Southern Spirits

When we were old enough to learn that in Mississippi, despite its being a dry state, you could order liquor and have it delivered anywhere at any hour of the day, we had a case of Jack Daniels sent to the Tuesday meeting of the Baptist ladies, and watched from the shrubbery while Harry, of the Top-of-the-Hill “Grocery,” was berated, stampeded, and torn apart by the ladies when they caught sight of his cargo. “You … you … Get out of here!” the president cried, and Harry, more frightened of physical injury than fearing a waste of good sour mash, swooped up the case and escaped in fast order.

Willie Morris, North Toward Home