Mr. George Thomas Jones, by Kerry Madden

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We met George Thomas Jones on Tuesday evening in his home. He is the town historian and newspaper columnist, whose columns have been made into books, "Happenings in Old Monroeville, Volumes One and Two." He was born in 1922 and moved to Monroeville in 1926 and was about three years ahead of Harper Lee in school. He has also been caring for his wife, Louise, who has been bedridden for fifteen years with Parkinson's disease. Louise and Harper Lee were good friends and played golf together. Bunny Hines, the librarian, remarked about him, "George Thomas Jones will have a jewel in his crown!"

Jones' mother started the lunchroom program at school. She made ham, pimento, and banana & peanut butter sandwiches. Baby Ruth candy bars cost a nickel. Vegetable soup and crackers were ten cents. She knew the country kids couldn't go home for lunch, and she felt the school needed a lunchroom, so she set up one in the school basement.

Sitting in his living room, we were transported back to the days of old Monroeville. He told of us childhood games like "Hot Grease in the Kitchen" and watching "Nelle" take on three boys on the playground after a hair-pulling incident.

But one of the funniest stories was a memory of Truman Capote. "I was a soda jerk at a local drugstore, and Truman was two years younger than me. He was a short runty kid with long yellow hair. He came in one day and said, ‘Boy I sure would like something good but y'all ain't got it.'"

I said, "Truman, what do you want? I'll fix you anything you want."

Truman said, "Fine! Fix me a Broadway Flip!"

Jones admitted he had no idea what a "Broadway Flip" was, which embarrassed him, but all he could think to say was, "‘Boy, I'll flip you!' And I flipped him off the stool. He flew out of here so fast."

We must have talked for at least two hours that night, and Jones became a friend over the next two years. When I didn't know the answer to something, he would reply by email in lightning speed. And if he didn't know the answer, he would go dig it up. The gift of this book was that the majority of people I interviewed and got to know were in their 80s and 90s

Kerry Madden, Harper Lee: Up Close, Viking Children's Books, Penguin Books