Chapter 11 Jeb Clark
Mary-Jo awoke early, before her alarm clock had rung and got up, filled with excitement she shook Billy-Bob.
”Hey Billy, c-mon wake up now, we’re off tuh town this mornin an we needs to get all dressed up an prepared, don’t forget to get yourne best clothes on, comb yuh haya an brush yuh god-dam teeth.”
Getting up she looked out of their bedroom window, the sun had just risen and was sending its first fingers of light into the gloom of Malase in bright shafts of light that pierced in between the moss laden branches overhead. She pulled on her jeans and a tee shirt before walking into the kitchen to ‘fire up’ their stove and get the kettle boiling.
“Yuh wantin sum cawfee?”
Mary- Jo called out to Billy-Bob as she started to prepare breakfast.
“Yubb an make it strawng, my head isn’t good this mornin, Auh got’s me a powerful achin head an Auh am aboutas nervous as a long tail cat in a room full of rocking chairs about this meetin with them towns zonin folk.”
Billy-Bob shouted from his bedroom as he slowly swung his feet over the side of the bed then sat there holding his head in his hands. It was just gone seven twenty in the morning and low as the sun still was the heat was building already. As Mary-Jo busied herself preparing breakfast she shook Joshua and Zachary, her two sleeping boys had slept on the old sofa in their kitchen.
”C’mon boys you’d betta get up as quick as yo can, got to catch yuh bus in fordy minutes.”
Joshua turned over on the sofa with a grunt and went back to sleep. Zachary however was up like a shot; he raced into their bathroom and splashed some water over his face and scrubbed hard, then cleaned his teeth and combed his hair, straightening his crumpled shirt and jeans as he raced around. School was the most exciting part of his young life. As much as he liked living in Malase regularly going duck hunting, fishing or trapping with his neighbours and generally doing much as he liked, he enjoyed learning. His mind was like a sponge; soaking up all and everything he was taught. He was fascinated by science and would regularly disappear all day long on weekends or school holidays out on expeditions to collect stuff for some biology project or other. Astronomy was another of Zachary’s favorites’, although not taught at his elementary school he had persuaded Mary-Jo to take him to the library in Spicebridge, where he had borrowed book after book about the universe, its galaxies and how it all evolved. At night he would often point out the constellations and he knew all the planets and their places in the night’s sky. As Billy-Bob would say
“That boi went an got hisself all ourne family brains in one in that young head of his.”
Mary-Jo had just finished preparing the corn bread, grits, egg and bacon breakfast when Billy-Bob appeared from the bedroom rubbing his eyes and yawning, Zachary raced into the kitchen to sit down and eat while Joshua was still sound asleep on the sofa, so there would be no school for him again. Joshua was left to get up whenever he pleased and Ethan was left still sound asleep in his room. He wouldn’t surface until early afternoon then he would go and find someone to hang out with in Malase. The three of them ate in silence, Billy-Bob with his head thumping away, Mary-Jo thinking about the meeting in town later that morning and about what she would say and Zachary just attacked his food, ramming mouthful after mouthful down his throat as fast as he could.
“C’mon paw we gonna mis that bus again if you don’ get a hurry on.”
Zachary said, gulping back the remainder of his hot sweet coffee while Billy-Bob emptied his mug in one long gulp. Zachary jumped up and looked at the old clock on the sideboard,
“Paw C’mon, that bus’ll be there in 10 minutes an it don’t wait fuh nobody.”
Billy-Bob stood up from the table, checked his jeans pockets for his keys and followed Zachary out into the misty morning light, it was warm and clammy outside and the air was still. As was usual the drive into Lokcahppi was a fast ride because they always left Malase with just enough time to reach the bus stop.
“Youze goin to Spicebidge tu-day?”
Zachary asked as they sped along, dust flying in their wake.”
“Sure iz son an we gonna get ourneci-tifurcatean set up ourne brand new ali-ga-tor farm, for youze knows it we’ll be movin outa Malase.”
Billy-Bob was under the impression that all that was need to get his much wanted zoning approval and certificate was to hand over the letter that Mary-Jo had so carefully written and fill out a few forms. There might me some questions to answer but Cuzn Luke had prepared them both for that and before they knew it they would be leaving the town zoning office with the stamped and approved certificate and all would be done and dusted. They pulled up just as the last few children of Lokchapi were climbing aboard the school bus.
“Bye Paw.”
