Jim Browning and Daniel Curry writing as Jewell Mattingly Garrett and Ruby JaNelle Mattingly Clarkson
Family Gems is set in 1976 and 1977. It consists of the written correspondence (including family recipes and small-town newspaper columns) between two middle-aged sisters, Jewell Mattingly Garrett of Buck Creek, Kentucky, and Ruby JaNelle Mattingly Clarkson of Falstaff, Arizona.
Through their letters, other characters come alive: their siblings--level-headed and loving brother Garnett Greene Mattingly and drug-and-alcohol-addicted, widowed sister Opal Ovada Mattingly Skaggs; their spouses, children, grandchildren, and other extended family members.
Many other eccentric characters from the community of Buck Creek, Kentucky also appear such as Teensie and Weensie Bottoms, fraternal twin sisters who co-own and operate the local beauty salon, along with Mr. Jerry Combs, a cross-dressing, homosexual hair dresser who rents a booth in the shop.
During the course of their correspondence, a lifetime of family secrets--including one son's coming out and one daughter's interracial romance and unplanned pregnancy--are revealed and reviewed, always with compassion and with humor, both warmhearted and wicked.
Jim Browning and Daniel Curry are both graduates of Western Kentucky University, where Mr. Browning currently teaches English. Mr. Curry is the Director of Benefits Counseling at Kentucky Legal Aid, an adjunct professor at W.K.U. and a weekend docent at Riverview at Hobson Grove, an historic house museum. Family Gems is their first novel, although both are published non-fiction authors.
July 4, 1976
Buck Creek, KY
My Dearest Ruby,
Do you remember the time when Mama told Connie he was freezing her pussy off? I don't know if I ever told you that story or not, but it was about ten years ago, and Connie had just had the air conditioner put in that old, green Chevy Impala we had back then. Well, one Sunday afternoon, we went out riding, just for something to do. It was in the summer and hot, and Mama insisted on sitting in the front seat between us right in front of the air conditioner, on the hump. We drove and drove through the knobs, and Mama was telling us who lived in this house or that house a long time ago and how they were kin to us and everything. Out of the blue, she looked at Connie and said, "Connie, if you don't turn that air conditioner down, you're gonna freeze my pussy off!" I laughed so hard I peed my pants, and I believe Connie almost did, too. Mama laughed, too, like a little kid who had done something naughty. Ruby, can you imagine Mama ever saying something like that? She hardly ever even said a curse word, only maybe "shit" when she was mad at one of us kids or at Daddy. I'll never forget that. I wish you could have been there. I guess Mama wasn't as religious as we always thought. . . .
Well, I'll close now, little Sister. Write me when you can. I hope your air conditioner is working good in your trailer, because I'm sure it gets awfully hot there.
Your loving sister,
Jewell
P.S.
Deborah Ann just called as I was finishing up this letter. She's coming home. Darrell Wayne has been drinking and cheating on her again. She asked if she and the kids could stay in the trailer. I asked Connie, and he said okay. I guess we'll take the truck and drive to Hazard and load her up tomorrow. I hope there's not a scene.
July 12, 1976
Falstaff, Arizona
Dear Jewell,
Sometimes I just don't know what you're thinking about. If you ever listened when I call you long distance you might know more about what's going on with me and Tommy. I do wish you would stop referring to our condominium in the Sandy Heights Retirement Village as a trailer. As a matter of fact, it has central heat and air and Tommy keeps it quite cold inside all the time. I'm wearing a sweater as I write this short note. . . .
I never did hear Mama use one single curse word in all my life unless she was repeating something somebody else had said. Who knows, maybe she had that all out of her system by the time I came along.
Well, the news about Deborah Ann and Darrell Wayne didn't come as any big shock. I wish you had put your foot down about them living in the trailer. This is just what you need right now. These are supposed to be your golden years. You've already raised your children--I wouldn't be in any big hurry to start raising Deborah Ann's.
Your littlest sister,
Ruby JaNelle Clarkson
