Meanwhile, the fall term of the county elementary school in which Eunice was going to be teaching would not begin until Monday of the week after the first week of classes on campus were under way. So according to the instructions she had received in New York along with her contract and other orientation data, all she had to do to arrange for commuter pickup transportation was call the telephone number provided along with the class schedule and give her name, address, and phone number, and the dispatcher would call her back and give the time to be ready to be picked up.
Given the school’s widely celebrated emphasis on good housekeeping and also as returning graduates, we were not surprised to find that our on-campus apartment was as suitable and well furnished as it was. All we had to do before that next Monday was to arrange for the books and other items we had shipped from New York to be delivered from local railway express, and shop for provisions for the kitchen and items for the bathroom.
From the window at the end of the living room where the executive-size desk was, you could see the valley and the trees, beyond which were the clock tower, the promenade lawn, and the dome of the dining hall, which you could not see. The other end of the living room could be converted into a dining area by expanding and raising the coffee table. And when you stepped into the hallway from the living room, the bath and bedroom were on your left, and the kitchen with a breakfast nook was on your right.
Before sundown that Thursday we had received all of our deliveries and also completed our shopping, so we checked out of the guesthouse that Friday morning, and by noon we felt that we were ready to take off and have a snack at the drugstore lunch counter on the off-campus main drag. And afterward, while Eunice went to look up some of her old instructors in the Department of Education, I would drop in on Red Gilmore in the Toggery and Deke Whatley in the barbershop to let them know that I was back in town for a year or maybe two.
Red Gilmore was busy with two customers, so all I did was slap palms with him and take a quick look around at his fall term display and point to the barbershop next door as I came back out onto the sidewalk.
Hey, here he is, Deke Whatley said as I came into the doorway and then into the lotion-, talcum-, and tobacco-scented ambience of the barbershop. He did not have a customer at the time, so he was sitting in his jacked-up chair facing the entrance with his legs crossed as he puffed and flourished his cigar exactly as I remembered him doing when I saw him for the first time during my freshman year.
Hey, what say there, young fella, he said, extending his hand. We’ve been hearing some pretty reliable rumors about you heading back down this way this term. Hey, y’all remember this boy. Came up here on one of them special scholarship deals from that school down around Mobile way. What say, my man? Look at him, y’all. Yeah, here he is.
They were all looking at me then, and when I pointed at Skeeter and said, Hey, I’ll be seeing you again at least for a while, he said, Man, you’ve been to a lot of super hip experts since the last time you were in this chair: Hollywood, Chicago, New York, and even all the way over to Paris, France.
And I said, Man, all I was ever looking for wherever I was, was somebody to keep it looking like you had it looking when I left here.
Of course, Deke Whatley said then, You must know who the main ones keeping me up on your doings and whereabouts was. Giles Cunningham. Y’all know that. Old Giles and Miss Lady took a liking to him. She was the one spotted him out at the Dolomite one night. Not because he was a musician, but because he was such a good listener. She could tell how keen his ear for music was just by the way he listened. So she checked him out and she invited him over to her house and they started listening to her collection of records and she said, Deke, that boy heard everything. She said, He listened like an arranger! And that’s what led to her giving him that bass fiddle she had fixed up for him. So he could get some student in the string section of the chapel orchestra to teach him to run scales. Not that she was trying to make a musician out of him or anything like that. She just liked the way he kept time when all he was doing was listening just to be enjoying himself. And I’m not talking about dancing in your seat or something like that. What I’m talking about is that you don’t have to be a music mechanic to be musical. That’s what she realized right away. Hell, when you come right down to it, a lot of big-time musicians turn out to be more mechanical than musical!
Yeah, yeah, I see your point, Skeeter said as he turned his chair for his next customer to be seated. Just listen to how musical all them church folks always been and most of them can’t read no music even if it’s in boxcar printing.
Anyway, Deke Whatley went on, I know Miss Tense well enough to know very well that she knew good and well that this boy hadn’t come up here to college to learn how to be no musician. No question about that. Because that’s just how hip she is. So even when it turned out that along with all that special talent for time that she spotted from the stage that night, he also had that magic gift of whatsitsname, whatchamacallit, absolute whatchamacallit, absolute pitch! That’s it—absolute pitch! Tone-perfect. And also that other genius-gifted thing, whatsitsname— total recall, photographic memory. One go-around and this cat’s got it cold! But you see now, that’s the boss lady for you. Even when she decided that he was good enough on that thing to start earning a little emergency change gigging with her combo out at the Dole from time to time, she still wasn’t trying to entice him away from whatever it was that he was trying to do with his life.
But hey, he said, interrupting himself as Red Gilmore came in from next door, as I expected him to. Here’s old Red boy. He knows almost as much about Hortense and old Giles and all this as I myself do. Tell him about them and this boy, Red.
Then when Red Gilmore shrugged off the compliment and bowed, signaling for him to continue, he said, Like I said, when she got to the big Bossman Himself to let him go fill in that summer while they were looking for a replacement when old Shag had to cut out and go back home. She said she was just trying to help him pick up some summer cash and see some more of the world on his way to graduate school. Right, Red?
