The Story of Devin

The Story of Devin
This side of town has always been rural. In place of large skyscrapers there were acres of farm. Some held large tracks of crops while others may hold livestock such as cows or sheep. The town may have been made up of peon farmers and moonshiners, but that doesn’t mean the people there were behind the rest of the world. The people knew of all the technology of the outside world and had some of it themselves, but the people down here prefer good ole hard work in comparison to a machine doing it for them.
A tall, lanky kid lived down there by the name of Devin. He was always a little different compared to the other kids. While the kids from the city were short, plump, and pale, Devin was tall, skinny as a pole, and tan. He was the odd ball, but he never seemed to care. He was always that smart, quiet kid in the back of the room, who seemed to have no friends.
Nobody really messed with him. He just sorta scared people just by being there. I believe he made people nervous. He was always able to just appear at your side without any warning and disappear as soon as he came. People just didn’t know what to do around him. He had this hard honey stare that made the strongest kid quake in his boots.
He was the farmer’s boy. The kid who knew the virtues of hard work. The one that rose before the sun and before the cock had a chance to crow. He would be found herding sheep, tending the chickens, or loading the hay. By the time he was done the sun had already gone down.
This is how Devin was. The girls swooned for him yet were too scared to approach him. I was an exception to this rule. I moved to the city after high school for a better education and it’s been six years since I’ve seen Devin. I’ve just come home and plan to write Devin’s story. I’m praying that he will see it and read it. Hopefully I do it justice.

Devin was in the same ole rut again. Lazy gait with slumped shoulders, he stumbled down the same path that should have had a groove worn into it by now. Devin really didn’t care though. He was a giant amongst ants after all. The road is worn and rocky, the red earth clinging to his shoes to remain there until he worked up the energy to remove it. The dirt could tell his story, just as he could tell it’s, far better than I. Now I will admit I don’t know much about Devin. People tended to shy away from him. I’ve done the same until recently.
It all started in history one day. We were set in pairs to work on a project. And who did I get? Yup, that’s right-I was paired with Devin. At first I didn’t want anything to do with him. I had figured he was one of those rude anti-social types that didn’t know their head from a hole in the ground. Lord was I surprised, when I got him talking. He was rather polite and he was quite smart. That made things easier on me. I had figured that I would end up doing all the work while he took all the credit.
As I got to know him, I had to wonder about the thing he had about hair. At the time his hair was blue. He would just shrug his shoulders and continue on. I also figured out why he was always slumped over. He said,
“I don’t like being this tall. I slump over to make myself shorter. That and standing next to you makes me feel taller than I already am.”
I apologized for being short and he patted my head in return telling me I had nothing to be sorry for. At least that was how he was until recently. He seemed to have gained a backbone, stood up straight, and talked more. I don’t know if it was because of me or if it was something else.
It was a few weeks into Devin’s transformation that he punched a kid for talking about his hair, which was rust red by the way, and ended up breaking the kid’s nose and his zygomatic bone. The last I heard of the kid was that he was still at the hospital due to his nasal passages swelling shut. Poor kid.
Some time had passed since then. I was sitting in History when Devin walked in. He looked mad. And when I say mad I mean ‘you look at me wrong and I’m going to bite your head off and use it as a soccer ball’ sorta mad. I couldn’t help myself as I asked,
“What’s wrong?” Devin gave me the nastiest look as if saying, ‘It’s your fault’. I shrunk in on myself to make me seem smaller. I tucked my tail between my legs and scampered back to mother. Mother being my desk. I proceed to start taking notes trying desperately to ignore the burning on the side of my head. I peeked back and saw Devin burning a hole into my head with his honey stare.
The loud ring of the bell scared me. I hurried to pack my things to beat Devin out the door to freedom. We would usually walk home together, but I didn’t want to take the chance of running into him.
A large hand grabbed my own. I froze. Don’t look up, don’t look up, don’t look up. You know I’ve never had a mantra before, but I guess this is as good a time as any to have one.
“Why won’t you look at me?” the deep tenor of Devin sounded far above me.
Oh god I’m gonna die. I tried to think of something to say, but nothing came out.
