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Jason wandered up to the register, laying down some lures and a tub of catfish bait he’d found in back. Without a word, Caddy slid it across and paid, this time in cash. The little boy took the sack and wandered out to the concrete platform and watched as Carl loaded down an ancient F-250 that had been Qui
“I appreciate it, Caddy,” Diane said. “I do. But more time won’t matter. It’s been thirty-seven years.”
Caddy reached out and touched Diane’s wrist and said, “I’ve been praying for you. I told you my story. Qui
“That’s the Tulls,” Diane said. “On our headstones. We know how to endure.”
“Better to live,” Caddy said, smiling as if reading Diane’s thoughts and walking out the front door, the bell above jingling shut. “Qui
When Jason Colson returned to Jericho, the mayor offered him the key to the city. But there was a catch, as there would be with someone as slick as Ben Bartlett. He asked if Jason might put on some kind of demonstration, you know, to bring people down from Memphis and see all Tibbehah had to offer. So Jason, never being one to shy away from a dare, asked if he might line up ten Ford Pintos and build a ramp at each end to his specifications. He’d bring along his custom-built Harley XR-750, nearly identical to the one Evel Knievel rode, only instead of an American flag, this one had the Stars and Bars on the gas tanks. Bartlett only asked where and when.
They’d decided to do it on May 16th of 1977 in the center of the Tibbehah County stadium, the town welcoming back its favorite son after Jason had been gone about seven years working out in Hollywood. Most recently he’d joined up with a crazy man from Arkansas named Hal Needham, who’d brought him into a little film called Smokey and the Bandit that looked to perhaps be the biggest picture of the year. In the South at least. It bombed with the Yankees up in New York.
That Saturday morning, Jason wore a Schott Perfecto with his name embroidered on the back, jeans with kneepads, and riding boots. The jump, while tough, wasn’t as hard as some of the work he’d done with cars on Smokey or on Gator or on Billy Jack Goes to Washington. This was all about speed and timing and nerves. He had the nerves and had worked out the speed on a calculator. All the old stuntmen found it fu
For the past six months, he’d been dating the actress Adrie
It was a hell of thing to come back and show you weren’t afraid of jack shit.
“You ready, Jason?” asked old Ben Bartlett. “I thought I might give the a
“And you give me the key after the jump?”
Bartlett gri
Who the hell says shit like “If”? Nobody said “If” to Jason Colson. Jason spit, looked up to the stands, and saw the redhead he’d been thinking about sitting there with the fat town sheriff who’d he’d just learned was her goddamn brother. A lot older brother who looked at Jason like he didn’t stand a chance.
“What’s that key open?” Jason said.
Bartlett may have been an opportunist, but he wasn’t stupid. Jason looked up at that redhead, Jean Beckett, who he’d known a good long while but never since she’d become a filled-out, curvy woman. He pointed to her and gave her the thumbs-up.
Damn, that look on her face made it all worth it as he pulled on his helmet, adjusted his elbow pads and kneepads, and gu
He hit the mark and stopped, gu
Jason Colson was good with that, toeing into first gear and ru
And then there was only the open air.
Not that it always worked out, but when Qui
“But there is all that family love, that togetherness and shit,” Boom said.
“Yes, sir,” Qui
“Man, you just pissed ’cause you can’t get laid,” Boom said. “You mad ’cause you and Ophelia can’t walk around buck-ass naked and take care of business.”
“And what’s the matter, if that’s the case?”
“You do seem just a little frustrated.”
“How’s that coffee?” Qui
“Terrible as always,” Boom said. “Why do we come here anyway?”
“Because there’s nowhere else for forty miles?”
Boom nodded and toasted him with his mug. All around them people swilled beer and whiskey, a jukebox in the corner playing Willie Nelson’s “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.”
“You hear about that Chinese restaurant coming in?” Boom said. “Some family down from Memphis. I think they’re Vietnamese but thought Chinese food would sell better. One of those buffets.”
“Hell, yeah,” Qui