A conversation at the garage ...

[ThomWV]

Yep, another one of those stories.

Darrell was getting the front hub apart so the ate-up U-joint could be replaced and his old man, who hangs around a lot during the winter when there's nothing much else to do, was sitting over by the fire. School finally started back up today, after nearly two weeks of shut down because of the snow, so Darrell's two kids packed off about the same time his old lady left for work. The kids were back in an hour though, because there were bad water leaks in their classroom and something about the heating system. Oh, Darrell's garage - where he makes his living - is back behind the house; this mechanicin' of his, its very much a "home business".

So, Darrell's working on the truck, his old man and me are sitting around (as is another neighbor who is apparently there just to drink morning beer with good company) watching, and now and then one of the kids comes running in raising hell about this or that.

Darrell says something about the god dam school house caving in and his old man grunts something in reply. All his old man does is grunt, but he does so in an artful way and you always know where he stands. I say its just as well that they are home because they weren't going to learn anything in that shithouse school anyway, and the old man grunts again - but not such a favorable grunt this time. Darrell ignores his old man's grunt and correctly identifies the root problem when he says 'you're probably right, they haven't done anything with that school since you went there (nodding in the direction of his father) and they haven't got any money to pay anyone to come teach either so what do you expect?' Any nobody said nothing for a moment and that should have been it, but them I shot off my mouth.

I said, "Shit, what do you expect? Of course the school is shitty, of course there's no money to pay the teachers. Ain't nobody around here taxing anyone to pay for any of it" By god that got a grunt or two. Darrell's old man "farms" now days. All that means is that he finally paid for his place before the black lung got him and he got out of the mines before the roof fell on his head. Nice enough guy, strong as a bull and a mighty hard worker, thrifty his whole life and never once - and I mean not one single time - has he ever cheated on his taxes or tried to bend the system to his own benefit. You tell this guy he ain't payin' his fare share of taxes and he gets hot.

So the old man's grunts could not go unanswered. And I was getting hot too, so I'll just have to paraphrase the rest as best I can. What I said to him was this. Who in hell do you think I''m talking about? Its not you. Its not you with your 200 acres or Darrell here with this little shop or me down that dam road with my little hilltop. What pays for the schools in this county? You know, I know, we all know (I just said this to make sure everyone in the room actually did know where the money came from) its property taxes. Its that couple of dollars per acre we pay, you and me and Darrell, and everyone else up and down this road that's supposed to pay for the schools. And who own's all the land? It's ain't you. It ain't me. It sure as hell ain't Darrell over there - which brings two quick snorts along with a particularly snappy grunt. Think about it, who owns this county? Who owns all the land? Its the rich ass coal companies and the god dam timber companies, that's who own's this county. As a matter of fact that is a true statement. Indeed, commercial interests do own considerably more acreage in this county than private landowners do, with two companies accounting for most of the land ownership.

So then I said it. "Look, if the school house if a 50-year-old pig sty with the roof is falling in, and if the teachers you can afford to hire are the bottom of the barrel and this whole mess is paid for by property taxes and the rich own all the property, then just who is it that's keeping your kids stupid? Jezzeuschrist, anybody ought to be able to see what's goin' on here."

$125 to replace a front end U-Joint on and old 4-wheel drive truck. Service while you wait and back home before ten in the morning; and I could have had a cold beer too if I had wanted it. I love living out in the country.

[Champion Jack]

1. I thought teachers salaries were set by the state here in WV

[ThomWV]

2. Which means fewer of them ....

[michreject]

3. I'm confused.

Is this a short story or did it actually take place?

[ThomWV]

6. actually last friday ...

not this morning and I'm not absolutely sure it was the kid's first day back or how that worked - I really wasn't paying much attention when Darrel said how it was they came to be home other than something to do with the weather and the crappy building. I took some license with that and the grunts and snorts. There were, in truth, more snorts and they had clearer meaning than the much more common grunts. In fact some grunts were so insignificant that I left them out entirely.

Short story or did it take place? Now that's an odd question. Every short story is about something that took place and now can anything take place without a story? Stories are what the entire human species is about - despite what you may have heard, it is not the thumb or big brain that makes us what we are - it is our stories and the ability to tell them.

[madokie]

8. I may have gotten the day wrong

but you damn sure got that last part there right.
I'd rec again if I could

[madokie]

7. I think it took place just now,

like this morning.
rec to be sure

[ThomWV]

10. I have to make a full disclosure here - and let me tell you the trick I used - and confess

You did not ask the obvious question and you let me get away with a great old story teller's trick.

Here is the obvious question - what happened next? Do you think it ended there with me being the clever victor of the day, or is it possible the argument went further and another view prevailed, I just didn't tell you about it so that my high position might be upheld. Could be.

The trick was this, I gave you the impression that was the end of the story by sticking on that last line. The line only told you that the truck was successfully fixed, not that the argument successfully ended. I transposed one event for another in the time frame I allotted for the story.

And that does indeed answer your other question. Of course it was a short story. That is the style in which I like to write, and I do a lot of it just for practice. That is why I take pretty free license in relaying these stories, and no, there probably aren't three words quoted in it that were actually said exactly that way - its from memory and much stylizied too.

We good now?

[michreject]

11. We good nt

[Heidi]

4. Recommended.

:kick:

[MadHound]

5. Property taxes are one of the worst ways to fund our school system,

We are depending upon a supermajority (in most cases) of people to vote for repairing schools, paying a decent salary to the teachers, etc. There are generally just enough yahoos in the district who don't like schools, who don't like increased taxes, who don't have kids, who for whatever reason don't want to fund education to prevent a supermajority threshold.

We don't fund any other set of services this way in our society, not police, not fire, not health care. But we feel that it is best to do this for education? Insanity.

[madokie]

9. Had to do a search

Where Do Property Taxes Go? - Before calculating your Oklahoma property tax, a very common question is in reference to what is actually funded by property taxes. In Oklahoma, as in most states, property taxes are the primary funding ingredient for local governments and schools. Here is the breakdown by percentage:

* Schools - 59.22
* Tech Centers & Colleges - 12.76
* Cities & Towns - 11.43
* County - 9.49
* City/County Library - 4.74
* City/County Health - 2.36

Link: http://okc.about.com/od/apartmentsandrealestate/ht/okpropertytax.htm