{"id":676,"date":"2024-02-07T02:16:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-07T02:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=676"},"modified":"2024-01-10T13:18:34","modified_gmt":"2024-01-10T13:18:34","slug":"high-noon-in-chattanooga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/?p=676","title":{"rendered":"High Noon in Chattanooga"},"content":{"rendered":"

High Noon in Chattanooga.\u00a0 A really Hot August day.\u00a0 Stomachs filled, but hot and thirsty, we imagined the next car having a beer for us.\u00a0 (We seemed good at calling our rides.)\u00a0 Only minutes later a convertible pulled over.\u00a0 Three guys with short hair and red necks.\u00a0 Drinking beer. We looked at each other.\u00a0 They looked like Red Necks.\u00a0 We looked like Hippies.\u00a0 But they had beer.\u00a0 We got in. \u00a0\u201cYou want a beer?\u201d\u00a0 Sure we said, and guzzled them.\u00a0 \u201cYou guys seem thirsty, should we get off the Interstate, find a bar and buy a twelve-pack?\u201d\u00a0 Sure we said (things were happening just as we imagined).\u00a0 The bar was on the banks of the Tennessee River, \u201cDo you want to take the scenic route and follow the River?\u201d\u00a0 Of course we said (what could be better?).\u00a0 \u201cShould we hold the place up or just pay?\u201d they joked.<\/p>\n

But it was no joke when we got back in the car and the guy riding shotgun pulled a shotgun out from underneath the front seat and started talking about “shooting niggers and scared rabbits.\u201d\u00a0 Murph and I nudged each other \u2013 a nudge which said it all:\u00a0 Just imagine they\u2019re not rednecks, we\u2019re not hippies, it\u2019s not 1972; we\u2019re not in the Deep South; and maybe if we don\u2019t act scared, don\u2019t act as if we think they\u2019re going to shoot us, think of them as nice guys showing us a good time, then maybe we\u2019ll get out of this alive.\u00a0 So we made jokes and said how great it was that they wanted to show us the scenic Tennessee River Valley.<\/p>\n

\"Meeting<\/a>

Meeting descendants of bootleggers liking Chattanooga’s 3 borders to stay 1 step ahead of the G-Men<\/p><\/div>\n

This imagining we\u2019re safe got a bit tougher when the driver pulled out a switch blade and flicked it in front of the rear view mirror with a glint in his eye sharper than the knife looking straight at me in the mirror. \u00a0I was sitting in the back seat in the middle with my army duffle bag in my lap.\u00a0 My sister was on my left (although they didn\u2019t know it was my sister).\u00a0 The third guy was to my right.\u00a0 We were all drinking.\u00a0 After a stretch it was time for a piss-stop.\u00a0 They turned left onto a dirt road and drove until there was not a soul nor a house in sight.\u00a0 We all got out.\u00a0 Yea!!! This is the time to run!\u00a0 But No, we were on a hilltop, the guy was taking a pee with his left hand and cradling the shotgun with his right.\u00a0 We were the scared rabbits!<\/p>\n

So we all got back into the car.\u00a0 Then the driver and the backseat guy got out and opened the trunk and had some type of a conversation.\u00a0 Then the backseat guy got back in and the shotgun guy got out and had a conversation with the driver.\u00a0 This gave me an idea.\u00a0 Since they were making plans that didn\u2019t include us, it would be perfectly normal for me and Murph to make plans that didn\u2019t include them.\u00a0 When everybody was back in the car I was just about to open my mouth and say \u201cit\u2019s been great, but we need to start making some better time, could you get us back to the interstate?\u201d<\/p>\n

But I never got the chance to.\u00a0\u00a0 The guy in back beat me to the punch.\u00a0 Nudging me on the elbow he says, \u201cSay, the driver wants to take your girl for a spin in the woods, you got anything to say about that?\u201d\u00a0 Without missing a beat, without any hesitation, I said, \u201cNo, I\u2019m not going to let him.\u201d\u00a0 (I\u2019ve always wondered if I would have said the same thing if it wasn\u2019t my sister \u2013 I sure hope so.)\u00a0 Well, in that split instant the driver swings his arm over the front seat and I imagined the switch blade coming and my life passing in front of me.\u00a0 But instead he shook my hand and said, \u201cYou know kid you\u2019re ok\u00a0 – if you were some sissy hippie and hadn\u2019t stuck up for your girl we were going take you out in the woods and beat the shit out of you to teach you a lesson.\u00a0\u00a0 Listen, we got to get back to town; we\u2019re dropping you off at the interstate just over the hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

When we get out of the car and they were out-of-sight my sister and I leaped for joy higher than I\u2019ve ever leaped in my life \u2013 and wished that the next driver was some hippie smoking pot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

High Noon in Chattanooga.\u00a0 A really Hot August day.\u00a0 Stomachs filled, but hot and thirsty, we imagined the next car having a beer for us.\u00a0 (We seemed good at calling our rides.)\u00a0 Only minutes later a convertible pulled over.\u00a0 Three … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=676"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3153,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/676\/revisions\/3153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/andydawkins.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}