The girls took it in turn to doze until late afternoon. They’d found an old logging track that was suitable for the car and not axle deep in mud. It allowed them to hide out of sight but it also allowed then to keep an eye on the minor road off of which they were parked. Hardly a vehicle passed while the girls were resting. That suited them and their purpose perfectly.

As the sun went behind one of the hills, Ethel roused Stella.

“It is time doll.”

Stella laughed.

“Just like old times eh?”

“Not quite but remember the last time we were around here? You were the ‘Doll’ all right.”

“We have both changed a lot since then. The world has changed even more I’m afraid.”

“From what we are reading in the news, the boys back in Chicago don’t seem to think so…”

They’d picked up a newspaper that morning from the newsstand at Roanoke railroad depot on their way out of town.

“They are just asking for more Feds to hit them even harder.”

“It looks like we got out in time then? Ever thought about going back?”

“No chance. We wouldn’t last ten minutes especially looking like we are now…”

Stella drove the car with Ethel navigating. She was using a map that they’d created almost four years earlier, not long after the DOI teams started cracking down on bootleggers.

One by one, Ethel ticked off the landmarks as they retraced their steps from their last visit.

“Turn left here. Over the disused Railroad tracks and we are there,” she said after almost half an hour.

Stella stopped the car and they sat motionless for several minutes.

“It looks much the same as before.”

“Thankfully.”

The pair got out of the car and walked into the woods. They were looking for an abandoned drift mine. It had once been owned by Stella’s Grandfather. She’d been there a few times as a child. The area around the old mine was littered with detritus from the days when the mine was in operation. The railroad spur was used to take material from the mine. She wasn’t sure if any of her relatives were still in the area.

On their last visit, they’d deliberately avoided making contact with anyone. They were hoping for the same luck this time.

“This mud is going to ruin these shoes…” said Ethel.

Stella laughed.
“You really have gone over to the other side haven’t you?”

“And what side is that my darling? The one we have been on all our lives?”

“The best side naturally.”

They both laughed as Stella carefully moved an old metal drum.

“Don’t move an inch,” came a voice from behind them. This was accompanied by the sound of a bullet being loaded into the chamber of a rifle.

Both of them froze.

“Now turn around slowly. I don’t care if yous is wimen or not, this is my land and yous is trespassing, said the mysterious voice.

They turned around… slowly.

“Before I’s shoot the pair of yous why are you rooting around in the ruins of Uncle Jeremiah’s Mine.”

“Not Jeremiah’s mine. It was great, great uncle Carl who sunk this mine,” said Stella.

“Just who do you think you are eh? Do you think I’m stupid as to not know my families history. We have been in these parts since Seventeen Eighty-Five.”

“Actually, it was Seventeen Sixty-Five, Cletus.”

“Do I know you?”

“You should remember me Cousin Cletus, I’m Stella.”

“Yous ain’t Stella. That’s fer shure. She had Blonde Hair.”

“I really am Stella and you have a scar on your left leg where I shot you with an arrow not half a mile from here.”

Cletus moved one hand towards the site of the scar but stopped himself. He gripped the rifle even harder.
“I still don’t believe you so I think I should take you to Grammy. She’ll know how to deal with you impostors and trespassers.”

The girls didn’t say anything.

“Git walking,” commanded Cletus.
He waved the rifle in the direction they should take.

“And keep those hands where I can see them. I knows you city Wimin carry derringers.”

---

A fifteen-minute walk through the woods brought the three of them to a clearing. On one side of the clearing was a wooden shack with a curl of smoke rising from the chimney. The other side of the clearing contained a wooden lean to where there was a still visible. It was in full operation if the sounds it was making was anything to go by.

“Still trying to make decent shine then Cletus?” said Stella.

“Shut the hell up and git over to the house.”

A prod in the back was enough to move them towards the house.

“Grammy, I’ve got us some trespassers!” shouted Cletus.

A few seconds later the door to the shack opened and an old woman emerged.

“Put that weapon down Cletus.”

“They were trespassing at the old mine Grammy.”

“And what do you think that they were going to steal dressed like that?”

“Theys still a thieving Grammy and theys need to be dealt with.”

“Button it Cletus,” said Grammy.

“Grammy?”

“I said button it. I can still tan your backside.”

Cletus remained silent.

“Ladies, if you would like to come inside before Cletus gets really trigger happy?”

Stella closed the door behind them.

“Hello Grammy,” said Stella.

Grammy stopped mid stride.

“You ain’t no kin of mine.”

“Grammy, it’s Stella. Your nephew Benji’s girl. I used to come here with my Mama. The last time we came was for Benji’s brother Hank’s funeral. He was torpedoed in 1918 on his way to France.”

Grammy looked at Stella. She was wearing pretty thick glasses.

“The Stella I knew was a Blonde. Yous ain’t that’s fer sure.”

“I died my hair Grammy when we had to get out of Chicago in a hurry.”

A wry smile appeared on Grammy’s face for half a second.
“I heard that the real Stella had hooked up with some Bootlegger.”

