Jimmy Swann - Into the Swamp

#14 - Catching Haylene off balance, she tumbled backwards over the stern...

Welcome! - I’m glad you are here. 

Sharron Bassano’s story, “Out of the Frying Pan - Part 7”, includes her Gals’ encounter with Jimmy Swann in New Orleans.  

You can enjoy her many characters and their stories on her storyletter, LEAVES, here on Substack. Give them a read. You’ll be glad you did! 

Thank you, Sharron, for letting me be a part of their adventure! I much appreciate your time and suggestions in putting the stories together. 

Today’s post is my take on Jimmy’s meeting up Sharron’s adventurous crew. 

Our Story: Jimmy’s family members have arrived back at the Caballo Loco Ranch. Jimmy is now driving Carla to Tallahassee. She’ll be staying with her sister while she deals with her illness. 

Prev.Chap.#13 - Chap. #1 - Contents 

Into the Swamp 

Carla and Jimmy churned out steady miles on Interstate 10, stopping for gas and food and sleep as needed. 

Carla seemed numb to the recent changes and what her future would be in the coming months.  

Jimmy felt as if he was losing someone important in his life. 

She saw a newsfeed saying SpaceX was launching another Starlink rocket the next evening. They'd be close enough to check it out. She wanted to see it.  

At San Antonio they turned south headed for the spaceport at Boca Chica.  

The launch was just - amazing! A most wonderful thing to see, and feel. Made one feel proud. Carla was happy.  

Angling up the Texas coast to Houston, they got on I-10 again to Tallahassee. 

Carla’s sister and husband were ready for her arrival, and we got her moved in. 

After a nice dinner and conversation Jimmy was ready for sleep. He went to the camper. 

In the morning Carla was at the trailer door with breakfast. She was something.  

She drove Jimmy to the airport. They made small talk and then said their goodbyes the best they could.  

Carla had tears and Jimmy realized how much he cared for her. Odds were, they would not see each other again.  

“Oh, what might have been,” he thought. 

Jimmy arrived late morning in New Orleans, rented a car, and drove to New Iberia. He’d visit a few hours with Caroline, the wife of Jimmy’s first-born son, James, who died in the Afghanistan War. Caroline moved her family back to her family home. 

Rob, their son and Carrie’s brother was home, off duty from his job as first mate on a Mississippi River towboat. 

Caroline’s soon to be new husband, Charles, was a nice man. Jimmy wished them well. 

They knew from Carrie that Robert, Jimmy’s second son and family, was now at the Caballo Loco. 

Rob seemed serious about coming out for a visit. 

It was good to connect again after many years.  

Jimmy headed back to New Orleans and checked in at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. It had been a busy day. 

Up early, he walked down through Jackson Square, to the Cafe Du Monde. Coffee and beignets and a refill of coffee to go would start him up for the day. 

New Orleans was Jimmy’s hometown, but the family moved away after a few years. He drove through the city to places he most remembered. 

Audubon Park. They had lived a few streets up on Tchoupitoulas Street, along the river levee. The high hill where the big boys rode their bikes didn’t appear so high now.  

The Mardi Gras parade passed by in front of their house, with its costumed krewe members tossing their “throws” from the floats. 

Pontchartrain Beach, and his first roller coaster ride. Saw the man and horse diving from a high platform into a water tank. Jets flying low at air shows. 

The Quarter, before they closed off Bourbon Street to vehicle traffic. That pretty girl on the 2^nd floor swinging in and out of the window. She held Jimmy’s stare and smiled. The people, and music. 

Evening came and Jimmy took in a couple of blues clubs in the Quarter.  

He tuckered out early and headed to the hotel for a good night’ sleep.  

Jimmy stayed at the Bourbon Orleans Hotel just because he and Amy, his now departed wife, had stayed there on their last visit to New Orleans. Such good memories. The first night was fine but the second was long with memory. He slipped into a bit of a funk. 

He checked out of the hotel and drove down to the public parking along the Mississippi near the Cafe Du Monde.  

He was thinking that after coffee and beignets he wanted to drive down the Delta to Venice, at the end of Hwy. 23 along the Mississippi.  

He’d be back early for his flight to Tucson. 

The madhouse of tourists and folks going to work jammed the sidewalks and street between the cafe and the street market on Dutch Alley. 

The cafe was packed. 

People were scrambling for places to sit and were sharing table space. Someone would leave and the waitress was right there getting the space ready for the next to arrive. 

Jimmy found a seat in the corner of the outdoor section sharing the table with a young couple and their toddler daughter. They were from Myrtle Beach, he learned from their brief conversation before they departed. 

It was hardly seconds after the table space was made ready, that a woman came up alongside. He looked up to - “Good morning!” she said. “Excuse us for asking, but we were wondering if we could share your table? There doesn’t seem to be any other place to sit.” 

Alongside her were two more women.   

