The Earring

Book 1 Part 8

Our marriage finally collided with the world of responsibility following graduation. Professional degrees in hand, we left the ivy halls and survival level jobs to make our way in the adult world. David found a teaching position at the beginning of January. With great optimism we moved across the state. Within a few weeks, pessimism had overtaken us. David discovered that he did not like teaching. It wasn't so much the idea of teaching that he despised. It was putting up with bratty kids who did not care to learn and keeping tedious records of every minute of every day.

I became a substitute teacher. I grew to dread the early morning shrill of the telephone. I knew a roomful of preteens awaited my arrival with schemes designed to see how long it would take the sub to exit in tears. I never gave them the satisfaction, but I did lose my cool on more than one occasion. Daily I managed to stand my ground, staring them down and counting the seconds until the bell freed me from junior high purgatory.

Disenchantment with life on the other side of the desk led us to flee the state in search of employment heaven. We visited friends in far-flung cities. We followed leads to dull opportunities in what seemed to be uninhabitable regions, like the barren windy plains of Wyoming, which were surely God's warning of what awaits sinners on the other side. Finally, we wearily landed on David's brother's South Carolina doorstep in hopes of finding a respite from the exhausting search.

David came in one afternoon after spending the day with Daniel on the golf course.

"How would you like to stay here?" he asked. "One of our foursome owns a tobacco farm, and he offered me a job."

"Doing what? I've watched those tobacco harvesters. That's backbreaking labor, bending all day in the hot sun."

"I won't be picking tobacco, Syd. I'll be part of the administrative staff."

I soon learned that administration involved delivering drinks and snacks to harvesters as they labored under the scorching sun, and later, hauling tobacco to the sales and standing around shooting the breeze while the auctioneer sealed the fate of your load. His managerial position was to start at 4am the next morning.

"I'm going to be working long hours until the harvest is over," he said. "I guess that means you're going to need to go back to the apartment and pack our stuff and bring it out."

We had already moved three times in our short marriage. This was to be our fourth, but hardly our last. We would move 11 times in our first ten years together.

I drove back to Louisiana and packed everything we had managed to accumulate in two years. Before I left, David called his grandpa and convinced him that a visit to his grands and greatgrands in South Carolina was just what he needed. He would serve as escort and trailer-maneuvering expert. I had no idea how to back the rental trailer I would use to haul our belongings.

I was looking forward to my time with Paw Gilbert. When David first took me home to visit, his Grandpa and his Mama welcomed me with open arms. His Dad was already pretty sick, and his communication skills were lacking. Only his Grandma was a tad cool. I simply ignored that and acted like I expected everyone to love me. It seemed to work, because Maw Gilbert warmed up to me. Only later did David tell me about his conversations with Maw that weekend.

"You better watch that little girl, David," she told him when she managed to get him alone. "She's got her sights set on you."

"I hope so, Maw," he answered. "'Cause I've got her in my crosshairs, and I plan to get her to the altar one way or the other."

"You can do better, Shot," she said.

"She makes me go to church, Maw."

David knew that was the defense most likely to win over his Grandma.