Election Day | Story Vault

Every writer has a beginning.

This story was written many years ago, long before I ever thought about publishing A Quiet Kind of Poison. I can't say it was before I dreamed of becoming a writer, though. If you had asked a much younger Tammy what she wanted to be when she grew up, she would have answered without hesitation: a writer.

Looking back, I can see plenty I'd do differently today. I can also see the beginnings of the stories I still love to tell—stories about ordinary people, family, history, and the quiet moments that change lives forever.

Rather than leave this tucked away on an old hard drive, I decided to dust it off, polish it just a little, and share it with you. It's still very much the story I wrote all those years ago, with only a few edits to improve the flow.

I hope you enjoy this small glimpse into where my writing journey began.

William was almost finished mucking out the horse stalls. His brother Robert was feeding the chickens Since their dad had to be at the shoe store they were responsible for all the morning chores.

William wanted to go swimming after his chores. What Robert was going to do held no interest to him. He wiped the sweat off his forehead with his shirtsleeve. The sun had already risen close to 11 in the crystal clear sky. Things were heating up and the smell in the horse stalls was just about unbearable. He would be glad when he was finished and could go wash the stench off. This would be his last load to dump and he was free.

“Willllliammmmm” his mother yelled out the front door of the logged house. He held up his hand to let her know he had heard her and then waved at the wheelbarrow. He would have to run up and see what she wanted before he could head to Swift Lake to cool off.

His mother was standing at the kitchen table making crust for cherry pies, Williams favorite. “Hey Ma, whaddya need?” he hung up his hat as he addressed his mother.

“Will, can you run into town and pick up a few items from the general store?” As his mother spoke she continued rolling out the piecrust and placing them into waiting pans. “I just need some sugar, flour, and lard. Oh has your brother gotten the eggs yet?”

William kicked his shoe against the floor. He started to ask her why Robert couldn’t go but thought better of it. He knew more was expected of a boy at the age of fifteen then one of ten. “Sure ma, I’ll go, Robert was just finishing with the chickens when I heard you call. I’d say he will be in soon with your eggs.” William walked over to the washbasin and rinsed his face off letting the cool natural spring water run down his neck. “Should I just have Mr. Mosher put it on account?”

Sara had finished the bottom crusts and was pouring in the filling “Yes that would be fine; your Pa will take care of it later." she sat down the empty pan and wipe her hands on her apron. "Can you take Robert with you? He would love to go into town.” William flung water across the kitchen as he jerked his head up.

"Ah, ma. Do I have to?" William was never going to get to the lake if he had to take Robert with him. William knew his brother could not help that he was slow but still he didn’t have the patience today “Ma, I wanted to go to the lake today. If I take Robert with me the trip will take twice as long.” He was finding it hard to keep the whining out of his voice. If his mother caught wind of a whine, he would never win this one.

“Plus I think there is a storm brewing, the wind has really picked up I would hate to have him with me if it starts storming.” William smiled to himself thinking that should work; showing concern for his brother’s welfare was a sure win.

Sara brushed her hands off on her apron as she walked to the window. “William I appreciate your concern for your brother, but I really don’t think its going to storm before you return, Robert likes to be with you. You know it won’t hurt you and once you are back you can both go to the lake. I am sure there will be other children there, especially with this heat.” She returned to the table and gave her son a stern look. William hung his head silently giving up he knew he would be stuck with his brother all day there was no since pursuing this anymore.

“Ok ma," William knew he was just wasting time. "I'll going get Robert and then we will be off.” He headed out the door and yelled for Robert. His little brother came running out from behind the barn covered in dirt. “What in the world have you been doing?”

“There is a litter of kittens under the old wagon and I was trying to get them out. Whaddya want?” Robert stood there dusting himself off and patting the dirt off his clothes.

“Ma wants us to walk into town and get a few things for her, and then we will go swimming." William gave his brother a firm stare. "Now I said I’d take you, but you will have to speed up or we will never have time to go swimming.” William wanted to make sure his brother understood that lake time depended on him.

Robert was finally done dusting himself off and when he looked up at William he had the biggest grin on his face. “Did ma say we could get gumballs?” Leave it to Robert to think of getting something for himself.

