“I’m right here, Daddy,” her voice sang out across the speakers.
“Give these people what they want,” Charlie demanded.
Lynne began to sing to the new tune that Charlie began picking. Paul took note of the chord progression and joined in with his guitar.
Sunrise high
mountain skies
These memories will always be
Your bright eyes
Shining wide
Smiling just for me
Take my hand
My darling
And roam these hills and be
Wild and free
You and me
Hand in hand running free
There's no place we can't run to
There's no dream too far and wide
Just take me by the hand
And we will be wild young and free
Always Forever
You and me
Feel that wind
On your skin
Breathe it in deeply
Sunrise high
mountain skies
These memories will always be
Your bright eyes
Shining wide
Smiling just for me
Take my hand
My darling
And roam these hills and be
Wild and free
You and me
Hand in hand running free
“Sing Rocky Top!” Charlie shouted as they hammered away at the strings.
Lynne obliged, belting out the song for everyone as they danced, cheered, whistled, and hollered. JJ stood back, clapping his hands together as Lynne danced and sang on the stage.
“Let’s slow this back down,” JJ called into the microphone. “This one will be a duet. Lynne, sing with me?” he asked.
She nodded
“Play Wildwood Rose,” JJ requested.
Paul and Charlie slowed their playing down to a gentle picking, and Betsy’s lonesome fiddle song once again filled the air. JJ and Lynne began their solo.
She was his wildwood rose
He was her diamond in the rough
Together they'd roam
Oh, how the west was fun
But the time came for settling
And this hollow cowboy mansion
Wasn't enough
To keep him there
"I must go my wildwood rose
This simple home
Aren't what cowboys are made of
And I know you love me true
And I'm the only one for you
But let this cowboy go
I need to roam."
And so he left his wildwood rose
And headed back west
To go it all alone
But the nights grew cold
Without his wildwood rose
And traveled back east
Through the desert heat
"I must go back to my wildwood rose
That simple home
Is what this cowboy's made of
I know she loved me true
And she's waiting there all blue
For this cowboy
To come back home."
He came back to his wildwood rose
But she wasn't there in that wildwood home
He rode into town to see if she was there
And he found his wildwood rose
Dead and gone
Buried beneath the roses
She'd gotten her name from
A bus pulled up behind the stage while they finished the song. A band stumbled over to the stage, running and throwing on their guitars and banjos. As the final notes of our song echoed away in the wind, Charlie spoke into the microphone, “Ladies and gentlemen, Mountain Heart has made it here!”
Everyone in the crowd began to cheer loudly as they all quickly exited the stage, and Mountain Heart took their place. Mountain Heart jumped into their first song, and the music drowned out the crowd as JJ, Lynne, and their parents made their way to the concession stands.
“That was a mighty fine performance out there, son,” Charlie said, slapping JJ on the back. “You remind me of your daddy there when we were younger. Maybe you and Lynne can get some boys together and start y’all a little country band.”
“That sounds like a swell idea,” Paul chimed in.
“I don’t know about all of that,” JJ replied.
“Yea, me either,” Lynne laughed. “I don’t think any of them holler boys even know how to play an instrument, let alone sing anything other than country rap.”
“Then you two do it alone,” Betsy interjected. “I’ll teach you the fiddle, Lynnelle, and Paul and Charlie can teach JJ the banjo and guitar.”
“How about we will think about it,” JJ replied with a wink at Betsy.
“You sure do that, JJ,” Betsy said. “You have too good of a voice to waste. You and my Lynnelle sound perfect together. Just like June Carter and Johnny Cash.”
Charlie and Betsy ran off to the smoker to check on the next round of meat to see if it was done, and Paul mingled with the people in the crowd listening to music.
“Jackson Jay, why have I never heard you sing before today?” Lynne asked playfully, smacking his arm.
“Same reason I have never heard you sing before today. Why didn’t you list it in your career dreams outside of the holler?” JJ asked.
