Cold Turkey at Nine: The Memoir of a Problem Child - Softcover

Russell, Earl B.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1475985827 ISBN 13: 9781475985825

Verlag: iUniverse, 2013

Inhaltsangabe

Having been born on April Fool's Day, author Earl B. Russell likes to imagine that in an early sign of his precocious nature, the doctor dried him off, held him up for his mother to see, and then listened as the baby looked at his mother and exclaimed, "April Fool" Russell's mother knew he was a problem child right off the bat. At first glance, his older brother told everyone Russell would never amount to anything-so much for making a good first impression! As his life began in a rural Tennessee farmhouse, disappointing both his mother and brother, he had nowhere to go but up. In his tragicomic memoir, Russell traces his unimaginable post-World War II life in the American Heartland through zany and introspective accounts that reveal horrific tragedies, soul-searching life lessons, and amusing adventures. Beginning with his upbringing on a poor farm, Russell shares compelling narrative from his coming-of-age journey as he encounters unspeakable losses, revels in the joys of marriage and family, climbs the academic ladder, and confronts a forty-year-old family secret. Along the way, the problem-child-turned-adult finds himself in raw academic brawls in the halls of ivy, conferring with world-renowned retinal researchers, and crossing paths with astronaut Neil Armstrong, Mickey Mantle, Queen Elizabeth, and Prince Charles. Cold Turkey at Nine is an engaging story of resiliency, love, and one mischievous little boy's path as he explores how ordinary people deal with extraordinary circumstances.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Earl B. Russell is a writer and blogger whose writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Arizona Republic, and the Austin American-Statesman. His first book is the bestselling, tragicomic Cold Turkey at Nine: The Memoir of a Problem Child, published in 2013. He retired as professor emeritus at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where he also served as a department head. He held prior academic appointments at the University of Illinois at Urban-Champaign, Ohio State University, and the University of Georgia. He is the father of two adult children, Joy and Robert. He is married to Ellen Summerfield Russell. They live in lively Old Town Scottsdale, Arizona.

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COLD TURKEY AT NINE

The Memoir of a Problem Child

By EARL B. RUSSELL

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2013 Earl B. Russell
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-4759-8582-5

Contents

Preface....................................................................
xi
Acknowledgments............................................................
xiii
Introduction...............................................................
xvii
Part 1—Prologue............................................................
1
Part 2—Growing Up Years, 1944-1963.........................................
5
Part 3—Triumphs and Tragedies, 1964-1986...................................
89
Part 4—A New Life, 1987 to the Present.....................................
137
Part 5—Epilogue............................................................
225
Appendix—Places I Have Lived, with Dates...................................
239
Selected Bibliography......................................................
243

CHAPTER 1

Part 1—Prologue

There is no coming to consciousness without pain.

—Carl Jung

Nolen Robert and I agreed that I would take Daddy to buy a suit andother things needed to get him ready for Mother's funeral as soon as hewas released from jail. Nolen Robert was completing funeral arrangements,including transferring Mother's body from Erin to Clarksville for a visitationthat evening. I drove Daddy from the jail to a department store in a mall offRiverside Drive where we bought him a new suit, shirt, tie, belt, socks, andshoes. As we shopped—rather quickly, I might add—I was struck by theimage of Daddy still dressed in that same plaid shirt and undershirt withthe bloodstains below the neck, the one I had first seen him wearing in thejail the previous day. Nolen Robert or someone had arranged for him tochange from the bloody pants he had on at the time of his arrest. I neverknew why all of the clothes Daddy had been wearing the day before hadnot been confiscated by the authorities or why he had not had a chance toshower and put on clean clothes.

Then came what was perhaps the most bizarre and painful experienceof my life. I drove Daddy home with his new clothes by mid-afternoon.Arriving at the house where Mother had been alive early in the morningthe day before brought a pain I had never felt in all my life. Daddy and Imade a tearful entry into the living room of the suddenly eerie house andproceeded back to their bedroom and hung his new clothes in the closet offthe hallway where Mother's clothes still hung as she had left them. Daddypicked out some clean clothes and I walked with him through the diningroom, then the kitchen where the tragedy had played out the day before,to the small bathroom that Daddy and Mother had built in a part of theold screened-in back porch a year or so after I had married. Neighbors hadcleaned up the kitchen, but walking through it had to be hell for Daddybecause it was hell for me, with memories of happier times and what I knewof the current tragedy pouring over me like a waterfall.

