Following a brief absence of correspondence from my Isle of Palms friend, and this picks up a few years after Part Four of these blog entries, I received a letter dated July 28, 1989. From this point on, Russ Reardon's letters would characteristically be filled with spelling errors, cross-outs and a sloppiness previously unseen. The reason for this abrupt change was a "minor stroke" as he called it, and my immediate reaction was, the damned cigarettes finally took a toll. That he apparently bounced back physically is either a tribute to his medical care or to his well-honed stubbornness. From what I know, he continued smoking in years thereafter. This addiction, however, did not stand alone: An obsession for knowledge can be just as overpowering, as I would discover years later.
In another context years ago in this blog, I mentioned Russ's encounter with a doctor and used the word, psychic, but after locating his original letter I can clarify what he actually said when his physician encountered Russ after the stroke. Why didn't you come to see me before you had the stroke? asked his doctor. "Because I'm not clairvoyant," followed his savvy reply.
October of 1989 brought another devastating surprise when Hurricane Hugo wiped out a good deal of South Carolina's coast, including Isle of Palms. Russ and Susan lost their home and pretty much all of their possessions (some of it to looters), forcing them temporarily to move into a tiny apartment. They were also forced to relocate from Isle of Palms to Mt. Pleasant, SC by May of 1990, where they would live for the rest of their lives.
Just before that move, however, Russ Reardon was already making plans for a journey south, way far south. I had a hint of this in a letter dated December 3, 1989.
Shortly after their relocation to Mt. Pleasant, Susan Reardon required a double mastectomy (per letter of July 31, 1990) from which she emerged well, but I'm not so certain that the stress of both the hurricane and Russ's stroke hadn't exacted a toll on her both physically and emotionally. The solitary photo included on this page today shows Susan Reardon relaxing at their new home in (fast forward to) 1993 with a female friend (not shown, at least not much of her, as I edited the picture)
.Over a year later (letter of September 11, 1991) Russ was still disappointed that his collection of letters from Paul Bennewitz had not been returned by a person who I now knew was named Steve Nelson. Whether the move from Isle of Palms to a new place had a relationship to this situation, I do not and would never know.
As the calendar skipped to 1992, I realized that old Russ was about to accomplish a very ill-advised project. How could I NOT know, since he invited me to participate? It was no thanks from me, but full speed ahead for Russ Reardon, and even Susan went along with the deal reluctantly, probably hoping to keep him out of trouble.
