Billy Breaks Through

They told Billy it was impossible. He could never break through the big stone wall in the village no matter how hard he tried. He was nobody special, but try hard he did.

In the beginning it was all just part of a child’s game — kids being little dicks to each other, bluffing while calling bluffs and the like. “Bet you can’t jump this high!” and “I can piss longer than you!” That kind of stuff. However, when Billy was challenged to break through the big stone wall, he wasn’t bluffing when he said he’d do it. He took up the challenge with fierce conviction — the conviction of a boy with conviction.

It was funny, of course, watching a child shove, kick, and punch his way to no
progress, but then it got a little worrisome. Billy didn’t stop. He just kept trying. He wouldn’t take no for an answer. His parents, who had initially encouraged him, found they had made a grave mistake. This was permanent. To Billy, the wall was but a conquerable obstacle.

Years went by. At age 16, when all the effort materialized physiologically, Billy
even made a chip in the wall. Or more of a blemish. Well, a dent. We’ll say it was a dent.

That’s when the town really took notice. It was a pretty big dent; could he possibly do this we wondered? There were more skeptics than supporters, but those of us who were behind him were loyal fans. Billy wasn’t going to let up and neither were we. I even thought of joining him, but these were childish dreams and I had to be an adult by then.

More dents and cracks appeared over the years. As time wore on we
realised that’s all that would be. Billy got scratched up, pretty bad actually, but he remained freakishly unperturbed. He just kept going. All his life he swore to us, as long as it takes, he’d break through the wall.

The look in his eyes; there was something riveting about it. The manner in which he carried himself before each heave or jolt towards the wall. He would careen into the mortar and be sent flying back, for he catapulted himself with such force sometimes. And when he lay there on the ground, sometimes for hours until coming to, he simply digested the defeat — really soaked it in— and grinned. Then he regrouped and continued on. “No one ever said this would…