Serial: "Hawkins County" Chapter 2 - A Nostalgic story of 1970s Americana

"Hawkins County" has a dual story line until well into the second act. You have already met Pat O'Connor, the delinquent teenage boy on the run from the law. The premise of his story line: Can Pat O'Connor continue to elude capture by law enforcement for probation violation? Now in chapter 2, you will meet Jack Johnson, a nerdy college student whose life becomes enmeshed with Pat O'Connor's in way the two can not yet imagine. This is the second story line, with Jack Johnson being the antagonist to the protagonist Pat O'Connor. 
"Well, anyway, he's getting his degree in Law Enforcement today," Bernice added. "All my other nephews are locked up behind bars for one thing or another, so it will be nice to have at least one Putsky on the right side of the law." Police Chief Percy Putzky - Bernice took the liberty of promoting Percy in her mind's eye and smiled. She thought the title had a nice sounding ring to it.

Jack stared at the stage again. Then it happened. Rather than one of those obvious ones that reverberated off the metal folding chairs and quickly identified the manufacturer of the methane, this was one of those nasty, one-cheek-sneaks. It smelled like butter3ed popcorn at first, but unfortunately, the odor grew much worse until the final bouquet resembled the kind a person produced after drinking too much cheap beer. Jack felt it curling his nose hairs and was dead certain that it was eating his mucous membranes away.

He knew right off that the guilty party sat in his immediate vicinity, so he peered both up and down his row by moving his eyes rather than turning his head. The way he did it, so crafty, so cool, unless they were looking at him, nobody would ever guess what he was doing. If that was where the acrid essence came from, however, no one was letting on. All jack knew was that the culprit was neither Catholic nor a native Minnesotan, for if either, overwhelming guilt would have kicked in and prompted a public confession. Probably one of those Iowa grads doing what they do best. Mercifully, the fart dissipated a few moments later.  (to be continued)

"Hawkins County" is an intriguing story of a southern Minnesota rural community's reaction to the cultural changes of the 1960s and 1970s. The folksy humor brings to mind the kind of story that Mark Twain would have written in modern times." - Dr. Richard Strachan, Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, and Director Emeritus of the Emuseum, Department of Anthropology, Minnesota State University at Mankato.

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