Love the Irishman

“Look up Jimmy the Midget” he said. Denny worked at Shaw Arboretum. Shaw was 30 miles from “home” – but I welcomed the drive every morning. That section of Highway 44 heading southwest into the state is hilly as you descend into the river valley – with mist rising off of the trees most mornings. It’s a jam as far as country drives go.? Plenty of time to drink coffee, rock tunes and psyche myself up for a long run. Denny was part of the maintenance crew. He was 60 by then and should have comfortably retired from the manufacturing job he had held for nearly 30 years.? But they closed the plant right before his 30 years of service had concluded without as much as a thank you. Denny was grateful for the job and benefits at Shaw– something he and his wife Brenda both needed badly. Denny had significant heart, diabetes, and liver issues. Brenda was a breast cancer survivor who suffers from edema but he wasn’t making a career out of it. Or working too hard.

I come from a long line of storytellers.? When you are wire-tapping the entire County, you’ve got some good stories to tell – yours and everyone else’s.? Denny is a great storyteller. I suspect he could only be better with a few cocktails and the right environment where he could really let the m******* fly. He doesn’t drink anymore due to health issues and outside of those precious few days out in the woods we’re seldom unaccompanied.? But on a few of those long hot summer afternoons, after the balance of my run was complete and the sun was too hot to continue, he would tell me about Gus and Jimmy the Midget.?

Jimmy the Midget was supposedly one of the old school STL Gangster’s kids – that Gus had been tasked with oversight of.? Gus owned a dress shop somewhere near Washington Ave in downtown St. Louis. He used to sell ladies dresses and suits made to match hats, gloves, and shoes. I’m told this is a preference of aging black, churchgoing, women.? I think it’s cool.? There was a fire. Gus’s burned down. It was like that in St. Louis. He may have told me who’s kid Jimmy was – or not. It doesn’t matter.? I’m a German from Waterloo and don’t know any Italians.

We both liked Gangster flicks. Kill the Irishman would later become the foundation for many of our ongoing jokes through the years. I developed a real love and affinity for Denny. He would say “Aww……you’re gonna make Danny Green cry.”? And I would say “Aww, better to make Danny Green cry than make Danny Green mad.”? And he would just say “Ah, you’re okay Kiddo.”

I would later accept his gift of $50 at Christmas time. That was a lot of money to he and Brenda on a retiree’s income after having paid for my lunch. It was one of the few times in my life I have been able to accept money. I needed it. I was two months down on my car, behind on rent and hadn’t eaten a full meal in a few days.? I wasn’t ashamed or embarrassed.? It was my choice. And it’s one of the few times where money has been given to me – without strings or any expectation of return.? It was a good lesson in acceptance, receiving and unconditional love. I wouldn’t have accepted it from anyone but him.?

?~ grit, unpublished, unedited