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Your Retirement Life: The World’s Largest Man

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“E.J., Here is a little taste of Mississippi life. Enjoy!”

That was the note from a client written on the inside cover of the funny as well as tender memoir, The World’s Largest Man, by Harrison Scott Key. Turns out, some parts of growing up in Mississippi aren’t that much different from any town USA. In one excerpt Key writes about how his father would read the telephone bill like some Old Testament scholar with a gift for high blood pressure.

“Who called 734-908-4560?” he would say. “Who is that?”

“Who knows?” Mom would say.

“Somebody knows! And I aim to find out!”

“Why does everything have to be a conspiracy?” Mom said.

“Where the hell is 734? He said. “Sounds Canadian.”

“What about that number sounds Canadian?” Mom said.

“Who in this family thinks we can afford to talk to Canada? This ain’t the League of Nations here! Where the boys at? Go get the boys.”

“We’re right here,” we said. “We’ve been sitting here the whole time.”

“Godalmighty, boys, which one a you is calling Alaska here.”

“I thought it was Canada,” I said.

“How expensive of a call was it?” Mom said.

“A dollar fifteen,” he said, his face expanding, reddening, his heart preparing to outgrow the Saskatchewan province and explode.

Originally posted on Yoursurvivalguy.com.

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E.J. Smith

Editor-in-Chief
E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com.