For Dallas and Momma June
The Shop with Attached Guest House
In 2007 I was told, in no uncertain terms, that the sheriff in the little town I had been paroled out to in Arkansas had every intention of sending me back to prison so I left. I went to Paragould and parked my Jeep at a McDonald's at one end of town. I crossed the street and started walking, stopping to ask everybody for a job. At the far end of town a man at a gas station offered me a job. It was for peanuts, but it was a job and a start. I then started driving the neighborhood looking for a place to live. I had long hair and tattoos and wasn’t very presentable, nor was it easy for me to talk to any civilian after 15 years in prison. I had no social skills.
I asked my sister to call a number on a “For Rent” sign and an elderly lady, Miss June, came over to meet my sister and me. I soon made an agreement to rent a little 2-bedroom house. The next day Miss June called and said she forgot to ask me some questions about my history. I thought, “oh no, this will blow it if she asks me about being in trouble.” She asked if I had ever been arrested or in trouble with the law. I didn't want to answer, but I did. I told her the truth about everything. I was having trouble communicating with people, so I was definitely not a party guy and no girls. I could tell how uncomfortable this conversation was for her but being the classy lady she was, she agreed to come out to my sisters and talk more.
I had built some fencing and some banisters and things in my sister’s yard and it impressed Miss June so she asked if I would be interested in working for her and Dallas, her husband. She said she really hadn’t thought it was a good idea, but she had prayed on it, and he told her I was the one she needed.
So she not only rented the house to me but also gave me a job. She and her husband became like family to me. One day, Dallas and I were working in the shop and Miss June came out to tell us lunch was ready. I said, “okay mom, we will be there in a minute.” She left and came back a few seconds later and said, “see Dallas, he calls me mom.” I had never even noticed that was the way I felt about them. They had no children and we just kind of adopted each other. They needed me and I needed them. It wasn't long before mom was giving me regular haircuts and I was learning how to become a normal person and not a convict or outlaw.
After a few years, Dallas got sick. I helped take care of him and run the business of renting, repairs, and collecting on the rental units. He asked me, “please take care of your mother because she will need you if something happens to me.” Which it did, not long after, Dallas died.
Now, 17 years later, I carry on as I always had for them, but they are both gone. Momma June fell and broke her hip a little over a year ago and she never recovered. She was in constant pain and it was heartbreaking. I took care of her as best I could, but she just got worse until she died. She was 91.
I’ve been honored to see what two people were able to accomplish on their own out of sheer willpower and hard work. And they had lots of love to share, even with an old convict. They never met a stranger, they loved everyone, especially each other. They were like no others; they just don't make them anymore.
I spend my evenings on the patio surrounded by my tomato plants and hedges… it’s a rough life. I have 2 wild cats, some deer, raccoons, and rabbits. The squirrels have retired for the evening. It's a zoo out there. I spend money on bird food, loaves of bread, and sugar water for humming birds. I always watch nature… like with the bread I feed the animals; they will eat wheat bread but it’s the last thing they eat, they like white and raisin bread the best. I love to watch the animals. My bed sits right in front of sliding glass doors, and I watch them until I fall asleep.
My favorite spot on the whole estate is the shop with the attached guest house that I built and that I live in. I usually do my housework and vacuuming on Sunday mornings and sometimes I go out and ride my Harley on the beautiful days. Sometimes alone and sometimes with the guys. I have a small work crew and some good friends who I spend time and ride with on occasion.
During the week I maintain the property and do any rental maintenance and then I take care of the business doing paperwork and filing. It takes 7 hours on the mowers and then 5 hours with a weed eater strapped to my back to make it look like it does. I plant trees, water plants, make repairs, and I’m on call for the tenants 24/7. Ten hours a day in the sun is enough to kill an old guy, don't know what I'll do when I get old.
I think about mom, she would have stared out the windows for about 5 minutes then here she’d come with gloves and bonnet reporting for duty… she was a little trooper.
They left the business and the entire estate to me. It has 1 rental house and a duplex, the main house, the shop, and the guest house. It's on 12 acres. Across town there’s another city block with 2 houses and a duplex on it. On the other end of town I have a big 4-bedroom house with a guest house on 5 acres; I bought that one myself. In Hardy, I have a cabin that a friend’s brother rents from me.
I worry what will happen to it all. I put in almost 20 years of my life and mom and Dallas over 60 years. They built this place from ground that the state declared was not suitable for human habitation. They put the drains in, dug the ditches, petitioned to get the dam built, and Dallas built the roads. He couldn't get loans because it was considered uninhabitable land, swamp. Now it's the best piece of property on the lake.
I’m afraid that it will just be broken up and sold off in lake front lots and nobody will ever know the history of this place or what it took to build. I want my ashes here so I can become a tree and watch over it.
I should make this clear though…mom and pop really did the sacrifices and the heavy lifting. I just came in, took what they started, and kept it going. They opened the door for me and I will always be grateful to them. I loved them more than life.
Danny N - Paragould, AR