I watched a football game last night where the home team was behind 24-0 at halftime. They came back and won the game. It reminded me of back when I had come home from Korea with damage to my feet from freezing while on patrol. I had given up on life. I started drinking and even running around with women. My wife, Bethel, was waiting up one night when I came home. I smelled of whiskey, cigarettes, and cheap women's perfume. Bethel's voice was gentle, but firm as she told me that no matter what she would not give up on me even if I was determined to give up on myself. She reminded me that I was also giving up on her and on my three children. Something about the words she used and the way she spoke them hit me. From that day forward my life changed.
I don't know what that coach said to his team during halftime and I am sure it was not spoken in the kind, gentle voice that Bethel used that day back in the fifties, but whatever he said worked.
Tales of Harper, short stories and poems
about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle
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