If you've read or looked through the book then you realize I set the tone early with Chapter Two. That was intentional and subtle at the same time. I wanted you to see where I was going over 300 pages. I wanted readers to know that this was going to be my boyhood memoir, written as a novel, and that it was going to be just as authentic as I could possibly make it. I wasn't going out of my way to be this or that, but I was going to be real.
In the linear order of the book's beginning, I used the Prologue to explain why I was writing this book. Then, I used the Introduction to paint the larger scene of people and places. Chapter One - The Beginning - was a simple chapter about my birth. My Papa R.C. really did have a Welcome Home banner across the front of our house.
It was in Chapter Two that I wanted to introduce my two brothers, and show a glimpse into our relationships and the culture in which we lived. I also wanted the reader to know - up front - that this was going to be about real life: Skinny-dipping on a hot summer day, and the boyish humor that would certainly go with it. You throw three naked boys into a public swimming hole - it's going to get funny in a hurry.
The chapter opens with a little ditty about the Jaybird. It was one of the first songs I ever learned, and quite honestly is as close to a family anthem as we have. All of us know it. All of us have sung it our entire lives. We aren't 100 percent sure what it even means. Even today when my brother Tim calls me on my birthday he sings the Jaybird song if he leaves a voice mail message.
Speaking of Jaybirds, the phrase "naked as a Jaybird" is a prison term. Back in the 20s and 30s, prisoners were referred to as Jailbirds or J-birds. Upon incarceration, they were forced to march to the showers naked. Naked as a J-bird. Our Jaybird song is not about that.
Our Jaybird song was about "mean-ass" Blue Jays that would hide in shrubberies and get aggressive if you got too close to them. It's a song about revenge against them, too.
With regard to the skinny-dipping. We did go skinny dipping - more than once - off the McFarland Road (Parkway, now) bridge into muddy Big Creek. My great grandfather was William Perry McFarland - my Granny's daddy. Daddy Perry and Granny Mac lived in a big farmhouse in the northeast corner of what today is the intersection of Georgia Highway 400 / U.S. Highway 19 and McFarland Parkway south of Cumming, GA. Now, this is an industrial and commercial area of the Atlanta metroplex. Back during my childhood, McFarland Road (not even called that then) was a dirt road. Just below Daddy Perry's house was an old single lane wooden bridge over Big Creek. Here's a photo of what it looked like, but it's not an actual photograph of the old McFarland Road bridge. (Today, the road is widened, paved, and the bridge looks nothing like this, obviously). In addition to the skinny dipping what I remember is the dust cloud that followed someone driving down the road. It was awesome. It was suffocating, but it was awesome to watch.
My Daddy Perry wouldn't recognize any of that area today. And, honestly, I'm glad he didn't have to see all the change.
Have a great week - SDV
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