Simply, Jim

By Jerry Hall

Simply Jim is the story of the early years of Jim Simply growing up in rural Alabama. Jim is thought to be slow mentally because he is quiet, bordering on being shy. He is thought to be a problem because of his slowness by his first grade school teacher. He is a tag along to his older brothers and his dad. In groups where others are talking but no one could remember what was said five minutes later, Jim remembers what was said, who had said it, and the context of what was said. He is very smart but lacks the social manners to fit in.

Jim is mentored in baseball by his elementary school principal. His natural ability, developed by throwing rocks on his farm and influenced by his mentor, helped him to become a phenomenal pitcher sought by college and pro teams.

Jim is a hard luck type because most of the people with whom he has a close relationship dies, moves away, or suffers maladies causing him to suffer in silence and persevere through loss and disappointment. His mother died in his early years. His mentor died early, and his father died before he is able to fulfill his baseball goals. His brothers and childhood acquaintances moved away. His only positive influences are Joe, an older ninety-seven-year-old man; his uncle John; and his childhood sweetheart, Julie. Jim has so much tragedy in his life but is on the verge of fantastic things happening to him.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 26, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503520769

Jerry Hall

Jerry Hall is an Oklahoma native, now residing in Tulsa. His dream in life was to be on the stage; either as an actor, singer, or comedian. Missing out many opportunities, Jerry decided to devote his efforts towards his degree studies in Hospitality, Travel, and Tourism Management. The only thing that allows him to maintain his sanity, is Disney vacations and laughter.

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Copyright © 2015 by Jerry Hall.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2014921095

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-5035-2075-2

      Softcover      978-1-5035-2077-6

      eBook      978-1-5035-2076-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 12/22/2014

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Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER ONE

Eyes that bore the battle scars of countless conflicts, sad, droopy, but somehow full of promise. Weather worn skin with deep seated lines tracing back toward what used to be cold black, lustrous, flowing hair, that now, in its’ effort to retain body, lay flat to the side, straight, dry, seemingly wispy graying, but not yet ready to give up its’ color heritage. To say, hasn’t lived long enough to know better would not be appropriate for Jim, but then neither would wise in the ways of the world. His shuffled steps told a story of silent suffering that refused to give in to the demands of life. But they were a constant reminder of a war already lost, awaiting the final battle. Once, a quick snap to attention and a likely spring, now a struggle to make the various muscles align into a congruent motion.

Jim had lived a short, uneventful life of quiet dreams and even quieter activity. He had seen many of his friends and relatives move beyond their surroundings and into societal acceptance. Many of his encounters with others would have been psychologically devastating to some, but were simply bumps in the dusty old roads of Jim’s life. Jim had survived the loss of his mother when he was very young, and grew up with his father and two brothers in rural Alabama. His life had been devoid of emotional nurturing, since his father, Willie, was a stern disciplinarian who demanded his version of perfection in a boy and had very little time for anything other than working, eating, drinking, sleeping, and going to church on Sunday morning.

A gentile lady named Margaret and a tough old man named Rufus raised his father in a large family. Rufus had been a farmer all of his life and actually died behind a mule drawn plow at the ripe old age of forty-five. Margaret lost her ability to control ten children after they began reaching puberty and finally lost her life in a barn accident when she was forty-eight. Willie was fifteen when his father died and had no point of reference for anything other than hard work and family dependency on he and his three older brothers. Two of them left the farm when they graduated from high school, but Willie and John stayed on and forsook school to provide for the family. John became a friend as well as a brother and they shared responsibility in a common bond beyond the brotherhood that sustained their relationship through out their whole lives. Sarah was the oldest sister that became the mother figure for the younger siblings as well as Willie and John. Wise beyond her years, she inherited her gentleness from Margaret and was blessed with an understanding of worldly ways that somehow seemed to come naturally to the oldest female in a family of parentless siblings. The State had not yet become sophisticated as a welfare provider; so the family was left to its own resolve with the help of the community, which was of little daily support in the sparsely inhabited rural South. A few donations of food or clothing came from church oriented drives occasionally, but Sarah took care of the house and Willie and John cared for the farm operations until all the youngsters made their way out of the nest.

Willie had become embittered by the harshness of his plight and only found a soft spot for the influence of John and Sarah. Willie’s only emotional response came in the form of falling for Alice, a wisp of a woman that Willie met at a church Fa So La singing when he was 25 years old. They had written to each other. Willie, with help from Sarah, for several years, until, at age 29, the last of the siblings out of school, and John off to his own fortune, Willie married the sweet little Alice and moved off the old home place.

