Reflections ►
Dave ’ s Jacket , The Final Chapter
The Ounce , the Car Thief , by Dolores Halbin , contributing writer Dave ’ s Jacket , and the Stilettos .
Dave was our friend and neighbor for many years . Dave was 80 and had no grandchildren except ours , but he had ours by the heartstrings . My husband Gene and our friend Dave departed this world within a few months of one another in 2015 , leaving me to clean up and clear out both of our homes . * Just a note to everyone , please live a life that won ’ t leave a mess for someone else when you are gone . Please .
Getting Dave ’ s Jacket
When I started on Dave ’ s porch , it was a chilly day in the fall of
2015 , and I was under-dressed . There hanging on its hook , patiently awaiting its person , hung Dave ’ s navy-blue jacket . I slipped it on . It was well made , a lined windbreaker with a detachable hood and lots of pockets . Dave would fill those pockets with paintballs and slingshots for the kids when we went shooting at his nephew ’ s farm , Peckerwood , with The High Society of Peckerwood ’ s Gun , Knife , Bow , and Slingshot Club . A fence post is in the field , dripping with colors from the kids ’ slingshot paintballs .
Dave taught my grandkids the Boy Scout Shooting Safety manual and , in lieu of Boy Scout badges , gave them each a red bandanna on completion . When he died , the kids put their bandannas in with Dave to take on to the next life .
Dave ’ s jacket , one particular joint , and I went on to have many adventures together . Sadly , this will be my third and final chapter about those adventures .
When The Roach Was Still A Joint
I first wrote about this special jacket in The EVOLUTION Magazine in May 2020 . It had been a particularly rough day of antiquarantine with a dozen distant relatives who came for spring break and never left .
It was cold like every day since this cacophony of people had moved in . All my hoodies had been assimilated by the group of teenagers , so I grabbed Dave ’ s jacket . I stood alone with my dogs at the creek , trying to breathe . I stuffed my hands in the deep jacket
pockets , and there , to provide me with the great comfort I needed , was a joint and a lighter . I immediately knew the history of both . The lighter was in a leather case and had been gifted to me in November 2018 during a leadership conference I hosted at the farm for THSI ( The Human Solutions International ).
Joe Grumbine , founder of the court support organization , had helped me with dozens of letters of support from around the country , which my attorney , Dan Viets , used in my 2017 trial before the Missouri State Board of Nursing for Moral Turpitude . Thanks , Joe and company . I will be forever grateful . * Joe ’ s weekly radio show , “ Cup of Joe ,” airs on Wednesdays at 7 p . m . central live-streamed on social media .
I smoked that two-year-old joint with intense gratitude , putting the roach and lighter back in my pocket .
The Roach
I moved that summer , and it would be the following spring of 2021 before I unpacked the box with Dave ’ s jacket , which I wore into town on a chilly March day to play with the grandkids — in Kansas .
After I had used the bathroom in my kid ’ s house , the conversation that ensued went like this : “ I found a roach in the bathroom , Mom ,” said my son . “ Yuck ,” I said . “ I don ’ t think I brought it in ; I haven ’ t seen any roaches at my house .”
He held out his hand , and there it was — the roach . I guess I reached into my pocket in the bathroom , and out it popped . It was another year older and pretty flat . “ Why didn ’ t you flush it ??” I was perplexed . “ I don ’ t know ,” he said . “ Here , just take it , and please don ’ t bring weed into my house in Kansas !”
It was a fair request . So , with a choice of throwing it down in the yard not being acceptable , back in the pocket went the old roach , once again forgotten , but this time , not for long .
That Feisty Old Roach !
Our adventures picked up the very next day after a gust of wind blew me over the center-line in front of a Highway Patrol — in Kansas . I have no recollection of taking the old flat roach out of Dave ’ s jacket
48 JUNE 2023