Zachary said as he jumped from the pick up, slamming the door behind him before racing to catch the bus, he jumped onto the bottom step just as the driver was reaching for the door close button. Billy-Bob swung his pickup round in a wide circle and headed off back down the road for Malase. The first mile and a half was on a smooth wide blacktop surface, but once he got to the out of the center of Lokchapi he turned off for Malase and the road turned into the narrow rutted, windy, dusty track that seemed to get worse each year. It was worse in the rains as they would slew and slide their way along its course. Head still thumping Billy-Bob pulled up outside his home, climbing out he heard a voice call out from his side.
“Hey Billy gonna ged yaw zonin done tuday, done bide off more than you cay-an chew mon ami, as yuh knows it ain’t yuh stompin ground an those towns folk’l make yuoze holla like a stuffed pig if yuh ain’t careful.”
It was Jean Leblanc who was sitting on his porch lacing his boots. Knowing of Billy-Bob and Mary-Jo’s plans he wanted to give Billy-Bob something to think about and maybe lower his expectations. As far as Jean was concerned anyone living in one of the smaller villages or outlaying areas of the parish were treated with a certain disdain by the towns folk of Spicebridge. The larger the town the more the people who lived there looked down upon the people who inhabited the countryside often ignoring their needs or wishes.
“Done forged it’s the smull peoble in places such as here in Malases, whether Cajun, Creole or Murkan who are the ones that gets no help with nothin, All Auh says is done get cawt with yuh pants down mon ami.”
Continued Jean leaning back in his chair stuffing his pipe with a dark thick tobacco.
“Well thanks Jean, I’m gonna take it nice’n easy an Cuzn Luke has told Mary-Jo what to write an what to be a sayin, but thanks anyhow we’ll take cares an cain’t never could.”
He raised his hands in thanks as he walked up the steps to his porch and into his home. Mary-Jo was scuttling around like a mother hen.
“C’mom Billy-Bob get yuh’sel all dressed up an clean up them durdy ol boots.”
She said looking down at his clumpy, old leather boots that had not seen polish since they were new, and this morning they carried a fresh layer of brown dust. She disappeared into their bedroom while Billy-Bob busied himself making another strong coffee. In a few moments she reappeared at the kitchen door.
” Am Auh lookin fine Billy-Bob?
She enquired, straightening here best dress out and looking down at her one pair of shoes.
“It ain’t too sho-wat is it Billy-Bob?”
Billy-Bbb- turned from the stove and looked at her.
“Well youze a lookin mighty fine in that ol purdy dress, jess let me finish this cawfee an I’ll get me all ready.”
Mary-Jo blushed slightly at this unusual praise from Billy-Bob and hurried back into their bedroom to do her hair. As she sat at her mirror brushing her long black hair she looked out of their window at two piglets chasing each other round and round in circles. They squeaked and squealed as their game progressed, then they both ran off together in the direction of the Leblancs home. ‘Oh what a carefree life they have’, she thought to herself, ‘no worryin about life’s ups and downs, no worrying about having to get all dressed up and go into town and talk all fancy, just running around, playing, eating and sleeping.’
By the time Billy-Bob had changed into his best pair of jeans, brushed the dust off of his boots and pulled on a clean tee-shirt Mary-Jo was sitting outside in the pick-up waiting. She honked the horn twice, and leaning out the window called out.
”Billy, we gonna be late for ourne meetin.”
Just as she finished the sentence Billy-Bob appeared at their door, in two leaps he was down the stairs and running over to her, he leaped aboard, started the engine and reversed around in a semi circle. Shifting into drive they drove off slowly out of Malase, chickens and pigs scattering as they went. They waved to Francine Bergeron who was round the side of her home collecting eggs from her errant chickens, her chickens deposited their eggs here and there as they saw fit. Billy-Bob picked up speed once they had passed the last shack and headed for Spicebridge. It was now twenty minutes before nine and they had to drive to Spicebridge, park, and get to the town zoning offices for nine o’clock. It would be a close run thing so Billy-Bob with Mary-Jo’s encouragement put his foot down hard and sped through the countryside at an alarming pace.
