A Drink with the Deacon

"Well girly, if we don't have a cafe, we surely don't have a hotel."

"Then sir we will take your gas and Oil. Also some of the soup and anything else you might have around to go with it." I shot a hard look at Red. I figured she had a few words to say about that Girly remark.

"Sure, if you got the money?"

"I'll tell you what friend. You figure about how much five gallons of gas. a quart of oil and two bowl of soup and a wedge of that cheese will cost and I will check." I reached into my pocket. I pulled out the roll of bills that was my mustering out pay.

"Sorry Captain, the girl is pretty young and people steal from me all the time." The man was pulling on a heavy wool coat as he spoke.

He was out the door when I said to Red. "I ain't never stole nothing, but it would be a pleasure to steal from him."

"Why don't we then?" she asked.

I ran it around in my mind. I thought she was kidding at first. After I got past that, I thought about it quickly. "Because we couldn't get away with it." I smiled at her as I spoke. At that moment she smiled back. Her smile told me I had just made a pact with a she-devil. Red walked around the store. I assumed she was looking for things to steal.

"Could I help you?" the voice belonged to a woman. She was talking to me, but looking at Red.

"As a matter of fact you can. The gentleman outside said there was soup. We could sure use it. I think both of us are froze to the bone." I smiled my disarming smile.

"Sure, have a seat by the fire and I will bring it." She looked at Red when she spoke that time. She was just as distrustful as her husband.

"Ya'll don't like strangers much do you?" I asked it only after I had the soup in my hand. The woman didn't answer she looked away.

"I don't suppose you have some bread and cheese ma'am" I was surprised at the sweet voice coming from Rachel. I had not heard that voice since we left her mother's farm.

The smile the woman gave Rachel was not motherly at all. There were challenges in each one's glare. Well there goes the warm place to sleep I thought.

"I put the five gallons in the truck and half a quart of oil. I see ma got you the soup." The man said it upon his return. Not only were Red and I eating the soup we were eating the cheese and bread.

"Yes and mighty good soup it is." I said it hoping to revive our chance of sleeping in a building. Red glared at me. I didn't expect that she knew what I was doing. Never slap a man you need. One of the first things my Sergeant taught me.

"Thank you captain the wife is a good cook all right."

"Well, we appreciate the fire. I suppose we better be looking for a place to sleep tonight."

"You ain't gonna find much Captain. Nothing around here and nothing before you get to Harrisburg and that is thirty more miles." It was the woman who I assumed was the storekeeper's wife.

"We have a blanket roll, we will just have to sleep in the truck. I can probably find a church to park beside. Cut the wind I expect."

The storekeeper looked at his wife who shook her head. Any hope we had of staying with them was gone. "Tell you what Captain, you ain't likely to find anything around here but I noticed you got rails on that truck of yours. I got a tarp that will fit over it pretty good. It should keep the wind out."

"Actually I need a big tarp. I got a small one but it is not much bigger than a ground cloth. You want to sell the tarp." I asked it knowing he did.

"Well it is new. I keep them for the farmers to cover up hay in the summer. Don't sell none this time of year, so I can make you a good deal in it."

"I know this ain't gonna sound grateful, but how much is a good deal." I smiled to let him know I was not offended.

"Well, let me see. Five gallons of gas is twenty-five cents. The oil is five cents. Another dime for the two bowls of soup that comes to forty cents. How about a dollar and a half for it all including the tarp. I generally get two dollars for the tarp."

"Well it sounds reasonable enough." I lingered by the fire a moment more before I peeled off the bill then found the coins in my pocket.

"Captain, you ought to be careful with that money. There are people around who would kill you for a lot less." He looked like he was talking to a farmer.

"Thank you for the advice." Since he wasn't offering us a place to sleep, I didn't have to be nice anymore. I opened the heavy overcoat, then the officers service jacket. When I put the roll away it was in my shirt pocket. I gave him a good look at the .45 automatic pistol. Might as well get any thoughts of sending a thug for me out of his mind, I thought..

"Don't suppose you would want to sell that pistol?" I was glad he asked. It left no doubt that he had seen it.

