Ellington

Need a snow cone? Hot dog? Nachos? A newspaper or a bottle of water? Gus and David Abron, a couple of charming guys, are there for you in the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center. In fact, they were the mall's first vendors when it opened in 1996.

Gus is 58, and all David would say about his age when I interviewed him was, "I'm living," followed by a grin. Gus loves to dance, race cars at drag strips and build engines. David loves to take pictures, restore antique cars and build engines. Both clearly enjoy their customers.

Soon, I'd seen yearbook photos of Gus at Brinkley High School in 1965 where he was voted Most Talented and from then Utica Junior College where his fellow students selected him as Friendliest, Most Popular and Best Dancer. Next there were pictures of Gus at the drag strip, one in particular of a young Gus with "Big Daddy" Don Garlits.

Then I heard all about David's first car, a 1941 burgundy two-door Ford coupe with a flathead V8 engine. "I bought it from the man across the way for $25. The engine and the transmission were in the trunk," he explained. Gus threw in, "He was using it for a chicken coop," grinning sideways at me as David continued. "My uncle told me I'd never get it to run. I thought I'd show him, so I put it together and had it cranked and running in a week or so. I drove it till my junior year in college. Gus has it now."

"I've had it since then. I've put several engines in it—Chrysler, Cadillac, Buick, Olds—people always said you won't get it to run," Gus said. "I've been around the world in that car. We do the impossible," he said with satisfaction.

Their two shops, open weekdays 7:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m., are worthwhile also. Walking from one to the other, passing mall-walkers getting their exercise, David set a steady pace. Dancing is Gus' exercise of choice, walking David's: "I'm just active. I take care of me 'cause I'm the only me I've got." The entire time we walked and talked, a customer or an acquaintance was shaking one or both brothers' hands, smiling in tandem with the duo.

While automobiles mean a great deal to the Abron brothers, people mean more. As Gus put it, "The value of life is knowing other people," quickly followed by David's, "Ditto, ditto, ditto."