With a minute to spare the two of them walked rather nervously up the imposing stone steps and into the cool reception area. The heat outside was already in the low eighties Billy-Bob had got a fair sweat on as was evident by the dark patches under his arms and down his back. They walked up to the large dark shiny wooden reception desk and stood in line behind two other people. As they waited office workers scurried in from the morning heat and headed either up a wide stone staircase or off in opposite directions from reception down long highly polished stone floored corridors. After a minute waiting it was their turn and Mary-Jo handed over her neatly written letter and asked for the Town Zoning Department.
“Jus waid one moment, Auh’l jus ring em up an see if sumun’ll come down an meet yuh.”
Said the attractive young Creole woman who was sitting behind the reception desk. She picked up the phone receiver off of her desk and dialled a four digit number, Billy-Bob fidgeted awkwardly, looking around feeling completely out of place, Mary-Jo smiled and waited for a reply.
“Missuh Clarke there’s two folks down heya, wantin to see yuh, is a….., jus a moment please.” Continued the receptionist as she reread the first line of the letter that Mary-Jo had handed to her. “Issuh Misstuh’n missus Johnson.”
She paused briefly then continued,
”OK misstuh Clarke I’ll tell them.”
She hung up the receiver and smiling at the awkward looking couple asked them to take a seat and told them that a Mr. Clarke would be down in a few minutes to meet them. They went and sat on a comfy leather sofa by a large draped window overlooking the town square. Mary-Jo watched the towns’ folk all scurrying around, they always seemed in such a hurry going about their towns folk business, Billy-Bob sat staring at his large clumpy boots wishing he was anywhere but where they were right now. As they sat patiently waiting people entered and left the building, some going to reception where they waited briefly, after a moment they were met by someone or other who escorted them off into the depths of the building, others headed either straight up the wide stone staircase or left or right down the long corridors. Small groups of people would appear at reception, deep in conversation then disperse, some leaving the building and others returning to where they had come from within the building. ‘It was a very busy office’, Mary-Jo thought, not somewhere where she could spend anytime more than she had to. The few minutes turned into ten, then fifteen then twenty.
“Yuh think we should be askin to see that Mr. Clarke again, we bin waitin mighty long now.”
Billy-Bob said with frustration as he glanced up at the large clock that hung on the wall behind the reception desk.
“Just wait some more Billy-Bob, he’ll be done soon I’m sure.”
Replied Mary-Jo. Another ten minutes passed and Billy-Bob stood up.
“Auh ain’t waitin no more, this just isn’t right.”
He said as he stormed off across the lobby to the reception desk with Mary-Jo hot on his heels. Just as they were approaching the desk a tall smartly suited man walked up and spoke to the receptionist, she pointed towards the approaching Billy-Bob and Mary-Jo and he turned to see the pair of them advancing on him. He held out his hand.
” Mr and Mrs Johnson, Mr Clarke, pleased to meet you both, I hear you’re wantin to speak with me on some zoning matters.”
Billy-Bob was taken slightly off guard, accepting the neatly manicured hand held out in front of him he shook it and replied.
“Urmm… yes sir we both wantin tuh get a zoninci-tifurcatean we is hear to fill in the forms…., urrmm .. , ere…, this here is Mary-Jo.”
He continued in a very self conscious manner. He was trying his best to be polite and talk well and put himself on the same level as Mr. Clarke, but Billy-Bob stammered and fidgeted in his boots, his social skills were not all that polished, he was there in this fancy office dressed in baggy jeans and big old boots, wearing an out of shape Tee shirt and was feeling more ill at ease by the minute.
Mr. Clarke turned to Mary-Jo and held out his hand.
“Mrs. Johnson.”
Mary-Jo took the out stretched hand and shook it briefly and replied in her best voice,.
”Good morning Mr. Clarke very pleasant to meet you this fine morning.”
“Aw the pleasure is all mine, please do come this way.”
Mr Clarke continued, leading them off down the corridor to the left. Billy-Bobs big old boots clumped along the stone corridor, with Mary-Jo tottering along besides him in her one and only pair of shoes that had very high heels. They looked a strange couple and did receive the odd sideway’s glance from some of the passing office employees as they made their way along the long corridor in the wake of Mr. Clarke. They were ushered into a large office with a long wooden desk situated by the window. There were two other angled desks running along one wall that they could see and they were covered in what looked like maps and plans, and another wall was shelved from floor to ceiling and filled with folders and books. They both took up the two seats offered at the main desk by the window and Mr Clarke took up his seat opposite them with his back to the window.
“Now let me see.”
He said as he unfolded the letter that Mary-Jo had handed to the receptionist; he placed a pair of horn rimmed glasses on his nose and started to read.
