THE OUTSIDER

The men who had gathered around the store’s potbelly stove leaned in to hear the punch line of Tom’s story,

“And the cow sat down and ordered a beer.”

They all burst into laughter, except for Caleb, a good looking, tow headed young man, standing off to one side, eyes closed, apparently day dreaming. Tom, still chuckling, got up from his chair and went over to Caleb and put his arm around him. “I’ll explain it to you later son. Sorry, I went on so long. Do you mind bringing the wagon ‘round?” Caleb smiled and nodded.

A chorus of “Night, Caleb” followed him out into the cold dusk. Relief flooded over him. Outside is where he belonged, outside and alone, if truth be told. It had always been this way as long as he could remember.

Inside, around others, he had always felt apart.  He could remember the worried look in his parents eyes when he was still a small child and how the other children at the one room schoolhouse taunted him. Inside, surrounded by books, numbers and people, it seemed they all spoke a language he couldn’t quite understand. But once the bell rang and they all ran outside, it suddenly seemed to all make sense. The other children babbled on, leaving him one with his surroundings, the sky, the animals and the fields. Outside, he was no longer the outsider. Outside, he belonged.

It wasn’t long before the people in the small town began to notice his obvious strengths as opposed to his perceived weaknesses and soon the taunting stopped. ‘The boy may not be the most sociable thing, but by God, he knows the outdoors.’

“Is there a storm coming Caleb?”

“That new calf of mine is feeling poorly. Could you stop by and take a look at her?”

“You were right about that apple tree. It’s right as rain now. Here’s a pie that Maud made with its fruit . Thanks again, Caleb.”

Caleb stood for a moment outside the store basking in the dusk’s embrace.  Not for the first time, Caleb marveled at his good fortune. In the big city he would have been an outcast, a stranger, the different one. Here he was accepted for what he was rather than for what he wasn’t, for what he could do rather then for what he couldn’t.

Caleb smiled and shook his head. On the ride home Pa was going to try and explain, what in God’s name, a cow was doing ordering a beer. And they had thought him the strange one?