The Journal

I was getting into the swing of my job as a reporter, just like Chuck had promised I was covering a lot of council meetings, and police station press conferences. I was getting a couple of articles printed every week. Andrew was still looking for a job, he still wanted to do it on his own, which I admired, but I was finding it hard to sit by without helping. I was being as supportive as I could, I just wanted to write up an article about how prejudice our schools were against not only blacks, but gays and God forbid if you were both.

It was 1980, and an election year, so Chuck was using me to cover all the local elections. He called me into his office, “kid, I am sending you to Nashville this week to cover the debates between the candidates for state Senate.”

“Sure Chuck, sounds good, when did you want me to leave?”

“You can leave on Wednesday, I have interviews with our local candidates on Thursday morning lined up for you and then a couple on Friday morning. I figured since you were there you could stop and see Joe Spencer, gather up all the names and dates you want him to check on your journal thing.”

“That’s a good idea, I will get everything together before I leave. Hey Chuck, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure Kid, what is it?”

“Would it be ok if I took a friend along with me?”

“I guess so, you have a girlfriend you want to take along?”

“No, I was thinking I would see if Andrew wanted to go with me.”

“Your roommate? You know the paper only pays for your meals and 1 single hotel room, if you need to get a double you will have to pay the extra.”

“I won’t need a double room Chuck, Andrew is more than just my roommate.”

Chuck looked up from his desk, “oh.” Then it dawned on him what I was saying, “oh, I see, I must be losing my edge kid, that never occurred to me.”

I asked, “so are you ok with that?”

“Yeah kid, like I said just so there are no extra expenses.”

I got home that night and asked Andrew if he wanted to get away for a few days, I told him we would leave Wednesday morning and I would have to work Thursday all day and until noon on Friday. We would have the afternoon to do whatever we wanted, and if he was ok with it, we could stop in Jackson to see mom and Aunt Janet on the way home and stay for the weekend.

He said, “maybe a little time away from everything would do me some good. Hey, I could call my sister so I could spend all day Thursday with her.”

Andrew’s sister, Mary is the only member of his family that he talks to, the rest quit talking to him when he came out to them.

“That’s a great idea Andrew, and I am going to stop by a friend of Chuck’s who has access to a lot of records, so I can do some more research on Walter and the journal.”

Andrew called Mary and I called mom, so we had our trip all planned out. The next morning, I called Joe and gave him all the information I had on Walter and Ellis, he told me that he would dig up whatever he could find. I got my last-minute instructions from Chuck and headed home so Andrew and I could get packed.

We got into Nashville right after noon, we checked into the hotel and freshened up. We were meeting Andrew’s sister and her husband for supper that evening. We had a great time and Mary, and her husband could not have been nicer. She caught Andrew up on all the rest of the family, I could tell that the visit was really what Andrew needed. Andrew and Mary made plans to meet in the morning.

I got my interviews done and watched the debates and filed my story with the paper, Chuck was going to run them over the weekend. I called Chuck updating him on everything and asked if he wanted me to cover anything else sense I was here.

“No kid, I just got all your stories, everything looks good. You meet with Joe yet?”

“I have an appointment with him at 1:00 today.”

“Good luck kid, I hope he is able to help you, when are you planning on heading home?”

“We are leaving in the morning, I wanted to stop by Jackson and spend the night with my mom, we will get back to Memphis Sunday afternoon.”

“Sounds good kid, see you Monday.”

I met Joe at his office, after he told me a couple of stories about him and Chuck in their college days, he pulled out a file.

“Well kid, here’s what I found. First, I check vehicle registrations, the only thing I found was an old Model T, that was last registered in 1922. I checked the census records, looks like Walter’s old man was born in Westburg, he was listed there through 1920, but not in 1930. I checked death records and you were right, he died in a house fire in 1922. Walter was born in 1908 and listed in the 1910 and 1920 census but in 1930 I found him in Yorktown, a small farm town between Westburg and Jackson. He was living with a family as a nonrelative and listed as a farm hand. That was the last time he was listed in any census in the state of Tennessee. I did find one more thing, an employment record of him working for a printshop in Jackson, the last date of work was May of 1932.”

I sat there trying to take it all in, “wow Joe, so it looks like he worked his way from Westburg to Jackson. But you have nothing after 1932?”

“Sorry Mike, I can’t find anything, I even checked the death records, just in case. I still came up with nothing. I figured he either left the state or if he did die and had no next of kin, he may be buried in a potter’s field somewhere.”

“Yeah, I have thought of that too, if that is the case I may never know. Did you find anything on Ellis?”

Well, there are a lot of Jacksons in Tennessee, and none of them by the name of Ellis. Look Mike, there were a lot of factories and mills that moved black workers around for cheap labor just like Thornhill did. Just like you said earlier they were no better off than slaves, paid very little and the companies didn’t keep the best records.”

“That is what I was afraid of, you should have at least found a birth record though, right?”

“Only if he was born in Tennessee, if he was born out of state, it would take a lot more digging. If we knew what state, it might be a little bit easier.”

I looked through all the papers, “Joe, I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this, you at least got Walter out of Westburg for me.”

“No problem kid, I wish I could help more, just let me know if you find anything else that I can check for you.”

“Oh, and thanks for the stories about Chuck, I may need them the next time I piss him off. By the way this is for you.”

I reached in my bag and handed him a bottle of Scotch, just as Chuck had suggested. It doesn’t take long to figure out how a reporter gets a lot of his information.

“Thanks kid, let me know if you solve your mystery, I would love to hear what happened.”

I got back to the hotel just as Andrew’s sister was dropping him off, we told her goodbye and headed to our room.

