Ruby (Landry 1)

or in a sailboat surrounded by beautiful young

women.

"Jean had all the charm. He didn't have to work

at making friends or gaining acquaintances. Women

and men alike just wanted to be around him, to walk

in his shadow, to be favored with his words and

smiles.

"The house was always full of young people

back then. I never knew who would be encamped in

our living room or eating in our dining room or

lounging at our pool."

"How much younger than you was he?" I asked. "Four years. When I graduated from college,

Jean had begun his first year and was a track star in

college already, already elected president of his

college class, and already a popular fraternity man. "It was easy to see why our father doted on him

so and had such big dreams for him," my father said,

and he made a series of turns that took us deeper and

deeper into the busier areas of New Orleans. But I

wasn't as interested in the traffic, the crowds, and the

dozens and dozens of stores as I was in my father's

story.

We paused for a traffic light.

"I wasn't married yet. Daphne and I had really

just begun to date. In the back of his mind, our father was already planning out Jean's marriage to the daughter of one of his business associates. It was to be a wedding made in Heaven. She was an attractive young lady; her father was rich, too. The wedding

ceremony and reception would rival those of royalty." "How did Jean feel about it?" I asked. "Jean? He idolized our father and would do

anything he wanted. Jean thought of it all as

inevitable. You would have liked him a great deal,

loved him, I should say. He was never despondent and

always saw the rainbow at the end of the storm, no

matter what the problem or trouble."