Chapter 1 – Anderson County Recipe

"Well, the lady wants the recipe, yes she does. The lady wants the recipe, yes she does. I'll let her drink up till her eyes fuzz. All because she wants her recipe, yes she does."

Ugh, if that song stays in my head. I can hardly think with that dumb song about the recipe going round in my head all the time. Momma says I need to lay off the recipe. But I love drinkin' it up. Or I guess I should say down. Drinkin' the recipe is a part of life in Anderson County, Tennessee.

The recipe has a few names it goes by. That's just our family's code name for it. Some, especially the church ladies, call it the "Devil's Delight". I've heard "White Lightin'". Most refer to the recipe as "Moon Shine", though. I suppose it kinda looks like the light of the moon. It's as clear as water, but boy if you take a sip on accident, you'll know the difference forever and seventeen days.

I had my first sip of the shine when I was ten years old. That's the age that all the McCarty boys get a taste. My poor throat burned like the gates of hell for at least a week. Needless to say, I got used to the burn by the time I was sixteen.

The McCarty clan is Scotch-Irish. In simple terms, we're drinkers. Even Momma slips the recipe in her lemonade. She tries to be all secret about it, but we all know she does it. Honestly, who could blame her? Her and Daddy have raised four boys and still have three little ones to go. Plus with the way money is so tight? The big wigs in Washington call it the "economy". All we know is that there ain't much money flying around Wolf Valley these days. Most of us are so damn poor we can't tell anyways, though. 1935 ain't shaping up to be much of a year at all.

The best part of my year so far is running the recipe around the county. I'm the family's delivery specialist. Although I'm the biggest son, I'm also the fastest. And I can fight people off real good, too. I've gotten plenty of practice with fighting. I have three older brothers – Jack, Frank, and Willie. I also have three little brothers – Robert, George, and Henry. Poor Momma.

The folks in town are always getting my brothers mixed up. Not me though. I'm so huge they never mistake me for even Frank who is almost as tall as me.

The ladies love how tall I am though. And I absolutely love that they love how tall I am. Momma and Daddy want me to settle down. I'm trying to put that off as long as possible. All the girls in Wolf Valley want me to pick them. It's not that I'm not interested. Believe me, I love my ladies. I've had a few girlfriends. But I ain't never wanted to marry a one of them.

Mildred Scott was the worst. I made the mistake of taking her to see my piece of the McCarty land. Well, hot damn, you would've thought I gave her a twenty five acre engagement ring. I don't think so! I ended that the next day when I heard she had been to Fred Howard's lumber yard to pick lumber for her "rustic, yet modern, cabin." Crazy woman.

Then there was Ruby. She's been through all the older McCarty boys now. She sure was fun. None of us could take her home to Momma though. You see, Ruby hit on my Daddy at the Lawrence's store one Saturday afternoon. Momma threw a nice ripe tomato right at her head. She said it slipped out of her hand. Ruby Walters was picking tomato seeds out of her ears for three days.