Near the beginning of his memoir, Wrong Side of the River, author Cliff Johnson tells a shocking story from early childhood.
In 1954, a week before Johnson was set to enter the first grade, his great-uncle invited him on a late-night alligator hunt. At the time Johnson was being raised by his great-grandmother. They lived near Cow Bayou not far from the Sabine River, in the far southeastern corner of Texas. Johnson’s mother was a fugitive from the law. His father was a mystery.
When they reached the water’s edge, Johnson’s great-uncle seized him and pulled him in. To Johnson’s horror, he realized his Uncle Rudy had no intention of hunting alligators that night. “Uncle Rudy grabbed me with his other hand and pushed my head under the cold water,” the author writes. “I struggled to pull free but his grip on my arm only tightened. With both hands he pushed me to the bottom and then attempted to stand on top of me. Pulling on his legs didn’t seem to make any difference. I was fighting for my life and it was obvious he was trying to drown me. There was nothing I could do but hold my breath and continue to struggle with all my strength.”
Johnson’s Uncle Rudy was an alcoholic merchant marine who wanted the young boy dead because he was tired of providing for him.
Incredibly, Johnson escaped, and the following morning his great-uncle apologized, claiming he had sought forgiveness from the Lord. The murder attempt was never mentioned again, Johnson writes, “buried like a lot of other family secrets … that were just as dark as the bayou itself.”
With so many wild stories to share, Johnson’s memoir hooked me early and didn’t let go till the final page. I could scarcely put the book down. That’s unusual for me, because memoir is not one of my favorite genres. In many tales of childhood trauma the author comes across as bitter or self-pitying. That’s understandable, but it doesn’t always make for the best reading.
If anybody has a right to express resentment, it’s Johnson. As a child he was repeatedly abandoned or put in harm’s way by a revolving cast of colorful but deeply flawed adult guardians who passed him around like a shared burden. However, Wrong Side of the River is no airing of grievances. It’s more of an adventure tale, fast-paced and full of good humor. I enjoyed it immensely.
Johnson responded to my questions via email.
You survived a tremendous amount of turmoil, neglect, abuse, upheaval and even a murder attempt (!) during your childhood. What was it like to relive those experiences while writing your memoir?
“Revisiting those memories that I would just as soon forget was the hardest part of writing my story. My wife was the first to notice that I would take on the mood of whatever experience I was writing about. The emotions seemed to really come out and at times would physically drain me. I think it was by adding humor, I was able to get through those times, both back when I was experiencing those events, as well as writing about them.”
How did you come to the decision to share your story? Did you worry about airing some of your most personal family secrets?
“For years I wouldn’t have dreamed of telling anyone what my younger years were like. After all, I wanted to fit in … be an equal with those around me. When I first decided to go into law enforcement and was interviewing for the position, the mayor ask me if I had any skeletons in my closet. Can you imagine my horror? My mother was in prison for most of my childhood, and we had been on the run all over the country. Skeletons in my closet? I think I was keeping the whole cemetery in there!
“The only person that wasn’t happy about me writing my story, was my Uncle Rudy. He had tried to drown me when I was a child. When he found out that was going to be in my book, he called one morning at 3 a.m. and wanted me to go fishing with him so we could talk about the event I was accusing him of. I told him that I’m a lot bigger now than I was back then, and it would probably turn out different than he expected. He died a couple years later. Health reasons … I had nothing to do with it.
“My mother and an uncle helped me with remembering the chain of events; however, my mother passed away before the book was published.”
As a reader I couldn’t help but compare your book to Mary Karr’s highly celebrated memoir, The Liar’s Club, which kind of launched a national memoir craze after it was published in 1995. Her book and yours are both coming-of-age stories largely set in Southeast Texas, featuring an eccentric cast of deeply flawed adult family members. Were you influenced by her work? What was it like following in the footsteps of such a successful book?
“I didn’t read The Liar’s Club until after my book was published. In fact I hadn’t heard of it until my sister told me I needed to read it, as a lot of her story took place in Southeast Texas. We grew up just across the river from each other. Strange that she would end up in New York and me in Idaho. As for following in her footsteps, she didn’t leave me a very clear path to success. I’ve had to find my own way.”
