Roy Exum
It could well be the best part of playing a prank is in the delicious moments until your “fish” takes the hook. So yesterday afternoon, as I tried repeatedly to talk to a man I haven’t spoken to in 27 years, rather than leave my name I popped off the Happy Birthday song in a snappy, loud way and then ended it with a simple, “Call me,” adding my number.
John “Hot Rod” Talley spent Monday, his 72nd birthday, as a free man. “Who is this … you sound good but I can’t place you,” he said. Oh, it was just divine.
“It’s me, John, it’s Roy Exum.” Oh my glory, the flood gates of Chickamauga Dam never opened so wide. John Talley, who was released from federal prison on Friday after spending 27 years in the slam, is now in a half-way house in Los Angeles. Not until later today will he learn the parameters of his release but after a birthday lunch of perfectly prepared catfish, turnips greens, cornbread and more trimmings than he could name, he instead began to recite the names of every soul on Lookout Mountain – by memory – and wanted to know about each and every one.
The word “boy,” most unfortunately, has morphed into an under-served racial connotation but when I told “Hot Rod” he will forever be “a Lookout Mountain boy,” he paused before he answered, “That is one of the nicest compliments I have ever received in my life … You know how much I love each one of ya’ll.”
“The years I spent in prison were rough … nobody should have to go through that as long as I did … but it makes getting out, breathing free, so special. I have thought about my home, and the chance to come back to the mountain, every day I’ve been gone,” he told me.
How long has it been since somebody sang Happy Birthday? “Last I heard it I was 45 years old … it’s been awhile.”
Last week I got a letter from “Hot Rod” written on lined note-book paper, trying to thank me for the letters to President Obama and anything I might have done to spring him. It was the most unnecessary letter I believe I’ve ever gotten, particularly after I had begged the President to release him in my care and promised that John could live with me, that I’d watch over him.
Let’s not sugar-coat this. John Talley committed a bad crime. Selling cocaine for resale ruins lives. It kills people. He most certainly should have gone to jail and served time. But there is this; it was a non-violent crime, his first major offense and the “life sentence” of the day – which has since been rescinded – was cruel and unjust. Rapists, murderers, child molesters, kiddie-porn creeps and even terrorists don’t spend 27 years in “the stir” and the ‘Rod, albeit greedy for quick cash, particularly -- it is universally known John Herbert Talley would never harm a soul.
Please. “Hot Rod,” after spending years with the likes of Frank Fowler, Toto McGinness, Garnet Smith, all the Caldwell boys, the Oehmig cousins and, yes, the Exum brothers, a “thank you” letter is darn near preposterous. This you must know: “Hot Rod” and his fellas go deep, real deep. Yesterday he was quick to ask about the late Bob Caldwell, Scotty Maclellan, John and Laura Bennett, Rick McCabe, Sam Smartt, “Boomer” and Greg Brown, the late Oop Smith …
“Tell everyone in Chattanooga I appreciate them, too. I will call you when I get to my sister’s house in California. I love everyone who has been looking out for me. Betty Headrick, George McGee, Janice Burrows, and Nelson Irvine. Jeffery Boehm, Reuben Lawrence, Ronald Odom …. All of my very best friends … there are so many. Anita Evans, Oliva Carson, Vicki Mathis … there are so many who are so important to me. May the Lord bless you … “
What’s neat is this. The Stanford Law School has a dazzling re-entry system to help those who get out of prison adjust to society. Can you imagine the changes that last quarter of a century have wrought? So we … er, are working to see if we can get some kind of weekend permission slip so “Hot Rod” can attend class reunion weekend at The Howard School this summer. Understand, we ain’t pushing … just asking … because for “Hot Rod” that would be bigger than any Christmas in his life.
He’s got to spend six months in the re-entry program – and since his sister lives in Beverly Hills he’ll get an eyeful of sunshine, balmy days and quiet nights after 27 years in a box. Man oh man, don’t you wish you had been a fly in the wall when earlier this month a curious sort of letter was handed to “Hot Rod” through the bars?
The back of the envelope said simply, “THE WHITE HOUSE – Washington” and it started slow, with just one type-written line: “I wanted to personally inform you I am granting your application for Commutation.”
When “Hot Rod” picked himself up off the floor of the cell, through blurred eyes he read, “The power to grant pardons and clemency is one of the most profound authorities granted to the President of the United States. It embodies the basic belief in our democracy that people deserve a second chance after having made a mistake in their lives that led to a conviction under our laws. Thousands of people have applied for commutation, and only a fraction of these applications are approved,” the President wrote.
Then he added a little advice: “ … You have demonstrated the potential to turn your life around. Now it is up to you to make the most of this opportunity. It will not be easy, and you will confront many who doubt people with criminal records can change. Perhaps even you are unsure of how your will adjust to your new circumstances.
“But remember you have the capacity to make good choices. By doing so, you will affect not only your own life, but those close to you. You will also influence, through your example, the possibility that others in your circumstances get their own second chance in the future.
“I believe in your ability to prove the doubters wrong, and change your life for the better. So good luck, and Godspeed.”
Sincerely, s/Barack Obama
* * *
“Roy, I just got a new life. I can’t tell you what that means to me. I can’t wait to get home…”
C’mon, Hot Rod, we’ll all be waiting.
royexum@aol.com