University of Virginia Library

Autograph Seekers

The autograph begging
continued for over an hour. As
they became near many tried
to tell Hamner how they were
distantly related or had worked
for his father or had gone to
school with him. To each one
he listened receptively. As he
continued signing his name
many people, particularly older
women, would reach out and
merely touch him for a second
or two.

Gradually, as the sun grew
hotter the crowd thinned out.
The High School baseball team,
scheduled to play later in the
day, began dismantling the
platform, which had been
situated in what was otherwise
their center field.

Geer, moving toward the
shelter of his bus, yelled so all
could hear, "Earl Hamner's got
writer's cramp," drawing a
laugh from the besieged but
gratified author.