Right, Red Gilmore said, and it was the same when he cut out from the band to spend that time doing what he was knocking around doing out there in Hollywood.
And, Deke Whatley said, as Red boy also remembers me telling him, it was old Giles himself that was the one that brought me the word about his girlfriend graduating and him marrying her that same summer in her hometown and taking her straight on off to graduate school with him like it was the same as going on their honeymoon.
Well, Deke, Skeeter said, since they both had them graduate school fellowship awards or grants or whatever you call them, it was a kind of honeymoon, a special kind of honeymoon, wasn’t it?
That’s exactly what I’m saying, Deke Whatley said. Hell, they both come through here on scholarship awards from high school, him four years from that Mobile County school and her three years when she transferred from State as a sophomore when he was a junior.
So now here he is, gentlemen, Red Gilmore said, back down here because they sent for him to come back and join the faculty, even before he finished his Ph.D. Nice going, Mobile.
Like old Giles said, Deke Whatley said, that just goes to show you about this generation we got coming along down here in this neck of the woods these days. And they fanning out and making good in every section of the nation. Check it out. Don’t take my word for it. Check it out for yourself.
Well, heyo, there, young Mobile, old Showboat Parker said. He had pulled up out front in his Cadillac taxi and had come in and waved and waited while Deke Whatley and Red Gilmore said what they were saying about Giles Cunningham.
What say, there, Mr. Globe-trotter? We been hearing that you just might be heading back down this way for a while. So when did you get in?
And I said, Number nine, number nine. Old getaway number nine. Yesterday afternoon, number nine. Number nine and old Floorboard whatshisname, or was it Dashboard?
Floo
rboard, Showboat Parker said. Because he was the one noted for stepping on the gas to get the chippies back on campus before library closing time during the old days of warden-strict deans of women, and herd-riding housemothers. Old Floorboard is taking it easy somewhere down in Florida these days, young . . . excuse me, young prof!
And speaking of Florida, Red Gilmore said, that’s where old Giles and Miss Tense ought to be rolling back in here from, just about now, this being registration week and also season opening week out at the Dole. Old Wylie was in to see me yesterday. Everything is all set and ready. All Giles and Tense need to do is to get back in place in time to greet people.
Hey, Skeets, I said as I was about to leave, I think I can promise you that you can expect to see me more regularly than in the old days. And he said, At your service, young prof. At your service. I just want you to know how much I appreciate what you said about remembering me in all them different places. That’s nice to know.
Now me, Deke Whatley said, uncrossing his legs and stepping down out of his chair to walk me out onto the sidewalk, I just want to make sure you know that the fact that you made a special stop in here just to let us know you’re back in town, says a lot. That’s a true down-home boy, Mobile. A true homeboy come back to tag up and get long gone again. And further. Some of these somiches come back through here just to show off like they escaped from something here, forgetting that it was what they took up there from down here that took them up there out there and over there or wherever they got come by whatever. But so much for that. Here’s what I just want to say. Not that you don’t know it already. Giles and Hortense talk about you like family. That’s the kind of folks to have in our corner. But hell, I ain’t telling you nothing you don’t know already. I’m just saying amen!
But just let me say this. The main thing about education. No matter what kind of course you take, and how many degrees you get, The main thing is knowing what to want! You understand what I’m saying? Don’t care what courses and how many degrees, the main thing is know what you really want for yourself. I’m not talking about self-indulgence. I’m talking about self-satisfaction. Knowing what to choose. Knowing how to pick and choose.
XXVII
Well, here he is just like you said, Giles Cunningham said, as much to us as to Hortense Hightower, when Eunice and I arrived at the Pit at one-fifteen that next afternoon and headed for the table where the two of them were just pulling out their chairs to sit down for the light midday meal I had guessed they would be having at that time. We stepped down from the entrance level to the dining level and came on over to where they were, and when we all had gone through old Daddy Royal’s jive time greeting routine and sat down, he said, Right on the money. Man, the boss lady is still right on your case. When old Deke called last night to see if we were back from Florida and told us you were already back on the scene and making the rounds, you know what she said? She said, Well, most likely he’ll be dropping by the Pit to catch us on our lunch break. Man, what can I tell you? Didn’t I tell you she don’t miss? Here you are and there are those two extra place settings.
I didn’t remind him that even before he had given me the part-time job that summer before my senior year I had already heard enough about him to know that he usually spent the first part of Monday through Friday mornings in his headquarters office at the Pit, where he had breakfast and worked until midmorning. Then unless there were appointments elsewhere he usually drove on along the interstate highway to the off-campus settlement area where the Dolomite Club was, and where if he had no other errands he stayed until he came back to the Pit to have lunch and an updating session with Hortense, who usually slept late, had breakfast at home, and spent the rest of the morning working on her own agenda, which was usually domestic, but along with which there were also details involved in the operation of the after-hours lounge at the Dolomite, where she sang with her own pickup combos from time to time.
