The Portable Creek

Benefits Charity “This is a family memoir of sorts told one newspaper column at a time a variety of memories stitched together like a patchwork quilt.”So writes columnist Keith Huffman in describing this nifty collection of Southern essays that pay tribute to a charming bunch of characters who personify small-town life. Reflecting on his childhood in the West Alabama town of Gordo Huffman shares the stories and memories of the folks who made their marks on him including:• Pawpaw Buck the ornery-though-lovable old coot whose dying wish was to get baptized by the very country preacher who’d been damned determined to save his soul for decades;• Doe Doe the author’s father a Crimson Tide fanatic and big-rig ace whose One True Love was a black and silver 1979 Ford F-150 that flaunted its glorious name across its gleaming windshield: Silver Bullet;• Mawmaw Sue expert remover of deadly splinters and master engineer who once used a shoestring to keep a push mower running long enough to finish the job;• Aunt Lorene a beast of a card player who lacked neither a winning hand nor mocking grin for her brother Henry the man who not only named himself but fulfilled an old psychic’s prophecy that he’d “go overseas and find a gold mine.”Other stories involve bootlegging shenanigans a drunken cage match with a wild cat plus the author’s burned luck and bitter fishing tragedy. Huffman also shares about how he learned the fine art of backroad skepticism; his ongoing ponderings over how life as a turtle could have turned out; and his musings over the joys of fatherhood... proving that parenting is no easy task especially when a young’un holds a grudge after dreaming his mother ate his dinosaur.This collection also includes other newspaper features Huffman has written over the years highlighting examples of Southern hearts tragedies and triumphs.