The true tale of Big Foot.
This one is sentimental to me as bigfoot is my “brother” he’s not much to look at, scruffy and rough born in Michigan on June Tenth, Irish Catholic. His manners are few and he is loud, often pissing women off in the bar by calling them broads, he lovely called me his sister broad 🥰.
He meant no harm and if you took to the time to get to know him, he had a way of growing on you. He told me once the last time he got a piece of ass was when his finger ripped through the toilet paper, he stole from the porta-potty 😂!
Bigfoot is as a screw up most of his life. He spent 12 years in San Quinton Prison, actually housed with David Allen Cole, for trafficking tobacco across state lines. When he got out, he ended up here, got on at the plants, and was doing well for himself.
A lifelong bachelor who had no interest in settling down. He had a sister who was mentally challenged and had a bad crack problem so she tended to prostitute herself to support her habit. She got pregnant and continued to use it throughout her pregnancy. When she delivered the baby, it was obvious early on the little girl had serious issues. Unable to take care of herself she planned on giving the baby girl up.
Bigfoot wasn’t going to allow that at all. This man who knew nothing about kids, who had never taken care of anything in his life bravely took that baby girl in, named her Rachelle. Rachelle was also born blind and is severely autistic. In addition to the challenges of being a single man with a newborn he had the challenges of her special needs to deal with but that didn’t stop or scare him at all. He quit his job at the plants to be her full-time caregiver.
He may have been a bachelor but he wasn’t completely alone. He spent all his off time drinking at bars so he was well known by the female bartenders around Galveston. They gladly stepped up to help him with the baby girl he brought home. They could come over and show him how to change her, clean her, feed her, and watch Rachelle so he could pick up side jobs to get buy. Rachelle got a small disability check that covered little more than the rent, so he had to do construction or mow lawns to make ends meet.
As she got older the doctors told him she would never be able to live on her own, knowing that he may not be around forever, he put her on a waiting list for a special school in Austin for the blind but the wait to get in was years long.
Over the years those two became inseparable.
He welded together a carriage specially made for her and hitched it onto his bike which many islanders should remember seeing a scruffy looking man in a bright orange vest happily peddling along with the little girl in tow.
They went all over the island together like that.
Bigfoot still leaned on the bartenders for help, especially when it came to Rachelle’s monthly curse. Because she was blind, he needed female help with that. The bartenders always gladly helped the sweet little girl.
Rachelle became a celebrity in her own right around town. She had such a happy sprite and didn’t call bigfoot dad, she called him uncle-foot. She loved to dance; you couldn’t keep her still if the music was playing. For 21 years this was their life. They were at my bar for her 21st birthday, she didn’t drink but she danced 💃🏻
Shortly after her birthday, they got the call they both waited for and regretted, a spot opened up at the school. As much as he wanted to keep her with him, he knew he had to let her go. He was in his mid-50s and hasn’t had the healthiest of lifestyles.
We loaded her up and a bus came and took her Austin, to her new life. Of course, he could visit and call her but life without her wasn’t the same.
He was lost for a while; he drank his Miller high life heavily. Tried to stay busy mowing lawns with a weed eater he attached to his bike. He would come to my house just not to be alone, many times passing out drunk on my porch. He would go missing for days, only to find out he was hanging out in the county on yet another PI.
Life seemed bleak for this kind man.
One day he was in an accident, which broke his leg and put him in a wheelchair. Some would say that the world is unfair, why would something so awful happen to such a kind man. He was barely getting by at this time and now he couldn’t work at all.
Instead, something amazing happened.
He had to sober up, and his accident upset and scared Rachelle so bad that instead of continuing to drink his pain away, he enrolled in Galveston Community college and he got his HVAC degree the entire time was on the dean’s list.
I haven’t seen him around in some time, I’ll make a point to track him down and make sure he is living his best life.
This is the story of Bigfoot.
If you have a story or tale from the bar, drop us an email. Send your stories to thebar@trulyelle.com, we usually publish these as anonymous to protect the bartender but will include your name upon request.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]Related posts:
