A Story for Eloise

by Robert James Allison

  “I'm a sophomore in high school,” Jamie responded in a manner that let Mike know he wasn't going to let on that he had talked to him before.

  “Let's see. That would be 10th then wouldn't it?” he responded just to make conversation.

  “Yeah, I guess so, but we don't usually call it that 'cause it sounds too much like grade school.”

  “I see. Can't say as I blame you there. I didn't want nobody calling me a grade schooler when I was in high school either.”

  “You finish high school?” Jamie asked unabashed, as if he didn’t already know the answer and ignored the look his mother gave him for being so nosy.

  Mike caught the look, pretended he didn't and responded, “Yes, I did Jamie. You see, I had a Pa a lot like yours. He made sure I went to school. School came first and he didn't take no nonsense about it.”

  After supper Jake took Mike out to the barn helping him carry the blankets that Janice had scrounged out. Right now it felt pretty good and the extra blankets seemed a little silly, but he knew it could cool off fast up in these foothills on a clear night and this one was clear.

  He arranged his blankets as Jake puttered around in the barn cleaning up here and there and combing and brushing the one horse he had. The two cows seemed content to have Mike’s company and he stroked them each a few times just to make sure they knew he was friendly.

  “Where you keep the milking buckets, Jake? Figure since I'm out here anyway I can just milk these cows when I get up. Save you the trouble,” he said and wondered if he really could milk a cow. He had seen it done a couple of times. If not, he could always pretend he had overslept, which he might just do.

  “Stuff’s all over yonder,” Jake said pointing to another corner of the barn that had the appearance of a small storage room.

  Mike remembered seeing the wood piled up by the side of the house with an axe buried in the chopping block and he figured there was enough light from the side window of the kitchen to chop a little wood so he headed out that way.

  Jake was puttering around with his worktable in the barn anyway and Mike couldn't have gone to sleep if he had been ready. He figured he was tired enough to sleep, but couldn't see going to bed this early. Besides, he had to make a good impression on Jake if he expected to be kept around long enough to do any good. Why he wanted that he still didn't know. Being around this poor, dirt farm made him uneasy, He couldn’t relate to poor people. Still, he felt the need to stay. Maybe it was something in what Jamie had said or the way he had looked when he said it, but he had to stay.

  ~*~

  After a while Jake quit tinkering in the barn and went in to the house. As he passed Mike who was still methodically chopping wood he said, “see you in the morning.”

  “Right, Jake. Night.”

  As Jake came in the front door of the cabin the kids were putting up their school books and getting ready to head for bed. He was thankful that for once neither had asked him to read a book to them or help with something or other in those baffling books. He would have loved to do either, but he just couldn't make sense out of words no matter how hard he tried.

  “I'll say one thing for that man. He sure is a worker,” he said to Janice

  “He's been chopping wood since right after supper, Jake. Don't he get tired?”

  “I expect he does, Janice, but he was raised on the farm himself, he says. I imagine he knows the value of a good pile of cut wood. Anyway, it's too soon to tell if he will keep it up and if he is trustworthy.”

  She responded, “Seems like a nice man and it seems to me that before it gets too cold in that barn you ought to be able to tell if he's fit to move in here and sleep in the loft.”

  “I figure that, too. I wasn't figuring on him staying in that barn all winter, but I wanted to know what he did when that was all that was offered. Seems to me he took it okay and that he may be just what he says he is.”

  “Which is what?”

  “An out-of-work and out-of-money traveler who is just on his way to warmer parts of the country, and needing a place to lay over this winter. Though something don't feel quite right about him. I just get the feeling he isn't what he says. He talks kind of like poor hill folk, but he don't always carry himself like poor hill folk. Sometimes he don't talk quite like hill folk either.”

  “He's got some education I think. That probably is the difference. Educated men can be poor, too,” Janice responded.

  “Maybe. I ain't educated Janice, but I've done enough huntin in the woods to know when something don't feel right and this don't feel right.”

  “Well, I hope he works out. You could use the help.”

  ~*~

  The first few days passed quickly for Mike. Early to rise and milk the cows, then a quick breakfast and into the fields. He thought he had worked hard when he was a kid, but he quickly realized he had never worked. He couldn't imagine how Jake managed to get everything done on this farm by himself. No wonder the chicken coop was in such disrepair.

  The north cornfield was completely harvested and the second about half way finished by the end of the second week and he was no closer to solving the problem of teaching Jake to read then when he had arrived. However, he did start to feel like he was being accepted and there was no doubt he was earning his keep.

  Jake put him on the corn sheller at the end of the second week while he continued to harvest the corn from the field. When Jake brought in a load from the field Mike took every opportunity to strike up a conversation.

  “Seems to me that we could get this harvesting done quicker if I was to help you in the field. That boy of your'n looks big enough to handle this sheller. Make the harvest a lot quicker,” he said when Jake was loading corn into the crib.

  “Besides, I'll be done shelling this dry corn before you get all that new corn in.”

  “Boy's got book learnin to do. Book learnin is more important,” Jake said with finality.

