13,382. WALKING WITH J. SWANN

 WALKING WITH J. SWANN

'They used to call this Overkill

Bridge, my father used to say  -  

that was back, I guess, oh, in 

the 1920's. Because it would 

kill a person to get over it. 

Back before cars were anyway

plentiful. Walking and a horse,

maybe, was mostly it. They had

some kind of wooden bridge they'd

put up in the 1880's. It did its job,

but they said it was tough. All gone

now though. A few pictures around,

and some sketches and drawings too.'

-

He still smoked cigarettes, the regular

kind, sometimes rolling them himself.

Always the same old dungarees or

farmer jeans, whichever you call 'em.

I was about 15 then, and he'd a' liked

to talk my ear off if I'd have let him.

I can still see him though, just closing

me eyes. He was a rough-hewn kind

of guy; always reminds me now of

Lincoln, or one of those backwoodsy

types. All that oddball wisdom and the

funny ways they say it.

-

He had some burn marks on one side

of his face, lower, down by the chin

and under the cheek area  -  said it was

some fuel can or something that lit

up in his face, blowing apart. The 

marks were from where the pail 

shards hit and lodged. I guess they

were a'fire, or hot anyway. Left the

marks. But he never cared. He'd

say 'All men got scars somewhere.'

-

One time, I remember, some guy 

asked him, said, 'Did you live here 

all your  life?' He took some offense 

to the way that was said, remarking, 

'Well, Hell, no! Not yet anyways, 

I hope!' But you could tell by his 

tone that the words had annoyed 

him. Later on, still sore, he said

to me, 'Who'd that guy think he

was, using a past tense on me

like that?' It was funny, and I

never thought of it that way.

-

There used to be a sort of joke,

about the old guys in Vermont,

with something like that; getting

the point across, about being

hard-headed and crotchety; 

about a person asking some 

farmer along the way for

directions to somewhere. The

farmer gazed out, thought about

it, rubbed his chin some, and

said....'Nope. Can't get there

from here.' Which is kind'a

funny, but I wouldn't think there

are any places, really, that you

can't get to somehow, and from

anywhere else too.