Dry County

The 18th Amendment on Prohibition was debunked in 1933 and replaced by the 21st Amendment that legalized the sale of liquor throughout the country. However, in my state there were counties who chose to remain 'legally dry', but never ceased to drink. And there was a county adjacent to mine that preferred to be wet and sell liquor legally. When I was just a lad in the early 60's and did not understand 'wet and dry', I was well acquainted with 'drunk and sober'; and I knew that the thirst for liquor did not stop at the county line. Though my county was still legally dry, it was just as precipitated with moonshine as any wet county. Up the road from my home was a two-story property whose inhabitant made desirable corn whiskey. I knew it was true for sure when coming from school one day, the booze had been poured out all along the roadway and entrenched with an odor no child should ever be allowed to inhale. The community moonshiner had been busted and carried off to jail. To no one's surprise, by the time I finished high school in 1967, my county had become legally wet like all the rest. I stood and stared at the first liquor store I had ever seen in my county, and there was not a single protest. And even back then, the child in me thought it best that liquor should be found in a store than on a roadway leading to my home. 08302017PoSoupContest, Your Favorite Poem From August 2017, Julia Ward