Beggar’s Toe
Jr finds an old man beside the road and attempts to take him in.
Previously, It Is What It Is.
One afternoon when Jr was walking out to the mail box he spotted an old man sitting on the ground wearing only one shoe. His other shoe and sock were on the ground as the old man examined his foot. “What’s wrong?” Jr asked, “cain’t you walk?”
Startled the old man looked up to see Jr and answered, “It’s just beggar’s toe. I can walk. It just hurts.”
“Maw says you get beggar’s toe from not washin’ yer feet,” Jr said.
“Let me guess,” the old man groaned, “I bet you rode the short bus to school.”
“Wow,” Jr exclaimed, “you must be a claryvoinment. I did ride the short bus. How did you know?”
“I’m a claryvoinment,” the old man chuckled.
“Can I help you?” Jr asked. Mable and Earnest had taught Jr to have sympathy for others no matter their situation, or how they got there.
“Got any money I can buy food with?” the old man asked.
“I ain’t got no money,” Jr answered. “Maw won’t let me keep money.”
“I can see why,” the old man mumbled. “I could sure use a biscuit about now.”
“Wow,” Jr exclaimed as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a biscuit, “you really are a claryvoinment.”
“You always keep a biscuit in your pocket?” the old man asked as he reached up to take the biscuit.”
“Not always,” Jr answered as he pulled his hand from his other pocket, “Sometimes I carry muffins.”
“You are indeed the answer to my prayers,” the old man said as he reached up to take the muffin.
“They’s lots more in the house,” Jr offered as he turned to run to the house. “I’ll go fetch ’em for you.”
“Oh there’s no need…” the old man said but Jr was already far down the driveway. “Durn, that boy’s fast. I wonder if he can throw too.” The old man quickly put his sock and shoe back on his foot.
When Jr returned to the mail box with a tote sack filled with biscuits, muffins, and corn bread the old man was nowhere to be seen. “I guess Maw’s bakin’ hit the spot. Oh well, I’ll eat ‘em.”
As the family gathered for dinner Jr informed them, “I saw a beggar today.”
“But you ain’t left home all day,” Mable questioned, “where did you see him?”
“Out by the mailbox,” Jr answered.
“How do you know he was a beggar?” Earnest asked.
“ ’Cause he got beggar’s toe,” Jr answered.
“And you know that how?” Earnest asked in earnest, and somewhat out of concern.
“He was only wearin’ one shoe,” Jr explained.
“So,” Mable asked, still not sure if she should believe him or not, “what did you do when you saw this beggar?”
“I gave him a biscuit,” Jr answered.
“Is that all?” Earnest asked, concerned that Jr might have given away something of value.
“No,” Jr answered as he put a serving spoon full of mashed potatoes and gravy in his mouth.”
“Well what else did you give him?” Earnest asked in earnest.”
“A muffin,” Jr answered before taking a swallow of milk fresh from the cow.
“So is that what happened to all the bread in the house?” Mable asked, annoyed that she was forced to bake unexpectedly. “You gave it all away.”
“I ate the rest,” Jr said as he chowed down on half a chicken.
“That boy is going to eat us out of house and home,” Earnest grumbled.
“Oh no,” Jr countered, “I don’t eat houses. Has somebody been eating our house?”
“The house if fine,” Mable assured him. “Your paw is just being ornery again.”
“He’s like that a lot,” Jr agreed as Earnest sat at the table shaking his head in disbelief. “Why ya’ shaken’ your head, Paw?”
“It’s a story that goes back almost 30 years,” Earnest mumbled.
“Ain’t I almost 30?” Jr asked.
The next day when Jr again went out to fetch the mail the old man was again seated beside the mailbox. “You’re back,” Jr said, “I thought you was gone for good.”
“I got no place to go,” the old man said.
“You can’t go home?” Jr asked.
“I don’t have a home,” the old man answered.
“What happened to your home?” Jr wondered, “Did it burn down or somethin’?”
“Something like that,” the old man replied, “I just been walkin’ ever since.”
“No wonder you got beggar’s toe,” Junior exclaimed. “You could stay in the old barn.”
“Wouldn’t somebody find me there?” the old man asked.
“Since Paw and I built the new barn nobody goes there ‘cept me,” Jr answered.
“Lead the way,” the old man said, “but let’s stay out of sight, okay.”
“Okay,” Jr agreed thinking it some sort of game, “follow me through the woods.
At dinner that night Earnest asked, “So Jr, what did you do today? Did you chop the wood like I tole ya’?”
“I sure did,” Jr answered. “I cleaned out the old barn too.”
“Well ain’t that great?” Mable praised, “Earnest, did ya’ hear that? Jr cleaned out the old barn without bein’ tole to do it.”
“What made you decide to do that?” Earnest asked.
“The old man needed a place to stay since his house burnt down,” Jr answered. “He couldn’t stay in it like it was.” Earnest and Mable only stared, neither of them knowing what to say.
After a few minutes of silence while Jr ate four helpings of everything on the table, Earnest finally asked, “You mean you let a stranger move into our barn?”
“Yep,” Jr mumbled as he stuffed the last biscuit in his mouth.
“What did I teach you about strangers?” Mable asked, her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, what did your maw teach you about strangers?” Earnest loudly asked. It was evident he was more than just a little concerned about a stranger living in his barn.
“Maw tole me not to ride with strangers,” Jr answered. Earnest and Mable looked at each other then looked down at the floor and shook their heads.
“So what are you going to do?” Mable asked.
“I ain’t gonna do nothing ’til morning,” Earnest answered. “It’s pitch black in that barn, he might get the jump on me.”
“I don’t think he can jump,” Jr said. “He’s got beggar’s toe.”
To be continued in Beggar’s Toe, Part 2.