Without speaking much at all, through tears in our eyes and chokedvoices, I began to help Daddy remove his shirts and other clothing to takea shower. When he removed his plaid shirt, I could see that his white long-sleevedundershirt had been soaked in blood from his wrists almost to hiselbows. Inexplicably, I took his bloody undershirt, put it in the sink, andbegan washing Mother's blood out of his shirt. It didn't seem right to burnthe shirt, but it didn't seem right to be washing it with my own hands, either.At any rate, something inside compelled me to wash out the bloody shirtwhile Daddy got in the shower.

Within the hour I left Daddy there to rest and drove to Nolen Robert'shouse where the cars of several relatives and close friends were parked.He and Penny had worked out the final details for Mother's funeral to beheld the next day, but they had been unable to talk to their children Glen,Ruth, and Tim—ages twelve, nine, and seven, respectively—about whathad happened. Certainly they knew a terrible thing had happened fromoverhearing conversations in the house, but no one had sat with them toexplain it and give them a chance to ask questions, grieve, or otherwise talkabout it. Nolen Robert and Penny asked me if I could take the children fora drive and stop somewhere and talk to them about what had happened.They just didn't feel like they could do it. Of course, I agreed.

Nolen Robert asked Glen, Ruth, and Tim to go with me and we quietlygot in the car and drove away. Glen sat up front with me and Ruth and Timsat in the back seat. We headed east on Highway 13, not knowing exactlywhere we were going. This was no time for small talk—we all intuitivelyunderstood that. I drove past Penny's parents' house and their sawmilland pulled into the empty parking lot of Don's Skating Rink and Café lessthan a mile further east. I turned in the car seat so I could see all three ofthem and began to explain what happened with Mother and Daddy, theirGranny Russell and Granddaddy Russell, as accurately as I could withoutthe vivid details.

I stayed with Daddy that night, sleeping in the bed that Nolen Robertand I had shared growing up. The same bed where my wife and I awokearound dawn two or three years earlier to see Mother standing beside me,staring intently down at us in silence except for the odd smacking of herseverely-dried, cracked lips.

CHAPTER 2

Part 2—Growing Up Years, 1944-1963

We are all immigrants into a new time.

—Margaret Mead

I was a series of disappointments from the start, but nearly three decadespassed before I understood the depth of the disappointment my motherfelt from the time she learned she was pregnant with me. Making mattersworse, after she adjusted to the idea that I was on the way, she had her heartso set on me being a girl that she could hardly believe it when Dr. D. H.Atkins, who attended my birth in our farmhouse, broke the news to herthat I was a boy. The cruelty of the moment was exacerbated for my motherby my birth on April Fool's Day.

In fact, I like to imagine that in a very early sign of my fluky precociousnature, as soon as Dr. Atkins dried me off and held me up for Mother to see, Ilooked her square in the eye with a toothless smile and said, "April Fool!" Myvery appearance—an especially bewildering moment for my mother—wasmy first cruel prank. She knew I was a Problem Child right off the bat. Moretrouble was coming. I later saw myself in a remark by Mark Twain, "Mymother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it."

"Huh! He's so little he never will amount to anything!" This was mysix-year-old brother Nolen Robert's assessment the moment he first laideyes on me that April Fool's Day evening. Daddy did not offer an opinionas far as I know.

Thus began my life in our rural farmhouse in Montgomery County,Tennessee. So much for making a good first impression. I had nowhere togo but up.

But in spite of all that, I am proud to be among the nearly one millionpeople in the United States who were born on April Fool's Day. Thisexplains a lot about my personality, as I often tell people when they appearperplexed by something I do or say. The...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: iUniverse
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2013
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1475985827
• ISBN 13: 9781475985825
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 268
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: preigu GmbH & Co. KG; mail@preigu.de; ; Lengericher Landstr. 19; Osnabrück; Niedersachsen; 49078; Deutschland