Jim Smith junior
Jim Smith junior, who is called “Little Jim”, is Lily’s and Jim’s second child, who is born in 1934.
Being a toddler, he almost drowns, but he is rescued by his father (cf. p. 188). Like his sister, he loves living on the ranch. He is a very qualified rider and usually rides racing duels against the Santa Fe railroad with Rosemary, which they lose, of course: “One of their favorites pastimes was racing the train. A set of tracks for the Santa Fe Railroad cut across the ranch, and every afternoon they’d wait for the two-fifteen. When it came chugging up, they’d gallop alongside it, the passengers leaning out and waving and the engineer sounding the whistle until the train inevitably pulled ahead. It was a race they never minded losing.” (p. 187, l. 31 - p. 188, l. 5). In 1940, Jim is sent to school like his sister. He goes to a boy’s school in Flagstaff, but he does not like it there. He keeps trying to run away and since he is quite imaginative concerning his attempts to escape78, the Jesuit brothers call him “Little Houdini”.
Three years later, Little Jim has to leave the boy’s school, and from now on, Lily teaches him. When the Smiths move to Horse Mesa in 1946, he goes to a boarding school again and graduates79. He goes to the Arizona State University, and in his first semester there, he gets to know Diane,
79to graduate: den Schulabschluss machen
Being a toddler, he almost drowns, but he is rescued by his father (cf. p. 188). Like his sister, he loves living on the ranch. He is a very qualified rider and usually rides racing duels against the Santa Fe railroad with Rosemary, which they lose, of course: “One of their favorites pastimes was racing the train. A set of tracks for the Santa Fe Railroad cut across the ranch, and every afternoon they’d wait for the two-fifteen. When it came chugging up, they’d gallop alongside it, the passengers leaning out and waving and the engineer sounding the whistle until the train inevitably pulled ahead. It was a race they never minded losing.” (p. 187, l. 31 - p. 188, l. 5). In 1940, Jim is sent to school like his sister. He goes to a boy’s school in Flagstaff, but he does not like it there. He keeps trying to run away and since he is quite imaginative concerning his attempts to escape78, the Jesuit brothers call him “Little Houdini”.
Three years later, Little Jim has to leave the boy’s school, and from now on, Lily teaches him. When the Smiths move to Horse Mesa in 1946, he goes to a boarding school again and graduates79. He goes to the Arizona State University, and in his first semester there, he gets to know Diane,
“a full-lipped beauty whose father was a big cheese at the Phoenix postal system. They got married, and Jim dropped out of college and became a police officer” (p. 247, ll. 17 - 19)
Whereas his sister, Rosemary, leads an unsettled life, Jim and his wife’s
“life seemed pretty stable. Little Jim and Diane settled into a tidy ranch house in the Phoenix suburbs, and they had a couple of kids.” (p. 269, l. 8 f.)
78Fluchtversuche79to graduate: den Schulabschluss machen