The Adventures of Jack and Billy Joe Read Online Free PDF Page B

with a bottle.”
    “Yeah, I remember that too,” Red added. “What’s the problem with Lige?”
    “He came around a few weeks ago wanting his job back. I have trained Leonard Garner, Lige’s cousin, and he is even better than Lige and Leonard doesn’t drink.”
    “So, what’s the problem?”
    “He keeps coming around at work time some mornings and has gotten to the point where he almost demands his job back. If it hadn’t been for Leonard getting between us on one occasion, I think I would have had to defend myself physically.”
    “Jesse, call the sheriff on that fool,” Red almost insisted.
    “I did speak to the deputy assigned to Ellisville and he said there was not much he could do as long as Lige only asked for a job and didn’t attack me.”
    “You got a pistol, Jesse?”
    “No, I don’t, and I’d rather find another way to handle it if I can.”
    “Yeah, I know you would like to handle it that way, but sometimes you can’t,” Red advised. “If he were a younger man, I think I’d go to his father, brothers or other relatives to get them to talk to him. That still might do some good. Sooner or later, you’re gonna have to call the sheriff and insist he come get this fellow.”
    Jesse let it go at that.
    The next morning at breakfast, the boys wanted to talk about the fishing trip they were planning to Bogue Homa Lake but they didn’t get a chance to get into the conversation.
    Red and Bert hugged everybody, got into their car and drove away. They always left a warm feeling. It was a definite pleasure to have been with them.
    “Daddy, we need a keg,” Jack said. “Do you have one we can get?”
    “Yeah, I think so. What do you want it for?”
    “Uncle Red said when we dig a keg of worms, he will take us to Bogue Homa Lake, fishin’,” Jack explained. “We wanna get started diggin’ worms.”
    Jack’s father laughed. “Boys—that was just one of Red’s exaggerations. He didn’t actually mean for you to dig a full keg of worms. Nobody could use that many.”
    “Well, we wanna make sure,” Jack said. “If we dig a keg full, he will have to come take us to the lake.”
    “You know, you’re right,” he said, thinking about the joke it would be on Red when he saw a full keg of worms. “Come on around to the garage and we’ll see if we’ve got a keg in good enough shape to hold worms.”
    The three walked around the house to the garage. Under the platform that led from the breezeway, there were four kegs. Jack’s father looked over each and decided on one.
    “This one should hold your worms satisfactorily,” he said. “Just make sure you keep the worms covered with good rich dirt and sprinkle in a little water every day—not a lot of water, though. You don’t want to drown them.”
    “He said a keg of worms,” Jack remembered. “Do you think he meant worms with dirt in them or a keg of nothing but worms?”
    “Yeah, I wondered that myself,” Billy Joe responded.
    “Come on, boys,” Jack’s father said. “He was pulling your leg when he said ‘a keg of worms.’ He will expect you to put dirt in the keg. The worms will die if you don’t. Besides, how can you three use a keg of worms in a day of fishing?”
    “Just the same,” Jack said, “we had better get as many worms in the keg as we can. That’s what he said he wanted to take us to Bogue Homa.”
    Billy Joe nodded his agreement.
    “Okay then,” Jack’s father said. “Why don’t you start with that pile of boards under the seedling pecan tree in the chicken yard. Just pick up the boards and lean them against the back of the chicken house so they will dry. Then dig where the boards were. There should be plenty of worms in that rich soil.”
    “Yeah,” agreed Jack, handing the keg to Billy Joe and picking up a round-bladed shovel from the corner. “Let’s go, Billy Joe.”
    “Start out by putting a couple shovels of dirt in the bottom of the keg,” his father said as they walked away.
    In the