by Ed Nelson
It was pricey but definitely the best quality. Then he bought a matching brief case for me which he said was a present from him and Mum.
When we got home there was a letter from the International Seaman’s Union. It contained a note and an application. The note said since I was in good standing with the IORD union all I had to do was provide the information requested on the application and a money order for twenty five dollars.
I filled out the application on my typewriter. Dad promised to pick up the money order tomorrow and mail it.
That night I tried to read the sections about paper money again and just got more confused. Was it really money or not? I gave up on that and started to think about another issue that had come to mind. I had just joined my third union. Should I consider voting Democrat when I was old enough to vote? That is how I understood things worked.
But I was a businessman and they voted Republican. Also my godfather a Republican is the President of the United States. So should I vote Republican?
Then on the other hand my godmother is the Queen of England. Should I be a Monarchist? I must have fallen asleep about then.
On Friday I woke up from the craziest dream. Someone wanted to print paper money and I kept saying, “Off with their heads!”
My head cleared after my exercises. It was clear enough for my morning run.
Arriving at school at 8:00 I went straight to Mr. Brown’s hideaway as I had begun to think of it. Today he gave me a metal trash can which was mounted on a two wheeled dolly. There was also a pair of gloves along with a sawed off broom stick handle with a nail in the end. He told me to go two blocks in every direction of the school and clean up the trash dropped by my fellow students.
I filled the trash can up three times in the four hours. I never realized what pigs we could be. This was a winter’s accumulation but still a disgrace. I mentioned it to him when I was finished. He told me that it seemed to get worse every year.
Mr. Brown observed, “I don’t know why that is, but since the war ended it seems like parents are letting their kids get away with more all the time. The younger they are the worse they are. Kids born before and during the war have been held to one standard and those born afterwards to another. I don’t know where this is going but it can’t be good.”
My parents seemed to treat all of us kids the same so I don’t know. However if these trash cans are a sign of things to come it won’t be pretty.
When my time was up Mr. Brown gave me a slip to take to the office. I read what he wrote, “Mr. Jackson spent all the required hours and did a very good job. Please don’t hesitate to discipline him in the same manner in the future. I could use the help.”
Some compliments you don’t need!
I went down to Don’s for a treat. I was really tired of the school cafeteria. The food wasn’t that bad, it was just boring. Give me a hamburger and fries any day.
At Don’s it seemed like most of the school passed through during lunch. It was really surprising the number of kids who came up and wished me the best out in California. One kid was sitting in the corner and everyone was ignoring him. I thought about it for a minute and went to sit with Tom Humphrey.
“Tom, may I join you?”
“Sure you are the first person that has spoken to me in a week.”
“I know and I must tell you I wasn’t happy when you ratted on us. I can’t begin to tell you how many evil thoughts I had for several days, but I think you’ve more than paid the price. Why did you do it anyway?”
“I wasn’t thinking, I just wanted to get you in trouble. I didn’t realize the problems it would cause me.”
“So you don’t regret getting me and the others in trouble. Just that it caused you problems later.”
“That’s about it,” he replied.
“Tom, you are a real SOB, but as they said about Patton, you are our SOB.”
At that point I shook his hand. He shook it back with a confused look on his face.
“Everyone in here sees us shaking hands, so they know it is okay to talk to you again.”
“Thanks I guess, but don’t expect any breaks.”
“I wouldn’t expect any, Tom.”
As I left I thought, ‘what a loser in life, I hope he learns someday.’
I had my burger and fries. Several of the kids wanted my autograph, so they could say they knew me before I became a star. I kept a straight face as I told them they were too late. This gave everyone a good laugh.
When I got home Mum had me go through all my clothes and decide what I wanted to take to California. I thought I would wait until Sunday morning to pack, but she wouldn’t allow that. After going through everything I began to understand. At her urging I packed good clothes, shorts and t-shirts.
She told me to plan on buying casual clothes out there. The California definition of casual might be different than Ohio. As Mum’s do, she got her way, but I didn’t see how they would be any different.
At Spanish class I surprised Mrs. Hernandez with a small broach that Mum helped me pick out. It was in appreciation for teaching me Spanish. I could tell from the way she received it that Mum had the right idea when she said I should give a thank you present. Maybe Mum does know some things after all.
That night I thought about paper money some more. I just didn’t get it. The more I thought about it the less real it seemed. It was okay when the bill said gold or silver certificate on it. Then you trade it in for an equal amount of gold or silver.
It was when the government printed more bills than they had metal to back that it became confusing. In wartime the government would rightly decide they needed more money so they would just print it.
With more paper chasing the metal supply wouldn’t the value of metal go up? What if everyone wanted to cash in their paper for metal at the same time? I had read that some countries didn’t even back up their paper money with precious metals.
They just declared the value of the paper and that was that. Thank god the United States was on the gold standard or our economy would end up like the South American banana republics. Here today and gone tomorrow.
