Chapter 7

Ed was standing on the front porch when we showed up on Friday afternoon. He ran to the truck and jumped in as soon as I stopped. I think that he was afraid that I would change my mind if he gave me that chance.

Jo said, “Ed, here is the shotgun. It is already fully loaded and a shell is in the chamber, so be careful. Here is your ear protection. Put it on now and don’t take it off until John tells you to.

“John calls the shots, so do not make any effort to shoot until he orders it. You sit behind him and shoot to the left. I will shoot to the right. We’ll pick up any dead hogs after we have completed the sweep.

“While we are hunting, we will go by first names. I am Jo, John is John, and you are Ed. Just remain calm and everything will go as expected. Okay, John, let’s go.”

By this time, we had a routine well worked out. We had gone about 200 yards when Ed shouted, “I SEE A HOG!”

I said, “Okay, Ed, but you have to say where you see it so I can get us close enough to ensure a clean shot if possible. Also, it is not necessary to shout. We can hear you very well even while we are wearing these special hearing protectors.”

“Oh, sorry about the shout. I guess that I was just too excited. The hog is over there on the right.”

“Okay, I see it now. You have sharp eyes. I will drive over there, but this will be Jo’s shot. No matter what happens, you are not to shoot. Do you understand that?”

“Yeah, John, I got you. It’s Jo’s shot, and I won’t mess it up.”

Ed was watching closely as Jo got ready to shoot. That must have been why he missed seeing the hog on our left. I said, “Ed, there is a hog on our left at about 10 o’clock. Do you know what that means?”

“Yeah, I see it now.”

“Good, that is your hog. I’ll pull closer after Jo shoots. Wait until we stop before you shoot. And don’t forget to put your window down before you pull the trigger.” We all laughed at that.

Jo knocked down her hog, and I drove closer to Ed’s hog. I stopped about 30 yards away from the hog and told Ed to shoot as soon as he was ready. He fired and hit his hog exactly in the center of its right side. I was impressed at how accurate he was with a shotgun that he was firing for the first time. Yes, Ed was ready as soon as he got comfortable with the routine.

No more hogs were seen nearby, so I headed for the pecan grove. There were two hogs there on our left that Jo called out. As soon as we stopped, Ed fired and quickly fired again. In both cases, he killed a hog with the one shot at each. We couldn’t ask for better shooting than that.

That was all the hogs we found, so we went through the routine of gathering the carcasses. That part of the operation went quickly because there were two of us working on the task. When we finished, we had five hogs for sale. I had Ed cut the ears and tail off and put them in the plastic bag. They would not be turned in for the bounty until Monday when the City Hall opened for business.

Jo called and found butcher shops that would take our kills, so I drove us there with Ed still with us. He would be doing this once he was part of a crew, so I figured that it didn’t hurt for him to see this part of the business. Again, with Ed to help me, we got rid of the carcasses more quickly than usual. That was when we took Ed back to the Laughing Hog and let him out.

Jo wrote him a check for his time, minus the usual deductions. He thanked us profusely and went back in to work in the kitchen. I did tell him that he would be hired as soon as we could get the rest of the team set up. Jo told him that for the first six months, he would be paid the minimum wage, but he would get benefits like health insurance. After six months, we would discuss a potential raise. That was as much as he could expect just starting out at any equivalent job, so Ed was completely happy.

The next Monday, I asked Paul Aker if he might be interested in working for us. He almost crashed the golf cart in his excitement. “Yes, Sir, Mr. Higgins. I would love to leave this stupid job with no future.” I asked, and he said that he was reasonably adept at shooting a shotgun, but he had never handled a pump-action.

“Paul, we are thinking of matching you with Ed Watson to form a hog hunting crew after you get a little training. The way I see it now, you will be the driver, and Ed will be the spotter and primary shooter. You will start out at minimum wage plus insurance and other benefits for the first six months. If everything goes well, you will get a raise. We will discuss how much at that time. When can you start your training?”

“Hell, I can start this afternoon if you want me that quick. I have wanted to quit for over six months, but I have not been able to find anything that I could handle. Everybody wants experience, but nobody will hire me so that I can get some experience.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. I was almost that bad off when I graduated from high school a few years ago. We can take you on this afternoon if you are ready. Wait until after lunch to quit so that you can supervise loading any hogs that we shoot. I see that as a good joke on the Pro. As soon as we leave here, we’ll circle by our office and pick up the paperwork you have to fill in and sign to become an employee of Higgins Hog Hunters.

“This afternoon we will sweep the nuclear power station property for hogs. I’ll drive and you will sit behind me with a pump-action shotgun that we will provide. There is no way that we will know how many hogs we will find, but we are sure to find at least one. At least, it has been that way so far.”

At that moment, Jo announced the sighting of a hog. It was easy to see them when they were on the fairway or the green, but it was hell to spot them down in the sand traps. We only found three hogs this time, and they were all on greens. The Grounds Crew was going to have a hell of a time cleaning up their divots.

We picked up our truck and headed out to a lunch of chicken sandwiches and iced tea at a fast food place. From there, we headed home to pick up the papers that Paul had to fill out and to fetch the shotgun for him to use. This was to be a test of how well he could shoot. I wanted to know right away if he needed practice shooting and how much he might need. I was not worried about his driving.

Meanwhile, Jo called our accountant to find out if there was some special protocol that we had to follow in buying another pickup for Higgins Hog Hunters, LLC. She also had buyers lined up for the three hog carcasses that we had to sell. She found a place that would take all three carcasses, so that saved us some trouble.

We picked up the three carcasses at the golf course Pro Shop, and that was when Paul quit his job in a very forceful manner. He did not mention that he was now working for us, and that would make it easier when we showed up next Monday. In any case, the Pro was really mad and he and Paul wound up in a shouting match. I broke that up by saying, “Paul, you better get in the truck if you still want that lift back to town.” The Pro never had a clue.

We delivered the dead hogs, and Paul found out how that worked. From there, we went to the nuclear power station to begin our sweep. These guys were on the ball, and we went through the only open gate. We checked in and began our sweep. We did spot three hogs, and Paul got to shoot all of them. Like practically all Southern boys, Paul had done a lot of shooting, so he was reasonably competent with the shotgun, but not in Ed’s class. Nevertheless, I expected that he would be more than adequate with a week’s training.

We got away from the power station in time to go by the Ford dealer to order our second truck. We ordered a duplicate of the one we had. What we wanted was available in Ozark, so we got delivery on Thursday. It was the same metallic blue, and all it lacked was the lettering on the side. Jo’s friend, the sign painter, made house calls, so the company name was on the door panels by noon on Friday.