"No thanks, it is kind of like an old friend. Used it in France." Now that should leave no doubt in his mind. I waited just a minute to let it all sink in, then I asked, "Do you have any idea where I can park this think tonight. I don't much want to get it stuck up."

"Well you headed toward Harrisburg?" I nodded as he took a breath. "Then about a mile down the road is a ball field on the right. The parking lot is covered in coal cinders. Everybody in town as been dumping them there for as long as anybody remembers. You won't get stuck on them.

Since it was the best offer I was likely to get I nodded. I figured if I had gotten the chill off, Red would also have been ready to move. I ushered her outside then into the waiting truck.

The drive to the town's baseball field was a short one. Preparing the truck for the night was more difficult. The cold fingers made it almost impossible to tie the ropes holding the canvas to the truck. It seemed amazing to me how fast my fingers stiffened once the gloves were removed. It was just as hard to tie a knot with the two heavy layers of gloves. The inner wool glove for warmth and the outer leather one to cut the wind. If you didn't have to tie a knot or pull a trigger the gloves were just fine.

I laid out the bed roll in the back of the truck. The canvas tarp from home was large enough to cover the bottom of the truck and fold over us to help conserve our body heat. Since we would be sleeping in our clothes, a bottom blanket would be unnecessary. I would have slept on half the quilt had I been alone. My heavy wool overcoat I placed over the quilt before I folded the tarp over the top of us.

Red's body heat added to my own managed to keep us from being too uncomfortable. Even so I slept poorly. It had to do with the need to hold Red close so that the bed roll covered us both. When the sun came up we took turns in the privy set up for the games.

The privy seemed to have been recently moved. That and the terrible cold accounted for the lack of a smell while I used it. I was thankful. I had always found the privy smell nauseating first thing in the morning. We began to drive without breakfast or coffee. I took only time to roll up the blankets and canvas.

The tarp from the farm was almost pure white while the one from the store was green. The one from the store was probably Army surplus. Must of the equipment from 'The war to end all wars' had made it to the civilian sector. The green tarp also still had its waterproofing it seemed. The one I brought from home had long since become simply a heavy piece of canvas.

With all the trappings of a camping expedition put away, we began out drive west. We made it to Harrisburg shortly after lunch. We found a cafe just off the main road.

The lunch took almost an hour. Most of the time was spent getting warm. The open truck in the dead of winter was terrible.

When we reached the Ohio river, we turned south. Just outside Harrisburg we spent another cold and miserable night in the rear of the truck.

There had been no further snow fall so we were able to get farther each day than the day before. We followed along the Ohio river for two days then drove due south into Kentucky.

Lexington being the Capitol of Kentucky, was a large town even then. Since it was a large town with several hotels, it was especially hard for us to sleep in the back of the truck that night.

We arrived at a crossroad with the name catnip tacked to a post. From that point the drive to Rachel's father's family home was only a few miles. She could not remember the exact house, so we stopped for directions along the way. The first place we stopped was of no use, the people obviously did not recognize Rachel. We got close enough to the family's house so that someone recognized her father's name.

When we arrived at the unpainted house, Rachel learned that the grandmother she had visited had passed away. We did get to meet the new lady friend of Rachel's father. The father was up on the mountain it seemed. According to the wife he was hunting I was pretty sure that Rachel had been right about the whiskey making.

"Deacon, I had no idea daddy was here. I don't want to see him." Rachel's eyes were dancing.

"Okay Red, I will go talk to him. Let's take you somewhere safe." She looked grateful, though she said not a word. The safe spot turned out to be an aunt and uncle's house. The Uncle was sitting by the fire with his radio blaring. Rachel explained it all to him. Not only could Rachel stay with his wife but he agreed to take me to the still. He seemed genuinely interested in Rachel's welfare.

"Since the kid is a partner in this, I am going to see you get treated fair." He said it after we were on our way up the mountain. "My brother owes her."

He didn't explain and I didn't ask. We parked at the base of the mountain then walked up. "How, the hell, do they get it out of here?" I asked it not believing that anything could move on the steep trail.

"Mule drawn skid," he replied. "They load the corn on it going up and the liquor coming down. We could wait with the car, but I expect you want to get moving."

"Yes, I expect it would be best. I had thought we could stay a few days to rest but Rachel has a really bad fear of her father." I explained.

