(This is an onging series of stories from the life of my 88 year old friend and neighbor Obi-Wan)
Obi-Wan moved to the fair mother city in 1953. He left his life long home in the Waco area to start fresh after two failed marriages. As I understand, both of his previous wives had cheated on him.
He's relayed the story of moving to the fair mother city several times to me. Working at a service station in Waco, down and depressed from his recent divorce, a traveling insurance salesman (a "white christian guy") from Tennessee suggested he cash his paycheck the following Friday and buy a bus ticket to West Texas. There were plenty of jobs in Abilene, Midland, and Odessa at the time. And the Tennessee guy offered to wire Obi-Wan the money for a return trip home if things didn't work out.
Obi-Wan took his advice but never needed his offer for return fare. He worked in various service stations in the mother city from 1953 until he retired in the mid 1980s.
He once survived a huge explosion of some sort at a gas station near N1st and Grape St. around 1957. I can't remember the details, but something highly flammable erupted near Obi-Wan. He would have been blind to this day had he not covered his eyes and face with his arms. The scars are still on the bottoms of his forearms. The explosion was so big, it was said that it could be heard and felt outside the city limits.
Obi-Wan really doesn't remember what happened. When people arrived to help, they found him wandering around the sidewalk in a daze, trying to catch the money that blew out of the cash register. He barely remembers doing that.
He supposedly spent several months at the hospital (in the "special wing" Hendricks hospital had reserved for black people). Thankfully, the owner of the service station (Obi-Wan's boss) paid for all his medical stay out of his own pocket. The boss also paid for a turkey dinner for that upcoming Thanksgiving.
All of Obi-Wan's friends were telling him to sue his boss. "Sue, sue!", they'd say. "You could get real rich on this deal."
"Why would I want to sue him?", Obi-Wan would say. "He's paid for my hospital stay, so I'm not out any money. He even bought me a Thanksgiving dinner. The explosion wasn't his fault".
This is one of the many character traits of Obi-Wan. He's always been content with who he was and what he had. He's never coveted more.
And somehow, I feel that this content spirit is what's allowed him to live this long. He doesn't desire much else in life.
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4 comments:
Good for Obi-wan. Good for all of us who read his story. His story helps me imagine my life as content and nonhostile. Thanks for reporting.
Blessings...
Funny...this post was from a story Obi-Wan relayed to me months ago. But this afternoon he brought it up for some reason. He said it was big news for weeks. Word even got to his kin folk in Waco, and they didn't know he was involved.
He never had any newspaper clippings from the event (too busy in the hospital, I guess). I'd like to engage my history buff side and look up the stories on microfish. But he can't remember the date. Somewhere between 1956-57. Guess I'd just have to scan through all papers from those years to find it...
I posted a story on my Dad's blog several months ago about my friend Ms. Alma, called it 'Driving Ms. Alma'. I tell in the srory how we met. If you are interested you can find it at http://churchthots.blogspot.com/2005/09/driving-ms-alma-reaching-invisible.html but it is a long read.
A while back I was visiting her and we were praying. When I stood to leave, she asked me to hold on a minute while she shuffled off to the back. She returned with a newspaper clipping about how her son shot her husband 10 times with a 9mm. You should know that I have known her husband almost as long as her. He is not dead. I was shocked that I had known the man all this time but he had survived such an ordeal.
I did not know what to say to her. You just don't know the pain some of your friends live through sometimes. Her son went to prison for nearly ten years. Her husband survived, their marriage survived. It is powerful to touch such suffering.
Blessings....
Thanks. I know Obi-Wan has no emotional scars from this explosion. Just physical. He doesn't hold on to much emotionally.
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