billie young

by nick nelson

billie young was the town tramp. persons under a certain age in today’s world may not know what a town tramp was. a town tramp was a young female, usually between the ages of thirteen and twenty, whose assigned role in a community was relieving the young males of that community, at least those who could not make their own arrangements in the matter, of their virginity. a town tramp’s term of office was usually about five years, and billie, who had started her career at the age of fifteen, was in her third year when one fateful night, down by the old mill stream, she was administering to young joshua white, the son of the chairman of the town council. joshua was a rather serious young man who took a keen interest in both local and national politics, and after the business of the night was concluded, he wanted to know billie’s opinion on the bill before the town council to purchase a parcel of land to build a new high school. i’m not in high school any more, joshua, billie answered. i graduated three months ago. but graduating from high school does not mean you can not have a sense of civic duty, joshua protested. if anything, it means just the opposite! i am sorry, but it is getting a little chilly out here - but it is only september! i don’t care, what it is, it is getting cold, and i have to get up in the morning and look for a job, billie replied determinedly. she did not add, and then i can move on from being town tramp. maybe even think about leaving . joshua, who had in time honored fashion, fortified himself with strong drink earlier in the evening - ignoring his older brother’s advice than weed was a better choice for the occasion - became animated at billie’s obstinacy, grabbed her by the arm to keep her from leaving him, and a scuffle ensued. joshua fell and hit his head on a sharp rock, which killed him instantly. billie knew exactly what to do in the circumstances. she went down to the railroad tracks, where pete morrison, one of her earliest clients, was now night watchman, and made herself comfortable in a freight car heading west just before dawn. noon found billie in a diner in johnsville, twenty-three away from her home town. she saw a sad looking fellow of about twenty-eight years sitting alone at a table staring solemnly at an empty coffee cup, and went over and sat down across from him and engaged him in conversation, starting with the weather and moving on to the prices of beets and alfalfa. the sad looking man’s name was bill jacobs, and billie spent the night at his little house on the outskirts of town, and the next night they found a licensed person and got married. as mrs bill jacobs, billie produced five children in eight years, and learned to sing in the church choir and bake the best peanut butter cookies in the county. she continued in both these avocations - singing in the choir and baking cookies - long after the five children had grown up and moved away, and bill jacobs passed on and was buried in the small cemetery between the railroad tracks and the river.