I watched the ‘Justified‘ season opener tonight. I’m not from the holler but I am from small-to-middlin’-town Missouri, right on the cusp of the Ozarks. There was a scene tonight where a criminal asked a marshal for a little favor, a few months after the marshal had been granted a little favor from the criminal. The marshal declined tonight’s request. A full-on brawl ensued. It ended in a way that both of them might have intended. I understood.

I’ve got these good friends. They’re twin brothers and they put my wife and me together. They knew I was too uptight and they knew she would extract my cork. They also knew she needed someone just like me.

The twins like to make this joke: A friend will help you move, but a good friend will help you move a body. I’ve known them for 21 years. They’re joking, I think. Either way, I understand.

Previously: New Hampshire, 1992 | Hokum home