We call it The Plum.  It’s the prettiest moonshine that we make.  The shine is made from my PawPaw’s PawPaw’s recipe in a copper still just like it was a hundred years ago.  In each jar, we put 13 sweet plums from the trees my great-aunt planted after the ’37 flood.  Thirteen because that’s the number of the disciples plus Jesus, the number of full moons in a year, and the number of children PawPaw’s grandmother birthed.  Not counting the ones she buried before the rest of them buried her.

The river-soaked land fed those trees well and the plums we harvest are the best you’ve ever had.  They’re a beautiful dark ruby color and as they soak in the shine, they release their juice and turn the shine a color that reminds me of a summer sunset when you just know it’s going to storm in a few hours – the sky all dramatic with bright color and swirling clouds.  I love twirling the mason jars in my hands so as to get those plums moving round and round – the shine gets prettier and prettier as the movement releases even more color from the plums.

Yes, I’m a moonshiner’s daughter and even though I wasn’t the longed for son, Daddy taught me the art.  He passed a few years ago so now it’s just Mama and me making The Plum.  Folks come from miles away to buy it.  One fella bought 40 cases of it – 6 jars to a case!  I asked him what he was going to do with that much shine.  He said, “Why drink it, of course!  Me and my friends just love this stuff.”

He asked me why my Mama and me weren’t more afraid being on our own and selling shine.  What he meant was being without a man to protect us.  I told him that I’m meaner than a wildcat and my daddy taught me to shoot just as well as he taught me to  ‘shine.  He laughed, but I wasn’t making a joke.

He came back every year for The Plum.  The third year, Mama said to me, “He’s courting you.  Or trying to.  Be friendly at least.”   I hushed her and went on stringing beans.   The stuff that get in her head!  I could tell you stories.

Every year he came and each time he stayed a bit longer to visit.  One time he came when a storm was stirring and we put him in my bedroom and I slept with Mama. She hissed, “Foolish girl!  That man is trying to court you.”  I was beginning to think she was right, but he left the next morning.

A few months later, he drove up the holler when we wasn’t expecting him.  He announced he was there to help us ready for winter.  We use a wood stove to heat with and the mountain winters need a lot of wood.  I was used to doing it, but thankful to have the help all the same.

That night, he slept in my bed and I slept on the sofa.  Before either one of us did much sleeping, we did a lot of talking and a fair amount of sipping us some Plum.  By then, I figured Mama was right.  Still and all, I was surprised when he leaned over and kissed me when I was telling him about helping to calf a cow.  So, yes, he kissed me and then he said his goodnight.

I tried to figure out whether or not I should go get in my bed too.  I spent most of the night wrestling with that question, but I did finally fall asleep.  I woke to the smell of sausage sizzling and biscuits baking.  I was surprised to find him in the kitchen doing the cooking.  And playing a mandolin, soft and sweet as the dawn.  I kissed him.  He wrapped his arms around me and said, “I’ve been waiting on that.”

We got married weren’t but three days later.

Yesterday, I birthed a boy.  Daddy would have been so tickled.

Daddy loved me, but he longed for a boy.  It’s nice now, being loved partly because I am a girl.  I’m a moonshiner’s daughter and now I’m a moonshiner’s wife.  He learnt real quick.  I expect I’ll be a moonshiner’s mother.  My family has been making The Plum for generations, but now it has a love story to sweeten it even more.  Maybe it’s always had a love story, but I’m making sure this one gets told.

This  was born of a writing prompt.  The prompt was to listen to Rhiannon Giddens’ Moonshiner’s Daughter and write a thousand words or so.  This was my offering.

Edited to add:  This piece was selected for the Women of Appalachia 2019-2020 season of WomenSpeak  The season was truncated due to COVID-19, but I was able to read it publicly twice.  The Plum was well received!