LOCATION: Gwinnett County, Georgia, the foothills of the Georgia Appalachian mountains.
PERIOD: Fall, 2011
DRAMATIS PERSONAE: Wade Wainwright (1975); Ruth Ann Robison (1950); Billy Wainwright (1949); Charlie Cooper (1974)
Wade Wainwright (1975), son of Ruth Ann Robison and Billy Wainwright, meets Charlie Cooper (1974), son of Keith Cooper (1949-2018) and Mildred Mason (1950). And they fight over the purchase of wood and hay.
The Robison family was from Conyers, Georgia, later Macon; and the Cooper family was from Jackson, Mississippi. Wade Wainwright is the one with the gun and Charlie Cooper is the one trying to buy wood. Charlie was the nephew of Lucy Bess Cooper (1980-2015).
BUYIN’ WOOD IN GWINNETT COUNTY
(F. D. Leone, Jr.)
“Say, Bud, that firewood back there;
Is it yours? Is it up for grabs?
“Fifty dollars a rick; cut this year.”
“For wood that green, seems a lot to ask.”
“Take it or leave it, no difference to me.”
“I might could fit a rick in my truck.”
“Cash in hand; no guarantee.”
“Will you, at least, help me load it up?”
“I will for an extry twenty dollar.”
“Neighbor, I’m just askin’ for some help.”
“You ain’t no kin of mine, as I remember.”
“Well, I guess I’ll load it my own self.
“I could also use a little hay
But, I’m afraid to ask how much a bale.”
“Hunderd dollar; you haul it away.”
“Friend, you must not care to make a sale.”
“Like it or lump it, all the same to me;
No one asked you to come here a-lookin'”
“No need for you to get so uppidy;
I’m startin’ to think you’re a little crooked.”
“On second thought, I won’t need that wood.”
“Suit yourself, it’s fine where it is.”
“I’ll be damned, you ain’t no good”
“Friend, you don’t want none of this.”
“Hold on, why’d you pull a gun?”
“Get down the road if you know what’s best.”
“Okay, okay, I’m leavin’, I’m done.”
“You goddam asshole, here’s a load of lead.”
“Shit, you shot me in the butt;
I’m bleedin’, oh God – I was just askin’!”
“You better keep your mouth shut;
Get off my land; you’re trepassin’.”
Jumped in my truck, tore out of there;
Got a good mind to take him to the law.
Ain’t no point goin’ to the sherf,
I don’t know nothin’ ’bout him at all.
He’s prob’ly picked up ‘n’ left
That prob’ly wasn’t even his wood.
Guys like him don’t make no sense
I need a doctor, he shot me good.
© 2022 Frank David Leone, Jr./Highway 80 Music (ASCAP). The songs and stories on the Highway 80 Stories website are works of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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