We got an email the other day from The Pummeler, aka Jeannie and Bruce’s son, Mike. He informs us that professional wrestling is not as glorious as it looks, but, he’s still working for his dreams. Good job, Mike!
He concludes with a question:
“When I lived in town, the neighbors were The Joneses, The Smiths, and The Roberts. What happened?”
Well, our Off-Grid neighbors are folks that like to keep to themselves, off the radar from the rest of the world, as you know. About 10 years ago, Mama Robert died tragically. A logging truck ran off the road, pretty much flying down the hill and tearing through the Robert camp. It killed Mama Robert and one of their daughters. The driver survived, but told us later that he wish he hadn’t. Initially he told reporters that he’d hit a person and tried to save them, then corrected his story and claimed to have been drunk at the wheel. He now has a new life in Washington, but is still haunted by that night.
After the funeral, Papa Robert took their other two girls and the youngest boy back east where he was from. The oldest boy decided to stay.
Well, it wasn’t long before he started courting the Jones’s oldest girl, though she was considerably older than him. Mama and Papa Jones didn’t like it, but, well, you know kids. They eloped, hopped over to the coastal side of the range, and soon had a little one of their own.
Mama and Papa Jones were ecstatic about the little one , but we think they were embarrassed by their actions, and ever since have kept a respectful distance. As such, that’s why we call them “The Other Joneses.”
Sheila and Brother Louis are pretty much the only people around that they will accept a visit from. Their little one is a kid that gets up to the usual kid trouble, and raises the usual holy terror and racket that only a little kid can. This makes the parents scared of drawing attention, even to the point of isolating themselves. Sheila tells me this is a pretty common phase for these families, but once the kids comes of age, the folks tend to return to being their subtle and gregarious selves.