- Gwen the Beautiful and I spent some time over at the
Wayside Church last weekend.
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- It's a beautiful place on a bluff alongside the Paradise
River. "A kind of scenic overlook for God," Preacher Calcy, who
also owns a towing service and an art gallery, likes to say.
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- He said it on that weekend at a special service none
of us wanted to attend.
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- A funeral for one of the most popular and influential
men in the county.
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- Uncle Ernie.
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- Back in Los Angeles, I had a friend who correctly referred
to himself as "Star Maker." Here in Paradise, Uncle Ernie just
as rightly called himself "Mayor Maker."
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- Without his approval, no man, woman, Democrat, Republican,
Libertarian, or just plain maverick got on the ballot for any local or
countywide office.
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- The man had power because people loved him, unlike so
many who are loved because they have power. Uncle Ernie smiled, listened,
approved. He laughed and hugged and made everyone feel good, a tall, imposing
man who never used his size to intimidate. Only to coddle.
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- Uncle Ernie's death from a massive heart attack took
us all by surprise. The church was packed with mourning friends and community
leaders.
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- The service was far from short. Speaker after speaker
expressed genuine shock and sorrow and admitted to not having anywhere
near the right words to console Uncle Ernie's widow, Edda, for her loss.
In her place in the first row of pews, Edda sniffled and shrieked and rocked.
How she rocked! Bobbing like a boat cast adrift.
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- It was clear to all of us that she was just as lost.
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- Finally, about a hundred "close friends and family"
adjourned to Uncle Ernie's and Edda's farm, and in those familiar surroundings
Edda composed herself and said a few words of her own.
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- "Thank y'all for coming," she said from the
creaking front porch swing. (She was still rocking, and the swing felt
the strain.) "Especially since there was nothing for any of y'all
to gain. Ain't no way Ernie can help anybody now.
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- "He was a great man," Edda went on. "Took
care of me and our children and this county. Said he was a 'steward of
the people,' and stayed honest and true. That's the part that's most important
to me as his wife. His honesty. And the love that came in a straight line
from his heart to mine. A day didn't go by Ernie didn't show me how much
he loved me. A day didn't go by that he didn't tell me in real writing."
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- I'd wondered what was in the big barrels on the porch.
Edda reached into one and held up a handful of pieces of paper. "These
are his letters to me," she said. "A lifetime of love letters.
I'd like y'all to see this side of the man. I hope you'll read these and
get to know him the way I did."
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- That was as long as she could hold it together. Edda
shrieked, and two of the strapping sons she and Uncle Ernie had had together
carried her inside.
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- Those of us in attendance glanced around at each other.
Jimmy Blue, Uncle Ernie's best friend since they were toddlers, looked
puzzled.
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- "He never told me about any love letters,"
he said. He went up to the porch and brought back several of the pieces
of paper to share with Gwen and me.
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- I started to read, then stopped. Uncle Ernie hadn't intended
for anyone but Edda to see these. I couldn't get myself to intrude.
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- Gwen and Jimmy Blue chose to respect the living instead.
They read on.
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- Stopping at about the same time. "Time for me to
go," Jimmy Blue said.
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- "Us, too," said Gwen.
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- Jimmy Blue started for his truck. Turned back to us.
He spoke tightly. "Never did like that woman. Damn her to hell!"
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- He trudged away. I looked at Gwen. "What's that
all about?"
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- "The letters," she said. "Every one I
saw was Uncle Ernie apologizing for doing something that hurt Edda. Or
for not doing something and hurting her that way. They don't show Uncle
Ernie as a great man. Far from it."
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- "Edda wants us to see him as a bad husband?"
I said. "As a jerk?"
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- "I don't know," Gwen said. "Maybe to her
the fact that he apologized was the real sign of his love."
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- "I don't get it," I said. "Sorry."
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- "Exactly," Gwen said.
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- Copyright C 2008 by Larry Brody. All rights reserved.
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- Author Larry Brody's weekly column, LIVE! FROM PARADISE!
appears on his website, www.larrybrody.com. He has written thousands of
hours of network television, and is the author of "Television Writing
from the Inside Out" and "Turning Points in Television."
Brody is Creative Director of The Cloud Creek Institute for the Arts, the
world's first in-residence media colony. More about his activities can
be seen on www.tvwriter.com and www.cloudcreek.org. He welcomes your comments
and feedback at <mailto:LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org>LarryBrody@cloudcreek.org.
Brody, his wife and their dogs, cats, horses and chickens live in Marion
County, Arkansas. The other residents of the mythical town of Paradise
reside in his imagination.
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