Regular IS&T contributor Larry Kimmel has sent along two prose/flash pieces. Both are true anecdotes. He explains "I grew up in rural southwestern Pennsylvania, where there was a time lag of a good 25 years, and so I've a lot of early 20th century Americana to draw on. I'm not sure if you'd be interested in this sort of material for IS&T, but here they  are. The first – Home of the Brave – is sort of Appalachian in nature (we lived on the outer edge of that culture, just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from West Virginia), and both are family stories. The second one, a tale my dad told of about himself."


Home Of The Brave

For three days Grandma’s best milker frothed at the mouth, then died—clearly poisoned.  A year later, old Mike Kovitch, with a skin full, said:  “It a shame about that cow, someday I tell you Mister Mahler,” and so we knew what we already knew, and Grandpa spoke true when he told us a desire to see justice done would only result in something else dying or burning down, and all Grandma had said to old Mama Kovitch was: “Those aren’t your cherries to pick,” it being Grandma’s one cherry tree and she counting on the crop for preserves, and old Mama Kovitch had gone off mumbling:  “Me think this free country,” no different than any other time.

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Rattlesnake

Three on the path ahead of him stepped over it unawares, and he, likewise thinking it a stick, was stepping over it when it stirred—sliddered off the path into a clump of brush near at hand.  They, not wanting it on the farm, took up sticks and beat the brush (one from each of the four directions), till out it came streaking straight for him, who always ended this tale palpitating his shirt with pinched fingers—miming the fear—saying:  " ... and I'll tell you, I was one scared young fellah that day—What?—O, we got'em okay.  I came down on 'im  good 'n' hard.  He didnt last long after that, you betcha."