mmmcclviii

a swear bath

if you was
wond’rin’
where it

was our imp-
pish brother
was, I can

tell ye. he
was out all
day down't

the creekbank
just a catchin’
crawdads, he was,

yes, under all the
lightnin’ n’ thunder.
round about seven’s

when paw
whistled dinner
one can ascertain

purt’near anywhere
in town (and most
places out of it)

with that
whistle.
it’s his cattle-

call, too, that
high shrill pitch's
louder than loud

but brother was
down at the creek
with the crawdads

and somehow
hadn’t heard it
either of the

seven times
or so that paw’d
chirped it all out.

they finally
found ’im
n’ had to

drag him
kickin’ n’
screamin’

all the way
up’t the house.
after that he

had to wait
the thunder n’
lightnin’ fore

he could
even bathe
n’ boy’d

he need a
good dousin’
he smelled

n’ all the way
to the high
heavens n’

him swearin’
a’ left and
swearin’ a’

right. and
paw’d have
naught of it,

nope, not
one bit
of that.

so now he’s
finally in it,
and not even

supper, nope.
nothin’ but just
up to his ears

and eyeballs
in a swear bath’s
what he’s in now,

n’ half the
town can
hear him

up there a
screamin’ n’
a hollerin’.