Young Guns

Photo by Lisa Bernheim

Lisa was kind enough to let me use the photos she took for The Post article.
They are of Charlotte Buck and Tom Cullums on a Saturday earlier this quarter. Lisa made comment that she wishes that she could have spent more time with them. I second that.
I've spent a few solid nights talking with the couple about everything from Athens circa 1960 to the best hunting spots in West Virginia. I enter their home and receive nothing less than incredible hospitality, even when Tom isn't feeling so well, which has been the case more often lately.
In years past, Tom and Charlotte have split the tasks of driving and collecting. Recently, Tom is the unofficial driver and Charlotte runs the cans from bin to backseat or ground to window.
It's a concern for them. Can collecting means remaining healthy
enough to take Athens street by street in search of scrap metal. Can collecting also means having a running vehicle. Both machines are failing according to Tom.
He provided me one of the most honest, yet depressing quotes on my first visit to their home. In paraphrased form: I've got heart trouble, diabetes, and a bad back. The car's not going to last much longer without some major work. I don't know what we're going to do.
For such a normally upbeat couple the mood that settled over the room was thick with uncertainty and discomfort. Tom quickly changed the subject and rambled off into something about the peyote scene from Young Guns, which played on the big television on the floor (opposed to the smaller static-filled television on the dresser beside it).
It's a tough situation for them. Though, it won't be the first time that life has thrown them a curve ball. Tom said it's been a lot worse for them. Charlotte just nodded staring off undoubtedly into a memory from those times.