Sarah got the farm and married a traveling salesman that settled down to live a farmer’s life. John struck out on his own, began a coal washer business, and became a business success in a small community. He stayed in contact with all his siblings and hosted a family reunion every August at his place. He visited Willie and Alice often and was a real emotional tie that both needed. John eventually ran for State House and was elected from his district, where he retired after thirty years service.

Willie and Alice began their family somewhat late in life for rural Alabama, Willie at 34 and Alice at 38. The age took a toll on Alice and after her third child, Jim, she never really recovered her health. After three years of weakened existence, depending on Willie to do much of the motherly work, Alice died in bed at age 45. Willie continued to raise his three sons and scratch out a meager life on a farm. Jim’s brothers, Zack and Andrew, fared better in growing up without their mother, but Jim lacked the emotionally maturing influence of a mother especially needed at his age. Willie simply couldn’t supply that side, since the only reference point in his life was his sister. Jim just withdrew into his shell of observing and acceptance. Other than a small amount of sibling joking, Jim’s brothers didn’t spend much time with him. Jim was just a tag-along, shuffling behind his older brothers, not participating, just observing. Willie always issued orders to Zack or Andrew, never addressing Jim except to growl about something not done to his standards. Jim got none of the glory and most of the blame.

When Jim wasn’t running after his brothers, he found himself following his father in his daily walks around the farm, exploring the creek on the lower forty, laying on the hill above the pasture absorbing the sun, or sleeping on the loose hay in the barn loft. Nighttime found him swinging on the back porch while watching the wild animals that roamed the forest behind the house. He went there almost every night after supper and dish washing was done. It was his job to clean the kitchen after everyone ate. Meals were mostly fresh vegetables grown in the garden, or canned during the summer and always, a pone of cornbread. There was fried chicken once or twice a month and pork occasionally, especially on days when Uncle John visited. Jim loved it when Uncle John came around. He was a kind man, always with a smile and a calming voice. He never failed to talk with the brothers and tried to get them to talk back. Zack and Andrew were always bubbling over with stories about their exploits. Jim was mostly full of questions. He didn’t dare ask his father for fear of being growled at, so he found himself planning his questions for Uncle John.

Jim went to school enough to get by, but it was never pleasant. Kids can be cruel, especially when someone is different. Jim was always quite, and never wanted to do the kind of things that school age boys did to disrupt and act rowdy. He didn’t play pranks and didn’t respond to being picked on until it got too much. Occasionally, some full of himself punk would forget and go too far; then Jim would stand up and confront the aggressor with an in-your-face attitude that spelled trouble. Most of the time, there were only two hits. The other boy would swing, Jim would dodge, then hit the guy on the jaw or upside the head, then the guy would hit the ground. Jim didn’t know his own strength, but most guys did! Boys usually knew how far to go, but new kids would move in to the district or a boy would have a growth spurt and began to feel his oats and have to try to establish a new pecking order. Jim never started a fight and never lost one. Jim didn’t do well in academics because he couldn’t understand the relevance of many subjects being taught and would rather daydream about the rural life, or baseball, or stories about the old South. He made good grades in history and simple math because they made sense. He had an excellent memory and could follow rules well. But other subjects like English, Spelling, Writing, Reading, and Complex Math were either boring or illogical to Jim. Jim could understand words and meanings, but English rules about the use of tense and the way words were spelled were illogical. He wanted hard, fast rules to go by like his father taught him about farm life. Writing and reading were ok, but again there were too many possibilities in the use and spelling of words. Complex math with story lines and deductive reasoning caused problems too, so he usually just guessed answers on multiple-choice questions and didn’t try on ones where he had to show his calculations. Jim should have been held back or special tutored, but instead he was passed on to the next grade until he reached high school. Jim could measure a board, guess household and short measurements, and estimate long distances and squared lengths and measurements like square feet, yards and acres. He had trouble sounding out words, but could usually figure out the meanings of new words from the context in which they were used. Rules of punctuation and sentence structure were frustrating when writing, like why you couldn’t end a sentence with a preposition. Everyone he heard did it, including the teachers when they were talking, but he always got low marks in writing and spelling because he wrote like he spoke and heard, and spelled like it sounded. He didn’t like to read aloud because he sounded out new words like they were spelled which usually caused others to laugh at him and added to his lack of comfort in speaking because he knew he talked country and was shy any way. After failing the 11th grade, repeating and failing again, he lost all interest and dropped out, but not before gaining a reputation as an excellent baseball player in his 9th, 10th, and 11th years.