"Well her daddy is my brother so I ain't gonna say nuthin' agin him, but we will get your liquor then you can take her away from here."

"Well my problem is what if I want to buy more?" I asked it of his back as we climbed the steep trail.

"Then we will arrange a place for us to meet. I just need to show them you ain't the law. Then you can come here and I will have them bring it to you."

I was so out of breath that I didn't have anything much to say until we were in a clearing. Inside the clearing sat several wooden barrels and a copper still. I had never seen one before, so it was an interesting sight. I wanted to ask questions, but I didn't want to appear stupid.

"John," the uncle said as a greeting to one of the older men. "This here is Deacon Burke. He came to buy some whiskey. He is a friend of the family, I came along to make sure you did him right."

"And to keep him alive, I 'spect." The man stepped forward to take my hand. The two things I noticed were that his hand was rough and calloused and that he smelled even worse than me. I had been on the road for several days. I had no idea, what his excuse might be.

"Could be Jess, either way I brought him and he wants to buy some bug juice." The man smiled at his own joke.

"Don't sell much to the Army," he replied.

"Sir, I ain't in the army no more. I am looking for a way to make a few dollars so I can buy some clothes." I smiled. I made a joke of the fact that I still wore my uniform. What I had told him was the truth. I hadn't had the need for civies, up until a week before.

"You want to buy it here and resell it somewhere else?" he asked.

"I do," I replied.

The old man with the white beard shook his head. Well son, if you know what you getting into, you got balls. If you don't, you should ask before you do this."

I looked him in the eye. "So, what am I getting into?"

"Well son, you buy and their ain't no refunds. If the cops stop you, you go to jail and lose the liquor and your money. It you try to sell it in the big towns the gangs stop you and you are dead. If you try in the little towns, it means a couple of gallons here and there. The longer you have it, the better the chances somebody will catch you. So your odds on winding up in jail or dead are about the same as you making any money doing this."

"Do you tell everybody this or just family friends?" I said it with a big smile.

"Well captain, I don't want you bringing them to me. Matter of fact I hope you can't find me again. If you survive this one, I will bring the liquor to you down the mountain."

"I don't particularly want to make this walk again." I didn't look around any farther. I wanted to buy the liquor and get the hell out of there. "So, how much a gallon?"

"Dollar a gallon," the old man said.

"Ain't that a bit much?" The speaks are selling it a nickel a shot. Speaks can't be paying much more than that for it.

"They will pay you two dollars a gallon easy," the old man countered.

"You maybe right the risks might make it too small a profit," I said. "That ain't much profit after I take out the expenses. I don't think with the risks you mentioned it is worth it. Sorry I took up your time."

"How many gallons can you take?" he asked.

I thought quickly about my mustering out pay. I had about a hundred dollars to spare.

"A hundred gallons at fifty cents a gallon." I said it with a serious look.

"You come a long way just to leave empty handed." The old man was a trader for sure.

"Well, I didn't have anywhere else to go." I was determined to stare him down.

"Split the difference, seventy-five cents a gallon?"

"Done," I said extending my hand to him.

An hour later Rachel's uncle and I unloaded a sled of cardboard boxes. We moved the boxes to the rear of my truck. We had settled on forty gallons. The liquor came packaged in one quart mason jars. Then they were packed twelve jars to a case. The 13 boxes took up just enough room to make sleep in the rear of the truck impossible.

That night Rachel and I slept in her uncle's barn. I was surprised that her father did not come to visit. After supper Rachel and her Uncle made a list of speaks and bootleggers to visit. They made the list twice as long as they thought I would need. None however was closer than fifty miles. It seems they sold that close to home themselves. The next morning Rachel and I left after a breakfast of biscuits sausage gravy and eggs. It was filling, as farm breakfasts usually are. Rachel's aunt filled a cloth sack with biscuits and a small jar of jam for us to take on the road.

Even with a stop for lunch we made it to just outside Covington by night fall. I was surprised that Rachel knew how to find the speak. A young and very large man met us at the door which opened to a hallway.

"What you want?" he asked.

"Got some hooch for sale," I replied.

"What would I want with hooch?" He asked almost convincingly.

