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Alabama 8
of death---and he wants to feel safe. Once he used to cuss. Once when he got
mad he was a dangerous man. But now the wrinkles are gathering around his
red, thick neck, the crows' feet are spreading from his eyes over his tomato-
red cheeks.

It is told in Red Bay, by some of the old codgers, how he used to drink
and carry on. It told how he and Ed Bullin went to bed when the doctor's
brother got married, and how he and Ed drank all night, passing the jug from
one side to the other. Ples Epps said they were having a trial once and Doc
was there drunk and getting dangerous. Ples tells about when he and Doc were
in business together, and how they had to fight to collect money.

Doc has had a full life and some great sorrows in his time. His son
Orvard went off to school to study medicine, but he didn't go through. His
daughter married young.

But when Doc goes through the bottoms, he drives slow to look at the
land, and on Sunday he sits in church with an attentive ear. At home he
and his wife read the Christian Herald, Alabama Christian Advocate, and
Birmingham Post from cover to cover. His wife milks a cow, hoes the garden,
and never goes anywhere. She is stooped, pious, and good. She likes to
call people on the 'phone and talk for hours. But religion she likes best
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