Old Red, Ragged Jacket

 

     Reginald came home from Virginia, where he had been for his mother's funeral.  In his suitcase was 

packed a red, ragged jacket which read Dad on it.  Reginald took it out of the suitcase and put it on. 

 His caretaker Dinah, quickly said, "You're no one's Dad."  (Which hurt Reginald).

      To which he responded by telling her the following story.  Once upon a time, my mother bought my 

Grandfather this nice red jacket with snaps down the front, red and white cuffs, with Dad embroidered 

on the front in white.  It was for her dad who lived in Martinsville, Indiana, when she lived in 

Oklahoma.  It was to be shipped to him on his birthday, as a birthday present.  He wore the said jacket

until the day he died, at which time it was sent back to his daughter in Oklahoma, who wore it.

       His daughter moved around the country a lot, and the red satin jacket was used less.  It was the 

thought that mattered the most though.  She eventually ended up in Virginia, where she died from colon

cancer.   

     The red coat by that time went to her son Reginald.  Though it was ragged and had no heirs for the 

word Dad to mean anything to, he loved it nonetheless.  He took the red ragged jacket out of the 

suitcase and proudly put it on once again with love in Martinsville, Indiana.

Paul D. Eccles