William hadn’t thought to ask for candy but it was a great idea “Why don’t you run in and see what she says, she’s more likely to say yes to you than me! While you do that, I am going to have a look at those kittens.”

Robert took off at a full run, tripping once over his own feet. William figured he took the speed thing to heart and laughed as he thought of his brother running to keep up with him. At least the walk into town wont be boring he mused.

Robert came running out of the house as fast as he ran in, “Ma said yes we could each pick three pieces.” He was grinning ear to ear as he grabbed Williams sleeve to get him moving toward town.

“Ok, ok, I know I said we had to move but you don’t need to pull me there.” The two boys started out toward Springville. The walk into town would take the boys about forty-five minutes if they walked fast. The town was not overly large but it suited the townsfolk just right. They had to walk past the mill on Cambridge Lake.

Mr. Mosher who owned half the general store in town, also owned the flourmill up on the lake. The mill sent flour into Tecumseh and from there was shipped to New York.

The boys always found it fascinating that some of that flour made it back to Ireland. Springville could boast that they had an award-winning mill as Mr. Thomas Mosher took the gold medal for his flour at the state fair in 1876

It was a good town William enjoyed living there. The school was a distance away but at 15 he was done and Robert only had a few years left. In the winter, he could catch a wagon ride with the neighbors or his dad would give him a ride into town and then he would walk the rest of the way. John Queale, Williams and Roberts’s father, owns the shoe store. John was teaching his sons the skills of shoe making. Today was Williams’s day off; his father always let him have Wednesdays.

John had packed up his family and moved to Springville to start the shoe business and was doing quite well from himself.

William heard the story more times than he cared to count about how his dad John had left Dublin Ireland in 1851 with his pregnant wife Sara with only what little they could carry. They boarded a steerage boat headed for America. Having no choice but to leave all those they knew and the land they loved they headed out to start a new life. The boat was cramped and they were afraid of spreading disease. They had survived the famine and were fighters as would their sons be.

Springville was a small village with a general store, a post office, a couple blacksmiths, his dad’s shoe store and a tavern. The tavern could get very rowdy on payday. The town even had an inn on LaPlaisance Bay road that many of the people that were passing through stayed.

William and Robert had made good time getting to the store. Robert must have really wanted that candy. As he raced up the steps to the screen door Mrs. Ayres was leaving, he almost ran her over trying to get to the penny candy. “Robert Queale you had better slow down, you’re going to hurt someone or yourself!” Mrs. Ayres tone said his mother would find out soon enough.

Robert stopped in his tracks and looked up at Mrs. Ayres with remorseful eyes “I am so sorry Mrs. Ayres, I was in such a hurry I didn’t see you.” With that, he smiled at her and headed in the door. Mrs. Ayres looked at William and shook her head.

When William made it into the store Robert was already picking out his candy. William gave Mr. Hart, who was running the store today, his mothers list. He picked out his favorite flavors in the candy sticks and retrieved his mom’s items. They were going to be home in plenty of time to go to the lake.

As they exited the store, William could not help but notice both sides of the road were lined with wagons. There were children darting between wagons and horses. Voices echoed from storefront to storefront.

Neither boy had noticed all the commotion when they arrived. Robert had candy on his mind and William had been trying to keep up with his brother. William chuckled thinking that was a change of pace wasn’t it. The boys scanned the street to see what was going on when William notice the sign that announced that it was Election Day.

Election Day was a big deal in Springville; they had horse races in the street and games for the kids. Sara would want her purchases so the boys couldn’t stay in town. Maybe their dad would take it home with him when he closed the shoe store.

“Hey Robert, why don’t we go and talk to Pa and maybe he will let us stay in town. We can always swim tomorrow; I want to stay for the horse races and stuff.”

Robert was wide eyed and watching all the people. “Yeah, let’s go see Pa. He and ma will probably come back into town later.” Their fathers store was at the other end of town and so they headed off down the boardwalk watching all the people as they went. Several had brought in their horses for the race and Mr. & Mrs. Hubbard were setting games up for the kids. Robert skipped all the way to the shoe store whistling as he went.

