Second Creative Writing Challenge: Task #2 - Long Lived Friends

It all started that summer afternoon in 1933.

Joe looked out the window of his house and saw that the new neighbors had arrived. The house next door had been vacant for several months since it's former tenants had to move because they could not pay the bills, those were difficult times, the times of the Great Depression. The curious Joe went to the front yard of his house to water the small and battered lawn, it was an excuse to see who the newcomers were; he noticed that they were a couple with a child about his own age, his new neighbor helped his parents out by moving in some things into their new home. Joe looked at the boy and waved at him, this action was reciprocated with a smile from the whole small family.

Joe was eleven years old and was a very outgoing kid, he straight up went to help the new tenants in the neighborhood. The couple asked Joe his name thanking his noble gesture, then introduced him their little son, his name was Tom. The couple had found a new job and had to move from their old house which was located in another city very distant from where they now resided in.

Joe was born in 1922, met Tom when he was 11, that is in 1933.

Joe was enrolled in the same school as Tom and they became great friends. They both graduated from primary school and decided to go to the same high school. Tom was better at maths than Joe, so it was only natural that he'd become used to help his friend out with his assigments. Joe wasn't the brightest colour in the crayon box when it came to studies.

Later on, Joe and Tom became teenagers and met a beautiful blonde girl named Lydia. As it's to be expected from young boys, both of them fell in love with the same girl, and that was not something to be surprised of since she was not only the prettiest gal at their school, but she also had a strong sense of humor, which made her even more attractive to some guys. Joe and Tom didn't know they both liked the same girl.

Lydia ended up going out with Tom, which resulted into a fight between the two friends. They didn't speak for weeks, not until Tom realized Lydia was cheating on him with some other guy. Maybe she wasn't as perfect as they thought she was, she was as sly as a fox.

Of course the whole school became aware of their love triangle, everyone laughing when they realized she had not truly chosen Tom or Joe, but Jaime.

Tom and Joe meet again, trying to leave all their fight behind since it was not worth it anyways. They decided to go near the lake to have a couple of beers, get drunk and share their dreams. Tom took his clothes off and went skinny dipping, but as he swam on the lake he choked up on some water, felt numb and began to drown. He was lucky enough that Joe was there to save his life and as Tom thanked him, they both realized they felt like brothers, as if they actually shared the same blood. Their friendship was meant to be cherished.

They both graduate from high school. Joe goes to work at a mechanical shop owned by the uncle of one of his friends, deciding to leave his studies right there and not going to college, but Tom, on the other hand, earns a scholarship to study in a very prestigious university.

In 1944 Tom finishes his studies at the university and is assigned to work in the Manhattan Project since the WWII was in full swing. Joe signs up to the army and goes to war, he is sent to the Pacific aboarding a Destroyer (Pacific War).

In 1945 the destroyer sinks and many soldiers die... Joe is lucky enough to survive.

Tom doesn't know anything about Joe and soon he finds out he is in a very serious state in a hospital. He goes out to visit his friend and he realized that even if he had to go through some surgeries for one of his injuries, Joe would be ok. They chatted for the whole day and month, Tom made sure to visit him whenever he had the time. The war ends and they remain as great friends.

Tom helps Joe out financially, he helps him find a new home, one close to his so that they can be neighboors again. Their soon to be wives even become good friends as they share stories of their husbands and even have some of the same hobbies and interests. They hoped their kids would be as close as they were.

At this time and age, they are still next door neighboors. Between the two houses of the long lived friends there is a wooden bench where they sit to remember the past and laugh as they are old now, look at the birds, have some food and even sometimes laugh at the story of the sly fox that almost broke their friendship, that story always manages to make them laugh.

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