Gypsy Scholar helps some old friends into a new career...
Jim and Barbara Scott
"I only have eyes for you, Barbara . . .
so why are you making eyes at everyone else?"
Readers may recall my account of a visit to Mr. Scott's place during the recent Ozark trip. You can refresh your memories by revisiting the blog entry for February 13th -- though the visit was on February 12th.
At the time, I couldn't post any photos due to the hillbilly computer, and I later discovered that Sun-Ae hadn't taken photos that day anyway, having forgotten her camera. Luckily, one of Mr. Scott's daughters, Jeanie Oliver, has come to my assistance and sent me the two images that appear today.
As you see in the first picture, above, Mrs. Scott is looking in our direction, more or less . . . though perhaps a bit off to our right. Doubtless, she didn't realize that she would be smiling at people from all over the world, and also at the cats perched on their desks, or she might have provided us a more mysterious, Mona Lisa smile to keep us at a distance. Instead, she's offering an open smile that says "Sure, we'll be glad to have you over for dinner."
Mr. Scott, also unaware of what the future holds in store for Jeanie's photograph, has eyes solely for Barbara and smiles at his wife as if he were newly wedded and dreaming only of their future together as a hermit couple in the Ozark backwoods.
Except that -- to paraphrase Emerson -- Barbara's smile has made the world beat a path to their door . . . for dinner . . . leaving Jim with some explaining to do:
Jim with some explaining to do...
"Now, look Barbara, I can explain..."
"Great guns, Barbara, I didn't invite all these people. Your daughter Jeanie . . ."And so it goes. Gypsy Scholar once again contributes to international understanding -- and also gives Jim and Barbara the idea for a new career as proprietors of a bed-and-breakfast place.
"My daughter? She's your daughter, too!"
"I don't deny that, Barbara, but she does take after you."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Look, it's child's play to understand."
"Don't condescend to me, mister!"
"'Condescend' is not the right word here."
"Are you implying that I've willfully distorted your intention?"
"No, I was referring not to your veracity, merely to your accuracy."
"Well, sir, I maintain that I was accurate!"
"Okay, let me shift gears here. Our daughter Jeanie took that photo of us that has you flashing your winsome smile and sent it to Jeff Hodges, who posted it on his blog for all the world to see and also provided directions specific enough for people to find this place. Our hermit existence is a thing of the past. Now, everybody wants to see our horses, feed our cattle, pet our bull, and look for wildlife, including that dead coyote hanging on our neighbor's fencepost . . . though I'm not sure that it qualifies as wildlife . . ."
"Winsome smile? Okay, you're forgiven. Anything else I need to know?"
"Yes, all these people will be wanting supper."
"Hmmm . . . I haven't fixed anything. Guess I'll need to go to Sonic for burgers and fries."
"Good idea. Meanwhile, I'll show these folks around the farm . . ."
Labels: Arkansas, Friends, Ozark Mountains
posted by Horace Jeffery Hodges @ 5:32 AM
13 comments
13 Comments:
Oh, Jeff, thank you for a laugh. It's so good for the soul.I have to give you a confession. Mom and Dad were going to take your family out to the Southfork restaurant. I think it was your daughter who said, innocently, that she had been there several times already. Mom had to move to a quick plan b!(b for bed and breakfast). You have so pegged conversations between them. Did you experience this or was it intuition?
later
JeanieO
I think it is a vocabulary thing. I'd guess intuition.
Well.
Oh Well (by the Rockets or Fleetwood Mac if you can find it.)
Honey-would that I could. You know. And a Dolly Parton title.
JK
Sorry Jeff, JeanniO's site
allows no anonymous comments, so.
a blogging voice is different. you've done a bit that children remember. the oh well people who know the children who may've become "adults" while the...
JeaniO: I consider it will turn out fine. Just, please, if you guess me, don't give my area code.
JK
JK
Am I supposed to be guessing who you are? Do you know me or my parents. Are you a part of Jeff's family.
Jeanie, I borrowed bits of dialogue that I've heard both of your parents use with each other and with me. I was pretty sure that I'd gotten Jim's voice down, but I was less sure of Barbara's.
You'll need to see what they think, of course.
I'm glad that we didn't go to Southfork for dinner. We had so much more fun just sitting there in the house that Jim built, shooting the breeze...
As for JK, think of that young'un as just kidding...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Jeff,
Who could ever forget The Incredible Hopper Machine, the Dying (dyne) Centimeter uttering “Erg”, the endless vocabulary lessons and the Magnanimous Mr. Jim Scott?
Thanks for sharing,
Skrap
Skrap, my memory must be slipping, for I don't recall your nickname, but you must be someone whom I know, or you wouldn't recall these things . . . or perhaps your nickname is merely an abbreviation, in which case I may have you figured out...
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
JK, Cran, and whomever,
I fixed that blog! now anyone can leave an anonymous comment. have to go cause right now I'm dissecting every JK comment to piece together the identity!
later
JeanieO-"Secret Agent Girl"
"I'm dissecting every JK comment to piece together the identity!"
Be careful. She might not want to be outted.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
I didn’t realize an anonymous post blocked my email address from you, Jeff, or “Skrap” would have been understood. No need for anonymity. Skrap, is short for Skrapates, class of 1983, given name Ruth. I am near the end of the line- #5 of 6. You would be the same age as Thomas, and then Tim lines up with Mary and Shan with Punkin (Debi). I would have been the obnoxious little kid at the gymnasium. I was fortunate to have the Jim Scott classroom experience.
I taught nursing for a couple of years and realized I learned more than Trig, Geometry and Physics from Mr. Scott. Of course, I had to retrieve the dry erase markers from the wastebasket at the end of the day.
Since my introduction to your blog, I have looked forward to a daily dose of “Gypsy”.
Thanks,
Skrap
Skrap, from the 'scraps' of information in your previous comment, I had figured out that you must be a younger Skrapates, and I also recalled that someone at the hospital (perhaps Dona, perhaps Denise) mentioned that Thomas's little sister reads my blog every day.
I am, of course, honored to be a daily corrupter of youth.
I recall you hanging around the gym, but I took little notice, of course, intent as I was on becoming a star basketball player . . . which I failed to do, but succeeded in learning my first hard lesson in big failure, so not all of that long, arduous practice was for naught.
I never had physics from Mr. Scott, by the way, for he only started teaching it the year after I had graduated. But like you, I learned many other things -- and even more when I worked with his surveying crew.
Next time that I'm in Salem and visit the hospital, I'll have to look you up and say hello.
Is 2020 too late?
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
jeff, we read your blog about the scotts. jim and i enjoyed it very much, however the part about being hermits (that applies only to jim). next time i promise a good meal not sonic. we have been digging out from the snow, now it is murky. our cows continue to calve. we have 2 obamas 2 coal black, and the rest are red. we are quite an intergrated farm. have a good year, we will try to stay in touch, although this is not our best virtue.
barbara scott- tell the family hello.
Barbara (and Jim), thanks for reading, and enjoying, despite the fictional nature of my blog entry.
Or was it fiction? Perhaps it's more like Edmund Morris's imagined biography of Ronald Reagan.
The Sonic meal was fine, and adds an authentic detail to my story. I wouldn't have had it any other way.
More snow? Whatever happened to global warming? I think that the long-term weather report is "warming and continued warming for several million years with occasional, scattered ice ages."
Good to hear about all those red cattle. I've been hoping for an increase in the Native American population.
Staying in touch used to be a virtue of mine, but having children has made me less virtuous. I haven't written a real letter in years . . . but the internet enables at least a gesture in the direction of virtue.
I'll pass on the hello.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
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