Ray's Big Idea

“Ray Norman” was a figure of affection and scorn, being our town's “bright idea” guy. He suggested my Dad dig a drainage ditch and line it with concrete perforated pipe to guide runoff water away from the house and out to the sewer. "Hell of an idea!" He also came up with a smart way to use half an aluminum anti-freeze can as a tool for serving up wall board “mud” right on the tape. "Genius!"

Ray couldn’t seem to get on top of his debt. Dad bought him more than a few dinners; helped sometimes with the rent. A couple of odd jobs, and a great heart, but he was simply unable to stem the leak in his pocket. People knew that in a tight spot Ray would be there first -- working after dark if the power went down. Calling the shots as a crew erected a new power pole. "Reliable Ray!" But dedicated as we all were to finding jobs for Ray; church collections and covert contributions, He just couldn’t catch up. It wasn’t a big scandal that several families, the church and the bank had been carrying Ray for years over a larger and larger balance-in-arrears.

One might have foreseen the outcome: One night at a Town Hall, Ray suggested we “pool our resources” and invest in a real estate scheme to buy up vacant land in advance of a fancied “development group” that had big plans for our future. Someone called the question: “Who shall we get to honcho this thing?” “Why, obviously, we should prevail upon Ray for that mission!” opined Vernon, the Banker. Still laughing, we all went home.

We never saw Ray again.

Ingenious, good hearted, public spirited even; but he couldn't handle money.