John was closing up early "I will run the groceries home." he patted his sons on the backs an they both broke out in smiles. "Your ma and I will pick you back up later this afternoon."

In the two hours, they had before their folks returned they had played the games and watched some of the horse races.

William was just about to head up the steps of the general store to set when he heard a commotion coming from in front of the town tavern. There were two men yelling at each other, William had no idea what it was about but it didn’t sound good. Before William had a chance to say anything to Robert, he was already heading down to watch. William had no choice but to follow his brother and try to keep him out of trouble. As he drew closer, he could see they were not local people. They must be just passing through and its probably better they just keep on going. Robert was running now and headed for the crowd that was gathering around the two men. William yelled but Robert must not have been able to hear him so he took off running also.

William watched his brother disappear into the crowd and kept yelling his name. He had lost Robert within the people. The crowd was getting riled up and William was getting worried. Robert was going to get into trouble he had to find him. “Robert” he yelled as loud as he could but as he neared the crowd, he heard a loud ear-ringing crack and knew it had come from a gun.

He had no idea who had fired but all at once, the crowd seemed to take a deep breath. As he neared the two men, the crowd started to part. Everyone the was on the circle started to back away.

William looked around the group most of them were familiar faces.

He then looked down at the ground. Robert lay in the dirt with blood all over the front of his shirt his eyes wide and vacant.

“Robert, Robert” William yelled as he ran to his little brother and dropped to his knees. “Robert, you’re going to be ok!” He lifted Roberts head and yelled into the crowd. “Someone help him, please someone help him!” his voice cracked, why was no one moving?

He should have been watching him better; he should have run after him as soon as he noticed he had walked off.

“Please, someone help my brother.” William looked around the crowd, all the faces blurred together. "Someone please!" he looked down at Robert as tears streaked his face and fell off his chin.

When William looked up again Dr. Moulton was headed his way, as were his parents. “Its ok son, let me check him out”. The Dr’s voice was very calm and William realized at that moment he was terrified that he was going to lose his brother.

He turned to his folks “I..I..I am" his words would not come. "I am sorry...he ran off. He ran off when he heard the commotion." William paused gulping for breath. "I should have gone after him. I am so sorry!” He pleaded as tears rolled down his face. He felt his ma’s arms go around him and his pas hand on his shoulder. They did not say anything but their touch let him know they were there.

Dr. Moulton had taken Robert to the inn to assess him. Williams’s ma came out and told him that Robert would be fine. The bullet had only gone into his shoulder and the Dr. was able to remove it. It would take Robert a while to heal but he would be fine.

William looked at his ma with red swollen tears stained eyes “I am so sorry ma" William stood in front of his mother his shoulders slumped and his head down. "I didn’t want anything to happen to him. I swear I didn’t.”

Sara placed her index finger under her oldest sons chin and lifted it so she could see his eyes. "I know you didn't" she released his chin and again wrapped her arms around her growing son “William, neither your pa nor I ever thought you let this happen. Robert has a mind of his own and a curiosity to match. You are not to blame for this.”

William was grateful for her understanding, but he still felt guilty. Then he heard his ma giggle and he couldn’t figure out what could possibly be funny at a time like this. Sara turned her head to William “You should have seen your brother’s eyes when your pa took off his belt. He thought he was going to get a whipping.”

William looked at his ma not fully understanding why his pa had taken off his belt. “Why would Pa whoop him after he’d been shot?”

Sara laughed again and smiled at William “Your pa wasn’t going to whoop Robert. The Doctor needed his belt so Robert could bite on it while the Doctor removed the bullet from his shoulder.” William smiled at his mother, grateful that Robert would be ok and thankful that this Election Day was finally over. Both William and Sara were relieved when John come out to tell them they could take Robert home now.

William walked beside the wagon all the way home, one hand resting against the side where Robert lay sleeping. Every few steps he glanced back, just to make sure his little brother was still breathing.

Long after the excitement of Election Day had faded from Springville, William would remember only one sound—the crack of a pistol and the terrible silence that followed.