I asked, “so how was your day with your sister?”

“It was good, we had a nice talk, she even convinced my younger brother to meet us for coffee. I gave him my phone number and told him if he ever wants to talk, he can call me.”

“That’s great Andrew, do you think he will?”

“Yes, I do, he gave me a hug when he left, I feel good about seeing him. I am so glad you asked me to come along, I needed some time away.”

“I am glad it worked out too.”

“Hey, did you find anything out about Walter?”

“Yes, I did.”

I filled him in on all that Joe told me, then we slipped into the shower together and headed straight to bed. It never gets old gets old sleeping naked in Andrew’s arms.

We headed to Jackson early the next morning, we got to my mom’s in time for lunch, I filled her in on my job at the paper. She told me that she had quit her job at the bank and stated working as a receptionist at a Dr’s office. She and Aunt Janet teased each other that they got along a lot better now that they weren’t together 24 hours a day. I was amazed at the change in my mom, she had become a confident, independent women, I was pleased to see the change.

We visited the rest of the day and Aunt Janet had invited some of her kids over for supper that night. It was good to see my cousins again, I introduced them to Andrew, it went better than I had expected. We had a pleasant evening and we made plans to come to visit mom and Aunt Janet one weekend a month from now on.

We got back to Memphis on Sunday afternoon at about 3:00, the phone was ringing as we walked in the door.

I answered it, “hello.”

“Yes, is Andrew Watson there?”

“Yes, he is, just a moment please. Hey Andrew, it’s for you.”

Andrew took the phone, “hello. Yes of course I, wait. What? Yes, I know where that is. Of course, 9:00 works fine for me. No not at all, I don’t mind. Yes, I will see you then, thank you so much.”

Andrew hung up the phone with a huge smile.

I asked, “Andrew what was that all about?”

“Mike, I have a job interview tomorrow morning.”

“Really, where at?”

“Down at the Douglas Academy, that was Dave Hogan, he was my supervising teacher when I student taught. He told me that he was so mad when I wasn’t hired that he quit and he got the principal job at the Academy, he told his Superintendent about me, and I have to talk to him in the morning.”

“That is good news, what is the Douglas Academy?”

“It is a high school for kids that don’t fit in the public school, it was set up a few years ago for at risk kids. Mostly kids from broken homes that may need a little extra help.”

“That sounds like a lot of work Andrew, but I think it might be right up your alley, I know you will do well there.”

“Yes, I think it will be a challenge. I need to make sure my suit is pressed.”

The next morning, I wished Andrew well and headed into the office, I updated Chuck on my week, he gave me some follow up stories. I was working on my assignments, when just before noon my phone rang.

“Mike Jenkins.”

It was the receptionist, “Mike, there is an Andrew Watkins here to see you.”

“I will be right there.”

I walked out the office door and Andrew greeted me with the biggest smile, “I got it Mike, I am a teacher.”

I ran to him and gave him a hug and a big kiss, I remembered where I was and quickly turned to look at the receptionist. She quickly looked down at her desk and started typing.

Andrew asked, “can you go to lunch so we can celebrate?”

“I think so, let me go check with Chuck, come with me I want to introduce you to him.”

I knocked on Chuck’s door, “Chuck is it ok if I go to lunch?”

“Sure kid, don’t forget we have that meeting at 1:30.”

“Right, I remember. Chuck, I want you to meet someone.”

He looked up from his papers, “ok.”

“Chuck Hancock, this is Andrew Watson.”

Andrew stepped into the office and shook Chuck’s hand.

Chuck was a little stunned, “so you are Mike’s um er roommate?”

Andrew smiled, “yes sir.”

I said, “he doesn’t like to be called sir.” Then I turned to Chuck, “Andrew just got a job, we are going to lunch to celebrate.”

“Congratulations Andrew, have a good lunch and nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, Mr. Hancock.”

“See you at 1:30 Mike.”

Andrew and I ate our lunch as he told me all about his job. I asked, “Did he ask you about being gay?”

Andrew said, “Mr. Hogan told me that the only thing he was going to ask was if I was married and said to just answer that I wasn’t. I think he told Mr. Thomas, the superintendent, and they agreed that it would be better for all of us if we didn’t make an issue out of it. As long as no one askes about it, he and Mr. Thomas won’t say anything.”

“Well, I guess that works.”

“You aren’t upset, are you?”

“No Andrew, I just don’t want to feel like we are hiding our relationship.”

“Mike, I don’t want to hide it either and I won’t. It’s just better if we don’t advertise it, you know it doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

“I guess you are right, I am just happy you found your job and I know you will be a great teacher.”

I got back to office well before our meeting, I poked my head into Chuck’s office and asked, “do I need anything special for meeting.”

“Nope, just going to update everyone on upcoming stories.”

“Sounds good.”

“Hey Mike, so Andrew, how serious are you two?”

“Why do you ask, is my being gay a problem?”

“No, not at all. I just wasn’t expecting him to be um, well, er, black.”

I was getting a little bit upset, “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“Nothing Mike, it doesn’t mean anything, I am just worried that other people might not be as understanding. I mean there are a lot of small minded people in this world, people are just starting to get used to gay people, but the interracial thing is an added wrinkle.”

“Thanks for your concern, Chuck, but Andrew and I care for each other a lot. We been together for 4 years and have already heard all the comments and we have learned to ignore the stares.”

“Ok kid, I wasn’t trying to upset you, I guess my dad instincts kicked in for a minute. It really isn’t any of my business, you just do whatever makes you happy.”

“Thanks Chuck, I appreciate your concern, and I am happy.”