Past Midnight

Get this. Their lead singer is shot and killed in a liquor store robbery on Chef Menteur Highway. Who replaces him? Bobby Ray. The rest is history. "Stay With My Baby" was their first hit. It went gold inside six weeks. They had twelve more after that one. It’s not natural I tell you". The story Eddie Thompson was telling stopped abruptly as Bobby Ray entered the diner.

Bobby Ray still sported the pompadour hairstyle he had worn since he first began his career. It seemed somewhat out of place among the more contemporary hairstyles worn by the male patrons in Mae’s Diner. His still smooth handsome face was hidden behind dark sunglasses. The bright light inside the diner caused his gold capped tooth with the diamond stud to sparkle. Bobby Ray became an even bigger star after he left the Sparrows to go solo. The license plate on his Bentley was personalized. It spelled "T-r-u-d-y" which was the title of his first million seller as a solo artist. A young fan in the Diner was collared abruptly by a watchful parent as he approached Bobby Ray for an autograph. Most everyone in town knew better than to ask. Bobby Ray no longer signed autographs. He hardly spoke except to order from the menu. He sat alone in the back booth whenever he came to the diner. He would offer his usual fake smile but never carried on conversation with patrons of the diner. He would quietly eat his meal, leave Mae a five dollar tip and nod to his chauffeur when he was ready to leave. Although he was the richest man around, he was not a benefactor to the Thompson Bayou community. He was only concerned with the needs of Bobby Ray Jenkins.

After he left the Diner conversation began again. "It’s just like I always say" spoke Rudy Thompson (another regular of the Diner) "A greedy man can’t enter the kingdom. You never see that boy in church. He never donates nothing to our community or our schools. He can’t take all that money wid him. Ain’t no undertaker in the world gonna let him outta here with one red dime". A mild chuckle rumbled through the diner patronage. Eddie Thompson seconded Rudy’s comment. "You can say that again," he said with a strange smile.

Such was the talk around town about Bobby Ray Jenkins. For a man with all his fame and wealth, he was not a model citizen for his own hometown.

Bobby Ray reflected back on his ride in the long black car. It was his nineteenth birthday. It was July 5th 1969. As a teenager growing up in rural Mississippi, he had absolutely nothing going on in his life. He had a bad complexion, nappy hair and he only weighed one hundred thirty five pounds even though he was six feet two inches. He was an only child. His great aunt Minnie Thompson, who everybody called Aunt Minnie, adopted him. His parents up and left Thompsonville one day when he was only six weeks old and left him on Aunt Minnie’s front porch. She was a middle-aged spinster who never married or had children but she had plenty love in her heart for Bobby Ray. She raised him without complaint. Bobby Ray had a few friends growing up but he was mostly a loner. He was just a C Plus student and showed no specific interests or talents to speak of. Aunt Minnie had encouraged him to join the Army when he graduated high school. He had given serious thought to that idea until he took his ride.