"Well they said down in Catnip that you would want it. But if you don't we can move on." I was ready to go when Rachel spoke.

"Uncle Milton said you would want this white liquor," Rachel was trying to be sexy. The heavy coat she wore didn't allow it. I had seen her in her shift dress, she wouldn't have done much better without the coat. She just didn't have a really sexy body. The poor thing's body was as straight as a stick. I had yet to see it of course but there couldn't be much to it. She was flat chested and had no hips at all in the little shift dress farm girls wore. I guessed her age at seventeen possibly. She could have been younger or even a little older. The pale white skin with no make up was deceptive. She could have been fourteen or nineteen. It was just impossible to tell.

"Why didn't you just say you were from Milton? Come around back and we will make the deal." He turned his back on me. I didn't care for the man before after that move I hated him.

When we were outside I said, "I don't trust this man." I took the .45 from under my arm then slipped it into the heavy overcoat's pocket. I pulled the T into the alley. I left it running because the whole thing seemed wrong.

He met us at the back door. "So how much you got. I might just take it all." He looked shifty as he spoke.

I followed his eyes to the shadows behind the building. I made a move as thought to show him what was under the tarp. I managed to put him between me and the shadows. Rachel was pretty much on her own. I was having combat reactions. I knew the man in the shadows would be in a quandary. He wouldn't know what to do. Soon I expected him to show himself. Figuring the gun, he no doubt carried, would freeze me in place.

"Okay you two this is a stick up." The voice came from a man older than me, but not too much older.

I put the .45 to the head of the speak's owner. "Tell you what. Let's both rob him. If you don't drop that gun, I am going to kill him then you." I wasn't sure he would believe me, but if he hadn't, it was my intention to shoot them both.

To her credit Rachel had enough good sense to drop to the ground and out of the line of fire. The man, from the shadows, looked hard at me. I was applying pressure to the trigger of the Colt. It looked as though I was going to have to clean brains off my liquor boxes.

"Back off Seth," the speak's owner said.

"Drop the gun Seth, but don't you even think about leaving." I was pretty sure, If I let him go he would be back. "Now the price for the liquor is three dollars a gallon. How much do you want?"

"I don't want none." The speakeasy owner didn't seem to understand.

"You just tried to rob me and maybe even kill me. I think you want to buy as much as you can afford. It might just save your sorry ass." Somewhere during the statement he understood.

"Take out your money. You do the same Seth." Rachel collected it.

"Between they the got about twenty bucks," Rachel informed me.

"Okay Seth, take off two of those boxes. Rachel, give them two dollars back. Unlike you Slick, I ain't no thief."

I forced Seth to start the truck. Rachel backed it out of the alley after handing me Seth rusty old .38 Smith revolver. I backed out of the alley to the running T. Rachel drove off with me hanging on to the door open cab of the T, while covering the Speakeasy owner and his thug.

"I am not sure I am going to like the liquor business after all." I said that seriously, but somehow I giggled. Rachel did the same.

"Would you really have shot him?" She asked it with awe in her voice.

"I hope we don't ever have to find out." After a long pause I asked. "So, where do we go next?"

"There is a drugstore, and a hotel on the list. After that it is a couple of bootleggers."

"Let's see if we can do the drugstore and the hotel first. The bootleggers will be open late.

It was getting dark when I approached the drug store owner. He again met me at the rear. He bought two gallons at four bucks a gallon.

I walked into the downtown hotel ten minutes later. "Hello, is the manager in?" I asked it with what I hoped was a pleasant enough smile.

Without being called a middle-aged man appeared from behind the counter. "Sir, I have a delivery for you from Catnip Kentucky." I smiled at him across the counter.

"I see. It has been a long time since I heard from my friend down there. He looked a little concerned.

"Well, if you don't want it, I will return it to him." I began retracing my steps.

"Just one moment sir. Michael find these two a room in the rear. They look as though they could use a good night's sleep." He turned his attention to me. He could tell I was about to object. "There will, of course, be no charge for the rooms. It is the least I can do for the friend of a friend. Why don't you two park your car in our parking lot?"

"To tell you the truth I am a little concerned about the package." I looked him in the eye.