Ajuma

By TJ Davis

TJ Davis' debut consists of a memoir and three short stories.

Favors for Neighbors: The true story of TJ starting his own volunteering project.
Only in Dreams: A man gets daily emails of the past night's dreams.
Ajuma: A Korean subway car cleaner finds a dead body.
Expulsion: A trip to the principal's office.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TJ Davis
• Release date: Jul 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370949748

TJ Davis

TJ Davis is an international teacher from Minnesota. His published writing includes five collections of short stories, two novellas, and a travel memoir about his three years living in Myanmar. His short story “Itchy” finished in the top 16 of the Discovery Channel’s “How Stuff Works Halloween Fiction Contest.” His works have also been included in the Chicago Center of Literature and Photography and Moloko House. He currently lives in Sofia, Bulgaria.

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AJUMA

By TJ Davis

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2010 Gentlemen Tree Publishing

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DEDICATION

To all the writers that came before me and cleared the trail.

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements

Favors for Neighbors

Only in Dreams

Ajuma

Expulsion

About the Author

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Special thanks to Joshua Lorenzo Newett for publishing this collection.

FAVORS FOR NEIGHBORS

I shall pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.

-Mahatma Gandhi

Letter to the editor from May 28th, 2010

Hey neighbors:

My high school community service teacher at Winona Senior High, John Ruggeburg, once told us that doing a little bit of good is better than nothing. 

I remembered those words for years, but I can’t say I’ve followed them as much as I should have. 

I just returned from overseas, and I find myself in Winona for the summer. I have no commitments until August. I want to volunteer my time to help others. 

The problem is I’m restless. 

I don’t think I can pick just one kind of service, so I want you to pick for me. You can have my time for a day or 10 minutes; it’s up to you. 

Is there anything I can help you with? Do you want someone to do your dishes? Walk your dog? Need a volunteer for a charity or organization? If you provide the ingredients, I’ll even cook you a meal. I’m 26 and have a reasonably strong back. I like working outside, but air conditioning is fine too. 

I am at your service. The ground rules: I won’t accept payment. I’m not doing this for money. I have a list of charities you can donate to if you feel like you want to do something in return.

I won’t do anything illegal. I will only assist you up to one day. I’m going for breadth here, not depth. I won’t do anything that would make my girlfriend want to cause me bodily harm. She’s strong.

I’ve got free time and want to help. If there’s anything I can do for you, you can e-mail me: favorsforneighbors@gmail.

I have no idea what kind of response to expect from this, but I’ll try to get to as many of you as possible. It will be first come, first served. Please let me know the time, place, and what you want me to do. Let me know if I can be of service to you.

June 4th, 12:19 am

I’m writing this from my parents’ basement. I’m supposed to be going to Perrot State Park tomorrow with a 7th grade class and my former 6th grade teacher, but it looks like it might rain. It’s also supposed to rain on Saturday, when I’m set to be a floater at the Dakota Gathering. A floater is basically a person who goes around and helps whomever needs helping. It’s good because it usually means you’re always busy and moving.

Getting interviewed for the newspaper was strange. It was weird being asked about something that hadn’t happened yet. I didn’t tell anyone about what I was doing; I just wrote the letter and figured it would work itself out. The reporter, Ken, was the kind of guy you wanted to tell stuff to; he was instantly easing. The photographer didn’t say much. I really don’t remember much of what I said for that matter. No mistakes in the article at least. I see the article every day when I make breakfast. Momma put it on the pantry door. I do hate that picture though. I like the one with me dressed up like Santa with my students back in Korea, but that’s only available via the newspaper’s internet page.

People seem curious about this project of mine, and I am too. I don’t know how it’s going to go. I can tell you how it’s going right now, better than expected. I’ve had over thirty offers the last time I checked. The day the article ran was when the vast majority of people emailed me, but even today there was another trickle of people who wanted some help.

Dana was the first person I helped. I had met him before, and I heard from my cousin Abby about him wanting people to strip the pontoon that day. We went near Airport Lake and met up with Dana and his daughter Gretchen. We dismantled the pontoon, basically transforming it into a dock. We ripped, pulled, unscrewed, and threw off everything we could to flatten it out. We worked a few hours on it, and by then the sun was going down. At sunset Dana gave me a beer, and we got bit by mosquitoes. I remember ripping up the carpet gave my hands the first of many blisters and bloody cuts of the summer.

Adam is my oldest friend in Winona. Whenever I go back, Adam’s always there. He was moving into a new house, so I helped him with that. During the cleanup we found a dead bird in his house. He put a bunch of stuff on the curb, and even though he doesn’t live on a busy street, almost everything was gone within an hour. Adam also gave me beer for my service.

Kathy was the first stranger. A nonstop chatterbox, it was a strange mix of connection, humor, annoyance, and sadness working with her. I’m not even going to attempt to describe her, but she is what my mom would call a character. Her neighbor helped with the task, which was moving her stuff from her trailer to a new apartment. I remember taking everything off of the walls and putting them into boxes. It’s interesting to see what people decide to get rid of when they move.

Aledda and Tom were today. They were an incredibly welcoming and grateful couple. However, the paint was terrible to work with. It was like slapping mud on a wall, and then it would get dry and come off just like sunburnt skin. Adam came and helped paint the porch with me. Aledda gave us some really good strawberries while we worked.

I suppose I should include the Chihuahua incident. The nameless dog was wondering on the river road, where the speed limit is 40 mph. The river road is the quickest way for me to get from my house to downtown Winona. It runs along the Mississippi river, and you can see Wisconsin across the water. I saw a line of cars stopped at an odd stretch of the road. After a little while of