inyati13
Well-known member
Nonbreeds
This is a story based on true events. The author has taken liberties that are normally taken when writing stories like this.
There was a time when starving cattle could pass for another method of cattle management. Today it would get you arrested for animal abuse. There was a man who lived near us when I was a boy. He had more land and cattle than anyone in the county. They were starved, wild, inbred, and pitiful. Some of the cows tails were twisted and hairless. We call’em rat tails. If you looked them in the face you would swear that one eye was out of place. The man who owned them was Estill Lovelace. He had little in the way of fences. If he fed them at all in the winter, he would throw out a couple of square bales of hay maybe once a week. In the summer they over-grazed to the point that Estill had the cleanest farms in the county. His cattle would get out and wonder across all the farms in the country. The Lucas’s would kill a couple to eat every year and no one said a word. About 1972, I was home from college. My older brother, I am the second oldest, was staying home recovering from his Viet Nam experience. Ed was 18 months younger than me and was just out of high school. Little brother, Rob , was a late-life baby and was only about 9 or 10. The youngest wanted to make some money to buy dog food for his black and tan coon hound. He loved his dogs and still does. Estill was nasty and foul and lived alone on a farm 2 mile away. Rob walked over to clean Estill’s house. He slept on an old couch in the living room. The couch was stained with urine because he would pee in it when he couldn’t get up to go outside. My little brother worked all day. Most of that was spent carrying out empty bottles. If mom had known she would never have let him go. Mom lived by the words in the good book. Dad didn’t care. He never mentioned the spiritual world but he worked hard. He didn’t drink or smoke (and we raised tobacco). It was the religious side of the family that had their vices. The men on mom’s side of the family liked their whiskey and women. Life was hard in those days but not as crazy as it is now days. A drink of whiskey made life just a little more comfortable. Rob cleaned the place up. Took him all day. When Estill came back from town that afternoon, our little brother was sitting in the yard waiting to be paid. Estill told him he would pay him $5 to clean the house. He accused my brother of stealing money he had stashed in the couch. He came home crying. Henry was in the yard and ask him what was wrong. He told him. Henry came into the house and told me and Ed to come with him. He always was serious about everything but we could tell we needed to do as he said. The four of us got in the car and went over to Estill’s place. We told our little brother to stay in the car. Estill was not in the house which still smelled like urine. We went to the barn and Estill was standing by a skinny Hereford cow down in the mud kicking it in the butt, and telling it to get up. The three of us looked at each other in disgust. We crossed the fence and Henry ask why he had not paid our little brother. He said our little brother had stole his money that was stashed down in the couch. Henry called him a liar and simply said pay me. Estill was a big rough man and told Henry it sure took a lot of help to take money from a man. Henry said, you got that wrong. I ask them to come with me to keep me from killin you. Estill barely got the words about our mother from his lips when a fist took Estill square in the face. I still have the fleshy sound of that fist impact in my head. Ed who was standing beside me hit him so hard he went backwards into the mud the cow had wallowed in for days. I walked around and found his billfold on him. It was full of $100 bills. Must have been a thousand. I found five $1 bills and pulled them out. He was spewing every nasty word you can imagine. Said he was going to call the sheriff and tell him we had robbed him. About that time, this cow tried to get up and Estill jumped up. He was dripping mud from where this cow had wallowed. He started one final cussing episode when Henry told him if he said one more word, we would put him under the cow and call the sheriff and say we found him there.
Mom’s brother was at the house when we got home. He ask what was going on. We told him the story. He pulled out his billfold and took out a $20 bill. Henry said what is that for. He said I’ll give this to Rob, you take that $5 back to Estill and drive it up his a$$ with a single tree. My dad jumped in and said no such thing was going to happen. He got in the car and drove over to see how Estill was. He said Estill threatened to have us arrested. Dad told him to do what ever he thought was right but said he told him my boys do as they see fit now. I don’t know what you got comin’ but Dorothy’s men ain’t real happy with you either and that might even be worse. By Gad Estill, those brother’s of hers git to drinkin’ they might shoot you.