“Now you won’t speak to me? Is there something I did?” Devin said giving a slight squeeze of my hand.
“Uh.”
Wow that was smart…. Devin chuckled as I finally look up. He snatched my backpack from the ground.
“Well then ‘Uh’ let’s go home. It’s a long walk and it’s supposed to rain today and I don’t know about you, but I don’t like the idea of getting wet.” Devin laughed. All the anger and tension from earlier seemed to have melted away in the span of an hour of burning my head. I gave a disgruntled noise at the idea of water falling from the sky. I really don’t like water, you have no idea.
Now me and Devin continued to be friends to the end of high school and that was just all fine and dandy and whatnot, but as I started to look for colleges, Devin on the other hand would ransack my mail every morning to stop my applications from ever reaching the schools. Now I will admit I’m not the brightest light bulb in the box, but I managed to figure out why I wasn’t getting any feedback from the schools when I went over to Devin’s for a day.
Devin’s dad needed an extra pair of hands that summer. His sheep numbers had doubled since last summer and he and Devin couldn’t do everything. I volunteered to help out seeing as my family didn’t raise animals, but we did raise crops. My dad and my brothers did most of the work so that left me with nothing to do for the summer.
I walked into the house through the kitchen door. I just walk in. It’s not like I could be a threat to anyone. I mean come on I’m tiny and Devin and his dad are monsters in comparison to me. Devin wasn’t at the table so I figured he was upstairs getting ready. There laying on the table as pretty as you please were my college applications. I twitched. So that’s where they were. I decided against confronting him about it. There was no point arguing over it. Instead I tucked the letters into my bag and tossed it on the floor by the door. Devin tromped down the stairs seconds after.
“Ready?” I said rocking back on my heels. Devin nodded and shoved me out the door.
Devin is a really hard worker. I sat on a fence keeping an eye on the sheep while Devin loaded hay into the back of this man’s truck bed. The guy himself was giving Devin an earful and waving his hands around. He looked like an angry monkey. Devin wasn’t saying anything to him and continued to load hay. There were three bundles left on the ground to be loaded. Devin picked up one of the bundles and threw it at the man. The man hit the dirt driveway and I hit the grass. I fell off the fence when he did that.
Devin began yelling at the man that if he didn’t like the way it was being loaded he could do it himself. Wow. I knew that Devin had a temper, but that was outrageous. Devin stalked over to me where I was still prone on the grass. Devin stood there staring down at me. I stared back until a lamb choose that moment to lick my ear. I spazzed and I spazzed hard. Devin laughed hard at that.
“Well that was a nice pick-me-up, I must say. I didn’t know you could move like that.” Devin said as he calmed down.
“Yeah, well, you do now.” I grumbled trying to wipe the spit off, and out, of my ear. Devin stood me up and brushed off my clothes. The day continued like that till the sun began to set.
The days grew and summer began to close. I had been accepted into a college in another town. I was already packing when Devin walked in. Devin stared at the suitcases I had yet to put in the car.
“So you’re leaving then.” He stated bluntly. I gave a nod and continued packing. I had about an hour’s drive there and will have only two hours to unpack once I’m there. I was a little crunched for time. Devin grabbed one of my bags and disappeared down the stairs. I watched him leave. He continued to do this until there were no more bags to carry.
We walked down the stairs in silence reaching the car. I got into the driver’s seat and looked up.
“Well…,” I trailed,” I guess this is goodbye.”
“Yeah, it seems that way.” Devin responded. I closed the door and pulled out of the drive. Devin remained where he was and watched me leave.
I finished the last line of words in my story. It took me two years to write it after I had finished The Story of Devin. The tale had been seen by many and loved by many. A knock at the door sounded. When college was over I returned home. My parents had passed on and left the house and farm to me. I still keep it the same as it was in my childhood, but with some minor changes. Not many people know I live here anymore. So it was a surprise that someone would knock. The knock sounded again.
I stood and answered the door. A tall, lanky man stood outside with my book tucked under his arm. I followed the path up his arm to his face. What stood out was a pair of honey eyes under trimmed brown locks. He held the book up and smiled.
“Devin.”