THE WEIGHT

I pulled in to Nazareth, was feeling 'bout half past dead
I just need some place where I can lay my head
"Hey mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?''
He just grinned and shook my hand, "No'' was all he said

Amerigo was so proud of his brand new wagon. It was bright and shiny and big, not like most of the other wagons in town. The body of the wagon was bright red, the wheels had shiny white rims and the frame was navy blue. He got in and rode down the little hill in front of his house with great satisfaction as the wind rushed past his ears. With inertia all spent Amerigo hopped out of the wagon and began to pull it through the neighborhood. An acquaintance ran from his house to admire Amerigo’s new toy. Wow, that’s really something, where are you taking it? Just around the block, said Amerigo. Can I ride in it? the kid wanted to know. Sure maybe we can take turns pulling each other Amerigo told him. Ok! Said the friend and proceeded to hop in first without an invitation. Ok Amerigo, said the kid, you’re the puller and I’m a rider. Amerigo was a strong young boy so without complaint he began pulling his friend down the street. Other kids from the neighborhood saw this and wanted to join in the fun. At first there were many kids helping Amerigo pull the handle and a few kids jumped in the wagon for a free ride.

The wagon was large, but the handle was long and there was plenty of room for many hands to help Amerigo pull the ever-increasing load. It was a beautiful summer day and the sun shone down on the them causing beads of sweat to appear on the children (now called pullers) who had their hands around the handle. Luckily there were many more pullers than riders so the task was manageable. One of the pullers complained, “you know, I am an artist, I have an art lesson this afternoon and I am afraid my hand will be too sore to paint if I don’t get in and ride. So the artist jumped in the wagon and the pullers felt the loss of the pull and the gain of the weight. A little farther down the street, another puller groaned and said, “ you know, I didn’t feel very well last night, I had a tummy ache and all, maybe I shouldn’t be a puller”.  Amerigo felt bad so he could raise no objection and the wagon lost yet another puller and gained another rider.

A short distance later another puller spoke up and said” you know Amerigo, I learned the other day from my parents that your grandfather did some really mean things to my grandfather a long time ago and I think you should make up for it by pulling me too!”

One by one the excuses came, one kid claimed to be the poorest child of them all, while another claimed the wagon was actually stolen from him, when Amerigo protested that the load was getting too heavy the name calling began until he gave in and stated pulling again.

Then kids from another neighborhood just to the south of Amerigo’s neighborhood came running over and jumped into the wagon. He didn’t even know these kids, they were completely foreign to him. When he turned around and objected, they screamed that they were from a disadvantaged neighborhood and he was just being selfish with his new wagon, before he could argue his point some of the riders from his own neighborhood agreed with the kids from the underprivileged neighborhood to the south and called Amerigo more names. He knew the things the riders were saying about him were untrue but he didn’t like to be called such things, so he turned around and started pulling again.

They just kept yelling at Amerigo to pull faster, faster, after all he owed them all a free ride that wasn’t so slow; other riders complained that the ride was too bumpy.

Finally Amerigo stopped pulling the wagon, he looked back at the body of the wagon that used to be bright red, it now looked worn and haggard, the sides were bulging with the heavy payload of ungrateful riders. The once white wheels that used to be shiny and straight were now wobbling, dusty and askew. The blue handle was the only part of the wagon that still looked bright and hardly used.

The riders in the wagon were so busy griping at each other about who had more right to get a free ride that they didn’t even notice that the wagon had stopped moving; the few kids that had been helping Amerigo pull the wagon realized that there were many more riders now then there were pullers, so they just gave up and went home.

Amerigo dropped the shiny blue handle and it hit the street with a thud. The riders in the bulging wagon suddenly grew quiet, “what are you doing Amerigo? Why did you stop pulling, don’t you know how far we are from home? Do you expect us to walk all the way back? You owe us a ride home, where are you going, ?”

Amerigo didn’t look back at them, he just started walking away, he thought to himself, I just wanted to share my wagon, but it was never meant to carry that much weight.

I just wanted everybody to help share the load.

They all hate me now, they probably always have said Amerigo Vespucci.

Take a load off, Fanny
Take a load for free
Take a load off, Fanny
And you put the load right on me

(My version of a children’s book)