Wrote this one Easter after returning to SETX and my worldly home.... “ Hey, Dont I Know You? ” 1968 was a strange, mixed year for me. I returned from Nam in November, 1967. Nothing was really the same. The Sheps Dairy Mart crowd was different or gone. The Boogie Kings were about to depart for Vegas and Los Angeles. Hardly anyone was still around I ran with prior to Nam. I had no skills other than a seaman or longshoreman. I wasnt ready to settle down. I went through jobs and whiskey like there was no tomorrow. In a matter of short months I had worked at Gulfport Shipyard as a welders helper (where I was electrocuted), Texas US Chemical (where I was fired for leaving evening shift early and going to the Big Oaks), and Jefferson Chemical (where I was released after 90 days when they discovered my prior experience at Texas US). I had obtained my Merchant Marine card and was about to ship out with a couple of friends when my cousin Jerry called. It was just about Easter, 1968. Jerry was a pipeline welder by trade when he worked. Mostly, he was a dangerous hustler. I never was quite sure about him. He wanted me to come to Buffalo, Oklahoma and be his welder helper on a pipeline job. He said we would make a gold mine. I thought, What the heck. Might as well. My Chevelle convertible was in Sheffields Paint and Body in Port Neches where I was founder and charter member of the Color of the Month Club. Three years earlier, Hogaboom road had claimed my 59 Chevy. Now, it had my 65 Chevelle. I bought bus tickets to Buffalo and departed. I was hired immediately because as Jerry said, they were short-handed. I was Jerrys helper about three days when a union representative appeared at the job. He asked for my union card. I had none. I had not even been paid yet and was staying in the room with Jerry. Three days later another union man showed up and took my welder helper job. I was made a skid hustler. We were laying a 36 line across the Oklahoma plains. A skid hustler is the poor joker that is grabbing railroad ties all day and stacking them beneath the next pipe joint and getting it in position to weld. I thought I was going to die! I was in the best physical condition of my life. I was lean and hard as a rock after Nam. I needed that strength to hustle the skids. This went on for about a month when the winds arrived. We would go on the firing line where the job was, place a joint (stabbing), weld it; the welding inspector would proclaim, Winds too high. Go in and get your show up time. That meant 4 hours pay for the union guys and 2 hours for me. This big time job Jerry told me about was going nowhere fast! To make matters worse I was realizing just how strange Jerry was. I knew he had done three years in Angola prison, Louisiana. I knew he drank heavily (which normally did not bother me). He had long black hair and coal dark eyes - a large version of Charles Manson. I awoke one night feeling someone was watching me. I looked over and Jerry was setting on the edge of his bed next to me at 3AM with a screw driver (drink) in his hand. I thought, Ive got to get out of here. That very morning while eating breakfast prior to going on the firing line; an old fellow pipeliner came in the cafe and said, Ive had it! Im getting out of here. Going by the boss’s trailer, getting my pay and heading for Eudora, Arkansas. Anyone want to come? I didnt hesitate! I grabbed my belongings and drove the old fellows truck out to the bosses trailer to get what pay we had coming. The old man drank two fifths of 100 proof Smirnoff Vodka as I drove from Buffalo, Oklahoma to Eudora, Arkansas. After making sure he was safe, I stepped out of the truck at his turn off road in Eudora and hitch-hiked 28 miles south to Lake Providence, Louisiana where I had relatives and knew I could get home. A few short years later cousin Jerry killed his father, his girlfriend and himself in that same house. His mother, my beloved Aunt Doris, was the relative that helped me get home. Thank God she wasnt at home when Jerry lost it. I arrived home by Trailways, retrieved my lavender convertible with white interior from Sheffields and found a nice easy job - loading 55 gallon drums in railroad boxcars at US Steel in Port Arthur on the beach road. A short time later one of the greatest happenings in my life occurred. I married Saint Lynda - the lovely lady that had been trying to reach me and set my feet on higher ground. Like many, our lives have had ups and downs, peaks and valleys. I just think ours had more than normal. Mostly the valleys were created by my life style which remained intolerable. One night this week I was channel surfing. This being Easter, the Discovery Channel had a program regarding the crucifixion. I watched curiously having read the story many times. They discussed the torment, anguish, suffering, and mockery Christ suffered leading