Jake and Jimbo and Me, Part 1
Jake and Jimbo here ain't likely to ever make it to a Jeopardy contestant search, if ya know what I'm sayin'. But that's OK. They ain't exactly book smart, but they have plenty of what's lacking in too many of those with plenty of book smarts - and that's common sense, and Knowing Stuff. If you've ever listened to Hank Jr sing "We grow good-ole tomatoes and homemade wine / And a country boy can survive" and had a pang of longing for a simpler way, of a desire to get away, well, Jake and Jimbo live that life. They know there's bigger and brighter and busier out somewhere beyond the holler, but it holds no charms for them.
I met Jake and Jimbo working a dam job up the river. The company put us up in a Best Western. My second night in town, after the first day's diving, I was grabbing some dinner at a bar & grill a couple of blocks down from the hotel. Jake and Jimbo were at the bar, shootin' the bull with some friends. Jake and I made the briefest of eye contact as I was heading out after finishing my dinner. Yeah, I'd hit that, I thought to myself - though it was unlikely he'd be interested.
They were there the next night, too. I was wearing a t-shirt with the company name and logo on the back, a big light blue Kirby Morgan-style (that's what the t-shirt design guy said - it actually looked just like a SuperLite 17 without the KM identification - I guess he figured that was enough to avoid "trademark infringment" or something) dive helmet. Shortly after I ordered Jimbo looked over and asked "You divin' up at the dam?"
Fuck, that accent. It took him what felt like thirty seconds to ask that little six-word question - "You diiiiiiiiiviiiiin' up a th daaaaaaaym?" - but I was hard just about from the moment he looked over my way and started to speak.
"How's it goin'? What's it like?" Jimbo asked, continuing the conversation.
*** To Be Continued *** Future installments will have the JakeandJimboandMe tag.
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