Meeting Trixie (from 9-27-10)

A cold front come through Harper County last night and it didn't get no higher than the low eighties today. We're all real glad. It's been one of the hottest summers we ever saw. Down at the cafe this morning, I heard a fellow say it was that global warning thing. He said he never knew who was giving the warning. Warning or not it was hot.

But the cool nights fit right in with me telling you about me meeting Trixie, who turned out to be my third and last wife. That night was the first cool night that year too.
I don't think I told y'all but my business was as a welder. My granddaddy started a blacksmith shop years ago which turned into a welding business with my daddy. I did all kinds of welding jobs, but for fun I did welding art. Still do. And at the county fair I took some of my stuff for sale and display. That's when I first saw Trixie. She was from the next county down and had not been to Harper a lot. I'll have to say she was a knockout. I had done a little metal monkey that could be hung from a tree. And Trixie was real took in by it. She said, "Who did this thing?"  And I said "I did."  And from then on we was locked in love.

Looking Back on Bethel and Mary Kate

 When I look back on my first two wives, I can't help but see how different they each was.

Bethel was trim and real pretty. She put up with a whole bunch from me with my drinking and running around and all. She will always be my one true love. I can never get back all the time I wasted out drinking when I could have been right there with her.

Mary Kate was at best pleasingly plump. She dyed her hair jet black and had a slight bitter odor about her. She was a good wife and was good to Bethel's children. Mary Kate wasn't near as forgiving as Bethel, but maybe she was what me and the kids needed at the time. We was all regular at the Catholic Church because of her.

I don’t know if I mentioned to y’all that I like opera. Most people find that strange, me coming from a small Mississippi town. It was my daddy what got me interested. He had spent a year living with an Italian family in New Orleans and learned to love Puccini and Verdi down there. Anyway, why I’m telling you this is there is a song in Tosca where this artist fellow is painting a religious picture what has a blonde beauty in it and he sings out about what he calls the hidden harmony between his woman in the painting and his real woman, the dark skinned, dark haired Tosca.That's what I think about when I compare my first two wives. 

All in all I was lucky with both wives. But not so with my third wife,Trixie. She was a different matter altogether. I met Trixie at a county fair and for the next few years she led me down paths I never thought I would go down.

Mary Kate (from 9-23-10)

Well, one of the best things about living in Harper is you know everybody. And one of the worst things is you know too much about everybody. Like one night Bethel got up from the table to answer the phone. Doreen was spending the night with a friend and me and Bethel and Bill and Jack was sitting there. On the phone was Mrs. Nicholson who lived just up the hill from us. She asked Bethel if we was all okay. Bethel said yes we were and why did she ask. And old lady Nicholson said she was worried when she saw there was only four of us at the supper table. I reckon the old woman was just plain lonely to be looking so much into other peoples lives. 

And that kind of thing is what made me notice Mary Kate. She had lived in Harper all her life and I didn't know nothing about her. After Bethel died I spent two lonely years and I reckon that made me see things I didn't see when I was happy with my Bethel.

I was trying to be a good father, but them kids was about all I could handle. Mary Kate was the head of the cafeteria at Doreen's school. I kept coming by to check on Doreen, but really to get in good with Mary Kate. Before you knew it we was regular courting. Everything looked real good for us. Except for one thing. Mary Kate was a Catholic.

Rethinking Sobriety (from 9-23-10)

I got to be honest. I been thinking and I ain't so sure that one dream had a lot to do with me quitting drinking. I think it was more of Bethel praying for me. During that time me and Bethel had two more children. I was still hanging out with my drinking buddies till late at night, but I had quit my woman hunting. When I would come in and try to be friendly with Bethel, she was usually friendly back. God bless her. But night after night when I turned and started to try to go to sleep I could feel the bed shaking away. I thought she was crying and after a few nights I said, "What's wrong with you? What are you crying for?" And Bethel said she wasn't crying, she was praying. I'm telling you it was like lying in one of them beds you put a quarter in and ride out five or ten minutes of them magical fingers. And I figured if she was praying that hard for me I had to do something about it. And that's when I quit.

We had a real good life with me acting right, but it wasn't long until Bethel got real sick and in less than a year died. And I just have to live with all that.

Drinking and Stuff (from 9-22-14)

Like I said I was feeling sorry for myself after my hospital stay. And when I come home my feet was all purple and I had a hard time getting around. Bethel was like an angel and looked after me. But I guess it wasn't enough for me and I started to going down to the Do Drop Inn and having a drink or two with the fellows. And before you knew it I was a full-fledged drunk, coming home and cussing out Bethel and scaring the baby. Then I started doing things with a woman who hung around the bar that I don't even want to talk about it.

 Brother Emil Stoozer, the new preacher at the church came walking right into the bar one night and embarrassed me so bad I come out with him. He talked real rough with me and told me how selfish I was. I didn't work too good. I kept drinking, but bought me a bunch of brown paper bags to try to hide my sin. But I did give up what I was doing with that woman.

You know what made me quit all that stuff. A dream. One night I woke out of deep drunk-sleep and knew I had had a bad dream. I  couldn't remember all what happened but I knew I wasn't any too good. Over the next few days I began to remember things about the dream and what I remember most was I was in hell and it was hot as where I was in that dream. When I asked the devil for some water, he said all they had was bourbon and he made me drink it. And the more I drank the thirstier I got and the hotter I got. After I remember all that dream stuff I didn't have no desire to drink no more. And I ain't had a real drink since. Now that's the truth.

Korea and What it Done to Me (from 9-22-10)

Sometime in 1951 the North Koreans marched down into South Korea. This wasn't good.  Right after Christmas in I found myself called up and had to leave Bethel. We'd been married only a little while and was living in bliss. I reckon her and me made Bill just before I left because he was born about nine months later. When I left on a train to New Orleans, I could look out the window and see Bethel standing right in front of the depot. She wasn't waving, but she smiled a big smile to let me know everything was gonna be okay. Of course I had no idea little Bill was growing inside her.
Well I come home in January of '53. War wounds. Wasn't no bullets or nothing. My feet got frostbit and I was sent to a hospital in California to get over it. I was let out in March and come home to Harper and I ain't left since. Except necessary trips to close by cities to get a decent hearing aid or things we ain't got here in Harper. Well, all that stuff with my feet, I guess, made me feel sorry for myself and I took to drinkin' and other bad stuff.

 Tomorrow I'll tell you about my dark days of drinking and how it hurt my Bethel so much.

Doreen (from 9-21-10)

My girl's name is Doreen. She was born in 1956. Now she lives over in Golds Creek. I think she may be separated from her no-good husband cause he ain't come over last few times she visited. She don't come but once or twice a year. Her kids used to drive me nuts, but now they're all growed up with kids of they own. One funny thing about Doreen (well, it ain't really funny) she's got this real ugly tattoo on her left fore arm and top of her hand that says: FALSTAFF BEER. Now you won't believe it, but she actually made a pretty good bit of money with that tattoo. Some local beer distributor paid her every month for flashing his beer at everybody she come up to. Well, that beer ain't around no more, but the tattoo is strong as ever. I hate to see it, but I reckon since she don't come around much it's okay. There's a town right in the next county that has a Falstaff sign on one of its buildings. It's been there since I was a boy. I guess they're like Doreen, advertising for nothing. Of course, a good coat of paint could fix theirs, but Doreen is stuck with hers. Tomorrow I'm gonna tell you about Korea and my war wounds.