Member-only story
Give ’Em Hell Boy!
An old man’s early morning advice.
It was still the early morning dark before sunrise and I could see his silhouette in the light of the street lamps. He appeared bent over from old age and leaned heavily on his cane as he shuffled down the driveway toward his mailbox and the morning paper. I was running on his side of the street and would come along side of him by the time he reached the end of his driveway. I didn’t want to startle the old fellow so as I approached I raised a hand and said not too loudly, “Good morning.”
He stopped and looked up at me as I neared him and shouted, “Give ’em hell boy!”
Automatically, reflexively, and without thinking I barked back, “Yes Sir!” My pace quickened, my back straightened and my chest pushed forward.
Give ’em hell boy? Who?
I can’t remember if it was 1990 or 1991 when this happened but I have never forgotten that commanding voice and unusual early morning salutation, nor have I ever stopped wondering exactly who or what I was supposed to give it to. I read that during the World War II years “Give ’em hell” was a common saying directed to our military. The old man in the driveway could have easily been from that generation. Perhaps his mind remembered those years better than the ones in which he currently lived. Or maybe, he was referring to life in general.
