Bush Blues by Sheldon Schmitt

Author:Sheldon Schmitt
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-63393-639-3
Publisher: Koehler Books
Published: 2015-01-17T16:00:00+00:00

Charlie Johnson came to in a fog. He hurt all over. He raised his head and looked around. He recognized that he was in his hunting cabin upriver from the village. He lay his head back down and tried to remember. He could recount that he recovered the last five bottles of his latest alcohol cache. He sold two bottles in the village and helped drink them. He had saved three for himself.

He had been drinking with Bullshit Bob and the Beans boys. Everything had been fine until Buck Nelson arrived. Charlie did not like Nelson. They were bootlegging competitors, but lots of people sold alcohol on occasion, so their rivalry was not just that. There was something else. Nelson was a user and greedy. Charlie did not like the way Nelson took advantage of Bullshit Bob. Bob was a drunk and a gussok, but Charlie liked him. He had lived in the village for years and even took care of Charlie’s cousin Nancy before she died. Bullshit Bob and Nancy had lived together, though they never married. Since her death, Bob drank even more, like he was trying to drink himself to death.

Charlie remembered Nelson coming to Bullshit Bob’s shack last night. Fat and ugly, Charlie thought. A true ugly white scoundrel. He looked at Nelson with disdain. Despite his belly, Nelson was powerful and agile. He was smelly, too, and looked as though he never bathed.

Charlie Johnson despised Nelson because he instilled fear in people. That was usually Charlie’s thing. Nelson had been in a variety of one-sided fights during his time around Togiak and had been merciless in his beatdown of the drunks he fought. He was smart about who and when he fought. He knew how to use his fists. And when he had the advantage, he was not afraid to take it.

Nelson looked upon Charlie with equal scorn.

“See you have some of your usual overpriced rotgut,” he said to Charlie, not even showing the respect of calling him by name.

There was immediate tension in the air between the burly white interloper and Charlie Johnson, the wild and scary local boy. A showdown was coming; it was just a matter of when and where.

“Better than buying from a gussok! Right boys?” Charlie explained with a laugh. Charlie threw in the “right boys” to suggest that, when push came to shove, Charlie was one of the village people and Nelson was not. Nelson was an outsider and a gussok.

“People will buy from whoever has the jugs at the best price,” Nelson said to no one in particular.

Charlie was nothing if not smart and tough and dangerous. If it came to a straight fight with Nelson, he could win. But it would not be easy, and he was not interested in getting bloody tonight. He was more interested in the drink. He could not lose face, though.

“Go drink with your friends then, Buck, if you have any,” Charlie said genially, with hate and wild unpredictability in his eyes. If it’s now, so be it, thought Charlie.

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