Deep South Dispatch #1

As an occasional feature of the 2-10 blog I will offer Deep South Dispatches. They could be serious or humorous, but either way I hope they reveal something about the South.

True story: my father traded a pistol for a truck. Now, you might be asking yourself, fair enough, what kind of truck was it? Here's the story.

A guy owed my father money. This is pretty common as my father is a bit of a landlord in a small town in the Deep South. On top of that, he has been known to loan money for posting bail bonds, to pay taxes, child support and so. He is part of the unofficial network that rural people black and white use to get badly needed cash. In this case he took a pistol as payment. Now, he's an avid hunter but pretty practical and he find pistols neither handy, sexy, nor collectible. So he traded the pistol to his cousin for a 1989 Chevy pickup (4x4 - I mean be real) with under 100k miles. There is the little matter of the engine having burned up from lack of oil in Augusta, Georgia this summer. My father thinks he got a good deal. And he proudly announced to me this weekend he has found an engine to drop into his Chevy pickup for $150.

So, the guy needing cash got the cash, Dad's cousin got the pistol and dad got another pickup...and a story.

Modesty of Aspirations

Welcome to my humble little blog. My expectation is not to blog daily. (Hardly anyone really has time to write a daily blog much less read blogs.)

I hope to make weekly or bi-weekly posts of my writing and of intelligent, provocative and funny things I find.

One of my mentors use to say: modesty of aspirations. I' ll begin with that caveat in mind.

j 2-10