Perspectives, a column by Michael Veves: How Billy made a difference

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July 22, 2009

Michael Veves

"Hi! My name's Billy. Do you need help? I have references." So began the story of Billy Pepe, 13 (and one-half), of Haverhill.

The winter of 2008-09 will forever be in our minds: there was a storm a week, constant cold and ice. For people working with livestock, it was a nightmare. For us, 20 years now in Haverhill working with horses, our spirit was breaking.

When our 36-year-old Appoloossa slipped and pinned himself under a fence, we seemed ready to pack it in. The horse was within minutes of being euthanized had it not been for the heroic efforts of Tyler Kimball and the Haverhill Fire Department. A week later another horse would scratch his cornea and nearly go blind but for our constant vigilance from February to June.

My wife and I felt beaten. In stepped young Billy.

In early April this young man strolled down our driveway signaling that he was ready for hard work, liked farms, enjoyed the outdoors, and everything else agricultural. "Marianne," I would say to my wife that night, "he's only 13."

I called his mom, Michelle.

"Gee, did he come over there? He's got lots of initiative, but I didn't know he did that."

I explained the difficulty of stable work. A few days went by and, again I thought, "Maybe I'm not being fair. Why don't we have him come out with his parents They can eyeball what goes on."

Marianne, always the optimist, thought that was good idea. I would call Michelle back and make a plan for a visit with her, her husband, Bill Sr., and their sons.

"There's hay to be hauled, buckets to be cleaned and sterilized, paddocks to be raked and kept clean, stalls to be done, tack to be clean, planters to be watered, fountains need cleaning, driveways to be swept, and anything else. That's only the beginning," I would cautiously inform Billy. "It's very hard work and you have to be careful: there's bees to watch out for on top of it. Getting hurt by a horse is an ever-present reality."

Billy seemed undaunted.

His dad warned, "If you decide to do this, it's a commitment. I don't want you saying how hard it is in a week and quitting!" Again, Billy was ready to throw caution to the wind. He wanted this! I could tell.

Suddenly I realized a golden opportunity awaited me, for I had always wanted to get young boys involved with horses and couldn't seem to. I relished the fact that I could serve as a mentor to this young fellow. He had two fine parents and lived only a couple of miles away.

We laid the plans: Billy would get a wage and a private riding lesson each week. That was April.

Help comes to us in the least expected ways, and there are those among us who believe there are no coincidences. Billy seems to have arrived just in time.

Marianne and I were really feeling the test of age and for the first time started realizing that "selling" was around the corner.

Billy's arrival provided us with our own "stimulus package:" he is a well-mannered young man with sound parenting who can follow directions. Even Billy reminds me sometimes in a way only he can, "I'm unusual," he tells me. Oftentimes he says, "How did you do all this without me?" I hope his youthfulness and innocence are never lost.

Adult men miss something that adult women have more available to them: in our culture the wise woman seems more available to counsel and caution an inexperienced woman. Young men do not have available in their schools many men teachers. But for sports, some boys only have a father to model life skills for them. There simply are not enough solid men in the lives of many young boys anymore.

On that April day, opportunity not only knocked for Billy. It knocked for me.

Daily life for every human being can be challenging, daunting, for we must meet ourselves face to face. Work, spousal needs, aging parents, community and charities pull us in many directions at once. We falter, try to pick ourselves up, begin anew only to see the cycle repeat. This repetitive action takes a toll on us physically, psychically, and spiritually. The 'Billys' of the world are restorative, helping to center us, to see what is important in this world: commitment, patience, originality, and old-fashioned work.

Billy teaches us about 'talk that matters,' so different from the empty talk of "The Bachelor," "Rush Limbaugh" and the myriad mindless media bombarding us into believing we need to be someone else.

These sudden halcyon days working alongside Billy have been great fun, for he is quite the conversationalist, too, which delights us! I often tell Billy, "Keep talking. It makes time go by. But keep working, too."

Billy refers to me as his 'boss' which, for me, appears delightfully genteel. May every adult have the opportunity that I have had, for only then can he understand the phrase, Biblical in meaning, "The child is father to the man."

Michael Veves and his wife, Marianne Dunsford, have operated Pear Tree Lane Stable in Haverhill for 20 years. You may contact him at 978-521-1505.