Grandaddy Cat was likely the smartest man in North Carolina. It was him outsmarted old King Duke and put himself at the top of the heap of tobacco growers, him who made the most money a season, year after year.
So why you never hear of him? Why you see that King Duke name on university buildings and stadiums and in the tiny print on most every pack of smokes in a newsstand?
Well, on top of being smart, Granddaddy Cat was stubborn. What he knowed, he knowed and God himself could not change his mind. One thing he knowed was that men—real men—was never gonna smoke no fancy machine-rolled cigarettes. Real men smoke pipes and cigars. Always had, always would.
So when that fellow Bonsack come down here with his automatic cigarette rolling machine and try to sell it to Grandaddy Cat, why that old man don’t even let him into the house. So Bonsack goes up the road to the little King Duke house. I tell you, that house ain’t little no more. When old Duke’s grandson died last year, they donated it to the university. Now the president stays in it when he come to town.
This here is Grandaddy Cat’s house. They fixin’ to tear it down.
This story is based on the 2003 Ross McElwee Documentary Bright Leaves, a short film well worth watching.
Great parable of missed opportunities due to the hero being stubborn (classic “romantic flaw”). The visual comparison of the outcomes helps illustrate that — the rundown house about to be torn down versus the fancy university president’s mansion. It’s hard to pull off a voice like this without seeming hokey but I think you did a good job of it. (Although the “they’re” in the last paragraph struck me as inconsistent.) Nicely done!
Thanks. I tried “they’s,” but it sounded contrived. Using words like that can easily be too much. It was either “they’s” or “knowed,” and I picked the latter.
Well, the dialect you’re using sounds a lot like what I grew up with, and we would have just said “they” — i.e., “They fixing to.”
Agreed. I will change it. Nice suggestion!
Very well written, JHC. Reminded me of Roy Raymond’s (founder of Victoria’s Secret) story of missed opportunities.
Nice story; I loved the ending! :)
Did someone miss the bus here! Great voice.
Missed opportunites are the biggest miss-take there is. Good story.