Jim never dated. His shy, unassuming ways weren’t the action that eligible, rural girls searched for, and was too close to the meager existence they were looking to put behind them. Jim didn’t have anyone to talk with about the birds and the bees save an occasional growl from his father about the crows feeding on the cornfield, or the cursing when they inadvertently plowed through a ground hornet nest. But those weren’t revealing to Jim on how to become a ladies’ man. While going to school, Jim met a man, who became his mentor and helped him gain an understanding of life that would serve him well as he grew older. In his teens, Jim became steadfast friends with an old man who became somewhat of a father figure. This man’s influence weighed heavily on Jim’s personality development and demeanor.

CHAPTER TWO

Jim stayed at home with his Dad before he reached the age of six, while his two older brothers went to school. Willie didn’t ever have too much to say and Jim was mostly left to his own to entertain himself. Willie worked in the fields or in the barn most of the day and Jim either tagged along behind and sat in a shade or he sat on the back porch and watched the animals in the woods and the sky and clouds. He would occasionally go to the barn and do what he could, but mostly he would get in the way as his Dad often said, so he’d stay to himself. He was not a happy, fun loving kid, but then he didn’t know that, so he just thought that’s what kids his age did. The only activity that Jim really enjoyed was when his Dad and brothers let him play baseball with them. He didn’t know all the rules or how to do things, but he watched enough to figure out what to do and he was a natural when it came to pitching and hitting. When he couldn’t play with them, he would practice throwing rocks and hitting with roughcut slats while pretending he was an ace pitcher or an expert batter. He experimented on how to make the rocks curve, flutter, dip, and slant. He learned so well that when they played, he surprised them on how well he could pitch a real baseball. When he got to hit, he learned to concentrate watching the ball so well that he seldom let a ball get past him, even if it were thrown badly; he could hit just about any pitch they threw. He practiced throwing rocks at squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and even birds with precision accuracy. When he could, he watched baseball on T.V. and began to pick up terminologies and nuances from the commentators that helped him get an overall picture of the game. T.V. must be the best teacher ever devised by man.

The fall, when Jim was six years old, he started to school. He walked down the road to the bus stop with his brothers. His Dad didn’t get him registered or anything, so Jim and his brothers, not much older than him, had to do everything, but since they had been through it themselves, they made sure everything was done right. Jim was told what classroom to find and his brother, Andrew, led him down the hall to his room. At first, he didn’t want to go in, but after watching other kids walk in, he didn’t want to appear afraid. He walked in and took a seat in the back. The school desk, built as an arm attached to the seat was like nothing he had ever seen. There was a compartment underneath the seat and he reasoned that must be to put your muddy boots in so that you wouldn’t track mud across the room. Zack and Andrew had warned Jim about classroom etiquette, so Jim sat quietly observing all the activity so that he wouldn’t miss anything. Several of the kids were moving around from seat to seat and writing on the big board up front with chalk, drawing pictures and making marks that looked to Jim like the marks he has seen on the ground where chickens had been scratching. He observed big pictures that were covered in blue, brown, and green that Andrew had told him were what was called maps of the world. Jim had expected to see trees and rivers and clouds, but he thought maybe that was what students were supposed to put on there. There were doors on both sides of a room behind his desk, but he didn’t know where they went, and big chest-like structures between the doors. One of them had doors; the others had shelves. One of the kids had opened the doors and was busy pulling books out and scattering them around the room. Most of the girls were doing just like Jim, sitting quietly and looking around. Jim didn’t know much about girls except they usually smelled good, behaved well, and were pleasant to look at, oh, and wore dresses. One girl in particular had really caught Jim’s eye. She was about his height, with soft looking skin and wispy blonde hair about the color of corn silk at harvest time. Jim found that looking at her calmed his fears and made him relaxed. An Adult lady with a stern look walked into the room and immediately began scolding the boy in the back scattering books. Young man stop that and put those books back in the cabinet right now. Make sure you put them exactly the way you found them. Everyone take a seat, fold your hands on the desk, look up here and pay attention, she said in a loud voice. Everyone scurried to a desk and sat down, folded their hands and looked apprehensively toward the lady except book boy who continued to struggle putting the books back. Jim thought, Serves him right.

Hello class, my name is Miss Avery, she said, I am your new first grade teacher. I want each of you to listen as I call your name. I’ll call your last name, then your first name. When you hear your name, say, Here. No talking, just answer, Here

As Miss Avery called each name, Jim was straining to hear the name that the girl with corn silk hair answered. He was so intent that he didn’t even hear his own name called. He wasn’t used to hearing his name spoken anyway, so it didn’t register until the third time that Miss Avery was saying Simply, Jim. He was startled and blurred out, I’m back here, maam! Miss Avery said, Now class, what are we supposed to say? The class responded, Here, which really embarrassed Jim—I can’t get a simple instruction like that right, how am I going to get hard stuff right? He thought, Gee, I am really Simply Jim. He was so frustrated that he didn’t hear the corn silk girl’s name.

