Phil and David (Twenty-Five Years Later)

Phil and David (Twenty-Five Years Later) Bill Best Twenty-five years ago I wrote an essay about my then thirteen-yearold son, who did not enjoy school, and his relationship with our then fifty-eight-year-old neighbor, who had never been to school but was nevertheless a teacher of cultural traditions. The essay was published in Appalachian Heritage (Fall 1977). I thought the reader might be interested in a follow-up essay that would complement and maybe even complete the original writing. When my son David was in the eighth grade he told me that he would try to finish high school, but he didn't think he could go any further. School wasn't meeting his needs, and he didn't see the purpose in staying longer than necessary. He did complete high school and then went into the army, where he was trained as a diesel mechanic. He stayed in the military for nine years, serving stints in Texas, California, Korea and Hawaii, with temporary duty in Australia. Finally, after having his family with him in many places around the world, he came home for good and currently works at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass plant in Berea, Kentucky. He has also become something of an expert in designing web sites on the computer. Phil continued living in the house already on the land when we bought it in 1972. For a few years his daughter, son-in-law and their two children lived with him and his wife. We had added two bedrooms to the house, and this gave them a four- bedroom house that was adequate for six people. A few years later, the daughter and her family moved to Arizona, leaving only Phil and Rosa, his wife. Rosa gradually convinced Phil he was becoming too old to work and that he should spend most of his time around the house. She had cataracts, could barely see and needed him around. She was also worried he might be caught supplementing her SSI check each month. So Phil stopped doing much farm labor but spent a lot of time around us while we continued working our truck crops. He continued working the garden spot I provided for him each year and tending the part of my tobacco allotment I had rented to him. Over time, our children graduated from high school. David left home for the army, and Michael and Barbara left for college. Michael and Barbara were home for the summers, but I had to do a lot of work by myself during the spring and fall. Phil was again itching to help. 16 About twelve years ago, Rosa finally had a cataract operation on one eye and was so happy with her new vision that she watched TV all hours of the night, catching up on programs she had missed. Her happiness was soon cut short, however. She developed Lou Gehrig's disease, which took her life in only a few months. David was abroad in the army at the time, but at her funeral Phil wore a hat David had sent him from Korea. While Phil accepted her death stoically, her loss left him increasingly depressed and alone in a big house. Over the years of physical inactivity, Phil had become soft and overweight. After Rosa died, he asked if he could start working with me, since Michael and Barbara were away most of the time. And I was happy to have him again. He quickly toned up, lost his excess weight, stopped drinking alcoholic beverages and seemed quite satisfied. He began driving our small tractor, as well as the old '52 Ford 8N, and spent a lot of time doing things he determined needed to be done with our crops—in fact, doing a lot of things whether or not they needed doing. He worked compulsively. After nine years in the army, David tired of traveling around the world, and his rank in the army had stagnated at the sergeant's level, with so many individuals being in ranks above him. To make matters worse, there was a freeze on promotions most of the time. Thus, he decided to get out of...