Mr Clarke or Jeb to his colleagues was the acting manager of the zoning department for the parish of Evangeline. He had recently been promoted after his boss had taken ‘early retirement’. Nobody within the department knew the whole story, but it was common knowledge that he was asked to go and go quietly with the enticement of a tidy golden handshake.
His department was part of the local Parish government of Evangeline and they in their turn took direction from Baton Rouge, the state capital. The main offices for the local government of Evangeline were located at Ville Platte but the zoning department, finance, the environment and welfare were all located in the satellite office in Spicebridege. This was a very convenient arrangement for Mr. Clarke because he only lived five miles out of town to the north, and being a satellite office the working atmosphere was more relaxed, and more importantly for him there was less oversight. He was pretty well left to his own devices when it came to any Parish zoning affairs. There were committees that scrutinised his departments work and also statutory requirements both State and Federal that he had to adhere to, but being a wily man who had worked within the department for nearly twenty five years he knew every deceitful underhand trick in the book.
He knew how to apply or not local, state or federal development rules and policies. He knew how to bend the rules, miss out information from reports or support and supply completely misleading information. This was to either gain approval or refusal of a zoning application as he saw fit or dependent upon who the interested party was and what outcome they wanted.
He was an inferior manager who was not that well developed in leading a team of people, he was a poor professional role model for his junior colleagues and he was known within his department for not adhering to procedures or delivering his official role in a professional manner. This lack of professional and personal moral discipline had had an insidious effect upon his team and the work that they delivered for their parish. Zoning decisions were inconsistent, would regularly not be in compliance with published local, state and federal policies and often were based upon inaccurate and unreasonable information. His team would openly lie to the public if challenged and they all took it as common practices to ignore policy or misrepresent any information to achieve the outcome they desired.
As a man he was spineless and hid himself behind his position of power within Evangeline’s Parish bureaucracy. If he had been an animal he would have been a toad, cold blooded, slimy, hiding away his habits in dark places, working in the gloom of his own deceit whilst dishonoring the name of local government. His department had the reputation not only within his parish but also within he surrounding parishes as being corrupt, although nobody had ever proven anything, its operation and decision making process was clearly dysfunctional and its management incompetent. He always thought of himself as an intelligent man who did a good job, his mind obscuring the details of any maladministration that he delivered. He had become very friendly with the majority of the major developers and construction companies not only within Evangeline but again in the surrounding parishes, and could often be seen out with his wife in Ville Platte at some fancy restaurant, being wined and dined upon a developer’s expense account. He had an air of superiority and swagger that was the shield he used to disguise his parasitic nature.
After he had finished reading the letter he rather condescendingly pointed out some spelling mistakes and poor use of grammar much to Mary-Jo’s embarrassment.
“Well I can see what you want and apart from the obvious mistakes you have made the basis of your application seems reasonable and viable. Now let’s get the two appropriate forms filled out and then all we need is the payment of the application fee and that will be that.”
Mr. Clarke opened a drawer and withdrew two different forms.
”The first one is your actual application and the second is a proof of land ownership.”
He said.
Within fifteen minutes the forms had been filled out with all the details being supplied by Mary-Jo, Billy-Bob sat silently waiting for the meeting to end, he breathed a sigh of relief when Mr. Clarke handed over the two forms and asked him to sign and date both of them. That done Mr. Clarke rose up from his chair and held out his hand.
”A pleasure to help you both Mr. and Mrs. Johnson.””
He lied.
”Now if you would like to take these forms along the corridor to the office marked administration they will take your payment. Billy-Bob and Mary- Jo both shook his hand and thanked him for all his help. Mary-Jo gathered up the two forms and her letter from the desk and turned to leave.
“When can we be spectin ourci-tifurcate?”
Billy-Bob asked before he walked out the office.
“Oh in about four weeks I would think.”
Replied Mr. Clarke, inwardly laughing to himself. ‘How in hells name do these two hicks think that they will ever get approval’, for one as far as he knew they have no current farm operating in Lokchapi that would allow for expansion and secondly the area of lake shore that they proposed to site their farm was within the boundary of the protected Lake Cavelierr State Park of Lousianna. Also the track leading to it ran through the historic and protected conservation area of Lokchapi. ‘Well at least that’s two hundred dollars for the Parish that I don’t need to do any work for’, he thought as they closed the door.
