Jimmy Wright and the Woodpecker (part 4)

I always felt guilty about my resentment of Jimmy. I asked around about him, what kind of guy, if he could be trusted, you know, I am a Dad and I want to know which way the wind is blowing. What kind of wild life we have in the neighborhood, more than woodpeckers of course. Wait till you hear about the woodpecker, but that's comes later. So, he checked out o.k., not a troublemaker, quiet, decent, a little strange cause "he's kinda hermit." Jimmy worked infrequently, mostly day labor stuff. I guess I was resentful because well, now we had three kids to feed and like I said, he was a little strange. I have to admit though, he could make the whole house rock with laughter. He would make these weird sounds, almost like a foreign language, to get Jason laughing and squealing, that would get Maggie going, then Betty would catch it, finally I broke in with my Hohohohos till tears flowed and bellies ached. We would finally settle down, sighing and snickering, when Jimmy would make another sound at Jason and the contagious laughter rolled around the warm house again.
After a couple of months, all things considered, I finally adopted him as a family member, more or less. Betty would take him a plate of food every day, if he wasn't hanging around, the kids skipping ahead, Jason belting out "Immy, Immy" all the way over. So I made it a point to spend time with him, to seek him out, when he got to hermiting too much. I admit, I would worry, we all did.
Jimmy's cabin, like I said was stuck in a bunch of trees, invisible from the road. It was very small with an old wood stove in one corner, bunk beds at the back. It had a porch at the front that used to be screened in. Sometimes I would head over there with a six-pack of beer and a pack of smokes, you know, guy time. We sat on the floor, backs against the front wall, waving away the biting gnats, blowing smoke in their faces. Jimmy wasn't much of a conversationalist, the beer helped to prime the pump, so to speak. About all Jimmy liked doing was fishing. He lived for and on fish. He told me that he never fit into society, that he didn't get along all that well with people. He understood animals just fine, but people were "odd". Which was a hoot, I thought him "odd". Heck, everybody thought him "odd". Anyway, one thing you had to give him, he was a superb woodsman. He owned only what was absolutely necessary, minus his fishing rod, which was his only luxury.
"Don't you ever miss people, you know, for company?" No, he had the river and the animals, they were his friends. Which is why that damn Woodpecker drove him nuts, finally, I guess. It was after Thanksgiving, when the rains started that the woodpecker came on the scene. Betty noticed it first, Jimmy was looking "frayed". I asked him about it. He said that he wasn't sleeping well, that there was a woodpecker in the neighborhood and it kept him awake with all that racket.
"Jimmy, woodpeckers sleep at night," I pointed out. "Not this one, this one don't sleep." Day and night the woodpecker would peck, you know, wood. By the middle of December, he was not just pecking on trees, he was banging on Jimmy's cabin. "If it weren't for you and your family, I would go live somewhere else, that damn bird is driving me nuts." Try as I could, I never heard the woodpecker. We all listened for it, nothing. Only Jimmy. Betty and I got very worried. "Honey, we have to do something. Jimmy is getting worse." I agreed. Something had to be done.

to be continued.....