Fragment

I was once in Huck Finn’s hometown, exceptin’ for the fact that I ain’t sure Huck Finn really lived at all; except in the mind of a man named Sam Clemens who lived alongside a muddy river bank in a place called Hannibal, MO.

I been there once, too and seen a cave up overlooking the town itself. Tweren’t much to look at but some old wooden houses and signs about a guy named Blankenship. I don’t think Sam Clemens remembered him.

But, I do think he remembers Jim. Jim was a slave at least for awhile. He belonged to nobody but Clemens imagined he was owned by a woman in that little river town on the Mississippi. There are no placards or plaques up in that town about Jim. At least-wise I never saw them. But, more than likely, he was the most important person old Sam Clemens ever knew.

-to be continued

-Albert Turner Goins, Sr.