Kentucky Blue

I went to the mountains of Kentucky.  I went way up the many hollers.  Before I could knock on a door I was greeted outside.  This happened at every house and every shop I found.  I was genuinely pleasant and talked to who I could and looked at what I could.  I was learning the area and its people.  I ended up at a large compound with house and enormous outer building.  This was it seemed a shop, a meeting place and anything else that they needed it to be. 

I was speaking with the obvious patriarch and his sons about what I had been doing and seeing.  Then I left as I could hear the patriarch say we need to torch this.  They then set the entire upper story afire.  As I made my way around the hollers I was gaining more and more attention of the inhabitants.  I was now not the one to ask the questions.   I was then grilled about what I had seen and what I had known.  It was pleasant and I never felt threatened.  I was beginning to understand the life, its people and their loves and hardships.

At nightfall I was asked if I would come with the group to have a get together.  I said yes and we headed up a long path up a mountainside. To my right after we had walked some time down into a penned off area were three huge bull elk.  By what was said I gathered that this was a breeding area. We ended our journey at a long one floor building.  We went inside and I saw 20 or more people sitting on benches with a roaring fire in the wood stove in the center of the building.

The talk was animated and friendly.  Laughs would break out and shared by the few around the talker.  The men were mostly at the end toward the door.  Some of the men stood up while others sat on the benches.  They too were having conversations.  During this time one young man took off outside and there was a joke that he was headed to the elk. 

At one point we all were seated, the fire roaring in the middle and the people quieted.  It was then asked if everyone starting toward the back of the room would introduce themselves and a bit about what they did.  It was interesting as the introductions continued to hear of the lives of the people I had grown a great affection for in a short time.  There had been maybe a half dozen or so introductions and I interrupted and introduced myself telling them that I was sent with a badge to make arrests but that I was there today and the badge meant nothing that I liked them all very much. 

When I was done the presentations continued.  I could see the next man in line, as he began his introduction,  was a bit peeved at me for jumping turn.