“I was hooked up with a guy who ran a transport company but things got a little sticky so we left,” replied Stella looking at Ethel.
“Besides Grammy, you are in the business yourself in that still outside is anything to go by?”

“Not me. That’s all Cletus’s doing. I want nothing to do with it. He’s already blown three stills up this month. Any more loud bangs, and I’m sure that the Feds will come calling.”

Then she walked up to Stella.

“Now Sweetie. Stella eh? Why should I believe a word that comes out of that pretty mouth eh Darlin’?”

“Grammy, I used to sit on your knee while you read me a bedtime story. You always said that I was the daughter that you never had. I was Blonde but I dyed my hair when the booze business in Chicago got a bit hot and we had to leave.”

“If you are Stella then who is this then?”

“Grammy, this is Ethel.”

“Come here Darlin. I don’t see so good these days.”

Ethel came close.

“Gimme your hand Darlin,” asked Grammy.

Ethel looked at Stella who nodded.

She put her hand out so that Grammy could hold it.

“Darlin, you have a confused spirit. I sense a lot of trouble in your life but you are at peace now.”

Ethel didn’t say anything.

“Grammy!”

“Well darlin what have you got to say fer y’self then?”

“You are right Grammy. We had to leave Chicago before we were targeted by the DOI.”

Grammy smiled.

“Those Bastards need to rot in hell. Them’s is stopping poor folk from earning a livin’.”

“Grammy?” asked Stella.

Grammy turned to Stella.

“Yous ok. You might be Stella and you might not but one thing you ain’t and that is the law. Anyone who isn’t the law is more than welcome in my home.”

Stella tried not to, but let out a laugh.

“Grammy, I remember you saying that to my Pa when he came here on his way to war. He was off to fight the Germans in nineteen eighteen.”

“Gosh child. I think you really is Stella. No one who was not here that day would have known that.”

“Please sit and I’ll get some vittels.”

“Grammy, let me do it,” said Stella.

Grammy glared at Stella.

“I used to do it when I stayed here with Mama.”

Grammy smiled.

“That you did child. That you did.”

Stella served up some Coffee and some freshly baked Biscuits a few minutes later.

“Is there any of Uncle Jack’s Honey?”

“Sorry Darlin. Uncle Jack died from the Flu in 1919.”

“Who runs his hives?”

“Sheriff Wheeler tries to but is useless. The bees would rather sting him than produce any Honey.”

“How? That land had been in his family for generations.”

“It was but Jack took out a loan to get some more hives. Only a few hundred bucks but they foreclosed on him a week after he died. What with Jack’s burial to pay for, no one had the money to pay off the bank.”

“But the moonshine business?”

“Darlin, we got lots of money but very little of it is legal money if you get my drift.”

“Stella, we saw the same thing with our neighbours, the Schwartz’s didn’t we. They had how many stills in operation between us and the Mass border? The family ended up out on the street. The moved over to Vermont and started again,” said Ethel.

“Them banks needed taking down a peg or two but what’s happening now is hurting everyone. Most folks around here can’t afford even one jug of decent whiskey a month these days,” said Grammy.

“I read that it is the ‘CarpetBaggers’ all over again. People buying up loans for a few cents on the dollar and then foreclosing. They are throwing people out onto the streets and then they’ll hold onto the property until this is all over before selling it again,” said Stella.

Ethel nodded her head.

“Grammy, we think that it will end up in a depression. It will get a lot worse. That’s why we are here,” said Stella.

“We came by a few years back to hide some money in the mine tailings. With the crash on Wall Street, it is cash or gold or nothing where we live.”

“So that’s why you was at the mine?”

“Yes Grammy. That’s why.”

“And you were not going to pay me a visit?”

“Sorry Grammy but the less people who know where we are the better.”

“You are talking about Cletus ain’t you’s?”

“Sorry Grammy but we didn’t want to attract any attention,” said Stella.

“That boy is short of a few brain cells but these past few years he’s been pretty good about keeping his mouth shut but… two wimin from up north might be a secret that he can’t keep for very long.”

Then Grammy turned towards the back door. She opened it and shouted…

“Cletus! Get your sorry ass in here this instant.”

Slowly the door opened and Cletus came inside.

“Cletus, our visitors were never here. Understand?”

“Aw Grammy.”

“Don’t Aw Grammy me. You know that the Sheriff is on the prowl most days. He’s itching to raid us and destroy our stills so don’t be givin’ him a reason. Understand?”

“Yes Grammy.”

“Now go and git some eggs from the coop. We will send our guests on their way with a present.”

Cletus disappeared.

“He means well but…?”

“You don’t have to give us anything Grammy,” said Ethel.
“We didn’t bring you anything in return.”

“That’s all right Darlin. If it wasn’t for Cletus and his itchy finger you would have been and gone before anyone knew yous was here.”

“Thanks Grammy. These Biscuits are really good,” said Stella.

“My own Grammy’s recipe,” said Grammy proudly.

“They are really good,” added Ethel.

“Then you must take what’s left with you. Yous gotta long drive back to New England.”

