Steve Cordoba walked through the door of the Trading Post and was lookin all around, obviously seekin someone or something! His eyes lit on Earl and Carl and he headed right for them!
Earl groaned, “Sometimes you just cain’t win fur losin! Hi Steve. How have you been? We ain’t seen you in a while. How’s that leg and chest of yores?”
Steve opened up his shirt, right there in the grocery store to show off his scars, proudly. “They’s healed up just fine! The doctor said Lucy was just about the finest backwoods healer they seen work from. They said I had the best mountain care. I seen Blackie and Youngster out in the parkin lot and knew you was here! Aha, mason jars! And sugar. Well, Earl, it looks like you are back in business! Where did you get more cookin pots after Petey blew up yore others?
You just about had me fooled after we searched yore place and didn’t find nothin. Well, watch yore back, Earl Higgins!” Steve said as he walked off.
Earl paid fur his items and they left fur home. It was a mite slower, travellin in the dusk and then the dark .Carl had brought a kerosene lantern and lit it fur lightin up the road. They talked about the big mistake, remorsin and then finally laughin. “Can you think of a more comical coincidence, pa?” Carl asked. “We’re bein so keerful to go to another town and it turns out to be the town of the revenooer we were tryin to avoid!”
“Well, that’ll be a tale fur yore grandkids, Carl!” Earl said, tryin to catch his breath from laughin so hard!
When they got up the next day, Earl and Carl set up to figurin out a plan. “You can bet yore brass belt buckle that ol Steve will be follerin us around to figure out where we are set up,” Earl said. “Now we ain’t got much time to figure this out. The mash should be about ready.
They walked out to the wagon. Earl put one of the flats of mason jars into the car and then put a box of about the same size under the flat of mason jars left in the wagon so it looked like both of the flats were still in the wagon at a casual glance. He had Carl go to the barn to get a couple of burlap bags to carry in the wagon too so it looked like Carl was headed to the secret hidey hole to cook moonshine. Carl packed his gun and some food and took John with him. They had a place in mind to do some huntin and would enjoy bein the decoy fur Steve!
John and Carl pulled over to the side of the road after travellin about 5 miles and started unloadin things. They carried them over to the creek like they were gettin ready to run some shine and then waited a few minutes. Sure enough, they heard a car stop and it wasn’t long before they were joined by a gun-brandishin Steve. “Freeze, you are under arrest!” Steve said.
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They had made a fire and cooked some cowboy coffee and offered Steve some. His face looked crestfallen when he realized this wasn’t a moonshine set up. “Would you like to do some huntin with us, Steve?” John asked. “We hear the deer are thick in here in the afternoon and knowin how much you enjoyed the venison our ma cooked while you were stayin at the house, I think you will enjoy a good hunt with us!.”
Steve looked dazed and then he gathered his faculties and realized what was goin on. Earl wasn’t anywhere around and Steve was pretty sure he knew what Earl was up to. He also knew
Earl had had enough time to have travelled to his still site, wherever it was and be in the woods out of sight, making his whiskey while the boys distracted him. Well, he might as well make the best of things and bag himself a deer! “Do you guys have an extra gun on you? My pistol won’t work fur huntin. I sure would like to get me some venison!”
“Well all right!” John said. “Welcome to the huntin party!”
Back at the house, Earl watched the boys leave and was pretty sure he saw their revenooer follow them and said, “Show time boys! Time fur me to hit the road!” His car was already loaded up and he was in high spirits. This was his chance to help his oldest son with an important part of his new life! He sang while he travelled to the still site.
Earl had brought a few 5 gallon buckets with him to collect the whiskey in, so he hauled them through the woods and got the still fired up. Findin one of the seams leakin, Earl got out some of the oats, made a good paste and soon had the seam as good as new. While the whiskey was runnin, Earl used the fire to cook up some of the smoked wildcat meat with potatoes in the fryin pan., along with some spinach for a nice one-pot meal He would stir it and then go over to make sure the 5 gallon bucket didn’t overflow. Then he went back to stir his food. Next was switchin the buckets. He had to move the full one over real keerful-like so it didn’t spill and git the next bucket moved under the flowin likker quick like so he didn’t lose any. This is where it would have been nice to have a helper, but he made it ok. He was glad his helpers were distractin Steve. He wouldn’t have had it any other way!
Earl found it slow goin walkin through the woods with each of the buckets. He was breathin hard and stoppin to rest every 10 feet or so by the time he got to the last bucket and was finally over the ridge and the car was in sight when a big old tree root tripped him and half of that bucket spilled, before he could get it upright again! “God damn it to hell!” he shouted before he could stop himself. It was so frustrating and disturbing to spill the likker that would help his son and daughter in law to get set up fur their new lives!
Earl was about plum tuckered out, and thought about goin home but decided to go to Happy Toe Holler to move the moonshine along. That way he didn’t have to drive home, unload those heavy buckets and then reload, all the while chancin runnin into Steve. Earl struggled to keep his eyes open, he was so tired, but along about dawn he reached his destination.
