Unveiling Talent: Veterans' Artistic Achievements for the 2024 National Creative Arts Festival

On August 18th, 2024, the Marion VA Health Care System held it’s 2nd in-person Creative Arts Festival. The festival took place at the Celebrations Event Center in Marion Illinois, which hosted approximately 80 attendees.

Veterans from all eras showcased their artistic talents and achievements in art, music, and writing competitions. To view the photo album of the visual arts.

While locally, Veterans were awarded first and runner up places, only the first-place national winners are being invited to the National Creative Arts Festival in April.

Join us in congratulating Veteran, Dave Wall, for being awarded the 1st place award in the short story category at the National Creative Arts Fest 2023. This prodigious talent has woven words into a tapestry of emotions that has left us all spellbound. Brace yourselves as we share with you, Dave Wall's winning short story below. 

                                       Dave Wall: Overtime     1st Place Short, Short Story 

____________

Kelly was having one a hell of a morning between a rapidly approaching deadline on her first sales presentation and the school calling to tell her that her youngest daughter had thrown up and due to the school’s policy needed to be picked up. She had tried her ex-husband Michael to see if he was up yet and could possibly pick up their daughter, but so far, no answer. He worked second shift, and it was only 10am so she knew he probably wasn’t up yet, but God damn it she needed him to be. She was just gonna have to pick the kid up, haul ass back home, give her something for her belly, tuck her in bed and then fly back to finish up her presentation after.

Ugh, I need a break Kelly thought to herself and closed her eyes. She gently rubbed at her temples hoping to ease the tension headache she could feel building up in her skull like charged ozone before a lightning strike. What had started as annoyance with her ex earlier in the day had turned to concern having still not heard from him. The familiar rush of emotions hit her like a shotgun blast, thinking of the eight-year long shared battle against his demons hit her. He had been doing great as of late, he was clean and had even sought treatment for his combat PTSD that had gone undiagnosed and untreated for years. It had led to countless disasters, the worst of which was a call from the hospital after he’d been found OD'ed in his car during one of their separations. Eventually it led to the end of their marriage.

His trauma had become her trauma. She had always been his strongest supporter and at times his only supporter. The accumulated years of stress and strife had bonded them for life regardless of the separations and divorce. Now the familiar worry was causing her mind to race with possible scenarios, but she knew she couldn't go down that road. Things had been good lately, and with that she put it to the side with the notion that he was probably just busy at work or some other innocent reason. 

Having spent the majority of the last few years as a single parent, Kelly had become a pro at juggling the needs of a sick kid, making dinner and helping her other child with homework. Michael had been the one who handled the messier side of parenting, but necessity dictated that puke clean up duty fall under her today. Thankfully by dinner time her youngest had bounced back from the stomach bug and would be her happy, crazy self by morning and back in school. Kelly slid under the covers and closed her eyes. There were times when Michael had been out there using and living the street life for weeks on end. It inevitably started with his PTSD taking over, next the self-medicating to try and control it, numbing himself to the nightmares and flashbacks but it always led to rock bottom and he'd end up at the V.A. Now having not heard back from him still she was starting to question whether she'd missed the warning signs. She was so sure of the fact that he'd been doing great, it can’t be. Knock it off, you’re making something out of nothing she thought. He's a grown man who doesn’t have to check in with his ex-wife for Christ’s sake. She turned off the light and rolled over letting the long day fade from thought.

Kelly had moved with purpose this morning. Her sleep had been plagued with a parade of scenarios that all ended with Michael dead. She had waited patiently with the kids at the bus stop, her face and body language betraying nothing of the ice-cold ball of anxiety that had lodged itself painfully in her gut. A short time later there she stood nervously shifting her weight from foot to foot, side to side her fingers gripping the emergency only extra key to Michael's apartment; waiting for that last bit of indecision to fade. She started for the front door but froze, it took a second but what she was hearing was definitely music. Hard fast and loud, Michael's kind of music, but it wasn’t coming from the apartments in front of her. It was coming from down the breezeway that led to rear of the building.

Her feet seemingly a step ahead of her mind carried her quickly forward, she rounded the final corner and out from between the two buildings. Her body jerked, her heart dropping to her feet. There he was, behind the wheel in his truck, head slumped and not moving. She stopped beside the door, horrific and gut-wrenching thoughts racing through her brain, her hand on the door handle she jerked it open. Kelly lost years off her life from sheer shock as Michael bolted awake confusion in his eyes as his ex-wife hit him on the shoulders and chest, tears running down her face shrieking over and over "you son of a bitch, I thought you were dead!”

A short while later with relative calm restored, he explained that he’d picked up a shift to clock some overtime and as a result didn’t have his charger. Exhausted, he had fallen asleep in the truck when he had finally made it home totally unaware of the turmoil she’d created for herself out of concern for him. After that sudden explosion of fear, shock and relief a heavy silence settled over them. Kelly’s red-rimmed eyes bored into Michael and unable to meet her death stare his head hung in submission. Sheepish and subdued his voice croaked "so you wanna get some lunch?