“Hunnerd an forty bucks for a permit to install a water heater”…”Just pisses me off….wish they’d all stayed up there where they belong .” and of course he continued in length
I’m not sure what the difference makes as far as the rules go…..
“ Weren’t planning on pulling a permit anyway…were ya ?” I asked and all this brought me back to my beginings in the deep South close on a decade ago when I worked as a block layer with a man named Travis. Travis was hardcore…he was raised by a gator poacher and followed close to Poppas foot steps. He drove an old and beat tow truck with the towing apparatus removed and exchanged for a cage. To add color the entire right front fender was encased in two inches of chicken guano where he used to park it under the tree where Mommas chickens roosted. First thing I ever heard from Travis was his opinion that the …..
“ Only thing worse than a Yankee is a Yankee that comes down here and “effing” stays” and so it may come as some surprise that Travis and myself became quite friendly. Though from different worlds Travis and I had an important quality shared from which bred a mutual respect, and trust. The respect a man who spends his days in the sun plying a trade offers one who is able to do the same. And I learned a great deal from Travis….
One Friday, and two days after a court appearance and heavy fine for possession of gator parts Travis came back from a half hour lunch with the biggest turtle I ever saw lashed down to the back of the guano mobile….. dead
“ What the hell is that Travis ?” I needed to know
“ Why.. that’s supper. Did ya know a turtle has eight very distinctly different flavored meats ?”….and I had to fess…I did not. And so on Monday morning I was overly curious… I needed to know.
“ How was supper Friday night Travis ?”
“ Ah don’t effing know…stopped at a bar on the way home and when I come out some sonofabitch done stole it.”
“ Some one stole your dead turtle ?” I asked….being a Yankee the concept of such an act was just miles over my head.
“ Turtles worth eight bucks a pound in Myaka City ya know.”…..and this made me happy….. as Rib Eye steaks were under six bucks a pound and seemingly a better deal.
