Heaven Rocks
I try and visit the family here once or twice a year, usually for Mothers Day and either Thanksgiving or Christmas. But this visit was unexpected. My Granddad, Poppa Joe Murphy, had a heart attack yesterday and died. He was eighty-six years old and still worked this old farm like a twenty year old and he was still preaching a couple Sundays a month. I had told him for years to slow it down, retire, let the younger family members handle it. He would laugh and remind me of our “bargin” as he called it, when I will move back home and run the numbers part of the farm he would retire. Both of us knew the other would never concede on his part.
It was Poppa Joe that encouraged me to go of to school. He said a man had to make his own way. I had a on-campus job and scholarships but expenses were still more than I make at times. It was always then that I would get an letter from Poppa Joe with a few hundred dollar bills in it. It was like he just knew. I never asked him, he just always sent it at just the right time. His letters always ended with a scripture number. So I would have to take down my old Bible from the back of the shelf and see what Poppa Joe was quoting. I think he could quote every verse in the “good book,” as he called it. As for standard education, Poppa Joe, went through the eight grade.
Poppa Joe made my dad, Tim Murphy, take it easier on me than he did on my brothers and cousins. I still had to do my fair share of the detested chores, but if I was reading or studying Poppa said I was working hard enough, let the boy be. Pulling in to Poppa Joe’s & Granny Shirley’s house I could not help but smile at all my nieces, nephews and little cousins playing out in the yard. Sprinkler going and kids running. Over by the fence still set Poppa Joe’s old rusted 54 Ford pick-up. Grass growing under it where the weed eater wouldn’t reach. I don’t remember that truck running in the last twenty years, but yet there it sat.
As I parked my rented SUV by all the other dusty vehicles in the yard up ran Jimmy and enveloped me in a big bear hug. I love all the kids in my family, but I have always had a special bond with Jimmy. He is twelve years old now, my oldest brothers third child. Jimmy is kinda slow mentally. He has never been clinically diagnosed with anything, he just is not as sharp as most kids his age. He enjoys playing with the younger kids other than his cousins and neighbor boys who have girls on their minds. I was glad to see that Jimmy was not by his self sulking over Poppa Joe’s passing. Jimmy has been Poppa Joe’s shadow since he was big enough to walk. He spent more nights with Poppa Joe & Granny Shirley than he did with his parents, especially in the summers. I talked to Jimmy every Tuesday night when I would call Poppa and Granny. Jimmy always had a story to tell, usually involving him and Poppa Joe. When Jimmy released me he was so excited and talking so fast, “Uncle Tommy, Uncle Tommy did you know that Poppa Joe got to go live with Jesus! Did you know? Did you know, Uncle Tommy?” I put my arm around his shoulder and said yes Jimmy, I have herd. Lets go inside now and let me say hello to the rest of the family. I greeted all the kids on my way in with hugs, head rubs and hand shakes depending on their wants. Most southern boys above age ten, stick their hands out, they have outgrown the hugs.
As I entered the kitchen, Granny Shirley, my mom and aunts all started giving out hugs and some wet kisses. I rembered why I started sticking out my hand for hand shakes instead when I was eight.
The kitchen had food everywhere. Casserole dishes and pie plates were stacked three deep in some places. When someone dies in the south the thing to do is send the family food. As big as the Murphy clan is, neighbors had sent plenty. I knew there would be lots of kin-folks and neighbors over after the days work was done to help eat it. The men were gathered in the living room and lots of back slaps commenced.
The next day the arrangements were made for Poppa Joe’s funeral and the next day the plans were carried out. As far as funerals went Poppa Joe’s was pretty good. Not many tears were shed. Everyone who knew Poppa Joe knew what kind of faith he had. I didn’t have that kind of faith. I believe in God, but I gotta do my part. After the funeral there was a huge get together at Granny Shirley’s. I got to see many friends and neighbors I grew up with. Most with a few kids of their own. They all like to tease the city boy. They all seem so content to still be living in the same places and doing the same things. I don’t get it, but good for them.
My Dad and uncles asked if I could stay a while and sort out the farm finances. It was no problem. I can free lance write from anywhere. As I began going through Poppa Joe’s accounting books, more and more did not make sense. It seemed money would just show up. Bank accounts would be about to be over drawn and then there would be thousand dollar deposits and the note would always be the same HR. These deposits did not coincide with the cow sales or the chicken houses which is where most of the farm income came from.
