Old Jesse

   / Old Jesse #1  

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My neighbor showed up on the front porch Sunday evening. It was raining buckets when he got here. I saw him pull up in the yard in his beat up old Chevy pickup, and Fred and I went out to meet him.

I'm not going to say this man's last name, he has more relatives than Carter has liver pills. He's eighty if he's a day and he still manages his own grove and runs a couple hundred head of cattle.

I've seen this man up close maybe six times and not one of those times did he have any shoes on. His feet look like bricks of bread dough that have been dropped in the dirt two or three times for good measure and his toenails are all black. From cuticle to tip. Not dirty. Black....unhealthy. Like he smashed every one of them at some point and they are just waiting for a likely moment to fall off.

No teeth, if he has any, he has never worn them to my knowledge, and his earlobes hang down to his shoulders on both sides. When he grins, which is often enough, his face looks like an apple that might have been good to eat last year.

He is an old Florida cracker, owns most of the land around here, used to own ours until he gave it to his grandson who proceeded to sell it.

"Kids got no sense anymore," says the old man "land's the only thing worth having."

Anyhow he came to tell us that half his cattle seemed to have gotten loose and he wanted to know if we had seen any of them, as they have on occasion been found on our property. We told them that we hadn't, but that we would keep a look out.

He went as quickly and unexpectedly as he came, walking through the pouring rain like it wasn't even there and I was sad. I would have loved to wile away the afternoon listening to him talk about old Florida, and how they did things in the good old days. I've had the pleasure of hearing a few of his stories, but only enough to whet my apetite for the history of this place.

He told us once of swarms of mosquitos that blacked out the sun after a hard rain, how he huddled under an old wet blanket on his back pasture to escape a sudden brush fire. He told us of planting the trees that now comprise our grove, tucking them into the soil when they were six inches tall, tress that are now fourteen to fifteen feet high.

The year of the locusts, the many years of droughts, the year of the citrus canker, the year of the hard freeze. Just little tidbits, here and there, tossed out like the occasional bone to the hungry dog.

I watched him inch his truck out of the driveway. He's not the kind of guy you can 'invite over' for supper. He's the type who comes to pay his respects when a family member dies, leaving after only a few moments, not wanting to overstay his welcome.

He comes and goes with no warning, appearing like a gift, and never stays long enough to satisfy me. There is nothing I'd like to do better than write a book on the local history of this area, and he would be a fine one to fill it. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I had nothing to lose by asking.

This morning I made up my mind and I went to see old Jesse and I asked him if he would consider being the subject for a book about the local history of our area and he said he didn't mind if he did. So now I have a new project. We set the interview times for evenings around seven, which also gives me an opportunity to bring him a few dinner meals as I don't think he eats well. I cannot wait to get started! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Old Jesse #2  
Alright, Cindi!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

I knew you had books in you just waiting to come out!!!

Keep us posted!!!
 
   / Old Jesse #3  
I'm sitting in my cube, laughing at this old character. Don't ever show a picture of him.. it would spoil the whole thing.
/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Old Jesse #4  
Cindi,
I just got through telling my wife about your abilities to put great stories into words. Actually, I read Old Jesse aloud for the first time myself (and to her) as she ironed. I had just prior, told her how I enjoyed reading your posts. As I read, I didn't know what to expect, half expecting a joke or something. But to hear that you are going to write a book, well, that is exactly what I had told my wife you should be doing prior to reading "Old Jesse"
Good Luck...Kyle
 
   / Old Jesse #5  
Sounds like a neat project , ,,,when you get the book done and printed , I would like to purchace a copy ...
Thanks for sharing , I hope you both have many enjoyable times...
Bill G.
 
   / Old Jesse
  • Thread Starter
#6  
Cindi, get to it as quick as you can, and tape the intervues.
If you can, do video, with the camera on the old timer from over your shoulder.
There's no way you can make enough notes to accurately describe a conversation with one of these guys.
A great saddness of our culture is the amount of knowledge that gets buried in graves daily because noone took the time to ask these old timers. I've lost a couple of them in the process of setting up the intervues. Even if you never finish the book, the knowledge will be recorded for future generations.
 
   / Old Jesse
  • Thread Starter
#7  
Thank you everybody. The thought did cross my mind that it might not get finished and to me that is the scariest part of the whole thing. I do have a video camera and I think I might use it on a couple of occasions to help me better remember how to describe 'expressions, etc, and I willl be doing lots of photos as well. It's been a long time since I got this excited about anything. He said....'I won't know what to talk about...'

I said, 'don't be worried I have TONS of questions, as long as you don't mind answering them..' and he chuckled. He talks in terms of time by president..such as...during Hoover time or during Truman time.

If anyone has any questions about anything that took place between 1918 and the present, now would be the time to voice them. Lol~

Said he went to school for a few years and never wore shoes once.
 
   / Old Jesse #8  
WOW! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

What a cool story! If your book is half as entertaining as your post, it'll be a huge success. You truly have a gift in expressing your feelings and your thoughts. I'm going to be looking forward to reading the finished product.

Please keep us updated as your project progresses.
/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
   / Old Jesse
  • Thread Starter
#9  
Will do! Thanks. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
   / Old Jesse
  • Thread Starter
#10  
Cindy,
You have a gift in your writing abilities and you have down to earth charm and character in your personality...Keep up the good work and lots of luck in your endeavor's.
 

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