  Mike was silent, pondering the situation. Suddenly his mind was back in his youth. His own father was with him and he remembered something. A feeling, a different perspective. Then he said, “it is, for sure, Jake, but a boy's got to learn to be a man, too. He don't get that from no book. Boy gets that from watching and help'n and listening to his Pa. He wants to help, Jake. I can tell the way he looks and talks.”

  “Plenty of time to work the farm. He needs to get his learnin in at school first.”

  “Sure, he needs that, but when I was young I done both. Made for some long days, but I learned more from my old man in two hours than I did all day in them books. I learned how a man was supposed to act and how he was supposed to do his work. Cain't learn that from no book.

  “This ain't none of my business and I hope you don't take it wrong, but I got to say it. You keep pushing that boy away from you and into those books and you are gonna lose him. One fine day you'll git up and he'll be gone. He'll be off look'n for someone who will pay attention to him and teach him the things he cain't learn in no book. You want some stranger teaching your boy how to be a man?” Mike ended flatly, wondering if he pushed too far too soon.

  Jake was silent for a while chucking ears of corn into the crib. Then he said in a quiet and meek sounding voice, “I guess I never gave that part no thought. I reckon that boy is a grow'n up faster than I figured. I see what you is a say'n. I seen it a long time ago, but there's other things causes problems. You see I never got no education. I vowed my kids would get what I never got. I don't want my kids breaking their backs on this dirty little farm forever. There's more out there than that. I ain't never seen it, but I heard tell. I expect you've seen it. Ain't ya?”

  “I've seen a sight of it and I'm telling you it don't compare to what a father can give a boy right here on this dirty little farm, as you call it. That boy can't make it out in the world I've seen, without education from school, and from you. All the books in the world ain't going to make him a man and that's what he needs to be. You didn't get no formal education, Jake, but you learned to b
e man just the same. Now I ain't trying to take nothing away from book learning, but there's more and you know it. That boy don't get it from you he might get it somewhere else and it might not be so good.”

  “Mike, you told Jamie you finished high school, right?”

  “Yes,” Mike said simply, but didn't add that he also finished college and then went on to get a master’s degree. That would go over about like a lead balloon and he felt like he might be getting close to an opening here.

  “Well I didn't. I never even seen the inside of no high school. I barely seen the inside of a grade school and that only for one year. Not enough to learn me nothing. All I ever done is worked this farm. Day in and day out. I don't want that for my kids. They got to go to school and get their homework done.”

  Mike was disappointed. He was sure Jake was leading up to telling him the real problem, but he didn't, so he decided to push just a little more.

  “Jake, what are you really trying to tell me? Lots of fathers, in fact, all fathers want their kids to have more than they had. You ain't no different than any other father.”

  “I'm different,” he responded dismally.

  “How different?”

  “Just different. That's all,” he said with finality and turned toward the field again.

  “I guess I'll be moving on in the morning,” Mike said, thinking in desperation that he had to get this show moving.

  Jake stopped dead in his tracks and he said, “Why do that? Winter's just getting ready to set in hard.”

  Here goes, Mike thought and said, “cause I can't stand to be around a man who don't like his own kids.”

  Jake blew sky high. Not physically, but internally. Mike could see him seething inside, but his outside was as calm as a summer lake in the morning.

  “What do you mean I don't like my kids! They got all I can give 'em. I can't help being poor! I ain't educated like you. I do the best I can and I ain't punishing them by making them go to school. An educated man like you ought to see that!” he finished, starting to heat up on the outside now.

  “Then why do you push them away all the time? Especially Jamie, when all he wants to do is help you and learn from you. And you never go in early and just talk with them. I never seen you read them no stories or help them with their homework.

  “If you are so all fired intent on them being educated why don't you go in and help them with their homework and read to them? Because you don't like them, that's why, and I ain't go'n to spend the winter around a man what hates his own kids!” Mike finished, with feigned vehemence and mentally crossed his fingers.

  That did it. Jake was mad inside and out now and he said, “I near work myself to death for those kids. Just to make sure they can go to school like I never did. For an educated man you ain't too smart!”

  Jake was mad now and Mike could tell he wasn't thinking. His guard was down and that is just what Mike had wanted.

  Jake raved, “Didn't you just hear me say I never got no school'n? How you expect a man with no school'n to help his kids with their homework! How you expect a man cain't read a lick himself to read a story to his kids!” he spat out and stopped as if struck by an axe handle. Mike could see that Jake had just realized what he had said. His most closely guarded secret was out.

  Mike sat perfectly still letting Jake's rage subside and letting him recover from letting slip, his own best kept secret and then he calmly said, “so it ain't you don't like your kids. It's just that you are afraid if you get too close to them they will find out you cain't read. I doubt that would make a bit of difference to them. You may not believe me, but I have a feeling those kids of yours think you are the greatest thing that ever walked this earth. You may not think so, but they do. I've seen it in their eyes as they watched you from afar. Even Jamie when you push him away. He still looks back and I can see it in his eyes.

  “I see the hurt in his eyes, too and there ain't no hurt like I've seen in that boy’s eyes when you push him away. But if you think that you have to learn to read to have your kids love you, then learn to read. Ain't no big deal.”

