The Graves County Boys: A Tale of Kentucky Basketball, Perseverance, and the Unlikely Championship of the Cuba Cubs

13. The Tragedy

13 The Tragedy By grief the soul is torn asunder. —Proverbs 27:14 The most important person in doodle’s young life was his brother James, three years older. doodle adored James, and James loved his little brother with all his heart. They worked and played together. as it always is, even with best friends, some bickering went on between them occasionally, but it always ended in laughter. until James turned thirteen and doodle ten in 1944, they were constant companions . But as soon as James reached his teenage years, he wanted time on his own to read or just be alone. he had outgrown most of the games that his younger brother still enjoyed playing. loving him as he did, doodle was puzzled by what he thought was rejection. Then, too, their mother had not only instructed but also extracted a solemn promise from him that he would always stay with James to see to it that he did not hurt himself when he had a seizure. James, you see, had epilepsy. The Tragedy 95 Tall, muscular, strong, and handsome, James weighed 175 pounds by the time he was thirteen. he had thick blond straight hair that he parted on the side and kept neatly cut and combed. he had a smooth olive complexion, denim-blue eyes, a square jaw line, and a resolute expression. all through school he made straight a’s, and he also saw to it that doodle did well in his schoolwork. unlike doodle, James was an avid reader, and he won awards nearly every year for reading more library books than anyone else at the school. James read big books, too, books that the other children called hard; he did not just read the Zane Grey and Tarzan series. he was elected president of his class and also president of the Future Farmers of america, an organization that the school required all boys to join. James was much loved by his family, and also by his friends, teachers, and folks in Pilot oak. everyone who knew the Floyds knew that the family was James Floyd looked like the archetypal american youth—a poster boy. not only was he handsome, he was good natured, intelligent, and kind. (Photo courtesy of Charles Floyd.) 96 The Graves County Boys immensely proud of James and had great expectations for him. They knew, too, that vodie lived vicariously through the boy, for James was all that vodie was not and yet wished to be. around the age of six or seven, James fell from a moving wagon and was knocked unconscious. after he awakened, he seemed all right. Were it not for a bad bruise on the side of his head, there would have been no sign that he had fallen. he continued to grow and develop normally, but when he was around eleven, he began having seizures. his first attack occurred one morning shortly after Christmas while his dad was working in detroit. his mother was frightened, not knowing what to think or do. The old folks in Pilot oak told her that children sometimes outgrow such “fits” and that nothing could be done but pray that James outgrew his. he was otherwise healthy and intelligent. he did not appear to suffer any adverse effects after having a seizure, so she did not take him to see dr. Page. What worried lexie more than anything was the possibility that he might injure himself in a fall during one of these attacks. during the seizures he lost consciousness and fell to the floor. his arms and legs would jerk, he would perspire profusely, and then become rigid. his complexion would turn dusky or pale. sometimes he bit the inside of his mouth and tongue, or hurt his arm or shoulder in the fall. The seizures lasted for only seconds or a few minutes; they often stopped almost as quickly as they started. But they always left him quite drowsy and exhausted. sometimes he would sleep for hours after an attack. Fearing that he would hit his head or choke or cut his tongue or break a bone, lexie explained to doodle how to take care of James and instructed him never—never ever—to leave James alone. “Pretend ,” she said, “that you are the big brother. you look after James.” The seizures were unpredictable, but James could sense they were coming on moments before they occurred. he...