Charlie Kelly,s new car.

From the first time I met him, I liked Charlie Kelly. But then, everyone liked Charlie. He was one of those rare people that was never critical of anyone. He always seemed to be on your side of any issue that came up in the small talk that men seem to need to survive. Anytime his name was mentioned someone was sure to say how much they liked Charlie Kelly.

A second generation Irishman, he had retained that wry grin and twinkle in the eye common to the Irish. He had worked at the same job his whole life. He did his job in the Traffic Division for the city of Houston Texas for thirty years. Upon retirement, the gave him an engraved watch on a fob, and a retirement income that when paired with his FICA provided nicely for him and his wife Emily.

His main source of enjoyment after he retired was fishing up on Lake Livingston where they had a cottage, and those wonderful Houston Astros. Charlie hardly ever missed a home game in the Astrodome, or an away game on television.

When Charlie reached seventy years old, his family decided to get together and have a surprise birthday celebration at Charlies house. His children told Emily that they would pay to have the party catered, and if the weather was nice, the back patio would be perfect.

So, that's how it all began. Their three daughters came in from out of state and brought with them, three husbands and seven grand children. Their only son had never married but brought his sixth fiancee, and her two children from a previous marriage. This brought the total party to nineteen on the patio to celebrate Charlies birthday on the 13th of October, 2002.

After a great dinner, small talk, nice gifts and some jokes, one of the daughters was a little too much in the wine and proposed a toast. She said something to the effect that Charlie was by far the youngest man at the table. This set off a cascade of similar toasts, all proclaiming how young Charlie acted, and how he was more alert than most of his children. Charlie seemed to sit a little taller in his chair as these accolades continued into the late evening.

During the weeks that followed, Emily noticed a change in Charlie, a metamorphosis was taking place before his wife's eyes. He began humming songs that he would hear on the car radio. New songs that the younger generation liked. What happened to the songs of the sixties that they used to sing together?. He talked about them taking dancing lessons, and maybe joining a bowling league. Strange stuff for Charlie. It seemed that he had put more belief in those toasts than had Emily.

They had been talking about getting a new car for some time. But then, it usually took a lot of conversation before a big step like that actually happened. Charlie was a Ford man. He had never owned anything but Fords. He would proclaim to anyone who would listen, the benefits of owning a Ford product. (Ford cars were like Charlie. An old firm, reliable and dependable.

So you can imagine his wife's surprise when one day, as she was peering through the drapes. a bright red Fiat convertible, with the top down came into their driveway with a smiling Charlie Kelly behind the wheel. She gasped, as she made her way to the couch. She had that strange feeling she had had when the Doctor told her that the Rabbit had died.

She had moved so quickly to the sofa that when Charlie came through the door, she looked up and said, "Hello honey, I'll bet your hungry, I made some pound cake." This statement surprised even her. "No no" Charlie said, "you know that new car we have been talking about for so long, well, I bought it.". "So you bought us a new Ford huh ?' Emily replied. " Not this time Babe, I thought it was time for a new Kelly look. Come on lets take her out for a little spin, I think you will be surprised."
Surprise was not the emotion that Emily was feeling. Shock was more in line with her emotional state. Besides, Charlie had never talked that way before. "O.K. honey let me get my purse and I will meet you outside in a minute."

Emily went upstairs, got her purse off of the dresser, and sat down on the edge of the bed to collect he thoughts. Charlie was a good man and a good husband. If he wanted to drive around town in a red convertible, so be it. She was not going to be the one to hurt his feelings or deflate his ego after all these wonderful years of marriage. After all, he had never denied her anything.

"My lands Charlie, it's beautiful, and it matches the Azalea plants at the corner of the porch". "Do you like it, really Emily?" Charlie asked. "If you like it, I like it," Emily replied. It was a sentence they had said many time to each other over the years.

They drove around the neighborhood for about an hour. It was obvious that Charlie was proud to be showing off his new possession. I bought this new type of car so no one would think we were going to become senile in our old age ". Charlie exclaimed.
Senile was a word that had popped into Emilys mind that afternoon, but not in the same context as Charlie's.

During the next few months, Charlie bought himself an English drivers cap and a matching plaid scarf to go with the gentleman's sport coat with the leather elbows. He said he got a real bargain on it during a Red Tag Sale at Foleys Department store. Emily found the ticket later for $325 in his pants pocket that he had put in the laundry. She never mentioned it.

Charlie was visualizing himself as a younger man with youthful tastes. He liked to put on his "driving outfit" as Emily called it too herself, and drive through the University of Houston campus, he would wave to the students and they seemed to enjoy waving back. He would then drive over to Rice University and repeat his actions. "Probably one of the professors " one student said, "wouldn't be surprised, another replied".

Most people just wondered who the elderly, over weight gentleman with the big smile and the 1920s attire was, and what he was doing in that red convertible driving through campus, but, strange things happen on campus, this was just a little weirder than usual.

One day, as Charlie was driving down Scott St. near the Rice campus, he noticed smoke coming from an upstairs window of a house he had passed many times. He quickly pulled over, threw his cap and scarf onto the passenger seat and rushed to the house. The front door was slightly ajar and he pushed open. It was hot and thick with smoke inside, he tripped over a woman who had collapsed while trying to get her baby out of the building. Charlie quickly carried the baby to the front yard and returned to the woman. As he was pulling her to safety, he heard a child crying upstairs. Again he went into the smoke filled house and found the stairwell. He located the child on the landing and removed him from the danger. Charlie went back inside and felt his way up the stairs into the bedroom area. Charlie did not know that he had already saved the entire family. He also did not know that the fire in the kitchen had burned through the ceiling joists and that the floor could no longer support his weight.

The firemen found Charlies body in the still smoldering debris that had been the kitchen. All of the media called Charlie a hero,-- he was. They ran a recent photo of him in his red car smiling from ear to ear. Charlie would have liked that.

Emily doesn't drive. She likes to sit on the porch with her memories. The red Fiat sits in the driveway, His cap and scarf are on the passenger seat where Charlie had thrown them before he became a local hero. People like to drop by and sit with Emily and talk about Charlie the hero, but Emily knew that Charlie had always been a hero. Her hero.