Chapter 18
On Saturday morning I was wide awake at the crack of dawn. Well 7:51 a.m. to be precise. After all it is winter. I knew the time because it was on the radio when I went down for breakfast. This was to be an exciting day. I would receive my Eagle Award from the Boy Scouts. Unlike many things that had happened to me in the last year I feel like I had worked for and earned this.
The ceremony was at two o’clock at the Lutheran Church. That is where my scout troop met. We had to be there by one o’clock to do a rehearsal. The ceremony is fairly simple, but we still had to do a run through. Mum had received the programs back from the printer, but I hadn’t managed to see one yet. They were always somewhere else when I thought to ask about them. Today they were all in the possession of our Scoutmaster Mr. Geist.
I wasn’t nervous about the day, I just wanted to hurry up and have it happen. Time seemed to crawl. I went out in the garage and messed around with my electronics for the hairdryer. I didn’t really accomplish anything, but it did help pass the time. I was so desperate that I even cleaned my room. Mum caught me at this.
All she had to say was, “You poor boy.”
After those encouraging words I went to the kitchen for coffee. It was now all of 9:30. After another half hour of babbling about nothing Dad sent me out for a run. It was a light drizzle, but as Mum said.
“You won’t melt.”
I asked her, “Will I catch my death.”
Her response was, “Better you out there than with us in here!”
I know they love me. Don’t they?
I ran and walked for an hour. By the time I got home I was soaked through, but felt calmed down. A hot shower warmed me back up. I put on a clean pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. I wanted to keep my uniform creases sharp until the last minute.
Mary came to me with a request to help her set up her doll house.
So I went to the basement and moved dollhouse miniature furniture. I now understand women and putting furniture in place. They practice it while young, the directing of men that is, not in the actual moving of furniture. I felt Mum’s fine hand in this exercise. It did help pass the time.
Time does pass even though it may be at the speed of a glacier. We had lunch at noon and then Denny and I put on our uniforms. Eddie wasn’t interested in scouting.
Denny is a Star Scout. Mary is too young to be a girl scout, but next year she can start as a Daisy.
The more expensive uniforms I had bought were worth the money. The fabric held their creases nicely and didn’t show wrinkles. Denny looked sharp in his uniform but it looked like he had been wearing it all day by the time we got out of the car. Eddie as most eleven year olds looked like he had been sleeping in his clothes for a week.
We did a walkthrough of the program. I finally got to see the formal printed program. Now I knew why it had been kept from me. There were all the normal events. Where it differed from other programs was the presentation of other awards. The Scouts presented Awards in a Court of Honor. At an Eagle Court of Honor they only presented the Eagle medal and badge. This Court had an exception.
There was a section on, other awards. These were the lifesaving awards. Another item that set me back was the special guests. I had half way expected our District and Council Scout Executives and Commissioners or at least some of them. The Mayor of Bellefontaine would be present which was again expected. The Mayor of Vincennes was a pleasant surprise. I really liked Mr. Hobbs.
Our local Representative to the Ohio State legislature was on the list to speak, also our United States Representative, and U. S. Senator Robert Taft. There would be a presentation from the White House by an Aide to the President. The last presentation was from the Court of Saint James. I had no idea what that was.
To top it all off there was a camera crew from Warner Brothers in the back of the church. This day could go on forever.
All of a sudden it was time. All the guests were seated. The church looked like Christmas Eve, standing room only. The Honor Guard led by my brother Denny presented the colors. We all stood for the pledge. Pastor Bowers gave the invocation.
I was led to the front by an Honor Guard of previous Eagles in our Troop. One of those was Bob Chapman in his Navy uniform. He is a Captain in the U.S Navy. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy he was home on leave and led me to the front. There were six Eagles present and they all were successful people, it made me proud to be joining them.
Mr. Geist started the program by telling us that the Eagle Award was the highest award that could be earned in Scouting. He told its history and a description of what it meant. Candles were lit to show what the parts of the award stood for. The Eagle was a majestic symbol, the red in the ribbon for cheerfulness, the white for loyalty, the blue of courage and the scroll symbolizing service.
Our District Commissioner gave the keynote address. Then the National Court of Honor was called to order. After that my Scout Oath was reaffirmed. I was given the Eagle charge which were the same marching orders all scouts had been given. Then my parents advanced and Mum pinned my Eagle Award to my shirt.
After that were the other awards. The Council Scout Executive read the citations and presented these. I received an Honor Medal and an Honor Medal with Crossed Palms. These were pinned to my shirt. With my three medals I would jingle while I walked. I thought of this while they were being pinned on. I wondered if Mum would take to calling me ‘Jingles’? At least my Arrow of Light from Cub Scouts was a patch rather than a medal.
After this all the politicians had their say. They all said nice things but you could tell they were giving canned speeches to keep in front of their constituents. The only one I felt that was really sincere was Mr. Hobbs.
When the Aide from the White House spoke he was brief. He brought greetings and congratulations from the President of the United States Dwight David Eisenhower. He also told us that my request for the President to attend the Ohio State Jamboree had been placed on the President’s schedule, and he would be there unless events dictated otherwise. That certainly started a stir in the room.
