The next morning, Earl wasted no time in going to Donna’s to pick up the cow and then took her directly over to Tom Covington’s farm. She was really good about following the wagon, as she was tied to it, but she was as slow as Christmas and they didn’t get there until dinner time. Tom’s wife, Gloria, invited him to stay for dinner and to visit. He accepted and Gloria served a favorite in the hills, turnip greens, cornbread, and some squirrel cooked over the open fire! They arranged for Earl to return in 6 weeks, giving their bull, Romeo time to breed her.

  Tom said, “I see you brought yore wagon. I was wonderin if you might be able to haul off some metal trash I got down on the back 40. I ain’t got no use fur it and need it gone sose I kin git that area all plowed up. I know we ain’t discussed no fee fur the breedin and wus wonderin if you might do that in exchange fur it?”

  “Well,” Earl hesitated, “How heavy is it? My back ain’t the best.”

  “Why don’t you take a walk with me and see what you think?” Tom asked.

  Earl agreed and they had a pleasant walk down to the back 40. Just past the field was a beautiful, bubbling creek which afforded wonderful water fur the crops that would be growin in that field. When Earl caught sight of the metal, sitting in the overgrowth of weeds, his eyes grew as round as saucers. He went over to examine the metal closely.

  “This is copper!” Earl said and let out a low whistle. “This is a valuable copper still!” He examined it further and found the coil, the pot and the rest of the still in perfect shape! Earl wasn’t especially close to Tom and his wife, although there was no bad blood between them, but he had to wonder if it was safe to take this still or if it could possibly be a set-up. “What is this doin here, Tom?”

  “Well, about 5 years ago, my brother-in-law, Harold, decided to make some moonshine. He hadn’t poured the mash into the still, yet and had an accident. He had a seizure and fell face first into the creek and drowned! I don’t make moonshine, don’t have nuthin agin it either, but I have no use fur this here still and don’t fancy havin it on my property where those high-falutin, citified, self-proclaimed law man might come nosin around. You would be doin me a big ol favor if you got it all out of here!”

  Earl thought about it for a minute and then decided to take the risk. “Ok, Tom, you got a deal. I will haul this off in exchange fur my cow gettin bred. Will it work fur you if I drive my team down here so I don’t have to tote it so fur?”

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  Tom agreed. Earl wasted no time loadin up and gettin home. He thought as he drove home, about what a queer thing that was, how he had come about gettin back in business! He drove into the yard singin.

  Earl figured he would keep it a secret until it wus off of his property. The following day, Earl and Carl got up earlier than usual and went to look fur a new site fur their business. They took the car, so they weren’t luggin the equipment around. Earl had taken a liking to the creek near Tom’s place, so headed that way. They passed his place and went a few more miles to a heavily wooded place. They parked and took a hike through the woods. Carl and Earl listened carefully as they walked, wanting to know if there were any people nearby. When they got to the creek, Earl said, “Why looky there. There is milkweed growin by the creek. That means the water will make some fine shine!”

  They looked around at the lay of the land and found a pretty level place to put their equipment. “We will have to come back with our machete so we kin chop all of the weeds,” Earl said excitedly.

  Carl said, “What’s that?” The noise of someone hammering drifted through the woods.

  Carl and Earl looked at each other. “This is a perfect place. No, I have to admit, it’s not. We cain’t be near people. They will see our smoke. I feel disappointed, Carl. Actually, we just eliminated one place that won’t work, so we are one place closer to findin our still site! We got to be positive. Let’s get back on the road and find our spot!” Earl said.

  The guys drove further down the road, parallel to the creek, hopin to find another spot on the same creek. Earl stopped the car and told Carl to listen. “I’m listenin, pa, but I don’t hear nothing except birds singin,” Carl said after they had listened fur a few minutes.

  “Exactly! I think this could be it, Carl! There are no sounds of people! Let’s take a walk and take a gander at the site here,” Earl said.

  They had quite a time getting through the tangle of weeds and grapevines. It was slow goin. Earl was smilin pretty big when they finally got to the water. “Well, it’s hard to get to and that is a plus fur us. There is no noise and that is a plus. Let’s taste it and make sure there ain’t any animals up water from us.” That passed too and the water was cold and sweet. “What do you think, Carl?”

  “I think this just might be it, Pa. What do you think?” Carl asked cautiously.

  “How about we eat our lunch here so we can get a feel fur this area? They ate their sandwiches and enjoyed the outdoors, before drivin home. “Honey, we’re home and with good news. Carl and I found the new still site today. Oh, I forgot to tell you that we got our equipment given to us!” Earl explained the supply miracle to his wife and they locked arms and did a dance around the livin room!