*Author's Note: Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.
*****
Jimmy Bergeron loved college the moment he stepped onto Harvester's campus. In DeGarde, Louisiana on August 7th at 10:15 am, the temperature was 94 degrees with a humidity hovering around 90 percent. At 10:15 am on August 7th, when Jimmy stepped off the Greyhound bus in Colfax, Missouri, the temperature was 79 degrees and the humidity was barely 20 percent.
The bus driver pulled Jimmy's footlocker from the storage compartment underneath the bus and smiled when Jimmy politely thanked him.
Inside the bus terminal, a bored counter girl gave him directions to Harvester's campus and suggested he take one of the cabs to go the three miles from bus terminal to campus.
Dragging the footlocker, even though it was on wheels, Jimmy agreed and took a cab.
He found his dormitory, found his dormitory Student Aide and got his room key, Room 402.
Since he was the first one there, he decided he'd take the bunk nearest the outside wall and would take the top two dresser drawers.
At the Greyhound bus terminal in DeGarde, his father had hugged him and gave him five crisp one hundred dollar bills. Donna, Jimmy's older sister had hugged him, kissed him, and given him two hundred dollars in twenty dollar bills.
"Now, don't go spending that all in one place," his father had said.
So, Jimmy's first order of business was to locate the nearest bank. The SA gave him directions and Jimmy, after making sure that both footlocker, and room were securely locked, walked to the First Commerce Credit Union.
Forty five minutes later, he walked out of the First Commerce Credit Union with a new checking account.
In high school, Jimmy Bergeron had been bullied horribly, even though Baylor Lake High School had a 'No Bullying' policy.
In college, there were still the Alpha males that had to prove that they were the Alpha males. Because Jimmy walked with confidence, these Alpha males left Jimmy alone.
Jimmy's roommate never did show up so Jimmy had his very own dorm room. He was able to relax in his room, was able to concentrate on his studies, and was able to practice his forms in the ten by twelve room.
After one semester, Jimmy had a four point oh GPA. He had not gone home, even over the Thanksgiving break, but would gladly leave the snow-covered campus for the slightly warmer Louisiana bayou. He had packed a winter coat, which had been fine for Louisiana, but was sorely ill-suited for winter in Missouri.
While he was home, Jimmy did visit Kim Ul Don, the woman that had instructed him in Tae Kwon Do, and in the art of making love. She was obviously pregnant, but because her son, Jimmy's friend was there, Jimmy could not ask if the baby was his.
Then Kim Ul Don broke, shattered Jimmy's heart when she told him, though she loved him, she did not ever want to see him again.
On December 16th, Earl Bergeron, Jimmy's father, was transporting a load of refuse from tug boat to landfill when the truck tilted, teetered, then rolled.
Because Earl was travelling in excess of seventy miles an hour when he took the turn, because he was not wearing his seat belt, he was ejected from the truck and was buried under nearly three tons of garbage.
"How fitting," Donna said bitterly when the police officer informed her of Earl's demise. "A piece of garbage killed by garbage."
"Donna!" Jimmy gasped, shocked.
"What?" Donna snarled. "God damn it; I'm fucking glad that son of a bitch is dead! He won't be coming into my room to fuck me anymore."
Jimmy stared at his sister, the woman that had raised him ever since their mother ran off. He tried to think of something to say, but could only croak.
Donna burst into bitter sobs as she sat at the kitchen table; the same kitchen table they'd had for at least eighteen years. Jimmy could not remember them ever having any other table, any other vinyl chairs.
He could not remember them having any other couch, or recliner. Jimmy did remember when Earl had bought the large LCD television. That was because Miller's Electronics had told him that they couldn't find the parts to repair the twenty three year old Console television that had sat in their living room all those years.
"Donna, I'm so sorry; I didn't know," Jimmy finally whispered.
"No shit Jimmy? No shit? You didn't know?" Donna said sarcastically.
"Nobody knew, Jimmy!" she screamed.
By the nineteenth of December, though, Donna had cried out her bitterness and was able to look somber, grieving for Earl James Bergeron's funeral.
Gordon King, the owner of King Sanitation, where Earl had been employed, asked Donna and Jimmy to come to his office. There, they were introduced to Donald Pellichet, Gordon's attorney.
"Mr. Bergeron did have a life insurance policy," Gordon said, frowning. "I always tell my employees, try to get at least one hundred thousand; the minimum is fifty but hell that barely even covers funeral costs."
"And let me guess," Donna said, bitterness creeping into her voice. "Daddy had fifty, right?"
"Uh, yes ma'am," Gordon said.
"But because he was in a company truck, conducting company business," Donald chimed in. "King Sanitation is prepared to offer you two hundred and fifty thousand, on top of the fifty thousand dollar life insurance policy.
"As well as keep you both on Earl's health and dental insurance policies for one year," Gordon said.
"Where do I sign?" Donna said.
"James? Sorry, you go by Jimmy, right?" Gordon said.
"Yes sir," Jimmy said, surprised that the man knew that. "Uh, if my sister says its okay, then, it's okay."
It took nearly two hours, but after every page had been initialed or signed and dated and notarized, Jimmy's account at First Commerce Credit Union and Donna's account at First DeGarde each had an additional one hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars.
"Uh, now don't spend that all in one place," Donald smiled.
"Well, I was thinking of buying these five magic beans..." Jimmy quipped.
"Don't do it," Donald said. "As an attorney, I would advise you to try to get the goose that laid the golden egg instead. Much more reliable."
"Mother Fucker did something right," Donna said as they drove home in Donna's seventeen year old Toyota Camry.
"You want the house?" Jimmy asked.
"Fuck no," Donna said bitterly. "Makes me sick just to look at it."
"Want to sell it?" Jimmy asked, playing with the keys to Earl's, now his truck.
"I want to burn it to the God damn ground," Donna growled.
"Donna, half of its mine," Jimmy reminded her. "So why don't we sell it and split it fifty-fifty, huh?"
Carmen Davis of Davis Realty came out, admired the woodwork, admired the forty year old bathroom fixtures, but did not admire the forty year old kitchen fixtures. She wrote out a list of things that needed to be done to get it ready for market and then showed Donna some listings she currently had available.
"Two bedroom, two bathroom, right over on Tallow; want to take a look?" the older woman smiled as Donna looked at the laptop computer's slide show.
"Seventy four? And you say we can probably get about eighty five for this?" Donna asked.
The day after Christmas, Jimmy rented a storage unit in Kimble, Louisiana and put what things from the house he thought he might want later, after he graduated from college. He paid the bored office manager for one full year's storage and nodded when the employee said he got an extra month for free because he paid for one year's rental in advance.
Donna loved the house on Tallow, but absolutely hated the color in nearly every room. So, Jimmy spent the last few days he had left of his Christmas vacation painting Donna's house.
And just before Jimmy put his footlocker into the bed of Earl's, his 1998 F150 pickup truck, Carmen had a buyer for their old house. Robichaux Contracting had done the suggested updates and Carmen had actually listed the house at ninety five. The new owners had loved it and did not even waste time with bickering over the price.
Brother and sister hugged, kissed and promised to stay in touch, and Jimmy drove north.
