I'm Stumped

Dear Boo and Bubble,

Before I get into Captain's own political career and Dick Riley's influence on it, I want to share with you a little side story. I had totally forgotten about it until the other day when I began composing this series of blog posts for you. Funny..... how stream of consciousness works.

When Dick Riley announced in 1978 that he would seek the Democratic nomination for Governor of South Carolina, he was a state senator representing Greenville. Your mother was not quite three years old and Aunt Bee might have been discussed, but she was just a thought and wouldn't get here until the summer of 1979. His candidacy was a very long shot as he started with only 3% of the vote in early polling. Captain and I had just bought our first home at 126 Brittany Road in Gaffney, SC, and we were in that 3%.

Great granddaddy Schaefer was very involved in the campaign over in Greenville and he asked if we might help out with the effort in Cherokee County since Gaffney was the county seat. We agreed, of course, and decided one of the ways we could help would be to host a party for Dick's wife, Ann, who was known to all as "Tunky." (I have no idea the origin of the nickname nor it's meaning, but she wore it well and with great dignity.) This would give some of the prominent women in the community the opportunity to talk with her one-on-one in a relaxed atmosphere. We were operating on the premise that the measure of a man rests solely in the selection of his wife, and - because of that - Tunky would convince everyone that Dick Riley was not only a credible and viable gubernatorial candidate, he was the best choice.

I scheduled our party with the campaign about six weeks ahead of time. This gave me ample chance to prepare my invitation list and prepare all the details of the event itself. Even though I might have been peripherally concerned about the weather on the day of the party, it never crossed my mind that Mother Nature would decide to challenge me in the lead up. A month before, she sent forth a storm so powerful across our county that it knocked a huge tree over in our front yard and pivoted it onto the roof at the front of our house. Fortunately, the damage to the roof was minimal, but the tree's trunk and branches completely covered the front porch and door to the extent that we couldn't get in or out that way.

Captain inquired around town for a tree service that might be able to help cut the tree away from the house. There were several that had good reputations and he contacted one to come give us an estimate for the job. They arrived in short order, thank goodness, and cut the tree from the roof into sections and hauled it off. However, they informed me that they did not grind stumps.....I would have to find someone else to do that. I asked for suggestions and they gave me one. As they drove away with a very substantial stash of wood from my front yard, a rather significant stump remained as a shrine to what was once there.

I called the stump guy the very next day. He told me it would be "a while" before he could get to me because of the recent storm, but he reassured me he could have the job done by the date of the party.

One week went by.......two weeks went by.....three weeks went by. Even though I called and he said he'd be there.....no stump guy. I decided I better focus on a backup plan in case he didn't show up before the party, so I went to Painter Greenhouses just up the road from our house and bought some geraniums, marigolds and petunias. I came back and dug a flower bed around the stump. Standing back, I admired my work.......the flowers were beautiful....the stump..... well, it was still an ugly stump.

With time running out, I wracked my brain for some idea on making my yard presentable. Ahhhhhh.....what's that old saying...."Turn a sow's ear into a purse?" The solution proved to be simple. I went to the drugstore and purchased some poster board and magic markers. On the eve of the party, I found myself on our den floor making signs that said "We're Stumping for Riley!" Captain found a flat strip of wood and I glued the signs back-to-back on it. The next morning, before leaving for work, he helped me secure the signs into the middle of the stump.

I stood back to admire the handiwork. All things considered......it was pretty cool.

The rest of the day, I sequenced my time in preparing the refreshments and arranging flowers so that the last hour could be allotted for getting myself ready. Tunky was to arrive around 3:30 for the party at 4:00. Everything went as scheduled, maybe a little ahead of......until about 3:15, when I walked down the hall from our bedroom to the living area of the house and happened to catch sight from one of the front windows of a man standing in our yard, scratching his head, chainsaw in hand, looking at the stump. At first, it didn't register who it could be until I saw his truck - C&W Tree and Stump Grinding Services!

I started running and just about broke my neck when my brand new high heel pumps skidded on the floor as I rounded the corner into the entrance hall at the front door. Flinging it open, I yelled "Wait!!! Stop!! You can't do that now!"

He looked back at me dumbfounded.

"But, I thought you needed the stump out real quick."

"Yeah, well, maybe quick three weeks ago.....but not today. I have a party starting in thirty minutes. You're just going to have to come back."

As if recoiling from a raving banshee, he retreated from the stump.

"I'm not sure when that will be, lady."

"That doesn't matter anymore," I said. "You can do it whenever."

He threw his chainsaw into the truck and backed out of the driveway. As he made his way down Brittany Road, he unsuspectingly passed the future next first lady for the state of South Carolina coming in the other direction to our house. The party was a success and contributed to a grass roots effort on behalf of Dick Riley. After the initial primary vote, he ended up in a run-off with then Lt. Governor for South Carolina, Brantley Harvey. He ultimately prevailed as the Democratic nominee and went on to be elected Governor in November of that year. The 3% had swelled to a majority of the voters.

At some point later on, the man came back to grind the stump out of the yard. I often wondered what his take on the situation might have been and if he ever realized how close he came to destroying Dick Riley's stump.