to his death. They mentioned his resurrection and the hand full of sightings and appearances he made following the resurrection. Even the followers of Christ at first did not recognize him when he appeared to them following the resurrection. As I viewed the program, the images of Calvary hill and the cross; my mind went back to a long Sunday I spent at the cross in the park by the river in Port Neches. My life by all outward appearances was successful. I had the new home, new autos, motorcycles, great job. But, I was tearing apart inside. The valleys I was creating were getting deeper and deeper. As I prayed and contemplated at the cross many things went through my mind. I thought of the soldiers that gambled for Christs robe. I remembered the pool games I had hustled. I thought of the people that mocked Christ and tormented him. I thought of the time in my life when I proclaimed, Im sick of religious people! I dont even want them around me! I looked at the Neches river and thought of the miracle of Christ changing the water to wine, of John baptizing Christ. Of the dove that landed on His shoulder following baptism. I watched the water current flowing beneath the Rainbow Bridge and thought, How much dark waters have passed beneath the bridges of my life? How much more can I take? How much more can my family take? I thought of the soldier that pierced His side and blood flowed. I thought of all the bloody fights I had been in. I asked God to let me feel the pain and suffering and torment Christ went through. The feelings were overwhelming! I thought of the faithful that did not at first recognize Christ when he reappeared. I thought of Christs comment at the Cross, My God, my God hast thou forsaken me? I wondered aloud at what a strange comment from someone that knew this was his destiny. How could he have wondered if God had forsaken him? I realized it was possible. A voice said, Clifton, have you not done the same? I thought of the two on crosses next to Christ. One believed. One did not. Christ commented to the believer, Because thou hast believed, today thou shall be in paradise with me. Finally, I thought of His comment, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. This was the hardest thought for me to understand. You see, I knew and had known for many years what to do. If Christ could still love me enough to die for me to prove that saving love, who was I to deny it? I did not understand how I could be worthy of such love, of such a gift, of salvation. I accepted by faith that which I could not comprehend. When I returned home after 37 years I wondered if people would know me, or I them. I wondered if anyone would recognize me. It took Christ speaking and visiting with those he appeared to (following the Resurrection) before he was recognized. You see Christ was essentially the same but had changed. He had beaten death. The skeptics heard him and realized this is the same weve known - only different somehow. God has not relieved me of my deranged sense of humor, my love of music, my love of dance. Yet, those are different now. I know Im enjoying a safe evening, whom Im leaving with, that Jack Daniels will not be in control, barring a catastrophe I will arrive safely home and if my friends need help Ill be there for them. Ive changed physically as all do. I can no longer hustle skids or load drums in railroad boxcars. That youth is gone. I no longer mind religious people about me; I only hope they are first Christian and secondly religious. I no longer create the valleys. The waters still run beneath my bridge but theyre now calming waters. I know inside Im different; yet Im the same. Each of us has the same choice as the two on the crosses next to Christ. One chose wisely and was promised paradise. The other did not. This Easter please choose wisely. There is One out there that loved you enough to give His life for you that you might have life, and have it abundantly. What more can you ask? He asks nothing in return but faith and belief. Hell take care of the rest. Be careful. Youll be the same, yet different. I was in Bruces supermarket in Groves, Texas one day after I came home when an old classmate walked up and said, Hey, dont I know you? I replied, Well, yes and no...... This morning I drove down to Oak Bluff cemetery and spoke with my parents and sister. I rode to the Rainbow Bridge where the troubled waters of my life flowed out to sea. I rode to my cross at the park. As I looked about the cross I saw no preparation signs of Sunrise Service. I wondered if they still had it. I checked the papers when I got home. I saw nothing. Im just not sure. But, Ill be there. You see, I learned long ago that even if no other person is there, you will not be alone....
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 17:23:05 +0000
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