Miss Avery then told the class about her classroom rules. Jim didn’t hear them all, because his mind kept drifting away to his embarrassing moment and to the corn silk girl. When Miss Avery asked him a direct question, he was daydreaming and didn’t realize she was talking to him and therefore he didn’t respond, so she asked two more times before he realized she was talking to him. He still hadn’t heard the question, so he fell back to his standard answer, I dunno. The whole classroom broke out in giggles. Miss Avery said, You don’t know how old you are, Jim? Uh… Uh… Uh, stammered Jim. Miss Avery exclaimed, Well Jim, you are either 6 or 7. There’s only two possible answers, you want to guess! I’m uh… uh 6, said Jim. Are you sure?, asked Miss Avery. Well, yes, I’m 6, stated Jim emphatically. Jim thought, Boy, am I a dunce! What a stupid thing! I couldn’t even say how old I was. I hope she wasn’t paying too close attention. Oh, well, so I am a dummy. The rest of the day Miss Avery covered the physical classroom items and explained each one. Jim kept drifting off in his daydreams, but thought he caught enough of the Miss Avery’s instructions to function. Miss Avery let everyone out of class at 2:00pm, but asked Jim and book scatter boy, whose name was Harold, to stay. First she told Harold that she would put him on permanent clean up detail if he ever done anything like that again. She then dismissed him. When Harold had gone, she turned to Jim saying, Simply, you seemed to wander throughout the day. Is there a problem? Are you bored? Jim responded, Uh… Uh… No maam. Well Simply, I don’t believe that. Can you get your mother up here to see me? Jim hung his head down. He hadn’t thought of his mother much in several years. It actually hurt too much to bring the memories back for him to deal with, especially in front of a lady he didn’t know much about and whom he was beginning to dislike. Momma is dead, was all Jim could say. Miss Avery said, Oh, I’m sorry, Simply. How about your father? Jim was very uneasy, and Miss Avery had just pushed it too far. He responded, What? Simply, can we get your father up here to talk with me? I dunno, said Jim. Miss Avery may have had good intentions, but she came across to Jim as though she was meddling and he definitely decided he didn’t like her. Just then Andrew came to the classroom door and stood. Miss Avery said, Young man, what do you want? Andrew said, I came to get Jim. We have to go or we’ll miss the bus. Well, I’m talking to Simply right now, replied Miss Avery. But maam, we have to go or we’ll miss the bus! Well who are you? Yes maam, I’m Jim’s brother. Well, can you get your father to come talk to me about Simply? Uh… Uh… I’ll tell him, I don’t know if he’ll come or not, said Andrew. Miss Avery said, I’ll just send him a note. Wait just a minute. But maam, we have to go! She went to her desk and started writing the note. Both boys were anxious, but they didn’t want to be disrespectful. Miss Avery wrote her note, put it in envelope, and wrote Mr. Simply on it and said, Now, what was your name? Andrew, maam. Well, Andrew, you give this to your father and bring me his reply, said Miss Avery. Yes maam, said Andrew, May we go, now? Yes

The boys scurried down the hall to the front door and out, but the bus had already pulled out and they could see it as it topped the rise and went out of sight. Andrew said, Heck, we missed it! Guess we’ll have to walk now. Andrew and Jim started their journey back home. It was a good three miles back to the farm and the boys were already tired from being cooped up in the school all day. They knew a shortcut through the woods, but it was still between one and one half and two miles. Since it was about 2:25p.m., they still had enough day light to get home, but they would be late for their chores and Willie would be mad. So they took off down the road in a trot for about a quarter mile and struck out through the woods down a well-worn path. After another quarter mile, they were breathing hard and slowed to a brisk walk. It was September, and still hot so they began to get thirsty. There was a creek about a mile in where they could get a drink, so as they approached the crossing, Andrew cautioned Jim that they should drink upstream of the crossing because sometimes people drove livestock across the creek there. Andrew also told Jim they need to make sure that they drank downstream of flowing water over at least 1000 little rocks because that would purify the water from floating particles. Sand was good, but pebbles were better, especially rounded pebbles, but both was exceptionally good filters. Jim was so thirsty when they got to the crossing that he just wanted to fall down and drink immediately, but Andrew hollered, No! We have to go upstream. He started up the creek bank with Jim right after him. They soon came to a sand bar where the water flowed across a lot of small rocks and pebbles and sand about one inch deep as the creek spread out across the way before plunging back into a narrow, deeper creek. Both boys fell on their hands and knees into the cool water and leaned forward and drank heavily. The water was almost crystal clear and cold like it was coming from an underground stream. Jim just laid flat in the water and rolled over soaking himself from top to bottom. Then he got up and yelled, Let’s find a swimmin hole! No!, Andrew yelled back, We gotta git home. Common, let’s go!