I first went to Granny Shirley and I asked her bout the HR deposits. She started laughing and said son surely you have not forgot your grandpas heaven rocks. Then I remembered. Sometime before Poppa Joe’s family ever settled here apparently an asteroid had hit and made a small crater. It threw small meteorite rocks over 5 square miles. When I was in Jr. high a college professor came out with his class and documented the find. They found a few asteroid rocks and Poppa Joe let them keep them. They sent Poppa Joe a check for $1400 for eight rocks. After that the family started watching for what Poppa Joe called heaven rocks. Poppa Joe would always go out after a good rain and walk the fields and roads looking for his Heaven Rocks. He found a few that we knew of. But that surely was not where all the 100’s of HR deposits came from. Poppa Joe had only found and sold a few meteorite rocks to a man in Dallas as far as Granny Shirley knew of.
The next night we had a family dinner and while all the adults were still in the kitchen after dinner I asked everyone if they knew about the HR deposits. No one knew for certain, but everyone had stories about Grandpa Joe giving them money just when they needed it. Like when Aunt Sue had just had the twins and Samantha needed braces. She could not work because of the 3 kids and Poppa Joe came by and gave her and Uncle Dale all the money they needed to pay off the hospital bills and to pay for Samantha’s braces. Or when Granny Shirley wanted to go on the trip to Ireland with her sister, but the plane tickets alone were over $1,000 and she knew she could not spend that kinds of money. Poppa Joe comes in one afternoon and hands her and envelope that says enjoy your trip and there was $3000 inside. She asked him, Joe where did you get this and he would say the Lord provided! There were stories from everyone on how Grandpa Joe brought them envelopes with the money they needed. They never asked for it, but some how Poppa Joe just knew. He would always tell them that the Lord provides for His children.
The next day I went back into Poppa Joe’s office determined to find out more about the heaven rock money. I did not find in any of the accounting books records of the money he had given the family at various times. I started going through the book shelves, nothing. Then when I moved into the closet in Poppa Joe’s office, book after book on meteorites, and even an EBay for Dummies book. Poppa Joe knew about eBay, I was astonished. Then there was the blue binders. Poppa Joe had recorded all the meteorites he had ever sold. There were 1000’s. Mostly they were sold to the same three people and always for cash. Poppa Joe had found way more meteorites than any of us could of imagined. When I had every thing sorted out I showed it all to the family. It explained so much. Poppa Joe was always so certain that the Lord would provide all that a person needed if they served Him.
Two days before I was to head back to New York it came a hard summer rain overnight. That morning at breakfast Jimmy came in rubber boots and overalls on and he was carrying an old rake that had magnets strapped to it and metal detector. Granny Shirley teared up, as did everyone else. Jimmy always went with Poppa Joe to look for heaven rocks after a rain. Uncle Dale told Jimmy you don’t have to go out looking for Heaven Rocks anymore, Grandpa Joe is already there and has plenty heaven rocks now. I told Jimmy, as soon as I finish eating breakfast I will go with you and look for heaven rocks. Jimmy was ecstatic. He could not wait for me to finish.
I let Jimmy lead, he knew the route. He had been taking these walks with Poppa Joe since he was three. We walked and we walked. Occasionally Jimmy would bend over and pick up a rock, then toss it down. Until he spotted one and he looked at it and looked at it. Then he handed it to me, look Uncle Tommy, it’s a heaven rock. I had looked at Poppa Joes meteorite books and sure enough it looked like the meteorites in the books. That was the only one we found that day, but Jimmy was satisfied and so was I.
As we were walking up the hill I turned toward the house and Jimmy grabbed me and said we gotta put the Heaven Rock in the truck Uncle Tommy. I asked what he meant. Jimmy grabbed my hand and let me over to the old 54 Ford. First he opened the old tool box in the back of the truck, and said, nope to full, then he opened the other side, to full. Then he opened the gas tank and in he tossed the heaven rock. I could not believe it that old truck was full of meteorites. In the floor board, gas tank, and the tool boxes. Poppa Joe had been collecting meteorites for years and tossing them in an old pickup truck. When his family needed the money he would take out what he needed. God had provided.
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