Children Together 5 A Question of Begging [Upon becoming parents the citizens of Fair City discovered themselves heirs to a vast fortune of behavior they found that has been invested across the generations and can only be appreciated as richness in irony. While Zimmerman himself never married he had been uncle, grand uncle and great-grand uncle many times over and if he ever saw himself in any of his extended family he did not betray any familiarity.] On one occasion P. J. and Buddy were walking to the nearby school playground. P. J., being uncertain of the regulations requesting that all visitors to the school must first visit the office, had brought Buddy there for play on the swings and other recreational equipment to assist in tiring Buddy so he would take the afternoon nap he was now seeming to have abandoned. That is not to say that P. J. was unfamiliar with the notion of visiting the office in his younger days. For Jerome school was a challenge. Here is not the place to explore behavioral motivation, but there will be those who will be quick to point out some pivotal incident or incidents which grated against Jerome’s scholastic endeavors to fit in. If he learned anything later in life it was that he was not alone in his struggles, but that he was the one who usually got caught. It did not help that Jerome went to the school where his mother also taught. Doris was certain to find out everything that Jerome was up to. One day while relaxing in the teacher’s lounge during lunch her break was interrupted when another teacher came in. “Doris, do you know what that son of yours is doing in front of the cafeteria?” It turned out that Jerome was standing beside the cafeteria exit doors. In his hand he was holding a tin cup. “Can you please tell me why you are holding a tin cup in front of the cafeteria?” At this point Jerome was certain that any testimony he gave was not going to benefit him as he stood before his mother, but he went ahead with his explanation. “Well, yesterday I was done with eating my lunch early so I stood out here and waited for my friends. Someone walked by, I stuck out my hand, and she dropped some money in to it. I thought it would be funny to get this old tin cup and stand out here today.” Jerome had to surrender his cup and sit in the office for the rest of lunch as he meditated on the problem that his sense of humor did not seem to have a place in the school system. When the recess bell sounded P. J. had enough sense to think that being on the playground during official school hours might not be appropriate. So P. J. lifted Buddy up to ride upon his shoulders. Together they started to walk back home. Buddy did not think that recess was the correct cue for his exit and immediately pleaded in a less than delicate stage voice, “I don’t want to leave! I don’t want to leave. Someone help me! Help me! This man is taking me off the playground!” His father was not amused with Buddy’s dramatics as he envisioned himself being detained by Child Protective Services and he told Buddy, “Fine! You be sure to tell your mother why the dishes and laundry aren’t done and why I am being detained at the school office, relaxing from my appointed house-spouse duties. Go ahead! Have them lock me up.” This was not an isolated episode. On another day when Buddy’s grandfather was visiting, P. J. was trying to fix the toilet tank in their rented house. The rented house was a pre-fabricated home built by a local aerospace industry that never really became marketable. All the electrical units, the stove and the refrigerator and all the plumbing units, the kitchen sink, the bathroom sink, the shower, the bath tub and the toilet were located in a central core. The idea was that the rest of the houses could be built around these central units in a wide variety of architectural styles. To access the toilet’s plumbing P. J. needed to open a small door outside the bathroom to get to the tank. From that open door a person could also look down to the exposed crawlspace underneath the house. With his father’s hands contorted through the narrow opening to try and rearrange the toilet tank flap Buddy decided it was an excellent time humorously to beseech his father. “Daddy, daddy, please don’t put me down there again.” Buddy’s grandfather knew his son-in-law’s methods of child discipline were somewhat eccentric. Often after having to address some questionable behavior from his children P.J. had claimed to hold up his hand, with his thumb back, his forefinger pointing straight up to inform them, “This is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and it could blow your heads right off. Now in all this excitement of you two not picking up your rooms like I asked, did I fire six shots or only four.” So D.J. glared at his son-in-law and said sternly, “What are you doing to my grandson?” At this point P. J. was certain that any testimony he gave was not going to benefit him as he stood before his father-in-law, but he went ahead with his explanation.
Posted on: Fri, 25 Oct 2013 04:58:30 +0000