“Because it is silly,” Lynne replied. “The others are things that can really be accomplished. Shooting to be a country music singer or even a bluegrass music singer is a whole different ball game. You can’t go to school, get a degree, and then land a singing contract in Nashville.”
“You could still try,” JJ retorted. “Take a trip to Nashville, do some open mics or something.”
“JJ, just drop it,” Lynne replied heatedly.
“They have open calls all the time down there,” JJ continued. “You could go to a bar and find an agent or-”
“Drop it!” Lynne snapped. “Let’s face it; there is no getting out of this holler. I don’t have the grades for Ivy League nor the money, and I sure as hell don’t have the job experience to find a job outside of the mines.”
“So, you’d rather spend the rest of your life being a drug pusher and facilitating people getting addicted to drugs and dying?” JJ asked angrily.
“Have you ever held ten thousand dollars in your hand made in one night?” Lynne asked, eyes wide and wild. “Have you ever been able to spot someone some money to pay their light bill because they just had a baby and can’t work? I don’t do this just to get people addicted to drugs. I do this to help others. What the people buying do is on them.”
JJ shook his head and walked off. He’d never be able to break her from her ways. There wasn’t any point in trying anymore.
“JJ,” Lynne called out as he continued to walk to his car to leave.
He ignored her calls and hopped in his car. Today was fun, but there’s always this god damned holler getting in the way of everything, JJ thought to himself.
“Where you going, son?” Charlie asked. “We were hoping you’d still be around to perform some more on stage in between bands. The crowd loved ya.”
“Nah, I have some things to do,” JJ replied. “I had only agreed to help out until it opened, and now I am running late to my prior engagements.”
“What you got going on that's so important on a Sunday?” Charlie asked.
“Church,” JJ replied, glancing past Charlie at Lynne. “I need to go to church.”
Charlie shook his head as he followed JJ’s gaze at Lynne.
“One day, she won’t be this mess that she is now,” Charlie replied, watching Lynne stare at the two of them and then walk off into the crowd. “And hopefully, that day, there will be someone there to help remind her of how wonderful she is.”
“You’re barking up the wrong tree, Charlie. You and my dad would both skin my hide if I even thought about dating her. We all hate each other, remember?” JJ asked as he started his car and tore off
from the parking lot, leaving Charlie standing in gravel dust.
Chapter Three
JJ sat in the back of study hall with his headphones in, listening to his CD player tucked away in his bag. He felt a nudge and looked up to Lynne standing there with a couple of guys. He pulled his headphones off and hit pause on his disk player. It was unusual for her to bring people over to the table with her when she sat with him.
“We’re ditching study hall,” Lynne whispered, grinning widely. “Want to join us?”
“Where are y’all going?” JJ asked as he shut the book he had been reading and went to stuff it in his backpack.
One of the guys snatched the book from his hand, and JJ jumped to his feet as his temper flared.
“In Love and War? What kind of pussy reads this shit?”
A few of the guys snickered as Lynne yanked the book out of his hand and handed it back to JJ. “Educated ones that will one day run this holler read them,” she sassed. “You should try picking one up every once in a while, JR. You might jumpstart that brain of yours instead of it staying dead and hopped up on shine and meth.”
“Fuck you, Lynne,” JR replied.
“Oh, no, thank you,” Lynne cooed.
She returned her attention back to JJ, her face softening and lightening from the hardened gangster look she had speaking to JR.
“We’re heading up to the closed down mine. That’s where we normally go to mud bog, race, and four-wheel. What do you say?” Lynne prodded. “Join us?”
JJ glanced around the library and noticed the librarian wasn’t even in the library right now. It was the perfect time to ditch.
“Sure, why the hell not,” JJ replied, standing and zipping his bookbag then tossing it on his shoulder.
The group of students walked out of the library’s exit door to the parking lot, running to their vehicles, so they didn’t get caught.
