Rodney, my brother- in-law, is one of the South’s best storytellers. He doesn’t tell stories in the typical Southern manner of embellishment, lyrical phrasing, or extreme expression.

Sentiment is not something I was taught. It was born in me.

Seton Tucker is the reason that I all a’sudden packed a suitcase on Sunday night and said, casually, to Tink, “I’m going to South Carolina for the Murdaugh trial tomorrow.” He chuckled. “Be safe.” He is used to my spontaneous ideas.

For about 27 years, I hosted Thanksgiving – long before I knew John Tinker – for family and friends who did not have a place to celebrate the blessings (and sometimes even the tribulations of the past year).

There is not a Southern Gothic story, murder, or else, without the Devil in a starring role. The combination of elements is murky — half-lit nights, characters either eccentric or “tetched” in the head, absurd circumstances, and long drawls that often feature poetic words learned from English poets, Shakespeare, or the King James Bible.

Tink enjoys looking out a window to see me meandering through the yard, talking to imaginary people. Usually, I’m working out a story but, not infrequently, I’m talking to someone special.

In our kitchen, the large round table is often embarrassingly messy, covered with mail, packages, newspapers, and magazines. Try as I might, I cannot keep it cleaned off because the amount of daily mail we receive is astounding, sometimes six inches high.

When Tink came South, toting all his worldly possessions, included in the myriad boxes were some of the ugliest shirts I’d ever seen. Until Tink began to happily pull the beloved plaid shirts from storage, I don’t believe I had ever looked at a man’s shirt and thought, “Yuck.” There was plenty of yuck in those boxes.

Quite by accident, I have made Tink a star. I, without thought, have done what the biggest stars in Hollywood could not do.

“In so much as it is within your control in a situation, be kind.” My niece, Nicole, was telling me about a family meeting that she and her husband, Jay, had recently conducted with their five children. That commandment was the meeting’s foundation.