#5 Pride and Joy

Pride and Joy
Jonathan Greer

“Poor people have a great passion for huge quantities of things” –Betty Smith

The front yard was littered with old tires. An old engine hung suspended from a tree. On the side of his Ford truck, the large 8 was peeling away.
He took off his Jeff Gordon hat and held it out to me.
-This here I got after Jeff won the Tallahassee Classic. One of the pit crew threw it in the crowd. Best day of my life.
No screen on the screen door. Just the frame.
Inside the trailer, he began to show me his collection. Fifty years’ of NASCAR memorabilia: beer steins, sunglasses, trading cards, authentic car hoods, driver-suited mannequins, signed posters of Yarborough, Petty, both Earnhardts.
-Yessir. My pride and joy.
A voice called from the kitchen.
-Not now, I’m busy! he shouted back.
-Who was that? I asked.
-That? Just my wife. Now here’s somethin you don’t see everyday- a full set of Jimmy Johnson poker chips.