I Found Him!

He just stood there and looked at me. I kept calling his name over and over, and he didn't say a word for what seemed like forever, but really was probably only a minute or two. Finally he spoke.

"Hi."

The side of the old house at Hillbilly Heaven

"I've been looking for you. For years. After your house burned, I didn't know if you were dead or alive. Where have you been? For the past few months I have called, driven, thought, prayed, researched, investigated, done everything I could think of. Twice. I don't understand."

He looked over my shoulder and out the window like he was nervous. 

"Does Ellis know you're here?"

He shook his head 'no.'

"You ain't gunna tell are you?"

"No."

Then he looked at Zane.

"He won't tell. This is my grandson, Zane. How long you been here?"

He never answered the question. I finally got him to relax enough to sit down in the living room and we talked. Some. He gave up a little information, but not much and then grudgingly. Getting stuff out of Ray was always like pulling teeth.

He did confirm a lot of what Ezell had told me. They worked together until short wood went out. Then he bummed around awhile, doing carpentry work, roofing, breaking horses, driving a truck, but never staying anywhere very long. Now at night he hides out in the old house at Hillbilly Heaven. By day he drives a tractor for a farmer in the delta, but he never would tell me who although I asked several times.

I did get him to say that he walks through the woods to the highway and catches a ride to work every day. Attempts to get him to tell his age, talk about his parents, say where he came from, give any solid details about anything all failed. He never said, 'I don't want to talk about it,' he just didn't answer. After all these years and after finally finding him again, he remains a mystery. That seems to be the way he wants it, but it makes me a little suspicious. Is he wanted by the law? Is he immortal, never ageing? Is he an angel, a demon, a ghost? Most of the people who remember him are now dead. 

The only picture I was able to get was one I took by stealth. He flat out refused to let me take one. He never told me his plans; he didn't say how long he would hide out on Hillbilly Heaven. When I asked when we could talk again, all he said was "later." We stayed until I was afraid the rest of the family would get worried about Zane and me being gone so long. Then we left not knowing if I, we, would ever see him again or not.

The furtive photo I took while we were leaving.

As we walked back towards the house and away from Ray, Zane asked me if I was happy.

"I don't know how to feel, Zane. I don't know how to feel. But we have to keep this a secret. No one will ever believe us anyway."

"I always believed you, Poppy."

"I know you did, son. You were the only one."