Seriously, though, why are there so many crazy people where y’all are from?
“Doggone it, just because some of my distant relatives fire shots at you when you are floating down the Sabine River, doesn’t make us all crazy. After all, he thought you were his brother … not some stranger passing through.
“Seriously, it could be a number of factors. Southeast Texas, Southwest Louisiana, the Piney Woods and the bottomland along the Sabine River have always been a place like no other. They say Alaska is the last frontier, but I’m not so sure that that’s true. Change comes slow to this region of Texas and Louisiana, and one of the first questions a stranger my be asked is, “Who are you kin too.” If you’re not kin to anyone, you may not feel very welcome. Johnson is a common enough name that I never really had that problem.”
How is work coming on your sequel, Right Side of the River? Has the writing process been any different this time around? I’m dying to know how your various family members ended up, especially whether your mom and Big Mama turned their lives around, and whether you ever found out who your dad was. Do you plan to answer these questions in the next book?
“Right Side of the River is over halfway finished. What makes writing it different is, on the Wrong Side of the River I was a juvenile. On the Right Side, I’m an adult, so I have to consider the statute of limitations.
“During the process of researching and writing I did find out who my dad was and discovered I had siblings that knew nothing of me. If nothing else ever came out of writing, that made it all worthwhile.
“My next book will start where Wrong Side of the River ends and come up to my retirement, as Chief of Police. It’s been a long journey and one that I look forward to sharing with my readers. I guess the one message that I really want to express is that regardless of your beginning in life, we each have the power to control the outcome. Life is all about choices.”
Author Cliff Johnson left Southeast Texas as a young man. He recently retired as the chief of police for a small town in Idaho. Buy his book from Amazon or directly from his website, Misty Peak Publishing.
1,472 responses to “Surviving the ‘wrong side of the river’”
Its like you learn my mind! You seem to grasp a lot about this, such as you wrote the ebook in it or something. I believe that you just could do with some percent to power the message house a bit, but instead of that, that is fantastic blog. An excellent read. I’ll certainly be back.
Normally I don’t learn post on blogs, but I would like to say that this write-up very forced me to check out and do so! Your writing style has been surprised me. Thank you, quite nice article.
Viagra
WONDERFUL Post.thanks for share..more wait .. ?
Viagra
Thank you a lot for sharing this with all people you really know what you’re talking about! Bookmarked. Please additionally visit my web site =). We may have a link exchange agreement between us!
After I initially commented I clicked the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and now each time a remark is added I get 4 emails with the identical comment. Is there any method you possibly can remove me from that service? Thanks!
Something else is that when looking for a good internet electronics store, look for online shops that are consistently updated, retaining up-to-date with the most recent products, the best deals, and also helpful information on products and services. This will make certain you are dealing with a shop that really stays atop the competition and give you what you should need to make knowledgeable, well-informed electronics acquisitions. Thanks for the significant tips I have really learned from the blog.
Hey There. I found your blog the usage of msn. This is a really well written article. I?ll make sure to bookmark it and come back to learn extra of your useful info. Thank you for the post. I?ll definitely return.
This is really fascinating, You’re an excessively professional blogger. I’ve joined your rss feed and stay up for in search of more of your great post. Also, I’ve shared your website in my social networks!
I was very pleased to seek out this net-site.I wanted to thanks in your time for this glorious read!! I definitely having fun with every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you blog post.
hey there and thank you for your information ? I have definitely picked up something new from proper here. I did alternatively expertise a few technical issues the use of this web site, as I experienced to reload the web site a lot of times prior to I may get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your hosting is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading cases instances will often affect your placement in google and can damage your high quality rating if ads and ***********|advertising|advertising|advertising and *********** with Adwords. Well I?m including this RSS to my email and can glance out for much more of your respective intriguing content. Ensure that you update this once more very soon..
This is a excellent blog, will you be involved in doing an interview about how you designed it? If so e-mail me!
I do like the way you have framed this particular difficulty and it does indeed present us a lot of fodder for thought. However, because of just what I have witnessed, I basically trust as the feed-back pack on that individuals stay on issue and not embark upon a soap box involving the news du jour. Still, thank you for this exceptional piece and although I do not agree with the idea in totality, I respect your viewpoint.
excellent points altogether, you just received a new reader. What may you suggest about your put up that you simply made some days ago? Any sure?
