Home Brew and Beechnut

Home Brew and Beechnut
By Donald Jones

Wanting to be a part of the crowed is one of the issues that faces most of us growing up. Acceptance socially is a big deal when you are a preteen or teenager. Some time you learn there is a price to pay for that acceptance. The Gunner boys were not your typical country boys they were a hybrid bunch. They had come from Chattanooga Tennessee. What we would have called the city. Drinking and chewing tobacco was part of there life style. Still these boys had their charm because, they could play a guitar like nothing any of us had seen before. They were very talented in woodcraft as well. If they needed a new electric Guitar they simply went into the wood shop and made one. There diversity in these talents drew most of the teenagers in the community to their house.

The Gunner boys, my brother, and I decided we were going to make some homebrew. Someone came up with a recipe, and we began to gather the ingredients. After the prescribed waiting period we decided to test our concoction. All of us were excited to taste the brew we had made.

Now while the mason jar was being passed around that night, one of the Gunner boys got out a pouch of Beechnut Chewing Tobacco. Chewing tobacco was not anything new to me, because my dad would chew a little when he would go fishing, but never around the house where mom would see him. Chewing tobacco never appealed to me as something I wanted to do. Tonight was the exception. With all the boys watching each other, everyone took a mouth full. When my turn came I smelled the tobacco and thought maybe it didn’t smell so bad after all. This was not a time to be timid in front of all the guys. So I took my mouth full like everyone else.

The Jar had not yet made the circle in that shed that night, so I had already began to chew the Beechnut. When chewing tobacco, one of the taboos is swallowing. You spit. The Jar came around to my turn and I took my sip of the brew. In order to drink the brew you must swallow. Taking the tobacco out of my mouth I thought would be enough. But it wasn't. There was a mixing going on inside of me. The Gunner boys were laughing at me because they could see what I could not hide. A human being can turn green. The nausea crept up on me slowly. There would be no mercy for my actions. I ran out side and staggered to the fence post while my world kept spinning around me. I heard myself asking God to save me and not let me die. Finally the explosion came and I was relieved of the burden in my stomach. I had paid my dues. My brother had not yet come face to face with his mortality as I had.

There was still laughter coming from inside the shed. My brother was smart he did not try the Beechnut. He did however drink his fill of the brew. He was snookered and barely could walk.

While Mom was still asleep, I convinced him he needed to come home. Mom always trusted my older brother to keep me out of trouble. This night the tables were turned. We walked around out in a wooded lot that was across the street from where the Gunner boys lived. It was not far from our house but it gave me a chance to get my brother sobered up enough to make a plan to get him up the stairs to his bedroom.

After my sobering experience, I found myself in charge of trying to get my brother in the house, up the stares, and in to bed, with out waking my mother. Some task for a 13 year old. We got to the steps and he went in and headed for the stairs. Mom of course heard us and was up checking on us. I stated a conversation with her by arguing about how late it was. It worked. she scolded me, but big brother made it up the stairs.

It was with out any doubt that my brother and I had learned our lesson about home brew. He nor I ever wanted to touch it again. Later that night my older brother met his mortality face to face as I had out by the fence post. He leaned over his bed and filled his shoes. I laughed and thought we are brothers.

Story ID:	2371
Written by:	Donald L. Jones (bio, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Family Memories
Writers Conference:	$500 2007 Family Memories Writing Project
Location:	Mc Minnville Tennessee USA
Year:	1958
Person:	Self