“JJ,” Lynne called out. “Ride with me. We’ll come back for your car.”
JJ ran to Lynne’s truck and hopped in the passenger seat as she jumped into the driver’s seat.
“Just don’t kill me. I’ve seen you high speed driving, and you need some lessons,” JJ teased.
Lynne glared and then smiled widely at JJ as she started the truck and put it into drive. “Hold on, prep school boy,” she giggled.
She floored the gas pedal, and the truck burned tires before lurching out of its parking spot. She took the lead while everyone else followed behind her.
“A quick rundown of names of people with us today,” Lynne began. “You have JR in the fastback ‘Stang. He was the dick that took your book. Then, you have Tuck in the full-body ‘Stang. You have Kevin in the Chevelle. Mike is in the Impala. Richie is driving the jacked-up Silverado. Kyle is in the S10. Nick is in the remodified hot rod. Zeke has the Dodge with the snorkel pipes out the top, and Cameron has the Subaru.”
“A Subaru?” JJ asked. “Really?”
“Leave his rice burner alone,” Lynne laughed.
“Ain’t you missing someone?” JJ asked.
“Oh, yes. Jesse. He ain’t coming with us today. He drives a ‘Cuda,” she replied.
“Fast cars and freedom, huh?” JJ replied. “Why ain’t you in your car? You going to get mud on your tires while we’re there?”
“Hell, no. I don’t do no dumb mud shit in my good vehicles. I ain’t rusting my baby up,” Lynne retorted. “My Dune Buggy stays at the mines. I ride in it.”
JJ enjoyed the ride up to Upper Big Branch Mines. They had been shut down for years after Massey Energy was responsible for a huge underground explosion. It happened back a few years ago, and a huge investigation was opened after twenty-nine people died with well over twenty injured from the blast. The mine was being operated by a subsidiary company called Performance Coal Company. Massey Energy was held responsible for the dangerous levels of methane they were operating under, which was a direct cause of the explosion. One of the survivors said it was like being in a hurricane in them tunnels, while another seven miles up the line said it was like being around a tornado. The rails twisted up like pretzels, and everyone that had a chance scrambled to make it to the safety chambers. After 515 violations had been overlooked by the Mine Safety and Health Administration, there were charges filed, and the CEO of Massey Energy was found guilty on several felony charges.
JJ’s dad talked about the explosion all the time. Had Massey not sold out to Alpha Natural Resources, Massey would have had to pay a very large settlement. The memorial in Whitesville was a reminder to every family that lived in the holler what could happen any given day when their loved ones went down into those mines, and JJ’s dad worked diligently to prevent that from happening. He stayed up to code with all the safety meetings. He never paid anyone off to brush things that were wrong under the wrong. He did everything by the book because even though it was money lost, it wasn’t someone’s son lost, or someone’s husband lost, or someone’s dad lost. Money wasn’t as important to him as life was after JJ’s mom was murdered.
Lynne popped the truck around the bend and took a gravel road that was nearly hidden out of sight. They began their slow, long haul up and over the mountain. You could tell the land had long been abandoned by the mining company from its permanent closure in 2012. As they topped the mountain, a large memorial stood at one of the entrances as a warning to those that it wasn’t safe inside. It was sad to think that the CEO only spent one year in prison and then got into politics.
Everyone circled around the mines and parked their cars. Someone cut on their radio system, and bass pounded throughout the quiet caverns. Beer was passed around, and JJ politely declined the one that Lynne offered to him.
“I don’t drink,” JJ offered as an excuse.
“Why not? Live a little, Mr. Jay,” Lynne replied, knocking her can back in the air and taking a swig. “Coors Light is the best. That’s what I drink. The boys over here like that piss water, Bud Light.”
“Hey, Bud Light is not piss water,” Kyle refuted, opening his can as he climbed from his S10.
“Hey, Kevin, did you bring that bud?” Cameron called out, climbing from his Subaru.
