In the early nineteen seventies my brother Richard and I worked construction around Alexandria, Indiana. I lived in Tipton and he was still living at home in Cicero, Indiana so he caught a ride with me to work. Richard saw Ted first. I was busy trying to see the road headed west in the bright afternoon sun.
The first thing we noticed was his ears. They stuck out from his head like the caricature on the cover in Mad Magazine. He had a peculiar gate to his walk that told of the many miles he traveled. He was extremely thin, almost emaciated. His clothes hung on him and he resembled someone with consumption (Cancer). Ted didn’t talk much except to say hey and thanks for the ride.
We entered Tipton and stopped at my place. Richard invited Ted to go on with him. Richard took the long way home so Ted could catch a ride on highway thirty-one. On the way Ted opened up a little. He had a place in Arkansas but led the hobo life in the summer and early fall as he followed the crops north. Ted was a migrant worker. He was also down on his luck. He confided in Richard that he hadn’t eaten for three days. He was also a proud man. He didn’t panhandle; he just told it like it was.
Richard couldn’t just let him out and say, “Have a nice life!”
Richard insisted that Ted come on home and eat with the family. Mom had a pot of vegetable soup on the stove and they all sat down to eat. After the prayer around our house it was eat first and ask questions later! They intended for Ted to eat up and get seconds or thirds, after all he hadn’t eaten for days. Instead he took one small bowl and savored every bite. He just nibbled on the crackers and washed it down with water. He had been there before. He knew that if he overate he would probably lose it later. He had to start in eating again slowly. He was no stranger to extreme hunger.
After dinner Ted excused himself and went outside. Richard followed. He and Ted talked while Ted took out a pouch of tobacco and papers and proceeded to roll a cigarette. The way he held his head and focused his eyes gave Richard the impression that Ted couldn’t see well up close.
As they talked Richard found out that Ted wasn’t quite old enough for social security yet but couldn’t find work in Arkansas so he traveled north every year with the crops. My brother got the impression that Ted couldn’t read or write and that contributed to his plight. He was a prime candidate for exploitation but that wouldn’t happen around our house.
Dad had many projects started that never seemed to get done so he offered Ted the opportunity to earn his keep. Ted jumped at the chance. He was a proud man and wouldn’t accept a handout. Dad put him to work digging a finger for our septic system. After he instructed Ted what to do he handed Ted a shovel and a pick. Ted immediately went to work and dad went back to his own toils. A while later mom came to dad’s shop with a glass of ice water and insisted he take it out to Ted and stand there and talk to him. She had been watching him out her window and he was working so hard that she feared for his safety. Dad obliged and Ted was saved from his own exuberance. It was ironic that he was digging a finger system for indoor plumbing because he never used the facility the entire time he stayed. He always went out in the woods behind the house when nature called. He probably didn’t have indoor plumbing at home.
In a few days Ted moved on and things got back to normal. That would be the end to the story but the following year Mom and Dad were headed down highway thirty-one to a birthday party for a niece when they saw the two ears attached to a walking skeleton.
“Is that Ted?” Mom asked Dad as they drove by.
“It sure looks like him,” Dad replied.
They turned around and went by again and stopped. It was Ted. He got to go to a birthday party that afternoon.
That same year mom noticed Ted’s coat seemed very ragged and his shoe soles were worn through. Mom and her mom took it upon themselves to get Ted some new shoes and a coat. While they were buying they found a duffel bag that they thought Ted needed. Being the southern gentleman he was he graciously but reluctantly accepted the well intentioned gifts. The two women didn’t realize that in Ted’s world they had just made him a wealthy man and an easy mark for any jealous or desperate drifter. His very life could be in danger. As soon as he could Ted scuffed the shoes and dirtied the coat and ditched the bag. The following year when they asked about the bag he hung his head in embarrassment and told the reason that he didn’t have the bag.
Ted returned every fall for a few years but when he was eligible for social security he quite traveling. Time passed and Ted became a family legend until one day a letter arrived from Ted’s family thanking his Indiana family for their Hoosier Hospitality and to inform us of Ted’s passing. Dad still has that letter in his possession as a reminder of Matthew 25:40.
The King will reply, “I tell you the truth whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”NIV
