The Miracle Man

It was late in the 1950s. We lived halfway to nowhere.

I am not sure why Momma and Daddy ever married. They always fought over stupid things. I know Daddy loved her. I have no idea if she loved him. I was the only child they ever had.

I guess that I never thought much either way about how things were in the house. It kinda funny, if you grow up the strife you expect that it is normal. I mean, what do you compare it to? When my friends came over my folks pretended that everything was fine. At my friends' homes I presumed they were doing the same thing.

Then one day this guy came into town. He called himself "The Miracle Man." He was selling this stuff that cured almost anything, from a fever to a scar. Momma bought some and kept it around until I got a cold later on. She gave me the recommended dose.

I don't know that I felt any better. I do know it was the worst tasting stuff I ever had the displeasure to try. Mostly all it did was made me fall asleep; I guess if you are not awake you can't feel too bad.

I do remember when I awoke later my head hurt and spun like nothing I ever knew. My mouth tasted like I licked the barn floor clean. She gave me another dose and I was out of it again. When I awoke again it was like the first time, only this time I pretended I was still asleep until I could not hold my bladder any more and had to get up. Momma was busy and did not see; so I peed and did not flush, then went back to bed and pretended to be asleep again.

One thing she always had a fit about was when the toilet seat was left up. This time I left it up. She didn't find it until Daddy was home. She gave him holy hell. His defense was he had only been home for 2 minutes and that he had not been up there yet. Then he peed all over the back porch to prove his bladder was full. She went ballistic. Daddy hollered that at least she had something legitimate to be angry about.

As bad as I felt, I still thought it was funny. It must be a guy thing, like passing gas.

Later Daddy wondered why he had not seen me, he came looking. He asked me why I was in bed. I told him about the little cold I had, and the medicine. He opened the bottle and sniffed it. Then he poured it into the toilet, and left the seat up. He filled the bottle with water and put it back.

Later, when Momma came to give me my next dose I begged her not to give me anymore; as instructed. When she forced me to take it; I played the role well, fussed cried and acted like I would throw up. She was happy.

About 3 months later the Miracle Man was back. His product was new and improved. I stood off to the side and watched Momma looking at him, her eyes were glazed over. She hung on every word; he played a lot to her. I could tell she was buying more than meets the eyes. Later that evening when Daddy came home supper was not ready. Daddy fixed us some eggs and toast. We both had coffee to drink. He said "If you are old enough to drink hard liquor, you are old enough for coffee."

I never drank hard liquor, OH never mind.

Momma never came home that evening, or ever again. We took turns cooking and cleaning and never worried about the toilet seat again. There was no note or anything, she never said goodbye to either of us.

Daddy reported Momma missing to the sheriff the next day. I told the sheriff about how she looked when she was watching that man. Even though I did not understand what I saw.

Well, Daddy and I missed her. We did the best we could without her. Every now and then I heard him crying, so I did not feel as bad when I cried. We both must have cried for 40 days and 40 nights.

I got real good at cooking and ironing; Daddy paid the neighbor to do the laundry. We never fought; it was a happy time for us except for missing Momma.

One day The Miracle Man came back to town, I got wind of it and went to tell Daddy. He waited in the shadows until the man was packed up and ready to go. It was late evening and just getting dark. As the man got set to enter his car, Daddy came forth and held his 45 right between his eyes. He held it there, with both hands, for the longest time. When I thought Daddy would send him to his grave, he put away his gun and turned around and silently walked off. I watched from the shadows wondering why he did nothing.

I was home by the time Daddy got there. We didn't say anything that evening at dinner. All the time I was wondering why he put away his gun, when he knew he had the power in his hands to do justice to that Miracle Man.

Later that evening as he tucked me into bed he told me there are some reasons why he isn't dead. The Bible says "You reap the seeds you sow, sometimes when you turn the other cheek you will find that you have done the righteous thing." If I had pulled the trigger they would have ended up in a cage. He would have lost me and most likely never seen me again. He told me "I love you way too much to watch you face this world alone."

Well for the first time I understood why my Daddy spared the life of that Miracle Man.

Now that I am older I can understand that all along it was my Daddy that was the Miracle Man.

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This story was inspired by the song Miracle Man, as sung by The Smokin' Armadillos. I hope I did justice to their song.