RABBIT AND JOE
Rabbit and Joe were BrothersSons of one ungrateful FatherNo doubt they loved each OtherUnlike the Love of a Daughter-PeeCee/2020
Rabbit and Joe were Brothers
Sons of one ungrateful Father
No doubt they loved each Other
Unlike the Love of a Daughter
-PeeCee/2020
My first summer of 1959 in Bootville after relocating from the Migrant Camp Angola was a time of great changes for my family. Me and my brothers adjusted quickly and settled in. Money was tight because now my parents were paying rent on top of putting food on the table for three growing kids. My father drove a tractor for South Lake Farms and made decent money for those times but his habit of playing ‘Big Shot’ and paying for drinks for all the neighborhood winos often left my mama short on the monthly bills.
One thing that bugged me was that on Friday Payday he never made it home until around 8 pm because his priority was the local watering hole and not his family. Mama would be pacing waiting for him so she could pay rent and buy groceries. In my nine-year-old mind he was a patsy for the local winos…especially Slick Willie who was the human embodiment of Tooter the Turtle…all that was missing was his shell. Whenever I saw him coming on payday I would warn Mama so she could attempt to get rid of him.
We had TV for entertainment but not much in the way of toys dolls etc. so as many kids did we improvised with whatever we could find. My brothers were age Seven and Four and still very into their toys. One day Shorty and Steverino who would be going to Kindergarten in the Fall were crawling around exploring under the house and found a new rubber rabbit that they squabbled over. Of course Shorty being the oldest took possession of it. I watched them through the window as Shorty cleaned up the toy by washing it off with the water hose.
Soon they were acting out scenarios with the rubber rabbit.
“I ain’t got no toy to use.” Steverino pouted.
“You can be Joe who is invisible.” Shorty convinced him.
Steverino thought about it for a second and decided he could do it.
Joe is what everyone called my father and in the future ‘Hey Joe’ would become Steverino’s favorite Hendrix song to play on his guitar…foreshadowing I believe.
I watched through the window as my two brothers acted out skits that surprisingly had a lot to do with the changes happening in our lives. They changed their voices to sound like cartoons. Rabbit of course was always in charge just like Shorty. But, Joe was kinda supernatural and could do fantastic things because he was invisible. Steverino just used his hand pretending to hold a toy in it.
I spent many a day watching their skits unbeknownst to them…it was hilarious. Though their Rabbit productions were funny I preferred the story of Brer Rabbit a trickster figure who originated in African Folklore and was transmitted by African Slaves to the New World. I had seen him on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World and immediately identified with Brer’s Flava and Trickery that was a damn smart rabbit! Bugs Bunny could not hold a candle to him.
Once my father and Mama split the theme of Rabbit and Joe’s skits changed to one of anger. On some level I attributed that anger to the departure of my father as they were close to him. I could not help because I was happy to see him leave and left my brothers to work out their feelings in their skits which they did. I was quite disturbed when one day Rabbit said it was all my mama’s fault and Invisible Joe agreed with him…that did not sit well with me but I said nothing to them. That subliminal dynamic stayed with them.
Looking back on those days I can see clearly how Rabbit and Joe defined and developed the character of my two brothers. It was apparent Shorty was brainy and controlling and Steverino was the one who walked to the beat of a different drummer, imaginative, and musically talented.
Steverino is no longer in this realm and I miss him every single day; his corny jokes and his dead on impressions of folks. He was an awesome Guitarist who was invited to appear on the talent show The Voice based on a song we co-wrote entitled ‘Just Like Jimi’ his Hero. He turned it down due to having a shunt in his right wrist which impaired his playing.
We were close knit growing up but as teenagers we fought and teased each other a lot. I was nicknamed the ‘Black Twiggy’ by them but could shut them down with three words; Rabbit and Joe. They under no circumstances wanted any of their peers to know about that and it worked excellent for leverage when I needed their help or wanted them to do something.
*Me & Black Sambo- From a collection of short stories:
Growing Up Colored In California’s Central San Joaquin Valley: Circa 1950's-60's
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