“Yea, man. Give me a sec, and I will roll us up a fat one,” Kevin replied. “Who has the tabs?”
“I got those,” Richie yelled out, hopping out of his pickup truck and shaking a pill bottle.
“Sweet, who brought the white girl?” Tuck asked, standing from his car.
“That’d be me,” Nick replied, hopping from his hot rod.
“Put some different music on, Mike,” JR hollered as he climbed out of his fastback. “Colt Ford, Lenny Cooper, or something. Not this bullshit you have on.”
“Fuck you, man,” Mike replied, bouncing out of his Impala. “Cowboy Troy is the shit.”
“Fuck Cowboy Troy,” Zeke screeched as he dropped from his Dodge to the ground. “That ain’t no fucking country rap. It’s some Big and Rich shit.”
“Hey, play some Jawga Boys!” Kyle hollered.
“You all can kiss my ass,” Mike retorted, cranking Cowboy Troy louder on his speakers.
“Hey, JJ, you smoke?” Kevin asked, holding up a blunt. “It’s some good chronic.”
“No, thank you,” JJ replied with a laugh. “I would like to not be beaten by my daddy tonight by coming home stoned and drunk.”
“Well, what’s your poison then? Want some pills, some girl, some ice?” Cameron asked. “We got it all. I have some shake and bake I have been waiting to crack and try. Been burping it all day,” he said as he held up a plastic water bottle.
“Again, thank you, but no,” JJ replied.
“You’re missing out. It’s some fire dope I been cooking in that bottle,” Cameron replied, shrugging his shoulders.
“I figured you mafia boys went harder than what you do,” JR taunted, snorting a line of coke from his hood.
“Just because I don’t partake in party favors doesn’t mean I don’t go hard,” JJ replied, his jaw tensing.
“W
hat’s the hardest you’ve gone?” Tuck asked, taking a hit of the blunt, holding it, and then coughing up the smoke.
“What do you mean?” JJ asked.
“Like, have you ever robbed someone?” Kyle asked, crushing up some tabs and snorting them.
“Or burned someone’s house down that owed your dad money?” Mike asked, plunging a needle into his arm and pressing the syringe down.
“Or beat someone into a coma,” Zeke asked, grabbing the shake and bake bottle from Cameron and filling a glass pipe with the crystalline powder.
“It’s none of your business what I have done,” JJ replied defensively.
“Oh, so you’re saying that you’re just a little bitch, then, huh?” JR said, walking right up in JJ’s face and blowing a hit of smoke in it from the blunt he snagged from Tuck.
“I said what I have done is not the concern of white trash hicks in this holler,” JJ replied, bucking into JR’s chest.
“Ok, boys,” Lynne yelled, pushing herself in between JJ and JR. “That’s enough testosterone sharing. Why not put your money where your mouths are? Who’s the bigger man? Who will climb the side of the mountain in my Dune Buggy? The winner gets epic bragging rights of who is the ‘hardest’ of the holler.”
“I ain’t got nothing to prove,” JR hissed, spitting a wad of chew in front of JJ’s feet. “I’m not the pretty boy here whose daddy is a mafia boss but snubs his nose at people like us.”
“I don’t snub my nose at nobody,” JJ retorted, once again bucking into JR’s chest. “So, take your candy ass on before you end up with a bloody nose.”
A motor could be heard coming up the long gravel drive, and all of the boys hustled to hide the booze and drugs just in case it was the sheriff coming to bust the party. Mike turned his radio off while Kevin stomped out the blunt they had been smoking. A 1970’s model Barracuda pulled up and loped until the switch was turned off. Jesse jumped out of the driver's seat with a shit eating grin splattered across his face.
“Jesse, what are you doing here?” Lynne asked. “I thought you had some things to do.”
Jesse walked around his car, still smiling ear to ear. “I did. I got it done. I’m here now.”
Them Holler Boys (A Southern Outlaw Series Book 1) Page 4
