- One of the joys of life is meeting new people you really
like.
-
- Yesterday, thanks to Wanda the Arkansas Angel, we did
just that.
-
- "Now that Burl Jr.'s gone, you two have to get somebody
else in that trailer," Wanda said over the phone the other day. "You
and Gwen are busy people, out making the world a better place. You need
somebody here to take care of the Ranch.
-
- "And," she added, "to watch over you."
-
- "I don't need anyone watching over me, Wanda,"
I said.
-
- "Oh no? What about that time you stopped eating
because you were so caught up in an idea you had that you didn't even think
about food? That book might've changed the world if you hadn't had to stop
writing because you kept fainting from hunger."
-
- Gwen the Beautiful was on the extension. "After
all these years I've learned the trick for making Larry eat," she
said.
-
- "It's not just Larry we're talking about, Gwen.
You've gotta take care of yourself. You're getting healthier and more beautiful
every day, but there're still limits to your vision and your strength.
-
- "I'm talking about the basics here," Wanda
continued. "Keeping the clearing trimmed. Feeding the animals. Fixing
and cleaning and watching over everything when you're away. Those are the
chores. Now I've got to find the right folks to do 'em."
-
- It didn't take long for Wanda to decide she'd found them.
Just a few days later, she drove up The Mountain with her friends James
and Dorrie. "They're good people who work with me at the Church Food
Bank," Wanda had told us earlier that morning. Dorrie's raised a dozen
children, and James is the handiest man in the south of the Missouri state
line."
-
- As Wanda and James and Dorrie got out of Wanda's car,
Emmy the Bold ran up to them, wagging her tail and calling out, "Pet
me! C'mon!" Belle the Wary, who was outside with her, played it cool,
as she usually does. But when James reached out to pet her, she was so
taken by the gentle wave that exuded from his body that she forgot to growl
and snap and just whimpered a bit and said, "Over here, behind my
ear, please?"
-
- Inside, the greeting got even better. As soon as James
sat down on the antique English bench we use as a couch, Decker the Giant
Hearted jumped onto his lap and stuck his face up against James' and said,
"Hey! Welcome to the club! You're my kinda guy."
-
- Decker's big enough to have sent quite a few Good Ol'
Boys scurrying. James just scratched his chin and said, "Shucks."
-
- And meant it, too. Unless you're living in Los Angeles
or New York City, where cynicism and sarcasm rule, how are you not going
to like that kind of guy?
-
- Wanda and Dorrie brought in one of Wanda's specialties
- enough lunch for 30 people, to be eaten by only five - and led Gwen and
Dorrie into a conversation that was, well, it was as domestic as all get-out,
as we say around here.
-
- James looked at me. Leaned close. "I'm thinking
the two of us ought to go outside," he said quietly.
-
- I smiled. "C'mon, James. Let me show you around."
-
- "Don't forget to take your beef stew as you're walking!"
Wanda called out, and then she turned back to Gwen and Dorrie.
-
- Slurping our soup straight from our cups, James and I
visited with the chickens and the horses.
-
- In the chicken yard, McNugget the Banty Rooster and his
hens went all aflutter when they saw James, even though they're perfectly
at ease with me. James quietly backed out, and smiled as order instantly
returned.
-
- In the corral, Huck the Spotless Appaloosa pushed himself
close to James. Nuzzled him. Most people are frightened when something
as big as Huck gets that close. James just gave him a hug.
-
- "Looks like you treat this horse very well,"
he said to me. "A man's got to treat animals with respect. I don't
hold with that tough-love thing."
-
- An hour or so later, Wanda, James and Dorrie drove out.
"Such nice people," Gwen said. "Maybe we should think about
asking them to stay on."
-
- "'Maybe?'" I said. "James is fantastic.
A great guy. Warm and sensitive and intelligent. He and Dorrie have got
to live here.."
-
- After all, how could I not love any man who's so much
the way I'd like to be?
-
-
-
- Copyright C 2007 by Larry Brody. All rights reserved.
-
- 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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