"Well, I've had a lot of time to think about what I'd say to you, Hank, if I ever got the chance," said Le'von as he stirred a couple ice cubes into his second cup of coffee. "You see, I don't want to just tell you why I had to leave. I want you to understand why. I know you got a lot a questions that need answers, so I figure that maybe I should just start at the beginnin'." Le'von took a big swig, swallowed it with an audible gulp, and then continued. "I know I'm a failure at bein' your dad and all, but that's not the way I intended for it to be. The day I met your mother was the day I fell in love for the first and only time in my life. And lookin' at her sweet face, I knew we'd end up with a mess of kids, so I figured I'd have to change my carefree batchelor ways and start walkin' the straight and narrow. And I did. Because I loved her so much, and I loved the idea of someday being' somebody's daddy."
"You see, I was in the Air Force, stationed over at Bergstrom there, and since the war was over, all we were doin' was sittin' around and smokin' and playin' cribbage for a penny a point, just waitin' for our discharge papers. Your mom was a local girl, beautiful, a real looker you might say, and she was waitressin' at a diner near the base, a place that I stumbled into one night after havin' a few too many beers and gettin' into a couple of fistfights just for the hell of it." Le'von smiled as he remembered the moment. "I guess she was one of those girls who couldn't resist a man in uniform cause we hit it off right away. She made a big fuss about me messin' up my face, and she said I was too fine-looking a man to be gettin' into those kinda scrapes. So I told her I'd stop fightin' if she'd go out with me, never figurin' she'd take me up on the offer."
The old man got quiet for a moment as he looked down and stirred his drink with a swizzle stick. He then continued. "She let me know her name was Annette. Annette Potts. She said her friends called her Nettie, and I could too, if I wanted. She couldn't really talk to me much more on account of the other customers being impatient and all, so she wrote her address on a napkin for me and said the carnival was in town and maybe we could go see it on Saturday night. Then she winked at me and told me to pick her up at eight... and don't be late!" Le'von chuckled at the little play on words, then took another big swig of his coffee.
"So that Saturday night I cleaned myself up a bit and borrowed my buddy's car and drove over to Nettie's place in Del Valley. Turns out she was livin' with her dad and her sister in a little shack on the wrong side of the tracks, if you know what I mean. But times were tough then, and everyone was sufferin' some. I honked the horn a couple of times to let her know I was there and to hurry up, but when she came out, she insisted that I had to go inside and meet her family. So that's when I met your grandpa Chamber and your aunt Flower. They were nice and polite and all, but I was itchin' to get on with our date, so after a little bit of chitchat, Nettie and me were on our way out the door."
"Man, we had us a ball that night. The carnival was hoppin', so we spent most of the evening there, strollin' around hand-in-hand, eatin' popcorn and cotton candy. Nettie wasn't one for goin' on any of the rides cause she said they made her sick, but I didn't hold that against her none. Hell, just bein' next to her made me feel happy inside." Le'von sighed and then drained his coffee cup with a final swig and gulp. "Hang on a sec, I have to get me another one of these." He returned a couple of moments later with another steaming cup and more ice. "Well, that was a great evening! And I have to be honest with you... I was ready to ask her to marry me that very night. But then I thought it might be a little too soon to be discussin' matrimony and all, so I waited until we had a couple more dates before I finally popped the big question."
"You asked her to marry you on your third date?" asked Hank.
"Yeah, I did," replied his dad. "When you know she's the right gal for you, why wait? That's what I always say. I'm not sure you could even call the third one a date, since I was broke and didn't have any money to take her anywhere. But we were out walkin' and we found this field of sweet-smellin' bluebonnets, and we set ourselves down in the middle of 'em and started neckin' a bit. And finally I got my courage up and said to her, 'Nettie, I'm goin' to get out of the service any day now. Before I met you, I thought I'd end up goin' back to my family's old homestead in Wyomin'. But now I want to stay and be with you. So why don't we just get married?'"
