DUKE
Dad was a character!
It was the third of September
That day I'll always remember
'Cause that was the day my daddy died
I never got a chance to see him
Never heard nothin' but bad things about him
Mama, I'm depending on you to tell me the truth
And Mama just hung her head and said, Son
Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died
All he left us was alone
Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died
All he left us was alone
Hey, Mama, is it true what they say
That Papa never worked a day in his life?
And Mama, some bad talk goin' around goin' around town
Sayin' that Papa had three outside children and another wife
And that ain't right
Hey, talk about Papa doing some storefront preaching
Talking about saving your soul
And all the time leaching
Dealing in debt and stealing in the name of the Lord
Mama, I'm depending on you to tell me the truth
And Mama hung her head and said
Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died
All he left us was alone
Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died
All he left us was alone
Hey Mama I heard Papa called himself a jack of all trades
Tell me is that what sent Papa to an early grave?
Folks say Papa would beg, borrow, steal to pay his bills
Folks say Papa wasn't much on thinkin'
Spent most of his life chasin' women and drinking
Mama, I'm depending on you to tell me the truth
And Mama looked up with a tear in her eye and said, Son
Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died
All he left us was alone
Papa was a rolling stone
Wherever he laid his hat was his home
And when he died
All he left us was alone.
He was something else. So many things he told Jack when Jack was young the lad didn't question, but later all the fallacies or fantasies began to add up.
Duke, as Dad like to be called, was famous for his ball playing in a town called New Rochelle. Of course, that was how he had gotten a scar on his Adams Apple. He said he had been playing the outfield and turned, only to run into the fence and have the large nail on the telephone post pierce his throat near the "Adam's Apple". Jack never questioned, only agreed how unlucky he had been, to have not seen the fence. Dad's particular style looked unlike any ball player Jack had ever seen before. The way he threw the ball, the way he caught the ball, didn't look to Jack as if Pop had ever played ball anywhere, ever.
When Jack had seen his grandfather's non-existing thumb, he naturally wondered out loud what had happened. The answer and explanation: Once while hunting, grandfather Sam saw a gopher go up a tree stump. He took a stick and probed the hollow, only to be bitten by a rattlesnake that was hiding with the gopher. To save himself from dying from the bite, since he was so far from help, he cut his own thumb off on a tree stump. Again, although reluctant, Jack accepted. Why would a rodent hide with an arch enemy? Oh well, I hope you sorta, kinda get the picture.
Duke also told of his boxing skills. So great were these that he had even performed in the arena they passed while driving through New Rochelle. What little Jack knew about boxing, Dad could not have punched his way out of a wet paper bag. Quite frankly, when he shadow boxed he looked and acted like Fred Sanford.
Dad hunted with Jack and did unbelievable things for an 80 year old man. Walking comparativately long distances for an old man. Shooting and occassionally even killing a rabbit. One day while hunting in a cooperative area some bird hunting guys came near our party of 3. They had downed a duck a sent the dog to bring it back. Valiantly the dog, a German Shorthair sniffed both ground and air for the bird. Bothered, bewitched and bewildered the dog returned to his master. The owner could be heard through the woods exclaiming how his dog never loses a bird. To be truthful the dog still hadn't. He came to Dad, smelled Dad's crouch.
Dad had picked up the bird and stuffed it. Dad didn't give up the duck either. Surely he wasn't, couldn't possibly be guilty of what Duxie was accusing him of. One day Jack and his wife were called, and asked if they could come to Brooklyn. By now Jack held no great love for Duxie and what happened that day didn't help his feelings toward her. Dad was 80, Duxie at least 75. Her claim? Jack was almost floored when he heard it and looked at his own wife in utter disbelief. Living with Dad, Duxie said, had become unbearable. Dad at the spry age of generic youthfulness was nightly attempting to stick her fat butt with Jackson's Johnson. To ward off his advances, she pinned her bottoms to her tops.
Jack and his wife both felt she was suffering from delusions of grandeur. Dad's counter claimed that her alliance with the woman upstairs was more than a friendly encounter. Dad's plea to his son, Jack, "You know I ain't never been no ass man", and in the same breath "I've always been a strictly pussy man". The young couple left, confused and dazed. Not really believing but somehow thinking that the old codger may have tried to live the impossible dream. Several months later, Duxie moved with her sister in Bracey, North Carolina. Alone, Dad became sick and when he was released from the hospital he came to live with Jack and his new family.
