Chapter 16
Now, Amos Dooley was a guy worked with Terrence and a sweeter fellow you’d never meet.
He was married to a woman named Angela. She and Amos had four kids and don’t you know they were the cleanest, best-dressed kids on the block.
Angela got all her clothes from the thrift store and from donations from friends and neighbors, we all knew it, didn’t anyone look down on her for it.
Angela may not have had any money but she sure enough had good taste, and her children looked like they stepped right off the pages of the Sears Roebuck catalogue.
And her, too, I saw her once in a tweed straight skirt and a bow tie blouse and she looked almost like a movie star.
So they were nicely dressed and groomed, the whole family, and the house was clean, too, one of those places with the porches swept and the lawn never in need of mowing.
But the house was about to fall down, ever in need of repairs, and their car was just a rattletrap that was always breaking down.
I knew they had trouble paying their water and electric bills, and sometimes they had the power clean cut off.
This was all because Amos had a bad gambling problem.
He’d sneak off to the casino, he was in card games all over town, and he bought lottery tickets every week.
One time he and Terrence were in a store sold those tickets and Amos bought two and gave one to Terrence.
Terrence said he didn’t believe in such things and Amos said oh just take a chance, maybe you’ll win.
He said if he finally won something he would stop gambling, that was a deal he’d made with God.
Terrence didn’t think much of that, but he was kind enough not to say anything. Of course by now you’ve probably guessed what happened. Amos won nothing that day, but Terrence did.
First thing he did was to call Amos and say this money is yours, you bought the ticket, but Amos said no, it’s your money, you got it fair and square, I gave you that ticket.
He wouldn’t take no for an answer. He said tell you what, take me and my family out for a chicken dinner with you and Flo, how about that.
Terrence said sure, but it was really bothering him that he won and Amos didn’t, and so he asked me about him giving the money to Amos.
I have to be honest and say I had a mental image of a pretty new armchair floating right out the window but I said, Yes, go ahead and give it to him.
I want you to. We don’t need a thing, not really, and they need so much.
Terrence said, This is why I married you.
Well, Terrence took Amos out for a drive, saying he wanted to show him a new calf just born over to the Lawson farm that had a perfect star on its forehead, Amos was just a fool for animals.
And as they stood at the fence looking at the calf, Terrence gave Amos the money, and he told Amos if he didn’t take it, Terrence would be awfully upset.
Terrence said, God works in strange ways, right?
Well, this is His roundabout way of making sure you honor your promise to Him, because I’m going to keep an eye on you.
Terrence said Amos commenced to cry but finally he took the money, and do you know he never did gamble again.
So that photo was ever a reminder to me that sometimes when you give away something you get back so much you can hardly contain it.
I’m still awfully glad for us giving that money away, Terrence and I, it filled my heart and lifted my soul.
And I’ll tell you what, this morning I went to the back of my closet where I still have that suit and heels I wore for the photograph and I thought about putting the whole dang outfit on, even rouging my cheeks like I was going all over again to have my picture taken for the paper, Terrence on my arm looking handsome as could be, with his square chin and dimple right smack in the middle.
I don’t think it’s any sin of pride to say we both looked real good on that day.
Oh, I hope after I die, I’ll be dressed up fine and I’ll walk right into Terrence’s arms, and I’ll bet he’ll say, Where have you been?
I’ve been waiting on you, he’ll say, and I’ll say here I am.
People ask sometimes about what is the measure of a man.
I believe I saw Terrence clear on the day I met him, and despite a bad surprise he presented me with and the hard time that followed, I never really deviated from that point of view.
No reason to. Read this article which I will put after this page.
In it is the measure of Terrence. I feel bad that I have to stick it in a letter, when where it really should go is into a golden vault.