MOMS KNOW BEST

“Do you believe there exists a female in this county so hardy, so devoid of all the finer feelings of the sex, as to encourage a black desperado in such murderous intentions?”- Mr. Fisk addressing the jury.

 After my grandfather died, I was basically raised by females. My father was still around, but only on weekends. He was a busy man. Richard A. Osterhout left for the Korean War August 24, 1952, three days after the birth of his first child (me). Although he dutifully returned fourteen months later, I don’t think I ever really forgave him for the abandonment. My childhood animosity towards my father was obviously some deep-seated Oedipal thing. Fourteen months is literally a lifetime when you are only fourteen months old. When a complete stranger showed up at our trailer claiming to be my father, and stole my mother to the bedroom, I was rightfully suspicious. I had spent all that time with my mother, her mother, and my father’s father. I patterned on this alien triumvirate just like a turkey chick would. It took a while before I accepted the old man, and trusted his “head of the household” act….. if I ever did. 

  Unlike Hannah Teed, the women in my life as a child were not manipulative, flighty, neurotic, selfish, murderous, mean, or boozy; and they were always around. Mom had five kids, and a couple of miscarriages, over a ten year period. The numbers weren’t even close to Richard Jennings’ ten children, but still a respectable brood for the 1950’s. We four boys predictably fought over everything; not viciously, more like coyote pups gnawing on the leg of a freshly killed rabbit carcass. We have only one sister and she justifiably feels left out in this fog of testosterone. Although much younger, her big heart has always been a great influence on my social conscience and begrudging altruism. Her example of selflessness is constantly chipping away at my strong narcissistic core. The female balance of love, distraction, and a willingness to accept unlimited boredom, was very influential in my development. If there is a downside, the women closest to me let me get away with way too much. God bless them, they still do. 

    No matter what the penny-press wanted you to believe, it wasn’t Richard Jennings’ greed, obstinance, “morose temper,” or malicious lawsuits that started us down this steep path. As much as I hate to pin any of this on a Jennings female, you can clearly see it was Phoebe Jennings Teed’s fault. Going back to her promise to will her son the property, and telling him so, in the first place, was what brought us here. A small piece of a once extensive estate had been denied to the rightful heir by a loving mother. She thought it best. This was what really brought us to the brink of total societal break down. I’m sure Phoebe Jennings Teed meant well, trusting that her brother would follow her wishes and do the right thing for James after she was gone. But family, as we all know, will sometimes disappoint. 

 Exhibiting that familiar Jennings trait of wanting to please everyone (like my mother and grandmother), Phoebe convinced herself it was all going to work out. But when James, in desperation, transferred the deed over to David Conklin it sent Richard Jennings through the roof. The rafters began to fall in on an already teetering shed. She immediately realized what a mistake she had made in signing both deeds, but it was too late. With all her heart Phoebe wished she could undo everything. Now James wouldn’t talk to her and Dick was wandering—God knows where. The loving mother and dutiful sister wished she would die. On June 23, 1818 Phoebe got her wish. The original will she had drawn up five years prior, was entered into probate in the Goshen clerk’s office and James was read the bad news. He would inherit nothing. 

  His mother’s death and his exclusion from the estate drove James Teed into a deep depression and even deeper rage. An inexhaustible supply of corn liquor didn’t help. Teed and David Conklin drank, plotted and attempted to pay off multiple local characters to kill Richard Jennings. It became a game in town to see who would be offered the hit next on Richard Jennings. Jack Hodges took little notice of Richard Jennings’ comings and goings. What he did notice was was how frequent Hannah’s trips to the still house had become.