By Kim F. Ridley (All Day ~ Speechless ~ Dinner)
“Yep, boys its time ta fill er up. We ain’t got no meat.” Paw said as he looked into our old deep freeze. It ben hard ta find any game this yer. I’m Boyce and I got two brothers, Tex and Dade. We ben havin a hard time killin anythin the past yer. It be like everythin run off.
We grabbed our guns and we wuz fixin ta do some huntin. Deer, rabbit, boar, turkey: pretty much anythin we could find. “Don’t you boys come back empty handed now. You her me?”
“Yes sir, Paw. We gon try.” Dade answered.
“Don’t try. Just do it.” Paw said like he gon whoop us if we didn’t brang somethin home ta eat. We been eatin a lot a fish. Kinda sick of it. We wuz men and we posed ta eat meat.
Me and my brothers, well we kinda run these parts. We is proud of it, too. We got about fifteen teeth tween the three a us. People don’t understand how we can eat whut we hunt with just fifteen teeth, well maybe it be sixteen, but I cain’t count that high. Only somebody from her in Mississippi could understand.
We walked fer a while, when we saw somethin movin tween the trees. Dade pull out his rifle and aimed at whatever it was. We wuz hopin it wuz a deer, but when we got up to the game we saw that we wuz headed for trouble. Mrs. Harris prize bull was layin ther dead as lizard in an oil pit. A light came on in the winder of the Harris place. Mrs. Harris yelled out, "Whose ther? Show yerself!" Old Mrs. Harris was short, round and had a beard that could skeer the curl out of a pig's tail. She shot one time in the air and we knew were in fer some trouble. We ran as fast as we could and headed back over the fence on ta our land. We found a spot ta set in fer the night and let thangs settle down. If'n Mrs. Harris found us we 'd be dead fer sure. I wuz a shakin.
We ain’t a skeered a nothing. Tex always say, “I got my 308 so cain’t nothin hurt us out her in these woods. These her our woods.
Well, I don’t wanna be a lyin. This past yer it seem somethin goin on in these her woods that ain’t normal. Sounds in the trees that just come out of nowheres and kinda make yer skin peel off yer bones. I ain’t got nun a dat superstitious kinda ways, but thangs just ain’t been right.
The moon was sittin high in the night sky when I heard Mrs. Harris yellin in the distant fog. "Yall get up. She's a comin," I said as I kicked Dade's foot.We headed out yonder to the thicket and I could see the graveyard on the edge a our property. Lester Creeks wuz buried there just last year. He hated us Bigleys somethin fierce. I guess cuz the way we treated his boy, Daryl Lee. We use ta take his lunch money and pick on him a lot. He wuz a scrawny little sissy and we Bigley boys made the most of it. We wuz just fun’in, but Lester didn’t take much of a lik’in to it.
We hunted all day, and dusk was a comin, wuzn’t nothin to be killed anywheres. “Paw gonna kill us if we don’t bring somethin home to eat fer dinner.” Tex said. Dusk was a settin and a yeller glow filled the graveyard. Dade wuz standin right by the headstone of Lester Creek. I had no idee we had ended up her. I remember that old fool tellin us for he died he wuz gonna ruin the Bigleys. “Won’t be no game fer ya. I’ll make sure of it.” I could hear the words like it wuz yesterday.
I thought fer a minute, which be kind a hard to do, thinkin an all. “What if old Lester cursed us so we ain’t got nothin to hunt?”
“You crazy. Whut got into ya? Lester ain’t done nothin. He dead.” Dade said.
Darkness took over the sky. A smoke come a risin out the ground right in front a Dade. Smelled like rotten taters. The vapers started ta take the shape of a man. Kinda looked like old Lester. Tex shot at the ground right wheres the smoke wuz a risin from.
“Ouch!” Dade wuz a shoutin. Blood wuz a comin out a his shoe. Tex dun takin out Dade’s little toe on his right foot. Well, at least his right foot match his left foot now since it only had four toes when he wuz birthed.
The smokin form started ta speak. We wuz scared speechless. I don’t care whut Tex say, the front a his pants proved he wuz scared. “You boys tired of huntin? You tired of comin up empty handed?” Lester said kinda ghostly like.
“Lester, you posed ta be dead.” I said. My voice wuz a shakin.
“I is dead boy. I toad ya. Yall gonna pay for doin my son wrong.”
“Whut can we do ta make it right Mr. Lester?” Dade axed.
“Give up yer evil ways and go ta school. Give up yer greediness and go ta church. Give up yer filthy habits and take a bath. Or there be no game fer ya. Nothin. Nothin at all.” His voice be a loud thunderin. The ground wuz a movin like a quake wuz a comin.
