A Good-Deed Visit to the Bootlegger—No really!

It was a classic case of poor teenager planning. My younger brother, our friend Pat, and I were headed home up the Cumming Highway and it was almost midnight. There was but one gas station between downtown Canton and home, and our car sputtered as it ran out of gas. Fortunately, we coasted into that one service station. In those days, people in Canton didn't often stay awake past 10PM, so we were not expecting to get service at this late hour.

Our momentum carried us to the lone set of gas pumps. We got out and peered inside the station, since there was a light on inside. We could see the old proprietor sitting inside who appeared wide awake. We had nothing to lose, so we tapped on the door. To our great surprise, he got up, and without hesitation opened the door. We sheepishly explained our dilemma, and he offered, “You can have all the gas you want if you'll run me across town.”

The old man appeared drunk, even to our naive eyes. We could see a solution to our quandary at low personal cost—which looked like God's provision to us. We quickly pumped a few gallons into our tank and the old man shakily climbed into the back seat with Pat. The man gave us directions as to where to head out, and tried to open a fresh bottle of liquor. He was a bit too inebriated to open the flask, and dug out a pair of pliers to help him break into it. Fortunately, he was so unsteady he couldn't effectively pry it open. He asked Pat to open it, but with remarkable presence of mind, Pat pretended he couldn't.

Cherokee county in 1967 was “dry” and so there was no legal source to buy alcoholic beverages. But, there was a well-known bootlegger and that's where the old man was directing us. Sheepishly we drove over, the old fellow stumbled to the door, made his purchase, and returned with a big smile on his face.

We prayed that no one would notice us at the bootlegger's, and we were greatly relieved to drive back towards home. We dropped our guest off at his service station and made sure his staggering got him safely inside.

Our unique gasoline “purchase” had averted a teen disaster and gave us a great story which we have told and retold with glee. And honestly—no, really--that was our only trip to the bootlegger.

Our unique gasoline “purchase” had averted a disaster and gave us a great story which we told and retold with glee. And honestly, no really, that was our only trip to the bootlegger.