Page 5

Esther did not remove her gaze from her husband's face, prompting him to explain, "Mr. Bowers has a sick young'un and he's missed a few days work tendin' to her."

Again she did not take her eyes off his face.

He added, "The young'un will be just fine."

She nodded as she resumed knitting.

“Mr. Jefferson, how do you manage to look on the bright side of everything?” I asked.

"Well, Missy, each morning I wake up and say to myself, You have two choices today.  You can choose to be in a bright mood or you can choose to be in a dark mood."  He picked up his knife and wood, then looked me in the eye.  "I choose to be in a bright mood.  Every time something bad comes along, I can choose to be a victim or I can choose to learn from it.  I choose to learn from it.  Every time somebody comes to me complainin', I can choose to accept their complainin' or I can point out the positive side of life.  I choose the positive side of life.” 

Whenever either of them directly quoted something they remembered, their voice altered a half an octave, making the transition very amusing.  They were like a rare breed of storytellers, whose tales glided along effortlessly.

"Don't worry, be happy," I said.

"You pretty young to have it all figured out already," he said.

"Yeah, but it's not always that easy," I protested. 

"Oh, yes, it is," he said.  "Life is all about choices.  When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.  You choose how you react to situations.  You choose how people affect your mood.  You choose to be in a good mood," he raised an upturned palm, "or you choose to be in a bad mood."  He slowly moved his hands as if weighing something.  "How the scales tip is your choice how you live your life."

Esther must have seen the confusion in my face, for she turned to her husband and asked, “You remember that fall you took?”

“That ain’t somethin’ a man is soon to forget,” he said without looking up.

Esther looked at me and tossed her head toward her husband indicating that I should continue with the conversation.

“You had a fall?” I asked of Jeremias.

He pointed with his knife tip.  “Right from the top of that barn yonder."

Esther's eyes widened with recalled trauma.  "He almost died on me.  He was in surgery for most of a whole day.  When he started wakin’ up the doctor asked him how he felt and you know what he said?”

“I have never been better a day in my life,” I answered.

“No,” said Jeremias as if talking to a small child.  “That’s how they say it in the city.  Out here we say I ain’t never been better."  He nodded his head once sharply.  "We like it that way.”

“What had gone through your mind while you were falling?” I asked.  "Did your life flash before your eyes like they say it does?"

"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter, and how if I died she wouldn’t even get to meet me," he replied.  "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices.  I could choose to live or I could choose to die.  I chose to live."

"Weren't you scared?  Did you lose consciousness?"  I asked.