Like a Clara Barton clone, Ann took care of Jack's dad. Ann, as nice she was, and as much as she liked Dad, found Dad's way of getting on one's last nerve. Jack and even more so Ann, had taken over Dad's business and gotten his records transferred from Brooklyn to the Bronx. On almost daily trips, someone went to the store to get his special types of food. Even when still with Duxie the food was, at least when Jack visited, seemed to be boiled chicken wings, unseasoned. Now lamb chops, pork chops and other food that Jack had never seen in Brooklyn. No problem in itself, but Dad became very picky. When Ann would tell Jack what kind of day she had had, Jack naturally suspected Ann's being filled up with a person with whom she had no real connection. When Jack subsequently retired and Ann returned to work, he too was brought to the reality of the situation.
When Dad first arrived at the apartment they had given him a large brass bell. Maybe it first he was too weak to really ring it. Later, the loud clang became sickening. Jack's wife would ask Dad if he needed or wanted to eat, he would say not right now, thanks. Ann would become involved with the baby and ding-dong would go the bell. "If you don't mind, I will eat now." With compassion, Ann would try to hold her cool, but every now and then the anger could not be held within. More and more often the chops were too well done, the oatmeal too lumpy. This from someone who had been content with chicken wings, boiled. Jack never wanted to, despite his concern for Ann and Dad's dying relationship, believe the situation could be so intense, with geriatric care being her chosen profession, until he retired and Ann went back to work. Now the proverbial shoe was on the other foot. The chickens had come home to roost.
Jack would go out and buy top grade baby lamb chops. It was Dad's money so why not? With his social security money he wasn't paying anything else so Jack bought for him fine cuts of meat. In scenes reminiscent of those Ann must have gone thorough, Jack would ask Dad at the usual time if he were ready to eat. "No", was the usual reply. After a short while, the bell, both of us were sorry we'd ever given him that bell, would sound like a cymbol. No matter what one was doing the sound came through, loud and clear. The bell meant, STOP what you are doing and fix my meal. Jack realized now what his wife had endured the past months.
Jack had a very late model Buick Electra with maroon crushed velvet seats. One day together they all went to the chiropodist to fix Dad's ingrown toenail. While in the doctor's office, the octogenarian had to use the john. When he came back, the nauseating odor pervaded Ann's olefactory nerves. Ann ventured into the just used toilet to find globs of the smelly, running down Dad's leg and the floor and general area covered. Forever Ann, she faithfully came to the old man's rescue. The crap did not annoy her, the girl had cleaned Dad many times before, only his insistence that he hadn't, despite the funky smell, done anything wrong. The lady also traveled prepared. In the trunk of the car was a large black plastic bag for her father-in-law to sit on. Ann took good care of her husband's property.
Jack would arise and start to cook the daily bowl of Farina or oatmeal. Dad would complain about lumps in the cereal. Jack merely threw up his hands in total surrender. He knew now precisely what Ann took, but she never, for a long, long time said a mumbling word. Even the night when they were making love and Jack, looked over his shoulder and saw the stooped figure of his father standing, totally confused and disoriented is at the foot of the bed. Ann tolerated Dad and his idiosyncracies. With moving to the new house pending, Dad was moved into a nursing home.
Ann and Jack had search diligently for a suitable place for him to stay until he too, could be transferred to Virginia. But with all the red tape the process became a very long one. While in the nursing home Dad became sick again. By now dead was 89 years old. Still quite funny though. At first the doctors had told him that the cancer in his testicle would cause him to lose it. Dad said no way could he lose his manhood. Doctors finally convinced him that he would no longer need it at his advanced age.
Jack was notified after the serious heart problem, after almost two whole days. After arriving at the home Jack was told that someone had signed some papers and made some arrangements. He bristled and demanded to know how the home had not notified or contacted him as the only son and therefore the only living relative. He was told that Mary, Rose's youngest daughter had made herself next of kin. Livid but relieved that since she lived in New York and he Virginia, he conceded maybe it was better this way. Dad had always shown a closeness to Rose's children. When dad passed away, Jack was, promptly told and he proceeded to make the necessary moves to get his father buried. Time passed and eventually so did Duxie.
Although all ties had been broken, Jack dutifully attended the funeral. So did some of Rose's kids. Some of them were acting strange toward their baby sister, Mary. On the long trip back home with David the eldest of the pack, Jack almost wrecked the car when he heard David,talking about the estrangment of his sister, say, "Mary is your father' s daughter". Jack thought to himself, no wonder the old bastard always asked if he and Rose were making out. Dad was really a character.
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Life In The Garment Center * Jack's Black Queen * Those Were The Days
New York, New York * Dad * Post Office Blues? * DS or BS?
The Hookers of Hunt's Point * SanMan * Amazing