Writer's Notebook- "Jimmy"

I'm pulling an oldie out of my Writer's Notebook today. This piece is about my father-in-law.

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"Jimmy"

Now, he is defined by his eccentricities. His pockets are filled with tiny crystals, each with it's own purpose and function, "I don't want to leave my body while I'm driving."

Then, there's the chicken shit bald cure, "I can attest with 100% confidence that rubbing chicken shit on a bald head cure will cure baldness."

He has one get-rich-quick scheme after another, "My stock plan calls for me to make a minimum of two million dollars when the orgasmatron(AKA Slightest Touch) goes public."

He extends the most interesting invitations, "Live-in-lover is holding a seance with some ladies on Friday. You really should come. A friend of ours channels the universe. She'll being doing it on Saturday. Would you like to come hear the wisdom of the universe on Saturday at seven?"

Then, there is the father he once was. He was a young man when he married her, maybe nineteen. He gladly took a bride with a child who was a product of way-less-than-love. As far as he was concerned, that little girl was HIS. He even gave her his last name.

They were happy, really happy. She was a small town girl from a big family. He was the same. He loved to fish, play the banjo in a bluegrass band, drink beer and be a dad. She loved to cook and keep a lovely home. The couple had two more children together, a boy and a girl. They went on family trips and remodeled their house. They had good times, the best times, mostly happy memories. Both talk of their happiness. So, what happened?

At this point the story becomes foggy because his explanation changes with the tides. First, he says, "We grew apart." Next, he says, " She was holding me back from becoming the person I wanted to be." Then, he says, " A new spirit entered my body sending the old one away." That's the explanation that sounds right. A new "spirit" entered his body and she lived in Arlington, Texas. Why else would a man leave his wonderful wife and three children to move to Arlington, Texas of all places? There was nothing for him there except for maybe the new lady friend "spirit" of his.

IN the grand scheme of things, why he left isn't important. What does matter is that he left. He left three children with no father and no clue. His only son was six, maybe seven years old at the time. That kid adored his dad. He didn't care why his father left. All he really knew is that his beloved father walked out the door forever. He left the boy to deal with a long string of white trash boyfriends who came into his house and tried to play dad- mean dad, cruel dad, not his dad. Finally, when the boy turned twelve, mom settled on one-- a twenty-one-year-old boy closer in age to his new step-son than his new wife. There isn't much to say about that marriage except that after all of these years, it is still hanging by a frayed, brittle, miserable thread.

Sometimes, he still fells like that seven-year-old-boy, filled with all of those raw feelings of daddy leaving. He will never understand why men abandon their families, or why society allows it to happen. But, he knows for sure that no matter what, it will never happen to him.