Of Woods and Waters: A Kentucky Outdoors Reader

An Excerpt from Nathan Coulter

WENDELL BERRY An Excerpt from Nathan Coulter From Three Short Novels (2002) AFTER WE KILLED the first coon things were slow for a long time. We went into the woods again and sat down. Once in a while we'd hear the dogs, their voices flaring up as they fumbled at a cold trail, then quiet again while we waited and talked beside the lantern. Finally we got cold and built a fire, and Uncle Burley lay down beside it and slept. He woke up every time one of the dogs mouthed; but when they lost the trail and hushed he turned his cold side to the fire and went back to sleep. I watched the flames crawl along the sticks until they glowed red and crumbled into the ashes, then piled on more. It was quiet. The country was dark and filled with wind. And in the houses on the ridges behind us and below us in the river bottoms the people were asleep. About midnight the dogs started a hot track and ran it down the hillside, and treed finally out in the direction of the river. We went to them. They were treed at a white oak that was too tall and too big around to climb. So I held the flashlight over Uncle Burley's rifle sights and on the coon, and he shot it. After that he said he was ready to call it a night if I was, and I said I was. We were a long way from home, and since Jig Pendleton 's shanty boat was tied up just across the bottom we decided to go and spend the rest of the night with him. The boat was dark when we got there. We stopped at the top of the bank and quieted the dogs. Uncle Burley called, "Oh Jig." 216 "I'm coming, Lord," Jig said. We heard him scuffling and clattering around trying to get a lamp lighted. "It's Burley and Nathan," Uncle Burley said. The shanty windows lighted up and Jig came out the door in his long underwear and rubber boots, carrying a lamp in his hand. Uncle Burley laughed. "Jig, if the Lord ever comes and sees you in that outfit, He'll turn around and go back." "Aw, no He won't, Burley. The Lord looketh on the heart." Jig stood there shivering with the wind blowing through his hair. "You all come on down." We went down to the boat, the dogs trotting after us across the plank. "We thought we'd spend the night with you, Jig," Uncle Burley said, "if you don't mind." "Why, God bless you, Burley, of course you can," Jig said. He asked us if we'd like some hot coffee. Uncle Burley said we sure would if he didn't mind fixing it. Jig built up the fire in his stove and put the coffee on to boil, and Uncle Burley and I sat down on the side of the boat to skin the coons. When we finished the skinning we cut one of the carcasses in two and gave a half of it to each of the dogs. They ate and then curled up beside the door and licked themselves and slept. The coffee was ready by that time. We washed our hands in the river and went inside, ducking under the strings of Jig's machine. The coffee was black and strong; we sat at the table drinking out of the thick white cups and feeling it warm us. Jig asked how our hunt had been, and Uncle Burley told him about it, Jig nodding his head as he listened and then asking exactly where the dogs had treed. When Uncle Burley named the place he'd nod his head again. "The big white oak. I know that tree. I know the one you're talking about, Burley." WENDELL BERRY 2Y] Then Jig mentioned that ducks had been coming in on the slue for the last couple of days. They talked about duck hunting for a while, and Uncle Burley said we'd go to the slue early in the morning and try our luck. Jig gave us a quilt apiece when we'd finished our coffee. We filled the stove with wood and stretched out on the floor beside it. Jig sat at the table reading the Bible for a few minutes...