Red State Hero

Chapter 12 RAMBUNCIOUSNESS

Chapter 12

RAMBUNCIOUSNESS

American society is a lot like its food, especially Anglo Saxon society. The traditional Sunday dinner of fried chicken or pot roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, etc. is uniform from coast to coast. It can be characterized as safe and sound and bland. Sundays are not started off by bowls of menudo as in Mexican society nor does the American traditionalist look forward to lasagna for Sunday dinner. No sushi on Sunday, never ever. No haggis on Sunday, never. No tripe on Sunday or any other day, never. No indeed, the American palate, prior to the 60's, was as conforming as the society that ate it.

There were some regional exceptions to this, of course, large eastern cities had delicatessens but in Middle America bagels did not exist. German and Scandinavian food was abundant in the northern plains as was barbeque and Cajun food in the south but the panoply of foods found in any grocery today were nowhere to be found.

In reality, American's had little tolerance for nonconformity. In the time of which we speak every salt and pepper shaker, every sugar dispenser, every napkin holder in the country was exactly the same from New Jersey to Southern California.

But in spite of this conformity, Americans love rebels and people who symbolize rebelliousness. Jesse James, a murderous bank robber, was revered as a man of the people, a Robin Hood. Daniel's father, Jake, recalled with awe the night John Dillinger was gunned down. "Done in by a woman in a red dress," he would say wistfully before a long drag on his cigarette.

And even in the middle of the era of the grey flannel suit, even in the middle of the era of powerful religionists from Billy Graham to Fulton J. Sheen. Even in the time of white bread, mayonnaise and Eisenhower there were those who would not conform.

Daniel's situation was quite different. He had been a straight A student and the first trumpet player in the school band, who so excelled that he was allowed to skip the third and seventh grades. Therefore, he graduated from high school two years early.

Yielding to pressure from his mother and the promise of a car from Glenn, he enrolled in Temple Baptist Seminary, a small college that had been founded by Rev. G. Jimmie Gardner. And yet, like his father before him, he refused to conform. As he rose to give a sermon at the end of his first year, he criticized the rector of the college for driving a Packard, for wearing a Rolex, for donning handmade suits and for his wife's fur coat. "All this should have gone toward the Lord's work," he intoned. Of course, he was "invited to not return". Dorothy was so incensed at his impertinent, but truthful remarks, that she wanted to disown him.

"Rambunctious," Glenn muttered under his breath.....

Glenn was amazed that such rebelliousness had found its way to his doorstep. But at this time, Rebelliousness came into vogue and it had names-James Dean and Marlon Brando were Midwesterners-one from Indiana and one from Illinois that ended up in California, like millions of others who were squeezed westward by conformity-oppressive conformity.

Then there was the matter of Tommy. It was inevitable that he would find trouble and just as inevitable that he would find it with a girl. All his endeavors and industry ended with a short plump girl.

"Five months pregnant!" shouted Glenn.

Tommy hung his head in shame and obeisance. The rage in Glenn changed the color of his face to bright red.

"Just look at this," he shouted, "You don't work for me because the slush pits were too dirty, too grimy-so you took on all these other jobs to make less money in the long run and now you have totally fucked up. I bought you a box of rubbers, twenty-four rubbers in a box......"

Tommy did not answer and after several deep breaths and some clearing of his throat Glenn pronounced his sentence, "You're going to be leaving; and I have a feeling Daniel is going with you so get your stuff together. That's what you get for being rambunctious."

Rambunctious..... Glenn loved the word. He loved its descriptive power and he wondered if he might not be able to use it on Daniel. The answer to the question began to make itself known the following Saturday evening when Glenn came in the bathroom while Daniel was in a tub full of soapy water.

He sat on the commode and cleared his throat and said, "Now Daniel, you know you blew it with that speech you made and your mother can't even talk about it without tears running down her face so here's what I'm gonna do. I want you to go out to Evansville College on a Monday morning and sign up for the kind of classes you need to take geology and I'll pay for everything. You can come to work for me and I'll take care of everything."

There was a long pause before Daniel turned to answer with as much bravado as he could bring to bear, "I'm not interested in the oil business, Glenn. I worked on the rigs and it's not what I want to do. I'll do some of it to help you out but what I want is entirely different."

There was a long pause and Glenn squared his chin before he asked, "What is it you want to do."

"I want to join the Foreign Service," said Daniel, "I'm good at languages and history and geography and everything it takes and I want to travel and see the world and help the United States."

A snicker escaped Glenn and he snorted, "Help the United States?" and then he shook his head in disbelief. "I'll tell you what you're gonna do, you're gonna end up tootin' that horn of yours in some Honky Tonk for about twenty dollars a night, if you're lucky." Then he stood up, looked Daniel directly in the eye and said, "I'm gonna give you until this time tomorrow night, right after the ED SULLIVAN SHOW. I'm gonna ask you what your decision is and when you give me your answer I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen next."

There was clearly a threat in Glenn's tone. Daniel pulled the shower curtain closed and stood up and rinsed the soapy suds off of his body. He had a date that evening with Brenda Perkins, the undertaker's daughter. Even though Glenn, with some reluctance, had let him borrow the car; it was all for naught. He didn't get anywhere with Brenda, especially after she ran her hands through his hair and said, "What's all this goop you're wearing?"

The rest was a daze. Church the following morning was a daze and Sunday lunch was a daze and the afternoon spent with Glenn at the Evansville Raceway seemed surrealistic.

That evening he found his duffle bag before the ED SULLIVAN SHOW and put it at the foot of his bed and gathered the small remnants of his life together in one place. Then he sat through Mindy the mannequin Dancer, a few jokes by Jackie Mason, the hand-puppeting of Louise the ventriloquist and a tap dancing display by the Tappets of Marquette University.

When the ED SULLIVAN SHOW was over he went to his room and sat on the edge of his bed. Glenn tapped on the door and said, "Come out to the kitchen." And they ate ice cream together and finally Glenn looked up from his bowl and said, "What's your decision?"

Daniel could hardly get the words out but finally he said, "You know, Glenn, if I came to work for you and worked my ass off; in the long run we both know it would be pointless. Derrick will grow up and replace me. You and mom both have said a million times that he's your son, your blood; and it's clear that you favor him."

Daniel expected Glenn to deny this but after a long pause, Glenn looked Daniel in the eye and said very softly, "You're probably right." He tossed his spoon into his bowl and pushed it sideways with his left hand. "Ok then," he said without the slightest emotion in his voice, "tomorrow morning I'll call the pilot and we'll fly the Piper Cub up to LaSalle and you and Tommy can stay with my mom and go to work at the glass factory. Glenn started to say something about being rambunctious, but he knew the word didn't exactly fit Daniel.