It took almost a month to get things goin—makin the shack nice an fixin up the rowboats an the duckboards in the marsh an layin the mesh nets aroun one of them ponds. Finally the day come when we is ready to put in some srimp. I have bought a srimp net an me an Sue went on out in the rowboat an dragged it aroun for most of the day. By that night, we had probly fifty pounds of srimp in the bait well an we rowed up an dumped em into the pond. They be crackin an swimmin aroun an dancin on top of the water. My, my, it was a lovely site.
Nex mornin we got us five hundrit pounds of cottonseed meal an thowed a hundrit pounds of it in the pond for the srimp to eat an the nex afternoon we set about nettin-in another pond. We done that all summer an all fall an all winter an all spring an by that time we has got four ponds operatin an everthin is lookin rosy. At night I would set out on the porch of the shack an play my harmonica an on Saturday night I would go into town an buy a six-pack of beer an me an Sue would get drunk. I finally feel like I belong someplace, an am doin a honest day’s work, an I figger that when we get the first srimp harvested an sold, maybe then it will be all right to try to find Jenny again, an see if she is still mad at me.
25
It was a very nice day in June when we figgered it was time to start our first srimp harvest. Me an Sue got up with the sun an went down to the pond an dragged a net acrost it till it got stuck on somethin. Sue tried to pull it loose first, then I tried, then we tried together till we finally figgered out the net wadn’t stuck—it was jus so full of srimp we couldn’t move it!
By that evenin we had pulled in about three hundrit pouns of srimp, an we spent the night sortin em out in various sizes. Nex mornin we put the srimp in baskets an took em down to our little rowboat. They weighed so much we damn near tumped over on the way up to Bayou La Batre.
They was a seafood packin house there an Sue an me hauled the srimp from the dock to the weighin room. After everthin is toted up, we got ourselfs a check for eight hundrit, sixty-five dollars! It is about the first honest money I ever made since I played harmonica for The Cracked Eggs.
Ever day for nearly two weeks Sue an me harvested srimp an brought em in to the packin house. When it was finally over, we had made a total of nine thousand, seven hundrit dollars an twenty-six cents. The srimp bidness was a success!
Well, let me tell you—it were a happy occasion. We took up a bushel basket of srimp to Bubba’s daddy an he was real happy an say he is proud of us an that he wished Bubba were there too. Then me an Sue caught the bus up to Mobile to celebrate. First thing I done was gone to see my mama at the roomin house, an when I tole her about the money an all, sure enough, she be cloudin up again. “Oh, Forrest,” she say, “I am so proud of you—doin so good an all for bein retarded.”
Anyhow, I tole Mama about my plan, which was that nex year we was gonna have three times as many srimp ponds, an that we needed somebody to watch over the money an look after our expenses an all, an I axed if she would do that.
“You mean I gotta move all the way down to Bayou La Batre?” Mama say. “Ain’t nothin goin on down there. What am I gonna do with mysef?”
“Count money,” I says.
After that, me an Sue went downtown an got ourselfs a big meal. I gone down to the docks an bought Sue a big bunch of bananas, an then went an got mysef the biggest steak dinner I could find, with mashed potatoes an green peas an everthin. Then I decided to go drink me a beer someplace an jus as I am walkin by this dark ole saloon near the waterfront, I hear all this loud cussin an shoutin an even after all these years, I knowed that voice. I stuck my head in the door, an sure enough, it were ole Curtis from the University!
Curtis were very happy to see me, callin me a asshole an a cocksucker an a motherfucker an everthin else nice he could think of. As it turns out, Curtis had gone on to play pro football with the Washington Redskins after he lef the University, an then he done got put on waivers after bitin the team owner’s wife on the ass at a party. He played for a couple of other teams for a few years, but after that he got hissef a job on the docks as a longshoreman which, he say, was suitable for the amount of education he got at the University.
Anyway, Curtis bought me a couple of beers an we talked about ole times. The Snake, he say, had played quarterback for the Green Bay Packers till he got caught drinkin a entire quart of Polish vodka durin halftime in the Minnesota Vikings game. Then Snake went an played for the New Yawk Giants till he called a Statue-of-Liberty play in the third quarter of the Rams game. The Giants’ coach say ain’t nobody used a Statue-of-Liberty play in pro ball since nineteen hundrit thirty-one, an that Snake ain’t got no bidness callin one now. But actually, Curtis say, it wadn’t no Statue-of-Liberty play at all. The truth, accordin to Curtis, was that Snake was so spaced out on dope that when he faded back for a pass he done completely forgot to thow the ball, an the lef end jus happen to see what is goin on, an run aroun behin him an take the ball away. Anyhow, Curtis say the Snake is now assistant coach for a tinymight team someplace in Georgia.
After a couple of beers, I got a idea, an tole Curtis about it.
“How’d you like to come work for me?” I axed.
Curtis be cussin an hollerin but after a minute or two I figger out he is tryin to axe me what I want him to do, so I tole him about the srimp bidness an that we was gonna expand our operation. He cuss an holler some more, but the gist of what he is sayin is “yes.”
So all thru that summer an fall an the next spring we be workin hard, me an Sue an Mama an Curtis—an I even had a job for Bubba’s daddy. That year we made nearly thirty thousan dollars an are gettin bigger all the time. Things couldn’t of been goin better—Mama ain’t bawlin hardly at all, an one day we even seen Curtis smile once— altho he stopped an started cussin again soon as he saw us watchin. For me, tho, it ain’t quite as happy as it might be, cause I am thinkin a lot about Jenny an what has become of her.
One day, I jus decided to do somethin bout it. It was a Sunday, an I got dressed up an caught the bus up to Mobile an went over to Jenny’s mama’s house. She was settin inside, watchin tv, when I knocked on the door.
When I tole her who I was, she say, “Forrest Gump! I jus can’t believe it. C’mon in!”
Well, we set there a wile an she axed bout Mama an what I’d been doin an everthin, an finally I axed about Jenny.
“Oh, I really don’t hear from her much these days,” Mrs. Curran say. “I think they livin someplace in North Carolina.”
“She got a roomate or somethin?” I axed.
“Oh, didn’t you know, Forrest?” she say. “Jenny got married.”
“Married?” I say.
“It was a couple of years ago. She’d been livin in Indiana. Then she went to Washington an nex thing I knew, I got a postcard sayin she was married, an they was movin to North Carolina or someplace. You want me to tell her anythin if I hear from her?”
“No’m,” I says, “not really. Maybe jus tell her I wish her good luck an all.”
“I sure will,” Mrs. Curran say, “an I’m so glad you came by.”
I dunno, I reckon I ought to of been ready for that news, but I wadn’t.
I could feel my heart poundin, an my hans got cold an damp an all I coud think of was goin someplace an curlin up into a ball the way I had that time after Bubba got kilt, an so that’s what I did. I foun some shrubs in back of somebody’s yard an I crawled under there an jus got mysef into a ball. I think I even commenced to suck my thumb, which I ain’t done in a long wile since my mama always said it was a sure sign that somebody’s a idiot, unless they are a baby. Anyhow, I don’t know how long I stayed there. It was most of a day an a haf I guess.
I didn’t feel no blame for Jenny, she done what she had to. After all, I am a idiot, an wile a lot of people
