Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Ask, and Ye Shall Learn

I always seem to get razzed about my tendency to know a lot of people. While talking to a one of my kind the other day----a young man named Carson Jeffres----we both agreed that this inquisitive tendency garners a wealth of good stories to tell on later occasions.


Carson probably loves all things "fish" better than anything in the world, but he's also a gifted story teller who's always casting his own arsenal of questions to hook in some new information. In fact, he loves a good, long plane ride where the person next to him may elicit a new goldmine for Carson to share with friends.

I seem to have the same problem. Always have, in fact. I even got in trouble a few times as a child for talking too much to strangers. That was back in the days when such an infraction was not quite the life-and-death matter it's become in today's world of too many perverts. In our breakfast visit at the Hoot Owl last week, Carson and I agreed that our lives are more enriched because we do take the time to visit and learn from people we don't know.

In my case, nosiness is a professional necessity, and often this professional necessity seeps into my everyday interactions. I have a hard time refraining from asking probing questions of anyone I meet for the first time. I seldom regret making these efforts because they often produce yet another fascinating mix of details, destined to connect a few more dots to the general understanding of the world around us.

Today I must ask questions when I call the subject of my next story for the Appaloosa Journal. I'm a bit wary about this conversation because when I visited with this man from Southwest Texas over the phone before Christmas, he kept calling me "Sir." I tried really hard to raise my voice an octave or two, but he still continued to reply "Yes, Sir," and "Thank you, Sir." It became distracting during that brief interchange, and I was tempted to ask, "Do you always refer to women as 'Sir'?" but he was so polite, I didn't think it wise at the time.

In an email interview, I did ask the same question of another lady who knows this man, but she failed to address that particular question. So, I'm hoping by today, when I call him and ask my interview questions, his wife, whom I also talked to and who did not refer to me as "Sir," will have coached him into throwing in a "ma'am" from time to time. I surely hope so because an entire phone interview could get a bit disconcerting if the man's tendency continues.

In preparation for today's interview, I've already done some advance reading on the subject of my story. Several weeks ago, my editor sent me a write-up on his Appaloosa accomplishments. While reading the information yesterday, I asked a few questions in my mind which, once again, led me to some fascinating details. For example, "what is the Deer Ledge Ranch in Comfort, Texas?" This individual served as its ranch foreman for a couple of years.

After a Google search, I found the ranch name used in reference to a man named Thayer Hobson who had literary interests. He and his fourth wife owned the ranch and raised Appaloosa horses at the time my subject served as their foreman in the early 1960s.

I learned, through further curiosity, that Thayer Hobson is better known in the literary world than the horse world. In fact, he once ran the William Morrow Publishing Co. and worked closely with famed mystery writer Earl Stanley Gardner, who created the Perry Mason stories.

Mr. Hobson's first wife Priscilla divorced him and later married Alger Hiss, who was tried as a Communist spy during the McCarthy Era of the early 1950s when the famed Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy went on a mission to find all the Communists who had allegedly infiltrated the U.S. government. Priscilla supposedly typed Alger Hiss' treasonous papers. Hiss was convicted for perjury at the time and spent the rest of his life asserting his innocence.

I gleaned this information, simply because of one question about the Deer Ledge Ranch. And, because I gleaned the information, I'll probably ask my man who calls me "Sir" a few questions about this fascinating connection in today telephone visit. I'm supposed to write a story about him, his horse training, his goat roping and his stirrup crafting, but along with these topics, I'll probably have a few good stories to tell the next time I see Carson at the Hoot Owl.

So, the word from the Love house today is, "Go out there and ask. Ye may be surprised at what ye learn."

Now, if I can just figure out the perfect question for persuading him to not call me "Sir."

2 comments:

Word Tosser said...

I thought that all Texans like to be straightforth...so you could ask him... what is it about my voice that makes you call me sir? Or do you call all people ..men and women, sir?

You might not like the answer but at least you will have one. Might suggest you ask at the end of the interview, unless you are gutsy.. that way if he is put off by the question... you will already have your interview.

Unknown said...

I, like you, Marianne, am often mistaken for a sir. I just ascribe it to our low, sexy voices. :)

By the way, it's ERLE Stanley Gardner, not Earl. A common mistake, one we library types can't let get by as it wreaks havoc with finding authors when you enter it into the online catalog incorrectly.

Cheers, and Happy New Year!