The Aide also had a gift from the President. It was a campaign hat in its hat press. It had the largest first class emblem I had ever seen on the front. It must have been four inches tall. The Aide pointed out that this was the Presidents own personal hat from when he was a boy. Inside I would find his initials DDE. Wow!
The last presenter was the guy from the Court of Saint James, Sir Bartholomew Benton. He was here as a representative of my God Mother Queen Elizabeth the Second on this auspicious occasion. Yes he really talked that way. He also gave the congratulations and presented a gift. It was a pretty ugly walking stick. Most US Scouts used a staff as tall as them. This was more like a cane.
When he announced that this stick had previously belonged to Lord Baden-Powell I thought the professional scouters were all going to have heart attacks on the spot.
When that was done the colors were retrieved and the ceremony over. We went to the church basement for refreshments. The troop had arranged for the normal cookies and bug juice. Mum and Dad had provided a cake.
I was surrounded by well-wishers. The Presidents Aide introduced himself and in turn I introduced him to the Commissioners and Scout Executives. There was no time for a conversation, but I knew there would be questions later.
Sir Bartholomew introduced himself. When I introduced him to Mum he said.
“Lady Margaret I have heard a lot about you and your antics in the war.” Lady? Antics?!!! What was that all about?
I would have some questions for her later! In the meantime I examined the walking stick. It came with a nice storage case with Lord Baden-Powell engraved on a brass plate. There was even a picture inside with him holding it. There was also a letter from the Queen to me stating this was a gift on the occasion of my earning the Eagle Award. There would be no doubting this provenance.
The politicians had all completed their handshaking and departed. By this time the Presidents Aide had concluded his talk with the professional scouters. They all shook hands and he departed. Mr. Stanton the Council Scout Executive and Mr. Harris our District Executive joined me. They both wanted to know how I had got Eisenhower to agree to attend the jamboree.
I thought about making up a story but settled with, “He is my godfather.”
“What is your relationship with the Queen of England?”
“She is my godmother.”
You could see the regret in the Executives eyes, so many fund raising opportunities lost. They and every scouter present asked to hold Baden-Powell’s walking stick. Soon pictures were being taken of all.
As things quieted down a familiar figure approached, Mr. Weaver of the Bellefontaine Examiner.
“Rick, every time I think I have seen it all you come up with something else.”
We had a talk about the day and I explained my relationships. He wanted to know how I had come by such illustrious god parents. I sent him to my mother as I was just an infant in arms. I would have loved to hear her answers, but other people kept coming up and congratulating me.
The day finally wound down and we went home after helping clean up the mess that was made in the church basement. It wouldn’t do for the scouts to leave a mess!
At home we all changed back to our regular clothes. I was really impressed with my new uniform it looked as good as when I put it on in the morning. I wondered how many more times I would wear it.
I removed the medals and placed them in their presentation cases. In each case was a fabric badge I could sew on my shirt. I wondered if I could talk Denny into doing it for me, his stitches weren’t really that bad.
When things settled down I asked Mum about the Lady remark and the antics during the war. She told me that Sir Bart habitually called all women lady and that her antics were riding with Elizabeth. Dad gave her a sharp look at these comments but held his peace.
Later when I went to bed I continued to read about how nations measured wealth, but realized that it was like a giant con game that the normal person would never understand. We would have the illusion of understanding, just like we had the illusion that our paper money had value. We were like the people in the story, The Emperor had no Clothes. As long as the stuff would buy what I needed or wanted, the Emperor could walk around naked all he wanted. I think Miss Bales would have kittens at that mixed metaphor or worse yet her kittens would be like tigers then we would have a wild simile on hand.
Chapter 19
My flight was at noon on Sunday so we left for Dayton at eight o’clock to be on time. Mum had finished packing me the night before. She did this because she said I would forget my head if it wasn’t screwed on. After she said this, Mary climbed onto my lap at the breakfast table.
She started feeling around my neck, all of a sudden she said, “Mum, I think he has a screw loose!”
That broke us all up. Mary beamed, I think that was the best joke she had ever tried.
We arrived at the airport with no problems on the way. After I checked my bags the whole family escorted me to the gate. The boarding was on time so after the proper hugs, kisses, handshakes and admonitions to call and write I boarded with the first class passengers.
As I showed my boarding pass a photographer who I hadn’t noticed took my picture. He asked me to pose again. I did but asked him what was going on.
He gave me his business card. As an independent he had been contacted by the airline on their behalf and the studios to take shots of me boarding. He was pleasant about it so I cooperated. I didn’t realize it at the moment, but this attracted attention from my fellow passengers.
As I got settled in my window seat in the second row I started to understand why TWA was known as the Airline of the Stars. They made certain to get pictures of anyone in the business. That way if I became famous they would have pictures of me flying TWA. If I bombed out they would never see the light of day. The studio wanted them for the TV story they were producing. This business certainly is complicated.
