Straight talk needed about health bill
July 12, 2017
C’est La Guerre, mes enfants, c’est la guerre
July 12, 2017
Willard Thibodeaux is not the last of his kind, but his kind are getting fewer, and that is too bad for all of us.
By calling him Willard, a lot of people might not know who this is. In Chauvin, Montegut and Houma they will know right away if you call him Mr. Neg. A long time ago he owned a bar in Chauvin called Mr. Neg’s, back when you could earn a living from shrimp even if you were a guy with just one little boat, and no need for another job. These days the price is so low so it’s no longer the case. He also was a drummer in a band called “Neg and the Boys.”
Mr. Neg is wiry and thin, but with a strength to him that shows emotionally and physically. Despite subjecting his body to the rigors of 78 years on this earth, he faces challenges younger men shy from, and has yet to meet a machine he can’t master. He has fifteen great-grandchildren and so many grandchildren he’s not sure of the precise number.
He is one of those men that sits at or beside a machine of any sort and makes it clear that he is the master. Leaning over a motor, with a tool in his hand, it is clear that the machine is being tossed a challenge.
It’s the case with his motorcycle, certainly, which he customized beautifully and which even has a special seat on it for the dog, whose name is Dog.
It is evident as well with his newest boat, which has no name, but which will carry him through the waters of Terrebonne Parish the day the white shrimp season opens in August. It is painted dark blue and light blue and you can still smell the paint it’s so fresh.
The date has yet to be set, but Mr. Neg is ready.
With his muscles as sweat stung his eyes Mr. Neg built this 14 x 6 boat from scratch. There were no written plans
“I just thought it out while I was building it,” he explained. “Just like that.”
At one time he shrimped for a living. As a much younger man he captained a big boat, which he took anywhere he wished to go. A smaller eponymous boat came later. Now there is this vessel, which will have its maiden voyage when the new shrimp season begins. Currently it is in the back yard of his home on Walnut Street, which is not where Mr. Neg started out. He made his mark on the banks of Bayou Little Caillou. In time the waters ate too much of the land so he moved further north, to Montegut, and then the water had its way again and it was upward to Houma. But the bayou is in his blood.
Neg’s wife, Joyce, has ridden the motorcycle with him and taken a lot of shrimping trips in years gone by. But she won’t be going on this one in August.
“I’ve got trouble with my knee,” she says, but takes joy in her husband’s ability to keep on going. “I don’t mind him going out. As long as someone goes with him.”
He makes clear that his plans for August are not commercial in nature, and agrees that he will probably bring a relative along.
“We catch it just for the freezer,” he explains, expecting that in the future it’s what other people will do. “Don’t do it for a living. The prices are too low. For me now it’s a lot of work but it’s fun and I don’t have no other work to do. It’s just something to mess around with.” •
