Great Expectations
After all these years they were once more all together again. After a long drawn out hiatus of some six years, Cliff and Peggy Mann were finally able to corral all five sons together for Christmas at home; their third son's extended sojourn in Berlin plus his fifteen months on Taiwan having finally led to a long-due reunion. Accompanying their Mom to midnight mass at St. Joseph's, the boys came home to a sumptuous meal prepared by their father, which was later followed by a merry exchange of gifts, with Dick, the third son, stealing the show by bestowing each and every brother with a long scroll, on which a Chinese symbol had been carefully calligraphed. Just to add some excitement to the moment, Dick listed all twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, challenging his brothers to choose the one that they thought was valid for them, promising the winner a six-pack of the beer of their choice. Although they tried their best, all efforts were in vain, because the facts were such - Dave was born in the year of the tiger, Jim was a snake, Doug a monkey and Dan a rat. Dick, himself a horse, made it clear that all the symbols had many positive and negative connotations, with the only real exception being the dragon. After much whiskey, with their Mom pounding out a wide selections of tunes from the Thirties and Forties, the whole family finally decided to hit the hay around 3:30 am. The next morning over brunch, Dick was asked by his parents as to just exactly what he intended to do, now that he was finally back in Florida. Anticipating this very question, he was Johnny-on-the-spot with a convincing answer. Basically his plan was to kill two birds with one stone ; first off he'd use the remaining nine months of his GI Bill to study for three quarters at Florida State, and attain a teaching scholarship while working for his Ph. D. To top things off, he'd then seek out a junior college in Florida and starting teaching there. Any further questions? Of course not, here was a rocket ready for re-launch. His Mom gave him a questioning look, hopeful, but by no means convinced that this would conclude with a happy ending. Dick finished up by adding that he and Jim would be driving up to Tally in two days to put the final touch on things.
However, once in Tallahassee a few days later his confidence quickly started to disintegrate because his visit to the Veteran's Office turned out to be a disaster in that he was bluntly told that his final nine months of GI Bill benefits could only be used on academic work leading to a bachelor's degree. Dick's adamant reply that he had already obtained his BA ,and that his MA from the Free University of West Berlin had been a result of GI Bill benefits from the states failed to cut any ice with the VA office staff, with him being told there was absolutely no chance for him receiving financial aid when working toward a graduate degree. Later that day, he sat down in Jim's house in Marianna, some seventy miles west of the state capital telling his brother his woes, expecting some commiseration, with Jim merely listening stolidly, his mind already seeking alternatives. Seeing that Dick was literally at a dead end, Jim suggested the following plan - until things somehow panned out with the VA, why not start work here in the vicinity so as to fill his empty coffers? Jim would offer him a rent free room if Dick would keep the kitchen clean, buy his own food and do any yard work needed. Reluctantly, with a sense of foreboding, Dick agreed, on the one hand thankful for the gracious offer, but on the other hand, distraught that his future plans which appeared so firm a week ago should now be merely so much spit in the wind.
His best bet seemed to be the Dozier's Boys School just outside of town, which he remembered from his youth, when young boys were, in cases of extremely bad behavior, warned of being "sent up to reform school" in Marianna, a spot so remote, so foreign to their daily lives, that it sent a chill up their backs. No one they ever knew had actually been sent there, but they had heard the scuttlebut that a friend of theirs knew a guy who in turn had heard of a kid, who had been sent up-state to the reform school, where the food was bad and the discipline harsh. Well, it seemed that Jim knew a guy working there, who was willing to find out if there was an opening for a teaching position at the school; and while Dick was not too enthused with the thought of teaching out at Dozier's, at least it would provide him with a job, plus being relatively close to home. Since the application process would take time, Dick was forced to sit around the house, reading and watching TV programs in order to accustom himself to American life-style once again, having been absent some seven long years. Shortly after his arrival in December he had spent the second day watching a full morning of TV shows, both intrigued and appalled by a show entitled The Newlywed Game on ABC, where young freshly married couples were competing against one another for prizes. For example, the men were led off-stage, while their spouses were asked by the MC what their husband's favorite vegetable was. Returning to the stage, the men were then asked to name their favorite vegetable. When the answers by the men failed to correspond to those of their wives some of the women were incesenced, screaming that "you always told me that you liked peas, not spinach!" As the man roared back, "I did not! You know I always said I actually prefer corn!" By now the audience is in stitches, with the MC stoking up the conflict instead of trying to contain it, causing the slanging between the couple to increase in volume, growing in intensity, as the other competing couples offer bemused looks, glad to see the competition self-destruct before an audience beside itself with delight. Dick couldn't believe what he was viewing. Where was the compassion, the empathy needed to help this poor newly wedded couple start to tame their emotions? In fact, neither the MC nor the audience seemed the least bit interested in calming down the conflict, obviously finding a sort of malicious pleasure in watching young newlyweds take each other verbally apart on national television. Flicking off the TV set, Dick wondered if the staff provided any post-show counseling for bitterly disappointed couples, so sure of winning prizes only to be sabotaged by a witless partner.
The very next day Jim| told him the bad news; his friend had called him at work, telling him that Dozier's was not interested at the present time, they were having certain "problems", obviously not wanting to go into details; nevertheless, Dick should keep in touch in case of a future job opening. Not wanting to disappoint his brother completely, Jim added a hopeful note in stating that there was a possible job opening over at the state prison close to Chattahoochee and that he'd know by tomorrow if Dick had the necessary credentials for the job. Ugh, Chattahoochee. Why that was close to twenty-five miles away - fifty miles of driving every day. A reform school was bad enough, now a state prison! No, this was not what he had planned for in the past months. He should be at Florida State working on his Ph.D., not teaching at a Florida state prison! Nonetheless, beggars couldn't be choosers, with him financially at the end of his rope, he saw no other immediate alternative than to bite into that sour apple, indeed if it were even offered to him in the first place. One thing was clear, he needed wheels were he to work anywhere, so being kind, Jim offered him a loan in order for Dick to buy a used car; thus he ended up purchasing a baby-blue, six-year old Karmann Ghia, his first automobile ever. Since his drivers license had long expired, he had to take the written test again, this time down at the Blountstown city hall, where he sat perched beside a row of young hayseeds, who came in offthe farms and markets, with them giving him the eye and he countering with a supercilious smile. He'd show these panhandle dudes how tests were aced. One hour later he was shocked to hear the the news that he had failed the driver's test, while all four hayseeds had come through with flying colors! There he sat, beaten, chagrined, not able to muster the courage to look the other participants in the face, knowing they were whispering among themselves about what a comeuppance Mr. Smarty Pants had received, as they one by one flashed their new licenses. Grinning broadly, the state official told him he could return next week, and, with a hearty laugh, try his luck again. Struck to the core, Dick literally memorized the manual in the coming days, easily passing the test on his second try.
Running against all expectations, Jim greeted him that evening in early January with a bomb - the administration over at the prison turned out to be desperately seeking a teacher to replace one who was leaving for further studies at a university. Having seen copies of Dick's two degrees, they were anxious to interview him as soon as possible as time was running short, with the teacher planning to leave within the next week. With a somewhat skeptical glance, Jim asked him if he thought he was up to it, teaching in a prison. Not wanting to flinch in front of this brother, Dick attempted to be blasé about the challenge facing him, putting his best foot forward in touting his experience in teaching English at a language school on Taiwan, with his brother quickly interjecting that now he'd be teaching in a state prison. Trying his best to remain calm, despite the tremors racing...
