy?”

With one shake of his leg he made his crying boy fall back and as he hit his head on the hammer he lay there in silence.

Stepping over his son’s body, his head filled with rage, Gordie grabbed his keys; he took one last look at all the dents in his beautiful red truck and climbed into the driver’s seat.  After pounding on the steering wheel four or five times he started the engine, and without a backward glance, he grabbed the truck door and slammed it shut with all his strength.

In a blind rage, Gordie wasn’t aware of his surroundings; he just wanted to get away, but to where, he didn’t know.

Hearing the truck door slam shut with a huge bang startled Rose and she ran to the window.

She was just in time to see the big black tires spraying dirt and gravel, while at the same time the front end of the big red monster made contact with the white picket fence.
The truck was now out of control and swerving from side to side; it seemed to have a mind of its own. With one quick movement, the three-thousand-pound red pile of steel went into a spin. It took only a split second for the rear end to come around and strike Mr. Goodman as he walked across the road.

Back at the house, Rose stood in shock and disbelief as she looked down at her son laying still, “Just the way he looked when she would go into his room at night to check on him;” but her motherly instincts brought her back to reality and she let out a scream and cried for help.

Falling on her knees, she cuddled her precious little boy. He wasn’t moving, but she could hear his heart beating.

Looking up at the sky through her tears, she pleaded, “God, please don’t take my son; he’s all I have left in the world!”

Unaware of what just happened, Gordie gained control of the truck and once again stepped on the gas pedal, making the tires squeal.
Mike Anderson, a neighbor, stood on his lawn and watched in horror as the unbelievable scene unfolded. Without concern for his own safety, Mike stepped onto the road and started waving his hands and then braced himself for the impact.

It wasn’t until later that another neighbor told him, “You looked just like David when he stood his ground in front of Goliath.”
The truck stopped just a few feet from his now trembling body.

Gordie was livid and started yelling at his neighbor, but stopped when Mike pointed back and shouted, “Look what you’ve done! Not even God will forgive you for this.”

As Mike was running back to see if he could be of help, he could hear the ambulance in the distance and least a dozen people were now offering advice as they waited for help to arrive.

Gordie seemed to be in shock as he passed Mr. Goodman’s covered body; he then let out a scream as he looked at Rose holding their little boy. As he ran toward them, he kept saying over and over, “I killed my son, I killed my son.”

Rose didn’t look up at him; as far as she was concerned, he was out of their lives forever.
A woman standing on the sidewalk hollered out, “Is there a doctor or nurse on our street?” but before anyone could answer her, the ambulance arrived.

After examining Tommy, one of the medics proclaimed, “The little fellow is breathing, but we need to get him to the hospital right away!”
They had trouble getting the stretcher into the truck because Rose was hanging on with both hands and wouldn’t let go; she kept repeating, “God please take me and let my son live!”

After ten long hours of surgery, one of the doctors came into the waiting room and said; I’m sorry Mrs. Canter; we were able to save your son’s life, but he’s in a coma and there may be some brain damage; the way the flying rocks hit his face, he will most likely have permanent facial scars. He’s in God’s hands now.”

Rose fell to her knees and as she lifted her head towards Heaven, she cried out loud, “God, why is this happening to us? He’s only a baby and now he has to go through life scared because of someone else? Why didn’t you just take me and let my son grow up to be a man and have a family of his own; it’s just not fair!”

The doctor lifted her up and said, “Don’t be mad at God; He’s not responsible for what happened to your little boy.”

Before he left the room, the doctor advised Rose that he would instruct the nurse to give her something to help her cope.

It was a few days before Rose was able to go home and take a much-needed bath and get some clean clothes. When she arrived at the house, she knew something was wrong. The front door was wide open and the house was in darkness. As she walked in the door, she turned on the hall light, and although the kitchen light wasn’t on, she noticed a light coming from the basement. The basement door was wide open so she started to walk down the stairs, hollering out, “Gordie are you down there?”

She waited a few seconds and when she didn’t get a reply, she continued down. As she reached the last step, she had to grip the handrail as her eyes fixed on the horrific scene of her husband’s lifeless body hanging from one of the wooden rafters. Rose was totally overwhelmed and her mind quickly recalled another familiar scenario from the Bible, when Judas betrayed Jesus and paid the ultimate price by allowing Satan to be his executioner.
Spellbound by Caroline’s story, David had to wipe away the tears from his eyes as he questioned, “Whatever happened to Tommy?”
She smiled and asked, “Would you like to meet him?”

“Yes, please!”

Getting up quickly, she stood in the hallway and hollered out, “Tommy, there’s someone here who wants to meet you!”

David was totally unprepared as he watched a smiling young boy wheel himself into the room. From a distance he looked fine and it wasn’t until he came closer that David could see the deep scars on his face and a small metal plate on the side of his little bald head.

David was speechless and Tommy could see that he wasn’t going to say anything, so he just smiled and said, “Hi! My name is Tommy; it’s nice to meet you, Sir.”

As David knelt down, he felt very uncomfortable but Tommy put him at ease asking, “Did you know my Daddy? Mommy said he wasn’t happy with us, so God took him to Heaven. Someday, I’m going to go see him and maybe I’ll drive there in his big red truck!”
David enjoyed visiting with Tommy and it was a long time before he could say, “I have to go.”
As he was leaving, he remembered the baby he and Emily lost and how he missed the chance to be a father.

Of all the people and stories David had encountered on his trip, none was more moving than the one he heard at number 6 Anger Street. There was no need for words as he waved to Tommy and walked out the front door. He tried not to look back as he walked down the winding walkway and stepped over the broken pieces of the wooden fence. David’s emotions got the best of him and he turned around and looked at the house and then at the red truck one more time. As he shook his head, he could see the Bible opened to (Mathew 16:26) “What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?”

The heart wrenching story at 5 Anger Street made David’s blood run cold; it was almost more than he could handle so he needed “The Golden Bench” now more than ever and God didn’t disappoint him. There, just a few feet away was “The Golden Bench” and as he approached, he was a little surprised when the envelope floated into his hands; with a sigh of relief he sat down in the “Place of Peace.”
David removed the paper from the envelope and started to read:

I the Lord have forgiven you for the times you’ve failed to give me first place in your life. So, open your heart and I will walk with you every step of the way. I will teach you how to tune out the noises and distractions of the world, so that you can tune in to my voice and aim your prayers with precision toward Heaven. I want to lead you into a deeper and more rewarding relationship with me!

Nothing can give you peace or change your life more than hearing and trusting in my word. I the Lord will speak words of wisdom and comfort to you and all you have to do is sit quietly in my presence.

I will also refresh you, and give you rest, so that you may experience my presence, power, and peace.

John 15:5 – Apart from me, you can do nothing!

By JAlexander