Chapter 6

We had two rooms with double beds. Mum, Dad and Mary in one room, Denny, Eddie and I in the other. After getting cleaned up we went down for breakfast. We were all slow starters this morning. I think yesterday traveling, and the fire took a lot out of us.

When we were finished it was still early. Visiting hours at the funeral home started at ten and the funeral was at one. To help pass the time Dad took us on a tour of Princeton. It was a nice town, but not that big. The most interesting sight was the Jackson Feed Mill. What was interesting was that a crew was painting over the name on the side of the building.

Dad stopped and asked them what was going on. One of the men told him that the mill had been sold to some large corporation and that the name was changing. Dad shared this with Mum, and she asked him if that bothered him. He told her that it didn’t, he had never counted on receiving anything from his father.

After riding around for almost an hour we went back to the hotel and changed into our suits and ties. Mum came out in a nice dress, in a dark blue.

She turned around and asked, “Do I look okay?”

All of us guys said yes.

Mary spoke up, “Mum the seam on your left stocking is not straight.”

We all looked and of course, the kid was right.

“Thank you, Mary, we women have to stick together. Men don’t notice anything.”

Mary looked over, stamped her foot and said, “Men!”

Thus the training of another woman started. Now I know why men don’t stand a chance.

We signed the guest register at the funeral parlor. There was a small crowd already. Ross had been in business in Princeton for many years. He was very active in town affairs and was well known. From the comments, I heard he was liked by everyone. Several farmers told of how he had carried them through some tough times.

The recent widow, Florence was there dressed in black. When she saw Mum and Dad she came right over. She thanked them for coming. She kissed Mum on the cheek and hugged Dad. She was introduced to each of us. She told Mary she was darling.

She introduced two very well dressed men who had joined her. They were Ross Junior and James her sons by Ross. They didn’t seem very interested to meet us. As a matter of fact, indifference would describe their attitude. They would be my half uncles but I suspected I would never be close to them.

Dad started, “I see the feed mill has been sold.”

James quickly asked, “What business is it of yours?”

No, I wouldn’t be close to them.

“Why none of my business, I was just making a comment,” replied Dad.

If one knew what to look for you would have seen the tightening of Mum’s jaw.

“Just want to make sure that you are not trying to claim something that isn’t yours,” said my surly Uncle.

Ross touched his arm and said, “Jim you don’t need to start trouble where there isn’t any. There are the Bannermans we need to say, hello.”

They left without any other comments.

Florence shook her head sadly. “Jack I’m sorry, this has been a very rough time for us. Ross was diagnosed with cancer just a month ago. He went quickly. Then we have just found out that the feed store was deeply in trouble. Ross had to write off too many bad debts over the years.”

“The last straw was the day he died the bank called his loan. We had to arrange a quick sale to pay everything off. We lost a lot of money. There is just enough to pay off the loans. The house is paid for so I have that. Other than that I have nothing but social security. The boys will have to find work somewhere. It won’t be easy on them as they have never held a job.”

Wow! What had they been doing all their lives? It may have been impolite but I asked Florence.

“They have always had the money at hand so they played golf, tennis, raced cars, went to dinner and shows in Evansville, the things that young men of means have always done.”

“Fops,” Mum commented.

No one asked her what a fop was so it dropped.

Dad was approached by the funeral director who asked to speak to him for a minute. Dad stepped aside to listen, nodded his head and came back.