After that night, we became the first vegetarians in Mississippi.
“Yep, boys its time ta fill er up. We ain’t got no meat.” Paw said as he looked into our old deep freeze. It ben hard ta find any game this yer. I’m Boyce and I got two brothers, Tex and Dade. We ben havin a hard time killin anythin the past yer. It be like everythin run off.
We grabbed our guns and we wuz fixin ta do some huntin. Deer, rabbit, boar, turkey: pretty much anythin we could find. “Don’t you boys come back empty handed now. You her me?”
“Yes sir, Paw. We gon try.” Dade answered.
“Don’t try. Just do it.” Paw said like he gon whoop us if we didn’t brang somethin home ta eat. We been eatin a lot a fish. Kinda sick of it. We wuz men and we posed ta eat meat.
Me and my brothers, well we kinda run these parts. We is proud of it, too. We got about fifteen teeth tween the three a us. People don’t understand how we can eat whut we hunt with just fifteen teeth, well maybe it be sixteen, but I cain’t count that high. Only somebody from her in Mississippi could understand.
We walked fer a while, when we saw somethin movin tween the trees. Dade pull out his rifle and aimed at whatever it was. We wuz hopin it wuz a deer, but when we got up to the game we saw that we wuz headed for trouble. Mrs. Harris prize bull was layin ther dead as lizard in an oil pit. A light came on in the winder of the Harris place. Mrs. Harris yelled out, "Whose ther? Show yerself!" Old Mrs. Harris was short, round and had a beard that could skeer the curl out of a pig's tail. She shot one time in the air and we knew were in fer some trouble. We ran as fast as we could and headed back over the fence on ta our land. We found a spot ta set in fer the night and let thangs settle down. If'n Mrs. Harris found us we 'd be dead fer sure. I wuz a shakin.
We ain’t a skeered a nothing. Tex always say, “I got my 308 so cain’t nothin hurt us out her in these woods. These her our woods.
Well, I don’t wanna be a lyin. This past yer it seem somethin goin on in these her woods that ain’t normal. Sounds in the trees that just come out of nowheres and kinda make yer skin peel off yer bones. I ain’t got nun a dat superstitious kinda ways, but thangs just ain’t been right.
The moon was sittin high in the night sky when I heard Mrs. Harris yellin in the distant fog. "Yall get up. She's a comin," I said as I kicked Dade's foot.We headed out yonder to the thicket and I could see the graveyard on the edge a our property. Lester Creeks wuz buried there just last year. He hated us Bigleys somethin fierce. I guess cuz the way we treated his boy, Daryl Lee. We use ta take his lunch money and pick on him a lot. He wuz a scrawny little sissy and we Bigley boys made the most of it. We wuz just fun’in, but Lester didn’t take much of a lik’in to it.
We hunted all day, and dusk was a comin, wuzn’t nothin to be killed anywheres. “Paw gonna kill us if we don’t bring somethin home to eat fer dinner.” Tex said. Dusk was a settin and a yeller glow filled the graveyard. Dade wuz standin right by the headstone of Lester Creek. I had no idee we had ended up her. I remember that old fool tellin us for he died he wuz gonna ruin the Bigleys. “Won’t be no game fer ya. I’ll make sure of it.” I could hear the words like it wuz yesterday.
I thought fer a minute, which be kind a hard to do, thinkin an all. “What if old Lester cursed us so we ain’t got nothin to hunt?”
“You crazy. Whut got into ya? Lester ain’t done nothin. He dead.” Dade said.
Darkness took over the sky. A smoke come a risin out the ground right in front a Dade. Smelled like rotten taters. The vapers started ta take the shape of a man. Kinda looked like old Lester. Tex shot at the ground right wheres the smoke wuz a risin from.
“Ouch!” Dade wuz a shoutin. Blood wuz a comin out a his shoe. Tex dun takin out Dade’s little toe on his right foot. Well, at least his right foot match his left foot now since it only had four toes when he wuz birthed.
The smokin form started ta speak. We wuz scared speechless. I don’t care whut Tex say, the front a his pants proved he wuz scared. “You boys tired of huntin? You tired of comin up empty handed?” Lester said kinda ghostly like.
“Lester, you posed ta be dead.” I said. My voice wuz a shakin.
“I is dead boy. I toad ya. Yall gonna pay for doin my son wrong.”
“Whut can we do ta make it right Mr. Lester?” Dade axed.
“Give up yer evil ways and go ta school. Give up yer greediness and go ta church. Give up yer filthy habits and take a bath. Or there be no game fer ya. Nothin. Nothin at all.” His voice be a loud thunderin. The ground wuz a movin like a quake wuz a comin.
After that night, we became the first vegetarians in Mississippi.
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