Charlie Flagg is one of the greatest Texans who never lived.
Charlie is from the imagination of renowned Texas author Elmer Kelton. And if you’ve read Kelton’s greatest work, The Time it Never Rained, you know Charlie.
Charlie, an irascible soul, is called “Crank Number One,” among other things.
A local describes him as “one of those old mosshorns who thinks he made it all by himself and he doesn’t need anybody.”
Scott Collins
Early in Kelton’s novel, three “Mexicans” who just crossed the Rio Grande are hiding in the brush while Charlie and a group of sheep shearers work. When Manual asks Charlie if he’ll hire the trio, he refuses because it’s against the law.
“Once the border patrol catches you givin’ them work, they’ll rag you from then on,” Charlie responds.
However, Charlie agrees to feed the three, an old father and two sons: “I don’t want nobody to leave this place hungry, Mexican or white.”
When the father asks for work, Charlie again demurs, telling him: “I am sorry, amigo. You know the laws of my country. You swam the river without papers, and it is prohibited that I hire you. Like you, I believe this law is unjust, but no matter, it is still the law.”
The three are taken to the big house and given a hardy meal of leftovers and advised to head north.
While the three fill their hungry stomachs, two Border Patrol agents pull up to the ranch. One is a seasoned agent while the other is an eager young man ready to arrest anyone.
“I know the law is as blind as a one-eyed mule in a root cellar.”
Much to Charlie’s chagrin, the three Mexicans, unaware the Border Patrol has arrived, leave the house and head back down to thank Charlie for his hospitality. When they’re spotted, the agents take off after them and arrest two while the youngest gets away.
Parker, the experienced agent, scolds Charlie. “You know the law,” he tells Charlie.
“I know the law is as blind as a one-eyed mule in a root cellar,” Charlie responds.
“If you ranchers would stop feeding them, they’d quit coming. There are laws about that,” says Nance, the younger agent.
“And have a man starve to death in one of my pastures? There’s a law about that too, a damn sight older than yours,” Charlie responds.
I’m pretty sure Charlie Flagg didn’t attend seminary, and he probably wasn’t in church very often. But Charlie knew what was right. Call it common sense or common decency, but you just don’t let a person starve.
Charlie knew the law of the land. He also knew the law of God, and he knew which was more important.
“He executes justice for the orphan and the widow and shows his love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the alien, for you were aliens in the load of Egypt,” says Deuteronomy 10:18-19.
The Time It Never Rained was first published in 1973. Yet Kelton’s description of the border encounter reads like it happened yesterday.
I’ve spent the last 15 years teaching English as a Second Language and citizenship classes to immigrants. I’ve made lifelong friends with dozens of immigrants, some with documents and some without.
In recent weeks, I’ve had firsthand encounters with heartbreaking stories of family separations caused by detention and deportation because of the “law,” making me feel like Charlie.
Every immigrant or refugee I’ve met is like the three men Charlie encountered: “We do not beg. We ask only for work.”
In his acceptance speech Nov. 3, U.S. Senator-Elect James Talarico emphasized a central message of his campaign: “The world changes person to person, neighbor to neighbor, in each moment when you choose to be kind, in each neighbor we choose to love, in each prayer that we save for someone who would not pray for us in return.”
And while Charlie Flagg might not have been so eloquent, the sentiment is the same.
Surely the path forward is a mix of common sense and common decency. That might be asking a lot out of Washington, but one thing’s for sure: We can all be like Charlie Flagg.
Scott Collins is a retired nonprofit communications executive.