Where to begin with old Charlie?... he may have responded to my handy man ad in the paper.
I used to run the lawn mower around his rock strewn hilly yard pinging rocks and bending my blade and then sling more rocks with the weed eater... bleeding my leg shins ........
Driving around in a Hearse... Charlie was in the back on the gurney dead with me seated on the edge we were on the way to somewhere.. or so we the attendants thought...until
he reared to life... scaring the shit out of the three of us....... next I am driving down a steep hill with no brakes again.... seems a recurring dream........ a still Old but Not dead anymore Charlie is chattering away in my delighted ear, Odd
beautifully so, I did think of the word resurrection ..... in a fleeting sense or maybe he never was dead.
He was clear about my reading the book of Psalms 1-10 and then read 1-5 again for good measure.
Zooming
Back into the past:
As years passed we became chums... I guess you could say... he was pretty old and had one eye, well two one was glass...
He lived in a little wooden clapboard house over on Sandy Circle on Big Pine Key Florida..down and up from the Post Office...
His big claim to fame and seeming biggest joy was telling me about his around the World Cruise on a Steamship in 1912.. he had all the luggage stamps up in a picture frame up on the wall in his living room... it was the event of a lifetime I suppose......
Charlie hailed from Kansas City Mo. He mentioned working in a Cattle Stock Yard as a Clerk.
He drove a silver 66 Ford Mustang with a six banger and automatic... he had purchased it brand new.. he even had a little placard on the dash that read Charles Shepard........... I replaced the exhaust manifold in it for him one time.
I used to drive him up to the Bascomb Eye Clinic in Miami maybe twice a year.... in his Car... he always used to want to stop behind the Catholic Church up in Key Largo.. to take a Piss in the parking lot, and so it was a regular stop .... and he relieved himself by the right front fender.
Then on into Miami and the Eye Clinic.. where they studied his good eye, or maybe they were looking at his glass one, both perhaps.
and then we would have a fantastic lunch somewhere and roll on back towards Home... flying low across the ever scenic Bridges......... the little six cylinder purring .........
He was a piece of work...
He never spoke of family.. something about a Nephew... Sweeney... and a couple of homosexual friends he had once upon a time for room mates... I never asked... he never said I suppose...
Pat Ryan and I put a brand new shingle roof up on his house once.. it came out real nice, he was happy and paid us well...
As I mentioned I took care of his yard ... when I was done marring my legs ,we took to drinking Scotch and Waters in real glass over ice cubes the big green bottle of McGregor Clan sat on the table for two just between us where either of us could reach and pour .. as needed , and he would carry on about his around the world adventure steam ship cruise as a lad....
It was the thrill , the highlight of his life... that and me coming over and cutting his grass and drinking Scotch and Water with him...
Charlie wound up being a good egg in my book.... he never had his head up his ass.
Hey Charlie, I hung on every word.
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