Who’s in a Name

I’M GOING TO ASK YOU TO ACCEPT SOME INFORMATION ON FAITH, THE WAY I DID. IN ORGANIZING THESE IDEAS AS BEST I CAN I PROMISE TO TELL YOU THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH AS WELL AS I KNOW IT. WHEN I AM QUOTING SOMEONE ELSE I WILL DESIGNATE IT AS SUCH. OTHERWISE THE DESCRIPTION OF PEOPLE, PLACES AND THINGS WILL BE MINE, ACQUIRED THROUGH PERSONAL VISUAL OBSERVATION OR THINGS SAID DIRECTLY TO ME OR OVERHEARD.

ACCORDING TO MY GRANDMOTHER I ARRIVED AT THE HOUSE ON SOUTH CUMBERLAND STREET WITH HER IN DECEMBER OF 1950. SHE HAD COME TO CHICAGO TO COLLECT ME FROM MY MOTHER AFTER THEY AGREED I WOULD BE BETTER OFF IN TENNESSEE WHILE EVERYTHING IN MY MOTHER’S LIFE WAS RESTRUCTURED. LIKE WHERE SHE LIVED, HOW SHE LIVED AND, TO BE BLUNT, WHO SHE DIDN’T LIVE WITH. SHE AND MY FATHER, GILBERT ST. ELMO HERON, HAD AGREED TO DISAGREE AND WERE TO MAKE THIS DIFFERENCE OF OPINION AS OFFICIAL AS THEIR AGREEMENT HAD BEEN, IN DECEMBER. I WAS NOT NEEDED AS EITHER REFEREE OR WITNESS TO THIS ACTION AND WAS SENT ON ‘THE SEMINOLE’ WITH MY MOTHER’S MOTHER. ACCORDING TO THE PLAN I WOULD BE WITH HER FOR SIX MONTHS. ONCE AGAIN, I WAS NOT CONSULTED.

AS I GREW UP I WAS BLESSED. I HAD THE RUN OF AN AGING NEIGHBOURHOOD IN THE SOUTH SECTION OF TOWN WHERE I WAS ALWAYS NEAR A ‘COUSIN’ OR SOMEONE WHO RECOGNIZED ME AS A DESCENDANT OF A FAMILY THAT WAS NEAR LEGEND IN SOUTH JACKSON, AN HEIR OF BOB AND LILY SCOTT. MY EVERY APPEARANCE WAS A REMINDER OF SOME HAZY HAPPENING FROM THE HALCYON DAYS BEFORE CUMBERLAND STREET WAS PAVED AND BEFORE JACKSON WAS LARGE ENOUGH TO BE SEEN ON MOST STATE MAPS.

THE MOST POPULAR SPORT IN THE SOUTH WAS BASEBALL AND THE STANDS FOR THE LITTLE LEAGUE GAMES WERE ALWAYS FAIRLY CROWDED WITH MATURE COMMUNITY EXPERTS. MY GAME WAS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN MEDIOCRE AND ALRIGHT, BUT MY PITCHING REMINDED THEM OF ‘STEEL ARM’ BOB SCOTT, MY GRANDFATHER, WHO ONCE PITCHED FOR THE LOCAL TEAM. MY RIPPING AND RUNNING IN GENERAL THROUGH THE DUSTY STREETS BROUGHT BACK STORIES OF THE FOUR SCOTT CHILDREN THAT HAD RUN AND RIPPED TWENTY YEARS BEFORE I ARRIVED. EVERYONE REMEMBERED THEM SO JACKSON WAS LIKE A TOWN FULL OF PARENTS AND GRANDPARENTS. I WAS WELCOMED EVERYWHERE.

I WAS FAIRLY POPULAR AMONG MY SCHOOLMATES AND FELLOW COMPETITORS ON THE VARIOUS TEAMS. MY GRADES WERE VERY GOOD THROUGH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. A FEMALE CLASSMATE NAMED MARY ELIZABETH MONROE TOLD ME IT HAD BEEN DETERMINED THAT I WOULD HAVE BEEN HANDSOME IF MY LIPS WEREN’T SO BIG. BUT I FIGURED I WOULD NEVER MAKE IT BECAUSE THERE WAS NOTHING I COULD DO ABOUT THAT.

THOUGH MY GRADES WERE GOOD AND I DID WELL IN SPORTS THERE WAS STILL ONE AREA WHERE I COULD NOT AVOID BEING THE BUTT OF EVERYONE’S JOKES, MY BIRTHDAY. IF I HEARD IT ONCE I HEARD IT A THOUSAND TIMES: ‘AH-HA! APRIL FOOL!’ I HEARD IT SO MUCH I ALMOST WISHED I WASN’T SO POPULAR AND WELL KNOWN.

THERE WAS NO HISTORICAL PRECEDENT. APRIL 1 WAS UNLIKE ANY OTHER HOLIDAY. WHEN JESUS WAS AROUND THERE WAS NO CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY. COLUMBUS WAS JUST CHRISTOPHER AT HIS HOUSE. HIS BIRTHDAY WAS HIS DAY, BUT IT WASN’T ‘COLUMBUS DAY’. I WAS BORN ON APRIL 1 AND IT SORT OF BECAME MY DAY.

IT WAS CURIOUS THE WAY MY LIFE AND PEOPLE IN MY LIFE HAD COLLISIONS WITH HOLIDAYS AND EVENTS OF ONE FORM OR ANOTHER ON CALENDARS. MY GRANDMOTHER WAS BORN ON VALENTINE’S DAY. MY MOTHER WAS BORN ON ‘D DAY’, JUNE 6. MY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY WAS ‘PEARL HARBOUR DAY’, DECEMBER 7. I WILL LEAVE IT UP TO YOU TO DETERMINE WHICH ONE OF ALL OF THESE DAYS DRIPS WITH IRONY.

I WAS ROMPING AND STOMPING AND RIPPING AND RUNNING THROUGH THE FIELDS OF JACKSON, TENNESSEE, FIRST PAST THE SIX MONTHS THAT HAD BEEN PLANNED IN DECEMBER OF 1950 AND THEN PAST THE SIX YEARS THAT GOT ME TO THE SAME SCHOOL MY MOTHER HAD ATTENDED, ST. JOSEPH’S, BEING TEASED ABOUT MY BIRTHDAY, TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AWAY FROM A JOURNEY BACK AND FORTH ACROSS THIS COUNTRY AND CANADA TRYING TO HELP STEVIE WONDER MAKE SOMEONE ELSE’S BIRTHDAY MEMORABLE. YOU SIMPLY NEVER CAN TELL WHERE AN ADVENTURE WILL TAKE YOU OR HOW REWARDING IT CAN BE.