The boys took off back down the creek, hit the trail and headed home as fast as they could, drying as they went. They ran for a half mile or so, then slowed to a brisk walk, caught their breath, and begun running again. They got to the farm just as it began to get dusky dark. They ran into the house, changed from school clothes to work clothes and started down to the barn. Zack was already busy starting to cook and the house smelled so good with corn bread baking and peas, okra, and squash cooking on the stove. When they got to the barn, Willie wasn’t there, the horses weren’t in the coral and the cows weren’t in their stalls or coral. Jim was concerned and Andrew was afraid. Where could they all be? They started out to the pasture and could hear one of the cows bellowing down in the hollow where the water hole was located. As they walked further down, they could hear Willie hollering and fussing. They begun to run and as they approached Willie yelled, Where the Sam Hill ya’ll been? I been waitin on you uns to get here for ‘ours. Yous supposed to be here when Zack got home. Andrew said, Sorry Dad, but Jim’s teacher held us affer school ’til affer da bus left, sos we hadda walk home. Willie said, Dad gummit, Whatd you do now Jim? Wall, nevr mine. I gotta git Bessie outa dis mud. Shes stuck and I dunt wanna brake her leg doinit. Go git Rudy and les try to puller out. Andrew started running as he asked his Dad, Do ya no whar he’s at? Down thuher side of da pasture by da apple trees, yelled Willie, Jim you go git a rope frun da barn ifn ya kin fine yo way. Jim scurried back to the barn choking back a cry for what Willie had said. It wasn’t his fault, but as usual he got the blame and an insult to boot. He looked all around the barn, in the loft, in the tack room, in the corn crib, in the stalls, on the aisle walls, but it was nowhere. He thought, Now Dad’s gonna be mad all ovr agin Andrew had run to the coral, picked up a short rope to lead Rudy, took off across the pasture to the apple trees, caught Rudy, and was heading back. Jim ran to the barn entrance and could see Andrew leading Rudy down the hollow. He didn’t know what to do, but he knew he had to work fast, before Andrew got back to his Dad. Jim would have panicked, if he knew how, but he was conditioned not to do that when his Dad wanted him to do something. It just didn’t work. He knew there was no room for failure. His Dad simply didn’t have that word in his knowledge. So he sat down on a rock at the other end of the barn and begin to think, Now if I wuz a rope, where would I be? I looked in da tack room and all the udder place I dun seed it. As he studied, pictures of the days events filled his mind. The corn silk girl kept creeping into every thought he had. He’d shake his head to get her out, but every time he started a new thought, she’d float right in and take over. Even his mad feeling toward Miss Avery would softy float away with the wispy golden hair replacing his temper. Just as he was about to float into a claming daydream, Andrew shouted at him and it cruelly startled him. What da heck are you doin, Jim, whars da rope? Jim stammered, Uh… uh… I dunno. It was his standard answer again. He truly didn’t know, but he reacted with that answer rather than explain himself. Wull, whared ya look?, Andrew asked. Jim said, Everwhar!, Uh… Uh… wait a minute, didn’t Zack have the rope ovr unner da shade tree on da udder side of da house? Yeah, he did, les go look thar, replied Andrew. They both ran to the tree and sure enough, there it lay with one end draped over the lowest limb. Andrew grabbed it and took off to the hollow with Jim following behind. When they reached Willie, Andrew proudly held up the rope and said Found it!. Willie said, "I knowed I cudun expect Jim to get anything, Gimme one end and tie the udder one round Rudy’s neck. Jim was totally deflated and went over to a tree and sat down, disgusted with himself, with his Dad, and especially with his brothers. One had not put the rope back in the tack like he was supposed to do. One had taken the credit for finding it when Jim was the one who remembered seeing Zack with it. And his Dad blamed him again and insulted him again. He loved his Dad, but how could he ever feel good about himself when everybody puts him down?

Andrew tied the rope around Rudy’s desk down low and turned him away from Bessie so the strength of his lower neck and shoulders bore the weight of the beleaguered cow. Willie would the other end around one shoulder and leg, looped it around the other shoulder and leg and cinched it atop her lower neck and shoulder so that the tension would be on the shoulders, but would have the effect of lifting her legs up as the horse pulled. After a bit of coaxing by