Hortons Bend

again but they never got around to digging together again. Truth be known, Jarvis and Ladge were paranoid types and thought Ronnie to be bad luck on digs from then on. They worked together and continued their surface collecting at lunch for a couple of years but the younger man was not invited on any more late night trespassing journeys. Jarvis and Ladge were eventually picked up for soliciting minors and providing alcohol to some 15 year old girls.
    Ronnie finished the last sip in the can and saw his younger brother, J.W., coming his way. “ About ready to call it a week, little brother?” J.W. grinned, “Yeah Ronnie I am…..give out…ain’t you?” Ronnie laughed “Oh yeah…but not too tired to get the hell outta here!” The brothers climbed into Ronnie’s truck and drove to Ronnie’s little cabin near the Oostanaula River. It was a plain little country home but very neat without a lot of junk in his yard. As they pulled up to the house, a blue tick hound came bounding from underneath the porch. J.W.’s 1961 Chevy was parked under a big oak tree. Both men smiled at how happy the hound was to see them. J.W. still lived with their mama, Jeanie, but spent most of his free time with his brother. It was very rare for J.W. to miss a meal at his mama’s who lived about five minutes away.
    The boys got out of the truck with Ronnie carrying the cooler that he quickly pulled from the back of the truck. Ronnie had a couple of rocking chairs on the porch so they sat down to relax for the afternoon. After they had the cooler open and had taken a couple of draws off their cans, J.W. looked over at Ronnie and said, “Gonna rain tonight ‘cording to the Chattanooga news.” Ronnie rubbed his head “Yeah I heard that…hope it holds together. Bill Gaithers started turning over his lower fields earlier this week.” J.W. eyes lit up, “I haven’t hunted down there in ten years….not since he got pissed off at me and Stevie.” Ronnie looked at him with a disapproving eye “I told you and Stevie Johnson not to go down there without permission…..you almost got us in Ol’ Bill’s bad graces. I smoothed it over with some tree work for him but that ain’t why he ain’t ever turned over that field.” J.W. looked surprised. “Naw…..he had thought about selling that section to the county for a water plant. He got a lot of pressure from that damn snake county commissioner Herschel Banner to sell. Turns out the river gets too much sediment coming in from where Sandy Creek comes into it.”J.W. nodded and thought back to his last visit there. Remembering his sparse collection he told his brother “I done forgot what I found down there.” Ronnie shrugged, “Ah the usual Woodland stuff…..a little check stamped pottery. I picked up some Archaic Period stuff there too. Found a nice Savannah River…..most of the points are quartzite. Pink quartz if I recall right.” J.W. didn’t really know all the Indian periods since he got them mixed up. Ronnie knew his stuff that was for sure. He didn’t mind. It wasn’t often but every once in a while he would find something that his brother would complement him on. “You coming over to Mama’s tonight for supper?” “Not tonight brother….gonna eat some leftovers and get our gear together.” “Well I’m gonna head on…..we still gonna get an early start?” Ronnie confirmed with a nod, ”Let’s get over to the Gaither place around nine in the morning…I don’t want to pull up and catch Bill in his long johns.” They both laughed and J.W. loped over to the Chevy to head home. Tonight Mama had biscuits and gravy with salted ham and that was hard to beat. Ronnie continued rocking and decided for another beer.

    Ronnie rolled into Mama Jean’s yard around 8:30 the next morning. He got out of his truck and waved to his mama who walked out on her porch wearing her apron. “C’mon in Ronnie…I made you a plate of eggs and sausage.” Ronnie entered the kitchen where he found J.W. just about to finish. “J.W. you need to change them plugs in Papa’s truck. I noticed them skippin’ a little when you left the house yesterday.” J.W. nodded as Ronnie sat down. “I will Mama”. The old woman smiled with her hands on her hips. ”Y’all gonna waste your morning walking in the dirt?” She picked up her ever present to do list. “You know I got plenty of things to do for you around here.” “Now mama we not wasting our time…..we just gonna go up to