Attribution: U.S. Forest Service- Pacific Northwest Region, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
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By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports a casual conversation the keeper had recently with his neighbor Jim who just celebrated his 94th birthday and thus leads the keeper by a year or so. Jim told of his older brother Bob who at 98 is “sharp and with it” and has a collection of rare early manuscripts stowed in his basement as their value fluctuates and he wisely retains them for his heirs.
As a successful professional in the service of people, Jim said he never knew until later years that his brother Bob had also been a North Dakota volunteer smoke jumper with 20 plus jumps on his record.
“He just never mentioned it,” Jim said. “We learned of it when the state did a program on smoke jumper history.”
Jim said there are some impressive longevity records in his family and he fully intends to compete with brother Bob to set a new one.
The keeper would like to be around to cheer Jim on, and in the meantime he will try to imagine what it must be like to jump out of an airplane into the middle of a raging forest fire.
Such are the ways old men spend their time, Jim discussing the details with wife Joyce and the keeper with his wife Phyllis, both younger women.
Photo by Bill Stokes