Literature
Harris
My father had a lot of brothers. There was Hill,
Roy, Harris, and Harris' twin, who died when he was young. Possibly, the all
time favorite was Harris, Daddy's younger brother, who also represented a
true mystique for us. He had gone "up north" to work in the high-paying
automotive industry, where he resided for most of my memory of him. He was
the only one who always seemed to have money, nice clothes, a good car,
and a different girl friend that he would bring with him (to the great
dismay of my mother). I heard whispers that he may actually be sleeping
with these women on occasion. Harris never married.
Harris' reputation for partying was legendary and on his visits, which
occurred a few times a year, he always managed to visit the local honky
tonks, occasionally winding up in fights in the clubs. It seems that all of his friends had hilarious names such as
"One-yard Lynch" and "Rough House Morgan". The origin of Rough House's
name is pretty obvious, but only recently did it occur to me that the
"one- yard" was probably referring to a part of Lynch's anatomy.
Harris was a wonderful uncle and all of his nephews love him partly
because he always had wise words for us, special sayings, and rewards to
offer us, but also because he represented some kind of special
achievement. To us he was big, brave, strong, and invincible, an apt
defender of the Trolinger name. We were always happy when he visited.
I was ready for college when Harris died, seemingly as a result of an
injury sustained in a bar fight in Detroit. I photographed him in his
casket from every angle to keep some memory alive. A few relatives
silently regretted that the diamond ring we had all admired remained on
his finger.
At his burial, I noticed a nicely dressed, little old man, standing alone,
weeping gently. No one seemed to know who he was. As the cars began to
leave the site, he walked over to my brother and I and asked if we were
Harris' nephews. After our positive response he introduced himself as an
old friend of Harris, Robert Lynch. Finally I had met One-Yard. It never
occurred to me to ask him about the origin of the nickname.