Flat Tire Story

J. F. Billipool, has lived in Harper all his life, over seventy years, and is known around here for telling long stories. When I say long stories I mean War and Peace long tales. Yesterday he was in the cafe and was telling about the flat tire he had on the way in that morning. He started out by telling us what he had for breakfast, how his wife had given him a long list of things to do, and how he left home in his pickup which he described completely including the story of how he decided to buy it over a pretty red sedan. Then he described the weather, the condition of the roads, and a little quiver he felt in his stomach probably from the spicy sausage he ate earlier. He had passed Jerome Williwag, an old farmer, who was standing out by the road waiting for his daughter to pick him up and take him to the doctor. J. F. had stopped to talk a spell and proceeded to tell us about the condition of Jerome as it had been related to him. When he left and was driving along, he came across a board with a nail sticking out of it. He tried to miss the board but failed. His description of his attempt to miss the board took about a thousand words; swerving, reeling, sliding. Then he described the nail, where it had possibly come from, how it got to be in the road, the negligence of the driver who left it there, and the condition of his poor tire.
I asked him if he got it fixed and he said, "Naw, not yet. I been a little busy this morning. I caught a ride into town with Jerome's daughter when she passed by taking her daddy to the doctor, so I just come in here for coffee. I'll fix it when I get everything sorted out."

Tales of Harper, short stories and poems about the fictional town of Harper, Mississippi is available on Amazon Kindle