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 Now, I have two older brothers who had both finished college and, by this time, were embarked on their careers. Skinny says to Pearl, “What are the Yates boys doing with themselves?” (I’m still standing in front of them at this point.) “Well, both of his brothers are making something out of themselves, but he’s just a plumber,” she said with derision.There was no mistaking the tone and meaning intended as she glared down at me from her perch on the bleachers. Evidently she viewed my being a tradesman as a failure (on her part to educate) and viewed my status in life somewhere below that of a bug to be crushed underfoot. I was in shock. I mean, these were supposed to be refined and well-educated people after all. Dejected, I returned to my seat and went into a slow burn.
God had taken away his sight as his punishment, I guess, since he had loved to read. As an invalid, Skinny required 24-hour nursing care. Skinny greeted me by complaining about being cold and that I was to get his heat back on – right away. As I worked on his ancient steam boiler and restored his heat that day, I cursed myself for allowing them to get so deeply under my skin. By the time I returned to the first floor to inform the nurse that their heat was back on, I felt nothing but pity for his ignorance. I never had the heart to tell him who I was on those visits to his home and he died a few years later. Funny how some people can be so smart, yet remain so ignorant. Dave Yates owns F.W. Behler, a contracting company in York, Pa. He can be reached by phone at 717/843-4920 or by e-mail at .
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The irony of it all? Skinny became my customer when we bought out Behler’s! I went to his home on a service call one frigid, blustery January night, still full of bitterness and anger at those words spoken long ago. There he was, a frail shell of his former self, blind and bedridden.