‘Oh what a tedious start to the day’, he continued thinking as he prepared for the first scheduled meeting a ten thirty; it was with William and Charles Herbert the wealthiest developers in the parish and probably for one hundred miles around. They had brought two large plots of land at rock bottom prices just outside of Ville Platte and wanted to build two very large residential housing developments. Both of the locations were wetlands that were prone to flooding but Jeb Clarke could see an angle and wanted some of the action.
Billy-Bob and Mary-Jo hugged each other outside Mr Clarke’s office, Billy-Bob lifted Mary-Jo clean off of the stone floor and twirled her round before setting her down again beside him. They then held hands and did a Cajun one step dance along the corridor, both with a one legged slight bob-bob-bobbing up and down limp type style to their dance as they bobbed and twirled all the way along the corridor up to the door of the administration office past wide eyed office workers, they stopped, knocked politely and walked in.
“We iz hear tuh pay e our money fuh ourci-tifurcate.”
Billy-Bob said proudly as he approached another large wooded desk. Seated behind it was a small dark haired woman who was on the phone as they walked up to her,.
“Yez I Sees….,yuh oh-kay…., yuh…., yuh fuh showa oh-kay Jeb.”
She finishd her conversation, hung up the telephone and looked up at the couple in front of her.
“Good monin can I haf yourne forms an ledder please?”
She said holding out her hand.
Mary-Jo smiled broadly, handed over her paperwork and waited patiently as the forms were read.
“Urm we-el thad’l be two hunnard dollurs please.”
The seated woman requested holding out her hand to Bill-Bob and Mary-Jo.
Billy-Bob rummaged through the pockets of his jeans before proudly bringing out a wad of ten dollar bills. He counted them out slowly onto the desk
“one hunnard an ninedy.. two hunnard, now that is all paid fuh, what is we needin to do now?…., an how long we be a waitin?”
He enquired.
“Oh thas it now, youze be not-if-ied in about two weeks…maybe fowa weeks.”
Came the lackadaisical reply.
“Thank yuh mizz, we is so happy.”
Mary-Jo giggled as she jumped up and down clapping her hands together.
“Fact iz we is as happy as a baby in a barrel of tits.”
Continued Billy-Bob as they turned to leave.
Mary-Jo scolded him with her eyes, firing him a look that could kill a horse at a hundred yards. They had done so well in keeping all proper and fancy and Billy -Bob was letting her down.
When they were both back outside the office and had closed the door she pulled Billy-Bobs head down by his ear to her mouth and said in a menacing whisper.
”Billly-Bob why you havin tuh open yourne mouth, she must be thinking youze is sum loudmouth fucker who learned tuh whisper in a sawmill an that Auh is lower than snail shit………, why you didn’t even notice how she scowled at yuh, you dumb fuck.”
With that last comment rattling around in his head she let go of his ear and Billy-Bob righted his head and rubbed at his ear. That had certainly taken the happiness out of the occasion and they walked silently back along the shiny stone floored corridor, on past reception and out into the hot sunlit morning.
Back in the depths of the administration office the dark haired administrator was carrying out her boss’s orders and was scribbling some notes upon the Johnson’s development application form and covering letter. She wrote ‘Refuse, 1. Access problems’, ‘2. State Park Protections’, and finally, ‘3 No current business usage’, upon both documents and then attached them together with a paper clip. Leaning over to her side she then deposited the sheaf of paper in the tray ready for processing, she had four trays to decide from, new applications, appeals, committee and refusal. It should have gone into the new applications tray and been process and administered with care and compliance with procedure and policy, but based upon the call from her boss, Jeb Clarke, it was deposited immediately in the refusal tray. In one swift movement Billy-Bob and Mary-Jo’s hopes and dreams had been crushed. Little did they know as they walked down the stone steps of the Town Hall offices into the morning’s heat that they were being deceived by Mr. Clarke. Procedure would be seen to be followed, a development notice would be posted on the track to the site and a notice put in the local newspaper but from an administrative point of view the decision had already been taken. They had just wasted two hundred dollars and would spend the next few weeks in a happy blissful state of ignorance, planning their future that would be until the refusal letter would be placed in their post box on the outskirts of Malase.
I hope you enjoy your reading. It is available on Kindle and a free copy can be borrowed for download at https://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Blue-Heron-Howard-Moore-ebook/dp/B00KK6BWLK..
Howard Moore
