Gooden
The first line in bold is not mine.

There are things Gooden sees from his perch eight feet above the dunking tub at the Dixford Congregational Church’s Charity Bazaar. The first year he only sees people in general, the crowd forming an amorphous blob through which it is impossible to tell which one is Father Garmond, or Mrs. Heathers, the old widow, or little Peter Bernstein from down the street. Or so it seems to Gooden, who is paying more attention to the next successful throw than the people wandering around.

The next year is different. Gooden is bored, and begins to pay attention to the mass of people. He sees Father Garmond, or more accurately, Father Garmond’s completely bald head. The minister is over six feet tall, and the top of his skull shines like a beacon in the middle of a sea of people. Father Garmond is talking to his church members, establishing himself as a patriarch of sorts for the town. There is little Peter Bernstein, clutching the stuffed dog he just won at the ring toss. There’s Amanda and her best friend Becky flirting with the handsome young math teacher from Dixford High.

The next year Mrs. Heathers shows up, sad as usual. She hasn’t quite gotten over her husband’s death. He was killed all the way back during World War II, and she still hasn’t recovered. Gooden feels sorry for her. He feels she should try harder to make other friends. This year Peter has won a goldfish, which he proudly carries around in its plastic bag. Becky and Amanda are still flirting, but this time with a handsome boy closer to their age. His name is Thomas, and he impresses them by dunking Gooden into the tank.

The years pass, and every year Gooden volunteers to be at the dunk tank. He enjoys seeing the mass of people, from little kids barely able to walk to old men and women who have just as much trouble getting around. One year the Bazaar falls on the seventieth wedding anniversary of Dixford’s oldest couple, Mr. and Mrs. Robert Sender. The impossibly ancient pair sit under a cool awning while dozens of neighbors and fellow church-goers come by to extend their congratulations. Gooden thinks seventy years is a very long time.

The church Bazaar is a much-anticipated affair, the only time of the year when most of the town is in the same place at once. Everyone goes, whether they attend that church or not. Gooden enjoys it because it gives him a chance to catch up on the gossip. He’s always been a nosy person, even when he was little. He remembers his mother scolding him for eavesdropping on her so many times. "Can’t you ever keep your little nose to yourself?" she always used to say.

Plus, getting dunked in the water is pretty refreshing during those last, lingering days of summer, before the weather has realized it’s supposed to start getting colder.

More years pass, and Gooden sees changes. He sees little Peter Bernstein grow up. Peter’s not interested in stuffed animals or goldfish in plastic bags anymore. He’s going to college now, to study law. Amanda’s grown up too, and married to Thomas. He’s a car mechanic with a beer belly now, and Amanda doesn’t come to the Bazaar anymore.

Becky’s gone, too. She went to school, dropped out, went back, and now Gooden doesn’t know where she lives. She got married to some boy from Pennsylvania, he hears, some boy that is a doctor, so she doesn’t have to work or anything, and can stay home with all five kids. Mrs. Heathers has finally found a friend, a skinny man with glasses who never talks. She seems happy for the first time in years, though. Mr. and Mrs. Sender have long since gone to the grave, dying almost at the same time, together as always.

The handsome math teacher is older and not as handsome now, and Father Garmond has gotten shorter as age has caught up with him. Gooden looks around and realizes that he doesn’t know anyone anymore. They’re all gone, replaced with new faces, and in some cases, older faces that couldn’t possibly belong to the people Gooden once knew.

There are things Gooden sees from his perch eight feet above the dunking tub at the Dixford Congregational Church’s Charity Bazaar, and he thinks he won’t volunteer for it next year.

"Gooden" is copyright © K. B. Cunningham 2000

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