Jim Henson, his wife Annis and I traveled over the mountain, down the river to Roseburg and up to Umpqua Community College for the 2010 Wine-Art-Music Festival over the 11 and 12 of Sept. to see if we could sell a few of our books. It was a kind of homecoming for Jim as his book Pee Up A Tree takes place in the Umpqua Valley of the early 1970's. I met several of his friends who populated the pages of the book. Even saw the end of one of the canoes that he mentioned their making.
The Umpqua Community College is a beautiful campus and we learned from a former Vice President who stopped by our booth that it was named last year as the 14th ranked community college in the United States, and the only Oregon community college to make the rankings. The fellow, whose name I didn't write down, proved the adage that it is truly a small world. He talked to Jim for a short time and then his eyes fell on the cover of my book, The Ruin. He seemed a little near sighted as he picked the book up and examined it up close and read a little of the Clarion Review on the back. He looked at me and said, "I taught at Cortez at MCHS. Turns out he was an Ag. teacher there in the early '70's. He knew farmers all over Summit Ridge where my book took place, Mancos, Dolores, and Mesa Verde. Small World.
I sold a number of books but the most interesting one of all was to the daughter of the couple who had the booth next door. They sold wooden pens and wine bottle stoppers turned from exotic woods. The daughter, Savannah acted about 6 or so in her politeness and helpfulness in the booth. She was attracted to the portable climbing wall. The thing must have been about two stories tall and the first day her dad said she climbed it seven times. The highest she got was about a third of the way up. In the afternoon she came over and asked me how much my book was. I told her the price. She asked was I sure? She went back and had a conference with her mom. She came back and dug all of her money out of her pocket and put it on the table. Two quarters, a dime, a nickel, and two pennies. I asked her if that was all the money she had. She shook her head yes. So does that mean if you buy this book you can't buy any ice-cream or anything? She didn't seem to be concerned about that. She really wanted that book. I told her that I really couldn't take all of her money. But I said, how about I trade you for a pen and a promise from your mother that she will read the book to you? Her face lit up and she shook her head yes. I said she had better go ask about that. She ran and asked her mom and came right back and asked what pen did I want. My book at the show was priced at $15.50 and their pens ranged from 12.50 to 18.00. I told her it had to be the one that was her favorite. She went back to talk to her dad. Between them they selected one that they thought would be special and a little unusual and it was. He explained that it was a Civil War commemorative pen. The pocket clasp is shaped like a civil war rifle, the point is shaped like a rifle bullet, and the top end is shaped like a pistol bullet. The barrel is short and looks like walnut. Savannah thought it was very special. I had asked if Savannah was named after the famous city of the South. (Now I was pretty sure that this pen was an appropriate choice even though at that moment I didn't realize just how appropriate if one things of the determination of the Southern effort in the Civil War.) And her mom promised to read the book to her. I explained to both parents that the first part of the book was not appropriate for her yet, but that if they read the book first they would see where to begin reading to her. They promised to do that. Sunday morning when we began the day, Mom said she had started reading the book the night before.
On Sunday Savannah began climbing the climbing wall with renewed determination. By the end of the day she had climbed clear to the top. I had watched several teen aged boys who had not made it. A couple of them had made it half way and the young man running the concession had had to help them back down. All of the climbers were in harnesses and were tethered by rope so they couldn't fall.
I think it was during the second day that Savannah, her mom and dad came to the Festival wearing their Team Savannah t-shirts for last year's American Diabetes Association StepOut Walk to Fight Diabetes. They were getting ready to participate in the Eugene, Oregon Oct. 9, 2010, event. Her mom told us Savannah was 5 and had been living with type 1 diabetes all her life.
She was one determined little girl. She had determined to climb the wall and in two days had done what a steady stream of boys and girls of all ages had not. She gave her best each try got back at the end of the line and tried again until she made it to the top and wasn't ready to stop when the day was over. She wanted a book, something that would last for a while, instead of an ice-cream that would be gone in a few moments. Her mom said she wanted to learn to whistle and she kept at it until she had mastered it. You have to admire that kind of spirit.
Respectfully
Kenneth Fenter
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