“We…”
Stella started to say how they were going to get home but changed her mind.

“We are driving back to DC and then taking the train home.”

“Then yous better get going. There will be rain later and that road over to Virginia is not the best. It was washed out twice last year. Three people died when their car got swept away in a flood.”

“How do…” asked Ethel

Grammy laughed.

“I feel the change in the weather in my bones just like my mother and her mother before her.”

She smiled at the women.

“Next time you are hereabouts, you come a calling properly and not at the end of Cletus’s gun you hear!”

“Yes Grammy,” they both echoed.

A few minutes later they left the shack with a basket of vitals. They’d refused the offer of a flask of ‘shine. It was too risky given the distance they were going to have to travel.

They returned to the mine and retrieved their stash of paper money and silver coins. As they did so, Ethel noticed a movement up on the hill behind them.

“We are being watched.”

“That’s Cletus. Making sure we get off his land in good time.”

“Why don’t we leave a little present for him? Perhaps that will delay him long enough for us to show him a clean pair of rather muddy heels?”

Stella laughed.

“Why not. Ten silver dollars ok?”

“That’s good.”

With their stash all secured in pouches beneath their skirts, they held up their little present for Cletus and walked off down the track towards their car leaving the 'present' in plain sight on the top of an old oil drum.

Once they were out of sight of the mine and Cletus, they literally ran as fast as they could back to their car. The weight of silver coins that they were carrying slowed them down considerably after a few yards but they made it to their car unscathed.

“Whose great idea to carry the money under our skirts was it?” puffed Stella.

“Er? Your’s Darling.”

“Remind me to never do that again.”

Ethel sighed.

“We needed somewhere not in our bags for the coins so where else was there? Besides our purses are full of cash aren’t they?”

Stella had to agree.

They stowed their purses under their seats after removing all the cash and put that into money belts that they were both wearing around their waists. The loose cut of their dresses hid them perfectly.

“Ready to hit the road?” asked Ethel as she got behind the wheel and made herself comfortable.

Stella laughed.

“Not so fast. I think we should at least try to clean some of this mud off our shoes. If we get pulled over they may start asking questions.”

“And we tell them the truth. We went to visit your Grammy and this mud is from her yard.”

Stella thought for a second.

“You know darlin, you are not just a pretty face you know but you really do need to fix your makeup before we get going.”

Ten minutes later they hit the road and carried on towards Pineville, West Virginia. They passed a few shuttered quarries and corn mills on the banks of the river. There was next to no traffic. Most of what was on the road was horse drawn including a few Model ‘T’ Cars that had been modified to take a harness. The further they travelled, the signs of the really sad state of the economy grew and grew but somehow it all seemed normal to the locals. Many were obviously used to living in abject poverty but their plight disturbed the girls.

There was just a single Gas Station open for business in Pineville. Gas was more than twice as expensive as they’d paid in DC or Roanoke. Ethel made a bit of a scene over the price. It was all for show but they hoped that it demonstrated that they didn’t have a lot of money like pretty well everyone else.

After leaving Pineville, they headed north towards London. From there they hoped to get a train to Cleveland. Stella remembered using that service as a child. It was quite dark now and there was no traffic on the road. It was quite eerie to them both after years in Chicago.

---

It was getting pretty late by the time they reached the Railroad Depot in London. Stella stayed in the car while Ethel went to look for train times.

She was gone only a few minutes before she returned with a worried look on her face.

“Drive,” she commanded as she got back into the car.

“Where? What’s wrong?”

“Go back the way we came. We passed a rooming house about ten blocks back. It had a sign saying ‘Vacancies’ outside.”

Stella turned around and drove off.

At the next block, she pulled over.

“What was wrong? Why did you leave the depot in such a hurry?”

“There was a big sign saying that there were no Trains anywhere until tomorrow and then I saw Tommy Andretti and at most of his family were camped out on the chairs. There were at least fifteen of them. I didn’t hang around to see who was there and who wasn’t.”

“Andretti? Didn’t he and his clan go down to Miami a few years ago? The other Italian mob drove them out.”

“That’s right and the very same Tommy Andretti is sitting in that Depot with wife and most of his crew and a big pile of luggage. We got lucky that it was me who went inside. As I went through the door, I almost bumped into Dolores. You and her were very close and I’m sure that you would have been recognised in a flash.”

“So? What’s wrong… Sorry Darling. I forgot that you are a different person these days.”

“We had a close escape this time. We might not be so lucky the next.”

Stella didn’t argue with that. She put the car into gear and drove off looking for the rooming house.

When they reached the rooming house that Ethel had seen on the way into town, the sign saying ‘Vacancies’ had gone.

“What do we do now?” asked Stella.

“There is the cop shop over the road. Let’s ask there?”

“Eh?”

“Ask a cop for help. No one is looking for us here so why not? Aren't they supposed to 'protect and serve' or something like that?”

Stella smiled.

“Darling, there are times when you come up with some really stupid ideas but this one actually makes sense.”

[to be continued]