It's Still a Wonderful Life

My Big Brother George

"Hey, George!" Ernie said opening the trunk. "Where am I taking you today?"

"To the train station" Ernie grab his suitcase putting it in the back of the taxi.

"The train station, where are you off to?"

"I'm going to start at New York, and then from there, well, who knows."

"Shooting the works? Who would have thought! You're finally going. Good for you!" Ernie said,

"It was Mary." George said. "She put it together with the kids before she passed."

"Mary." Ernie smiled, climbing into the cab. "What a girl she was. You're a lucky man George, to have a wife like that."

"I know, Ern, I know." George said, "Bedford falls will miss you. But its in good hands George, that boy you have. He is quite something."

"Yah, Pete has the heart of his grandfather and the passion of his mother." George laughed. "I practically had to drag him off to college to get him out of here."

"And it did him and Bedford falls a load of good. He has ensured the maintenance of all the old buildings, and brought in the new businesses. Whoever donated that money would be proud. I sure am to call Bedford Falls home.

"There aren't many like it left, that's for sure." George nodded.

The tourists love it, and boy does you Janie ever have the touch with them. She's like the mother hen of tourists, just scoops them up in that old Ma Bailey Boarding house and treats them like her own." beep beep "Hey Bert! Guess where I'm going?" Ernie hung out the window.

Bert pulled up next to Ernie

"Taking George to the train station - he's finally going!"

"What do you say!" Getting out of his car, Bert gave George a hearty handshake. "Good for you Georgie - Good for you! You'll have to get some more posters to put on the wall of that old house of yours! Hey! We should go for a send off drink- do you have time? Martini would love to send you off."

"I suppose we could go for a quick one." George agreed.

~

"Well, look what the cat drug in!" The bells on the door rang, "To what do I owe such an unexpected pleasure?"

"We're here to celebrate!" Said Ernie, "George is going see the world! Just like he always planned to do Mary arranged everything for him to go traveling."

"You don't say! What a girl! A round on the house then!"

Martini brought over four drinks, the old bar filled with laughter of memories decades old.

"What a night that was. I'll never forget it - when Mr. Welch punched you right in the kisser." Martini said, shaking his head.

Nodding slowly, George took a drink," Unsure where the conversation was going, people seldom brought up that night.

"That was something." Said Martini, "But you know what was always more impressive to me? Was how you never lost that...that...that joy, that happiness that filled your house that night. How did you keep it? How did you hold onto it? Even after all these years?" Martini asked.

"An old friend once said to me, "Each man's life touches so many other lives." I began believing that, living it. Whenever I began to feel the way I felt that night - when the hopelessness, the discontentment, the discouragement crept in, I would think of that old friend, and who I would be leaving.

And then I thought, about what my father used to say, "All you can take with you is that which you've given away." - and I would think about all the people who's life I could touch to make them better. True contentment can only come from serving others from giving yourself a away.

It wasn't always easy, sometimes I had to fight for it. I became a warrior. A warrior for contentment, and then every once in a while, happiness would visit, and sometimes sadness, but always contentment."

"To contentment" Martini raised his glass.

"To Contentment" the three echoed - clinking their glasses, easing into a comfortable, contemplative silence..

"And how's Harry? Did he stay long after the funeral?" Asked Bert, breaking the silence.

"He's good, doing well. Wife and kids are good."

"And the business?" Earnie said cautiously.

"It's holding on." George nodded. "Definitely has some problems right now, which is of course stressful on the family, but, he'll hold on."

The three exchanged looks.

"What?"

"We saw him at the funeral, something's not right." Said Bert.

"Well, I did try to call him to tell him I was leaving, but, I couldn't get a hold of him." Said George. "Well even if something is wrong, he's strong, he'll...."

"He isn't you George." Martini added.

"He doesn't have the grit, the perseverance to make it through." Said Ernie.

"Doesn't have the grit?" Said George, "What do you mean doesn't have the grit? Why he's a decorated war hero, and an education football star!"

"He's nothing with you!" Said Bert.

"Now, that's just not true," objected George. "Look, he, he, got married without us.."

"Yah, I've always wondered that. Why would he have gotten married without you or his Ma with him? Why didn't he introduce you first? And then knowing he wasn't going to come back to the Building and Loan, and not say anything?" Bert put his hands up, "Look, thats not to say its any of our business, but what I am saying is that something was off."

"He himself, you were the richest man alive, on that night. So he recognized it too. When you get in a pinch call George- he knows!" Said Ernie.

Still not convinced, Martini said, "He almost died, you saved him!"

"You paid for his school, with money that you worked hard to earn." Said Bert.

"Where he met his wife, and got his job." Said Ernie,

"Why, your cousin Tilly, told me when he called you when he won the award, he even reversed the phone charges!" Added Bert.

"Well, whats wrong with all of that?" Asked George.

"Nothing, nothing at all, but what all that says, what Harry's life ultimately says is, "I need my big brother." Said Martini.

George thought back to the unanswered ringing phone. "Can I use your phone?"

"Sure, sure George go right ahead."

"Hello, Harry? Harry its George. "I'm ok, yes, everything is fine. I just wanted to tell you that Mary she's....George paused. Bert, Ernie and Martini watched as that old familiar look came across George's face - compassion, empathy, sympathy, and they waited.

George took a deep breath, closing his fist against the wall, resting his head on it."....I'm really sorry to hear that Harry. Really sorry." George paused again. "I wish...I wish there was something I could do. I , But, Mary, she put together a trip for me, before she died, and I think I should...I need to go. I'm leaving today. I wish I could stay to help you, but I promise I'll call you along the way. How long? I'm not sure, a few months, at least. But the kids, they will be looking after the house, so if you need a place to stay for a while, just call one of them....OK, I love you Harry, and I'll be thinking about you. You take care now. It will all work out. I'll talk to you soon."

A breath of relief rippled over the table.

"Well, best get going then." George said shaking hands and clasping backs with his old friends.