Sometimes she also went along with him on his afternoon trip out to the Plum to keep in touch with Flee Mosely, but the only time she took her combo out there to play was on special occasions during the mid- and late-summer picnic and barbecue season, mainly for afternoon sessions that did not conflict with her after-hours schedule at the Dolomite.
So here he is, Giles Cunningham said as we settled into our chairs and I picked up the menu. And look who he brought along with him this time. It’s just like the Bossman Himself said when he called us from Ohio to let us know that he could use you to fill in for Shag Phillips. He said, This kid may be just a beginner but he’s already pretty much free of clinkers both personwise and musicwise.
And when I said, Meet Miss You-Know-Who, Hortense Hightower said, Miss Who-Else-But. Hi, sweetie. I hear you’re already beyond the main part of getting settled in on your own. But any more help you need for getting around picking up stuff or whatever, don’t hesitate to call me. Don’t worry about interrupting my schedule. And don’t wait until you need something. After all, I’m always available for another one of those sprees-of-the-moment girlie shopping trips, whether downtown or out of town to Montgomery, Atlanta, or Birmingham.
And when Eunice said, I promise, Giles Cunningham said, There you go. What did I tell you? How the hell the boss lady going to miss out on somebody you pick out for a wife? They got your scholarship record up there on the campus, but she’s got your number. And like I say, she don’t miss. No doubt about it.
Then she said, old Deke Whatley and Red Gilmore were the ones who knew that you were the one up there on the campus. And whenever this fella’s name came up, even when he left the Bossman and the band to stick around out there in Hollywood, they’d always say, He’ll be back through here. Mark my words. He’s still got some unfinished business that’s still in the works right across the throughway and campus avenue.
And that was when Hortense Hightower said what she said about not trying to get in touch with Eunice because they hadn’t been introduced by me. And a casual encounter had been just about out of the question because in those days nightspots like the Dolomite were strictly off-limits to young women who lived on the campus.
As for this weekend at the Dole, Hortense Hightower said then, there’s nothing special, no big deal. Just this snappy, up-and-coming, Columbus–Phenix City combo for the upperclassmen, with local contacts and incoming hotshots out to survey the off-campus possibilities.
And that was when Giles Cunningham said, Actually, you won’t be missing anything special out at the Dole between now and when the fall season road band booking schedule clicks in— say, about the middle of next month.
We came on outside then, and as we stood waiting for Hortense Hightower to come and drive us back to the campus, Eunice said, Who is Speck, and why do they call him that? And I said, He is the one who runs the Pit. Wiley Payton runs the Dolomite, and Flee Mosely runs the Plum. They call him Speck because he has freckles. Speck is for Speckled Red, as in speckled chicken, and there are also some who just say old Florida Red—as in Tampa Red.
That was that Friday afternoon. I spent the first part of that Saturday morning unpacking and arranging my books and phonograph records on the waist-high shelves under the windows behind the desk in my work area off the living room. Then as I made my way across the campus to find out which work carrel in the stacks behind the circulation counter in the main reading room would be reserved for me, even as the sound of the clock tower chiming above the hum and buzz and honking traffic and the chatter of the students reminded me of my own arrival as a freshman, I crossed my fingers, because I suddenly realized that I was rearriving as a freshman, a freshman with a graduate degree plus further study from New York University, but a beginner once more even so.
XXVIII
As we pulled on away from the campus avenue parking spot where she had told me she would be waiting when I came down the steps from the post office that next Wednesday afternoon, Hortense Hightower said, About this Daddy Royal proposition. Of course, you already know that Giles and I have
been in on it all along. So I thought I might as well clue you in on how it all got started and what it’s really all about.
So as we came on down along the early-fall tree-shaded mainstem to turn left at the traffic circle and head for the exit to the municipal throughway outbound, she said, The fact of the matter is that I’m really the one that’s actually responsible for starting it, although I really had something else in mind when I came up with the idea that led to it.
What I really had in mind, she went on to say as we pulled on off the campus to head along the thoroughfare to the intersection with the interstate highway across which was the street that led to the Dolomite, what I had in mind from the very beginning was something that had to do with the Bossman Himself personally. Something that I had first spoken to him about some time ago, once I got to be close enough friends with him.
And to tell the truth, she said, that’s what all this about Daddy Royal is still about. Because old Daddy Royal is a very important part of the big picture, to be sure. But the Bossman, like old Louis Armstrong, is one of the main ones that somebody is always coming up with when questions turn to achieving a place in the history of music in the United States.
And that was also when she also said, As soon as I felt that my friendship was close enough I started mentioning that it might be a good idea to get somebody to help him start compiling all of the stuff that’s been accumulating about him over the years. I would mention it to him every now and then without pushing too hard, and since he didn’t dismiss it, I figure he just might have been considering it.
So then, she said, I began to wonder about who was going to be the one or one of the ones from the life this music comes out of that’s going to be helping him pull all this stuff together. And I also made a point of mentioning that to him as often as I could without making him feel like he was being rushed because we were worried about you know what. That’s why I always made it a point to put the emphasis on volume and kept saying what I kept saying about his future output overwhelming the present, with the past getting dimmer and dimmer.
The Magic Keys Page 18