5

Alabama - River Drifter

4

frien' when he's full as somebody he don't like.

"It was Burke in th ' automobile all right, an' he was lookin' fer Sam's
stuff. I was sittin' back behin' th ' wall, so I couldn't see what he done
when he seen th' gun, but I heerd all that was said. I heerd th' car door
slam shut, an' then I heerd Burke say, 'What you doin' with that gun?' Sam
says, 'Don't start up hyar, goddamn you, or I'll kill you 'fore you take a
step!' Then Burke says, 'Don't be no fool; drap that gun!'

"Me an' Bud knowed then that they was go'nter be some shootin'. We crawled
out'n our cheers an' got behin' th' stove. You coulda heerd a pin drap it was
so quiet fer a second or two; but then Burke says, 'Sam, I'm warnin' you; if
you pull that trigger, I'm go'nter take you with me!' Then it
got quiet ag'in,
an' I jes'scrouged thar behin' th' stove waitin' for th' shot. That was th'
longest minute I'll ever live in my life.

"Well, sir, they wasn't no shootin' done. Next thing I knowed was Burke was
in th' room, an' he was holdin' Sam's gun. He wasn't skeered no mor'n he'd a
been if he'd took a toy gun away from somebody. He pushed Sam in a cheer,
an ' he says, 'If you wasn't crazy drunk, I'd take you in fer this. You go'nter
git killed at that sort of thing some day, an' if I's you, I'd throw that gun
in th' river.'

318