1966: Learning about life: Oklahoma

      I headed out. When I got to Tulsa, after getting lost trying to get out of Arkansas, I decided to rent a room for a few days and check out the possibilities. It didn't take me long to realize that corporate headquarters was not the place to get these jobs. Out in the field, on location was where it was at. But I did stumble onto a sales thing that sounded OK on the front end. Go to Oklahoma City to train. So I headed out, accompanied by an Indian and a sorta wild dude. The company put us up in a hotel. We went to the first training session. It was selling aluminum siding. The sales line they wanted us to memorize went like this: “Hello, are you the property owner? Blah, blah, blah.” We went back to the hotel. I had pretty much realized that wasn't for me. Just sleep on their dime tonight, head out to look for something else tomorrow.

      The wild guy was talking. “Hey, I know a couple of girls. Want me to set up a double date?”. I quizzed him a little. “Well, they're not really the kind you want to take home to mama. And if one of them is busy, the other can “date” both of us.” Well, I was seeing the big picture by then. He wanted me to drive him around for a wild night in my car. “Not interested,” I told him.

      Well, the next day, I left him and the Indian to their own devices early, and soon found a pest control job opening in the paper. I checked it out. They wanted to send me and an older applicant out with a trained man through small towns for a few days, get trained up, then we would have our own route.

      I went to Joe, the older man's house. He had a nice family,and a beautiful daughter a year or so older than me. His family was full of hope for Joe's prospects for a job. I began to get the feeling they had been through all this before. But the daughter WAS awfully pretty.

Billy, the trained man, our teacher, came by. Joe and I followed him in Joe's truck. I left my car at Joe's house.

      Here's the plan. While Billy worked his route, Joe and I went to all the houses surrounding. “We're spraying your neighbor's house. Those roaches will run to your house. Maybe you would like us to spray yours also.” Actually, there was truth in that, but it mainly picked Billy up a lot of extra business. Joe kept a little bottle in his truck, and went to it regularly, at first trying to hide it from me. When he could no longer hide it, I took over the driving. But, as much as he drank, I never saw any visible effects from it, until about the third day, about the time our tour ended. Joe and I headed back to Oklahoma City. We got there very late, and Joe insisted I stop so he could call his AA man.

      Going on to his house, Joe said, “I couldn't stop drinking on my own, but if you had asked me to, I would have.” I felt very guilty. I didn't know much about alcoholics in those days, and I didn't understand the little mechanism they used, trying to spread the blame around. When we got back to his house, he was falling down drunk, and I felt responsible. His wife and daughter came out, crushed and heartbroken, once again. No telling how many times they had been through this before. They all wanted me to spend the night, but I just couldn't look them in the eye because of my role in their heartbreak. I drove off into the late Oklahoma night to look for a motel.

      The boss wanted me to start my own route Monday out of the McAlister office, in southeast Oklahoma. The weekend was coming up, so I headed out. The Boss decided to ride down with me. Passing the prison, just west of McAlister, he talked a lot about it – how good they were to the inmates, etc etc. I learned later why he knew so much about it. He had just finished a term there, for non payment of employees. He directed me to an old hotel, that ran $1.81 per night, for the weekend. This fit my budget. The money I had brought was running thin. Sunday morning I went to a nice little church.

      Monday morning I put a lot of my extra clothes in the office, to make room for all the spraying equipment he loaded me down with. I headed out toward Antlers, Broken Bow, and points east. I went through sawmill towns, and their company houses were over run with roaches. Everyone welcomed me in with open arms. The route had been well serviced, and I was raking in the big bucks. By the weekend, I was very tired, but close to Arkansas, so I headed home for a visit. It wasn't far, and I got a chance to take my buddy Grady out and show off my money. Be the big spender. The local boy who drove off into the cruel world and made good. Monday morning found me picking up the south half of the route. Ida Belle, Hugo, working back toward McAlister. Late that afternoon, I pulled into a small motel.  The nice lady at the office checked me in (while she checked me out.) She was pretty, but old as dirt. Probably 30 or more. I had just got settled in my room when the phone rang. It was the pretty woman at the office, inviting me over for a coke. She sat down next to me with her coke, put the other hand on my arm, and started telling me a very sad story.