Monday, July 28, 2008

ODIS WALKER

I've been thinkin how it takes different kinds of people to make up a community.


I have to admit that some of the kinds of people I've met just help make it up and don't do much to make it better. Some though like the Walker brothers sure do help to make it more colorful and interestin'. 'Ramblin' Bill Walker is one of those people who will start to tell you something and they go into so much detail and get off the point so much that you never really know what they started out to tell. Mostly you just wait around until he gets to a good stopping point and try to get away. I'm not sure if they call him 'Ramblin' Bill because of the way he talks or because he can't stay put for long. If he has a place to call home at all it would be with his brother Odis Walker who lives in an old converted school bus down by the river.
Odis is a real colorful character. When he is telling something you can be pretty sure he's 'Spinning a Windy'. That's a polite way saying that he may not be telling the truth most of the time.
Odis is a commercial fisherman and raises about the best garden of anyone in the whole county. I don't guess he has ever been married. I asked him one time why he wasn't married and he said, "Well, when you live like I do it would take a mighty good wife to beat no wife at all."
Except for the gardening part Lonzo's boy Arlis really admires the lifestyle of Odis. He spends a lot of time down by the river listening to Odis spin his windys and trying to learn about fishing and hunting to sustain himself. Odis has several dogs about two dozen chickens that roam the yard, and the bus too, and Arlis took a liking to the chickens.
One of the hens hatched out a batch of new chicks and Arlis saw following the mama hen around and thought they was something special. Odis is kind of fond of Arlis in spite of his shortcomings and thought he'd be nice.
"I'll tell you what Arlis," he said,"I'll catch some of them tonight and you can take them home and raise you some chickens for yourself. I'll drop 'em by your house in the morning."
Arlis got out of bed before the crack of noon for the first time in awhile and was waiting on Odis when he came by with the chickens.
Odis told me he went by a few days later and asked Arlis how he was doing raising the chickens. Arlis just looked down and led Odis out into the back yard. Odis looked around and saw several mounds of dirt right in front of Arlis. Arlis looked at him, "They ain't come up yet, do you reckon I planted them too deep?"
Odis just shook his head and said, "That boy ain't no smarter than a bucket of live bait."
I'm Bo Lumpkin and I've been thinkin'.
Send me an E-mail:bo@bolumpkin.com or bolumpkin@gmail.com
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3 comments:

  1. New stuff published 5 times per week usually

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  2. This stuff is funny.

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  3. I love your stories....Thanks for sharing.

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