Jimmy stood up with “Please have a seat. I’ll be leaving soon anyway”. 

He thought they were grandmother, mother, and daughter. Not even close. 

They were Bella, Haylene, and Marla. No relation but a perfect fit. 

Haylene was the ringleader, and good-looking.  

Haylene, he discovered, was recently widowed, had a lot of money, and was on a tear. She would be a handful. Jimmy wished for her a safe landing. 

She and Marla, a pretty long-haired youngster, were traveling from Florida in Haylene’s yellow convertible sports car. They were on an extended vacation. 

Marla, a runaway from Tennessee, was hitchhiking and Haylene picked her up, and later on took her under her wing. 

Bella was something else and part of another world.  

She made her living by giving Tarot Card readings. She traveled a circuit across the country. It was her livelihood. She looked the part. 

She had worked the previous night in the lounge of the Bourbon Orleans.  

She was a rainbow of color. Not “coalition rainbow” but “60’s” rainbow. Earrings and feathers. Elegantly hippie, he thought. As if he had any sense of style at all. 

She had just met Haylene and Marla.  

They were a flurry of activity and talk.  

They saw they were staying at the same hotel. 

Jimmy got to talking in spite of himself. 

It wasn’t long before Haylene and Bella had wormed his story out of him and what he was up to. 

His family reunion. His wife, Amy. About wanting a simpler life that was the Caballo Loco Ranch.  

Jimmy felt good talking about it. Surprised at himself for even talking much at all. 

But these three gals made it easy. Jimmy enjoyed their company. 

Jimmy bought another round of coffee and beignets. They were buzzing. 

Bella wanted to give Jimmy a reading, but he begged off saying he wasn’t comfortable messing around with omens.  

She was a flirt. Jimmy was enjoying it. 

Marla didn’t speak much. She did a lot of people watching when she wasn’t focused on her cellphone.  

Early afternoon found Jimmy and the three women down on a bayou boarding a swamp boat. 

They had talked about what they would do for the day.  

The girls’ plan was to drive south into the swamp and enjoy a “quiet” day. 

Then Jimmy thought. He was enjoying their company and regretted it ending. 

He said, “Do you mind if I tag along? I can drive. We can take my car. It’s roomier than your sports coupe. You all be the tourists.” 

His offer was accepted, and they drove along the swamps and bayous towards Lake Salvadore.  

Seeing the “Lafitte’s Swamp Tour on Barataria Bayou” sign, Haylene called out “Let’s take the tour!”  

They took the last row of seats at the stern. 

The summer heat had given way to a beautiful fall day.

Birds galore, alligators, snakes, turtles, nutria, cypress trees, flowers and moss filled the swamps and bayous with life. A tropical paradise. 

It was a healthy ecosystem, still intact and not yet affected by the erosion and saltwater intrusion of the coastlands just a few miles south. 

Jimmy added to the captain’s tour guide’s commentary as he could. The girls, Bella especially, were full of questions.  

Haylene stood up to take off her life vest saying it was “too tight and was wrinkling her shirt”. 

Jimmy smiled and was thinking the captain would have something to say about that. 

But just as the life vest hit the deck, the captain punched the throttle a bit and turned to avoid a floating log. Catching Haylene off balance, she tumbled backwards over the stern into the swamp. 

She came up in a panic, with fear in her eyes. She couldn’t swim. 

Jimmy could see that the reach pole and lifebuoy would take more time to deploy than it would to go for her himself.  

It was the look in her eyes. She looked like she needed to see help on its way right then. She looked childlike with her platinum hair hanging wet on her face. 

Alligators are drawn to such “splashing around” activity. 

Jimmy jumped in. After a brief struggle, with a scared Haylene, they were back on deck. 

Sitting down and drying off, Jimmy thought it was the most dang-fool thing he’d ever done. He’d jumped in with his boots on. He didn’t remember taking off his hat.  

As he was draining the water from his boots, Bella pulled a pair of blue flip-flops from her bag and gave them to Jimmy. He smiled and thanked her and put them on. “Nice color,” he said. 

He was glad, and proud, that he could help but the captain was unhappy with him and Haylene. 

He was tired but happy that Haylene was fine.  

Bella was profuse in her praise, and embarrassing to Jimmy. 

Back at the car, from his backpack, Jimmy exchanged his wet clothes for dry ones. He gave Haylene his long sleeve blue denim shirt to wear. She made the shirt look good. 

They headed back to New Orleans. 

Dropping the three off at their hotel with promises to “get together again”, he left to catch his plane. 

He wouldn’t be forgetting the three gals he met in New Orleans. 

He would be back in Tucson before midnight. Robert would be at the airport to pick him up. 

“Dad! I never saw you as a flip-flop kind of guy. Nice color,” Robert said smiling as they embraced. 

Jimmy said, “You won’t believe what happened today. Listen to this.” 

Thank you for reading Before I Forget . . ! Please leave a Comment. I much appreciate it!

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