Three little boys are playing on the sidewalk in front of some homes. They have toy their toy trucks and they are driving them around on pretend roads. It's a nice warm May afternoon and other neighborhood kids are playing in the area too. The street is abuzz with the sounds of the kids calling to each other.
"Hey Billy, you wanna play some stickball?" a boy yells
"Nah, I want to play with my trucks." Billy calls back
"Okay." The first boy replies as he and some friends head off down the street.
"You want to play cops and robbers? I got a new police car yesterday." One of the boys says as they continue to play.
"I wanna see it." The other says
"Sure, let's play." Billy responds
"Okay." The first boy says as he pulls out a new white police car and sets it on the sidewalk in front of him. "Who's gonna be the bad guy?"
"I think Billy should be." The second says
"I'm always the bad guy, why do I always gotta be the bad guy?" Billy questions his friends
"Because you're good at it and you don't have a police car." One of the others says
"Why can't Timmy be the bad guy for once?" Billy asks
"Because I don't want to." Timmy replies
Before the boys can argue anymore about who was going to be the bad guy the sounds of sirens filled their street. A few seconds later a fire truck turns the corner and heads past the boys. Billy jumps to his feet and starts to follow his friends close behind. They run for a couple of blocks when the fire truck stops behind a bunch of other trucks. The fire fighters get out of the truck and grab the hoses and ladders they have on their truck. They all head for a house that has flames coming through the roof and smoke pouring out the windows. The boys watch as a fire fighter climbs up the ladder of a fire truck and moments later immerges from the building with a small child. That fire fighter takes the child to some paramedics who are on the ground and then he turns around and heads back towards the flames.
As an hour or so past Timmy and Ryan (the other boy whom Billy was playing with) become bored and walk back to their stoop. Billy stays and watches as the fire fighters finish their task. He walks a little closer to the truck that he had previously been chasing and stares at it in wonder. A fire fighter watches to see what the little boy will do. He tentatively gets closer to the truck and stretches out his hand to touch it.
"Want to sit inside the cab?" The firefighter startles Billy who must have jumped back about 5 feet. "It's okay, you don't have to be afraid." He says
Billy stutters a bit but finally manages to get out a "Sure."
The firefighter picks Billy up and puts him in the back of the open cab Mack fire engine. Billy looks around and wonders what it would be like to ride in it. He looks back down at the firefighter who put him in the cab.
"My name's Angus." The firefighter says, "What's yours?"
"B… B… Billy." He stutters still in awe that he is sitting in a real fire truck. He slowly climbs down.
"I better get home before my mom yells at me." Billy tells the firefighter, "Thank you for letting me see your fire truck."
"Well Billy, I hope that you enjoyed it. It was nice meeting you." Angus says smiling as the boy grins and then runs back down the street.
A few days later Billy, Timmy, and Ryan were again playing along the stoop. Billy had a shiny new fire truck to play with.
"Hey look what I got!" Billy proudly exclaims as he shows off his new truck
"It's just a stupid fire truck." Ryan says still proud of his police car
"Take it back!" Billy cries
"I won't!" Ryan responds
"Take… It… Back!" Billy raises his voice
"I won't!" Ryan responds again
This causes Billy to tackle his friend and begins a scuffle between the boys.
"Hey, stop that!" Timmy cries trying to get his friends to stop
Billy holds Ryan down and prepares to punch him.
"William Walsh you get in here this moment!" A woman's voice yells
Billy puts his arm down and reluctantly stands up. He takes his fire truck and walks with his head hung down in shame. He'd been caught by his mom. He'd been caught attempting to hit his best friend. His mom holds the screen door open while an ashamed Billy walks inside shuffling his feet.
"I'm sorry mom." He says
"What's gotten into you?" She asks
"He said my fire truck was stupid." Billy replies
"That's no reason to fight with him. Now go wash your hands and sit down for supper." His mom orders him.
His pride had been defeated. He headed up the stairs to the bathroom to wash his hands and moments later he returned downstairs and at the kitchen table with his mom and his sister. His dad had passed away years before and his mom often struggled to provide for her kids. She worked odd jobs, mostly cleaning, to be able to put food on the table. Her family helped out occasionally, but it was up to her to provide for her kids and she did a good job with it. No wonder Billy was so proud to have that fire truck. He had scoured the ground for spare change and had found nearly enough for it. He was only 6 so he couldn't do some of the chores that the bigger boys could do like cleaning the gutters or pulling weeds, so his mom gave him the amount that he was short. And no doubt that truck was his prize possession he took it with him to the table.