Hi there would you mind sharing which blog platform you’re working with? I’m planning to start my own blog in the near future but I’m having a hard time making a decision between BlogEngine/Wordpress/B2evolution and Drupal. The reason I ask is because your layout seems different then most blogs and I’m looking for something completely unique. P.S Apologies for getting off-topic but I had to ask!
Excellent site. A lot of useful info here. I am sending it to several buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And of course, thanks in your effort!
I don?t even know how I ended up right here, however I believed this submit was good. I don’t recognize who you are but certainly you are going to a famous blogger if you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!
Definitely believe that which you said. Your favorite justification seemed to be on the web the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I definitely get irked while people consider worries that they plainly do not know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side effect , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
Hi I am so happy I found your blog, I really found you by accident, while I was looking on Askjeeve for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say cheers for a tremendous post and a all round exciting blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to go through it all at the minute but I have book-marked it and also included your RSS feeds, so when I have time I will be back to read much more, Please do keep up the great job.
Howdy! I know this is somewhat off topic but I was wondering which blog platform are you using for this website? I’m getting sick and tired of WordPress because I’ve had problems with hackers and I’m looking at alternatives for another platform. I would be great if you could point me in the direction of a good platform.
Wow! This can be one particular of the most useful blogs We’ve ever arrive across on this subject. Actually Great. I’m also an expert in this topic therefore I can understand your effort.
You really make it appear really easy together with your presentation however I to find this topic to be really one thing that I believe I’d by no means understand. It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking ahead to your next publish, I?ll try to get the hold of it!
These days of austerity and relative stress about taking on debt, many individuals balk up against the idea of having a credit card to make acquisition of merchandise or maybe pay for any gift giving occasion, preferring, instead to rely on the actual tried plus trusted means of making repayment – cash. However, in case you have the cash there to make the purchase in full, then, paradoxically, that is the best time for them to use the card for several causes.
Interesting blog post. Things i would like to contribute is that laptop memory has to be purchased should your computer can’t cope with whatever you do by using it. One can add two good old ram boards having 1GB each, for example, but not one of 1GB and one having 2GB. One should check the car maker’s documentation for own PC to ensure what type of memory space is necessary.
After examine a number of of the weblog posts on your web site now, and I truly like your way of blogging. I bookmarked it to my bookmark web site checklist and will likely be checking again soon. Pls check out my website as nicely and let me know what you think.
Normally I don’t learn post on blogs, however I wish to say that this write-up very pressured me to try and do it!
Your writing taste has been surprised me. Thanks, very nice post.
I just added this web site to my google reader, great stuff. Can not get enough!
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d without a
doubt donate to this brilliant blog! I guess for
now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account.
I look forward to fresh updates and will
share this website with my Facebook group. Chat soon!
Exceptional post but I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this topic?
I’d be very grateful if you could elaborate a little bit more.
Appreciate it!
Appreciation to my father who stated to me regarding
this website, this webpage is actually amazing.
I simply couldn’t leave your website prior to suggesting that I really enjoyed
the usual info an individual provide to your visitors?
Is gonna be back regularly in order to check out new posts
Howdy! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be
ok. I’m definitely enjoying your blog and look forward to new updates.
Hello There. I discovered your blog using msn.
That is a very well written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and
come back to read more of your useful info. Thanks for the post.
I’ll certainly comeback.
Greetings from Idaho! I’m bored to death
at work so I decided to check out your site on my iphone during lunch break.
I really like the info you present here and can’t wait to take
a look when I get home. I’m shocked at how fast your blog loaded on my
cell phone .. I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyhow, superb site!
If some one desires to be updated with latest technologies afterward
he must be pay a visit this website and be up to date daily.
Hey there! I know this is kinda off topic nevertheless I’d figured I’d ask. Would you be interested in trading links or maybe guest writing a blog post or vice-versa? My blog covers a lot of the same subjects as yours and I believe we could greatly benefit from each other. If you might be interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Terrific blog by the way!
Porn
Buy Drugs
Scam
Porn
Scam
Viagra
Porn site
Sex
Porn
Pornstar
Buy Drugs
Porn site
Porn