Chapter Eight in “Decades with the Squad” by my late father, William Palmer Jervey, Jr.

This episode involved one who might be referred to as the Fastidious Gentlemen. On a scale of one to ten, he would surely be a nine. Believe it or not, he has on occasion involved himself in getting up hay. The difference is that he showers and changes clothes at noon and returns to the field as fresh as a daisy.

I became involved when the Fastidious Gentleman suffered a kidney stone attack. Now this is no laughing matter. The pain is intense, and he bore his agony like a Spartan. He would have no part of an ambulance, so I drove him to the hospital in his own car. When we arrived at the hospital his agonized squirming had resulted in his shirttail being out and the shirt completely unbuttoned. Refusing my offer to get him a wheelchair, he rose to his feet, buttoned his shirt, and tucked in the tail.

I said, “Man, the first thing they will do is take your shirt off.”

“I don’t care,” he replied.

He squared his shoulders, set his jaw, and strode into the hospital, the soul of dignity.

If he was a nine when it came to being fastidious, he was most certainly a ten when it came to having grit!