“Lucy, Lucy! Can you help me?” Steve called out. “I need to go to the outhouse again!”

  Carl was home so he rushed in to help Steve, since his ma was out collectin eggs. She liked to go on an early mornin walk to clear her head before fixin breakfast. Lucy talked with the chickens as she opened the hen house doors. She had brought scraps from last night’s supper to go with their grain. “Here you go, LIttle Biddy. Oh you are so hungry! I see you like the cooked corn as much as you do the dried out corn! Pretty Princess, I don’t know where in the world Hattie came up with yore name, especially with all yore neck feathers gone, but they do say ‘beauty is in the eye of the beholder!’ She wondered what they were goin to do, since the revenooer knew their business, had seen the still with his own eyes and was determined to put Earl away. “We are in a fine mess, now,'' she thought.

  Steve was gettin stronger. He asked Carl, while they walked out to the outhouse, to tell him what happened that day at the bear attack. “You need to save yore breath, Steve, fur walkin. I’ll be glad to fill you in after you use the outhouse.”

  After Steve came out, they walked to the front porch swing and sat down together. Carl said, “We wus goin about business, processin the two deer we got the day before, wishin we hadn’t lost the third one, when we heard a God-awful scream, loud enough to wake the dead! It was closeby to Timmy and Pa and they rushed over with their guns at the ready and saw you in the mouth of that ol black bear. Timmy shot him betwixt the eyes and the minute he let go of your leg, Pa shot him again in the chest. You had passed out from the pain and they carried you back to the cabin.”

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  “ That bear had found the deer we lost the day before and was feastin on it gettin fattened up fur hibernation, when you come upon him. Now you know, as well as I do that any bear with cubs or any bear that’s eatin on something is the wrong one to approach. So, you was attacked!” Carl explained.

  Steve whimpered, “I want to hear more, but I gotta lay down. Will you help me, Carl?”

  Carl helped Steve back to bed and helped him drink a few swallers of moonshine and he was asleep before you could say, ‘Jack Robinson.’

  During supper, Carl heard, “Carl, Carl could you come here?”

  Carl got up, his mom gave him a knowing look, and he went to the other room to find Steve laying on the floor. Carl managed to get him back in bed and Steve opened his eyes. “ I didn’t want to bother you, but I couldn’t make it to the table,” he said.

  Carl put his arm around Steve’s waist and walked him to the dinner table. Things were quiet for a few minutes, as everybody enjoyed the good cooking. Then the silence was broken when Steve said, “Where is yore husband, Lucy? I’m goin to be needin to take him into town.”

  Lucy pretended like she didn’t know what he was referring to and asked him if the food was ok.

  “You could use some tips from my ma, Lucy. The potatoes were dry and needed some onions and the green beans needed some butter, but the venison was pretty good.” Steve complained.

  Lucy got up and went to the kitchen before she said something she would regret. Takin care of this ungrateful revenooer was gettin to her. He was not only complainin about the food and the pain, but was plannin on putting her husband in prison.

  Hattie stared at Steve for a minute and said, “You shouldn’t never have said that to my ma. She is a good cook and she has been takin care of you. My pa said something about the food to her one day and she came out of the kitchen with a fryin pan and chased him. Besides, it made her feel bad,” Hattie fussed at Steve.

  Steve paled when Lucy came out of the kitchen and asked Carl to help him back to bed.