Have Snow, Bring Shovel . . .
Purgatory Cove Fish Dock and Marina
Published: Thursday, November 17, 2011 7:00 am
By: Sam, Lefty and Wade, Proprietors
Well, it’s been a slow week here at Purgatory Cove. Lefty and Wade are spending time in the boat shed next to the wood burning stove. Sam’s spending time down at Tootie’s next to Nancy, the waitress. That’s fine with lefty and Wade; cause that keeps Sam out a their hair and not makin’ work for them.
Lefty and Wade are kinda’ on the outs with Sam anyhow. Seems Sam cut off their supply of the special recipe. Sam got all bent out of shape when he kept finding things the guys were usin’ the stuff for, non drinkin’ wise. Between the time they put it in the pickup tank to fix the water problem, usin’ it for thinnin’ out the bottom paint and spikin’ the go-fast guy’s fuel, the supply was way down and Sam’s momma was runnin’ out of the base for makin’ more.
Her cousin Bubba wasn’t gonna get out of the county jail down in Florida any time soon, so the likelihood of getting a fresh supply of base was pretty slim. That set Lefty and Wade conjecturing about making their own recipe. They knew most of the added ingredients that momma used in the mix ‘cause they usually got stuck going to the grocery and unclaimed freight store to get them.
That just left the matter of the base for the recipe. Wade and Lefty stopped by the Paradise Liquor and Taxidermy Shop to see what Clem had in the way of high test hooch. They came across some rum on the far side of 150 proof. Clem cautioned them on account of the stuff was flammable and they shouldn’t be partaking around the woodstove in the boat shed, at least when it was lit. He didn’t say anything about what to do when the guys were lit.
They made a few other stops in town and headed back to the Cove. Inside the boat shed, Lefty rounded up an empty antifreeze bottle, you know, the pink stuff they dump in the water tanks to keep them from freezin’. Wade’s wasn’t real impressed eith Lefty’s choice of container so he had him wash it out with the pressure washer.
Well, it actually took three jugs to get one clean. The first one shot off like a rocket when Lefty stuck the nozzle into the bottle as Wade fired up the washer. Lefty was a little more careful the second time, but it must of been a weak jug, cause it blew the bottom clean out. The third one was a charm even though Lefty did get a little wet.
Wade dug out a semi-clean funnel and they proceeded to pour the quart of rum into the now clean jug. They threw in a couple of sticks of cinnamon, three or four whole cloves, a couple of star anise, some ginger and a nutmeg they crushed with a hammer. To top it off, they whittled the outer peel of a couple of oranges and a couple of lemons and threw that in. Wade put the cap on the jug and swished it around a little and then poured a little sample for them.
After Lefty could talk again, he allowed as how the had forgot the raw sugar momma put in the mix. Wade snuck into momma’s kitchen, she was watchin the wrestlin show at the time, and “borrowed” the sugar. Lefty allowed that it toned down the mix a bit but thought it would have to sit a spell to really develop the full flavor, but they was on the right track.
They stashed the jug in the big tool box, where they knew Sam wouldn’t ever go and forgot about it, at lest for a couple of days. The next sample turned out about as good as the real recipe. The guys cleaned out another jug, stretched a pretty clean shop rag across the top of the funnel and filtered the batch through it.
Sam was a little puzzled when the guys stopped grousing about him not letting them have any more of his special recipe. He was more puzzled when they started willingly leaving the office to go out to the cold boat shed. But he just shook his head before he headed down to see Nancy at Tootie’s.
Other than that, it’s been a slow week here in Purgatory Cove.