"Billy, can you not put your truck on the table?" His mother asks
"Okay." So Billy placed the truck in his lap.
"That's where your napkin goes, go put your truck in your room." His mother orders
"Yes ma'am." Billy says as he gets up from the table and takes his truck to his room where he places it softly on the dresser. Then he returns to the table to eat his dinner with his family.
Later that night his mom is checking on him and tucking him in for bed. Billy had just finished his prayers and climbed into his bed.
"Mom" he says
"Yes sweetie." She answers
"I'm gonna be a firefighter when I grow up." He tells her
She smiles and acknowledges her son's dream.
"That's nice sweetie. Now why don't you get some sleep?" She asks her son.
"Okay mom." He replies as she kisses his forehead
"I love you Billy." She tells her son
"I love you too." Her son replies.
His mother turns off the light and leaves her son to dream. She lingers in the doorway and watches as her son clings to that small fire truck.
The next morning was Saturday morning. Billy would typically get out of bed and go downstairs, make himself a bowl of cereal (with more cereal ending up on the floor and table than actually in the bowl) and then sit down and watch cartoons before going back upstairs and changing to go out in the neighborhood to play. But that was a typical Saturday morning, this would turn out to be anything but.
Shortly before 5 AM Billy sat straight up in bed. He had heard sirens filling the streets near his home. He quickly pulls his shorts on and throws on a t-shirt and his sneakers and scampers down the stairs and out the door. It was not yet light so the lights of the fire trucks are visible. He follows the light to a building not far from his house. He stands back and watches the firefighters work. He finds a familiar truck on that street. He approaches it and watches. Shortly after 6 the crews finish the mop up. They begin to put their tools and ladders back. A familiar face appears too.
"Billy." Angus says "It's awfully early for you to be up isn't it?"
"No sir. I always get up early on Saturday mornings." Billy replies.
"I have a daughter a little younger than you and she loves to sleep in on Saturdays." Angus adds
"If you sleep too long you miss the good cartoons." Billy smiles as he responds
"If you watch too many firefighters you miss all of the good cartoons." Angus quips, "Why don't you ask your parents to bring you down to the house sometime and you can see the truck."
"I'll ask my mom." Billy replies
"Hey Angus, you ready?" Another firefighter asks
"Yeah, give me a minute would ya?" Angus asks as he turns back towards Billy. "You make sure you ask your mom if you can come down sometime okay?"
"Yes sir." Billy grins as he runs back to his house
Angus smiles as he climbs into the cab and the truck pulls off.
Billy slides in the front door and off to the kitchen table to make his bowl of cereal. This morning it will be Frosted Flakes. He heads off to the television. His mom comes down the stairs with the laundry.
"Where did you head off to this morning?" His mom asks
"There was a fire down the street, I heard the fire trucks so I went to look." Billy admits
"It was awfully early don't you think?" She asks
"Maybe a little." Billy replies
"I don't mind you finding heroes but I don't want you leaving here at all hours of the night do you understand me?" His mom has to play somewhat of a disciplinarian to keep her son in check.
"Okay mom." Billy replies
From that Saturday on you could always find little Billy somewhere near that firehouse. The guys all loved him, and they provided something that he needed in his life. They provided a man, or in this case many men, for him to look up to. When school started up his presence around the firehouse diminished to occasional Saturdays. The guys missed him. Especially Angus who had a son and a daughter of his own, but this kid was something different. He wasn't sure how to tell Billy that he was being transferred to a new house. And Billy wasn't around for a couple Saturdays. Angus's last shift came on a Saturday and as evening drew near, it was obvious that yet again little Billy wouldn't be there. He left a note for the guys to read to Billy but he never showed back up. They never saw him on another fire scene either. Everyone hoped that he was okay, but they weren't even sure where he lived to go check on him.
So what had happened that Billy stopped coming around? His mother had gotten sick and so he and his sister were sent off to their aunt's house on Long Island. He never returned to the neighborhood either. Shortly before Christmas of '65 his mother passed away. She had lost a battle that no one even knew she was fighting. She lost a battle with breast cancer. So at the age of 7 Billy had undergone two major changes in his life, he had lost both his mother and his father. But Billy was a tough little boy and he would move on. Tragedy appeared to be a theme in his life, but he always found a way to triumph over it. Everyone knew that Billy would grow up to be something special.