I drove over to Charlie’s Truck Stop this past week to fill my car with gas and pick up some chicken soup. I pulled up in front of the gas pumps and killed the motor. I was just crawling out of the car when Jake came bouncing out the front door with a container of barbecue in his hand. “I saved this for you,” he said and handed me the box. I did not much know what to say, Jake makes the finest barbecue around and he prepares it mostly on weekends. I have never known him to have barbecue mid week. “It’s not fresh,” Jake volunteered. “I’ve had it in the freezer waiting for you since Saturday evening, but you should be able to warm it up in your microwave and, if you are careful not to leave it in too long and dry it out, the meat should still be pert good.” I was still at a loss for words, but I managed a polite “Thank you” and asked how much I owed him. “Not a thing,” came the response. “I just thought you might like some barbecue.” I was honestly perplexed. Jake is not in the habit of giving away free merchandise, but before I could pursue the topic any longer, we were both brought around by a pair of blood curdling screams from across the road.
I whirled around to see two children running wild across Jake’s front yard. It was Jake’s granddaughter, Ellie, down from Jersey with her mother to pass the time from Thanksgiving through the Christmas holidays with Jake and Maureen. The boy was the Reverend Johnson’s grandson come to stay over with the Reverend. The boy, Taterbug, came down from New York for the Thanksgiving weekend, but he and Ellie had so much fun together the boy called back and begged his mother into letting him stay over until Christmas also. Both children are in their fifth year and will be starting school soon and this is the last opportunity they will have for a long winter stay with their grandparents.
The children had some sort of ball about half the size of a basketball and they were running about and screaming like wild Indians let loose. Jake and I stood there watching them for a while. It was difficult to believe I had ever been that young and had that much energy. Jake finished filling the tank and said, “Ya know, Jack Witherspoon was in here this morning to pick up some dog food for those old hounds he keeps out at his place. The kids were inside the store running all over and I had to chase them outside. Jack looked at me real serious and asked me if I was comfortable letting Ellie play with a little black boy. It came upon me that thinking about it like that had never come into my mind.
“Now I’ve known Jack all my life. Jack is not a racist in the strict sense. I was in school with Jack when little black kids began to attend white schools. Back then, when the white kids mostly stayed away from the black kids and the black kids stayed by themselves, Jack and Mose Rafferty were best friends. You never saw one unless the other was there. They were in the same classes in school, they were both on the basketball team, they went fishing together and they went on dates together. You would see them out, Jack with a white girl and Mose with Tulip somebody. I can’t remember her last name. Jack, it seemed like, had a different girl every week while Mose only had eyes for Tulip. I heard the story that Jack asked the high school prom queen out to a movie and she said she would be delighted to go with Jack, only she was not going to share no date with two niggers. It was said Jack didn’t even bat an eye. He just turned away without a word and asked another girl to go with him. Come a few months later, the prom queen met up with Jack and apologized for her remark about niggers and said she would be thrilled to go out with Jack. Jack accepted her apology real gracious like, but he never asked her out. Mose was his friend.
“Last I heard, Mose was manager of a hardware store in Tupelo. Jack goes down there real often and Mose comes up to visit with Jack. They go fishing together and they pass most holidays in the company of each other. Jack once said if Mose lost his sight, Jack would consider it a privilege if he could give Mose one of his own eyes. So Jack is not your standard red neck bigot, but he is not comfortable watching a little five year old black boy playing with a five year old blonde.
“Now I have to admit I am a man of my time and of my place. I was raised up in the South and I remember back when black folks were not allowed in the same restaurants as white folks, they could not use the same rest rooms as white folks and they could not sit in the same part of the bus as white folks. At the time it never entered my mind to ask about it. In my later years I have come to see that was not the right thing to do. Just where did black folks go when they came to town and needed to use the rest room? For the record, I don’t think race was ever an issue here at the store. As I remember, when old Charlie Biggers ran this store white folks and black folks came in and traded with Charlie just alike.
“Looking at those two kids playing over there, if they were two teenagers sitting on the front steps kissing, I might have some reservations. Romance is complicated enough when the two kids involved come from similar backgrounds. It is difficult enough for two people who grew up next door as Maureen and I did to make a relationship work. Believe me, I know. Put together two kids from different upbringing and the problems just get more complicated. On the other hand, I am not all wise enough to decide who Ellie should choose when she comes of age and, thank God, that choice is still in the far future. For those two kids running around in the yard over there, their relationship is not about romance, it is about two children having the time of their lives and I feel comfortable with that. The Good Book says something to the effect, and I can’t remember the exact quote, don’t concern yourselves with tomorrow’s problems. The problems of today are enough to fill your time. I believe that’s good advice.”
END