This is a story based on true events. The author has taken liberties that are normally taken when writing stories like this.
There was a time when starving cattle could pass for another method of cattle management. Today it would get you arrested for animal abuse. There was a man who lived near us when I was a boy. He had more land and cattle than anyone in the county. They were starved, wild, inbred, and pitiful. Some of the cows tails were twisted and hairless. We call’em rat tails. If you looked them in the face you would swear that one eye was out of place. The man who owned them was Estill Lovelace. He had little in the way of fences. If he fed them at all in the winter, he would throw out a couple of square bales of hay maybe once a week. In the summer they over-grazed to the point that Estill had the cleanest farms in the county. His cattle would get out and wonder across all the farms in the country. The Lucas’s would kill a couple to eat every year and no one said a word. About 1972, I was home from college. My older brother, I am the second oldest, was staying home recovering from his Viet Nam experience. Ed was 18 months younger than me and was just out of high school. Little brother, Rob , was a late-life baby and was only about 9 or 10. The youngest wanted to make some money to buy dog food for his black and tan coon hound. He loved his dogs and still does. Estill was nasty and foul and lived alone on a farm 2 mile away. Rob walked over to clean Estill’s house. He slept on an old couch in the living room. The couch was stained with urine because he would pee in it when he couldn’t get up to go outside. My little brother worked all day. Most of that was spent carrying out empty bottles. If mom had known she would never have let him go. Mom lived by the words in the good book. Dad didn’t care. He never mentioned the spiritual world but he worked hard. He didn’t drink or smoke (and we raised tobacco). It was the religious side of the family that had their vices. The men on mom’s side of the family liked their whiskey and women. Life was hard in those days but not as crazy as it is now days. A drink of whiskey made life just a little more comfortable. Rob cleaned the place up. Took him all day. When Estill came back from town that afternoon, our little brother was sitting in the yard waiting to be paid. Estill told him he would pay him $5 to clean the house. He accused my brother of stealing money he had stashed in the couch. He came home crying. Henry was in the yard and ask him what was wrong. He told him. Henry came into the house and told me and Ed to come with him. He always was serious about everything but we could tell we needed to do as he said. The four of us got in the car and went over to Estill’s place. We told our little brother to stay in the car. Estill was not in the house which still smelled like urine. We went to the barn and Estill was standing by a skinny Hereford cow down in the mud kicking it in the butt, and telling it to get up. The three of us looked at each other in disgust. We crossed the fence and Henry ask why he had not paid our little brother. He said our little brother had stole his money that was stashed down in the couch. Henry called him a liar and simply said pay me. Estill was a big rough man and told Henry it sure took a lot of help to take money from a man. Henry said, you got that wrong. I ask them to come with me to keep me from killin you. Estill barely got the words about our mother from his lips when a fist took Estill square in the face. I still have the fleshy sound of that fist impact in my head. Ed who was standing beside me hit him so hard he went backwards into the mud the cow had wallowed in for days. I walked around and found his billfold on him. It was full of $100 bills. Must have been a thousand. I found five $1 bills and pulled them out. He was spewing every nasty word you can imagine. Said he was going to call the sheriff and tell him we had robbed him. About that time, this cow tried to get up and Estill jumped up. He was dripping mud from where this cow had wallowed. He started one final cussing episode when Henry told him if he said one more word, we would put him under the cow and call the sheriff and say we found him there.
Mom’s brother was at the house when we got home. He ask what was going on. We told him the story. He pulled out his billfold and took out a $20 bill. Henry said what is that for. He said I’ll give this to Rob, you take that $5 back to Estill and drive it up his a$$ with a single tree. My dad jumped in and said no such thing was going to happen. He got in the car and drove over to see how Estill was. He said Estill threatened to have us arrested. Dad told him to do what ever he thought was right but said he told him my boys do as they see fit now. I don’t know what you got comin’ but Dorothy’s men ain’t real happy with you either and that might even be worse. By Gad Estill, those brother’s of hers git to drinkin’ they might shoot you.
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