THE MAN WITH TWO WIVES

Here's #2 of 27 stories from my "pretend-I'm-a-columnist" days in 1990 (see previous post, "A Loose Man," to read #1. Or check out book (with illustrations): <https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QKBKNMQ>).

THE MAN WITH TWO WIVES

Everyone in town admired the fortitude of the young man who, along with his saint of a wife, coped with their paraplegic daughter. The sweet nine year old couldn't walk because of a disease to her spine, but often she found just as many reasons to smile as any other child her age. She had her blocks, her stuffed animals, even a little tea set which she set out when her imaginary friends came to visit. She watched TV a lot, shows that included everything from old movies to the latest talk shows which featured discussions on every subject under the sun. She liked spending time by herself.

Her father was a busy man. Every morning he left the house around 6:00 AM, off on his salesman route, so her mother said. He sold Raleigh Products to farms in a wide area -- "Nashville to Knoxville"-- all around the state of Tennessee. Sometimes he went even further, to greener pastures" as her mother put it. Sometimes he traveled so far making his sales that he had to phone home, explaining to his wife and "little darling" that he was too tired to drive back. It was safer to stay the night in a motel or hotel. He'd get an early start home after making a few more sales. He sold everything from horse liniment and mustard plaster to perfume, condensed syrup in gallon bottles for soft drinks (coke, orange, lime...), spices (and spice racks), vanilla and other extracts, almost everything except magazine subscriptions. And he was just about the best salesman they had. Only in the last month he had been awarded 500 S&H Green Stamps for being the best salesman out of the ten employed. Everyone in town felt sorry for him and his wife, wondered how they could hold up under the strain of raising a child with such a terrible disease.

In Chattanooga, the name of a town he never mentioned at home, there lived his second family, who also thought highly of him. And around his young wife and two year old son (in perfect health) he never mentioned the word "Nashville" for obvious reasons. Here he also was known as a top salesman, so dedicated that he would often have to stay in a motel when he traveled too far in pursuit of new customers for his vacuum cleaners. His wife had a nice income from teaching school, but his additional income helped for vacations and expensive appliances. He was greatly liked and never seemed to be in a bad mood. They had an exceptionally good marriage until the federal agents showed up.