Character Sketch of Boss Finley

My name is Thomas Finley, people call me boss.  I was born outside of  St. Cloud (Alexandria) LA in August of 1907 that makes me 58 years old this year.  Grew up in a two room shack not far from there.  Attended public school until I got noticed by the local politicians and recommended to work for them in St. Cloud (Alexandria) and, later, in Baton Rouge doing odd politico jobs.

I literally came from the clay streets of the little town where I grew up.  My family was poor, my daddy no good for nothing, my mother stern but loving.  I started in politics young (15) and got the schooling and experience I needed in the Democratic machine.  Everyone knew I played for keeps and more than one bit the dust.

I am now the most powerful politician in Louisiana and Southern Mississippi.  And I'm dirty, I know it and use it to my best advantage.  I am totally self-centered and look out only for my own self-interest and enrichment.  I am going to die as rich and famous as I was once poor, and no wife and/or family is going to get in my way.

Heavenly Finley, my daughter and younger child is 27 years old, and my only daughter.  She's the younger sister of Tom Finley Jr; and Chance Wayne’s longtime sweetheart. Like her late mother she is a practicing Catholic, although this frustrates me because my "base" is protestant. 

When she was 15, Heavenly suffered through an awful loss, an operation to eliminate a venereal disease that left her sterile.  The operation was at my behest.  She put on black in mourning. Although we attempted to keep her circumstances private, there are rumors throughout St. Cloud (Alexandria) that something tragic has happened concerning Heavenly.

Tom Jr is my legacy and I'm grooming him to step in for me.  Miss Lucy is a necessary encumbrance on my life; she takes care of my "needs."  Chance Wayne is nobody, of no use to me, and certainly not going to marry my daughter even if that’s what she wants.  It was he that infected her with the disease.

The current situation is: I'm making a public appearance at a dinner.  There's talk about Heavenly and she is feeling sorry for herself and pining over Chance.  She's going to go with me come hell or high water and make a good show of it.  It's an opportunity to showcase Tom Jr and put the gossip about Heavenly to rest.

Mind and Life (Haiku)

Straddling the abyss
Mind is at once in the one
And in the other

The spiritual
And then in the physical
Imagine, dream, act

Alone, with others
Look at what we accomplished
And we're not through yet

A part eternal
The physical dies at death
The Master lives on

Continuity
Life will never be extinct
On the living Earth

Advice to a Young Lady (Haiku)

Look through a glass pane
Not always in a mirror
You will see much more

Seeing the other
What they have compared to you
It will seem better

Comparing it not
To yourself or anyone else
Avoids the problem

It's not what it seems
Not in their eyes anyway
Yours will seem better

On Final Words (Haiku)

We say, rest in peace
A deeper, fuller statement
Would be, go in peace

My Lot in Life (Haiku)

I feel all alone

I am not living alone

Yet I feel alone

(This summarizes eight pages of notes about my current situation.)

Murphy Said (Haiku)

You must be prepared
If it can happen it will
A word to the wise

One can prevent it
One can insure against it
One can accept it

One not feasible
The other may cost too much
Enter Saint Francis

Forever We Have and Will (Haiku)

We did what we must
With what was available
Whenever that was

We do what we must
With what is available
Whenever that is

We will do it all
With what is available
This is what we do