"As luck would have it, Nettie was agreeable to my proposal, but she insisted I had to talk to her dad and get his blessin' and all before we made it official. So back over to Del Valley I went to discuss the terms of the deal with ol' Chamber. He acted none too thrilled about the idea at first, and that's to be expected from anyone's pa, you know. But after we had us a few beers and a couple of laughs, he started warming up to me. I think it helped when I told him how I had served overseas in Alaska during the war, and that pretty much made me a hero in his eyes, so he finally agreed to let me marry his daughter. He thought we were rushin' things a bit, though, seein' as we had only known each other for a couple of weeks, but in my opinion we had been pretty patient waitin' that long, since I knew on our very first date that she was the one for me."
"My discharge from the Air Force finally came through about a week later, so I said 'Adios Amigos' to the boys in my squadron, and I told the sergeant he could go straight to hell! I used a big chunk of my last paycheck to put a down payment on a used Nash Rambler so that I could pick Nettie up in style. Then we quick found us a Justice of the Peace, and with Chamber and Flower there to be our witnesses, we tied the knot. After that we had us a little honeymoon down in San Antone, and then we came back here to settle down."
It was at that point that Le'von had to excuse himself to go to the john. About five minutes later, he came back to the table with another cup of coffee in his hand. "Whew! That's better! Now, where was I? Oh yeah! So I found me a job in construction, and with Nettie workin' at the diner, well, we were doin' pretty good for a while. But then we found out she was with child, and before we knew it, your brother Charlie was born. Nettie couldn't keep her job because she had to be home with the baby, so it wasn't long before we were hurtin' financially. And then, wouldn't you know, Nettie went and got pregnant again! And little Charlie not much more'n three months old! I had to find some way to earn more money."
"So on my first day off I was out poundin' the streets lookin' for a second job when I ran into this guy I knew, who everyone called "Mudbutt", one of my old Air Force buddies. He was one of the guys who got me started playin' cribbage back when we lived in the barracks on the base. Well, when he found out I was lookin' for a way to make some fast cash, he started tellin' me about how he had been rakin' in some serious dough playin' cribbage professionally. He said he had seen some real talent in me, and he didn't mind lettin' me in on this opportunity because it was so easy, and there was plenty of money to go around."
"I was all for it because it sounded a lot better than diggin' ditches. So Mudbutt took me under his wing and started showin' me the ropes. At first I just watched and learned. He took me with him to the Shady Oaks, an old people's home, and he had a game goin' with an old geezer almost before he had a chance to sit down. They started out playin' a penny a point, and to my surprise, the old guy won the first couple of games, and not by a little, but by a lot! And there's Mudbutt havin' to reach into his pocket and pay him off! Like sixty cents! I was scratchin' my head there for a minute wonderin' how he considered this a money-makin' proposition. But then he smiled and winked at me and then told the geezer he'd play one more game, but this time for a dollar a point. Well, that old fart's eyes lit up like a neon sign, and he was resettin' the pegs faster'n you could say Jackie Robinson! But this time, you wouldn't believe how Mudbutt's custom silver pegs just sailed around the track! He ended up beatin' the old guy out of twenty bucks!"
"Later, when we were drivin' home, he admitted to me that he had let the old guy win the first couple of times in order to build up his confidence and to be more agreeable to playin' for a dollar a point. He said he was 'hustlin'' that guy and plenty of others like him. And the best part about it was that those old guys never remembered what happened to 'em, so he could go back and do it again on a weekly basis! That's when it hit me that this was a bit shady, as far as businesses go, if you know what I mean."
Hank nodded in agreement. "Yep, that sounds pretty shady."
"Yep, you could say it was! But on the other hand, it depends on how you looked at it. We were providin' entertainment for some lonely old people, and you know that quality entertainment ain't free. So in a way we were doin' a service for the community, and you know, that's something that's always been important to me. So I got over any qualms I had about it real quick and started playin' cribbage as my second job, nights and weekends."
"Man oh man, you wouldn't believe the money I started makin'! It wasn't long before I was earnin' more at my second job than at my first. By the time your sister Le'vonda was born, we were doin' so well that we were able to move out of our tiny apartment and into a real house! A house we could call our own! And that was a great house, Hank. You know, it even had a cellar for storin' the potatoes!"
(Next time: Oh, Montana! continues as Le'von finishes his story... and just in time, too!)
