Jim and his idea
Jim started seriously working with his "wool" discovery, it had so many possibilities. It could insulate homes, be wrapped around pipes even make filters for furnaces. Jim was quite excited about the many possibilities of his discovery. If this was as good as he felt, he and Jessie would be secure for life. He could buy her all the things that he had always wanted, and she could leave the Colville Feed Store, and they would buy one of the big houses on Hudson, perhaps that red brick one.
With Buford's help, Jim put his idea down on paper, being as technical as they could. Buford had gone to the University in Columbus for a few years, and wanted to be an engineer. Buford's father, Thor, had dome some "bare fisted" boxing in his days, and his large frame and heavy muscular body made him one to be feared in the ring. Thor had won many fights, and actually the income he made from his pugilistic endeavors were used to support his large family. But, his roughhouse antics with his children, and in Buford's case, too many "playful" blows to his head, had apparently done some damage, and Buford had a difficult time concentrating for any length of time, and he had forgotten how long it had been that he had any long term memory. But his brief time in the engineering school at the university added some credibility to Jim's transferring his thoughts to paper and blueprints. For three years, the two of them worked, Jessie supplied the coffee and the nourishment to the boys to keep them going.
They became regular customers at the Advocate Office Supply store, buying pencils and paper and such. But at last, after all the experiments and work, Jim was ready to apply for a patent, one that would make he and Jessie, and of course poor Buford, wealthy, beyond their wildest dreams. Jim and Jessie went to the stationary store and bought a large brown envelope in which they were going to mail all of the material to the Patent Office in the Nations Capitol. They filled the envelope with the papers, and Jim even furnished them with a sample of his "pink" wool, as he called it. Then, they walked the few blocks down East Main to the Post Office, and walked up to the Service Window where they said hello to Mr. Gilligan.
They handed him their precious envelope, insured it, registered it, and as Mr. Gilligan affixed the appropriate amount of postage on the brown envelope, and sealed it for them, they felt he was also sealing all of their dreams for the future in that brown envelope. Jim and Jessie walked back the few blocks to the Arcade, and leisurely strolled through some of the stores, basking in the thought that someday soon they would have the money to buy anything in any of these stores .... They were elated as they strolled hand in hand from one store to the next .... Through his beloved Arcade.
