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The next trip took the two out West. They experienced 'cowboy caviar' and thought it very tasty. Jess had to admit, though. She'd been mortally terrified to taste the roadkill they were offered in New Mexico.

It took a priest's blessing and the word of the holy man that the carcass on their plates was not swollen or stunk to high heaven before it was the delicacy presented to her on her plate.

The blood sausage they ate in Louisiana wasn't bad, but both she and Harbor could have lived without eating Koolickles.

Maybe it was the flavor of Kool-Aid that the proprietor had soaked his dill pickles in that made them gross, but the fried muskrat legs he served in the little diner attached to his gas station were unbeatable.

It was on the ride home that Jess mistook a urinal for a commode. She would never tell Harbor, but she'd rather use the old outhouse out back any day. How blessed they were to have installed indoor plumbing a dozen years back, she thought.

***

They arrived home to find that Harbor's best friend, Joe Jackie Jackson, had passed. Not only that, their dog, Smut-butt, had decided to bite the dust, too. It seemed the truck that tormented the dog's soul for all of his life finally had the last word in the matter.

The neighbor who saw it happen buried the dog so that when he arrived home, Harbor would not have to.

And then, Jess, who had laying hens that were just to old to produce eggs anymore, decided to let them all run loose. The fox that lived in the woods nearby made an all-you-can-eat buffet out of every single one of them.

Jess felt terrible, but it seemed to hit Harbor harder.

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