  Jake was calmer now. Almost too calm. He was clearly in shock after letting out his most guarded and devastating secret and he said, “what do you mean it’s no big deal? Maybe not to you, you can read, but it’s big to me. If it ain’t a big deal how come I’ve worked so hard all my life to hide it? You’re crazy, that’s what you are.”

  “I'm serious, Jake. Lots of people older than you learn to read. It ain't as easy as it is when you are young, but it ain't like climbing Mt. Everest, either.”

  “It ain't that I don't think I could do it so much, but I ain't got the time nor the money,” Jake seemed almost relieved that he was able to talk to at least one person openly about his secret.

  “Well, it really don't take money, Jake. There is writing all around you. You just got to learn the basics and then practice a lot. I can help you learn the basics if you want and there is a way you can do it that won't take you from your work.”

  “How you figure? Got to go to school don't you? I ain't go'n to no school where my kids is above me. Don't you understand what it is like to know your kids is smarter than you are? You ever wondered what that feels like? Well I'm telling you I know and it ain't a good feeling.”

  “There you go again, Jake. You always equate smarts and love with book learning. There’s education, and there’s education. Right now you know more than those kids because you're the old man and you've lived a sight longer. Maybe you can't read or do your sums, but you know how to survive in a tough world. You're smart. I know it.

  “Look at that bathroom you fixed in the house. No dummy could figure that out. Reading, writ'n, and arithmetic ain't the whole world, but it does make some things easier. And you are right to want your kids to know that stuff, but you are wrong to shirk your duty as a father and not teach them the other things they have to know that aren't in books. Now…you tell me if you want to learn to read or not,” Mike finished adamantly.

  “Course I do, but I don't see how,” he said sadly.

  Mike had originally thought he could just give this man the money to go to school, but now he saw that wouldn't work. Now he had to do some fast thinking. Money wasn't going to get him out of this one. He couldn't buy a solution to this man's problem with money. Mike understood how to make things happen with money, but this problem would take more than money. This was a new train of thought for him. He wished he had turned that motorcycle down the hill toward the hard road instead of up toward this dirt farmer.

  With his head spinning and calculating he barely realized that he was talking when he began. “I'll show you the basics. I'll teach you your letters and how to put 'em together and how to sound 'em out when you put 'em together. We'll do it late at night, in the barn, after the kids are in bed. Won't be long you will start to make sense of it and by then my friend back home will have sent me the next course.”

  “What next course?” Jake asked skeptically.

  Mike hesitated a few seconds thinking that this was not an image he was selling now. This was reality and he would have to back it up with some real substance. “I got a friend up north and I’ll have him send us a set of discs with a player that you can carry around with you while you work. Believe it or not, listening to the tapes and hearing words sounded out and you copying the sound, will help you learn to recognize the sounds on paper.

  “I'll have him send us a couple of simple story books, too. I can hide them in my things and you can practice on 'em later. Okay? Want to give it a try? Or you want to keep living in a different world from your kids? You want them to go on thinking you don't like them?”

  Mike could see that had struck home.

  “Okay,” Jake responded simply.

  Mike was smiling now on the outside, but he was cringing on the inside. I hope I can pull this off, he thought, and then he asked himself why it made any difference whether he pulled it off or not. The answer, he decided was simple. It just did. <
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  ~*~

  Doc Collins sat at his usual winter perch, the kitchen table, going over his mail and sorting out his bills by due dates. The ringing of the phone brought him out of his thoughts and he got up and grabbed it off the wall.

  “Hello,” he said into the phone.

  “Doc, it's Mike Maltby.”

  “Hello, Mike, how's it going? Where are you?”

  “Well, I'm in West Virginia. The Appalachian foothills.”

  “What's going on there, Mike?”

  “Got a little deal working. I need a set of standard CDs that have phonics lessons on them.”

  “CDs? Phonics?” Doc said perplexed.

  “Yes, it isn't all that new of a system, but it helps a person learn to read by listening to the pronunciation of words. It makes it easier to recognize the words on paper and sound them out to yourself.”

  “I know that, but what are you up to? Why in the world are you calling me for something you can get at a local book store?”

  “Well. You are the only one I know who could do this for me, keep it quiet and understand.”

  “Well, I don't understand, but I'll see what I can come up with.”

  “Now listen, they can't be new, Doc. I want used CDs that look like they have seen some wear. I told someone that I was borrowing them from an old friend. I don't want to get any new CDs. Oh, I also need a good used CD player with batteries. The type you can strap on and carry around with you. Nothing fancy, but sturdy. Plenty of batteries and oh, a set of earphones, too.”

  “Used! How am I going to do that? Not many yard sales going on this time of year.”

  “Go into the library in town. Go buy some new CDs and a new player and trade the library for their old ones. I can't do it myself or I wouldn't ask you. I got to stay close here and I need used stuff.”

  “How quick you need this stuff?”

  “Yesterday, but I don't want to cause no fuss when they are delivered. Federal Express the package overnight to me, care of the general store in town. I'm there now using the phone and I'll ask the owner to sign and hold the package for me. Oh and throw in a couple of basic reading primers, too. You know, the first and second grade levels. I'll check tomorrow for the package.”