Page 7 - Contrast1957Springv1n1

two had. Lord, did those niggers back there howl at that onel Why
Mertie Davis, lives about half mile down the road, she left her 'tater
patch cause she thought little Lucy was crying. They can really whoop
and holler when they set a mind to it, and I have to call 'em down ever
now and then. I don't mind 'em, though, sorta livens up the place.
Heck, ever now and then they buy a pineapple soda or a ice cream stick.

Well, like I was gonna tell you, last Saturday afternoon was really
something. All the boys was huddled around the stove in the back,
and Thunderbolt was telling some of his stories, and they was all
a-cackling like a hen when she knows you is getting her eggs. I think
they had some wine back there, cause their faces was all a-glow, and
the jokes got worse but the laughing got louder. Just a regular Satur-
day afternoon. Peaches Brown came in with a long order for her
momma, and I was reading down it when I heard this car pull up
outside my place.

Now in Fairmount we don't mess with cars too much, cause we
don't need 'em, and ain't no gas to be had. Besides don't know who'd
drive the dern things. I guess you could see I was a little surprised.
I hurried and got Peaches her order, so I could be free to talk to the
man in the car. Peaches got fixed up, and I smiled my friendliest,
neighborly smile at the stranger. He was all dressed in dirty blue
overalls, with a big fur coat all wrapped round him. He had a fur hat
on too, and needed a shave pretty bad, and I swear if we'd been in the
woods, I'd shot him for a bear, and thought I had me a prize!

Well, he was stamping and shaking the mud off his boots and
clothes, and it was splattering all over the turnips and peas I had set
out, but I just grinned my neighborly grin a little more and said,
"What can I do for you, or do you for, stranger?"

"Listen, pal. I got a good deal on corn licker here. Real good
stuff, just made about twenty miles from here. With all these hill-
billies and niggers, you could push the stuff and make a fortune ...
and there's plenty where this came from." The stranger pulled a
bottle out from inside his coat. "Take a nip."

"No, thanks, I'm not an indulging man," I said. I knew this
feller was up to no good, and I ain't never had no cause to put Sheriff
Butler out in my life, except that time he caught us shooting crap
in the feed room.

"Give you a great deal. Sell you a case for twenty, or two bucks
will get you a fifth," the stranger continued.

Now he said that word fifth just a little too loud, cause Thunder-
bolt was up and standing there along-side before you could spit at a cat.

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